Fiction: Group 4
Conquered
Discovery College (Secondary), Leonard, Alix - 15, Fiction: Group 4
he war had been long.
Elizabeth Leighton stood, leaning on the edge of the forecastle, watching the grey waves
hitting the bow of the ship. They had nearly arrived. She’d been able to taste the cool Asian air for
days now. They sailed in the mist, no land in sight, yet she knew that they were approaching their arrival.
Her head was heavy from the weeks of sailing through the oceans. Though stopping in the Raj for several
days, the swaying feeling and nausea hadn’t had time to fade away before they set back on for their journey.
She was sick of the waves.
It was mid-winter 1941, and they were on their way to Hong Kong. Though they tried to hide it
from her, Elizabeth was not deaf to hear all the sailors talking quietly about a Japanese invasion occurring.
She was an aristocratic woman, sent away from her country due to the danger the war posed to her family.
As Winston Churchill’s niece, that was expected. Her father had taken immediate action, by sending
Elizabeth and three of her other siblings away from Britain. They’d stopped at the Raj, but were quickly
forced to leave due to the anarchical instability. No matter where they went, shots were fired, people killed.
The world had become a massive battlefield: only those who could afford to move would survive.
“Land ahead!” cried a nearby sailor – indeed, Elizabeth saw, as she strained her eyes, a shape
forming in the thick mist. It looked like a rip on white paper, the edges not straight, their imperfections neat
against the pale sky. As they drew nearer, minor detail formed on the initial black stretch of land. The waves
lapped against a small port where they were heading, licking the sides of other small fishing boats squatting
the area.
They reached the docks minutes later. Stumbling down the ramp, Elizabeth took her first step on
Chinese land. She followed the troops towards the foot of the first mountain: there, a soldier stood rigidly,
eyeing them with utmost respect.
“Commander Dowding, sir,” said he, with a wave of his hand resembling a salute. Sir Dowding
bowed his head down slightly as a salutation.
“We are here with Sir Churchill’s nieces and nephews,” he said, vaguely gesturing at Elizabeth, as
well as another girl (Anna) and two boys (John and Chris). “I was ordered to bring them here so that they
can travel safely to Hong Kong.”
“Requested by whom?”
“Churchill himself,” Dowding replied. “As ex military commander, the Minister has given me this
special duty. I am to drop them off here as I head to the Americas.”
All four felt nervous as the Chinese soldier inspected them, then nodded curtly.
“We shall request a carriage immediately,” he said, beckoning them to follow him.
“They are to be accompanied by some of our men,” Dowding said loudly. The Chinese solider
turned around.
“So be it,” said he, frowning slightly. “But no more than three; there is limited space in the
carriage.”
Dowding picked out three of his best sailors, before bidding the four children goodbye. It was
strange to watch all of the troops turn away back to the ship; they had been their family, to some extent, in
the past few months. They didn’t have to wait long before the sound of an engine echoed down one of the
roads. A sizeable car drove into view just as the crew had finished re-embarking upon the ship. Elizabeth
followed her brothers and cousin into the automobile, slightly cramped as they tried to fit all seven in the
back of the car. She bent down, craning her neck, and saw out of the window, the ship sailing away from
the docks. Seconds later, its’ sails completely vanished behind the murky fog.
*
In all of the years to come, Elizabeth would never forget how she felt the first time she travelled through the
Chinese countryside. At first they passed through mountainous lands, peculiar little temples, travelling along
bumpy roads, gigantic steep hills, all the while overlooking forest-covered valleys far down below. Then
they came to lands that became increasingly inhabited, the grounds somewhat flattening as they reached a
wide respectable town named Zhanjiang. There, they found good roads, small rickety inns, and many
seafood trading posts. The villagers here spoke a foreign language and sang songs quite unlike what Elizabeth
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