Abbey Tomb

It’s so cold in here. I can see my breath freezing in the icy air of winter morning. We must have been sitting here for two hours now, on the near-freezing stone floor of the abbey, waiting. Waiting for life, or waiting for death. Waiting to see if the door, which right now is more deadly than a sword or a club, will open. Our breath seems as loud as the bells we ring at Christmas, our pulses like drums. Our silence and dread hangs over us like a black cloak.
And suddenly, our terror intensifies. As well as our breath, we hear the Viking long-ship as it pulls up to the shore, almost silently. In fact, we wouldn’t have heard it if we weren’t listening out for it. We hear the captain barking out orders in his strange, barbaric language, as clear as if he were inside the abbey of St. Mark, with its hard stone walls and musty smell, right now. We hear the rest of the raiders disembark, and then the footsteps begin.
They get closer, and closer, and louder, and louder, until they’re right outside the abbey door. This is the moment of truth. The thick, almost cream-like fog and our huddled silence are the only things protecting us now. And then, the footsteps go right past us and start fading, and fading, until they’re just a tiny rustle in the distance.

A small light of hope stirs in my belly. But to the other monks, God has saved us. They decide to ring the Christmas bells in celebration. I try to stop them, talk them out of dooming us all. But they won’t listen. The ringers go up, and the clangs go out.  In the freezing abbey that will become my tomb I kneel down, pray, and wait for the end...

by Eimear

I had a feeling in my gut that I would not live to see tomorrow. It was not a very pleasant feeling. As I was walking over to the stone wall surrounding the monastery my legs felt like  with each step they doubled in weight. I feared that whatever I was about to see when I peered over was not something I would like to see. When I approached the wall,, in the distance I could see a group of fierce looking men. They were getting closer and louder, I froze when it dawned on me; they were coming to get us.
                         After a moment of just standing there in fear, I got my wits back and ran inside to tell the other monks. All of them were shook looking. “I’m afraid our worst anticipations have come true”, I said carefully. No- one replied, we just stood there listening to the muffled sound of the Vikings coming.
                         Several minutes passed until one of my fellow monks whispered, “ Do you hear that? They are getting quieter and quieter!”. “ Indeed, you are right” agreed another. “ Well don’t just stand there, we must let everyone in the village know that those monsters are gone!”, said the Abbot. “No, I think we should wait a while, just to be safe”, I said. “How dare you question my authority! Father Stevens go and ring the festival bells. Now! ”, commanded the Abbot. “ Yes, Abbot ”, answered Father Stevens with a small voice.

I retreated to my room knowing that when the bells rung, the Vikings would hear them and turn back for us. When I heard the bells ring, an idea popped into my head. I got out a piece of paper and a quill. I wrote a letter to my family so that when they came to bury my body they might have an explanation as to why I was killed so brutally. Just as I had finish the end of my letter I heard the door being broken in. and the came the shrieks of terror. I decided that my last thoughts should be happy ones so I prayed and prayed while I waited

by Roisin M

They came by sea and are now prowling around outside the abbey.
 I'm talking of course about the vicious, bloodthirsty Vikings.  They came a few minutes ago and all us monks are now staring at the door as if it might prevent them from getting in.  Thank the Lord of all things high and mighty for covering us in this mystyfying fog.  We heard tales about the Vikings and how they cut you up and leave you for the mice.  O praise to the Lord I think they're leaving but they're still not too far away.

Oh no, the other monks are now agreeing to ring the abbey bells to thank God.  Why cant we just thank him in praise, if we ring the bells the Vikings will surely hear us and let the mice do terrible things with our body pieces.  Too late the bells are ringing and the footsteps  are getting closer.  Please Lord spare our lives or at least spare the abbots life.

The door has been broken in and the Vikings are killing everybody and I have just learned quite an interesting fact.  When your head seperates from your body you can still think for a few seconds more, but not too long.

by Daire P

‘Wake up, wake up’! I could feel someone nudging me. ‘Brother Stephen, Brother Stephen, Wake up’. I opened my eyes slightly. I saw Brother John staring down at me. I sat up and realised he was still in his nightgown. ‘What is it’ I asked quite annoyed about being woken up in the middle of the night. ‘Keep your voice down ‘ he said in a low whisper. ‘Why’ I said quite surprised at his answer. ‘Come down stairs and the Abbot will tell you’.

So we headed down stairs. I was beginning to get a little worried. I looked out the window that was placed half way down the stairs. I couldn’t see anything very clearly because the fog was thick as cream. All we could see was the outline of something very large in the middle of the water and smaller things coming off of it. ‘ I hope we aren’t being attacked by aliens or something’. I said with a giggle to Brother John. He usually laughed at my jokes, but the look of worry hit his face he moment I said the word attack. I decided to stop talking. But it would be rather hard since I am such a chatterbox.

‘Brothers’ I could hear from the abbot. ‘ Brothers we are under ATTACK’. All the Brothers gasped with fright. ‘Is it by the Vikings’ I said by accident. Everyone gasped and Brother Jim fainted. He looked quite lightheaded anyway. ‘Well done genius’ whispered Brother John.

I decided not to say anything else for a while. We all huddled together staring at the door. Everyone was very scared. We could hear voices coming closer. Everyone froze. Brother Jim fainted again. Then the voices stopped for a moment then disappeared. Everyone was relieved.

We could slightly see through the fog, the large figure and all the small ones leaving. After two minutes the Abbot said ‘Brothers we should pray to God for helping us through that difficult time, let us ring the bells in celebration’.

We all went up to the bell tower. We rang, rang and rang the bells with all our might. Then suddenly we saw the tall figure come back to land. Brother Jim fainted for the third time ……. What a surprise!

by Sarah S

‘The Vikings are here’, was whispered across the room. We were all just staring at the door, hoping the Vikings would not see the monastery through the thick creamy fog.  The smell of dampness filled the air, the sweat pouring off our forehead, our tonsure like paddling pools.  Not daring to blink an eye.
 
The last few monks came out of the scriptorium, Brother John was on his hands and knees, praying to God that he would spare us. The voices got louder and louder till they died down again and we could not hear a thing, we all blessed ourselves.

Brother John said we must ring the bells, they climbed up the spiral stairs constantly thanking God. They rang the bells as loudly as they could. As they were coming down the stairs, they heard a big BANG, the door fell in.

by Colin D