Vocabulary Animoto:Amiable

Vocabulary Animoto:Exodus

Vocabulary Animoto:Sacrosanct

Hierarchy Chart

This is the feudal system that the used in the middle ages. Mostly like the time Will is living in.

Wordle

The White Mountains

Background Information

Salutations, My name is Will Parker. I am thirteen years old, and live with my mother and father in a lovely town named Wherton. My best friend, also my cousin, is named Jack. He just recently saved me from a major beating from my other cousin, who absolutely hates me. His name is Henry.

If you're wondering why I was about to get a whooping here's how it all happened. I took the Watch out of the drawer in my father's bedroom, which is forbidden, and wore it outside. When Henry saw it he tried to take it away. Although he is the same age as me, he is quite more muscular and taller than I. Luckily Jack saw the fight and gave the Watch back to me. He then helped me put the watch back into place, so no one will ever notice that I took it. I will be sad when Jack becomes a man at the capping, for he's the only friend I have. It's only for a year though, for I will become a man, with Henry next year.

Capping Day

Today all boys and girls who are now the age of fourteen are going to be capped. When my family and I went to church this morning, for today is a holiday, we listened to the typical preaching of the rights and duties of manhood. This time Sir Geoffrey didn't preach about womanhood because no girls were going to be capped. In fact Jack is the only person to be capped in the whole village today.

After church we went to stand with the rest of the village in the streets to wait for the arrival of the tripods. People capped and uncapped watch. Also the Vagrants watch. The Vagrants are people who the capping does not work on. It seems that the Vagrants just wallow in their own thoughts all the rest of their lives.

As the tripod came, a huge dome of metal with three legs, a loud stomping sound was heard. Sir Geoffrey bowed down to the great monster. One of the tentacles then swooped Jack up and he went inside the large silver dome.

As we went to the Capping Feast, Jack was returned. He looked the same except for his shaved head and metal cap on his head. We all celebrated his becoming of a man and gorged ourselves on the Great Feast.

The next day I took some time alone and thought about the capping. It was mostly an aspect of life. Everyone got capped, but I didn't understand why the tripods had the right to take us away and cap us, let alone why they did it. What difference would it make if we had caps on our head or not?

Ozymandias

Today as I was in the den that Jack had had passed down to me, after the capping of course, and some one came in. A Vagrant named Ozymandias had been following me. I had met him a few days a go when he came wandering in to Wherton. He was a Vagrant and was obviously capped. He started to talk to me and was very friendly, but as soon as my father came to know that his son was becoming friends with a vagrant he wouldn't let me go near the Vagrant House. The Vagrant House is a large building where the Vagrants live in, until they move on to the next village.

Ozymandias asked me if I knew anything about being capped, I answered that I knew most of it. The tripods shave your head then put a silver cap on your head. He told me I was very wrong. I learned that, first, Ozymandias wasn't a Vagrant, he wasn't even capped at all. The piece of metal that he wore was taken from a dead body. He explained that when you are capped the tripods then have control over your mind. He then told me of a place where there were no tripods, it was called the White Mountains. He gave me a map that showed the way to the mountains and also gave me a compass. I now am ready. Ready to make my journey to a land where there are no tripods. A journey to the white mountains.

Healing

Last night as Henry and I were making our journey to the white mountains, Henry thought that someone was following us. As we broke into a run a stone flew out of under my shoe, and I lost footing. My ankle twisted painfully and I collapsed onto the ground. I heard the footsteps coming closer and then as I tried to get away a piece of wool rubbed against my face. We had been running from little, harmless, white sheep. In this darkness we had not noticed that we were in the middle of a sheep pasture. My foot was throbbing so hard that I new it would take more than one day to heal.

Along the way we had seen an abandoned cottage. Henry gave me a fire man's lift, stopping every so often to rest. When he plopped me down on a pile of hay I conked out.

The next morning I groggily woke up and looked around the cottage I was in. Then I noticed that I was totally alone. Henry was nowhere in sight. Then I looked at the spot where I had dropped my stuff and nothing was there. That no good rat had gone off without me and had taken my sack with all my food. Then I heard some one calling for me. When I looked outside Henry was there. It had turned out that he had gone to town to steal some food. He had taken my sack to carry stuff in. Actually Henry might not be that bad after all.

As I lay on my bed of hay I think about my journey that I am going on. I wonder what it will be like with no caps and no tripods. I know it will be a very different life. A life in the White Mountains.

The Strange City

Today as we were making our way to the south, we came upon a great city. Even though it had been abandoned long ago, you could see that many people had lived there. There were the remains of bodies scattered through out the city. Every now and then we caught a glimpse of a shining white bone coming out of the soil. Everywhere we looked we saw fallen over trees and vegetation growing on the walls of buildings. There were many shops and we ventured in to many of them. Inside we saw boxes that used to hold goods such as fruits and vegetables. In some shops there were still dummies with ancient cloth hanging from their bodies. While Henry and Beanpole, a boy our age that we met along our way, was in a different shop I found a shop where there were many shiny chains with things hanging from them and an assortment of rings and many different watches. I decided not to tell them about it and picked out a watch for myself. It fit to the size of your hand, so anyone could wear it.

Once Beanpole found a tunnel leading down and went inside. There was a sign that said metro, whatever that is, hanging from the opening. As we ventured inside, the larger tunnel broke into smaller ones. As we were going down a smaller tunnel, that led off the main one, Beanpole stopped abruptly. In front of us was a large metal machine that looked like a Schmadd-Fair, a machine that ran on rails and were drawn by horses. Inside were seats for passengers and a space for cargo, so this carried goods and people. There was also metal eggs that exploded with a bang when you pulled a ring on the top. Along those was a thing with metal barrels and a metal finger in a semi-circle. Beanpole was a scientist and thought that this machine was like the Schmadd-Fair, but instead of being pulled by horses it was pulled by a big kettle of some sort.

After quite a while we came upon a monstrous church. On it were flying buttresses and strange creatures that seemed to stare upon you. It was quite a feast for our eyes. As night approached we started to seek for shelter. We then found a house that was on a higher level, so nothing would come in. There was a picture of a beautiful lady hanging on the wall and we supposed that she once lived here. Among some other items were a piano and a chess set. The next day it rained, so we stayed inside and played some games of chess. Henry tried to defeat Beanpole, but had no success. I tried and had similar results. I then challenged Henry to a match because I thought I had done better against Beanpole than he. In about twenty moves he defeated me, and I was angry. For the rest of the day I was in a grouchy mood and didn't have much of an appetite either. I eventually fell asleep feeling sick, but didn't think much about it, and that night I swear I hear phantom music coming from that piano.

Escape

As I was riding Aristed out of the castle, I saw the motionless tripod standing in the horizon. Thinking nothing of it I rode on. I was trying to catch up with Henry and Beanpole further on. We had decided that they would leave during the confusion of the tournament and I would follow afterward. Forgetting about the tripod I felt the ground beneath Aristed feet shudder. As I looked back I saw the tripod's tentacle lower towards me, I tried to urge Aristed to gallop faster, but I was no match for the metal giant. The tentacle wrapped around my waist and I was lifted right off of the horse's back. I saw the ground get smaller and smaller as I felt my self being lift up. All my chances were gone now, I was going to be capped for certain, and then I would lose my life, my free life in the White Mountains. Then everything went black.When I woke up, I felt grass in my face, and saw Aritsted stamping the ground next to me impatiently. The last thing that I had remembered was being picked up by the tripod and being taken inside it. That second I felt my head for the metal of the cap, and surprisingly didn't feel it. I wondered why it hadn't capped me, but dropped the question. I rode Aristed at full gallop the whole day and finally caught up with Henry and Beanpole. We hid Aristed's saddle and let him free before continuing on our journey.

We walked for many long and tiring days, and slept uncomfortably during the short nights. I then noticed a tripod in the distance and alerted the others. Being far away we didn't care much about it. The next day we saw another tripod, but this time closer. The next day it was there again, and we were set on the thought that it was following us. We tried to hide from it many times, but it didn't work. One day as I was lying down Beanpole found a metal thing under my arm. We thought it was a tracking device and the tripod was following me with it. Beanpole studied it and said that he could cut it out, so I let him. During the surgery I was in excruciating pain and tried not to scream. I hope, more than anything, that life in the White Mountains is worth all this.