Depths of Hatred

Young genius Lucius Dalworthy climbed from his Subterranean Tunneller, straightened his top hat, and strode into the underground chamber. ‘Surrender!’ he cried. ‘There is no escape for you now!’

Standing amid the steam and dust, Cressida Mandeville – his equally young and equally brilliant arch-enemy – raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s odd. I was just about to say the same thing to you.’

An evil grin crept up Lucius’s face. ‘Stupid lies, my dear friend!’ he smirked. ‘I do not care for what you do right now, because I am sure you know you will lose.’

‘Stupid lies, you say!’ Cressida laughed as she circled Lucius, pacing back and forth, as sweat dripped off her brow, her sword lingering in the air. The underground chamber was simmering with heat, as the Subterranean Tunneller’s engine rotated with an alacritous speed. It blazed like fire. Lucius’s beady pupils eyed his enemy like a predator. Cressida’s sharp angled face tensed in agony.

Neither knew what they should do. Then all of a sudden Lucius pounced forth with a humungous leap into the steam, and lunged at Cressida, locking her into a painful position. Lucius cleared his throat, bent down towards his enemy’s ear and whispered, ‘Sorry, my lady. But you just knew you couldn’t make the first move, right?’  Just as Lucius thought foolishly that he had just stopped Cressida from hurting him, she kneed him in the ribs, got up and punched him in the arm where he was wounded. Lucius winced.

‘Did you think I’m dumb enough to fall for your stupidness?’ she laughed.

Lucius stumbled back, pain creeping up all over his body. ‘You will regret all you’ve done Cressida!’ Lucius cried, as he retrieved his iron sword that had clattered to the ground. He hesitated, as he thought of what to do. Surely he could not give up now. Suddenly, the underground chamber shook furiously and ferociously. Both people sprinted out of the chamber immediately and tumbled rolling forwards on the hard solid concrete. Moaning and groaning, Lucius and Cressida shot back up like lightning, and continued their fight. Swords clinked against each other, tensing and wincing as the pain crawled up their nerves. Cressida lunged forward, knocking Lucius once again to the ground. She knew it wouldn’t be dead-easy to kill this vicious man she’d known for a long time – the boy she use to play with when she was young, the teenager that use to hang by her side when she was upset, and the man who was now at the tip of her sword.

Fear and pain was brought to Lucius’s eyes, frightened and afraid. ‘Please don’t kill me,’ he whimpered. But Cressida wouldn’t let him go this time. Cressida released her final blow, in shock that Lucius was holding the sword back with bleeding trembling hands. He unleashed his sword and held it at Cressida’s neck as Lucius had her sword on his.

‘If we die, we die together,’ they whispered.

By Florence Liu, Year 7 (Female)