The Story That Never Ends

( Do we HAVE to change Rowan's name????
BTW- I like Lady Adelaide)

( I wish we didn't have to also. But we don't want to copy someones name. Yeah… Adelaide is soft but firm. Like lady Arwen. )

(Is Rowan a main character in another book? We could just change Quinn's and Arwen's names, but leave Rowans….)

( I don't know if he is the main character or not. But me and Jimmy were talking about names and he said that those names (lady Arwen, Sir Quinn, and Rowan) were characters in a book series and that we should not copy that. Besides Rowan's alternate names, I like the others ones.)

(What about "Randel" for Rowan? Just a suggestion… )

(EDIT: I found out the Feminine form for the name "Rowan" is "Rowanne"….)

(Yeah, one of the Knights of Arrethtrae books is called Sir Rowan. :( I wish we could keep it though. The name's just right! :) )

(Yes, I believe Rowan is the name of the main character in one of Chuck Black's Knights of Arrethtrae books. :) Has anyone besides me noticed that "Arrethtrae" is "earth terra" backwards? )

(Yeah, Chuck Black points that out in the discussion questions. :D)

( Good thought but that reminds me of Randel from Monsters Inc. who is the bad guy. :) )

( What about "Royal"? )

(EDIT: Hannah - oh dear!)

(Lol! Rachel, that sounds pretty good. :) )

(Good idea, but if his name is Royal, it would be sort of obvious who the prince is. :) )

(Yeah, that's what I was thinking… :D)

( I dont mean to be critical of all your names but royal interesting name for a royal prince? Sorry if I sounded mean!

BTW don't we need to think of 2 names for Rowan? One for his real name and one for his fake name? )

(Roy? Rudolph? (J?K on that one…) uh… let me think here….)
(So he IS the prince?)

(Yeah, that's what I thought but just decided to mention it anyway!

Hannah- you're not! :) )

(True, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe Rowan could be his real name, but through most of the story he goes by another?)

( What about…Jeremy? Malin? Robert? Weston? Just some ideas… )

( How about rouvon?)

( William? Rowaly? ROWAN?

(hmmm….I don't know if it fits….)

(William the Conquer!!! :D Oh, I wish we could keep Rowan!!! )

( What about Daniel? )

(Would anyone like to add? :) It might be a good idea to cut now to Lady Arwen and Rowan, unless someone has a good idea for somewhere else. :) )

Rowan, Lady Arwen, Sir Elviron, and the other knights and nobles of their party slowly tramped through the forest. William at the head of the weary party was leading them to one of his and Kathryn's favorite hideouts. Where they were younger, the siblings had discovered it on accident and used to pretend they were dragons roaming about their secret cave. Before leaving their previous camp, William had used his knife to cut a message to Kathryn in a tree. Careful not to give anyone else the information of their whereabouts, he had just said "At Liar's Lair", the play name Gradlem had given the little cave. He knew only Kathryn, Britton, Gradlem and himself would know the significance of the carving.
After a good hour of walking, they arrived at what would be their home for the time being. Each dropped down exhausted onto the ground and were soon fast asleep.
~~~~~~
Rowan awoke with a start, something had disturbed his sleep.
"Sir Quinn? Sir Quinn?" he quietly called out in the darkness to his dear friend, but after a moment of silence the dreadful truth reoccurred to his mind.
The young count choked back tears, "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."
He tried to compose himself, what was it that had troubled him so?
"Oh, I must have been dreaming," he though. "About that traitor Sir Myles. What was it he said? 'You are the prince'? What strange last words. The prince of what? And why was he looking at my sword when he said it? Did he say that because I won our sword fight and he thought I was the prince of swordsmanship?"
That seemed way too ridiculous to Rowan. There were many men far better at swordsmanship than he. He wouldn't even have been able to beat Sir Myles had not the traitor been so full of himself and already wearied from his first engagement.
"How strange."

(I have a few name suggestions, but don't have time right now to share. )

(Victor? Bryan? Dominic?

@Emily-great job!)

(Great job, Emily! Would anyone like to add to her excellent work? Jackson, Rachel, Hannah, etc. :) )

(I will as soon as I get an idea… :) )

(I will as soon as I get an idea... :) )

Same here…

(I will as soon as I get an idea... :) )

Same here...

Same here too!!!! :)

Rowan laid down, shut his eyes, relaxed his frame, and tried to fall asleep again. But those strange words kept running through his head "you are the Prince."

Suddenly, from his left came the sound of rustling leaves and a snapping of a twig. Rowan froze, and strained his ears to listen for another noise.

He glanced rapidly back and forth, watching the green walls of the tiny opening in the forest. The liar's lair, as William said, was a place that truly had an air of imagination and even enchantment about it. Although outside the green hedge-like walls the air was loud with the sounds of birds and forest-creatures, inside was quiet as a pond in the autumn. It was filled with soft grass and one or two trees. The knights and nobles of the party not on watch lay in a great circle around a smaller circle of arranged stones, within which burned the embers of a small fire. Fortunately, the small refuge could be left very easily, preventing such crises as had occurred the previous day at the cliffs.

In such a heavy atmosphere of quiet, Rowan could not help letting his mind wander. He thought about all that had happened, his mind once again resting on the tragic death of Sir Quinn. He thought about his unfortunate injuries throughout the past several days. Lady Arwen had applied a salve similar to that borne by Sir Quinn, and his wounds had nearly healed, but he still wished he could have been well enough to have better helped Sir Quinn.

He heard yet another sound, this time coming from a very close distance. Rowan' mind once again snapped to attention. Although the green walls were thick, he knew that very loud sounds could still carry through. He resolved to find out the cause of the sound, as it could very well have come from the Council's spies.

He first approached the two guards, William and the Baron DuBatz, and asked if they had also heard the sound. They said that they had, but they didn't think it anything but branches breaking as a result of the wind.

Rowan, unconvinced, asked permission to briefly exit the liar's lair. Baron DuBatz, who had gained great respect for Rowan after his conduct the day before, allowed him to find the cause of the sound.

"Be careful, Rowan" called out the Baron. "We need you to be present at our council of war later today. We cannot afford to lose you."

Rowan nodded, then quietly made his way through the hedge walls of the clearing and found himself in the forest. He again strained his eyes. For the longest time he saw nothing, but as his sight adjusted to the darkness, he thought he saw the form of a man lying face-down in the earth. Glancing around to make sure it was not a trap, Rowan approached the figure.

As he came nearer, it became clear to Rowan that the man was wounded. He rushed over and tried to see if he could help.

"Stay away, you vermin!" the man cried in terror, opening his eyes. "I will not be your servant. I serve the king and the Order!"

Rowan quickly replied. "Do not be frightened. I am a member of the Order. I am here to help."

The man smiled, then sighed. "Praise God I was brought here in my final ravings, but it is too late." He visibly gasped for breath. "Send this message to the king: all our western fortresses are destroyed. We are slain to the last man."

Rowan started in horror as the man closed his eyes and drew his last breath.

EDIT: I apologize if I appear to be posting too frequently. I love this, story, and sometimes I get carried away. Please let me know if you think I should slow down a bit. :)

( That was AMAZING! I think you should post as often as you think you should. You are a VERY good writer!!!!! Everyone is!!!!!)

(Great addition!!! And nooooo! Please, please don't post less frequently!!! Your posts are always so good and interesting, and you really keep the rest of us motivated!)

(@All: Just to put this in perspective, our book right now is approximately the size of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"! Isn't that exciting? :) )

(wow….that's unbelievable!!!!)

Wow, that is very neat. If you are making this into a book, when are you going to stop adding to it?

(That's absolutely incredible! It seems almost impossible that we could make a full-length book like this so quickly! Praise God!! :D I can't wait to see how this is all going to come together. :) )

(Me tooooooooooo!!!!!)

In the intense moment that followed, Evron gave the terrified Britton a quick, meaningful glance. Evron nodded, and Britton understod his intentions completely. At the top of his lungs Evron, yelled to the five convicts who had sided with him.

“Jump!”

They quickly and proptly obeyed his orders. The followers of Lord Trauis, using their blades, slew two of the six as they took a leapt off the forty foot wall. The others screamed as they fell in mid air. “Falling, falling to their deaths,” thought Britton. In that split second that he had before looked over at Evron he had seen him smiling. “How could he smile?” thought Britton again. He soon found out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four remaining men stood up sputtering and laughing.

“A water trough! What is it doing here in the courtyard? They must have changed since I have been here!” Said Britton, laughing hard. The men below laughed also.

“Hurry!” said Evron in a commanding voice. “We must follow the soldiers out the gate. Blend in!”

“Stop, you fiends!” yelled Lord Traius, bursting through the door of the tower and onto the wall where the men were stationed . Then to the exconvits manning the catapults,

“Stop them from getting out those gates!” They proptly replied by shooting the catapults at the escaping men.

The soldiers in the courtyard ran toward the gate as they heard Lord Trauis’ command. They knew he would stop at nothing to get his own way and to take their lives. Many men were killed by the catupults, but the others rushed out as fast as they could to avoid the same fate.

(That is AWESOME, Jimmy!!! I can't believe it's gone through this fast!!!!! :) Sorry I haven't had time to add - we're starting school soon… :( Still, I'll try to help as much as possible. Please don't stop posting - these posts are great…and, Emily, I really like your addition — it really helps add to Rowan's character. I really like the names Sir John, Count Warren, and Lady Adelaide. Lady Adelaide seems to be the popular one with everyone…should we go ahead and change it? If you want me to help with some of the changing of names, I can help… :) Let me know… :))

(Hannah - that's GREAT!!!!!!!!! :))

(@All: I think right now we are still at a slight standstill with regards to names.

Warren seems to be the most popular choice for Rowan, but the ideas for Lady Arwen and Sir Quinn are the most controversial.

Lady Arwen's top options are Lady Ariana and Lady Adelaide.

Sir Quinn's top choices are Sir Clifton, Sir John, and Sir Thomas.

What do you all think (it would be great if we were unanimous)? :)

(Any opinions? Or would anyone like to add? :) )

(You all are doing gr8! :)
@Jimmy- do u think is would be ok if we named Rowan Rowen? That's probably too close but I really don't like Warren for him. How bout Hector? Are there any other suggestions for his name?
Both those are gr8 for Lady Arwen
Of those names for sir Quinn I like Sir John the best but I still think we can and should find something better.)

(Okay - to solve the case of the names, here we go:

Vote for your favorite new name for Lady Arwen!
http://poll.pollcode.com/4x8no

Sir Quinn and Count Rowan coming soon!)

(Vote for your favorite new name for Count Rowan!
http://poll.pollcode.com/9b4ce)

(Vote for your favorite new name for Sir Quinn!

Voting for all 3 names will end on Monday, July 22, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. EDT.)

( I voted!!!! yay!

Thanks BBJ13! That is a great way to settle this thing!!!! how did you make that?)