Maisie had everything she could possibly want at paradise farm, fresh grass, clean air and lots of friends. She even has a private back scratcher!
But she would still often wonder what life was like outside of the farm. So, one day she decided to stop wondering and decided to go on an adventure…
Maisie, trying to not make it obvious what she was up to, walked up to the gate slowly and propped it open. She made sure nobody was watching and off she went.
She had trotted along a quiet path for about 10 minutes and still hadn’t seen anything interesting or exciting.
“How boring” Maisie huffed.
Just as Maisie was about to turn around and head back home, she heard a voice. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”
Maisie looked around but couldn’t see where the noise was coming from, until she looked down at the ground and saw a strange creature. The small, stumpy creature, with it’s blue eyes and green, spikey hair and button nose looked worried as it paced around in circles.
“What’s wrong?” asked Maisie.
“I’ve lost it, I’ve lost it, I can’t believe I’ve lost it. It was right here!” The creature exclaimed.
Maisie tried to calm the mysterious creature down and after a while he did begin to relax a little and explained that his name was Arnold and that he was an Ardamite from Ardamoo, a tiny little village hidden deep in the hills of Lancashire. And that he was in charge of retrieving the Lost Amulet of Ardamoo, which gave energy to the entire village. He had the Amulet, but now he’s lost it and he doesn’t know where!
“Don’t worry Arnold, together we’ll find that amulet!” Maisie was finally on her big adventure…
Maisie and Arnold began to retrace Arnolds steps, in the hope they would find the Lost Amulet nearby, but after searching and searching they just couldn’t find it anywhere.
Arnold had an idea. “I know! Why don’t we go back through the hill I came from? It’s a little further up that way and I definitely had it before I went in there!” Maisie nodded in agreement and they both set off.
They finally got to the hill and saw a small entrance into the hill itself. Due to Ardamites being fairly small creatures Arnold was able to squeeze into the gap with ease, Maisie on the other hand wasn’t quite as small…”I’m stuck!” Maisie shouted to Arnold. Arnold rushed back, cupped his hands and whispered “idiomolento” into them before blowing towards Maisie. Just like that Maisie became unstuck.
Amazed and confused, Maisie asked what Arnold had just done.
“Us Ardamites are rather good with spells and incantations, I simply made the gap slightly wider for you” explained Arnold. “It would have been nice if you’d done that BEFORE I got stuck” muttered Maisie. Arnold turned around, gave a little smile and they carried on their search for the Lost Amulet.
The pair arrived at a crossroads. “Left or right, Arnold?” asked Maisie. “Erm, well I came from the left, so we should turn right. Or was it the other way round? Oh shoot I don’t remember!” Maisie rolled her eyes – she had no idea where she was and was following someone who didn’t know where he was going “This is a disaster” she thought.
They decided to turn left and followed the path. Both of them were frantically searching behind and underneath rocks and scouring the ground to find the Lost Amulet.
‘CRASH’
Rocks began to fall from the roof of the hills they were in. ‘Crash Crash, Crash’. More and more rocks fell. The way back to the entrance of the hills was blocked and there was no way of getting back through the way they came.
“What are we going to do? We can’t go back that way now?!” cried Maisie
Maisie and Arnold would have to keep moving deeper into the hills.
‘CLING’
“What was that?” whispered Arnold. “I don’t know, I didn’t hear anything?” answered Maisie.
‘CLING’
There it was again. “I think I know what that sound is, Maisie” Arnold said. “What sound?!” Maisie responded. She was getting worried now, did Arnold know where he was? Did he really hear a sound that only he could hear? It all seemed very strange to Maisie. Before Maisie could say anything Arnold had zipped ahead “Follow me, I know where we’re going!” he shouted back to Maisie but before she could catch up with him he was already darting back with a huge grin on his face “I found it, I found it! Thank you so much for coming with me and for all of your help!” Arnold shouted as he jumped for joy, the small, shiny amulet in his hands.
“YAY finally” said Maisie, “But how do we get back? The path’s blocked?!”
“Don’t you worry about that” smirked Arnold. He put the Lost Amulet in his tiny straw bag before rubbing his hands together and whispering another spell into them “Travalingus”.
A blue, sparkly powder began to shower both Arnold and Maisie before everything around them went a bright white. Before they knew it they were out of the hills and in a place Maisie had certainly never seen before.
“What the?” asked Maisie. “I told you not to worry, I used a spell to teleport us here, welcome to Ardamoo!” Arnold said, with a huge look of pride on his face
Maisie looked around, the village was filled with Ardamites, just like Arnold. Their houses were all yellow with wonky windows, and little chimneys poking out of the tops. All of the Ardamites seemed really happy, waving to each other and pushing trolleys filled with various foods.
“Now, I could only teleport us to a place I know so I couldn’t send you home but if you come with me to see The Elder then she’ll be able to send you home!” Arnold explained.
Maisie followed Arnold one last time, into a room filled with antique paintings, gold and diamonds. They approached a throne that an older looking Ardamite sat upon. She had wispy grey hair and eyes that barely seemed open. Maisie noticed that next to her was an old staff that looked to have something missing from the top of it. “This must be The Elder” thought Maisie.
Arnold explained what had happened and passed The Lost Amulet to the Elder, who placed it into missing part of the staff Maisie had noticed earlier. The amulet began to glow bright green and both Arnold and The Elder began to smile.
“Now then, Maisie, I believe you need to be getting home?” Said The Elder, her voice, a lot louder than Maisie had expected, echoing through the room. “Approach the staff and I shall send you home, but not before we give you this for all of your help” The Elder handed Maisie a small stone “If you ever want to see us again, whisper the word “Ardamoo” whilst holding this and you shall be brought here. You will always be welcome.
“Yes Maisie, hopefully we can do something that doesn’t involve getting stuck in hills next time!” Arnold said excitedly.
Maisie approached the staff. “Travilingo maximilio” Whispered The Elder.
Once again, everything went white and before Maisie could say goodbye she was back on the farm. It was starting to get dark out but a few of her friends were still out grazing.
“Where have you been Maisie?” Sally asked?
“Oh erm, no where” Maisie said with a smile…
