Will's Letter

Dear people of Wherton,


I have wanted to write to you for a while but could not since I was on my journey to the White Mountains. You may be wondering why I left you without an explanation. Now it is time to explain.

Mostly it was because of a vagrant, his name is Ozymandias he had not been Capped and was free of the Tripods wrath. He told me that the Caps are “the means by which they keep men docile and obedient to them." It was a moment of truth for me. I had never realized that what seemed to be a ceremonial event was actually abduction. I also left you because of my cousin Jack. Jack was once my friend until he was taken from me by the evil might of the Tripods. After he was Capped he barely paid any attention to me and only the other Capped people. Capping changed him so he is now ignoring me and other people who are Uncapped. It made me understand that Ozymandias was giving me the chance of freedom.

When I left you I was forced to bring Henry with me, or he would have raised the alarm. I did not trust him at first but thought better after he helped me with my ankle when it was sprained as I ran away from our pursuers. I suggested he go on without me, saying “My ankle... I think it's broken. You'd better get on. They'll be here any moment." But Henry responded "I think they're here now.”
We found out that what we thought were pursuers were actually sheep that were just curious to see us running away from them. We had to hide in a barn so I could recover. We slept there for the night, but when I woke Henry was gone and I could not find my bag containing food and water in it. I thought, "Henry it seemed clear had abandoned me, and taken the rest of the food with him." But later I realized that Henry had never left me and had only gone to steal more food from a house down the road. I asked him about not leaving any food for me but his response surprised me because he told me that he had left the food on the shelf in the barn but I did not see it.

We then journeyed down to the dock and got on a ship called the Orion. This was the ship that would take us across the sea to the next country, so we would be able to walk to the White Mountains. Henry and I had met another person who was from that country but could talk English. His name was Zhan pole but we just called him Beanpole. He could not pronounce some words properly. For example, when he said, "matter" he pronounced it like "mat-air". Beanpole told us how he had taught himself English from a book and how his vision was not good so he invented a glass metal thing to put over his eyes so he could see better.

Beanpole showed us a horse pulled carriage called the Shmand Fair that we could ride a short distance but faster and closer to the White Mountains. We then traveled through one of the Ancient Cities where we found the skeleton of one of the people that lived in the city. He seemed to be inside of a type of vehicle, a horseless carriage. We then found metal eggs in an underground cavern named "Metro" that would explode seven seconds after you pulled the ring.
After resting in the city we moved on. We had begun to continue the rest of our journey to the White Mountains, but then the Comte and Comtesse of the country kidnapped us. They gave us luxury and good hospitality. We stayed for a while but then my friends decided that we should not stay much longer. I however had fallen in love with the Comte and Comtesse’s daughter, Eloise. I told my friends to go on without me so I could stay with Eloise. At first they were against it but I persuaded them that if I stayed and were Capped then I could remain with Eloise.
Later Eloise gave me some heartbreaking news. She was to move away forever to one of the Tripods Cities. She said that she was looking forward to it. But I really stopped loving her when I took the turban off her head. Women traditionally wear them but when I saw the cap underneath and on Eloise’s head I realized that even if she was nice and the Comte and Comtesse generous it meant nothing, nothing because they were just slaves. I continued on my journey, stealing a horse to make my escape.
A Tripod soon caught me, I thought it was dream since I was very tired but I’ll soon explain how I found out that it was all too real. I managed to find my friends but they were not surprised to see me. We were running out of food and began to realize that every now and then there was a Tripod about a mile away in the distance just standing there. Henry, Beanpole and I wondered how it had followed us, but then one day as we rested the others saw that I had a type of metal disc under my armpit. My earlier encounter with a Tripod was actually true and it had planted a tracking device on me. Beanpole decided we had no option but for it to be removed if we were to go on undetected. Henry put a leather strap in my mouth so I could bite on to it as Beanpole used a knife to cut the device out.
We were close to our destination now but our terrible journey was far from over. As we got closer and closer to the White Mountains we heard a very loud noise. The same Tripod had come back and was tearing trees out of the ground looking for us. We quickly hid behind some bushes but it came too fast and it saw us. Beanpole remembered that we still had the metal eggs so we started throwing them at the Tripod. But they had little effect on the Tripod’s legs. The Tripod came closer and wrapped me in one of its tentacles. It opened a mouth in the hemisphere and I blindly threw one of the eggs inside. I heard a hollow explosion and the tentacles came loose. I thought I would fall to my death but I held on to the tentacle for dear life and managed to survive, unlike the Tripod.
We continued our journey across a river but then we heard many other Tripods coming. They had probably sensed that one of their kind had been killed. We had no option but to hide behind a very small rock. I was terrified of being caught and Capped by the Tripods. We had to wait several days because the Tripods kept coming. Luckily we were right next to a river that gave us a steady supply of water.
After the Tripods stopped patrolling, we set off again and this time there were no obstacles and we could go straight on to the White Mountains.
My dear Wherton let me tell you what I have learnt about freedom. My long and troubled journey has taught me it is not an easy thing to get but it is all worth it now that I have it. It gives me the good sense of being unique and not the same as everybody else.
I hope my story can also mean something to you and you will make your own journey one day.
From, Will.