by Lindsey Kelk
‘Ow!’ Cinders exclaimed, covering her head with her hands as the coins kept coming. Hansel scrambled to pick them up as they fell to the ground, rolling around at their feet.
‘Good work, Cinders!’ he exclaimed, stuffing his pockets full. ‘You’re getting better at this!’
‘Thank you,’ she replied, rubbing a sore spot on the top of her noggin. ‘Now it’s your turn to make yourself useful.’
Hansel did not need telling twice. Scooping up another handful of magical coins, he and Sparks raced off into the market, leaving Cinders and Mouse to lurk quietly on the edges.
‘If my mum was a fairy, then I’m half fairy too,’ she said, looking Mouse squarely in the eye.
He squeaked in agreement.
‘But Rapunzel said fairies can talk to animals,’ she added. ‘And not just Sparks because he can talk to anyone. I should be able to talk to you, Mouse.’
Mouse cocked his head to one side.
‘It would be nice to know what you’re thinking,’ Cinders sighed. ‘Almost as nice as it would be to find out who my mother really was.’
‘Hello, there!’
Cinders turned round quickly. She was sure she’d heard someone say something, but she couldn’t see anyone.
‘Down here,’ the voice said.
She dipped her head and saw a short, stout man standing in front of her. He had silver-grey hair and a tall, pointy hat on his head. He looked very kind with shining violet eyes, a large nose and a big beaming smile underneath a long grey beard that stopped somewhere near his knees.
‘Hello,’ he said again. ‘Were you just talking to your horse?’
‘Absolutely not,’ Cinders replied nervously. So much for not drawing attention to herself. ‘What sort of weirdo would talk to a horse?’
‘I don’t know,’ the man chuckled, stroking his beard. ‘You might get more sense out of a horse than some of the folks around these parts.’
Cinders smiled. He seemed nice enough and she missed nice people. He even reminded her a little bit of her dad, and she missed him most of all.
‘I was just having a chat with your pal back by the sausage stall,’ the man went on. ‘He said you were looking for some lunch?’
‘Did he now?’ she asked, looking out into the market for blabbermouth Hansel.
‘He did indeed.’ The little man nodded. ‘So I sent him and the dog back to my restaurant for a slap-up sausage feast. If you’d care to join us, I could walk you over myself?’
Before Cinders could say anything, her stomach rumbled so loudly that the man guffawed, clutching his belly with joy.
‘Blummin’ blumkins, would you listen to that? You must be starved!’ he said, still laughing. ‘No wonder your friends were after the biggest, juiciest sausages in the market.’
Just the thought of a sausage made Cinders’s mouth water.
‘Hansel and Sparks are already at the restaurant?’ she asked.
‘They are indeed,’ the man replied. ‘Probably tucking into their first plump porker as we speak.’
Cinders looked at Mouse. Mouse looked at Cinders. He didn’t seem completely convinced by this stout little man, but he was also a horse that used to be a mouse, so she wasn’t sure that he knew what he was on about anyway. Besides, she was very hungry and it seemed as though it might be a good idea to get out of the market square and away from those wanted posters.
‘All right,’ she said, sticking her hands in her pockets and giving the man a grin. ‘Where’s your restaurant?’
‘Right this way,’ he said with a huge smile on his face. ‘Follow me and don’t worry about a thing …’
A long, long, long way away, Joderick’s father, King Poderick Porenson Picklebottom, was not thinking about Cinders or Joderick, or even the Huntsman. He was sitting on his throne, playing a game on his mobile phone. The queen sat beside him on a throne of her own, reading a book she’d been looking forward to for ages. She wasn’t exactly thrilled that Joderick had gone missing, but it was nice to have a bit of time to herself.
‘Your Majesties!’
The doors to the throne room flew open and two pages appeared, flanked by four of the king’s guards.
King Picklebottom held up one finger for everyone to be quiet while he finished his game.
‘Score!’ he yelled happily before turning his attention to the pages. ‘Now, what have you got for me?’
‘We have news—’ began the first page.
‘About your son,’ finished the second.
‘Have you found him?’ the king asked.
‘No,’ said the second page.
‘But he was spotted,’ added the first.
‘By a baby bear,’ they chorused.
‘And did this baby bear provide any proof?’ the king asked, looking back at his phone. He was getting good at this game. If only he could manage one hour of the day without any interruptions, he might finally be able to get up to the next level.
‘No, Your Majesty,’ the pages confirmed as one.
‘Then he’s not getting the reward,’ the king grumbled. Ever since they announced Joderick was missing, he’d been spotted everywhere – down the supermarket, up a beanstalk, living in a shoe. It was all a complete load of tosh.
‘We believe the bear is telling the truth,’ said the first page.
‘He said the prince was looking for a girl called Cinders,’ said the second.
At last, the king put down his phone and the queen looked up from her book.
‘Cinders? CINDERS?’ King Picklebottom leaped out of his throne with a roar. ‘What else did he say?’
‘He said his mum offered the prince a sandwich,’ began the second page.
‘And sent him on his way,’ finished the first.
The queen gripped the arms of her throne so tightly, her fingers turned white.
‘Did they say what kind of sandwich?’ she asked.
‘It doesn’t matter what kind of sandwich!’ the king bellowed.
‘Yes it does,’ argued his wife. ‘Joderick likes his cheese sandwiches cut into triangles with no crusts, but, if it’s a ham sandwich, he likes the crusts left on and cuts it into squares and, if it’s a tuna sandwich, he’d much prefer it in a roll—’
‘That’s quite enough about sandwiches,’ the king declared as the four guards looked at each other hungrily. It was ages since breakfast and they all fancied a sandwich. ‘Where are these bears?’
The first page answered the king. ‘In the Dark Forest.’
And the second page added, ‘Near the Alabaster Tower.’
The king gulped. It was a long time since he’d heard talk of the Alabaster Tower. And even longer since he’d seen it.
‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ he insisted, resting back against his throne and putting on a brave face. ‘The Huntsman will find both Prince Joderick and that girl in no time. Now, who fancies a cup of tea?’
The queen didn’t look quite as confident as the king sounded, but she also really wanted to get back to her book.
‘If you’re sure, dear,’ she said, flicking through the book to find her page. ‘I hope he’s back by teatime. I don’t like the sound of my son accepting sandwiches from strange bears.’
‘I’m sure he will be, I’m sure he will be,’ said the king, waving the pages away and going back to his game.
But there was someone else listening in the hallway. Someone who was not quite as sure about things as the king appeared to be.
Margery, Cinders’s stepmother, curtsied at the guards and the pages as they trooped down the hallway, away from the throne room.
‘We need Joderick to come home to the palace and we need Cinders to stay far away,’ she said, speaking quietly to her dutiful daughters, Elly and Aggy. They were close behind her, as always.
‘We do,’ agreed Aggy.
‘We do?’ echoed Elly. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because, if the prince doesn’t come back, how can he fall in love with one of you and make y
ou his queen?’ Margery replied.
‘I don’t know,’ Elly replied, puzzled. ‘Is that what we want?’
‘It is,’ her mother insisted.
‘It is,’ Aggy agreed. She was quite excited about the idea of being queen. She’d already seen a nice white dress with lots of ruffles at the shoulders and it had royal wedding written all over it.
Her younger sister still looked a little confused.
‘But how will you convince Prince Joderick he wants to marry me or Aggy if he’s already decided he wants to marry Cinders?’ she asked.
Margery smirked and tightened the bow in her youngest daughter’s hair, pulling until Elly squealed.
‘You leave that with me,’ she said. ‘Just you leave that with me.’
‘This is a very odd spot for a restaurant,’ Cinders said, following the little man with the pointy hat and long grey beard down a dark alleyway.
Behind her, Mouse squeaked in agreement, trotting after her down the narrow passageway as quickly as he could.
‘It’s a secret restaurant,’ the man replied, opening a small, square door at the end of the alley. ‘If everyone knew about it, there wouldn’t be any sausages left for you and your friends.’
‘Fair enough.’
The door was so small, Cinders had to get down on her hands and knees to shuffle inside. Mouse stood watching her with interest.
‘It’s awfully dark in here,’ she called back.
‘That’s to keep everyone else away,’ he explained. ‘You don’t need to be able to see to eat sausages, do you?’
It was a good point. Cinders was so hungry, she could have eaten sausages with her eyes closed and her hands tied behind her back. She wondered what her stepmother would have to say about that. It probably wouldn’t be considered very good manners.
‘And these metal bars?’ Cinders asked, feeling her way around. ‘What are those for?’
‘Those bars are to keep you trapped inside, of course,’ the man replied gleefully, slamming the door shut with a loud
Mouse gave a loud yelp and sped off, cantering in the direction of the marketplace.
‘Trapped?’ Cinders grabbed the bars and rattled hard, but they didn’t budge. ‘Why would you trap me?’
She blinked as her eyes became accustomed to the light of the room – this wasn’t a restaurant at all! It was just a small, dark and dingy house and there wasn’t a single sausage in sight.
‘I saw you wishing up gold out of thin air,’ the man said, the friendly smile vanishing from his face. ‘Now you’re going to wish some up for me. You’re going to wish for more gold than anyone could ever imagine and make me the richest goblin that ever lived!’
So he was a goblin. Cinders had very much hoped their bad reputation had been exaggerated, but clearly not. The short stature, the silly beard, the tiny hands … she should have known.
‘I wish I was out of this house!’ Cinders yelled, closing her eyes and concentrating as hard as she could. ‘I wish I was back in the market with Hansel and Sparks and Mouse!’
She opened her eyes but nothing happened, so she tried again.
‘I wish I was back in the market RIGHT NOW!’
Still nothing happened.
‘You can keep going,’ the goblin chuckled, stroking his long grey beard, ‘but this house is just as magic as you are. It won’t let you wish for anything other than gold.’
Cinders bit her lip. That was not good news.
‘My friends will come and find me,’ she said, quite certain she was right. Sparks would know she was in trouble and Hansel might be a bit rubbish from time to time, but he definitely wouldn’t leave her trapped with a goblin.
‘How will your friends know where you are?’ the little man asked. ‘No one saw you come with me apart from that weird horse of yours, and although he’s run off he can’t exactly tell anyone, can he?’
Cinders was stumped. Stumped and stuck. The little man did a dance of glee round the room, his long, pointed slippers slapping against the flagstones. And then Cinders had an idea.
‘It’s just such a shame,’ she said with a big sigh, ‘that all my wishes seem to undo themselves at midnight. So any gold I wish for will disappear at the end of the day.’
The goblin stopped dancing and stared at the messy-haired girl.
‘Are you fibbing?’ he asked, narrowing his eyes to peer at her through the bars.
‘My dad taught me never to fib,’ she replied.
‘Well, that does change things,’ he said. ‘I suppose you’ll have to stay here forever.’
Cinders gasped. Well, that plan certainly backfired.
‘There has to be a way to settle this,’ she pleaded, giving him her sweetest smile. ‘Surely you wouldn’t really keep someone trapped forever and ever just so you can collect masses of gold.’
‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t keep someone just to collect gold,’ he agreed. ‘I intend to spend it on really cool stuff. Have you seen the latest FunStation? It’s got the best computer games ever! And, as soon as you start wishing for my gold, I’m going out to buy one.’
Cinders slumped down where she stood. There would be no wishing or talking her way out of this one.
‘There is one way to get out of the room,’ the goblin said with a mischievous grin. ‘If you can guess the magic word, it’ll break the spell.’
‘Will you give me a clue?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Certainly,’ he cackled. ‘The magic word is my name! Guess my name and you will be free. Until then, you’d better get wishing!’
When Joderick and Brian popped out of mid-air and landed in the middle of the market, no one batted an eyelid. Brian fluttered her wings, floating down to the ground gracefully while the prince fell right on his bum.
‘Where’s Muffin?’ Joderick asked, rubbing his rump. His horse was nowhere to be seen.
‘Oh, I sent her home,’ Brian replied, tightening the orange shoelaces on her pink trainers. ‘She wanted to be back in her stable by dinnertime, and I couldn’t quite see that happening.’
Joderick wasn’t sure what was more alarming: the fact that this fairy had had a conversation with his horse, or the fact that he was on track to miss his next meal.
‘Look at all these strange people,’ he whispered, gazing round the marketplace. He didn’t get out of the palace very often and, when he did, he was almost always with his family and the royal guards, which meant he saw practically nothing.
Brian looked at him, a little bit confused.
‘Strange? How are they strange?’
‘Well, you know …’ Joderick pointed at a green-skinned man with purple hair as he trotted by, walking a pink-and-yellow striped cat on a lead. ‘They’re all so … different.’
‘Different to you,’ Brian replied. ‘Everyone here is as colourful as a rainbow. To them, you’re the strange one. Boring, to be honest. Have you ever thought about doing something fun with your hair?’
The prince gulped as he noticed more and more people giving him shifty looks. He was a prince – he was used to being stared at – but normally people were cheering his name and taking his picture. Here, in this odd market square, no one looked especially pleased to see him. He stuck out like a sore thumb.
‘Maybe they wouldn’t be staring if you weren’t wearing that ridiculous neckerchief,’ Brian said, nodding towards Joderick’s ruff. ‘What’s the point of it anyway? It looks like you’ve thrown a lace doily round your neck. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone mistook you for a table and tried to place a cup of tea on your head!’
Sheepishly, Joderick tugged on his collar.
‘Or maybe they’re looking at me because of that,’ he said, pointing across the way and gulping with fear.
Hanging right next to one of Cinderella’s wanted posters was a huge piece of parchment, inscribed with the words:
‘I never should have brought you,’ Brian went on, muttering to herself. ‘No one is going to help me find that goddaughter of mine with you trai
ling around behind me. And honestly! Extremely handsome? I’m not sure about that, Noderick.’
‘It’s Joderick,’ Joderick replied, not sure whether to be offended or not.
‘I like Noderick,’ Brian said. ‘And I think we should send you home.’
But the prince wasn’t ready to give up just yet.
‘No!’ he exclaimed. ‘I really want to help Cinders. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had. I can’t just let the Huntsman catch her.’
Brian considered the young man. He seemed truthful enough, and it was very brave of him to trot out into the Dark Forest all on his own, but any one of these market traders would happily turn him in for a hundred gold pieces, and that would only make her job more complicated.
‘Do you think there’s something you could do to help me blend in?’ Joderick asked as a man rode by on a purple polka-dot giraffe. ‘Perhaps a disguise of some kind?’
‘I thought you’d never ask,’ Brian said with a grin. ‘Let’s have a go, shall we?’
With a flick of her wrist,
‘How do I look?’ he asked as the sparkles began to settle on the floor.
Brian stepped back to admire her handiwork.
‘I don’t see you winning any beauty contests, but you’ll pass,’ she said, fishing around in a handbag she produced from nowhere to pull out a mirror that couldn’t possibly have fitted inside. ‘Whaddya think?’
Joderick couldn’t believe it. The face staring back from the mirror was still his, but now his skin was a very fetching shade of navy blue, his eyes were neon green and his hair shone silver and gold in the sunshine. He looked up at the people bustling around him and no one in the marketplace gave him so much as a second glance.
‘I like it,’ he said as Brian slid the huge mirror back into the tiny bag. ‘Now, where shall we start looking for Cinders?’
‘Anywhere but here,’ Brian said, grabbing hold of Joderick’s arm and dragging him away from the middle of the square and off behind a stand selling dozens of different delicious-smelling cakes that made Joderick’s mouth water.
