English Short Stories For Intermediate Learners: 8 Unconventional Short Stories to Grow Your Vocabulary and Learn English the Fun Way!

Multiple-choice questions
Select one answer for each question
1. Ari is eighty years old, but he is:
a. considered an old person
b. considered to be a teenager
c. considered to be wise
d. none of the above
2. Denza and Ari are not humans. They are:
a. Lummps
b. Glowmen
c. horses
d. Sliwohs
3. Lummp cannot speak their language, but he can:
a. write it
b. sing it
c. communicate with them in English
d. use sign language
4. Humans come on horses. They are lost and looking for:

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a. someone to buy their gold
b. other humans
c. a town called Bird’s Field
d. Glowmen
5. Yardum says he was once:
a. a king
b. a thief
c. a baker
d. a Sliwoh

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Answers to Chapter 1
1. b
2. d
3. a
4. b
5. a

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Chapter 2
After riding all day, they arrived in the town of Hill Side. Hill Side was a
town of mountains and jewel miners. It was also a very dangerous town, full of
criminals. All of the jewel miners carried weapons to protect themselves from
thieves.
The sun had been down for hours. It was getting late and people were
looking at them.
“We must be careful here,” Ari said. “We should have gone around Hill
Side.”
“This way is faster,” Denza said. “Besides, no one is going to bother eight
large humans.”
Maybe not, Ari thought. But everyone will bother two Sliwohs, and Glowmen
never fight. Lummp is no help. We must stay with the humans at all times.
“We are tired,” Yardum said. “The horses need rest. So do I.”
“What, you want to stay here?” Ari asked. “Let’s keep going. We can camp
outside of town.”
“We have no camping supplies. Do you want to sleep on the ground with no
blanket or tent?”
“No, but--”
“Then we will rent rooms for the night,” Yardum said, riding toward a small
group of cabins. “Tomorrow morning, we will leave early, so you will not be
scared for long, little Sliwohs.”
Denza laughed, but Ari was not happy. Yardum and his men tied the horses
to wooden posts. Yardum walked to the main cabin.
“You said you don’t have any money,” Ari said.
The tall, bearded man in yellow turned. “What?”
“Back at Bird’s Field…you said you have no money.”
Yardum stared at the little Sliwoh. “That is true. What is your point?”
“How will you pay for the rooms?”

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The humans looked at their leader. Sadida smiled at Lummp who wrote a
“?” on his notebook. Ekin put his heavy hand on Ari’s shoulder.
“It is a good question, little Sliwoh,” Yardum said. “But don’t worry, I will
sweet talk them. I’m very persuasive when I need to be.”
*
Yardum was indeed very persuasive. He got them five large rooms. One for
himself, two rooms for his men, and one for Ari, Denza, and Lummp to share.
Denza took the bed. Ari and Lummp put blankets on the floor. At least, the
rooms were warm.
“I don’t trust him,” Ari said. “How did he get rooms with no money?”
Lummp wrote a note. “Maybe he threatened the owner of the cabins…”
“Yes, that is what I think,” Ari said. “He told the cabin owner that his men
would hurt them!”
“Keep your voice down,” Denza said. “You think Yardum is dangerous?
Then don’t talk so loud or he’ll hear you.”
“I’m only saying we do not know him. And now, we are spending the night
in Hill Side. This was a bad idea.”
“I agree,” she said. “Bringing you was a bad idea!”
Lummp laughed. Ari rolled over and tried to go to sleep.
*
The three were finally asleep when the door burst open. Dark figures had
broken the door and ran into the small room. Ari sat up, but was hit in the head.
He fell back down, crashing into Lummp. They heard Denza scream and saw her
being picked up.
Someone was kidnapping her!
Holding his bruised head, Ari got up again. The dark figures were not
humans; they looked like miners. Miners were shorter and rounder than most
humans. Their skin was very pale because they did not get much sunlight. Their
eyes were very big to help them see better in the darkness of the mines.
One miner held Denza and ran outside with her. His hand was over her

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mouth and she was not making any sound.
The other miner waited at the door for a moment. He looked confused. He
was holding something. He had taken Denza’s blanket.
Suddenly, Ari heard the sound of the humans coming. They would be able to
help!
“Miners have taken Denza!” Ari shouted. He saw Sadida and Ekin running
toward him. The second miner ran into the darkness and caught up with the first
miner, the one who held Denza.
In the dark, it was hard to see which one held her…and which held the
blanket!
Ari was chasing them. He pointed in their direction. “Go after them!” he
yelled at the two humans. “They have her!”
Miners were very fast runners. They were already far away. One went left,
the other went right.
“Which one has the female?” Ekin asked, running next to Ari.
“I cannot tell,” Ari said. “Come with me. We’ll chase the left one. Sadida,
go right!”
Lummp stayed at the cabin. Glowmen were extremely slow walkers, and
they never ran, but when Yardum and the other humans came, Lummp wrote
them the story of what happened.
“Do not worry,” the former king said. “My men will catch those monsters!
They will save your friend.”
*
Lummp waited with Yardum and the others. After an hour, Ari, Sadida, and
Ekim returned. Denza was not with them.
“I caught one of the miners,” Sadida said. “But he did not have the female
Sliwoh. He only carried a blanket.”
“Did he say where the other miner was going?”
“Yes,” the scarred human said, rubbing his fists. “I made him talk. The
kidnapper is taking Denza West to the sea towns.”

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“Why?” Yardum asked. “Are they going to Spring Field like us?”
Sadida nodded his head. “They will try to sell her there.”
Ari was startled. “What do you mean, sell her? She is a person, not a horse!”
Yardum’s blue eyes were very sad. “There is much you do not know about
the world,” he said. “You have never left Bird’s Field, have you?”
“It isn’t safe to leave,” Ari said.
“Why isn’t it safe?”
“Because bad things happen in the other towns…”
The leader looked down at his feet. “But, you don’t know what bad things,
do you? All you know is the world ‘is not safe’. But you don’t know why.”
“I never wanted to know why,” Ari said, crying. Why had he left his town?
He knew he was right to stay home! This was all Denza’s fault! And now…now
she was gone.
“I understand,” Yardum said. “But get dressed. We’re leaving now. You are
going to learn things you did not want to know.”

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Annex to Chapter 2
Summary
Ari, Denza, and Lummp ride horses with the humans. They go to the
mountain town of Hill Side. Hill Side is a dangerous mining town. It is late at
night, so they take rooms. They go to bed, but people break into the Sliwohs’
room. They take Denza! Ari alerts the humans, and they run after the kidnappers,
but the kidnappers escape with Denza as their prisoner.