Through the Land of Diamonds

By Jeannie Meekins

Jack finds himself trapped in the fantasy world of Drac; a world of magic, dragons, and evil doings. The world is dying. The Talisman, which stores the elemental virtues of the races and keeps the world in balance, has gone. A prophecy has been set in motion and will be fulfilled, one way or the other.
Jack has been brought there to save the world. While travelling the lands, he begins to realise that good and evil are not so clearly defined, and all the people need to unite to save their world.

In the second part of his adventure, Jack meets the arrogant Diamonds, discovers why the World of Drac is dying and comes face to face with Septis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Storm Cloud Publishing
• Release date: Aug 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781925285093

Jeannie Meekins

Jeannie Meekins is an Australian writer who lives with her children and a couple of cats who think they own the computer. And if her dog could read, he’d be jealous, so it’s lucky that he can’t. Jeannie has also written over 10 books for children, many available through LearningIsland.com

Book preview

Through the Land of Diamonds

The Virtues of Drac: Book Two

Jeannie Meekins

Illustrated by AT Davidson

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Through the Land of Diamonds

The Virtues of Drac: Book Two

Text copyright (c) Jeannie Meekins (2013)

Editorial Associate Melissa Cleeman

Illustrator (c) AT Davidson (2015)

Published by Storm Cloud Publishing (2015)

https://www.facebook.com/StormCloudPublishing?fref=ts

ISBN: 978-1-925285-09-3 Smashwords Edition

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Junior Fiction: In his search for the second element, Jack meets the arrogant Diamonds, discovers why the World of Drac is dying and comes face to face with Septis.

Adventure quest, Children’s fantasy, Magic and Magical worlds, Hero’s journey, Fantasy creatures, Bullying and Ignorance, Conflict and Problem solving, Courage and Resourcefulness

Ages: 8 – 12 years

28, 396 words

Reading Level: 2.7

In this series:

The Virtues of Drac - contains all three books

Into the Land of Clubs (Book One)

Through the Land of Diamonds (Book Two)

Fallen Virtues (Book Three)

For my son, John, who gave me the idea and my daughter, Laura, who kept me going until I finished.

A big thank you to Melissa Cleeman for seeing more in this story than I ever realised I’d put into it and helped make it as good as it is today.

Thank you to AT Davidson for capturing the characters exactly as I saw them.

Contents

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Map

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Map

Back to top

Chapter one

The Land of Diamonds felt different. At the border of the Land of Clubs, it had looked the same. But the further Jack travelled into it, the more he could see it change. The trees thinned out and disappeared completely. The shrubs grew smaller, giving way to bare ground.

It was still light when Jack decided to stop for the night. He wanted to get a fire going and set up the tent before it got dark and cold.

The land was open and flat. He hadn’t seen a tree for the past hour or so. As he looked around, he couldn’t find a better spot than where he was.

He took the bag off and squatted down with it.

Know what I need, he muttered. Well, I need the tent.

He opened the flap and reached into the bag. He felt the parcel of food that he’d put in there earlier. Feeling around the food, his fingers touched canvas. He smiled, and pulled out the folded pile.

And I guess I need some poles and ropes and stuff.

He reached into the bag again. This time he felt nothing but the food. He took the parcel out and put it down in front of him, and tried again. The bag felt empty. There was nothing but the inside of the bag.

Huh? he frowned. I’m supposed to...

The bag should work. It had the tent canvas. It had the food. It should have whatever he wanted. He didn’t know if it was because he was in a different land or because he didn’t have the Clubs around to help, or that he simply didn’t believe enough.

He was about to look in the bag when he stopped. Seeing... not seeing... believing. He shook his head. All the Clubs had done was confuse him with all their talk. They were like a living version of his English homework – lots of words and not much meaning.

He giggled at the comparison.

What did his mum say? Clear your mind and read the questions properly. Well, he had no questions to read. Maybe clear his mind and remember the words.

I know that I need some poles and ropes to put the tent up.

He reached into the bag and felt some cold metal poles. He pulled one out, then another and another.

He grinned. That’s better.

When there were no poles left, he felt some rope and pulled out four coils. He put them aside and set about making a fire.

First, he looked for some rocks to make a circle around the fire. There were no rocks and he gathered dozens of small stones to make do. He kept two of the larger stones aside to start the fire. There was plenty of dry grass, but no wood. He piled some grass up inside the stones. Once he got the fire going, he could get a log or two from his bag.

He couldn’t make the stones spark and, though he looked in the places that the Clubs had told him, he couldn’t find any of the salt that would ignite.

Maybe I should have kept some of it, he muttered as he sat back on his haunches and wiped the back of his hand across his brow.

He turned to the bag.

I need stones that will spark and salt that will ignite.

He reached into the bag and was surprised to find it empty.

Not again, he grumbled.

He tried again; cleared his mind, knew what he wanted. But the bag remained empty.

He had the tent and he had food. Maybe that’s all the magic he was allowed in one day, he sighed. And maybe he should get on with doing things and not rely on magic. After all, magic had not put the tent up previously. The Clubs had to do that by themselves.

Jack underestimated how long the tent would take to put up. The Clubs had set it up in a matter of minutes. He spent an hour trying to put it together before it became too dark to see what he was doing.

No fire and no tent. At least he had the leftovers from lunch.

He spent a cold first night. He did have a blanket in his bag, however, but there was no shelter from the weather. He folded the tent canvas to make it soft to lie on, wrapped the blanket around himself and slipped inside the canvas folds. He used the bag as a pillow.

He couldn’t feel anything inside the bag, yet it felt soft. Maybe it was just the material providing a cushion between him and the hard ground.

He was exhausted. It had been a long day’s walk and he’d had a cold meal. The air chilled around him.

At least it doesn’t look like rain, he thought as he closed his eyes.

Septis came into his dreams that night. Not in the terrifyingly physical sense that she had last time. This time, it was more of a dream. He found himself heading to the Land of Spades and reaching the Far Hill. The strength of the diamond allowed him to climb the hill to Septis’ castle. None of her servants stopped him. They didn’t even seem surprised that he was there. Septis was sitting on her throne.

Have you brought me my diamond? she asked sweetly.

Jack nodded.

Come here, and give me my diamond. She held out her hand.

Jack took The Talisman from his pocket. He stepped toward Septis, offering her the diamond.

A sharp wind blew the canvas off Jack and whipped through the blanket. The sudden chill woke him. His arm was stretched out away from his body. His hand was open. The Talisman sat in his palm.

He jerked upright, the blanket falling from his body. He looked around apprehensively, shivering with the certain knowledge that Septis had invaded his mind and he had been about to give her The Talisman.

He closed his hand and withdrew it.

He was alone. He saw nothing; heard nothing. The land was still. Even the gust of wind that woke him was gone. He looked up at the sky. Was that funny little man from the antique shop really a wizard, and was he looking over him? The sky remained dark and untelling.

Jack wrapped the blanket back around himself, still sitting up. Then he pulled the canvas back over him. He felt the warmth come back and slid back down into it.

He was too on edge to be able to sleep any more. He wondered if he should move on rather than just lie there. The Clubs had taught him direction in both day and night. But he didn’t want to go stumbling around in the dark. And there was something more comforting in the day.

The sky eventually began to lighten. Jack could see the outline of the Great Hill. A dark shadow of a mountain against the slowly