One time, on a school trip... (The Thirteenth Stone)
"Ah, yes, the stone whisperers. Just a stone circle, really, wouldn't bother if it wasn't on the way. Except they've just got this new education centre, lottery grant or something."
"Wasn't it on the news?"
"Ah, yes. Terrific feat of architecture, sort of mini-millenium dome of the whole site with the circle is in the middle. Then there are lecture rooms and so on off to the sides and lots of interactive stuff. Should keep this lot quiet for a bit. You never know, they might even learn something."
---
It was a strange, twilight world in the dome. It was bright and sunny outside, now that the showers had stopped, but inside there were no windows, just puddles of light and one large splash from a massive skylight in the middle of the dome which illuminated the dozen standing stones. They weren't a circle at all, but rather a semicircle, and you couldn't get close enough to touch them because the area was cordoned off behind a waist-high railing.
Luke and Maria were at the far side of the dome, in a small area set back from the circular walkway around the stones. They were peering into an open area; there was a sign above the doorway: the King's Stone. There was a single standing stone in the area, tall and proud and encrusted with moss.
"It's just another stone," Maria said.
"Maybe it used to be in the circle," Sarah Jane said.
"It isn't a circle," Luke pointed out without turning around.
"But maybe it used to be and some of the stones got moved."
"What for?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know," Sarah Jane said. "Perhaps people took half the stones away or moved them, centuries ago. Used them for building materials or something. That's possible, isn't it?"
The stone standing alone in the semi-darkness was over two meters high, hewn from a pale, rock-like granite. There were speckles of quartz imbedded in the surface, glittering as they caught the light.
"Oh, wait a minute," Sarah Jane said sharply. "It's glowing!"
Maria sighed. "It's a slight, natural phosphorescence, that's why the lights are turned down so low in here, so you can see it. Tells you all about it on the side. Look."
"'A natural effect caused by the composition of the rock,'" she read. "Well, that doesn't tell you anything. And why is it called the King's Stone?"
...
"The stone were once knights who defeated a tyrant king in battle. The king tried to escape, but the knights chased him and cornered him here."
"Then they turned into stone?"
"It's just a story. Apparently, the knights knew the only way to keep the king prisoner and stop his evil reign was to invoke a powerful magic that turned him to stone. Then, to keep him in his prison, the knights also turned to stone, holding him forever as a prisoner by their power.
"It's a load of old nonsense, of course."
{The above has been snipped and adjusted for third person narrative, but is still essentially Justin Richards'.}
"Wasn't it on the news?"
"Ah, yes. Terrific feat of architecture, sort of mini-millenium dome of the whole site with the circle is in the middle. Then there are lecture rooms and so on off to the sides and lots of interactive stuff. Should keep this lot quiet for a bit. You never know, they might even learn something."
---
It was a strange, twilight world in the dome. It was bright and sunny outside, now that the showers had stopped, but inside there were no windows, just puddles of light and one large splash from a massive skylight in the middle of the dome which illuminated the dozen standing stones. They weren't a circle at all, but rather a semicircle, and you couldn't get close enough to touch them because the area was cordoned off behind a waist-high railing.
Luke and Maria were at the far side of the dome, in a small area set back from the circular walkway around the stones. They were peering into an open area; there was a sign above the doorway: the King's Stone. There was a single standing stone in the area, tall and proud and encrusted with moss.
"It's just another stone," Maria said.
"Maybe it used to be in the circle," Sarah Jane said.
"It isn't a circle," Luke pointed out without turning around.
"But maybe it used to be and some of the stones got moved."
"What for?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know," Sarah Jane said. "Perhaps people took half the stones away or moved them, centuries ago. Used them for building materials or something. That's possible, isn't it?"
The stone standing alone in the semi-darkness was over two meters high, hewn from a pale, rock-like granite. There were speckles of quartz imbedded in the surface, glittering as they caught the light.
"Oh, wait a minute," Sarah Jane said sharply. "It's glowing!"
Maria sighed. "It's a slight, natural phosphorescence, that's why the lights are turned down so low in here, so you can see it. Tells you all about it on the side. Look."
"'A natural effect caused by the composition of the rock,'" she read. "Well, that doesn't tell you anything. And why is it called the King's Stone?"
...
"The stone were once knights who defeated a tyrant king in battle. The king tried to escape, but the knights chased him and cornered him here."
"Then they turned into stone?"
"It's just a story. Apparently, the knights knew the only way to keep the king prisoner and stop his evil reign was to invoke a powerful magic that turned him to stone. Then, to keep him in his prison, the knights also turned to stone, holding him forever as a prisoner by their power.
"It's a load of old nonsense, of course."
{The above has been snipped and adjusted for third person narrative, but is still essentially Justin Richards'.}