The Darlington at the Vale of Alderane

The Darlington

Once upon the evening of August 5, 1910, the crew of the brand-new ship, The Darlington, prepared to head down the coast to the Bahamas from Bird Island, North Carolina. They stocked the ship with pans, pots, clothing, food and anything else they needed for the long trip down the coast with no stops on the way. The next morning, at 8 am, captain Oliver Cheshire said to the crew, "ok men let the ship start moving to the Bahamas."

As the days and months went on, the voyage was going down without a hitch, with minimum bad weather and everyone was getting along very well. The crew and captain kept the Darlington heading straight for its course to bring the woodworks and rum back to to North Carolinas. But as soon as they were almost to the Bahamas and Oliver thought everything would be clear from all bad weather from this trip, he was informed that a category 3 hurricane was coming through the path that they were taking to get to the Bahamas. Oliver and his navigators, Trent and Clyde, pulled out the maps that were around their location and soon found an island called the Vale. They started chugging right along to the Vale while the waves were getting bigger and bigger while the rain was pouring on the deck and it started making it hard to work and see for them. The crew soon heard cracks of lightning and saw it hit the stern of the ship and damage it in several places.

Soon after that, The Darlington arrived at what was believed to be the Vale and the closer to the land they got Oliver saw a dock for them to secure the boat at and soon enough they had made it to the dock and the crew had secured The Darlington quickly. The crew prepared and bunkered down in the ship for the hurricane to pass through, and after what seemed like forever the storm seemed to have passed by them without any more problems to the ship. Oliver had got the crew to check all the damage that happened to the ship and to start working on it. While they were working, he then took Trent and Clyde and a few other men to check out the island.

As they headed into the tree line and spread out a little way, they then heard strange noises that sounded like wolves and hyenas laughing out at them. Not long after the noises started, an eerie fog started rolling down the hill that they were about to go up and soon they saw a few figures at the top of the hill and then bloodcurdling screams fill the air like some supernatural phenomenon from a book. Oliver yelled for his men to run back for the ship but as they started to head for the ship, the fog engulfs around them making it hard to see what was in front of them. The fog led them together and they soon saw the same figures coming at them before were know in front of them but appeared as glass figures and once they arrived the fog lifted away, and they were in the middle of a village facing a big tent with what looked like thrown in front of it. The glass figures that were around them had lead them closer to the tent. Where a tall glass figure that had a crown on his head slowly came out of the tent and sat on the throne and started speaking English and said in a loud booming voice, "I am king Alton and you and your men are trespassing on the Vale of Alderane! This will be the end of you and your men's existence once and for all! Who is your captain, for he is going to watch his men suffer and die!"

Oliver Steps up and says, "I am Oliver Cheshire. We did not mean to come and disrespect you or trespass, but a big storm was coming our way and this island was the closest place we could dock and not hurt our ship any more than it already is. We will be happy to leave your island in peace once our ship is fixed."

"Why should we trust you," the king says

"We don't have any weapons and like I said a minute ago we will leave and never come back and won't mess up anything that belongs to you and your people unless we have permission to.

The king said, "Fine, we will help but you must eat with us as your payment and then leave and never return!!"

"Yes king Alton, we can do that."

While some of the glass figures prepared the feast, the king sends some of his workers back with Oliver and his men to the ship. They make it back to the ship with the glass workers and the crew was shocked but recover from the shock once they saw what these figures could do with their ship. Oliver told the rest of the crew about getting to have a good hot meal as a payment. They were extremely head and cheered in excitement since they haven't had one since boarding the ship.

After the glass figures were done restoring The Darlington, the glass figures talked to Olivia's men while guiding them to their village for the feast. Once they arrived, king Alton said, "welcome, find a seat and let the feast begin!"

The king sent one of his men over and informed Oliver that he was to sit with him for dinner. Oliver followed the glass man to where the king was at and sat down and said, "Thank you so much for sparing me and my men's lives today. We truly appreciate everything you have done for us."

"Your welcome! Where are you guys going too?"

"We are heading for the Bahamas to pick up some trade."

"That's not far from our island."

"That's good," Oliver said, "If you don't mind me asking, why don't you trust humans? Did y'all have a bad experience with some of us before?"

The king answered, "yes some humans betrayed our kindness some time ago and have had a hard time forgiving outsiders that don't belong here."

"Oh wow! The thing about us is that if me and my men make a promise we keep it."

"That's what the others said last time, how do we know you are telling the truth" he said

"I am willing to respect all the wishes that you ask of us and so are my men. We can be an aid you and your people and are willing to help in anyway you ask."

"Maybe you can," The king says. They continue to talk for the remainder of the dinner and Oliver gains the trust of the king. King Alton gave Oliver and his men shelter for the night and made a treaty with them.

If Y'all liked this short story please vote and comment on it and if a bunch of people like this story I will write more like this one and they may be longer than this one