Trail of Treachery

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.’

Cressida’s long and dirty trench coat fluttered in the chamber, it even frightened Lucius. They stared at each other, wondering how this confrontation would turn out. Lucius took two small steps towards Cressida but stopped when she pulled out a shiny object; a revolver. ‘If you take another step, it shall be your last,’ she laughed and fired two shots near Lucius’ feet.

‘That gold does not belong to you!’ Lucius yelled confidently. His words seemed to aggravate Cressida; she fired two more shots near his feet.

‘I beg to differ. That gold was mine, and your father had no claim upon it!’ Her voice was rising in anger as she briskly walked towards Lucius.

‘That gold is mine and mine alone!’

Lucius then walked towards Cressida. She fired another shot near Lucius’s feet and then pointed her gun at his forehead, ready to fire.

– Two Days Ago  –

Lucius Dalworth lived at 44 Glenwire Avenue, a small and unrespectable neighbourhood for Victorian times. His family was poor and barely had enough money to keep food on the table. His father owned a chimney sweep organisation – he sold children to the rich as chimney sweeps. Lucius had always disliked his father’s company. Lucius had no brothers or sisters but he did have a very good friend. Cressida Mandeville. Cressida worked as one of his father’s chimney sweeps. The reason the family liked her so much was because she hadn’t died yet – most chimney sweeps die at an early age. However, Lucius’s reason for liking Cressida was very different to the others. Cressida was a young genius like him. They would spend hours designing machines that were way ahead of their time, like the Subterranean Tunneller. Only a few of their ideas had they actually built.

One grim morning, when Lucius was in his dark and dirty kitchen, his father told him that one of his chimney sweeps, Cressida, had discovered a large box of gold in one of the chimneys. He showed it to Lucius. They began to celebrate when Cressida burst into the room, demanding the box of gold. When Lucius’s father refused, Cressida pulled out a small revolver and shot him stone dead. She grabbed the box and sprinted out of the room, leaving Lucius with his dead father. Over the past two days, Lucius had been following Cressida’s trail of treachery.

– Two Days Later –

‘Before you kill me, I just want to say something, if I may?’ Lucius murmured.

Cressida smirked, shook her head and pulled the trigger. A loud metallic click filled the room. Lucius smiled and said, ‘I was going to say that you fired all six bullets just before – there’s not even one bullet left for me.’

Cressida yelled and cursed in fury at both Lucius and herself.

‘The police will be here in a few moments, will you come quietly, Cressida?’

At this, Cressida sat on the ground, curled up into a ball and began to cry.

By Stephen Poulter, Year 7 (Male)