SECRETS OF DWORL

Chapter 1 – TO BASTON

(N.B. Before you delve into Dworlish delights in chapter one, the Dworl Council would like to apologise for the odd illustrative note interrupting the flow of the first chapter of this document.  Consider them appetisers for what is to come.)

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   Yulan was the name of the girl who first made the staggering Dworl Discovery related in this document.

   Before the Discovery, Yulan thought she was just an ordinary girl, but naturally she was mistaken.  She didn’t know it, but she certainly wasn’t just anyone.

   Nevertheless, at the beginning everything was exasperatingly slow-moving, as beginnings can be very stubborn at times, and it certainly wasn’t all free-sailing.  Dworl isn’t somewhere you can simply stroll casually into like your local newsagent’s.  On the other hand, your local newsagent’s is probably no further away from you than Dworl is, and so you’ve most likely walked past it on many an occasion without even noticing.

   Yulan didn’t see things clearly at first either – she certainly wasn’t expecting Dworlish things to happen to her.  And neither would you, so don’t blame her.

   Goad, the Dworl Council’s faithful courier, whose letter is enclosed at the start of this document, had been observing her for quite a while.  He had been keeping a blurred eye on her (his other eye was still fast asleep) because she looked like a good candidate: a plucky type who wasn’t afraid of wasps or bees, or even black hairy spiders for that matter.  It didn’t look as if she’d be likely to panic.

   On the morning of that particular day, the day everything started, Yulan was sitting in the southern part of her world on an unusually baking beach - the sun generally prefers to keep undercover in those parts - her knees were pulled up under her chin, her toes were digging into the sand, and her wiry, sun-bleached hair was blowing about all over her face, slapping over her distant, grey-blue eyes.  What a glum look she had on her face!  There had to be a reason for it.

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   In fact, one reason was that her mother had just come back from a long trip abroad the night before, and had already announced early that morning that she was due to leave again the very same afternoon.  It was summer!  There was no school.  When was a girl supposed to see her mum if not now?!  She had things she needed to talk to her about!

   As she sat there, Yulan found unusually grim thoughts wrestling and stumbling over each other inside her head – an unpleasant predicament for a young girl of about twelve who doesn’t usually bother much with thoughts at all.

   In actual fact, that was what started it all off.  Her rampant thoughts had unexpectedly started calling on Goad long before she had even noticed them, and Yulan didn’t have an inkling o