Troublesome Dublr’s
When they had been traveling for some time, Erin felt a tug on her Poncho. She turned to look at her brother.
“Erin, I’m hungry,” said Bryn. “Can we stop to eat some of the food that Amah Sampan gave us?”
Erin looked behind her brother. “Are you hungry too, Sean?” she asked.
“Ya, kinda,” said Sean.
“Okay,” Erin said, “but let’s not stop for too long. It’s getting darker, and Gladen said we’ll need to make good time if we want to get to the Willamax’s house by morning.”
With this, Erin pulled gently on the reins to slow Swift Song’s progress. The world began to go by at a less frantic pace as the big horse began to slow down. And, as he slowed, his song began to grow quiet. By the time he reached a gentle trot, he no longer sang at all.
Erin waited until there was a small clearing beside the road and steered Swift Song into it. The four travellers dismounted as the horse began to graze on the tall grasses. The wind was gusty, and there was more of a mist coming down now than a heavy rain. The three young people each found a log or a stump to sit on. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it was better than trying to eat while riding.
“I sense a stream nearby,” said Hyla. “I’ll just hop over to it.”
“You’re not thinking of sneaking off and leaving us are you?” asked Sean.
“Believe me,” said Hyla, “I wish I could, but I promised Gladen. And that’s a promise you keep. The truth is, I don’t eat food that you eat. So I need to find some of my own.”
“Okay,” said Erin, reluctantly, “but don’t be gone long.”
Hyla mumbled something and hopped away into the forest. Meanwhile, the three young people began to look inside the small food sacks that Amah Sampan had given them. The sacks were small, but like others they had seen, they were much bigger on the inside than on the outside. Sean squinted as he looked inside, then put his hand in and drew out a piping hot bowl of soup in a fancy china bowl. The bowl sat on an equally fancy plate with chunks of cheese and bread ringing the bowl. Despite the bumpy ride on Swift Song, not a drop of soup had been spilt. The other two looked on in amazement, then pulled out exactly the same meal from their own little gray sacks. They each set the soup plates on their laps and looked at each other.
“How are we supposed to eat this?” asked Erin. “We need spoons.”
Erin and Sean both looked into the sack but couldn’t see anything. Then they tried to reach inside the sack, but could feel nothing. Bryn, seeing that the other two were having no luck, turned his food sack upside-down and shook it over his soup bowl. From somewhere inside, a big silver soup spoon dropped out and plopped itself into the soup as if it had been placed there. The other two did the same, then all three began to eat their hot dinner. They didn’t realize how cold they had become until the delicious soup began to warm them. None of them had tasted anything like it before; it was deep orange and smelled of strange spices. But each mouthful tasted better than the one before. Soon there were the sounds of satisfied eaters as they concentrated on their warm dinner. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t hear someone sneaking up behind them.
“Hello,” said a funny little voice.
The three young people jumped and nearly spilled their soup. They turned to look at a small round person wearing a bright red jacket over a bright green sweater. It also wore bright blue pants, and on its head was a bright yellow toque. If they hadn’t been so startled by the funny little person, they probably would have found him, or rather her, or maybe it was a him, comical.
“Who are you?” demanded Erin, trying not to laugh.
“I sssaw you sssitting there,” said the colourful person, “and thought I might join you.”
Its eyes were small and sharp for the roundness of its face, and its mouth had very big lips and a not very nice smile on it. But its voice was definitely strange. It was very high, and it pronounced its s’s with a great deal of sss.
“I suppose you can sit with us,” said Erin, looking at her two companions for agreement.
“Sure,” said Sean, shrugging his shoulders.
Bryn only nodded.
“No thanksss. I prefer to ssstand,” said the colourful person in his/her high voice.
Bryn was looking at it with suspicion. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Tick,” it said.
The three young people introduced themselves, but Tick just kept looking at Bryn.
“What do you want?” asked Bryn, getting a little irritated by Tick’s stares.
“Sssome cheessse would be nissse,” said Tick, with his big grin growing a little wider.
Bryn took a piece of cheese from his plate and passed it to Tick, who grabbed it quickly and ran a few feet away to eat it.
“Bryn,” said Erin in a whisper. “Don’t give him your food. We may need it.”
Bryn looked toward Tick then at his two companions and said, “Well, he kind of scares me.”
There was a rustling from Tick’s, direction and the three of them turned to look. To their surprise, Tick was now not alone. Standing right beside him was its identical twin, right down to the clothes it was wearing.
Both the Tick’s looked at the young people, and the one on the left said, “Have you met my sssibling? Hisss name iss Tock.” And both Tick and Tock grinned broadly at them.
Sean now turned to Erin and Bryn and whispered, “Now I’m getting a bit scared.”
There was another rustle from the direction of the twins, and when the three companions turned to look, they saw not two, but four identical twins.
The first two twins looked at the young people and grinned even more broadly. They said in unison, “Have you met our sssiblingsss. Thisss isss Tick and Tock too.”
“I think we should get out of here, Erin,” said Bryn.
“I know, I know,” said Erin, standing up and putting the rest of her dinner back in her sack. “Put your stuff away and see if you can find Hyla.”
All three of them quickly got ready to leave, then started calling Hyla’s name. In the meantime, they couldn’t help but notice that the Tick and Tock siblings were just standing grinning at them.
“Maybe we should leave without him,” said Sean. “Maybe he can catch up.”
“No,” said Erin. “We need Hyla, and he could never catch up to Swift Song.”
She looked at Bryn and Sean and added, “Look, I’m scared too, but…”
As Erin said this, there was an even louder rustle from the direction of the twins. They turned to look, and suddenly there where eight of them.
A chorus of high-pitched voices said all at once, “Have you met our sssiblingsss? Thisss isss Tick and Tock and Tick and Tock and…”
The three young people began to yell for Hyla with panic in their voices.
In between yells, Bryn said, “I’m really getting scared, Erin. I think we should just go.”
But now there were twice as many Ticks and Tocks saying, “Have you met our sssiblingsss,” and the young people were almost surrounded by them.
“This is getting really scary,” said Erin. “What are we going to do?”
Suddenly there were even more of the siblings.
“Ya, I’m scared now,” said Sean looking at all the brightly coloured Ticks and Tocks. But just as he said that, their number doubled again. Now there were sixty-four!
“Do you hear barking?” asked Bryn over the sound of the Ticks’ and Tocks’ voices. “I think I hear dogs barking.”
Erin, whose face was twisted with worry, looked at her brother and shook her head. “What are you talking about?”
“I hear dogs barking,” said Bryn defiantly.
“I do too,” said Sean.
Erin strained to hear over the noise of the many twins, and sure enough, she could hear the sound of dogs barking, and not very far away.
Suddenly, pushing their way between the many siblings, three dogs ran toward them. The first of the dogs was huge and black. The t
hree young people started to move back as it charged toward them, but it passed right by and stood in front of one of the siblings. The next dog was smaller and red and also charged passed them. It jumped up on the back of the black dog and stood staring at the same sibling. The last dog was quite small and gray. It too went past the three companions, and then, like a circus dog, it jumped up on the back of the red dog. It was high enough now that it stood eye to eye with the colourful sibling.
“No one here is scared of you!” said the smallest dog, in a sharp clear voice. “Do you hear that? No one!”
With that, the three young people couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be far fewer siblings.
“Look how tiny I am!” continued the little gray dog. “And I’m not scared of someone like you! Am I?”
Now there were even less siblings.
“And those three over there,” the little gray dog pointed at Erin, Bryn, and Sean with its snout, “they’re not scared of you either! Are you?”
This last comment was directed at the three companions, who didn’t need any encouragement. Almost in unison, the three said, “No, we’re not scared of you!” And, right before their eyes, all but one of the remaining siblings just vanished.
The three young people marched up to the last sibling and shouted, “We’re not scared of you, either!”
The nasty smile on the last siblings face turned into a very unhappy frown. Its shoulders slumped and it made a rude noise, then it turned and trudged back into the forest where it had come from.
They all just stared at the disappearing sibling for a moment, then the big black dog turned to look at the three young people and as a result, all three dogs were now facing them.
“Well done!” said the little gray dog in his sharp, commanding voice.
“I’ll say!” said the medium-sized red dog in a very British accent.
“Yup,” said the black dog in a low slow voice. “Ya caught on ta that quick, ya did.”
The three companions just stood for a moment staring at the three talking dogs, then Erin said, “Thank you for saving us. But who are you? And who were they?” She pointed in the direction that the last sibling had gone.
“We’re wardens for this part of the Great Forest,” started the little gray dog.
“Gladen sent word that you chaps would be coming this way and to keep an eye out for you,” said the red dog.
“And them things,” said the big black dog, “they’re just dumb old Dubl’rs. They’ll never really hurt ya. They just like to scare the pants off ya, that’s all.”
“They sure did…,” said Sean.
But before he could continue, the little gray dog shushed him. “Mustn’t encourage them!” he said, then he jumped down from the red dog to the ground.
“We best be off now, you chaps,” said the red dog as he also dropped to the ground. “Can’t be shilly-shallying when you’re a Warden. Very important job, you know!”
“Nice meetin’ ya, kids,” said the black dog. With that, all three dogs took off at a run and were gone in minutes.
Erin, Bryn, and Sean just stared in amazement as their three rescuers disappeared into the forest as quickly as they had arrived.
“Thanks again,” said Erin, even though she knew the dogs couldn’t hear her.
“Ya,” said Bryn, still staring wide-eyed.
Suddenly they heard a rustle behind them, and they jumped, expecting the return of the Dubl’r. But it was just Hyla.
“Boy, are you guys every jumpy,” he said, hopping toward Swift Song. “Shouldn’t we get going? I had a great dinner. Lots of tasty dragon flies. How about you?”
Erin turned to look at the other two. “Should we bother telling him?”
“Na,” said Sean. “He’ll just laugh at us for not knowing who the Dubl’rs are. Let’s just get going.”
All four remounted Swift Song and within minutes were flying down the Forever Road. The rain was picking up again, and they had to tighten their ponchos and squint against the oncoming drops. It should have been pelting them even harder with the speed they were traveling, but for some reason even the rain was made gentler by the great horse’s amazing song.
With the rhythm of Swift Song’s gallop and the soothing tones of his song, Erin could feel herself growing sleepy. Behind her, she could feel the heavy weight of her brother who seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep. She made an effort to stay awake and pulled her brother’s arms tighter to ensure that he didn’t fall. When she peered around to check on Sean, she could see him looking back at her, also fighting the urge to nod off, while Hyla seemed to be in a deep sleep, bouncing up and down on the rump of the great horse and holding on to the back of Sean’s poncho.
A great deal of time passed as Swift Song and his mounts flew along the Forever Road. Soon the darkness of the storm was enhanced by the darkness of the coming night. It became harder and harder to see more than a few horse lengths ahead, but Swift Song never slowed his pace. Nor did he falter or stumble in the dark. And, try as they might to stay awake, all four of the riders were soon sleeping deeply, their fear of falling off the great horse outweighed by the soothing tones of his magical song.
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The Adventure of the Willamax Page 4
