The Story Tree

by Tom Percival

  Little Legends

  THE STORY TREE

  Tom Percival

  MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

  Contents

  1 Kidnap!

  2 Hatching a Plan

  3 Rescue

  4 Take Me to the Bridge!

  5 Dastardly Deeds

  6 Cold Spaghetti

  7 The Big Bad Wolf

  8 Rescue: Take Two

  9 Hubert Helps

  10 The Battle for Tale Town

  11 Troll Town?

  12 The End

  13 Happily Ever After

  1

  The air was cold, and the moon shone high up in the sky, like a thin slice of apple that had been painted silver. Or maybe it was more like a silver slither of sliced banana? Or perhaps some other piece of silver-coloured fruit? Who knows! Anyway, the moon was definitely there and the air was definitely cold as Jack crept around the edge of Market Square in Tale Town, darting from shadow to shadow as he tried to avoid Mayor Fitch’s guards. He was halfway across the square when a patrol marched out of a side alley and turned in his direction. Ever since Mayor Fitch had announced that Tale Town was at war with the trolls, the whole place had been on lockdown.

  Jack panicked and threw himself into a bush.

  protested the bush.

  ‘Shhhhhhhhhh!’ hissed Jack.

  repeated the bush angrily.

  ‘I can’t find another hiding place!’ whispered Jack. ‘The guards are coming! Besides, there’s plenty of room.’

  muttered the bush, which sounded like it was maybe agreeing, but wasn’t very happy about it.

  Jack waited until all the guards had left the square, then burst out of the bush, followed by a cross-looking hen.

  squawked the hen quietly.

  ‘Well, how was I to know you were hiding in there, Betsy?’ asked Jack. ‘It’s really dark and you’re kind of small. Did you see where Red and Wolfie went?’

  Betsy shook her head and squawked again.

  Now, talking to a hen is one thing, but having it reply is most definitely unusual. Then again, Tale Town is a very unusual place, where stories grow on trees, eggs can climb up walls (and fall off them) and hens can talk. Admittedly the only word Betsy can actually say is ‘what’, but even so, Jack always knows what she means and they more or less muddle through.

  ‘Pssssssst!’ hissed a lamp post above them. Jack looked up. A talking lamp post too? Things were getting ridiculous. Then he saw his friend Red clinging to the top of it. She grinned at him, swinging down to the ground.

  ‘Come on!’ she whispered. ‘I could see Wolfie from up there. He’s waiting for us on the path to the beach.’

  Red and Jack ran through the town without any more trouble and scrambled over the huge wall that Mayor Fitch was building all around Tale Town. It wasn’t finished yet but when it was, there would only be one gateway leading into the town, and that would be heavily guarded. It would have a drawbridge, a portcullis, vats of boiling oil ready to be poured out at a moment’s notice and a large, golden statue of Mayor Fitch. The statue wasn’t going to help with the guarding, of course, but Fitch liked gold and he liked himself. So there was going to be a gold statue, and anyone who disagreed would find themselves banished. There were posters everywhere saying that the wall was going to keep the trolls out. But it was also starting to make the townsfolk feel like they were being kept in.

  The main reason for this massive wall was to protect the Story Tree, which was the one thing that Mayor Fitch prized above anything else. Any stories that were told near it would grow on its branches, appearing as a shiny gold or silver leaf. To experience any of the stories on there, all you had to do was touch the leaf and you would be transported inside the story.

  It was Tale Town’s greatest asset and Mayor Fitch thought that the trolls were trying to steal it. Well, that’s what he was saying, but Jack and the others knew it was a lie. The trolls had actually helped to plant the Story Tree hundreds of years ago when trolls and humans used to live together in peace – until Mayor Fitch’s family had changed all that, by trying to keep the trolls out.

  Now trolls and humans were mortal enemies, and ever since Jack and his friends had helped a captured troll child to escape from Mayor Fitch, they had become outlaws and all their parents had been banished to Far Far Away. Jack and his friends had to live in a hideout in the woods just outside of Tale Town with a small green monkey called Alphege and a group of super-intelligent gorillas.

  ‘I still can’t believe that Fitch is cutting whichever stories he doesn’t like off the Story Tree!’ said Red, shaking her head. ‘That’s just wrong!’

  Jack nodded. ‘I know! Still, that’s how he’s able to get everyone in Tale Town to believe him. As long as he only tells his side of the story, then nobody knows any different!’

  They heard the secret signal that Wolfie had insisted they use to communicate – a wolf’s howl. Betsy had suggested that they should use a hen’s squawk instead but she had been overruled and was a bit grumpy about it. Everyone was used to that, though – Betsy was a bit grumpy about most things.

  ‘I still don’t know why we needed to do this in the middle of the night!’ muttered Wolfie, anxiously stroking the soft, lavender-scented fur of his tail. ‘It’s so creepy. I mean, there could be anything out there!’ He peered around at the tall dark cliffs unhappily. ‘Couldn’t we just have come down here on a nice sunny afternoon instead?’

  Red patted Wolfie’s arm. ‘We have to go through town to get down to the beach, and we can’t be seen in town now we’re outlaws! Now come on – Lily will be waiting for us.’

  Lily was a Sea Witch. Well a junior Sea Witch. Actually she was training to be a junior Sea Witch. To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t really very good at being a Sea Witch, but that was no fault of her own. Being a Sea Witch usually meant that you had to do all sorts of horrible things to people and sell them spells that wouldn’t really work – but Lily was far too nice for all that sort of thing and tried to help Jack and his friends whenever she could.

  Red, Jack, Betsy and Wolfie tiptoed down to the beach and Wolfie howled out the secret signal. The water rippled and Lily’s head rose slowly up out of the sea. When she saw Jack and the others she gave them a huge smile and cast the spell that would carry them all safely down to her underwater cave.

  The water near Jack started snaking through the air, twirling towards them like ribbons, when a sudden shout distracted Lily. The curling strands of water paused for a moment as six of Mayor Fitch’s guards came running across the beach towards them.

  ‘Hurry up!’ yelled Red to Lily and ran waist deep into the sea, grabbing Betsy and ushering Jack and Wolfie forward. The spell was building up to its full strength and the water was towering around them in a column, making a tunnel that would lead down to Lily’s cave. Just as they started to slide down the watery walls, two strong arms reached in and grabbed Wolfie’s shoulders. The arms pulled him back as Red, Jack and Betsy slid away, watching helplessly as they tumbled down to the depths of the ocean.

  2

  ‘Where’s Wolfie?’ asked Lily as the bubbles cleared and Red, Jack and Betsy were left bobbing up and down in the water of her cave.

  ‘He’s gone,’ said Jack quietly. ‘Fitch’s guards took him.’

  ‘What?’ gasped Lily. ‘We’ve got to get him back! Can you imagine Wolfie being locked up in prison? No scented candles? No fur-dryer? No fabric conditioner? He’ll never make it!’

  ‘Of course we have to rescue him,’ said Jack. ‘It’s just one more impossible thing we’ve got to do, along with all the other impossible things . . . Like freeing Anansi’s uncle and mum from the magic crystal on Hurrilan’s staff. Like getting all our parents back to Tale Town. Like proving
that Fitch has been lying about the trolls. Sometimes it just feels like he’s going to win and there’s nothing we can do about it.’ Jack’s shoulders sagged as he floated sadly in the water.

  Betsy swam over, grabbed his jumper and squawked in a very determined way.

  ‘Betsy’s right,’ exclaimed Red. ‘You’ve got to get a grip, Jack! We can’t give up. Yes, Fitch has taken away our homes, our parents and our access to Greentop’s Cafe’s delicious selection of musical milkshakes, but he can NEVER take away our HOPE!’

  As she spoke, stirring orchestral music started playing in the background and Jack looked around confused until he saw Lily floating next to an old record player. The music grew louder as Red continued – she liked making speeches.

  ‘We’ll make sure everyone can record their stories on the Story Tree – man, woman, troll, goat or incy-wincy spider! We will NEVER give up. Even if Fitch captures all of us. Even if he forces us to eat cold rice pudding and . . .’

  interrupted Betsy, looking unsure, and the music suddenly stopped.

  ‘Well, I’m sure it won’t come to that,’ replied Red. ‘But the point is, we don’t give up. Right?’ She looked round at her friends, who all nodded. Even Jack seemed to have perked up a bit.

  ‘OK!’ he exclaimed. ‘We keep going. It’s not like things can get any worse!’

  There was a loud chime from the magic mirror that Red kept in her pocket. She flipped the little case open, and a second later her reflection faded away and was replaced by their friend Quartz, looking pale and worried. Quartz was the troll child that Red and her friends had rescued from the Tale Town stocks. After they had managed to get him back to his family, Quartz had given Red a magic mirror so they could still speak to each other, even if they were hundreds of miles apart.

  ‘There’s going to be a troll attack!’ whispered Quartz’s reflection without even saying hello. He looked anxiously from side to side before he added, ‘On Tale Town!’

  ‘What? But how?’ gasped Jack, leaning in close to the mirror. ‘What about the Moonstone defences? Trolls can’t get past it – it makes them sick, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Well, yeah,’ continued Quartz, ‘but I think they’ve found a way round it. That’s all I know – Hurrilan’s planning an attack on Tale Town and he’s sending the whole army – this is going to be big!’

  ‘When?’ asked Red.

  ‘Tomorrow, at dawn,’ replied Quartz. ‘We’re coming down from the north . . .’

  ‘What?’ spluttered Jack. ‘What do you mean, “We’re coming down”?’

  ‘Hurrilan’s bringing everyone, all the trolls that were hiding in the Secret Mountain. Like I said, this is going to be big!’ There was a noise in the background and Quartz froze, his face going even paler. ‘Got to go,’ he hissed, and then faded away until the mirror was just showing Red’s reflection again.

  ‘OK . . .’ said Jack slowly. ‘I guess I was wrong.’

  ‘About what?’ asked Red.

  ‘Well, things can get worse . . .’ said Jack. ‘They just have.’

  Ten minutes later they were no closer to working out what to do – about any of it. Everything seemed hopeless. If Hurrilan did attack Tale Town, then they would never be able to explain that it was Mayor Fitch who had created this whole mess just to get more power!

  ‘Wait a minute!’ exclaimed Jack. ‘What if we went back in time and made Fitch decide NOT to become Mayor of Tale Town but to become . . . I don’t know . . . a hairdresser instead?’

  ‘Hmmm . . .’ said Red, with a look that seemed to say, ‘That’s one of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve ever heard in my whole life.’

  Jack’s cheeks flushed.

  added Betsy, and Jack shrugged grumpily.

  ‘Of course I don’t know how we’d do it exactly, I’ve only just had the idea.’

  ‘I should probably add that I don’t have any time-travel spells at the moment,’ said Lily. ‘Sorry!’

  ‘All right . . . It was only an idea,’ muttered Jack.

  ‘Just not a very good one,’ said Red, who was feeling a bit tired and cross.

  ‘It’s better than anything you’ve come up with so far!’ replied Jack.

  ‘Oh yeah?!’ yelled Red, her eyes narrowing. ‘What about the plan where we all dressed up like Big Bad Wolves and attacked Fitch’s palace?’

  ‘That was stupid!’ protested Jack. ‘Anansi’s the tallest and he’s only four feet tall! We’d look like Small Silly Wolves!’

  ‘Fine!’ shouted Red angrily.

  ‘Fine!’ repeated Jack, but a little bit louder.

  ‘OK, OK! This isn’t getting us anywhere!’ interrupted Lily. ‘Let’s take a break and go and check on the cutting from the Story Tree. I mean, that’s why you came down here, right? To check that it’s still growing? Come on, it’s just this way . . .’

  They swam through to another section of the cave where a small tree grew in a bubble that floated in the middle of a bright shaft of sunlight.

  ‘Whoa!’ exclaimed Red and Jack, forgetting all about their argument.

  ‘It’s grown really big!’ said Red. ‘Just as well! If Mayor Fitch carries on the way he has been, nobody’s going to be able to use the real Story Tree. Just think! All those stories – they’ll be lost forever if Fitch gets his way!’ She shook her head sadly. ‘And this cutting will be all that’s left of it.’

  ‘Still, it is doing pretty well,’ replied Lily, looking at the small tree. ‘That nature wizard guy has been popping in every now and then to check on it – like he knows anything about anything!’

  ‘The Green Man?’ asked Jack, looking confused. ‘But doesn’t he know everything about plants and trees and, well, anything that grows?’

  ‘Yeah, I suppose so,’ said Lily with a scowl. ‘It’s just that I offered to cast a spell to make it rainbow-coloured, or pink and fluffy, or something. You know, brighten it up a bit! But he said the best way for me to help was to never touch it, not to go near it and to try not to even look at it. I mean, I thought that was kind of rude, but I guess some people just like plain old boring trees.’

  Red’s eyes shot open. ‘Some people like trees . . .’ she said slowly, as though it was really important.

  ‘Er, yeah,’ said Lily. ‘Boring old ordinary ones—’

  ‘Some people like trees . . .’ interrupted Red, smiling slowly. She looked round at everyone as though they should know what on earth she was thinking.

  muttered Betsy.

  ‘Yeah . . . I think the shock of everything must have got to her,’ replied Jack, looking concerned.

  ‘You don’t understand!’ exclaimed Red excitedly. ‘Some people like trees. Like Wilf! The huntsman who always wanted to be a woodsman – remember?’ She looked over at Jack.

  ‘Yeah, he helped us rescue Anansi’s mum from that witch, before she got . . . you know, captured again.’

  ‘That’s right! And what else does Wilf have?’ she asked. Jack looked blankly at her and shrugged,

  ‘A slightly strange haircut?’

  ‘No!’ said Red, looking annoyed. ‘Well . . . yes, slightly . . . but what else?’

  squawked Betsy excitedly.

  ‘Exactly!’ Red was now grinning wildly. ‘He’s got a pet dragon!’

  3

  Red, Jack and Betsy left Lily’s cave and crept back through Tale Town to the hideout in the woods where their friends were waiting for them, along with Professor Hendricks and the rest of the gorillas.

  Jack and Red were telling everyone about what had happened with Wolfie, as well as their genius idea of getting Wilf to help – but nobody else seemed very convinced.

  ‘So, let me get this straight . . .’ said Anansi, frowning. ‘Wolfie’s been captured? And all Hurrilan’s trolls are going to attack Tale Town?’

  Jack nodded.

  Anansi frowned even more. ‘And while you, Hansel, Gretel, Ella, Cole and Betsy are going to rescue Wolfie . . . me, Rapunzel and Red are somehow going to stop a whole troll army?’ />
  ‘Yes!’ said Red encouragingly. ‘Along with Wilf.’

  ‘The ex-huntsman,’ said Anansi, not sounding impressed.

  ‘And his dragon!’ added Jack enthusiastically, sensing that none of this was going down particularly well.

  ‘Ah yes, I’d forgotten about the blind dragon for a minute,’ said Anansi.

  ‘She’s partially sighted,’ corrected Red. ‘Anyway, a dragon’s a dragon. I remember you were pretty terrified the first time you met her.’

  ‘Yeah, but I’m me!’ protested Anansi as he sat back in one of the rickety wooden chairs. ‘We’re talking about fighting off an army of trolls here!’

  Hansel, Gretel, Cole, Ella, Rapunzel and Anansi looked doubtfully round at each other.

  ‘So, how exactly is it going to work?’ asked Ella. ‘I mean, we’ve got the dragon, but what else?’

  ‘Erm . . .’ said Red, who hadn’t really thought about anything beyond having a dragon.

  ‘Ahh . . .’ said Jack slowly, trying to think of something sensible to say.

  Then Betsy squawked very loudly.

  ‘Exactly!’ said Jack. ‘What we also have is a plan!’ He looked relieved and quietly whispered, ‘Thanks, Betsy!’

  ‘Oh goody,’ said Rapunzel sarcastically. ‘For a minute there I thought it was all completely hopeless.’

  Jack glared at Rapunzel and continued: ‘Look, the trolls will be marching down from the north. Right?’

  Everyone nodded and peered down as Jack picked up a stick and scratched out a simple map on the floor. ‘So they’ll have to come over the bridge at Quidgely’s Pass – it’s the only way down from the north. Right?’ Again, everyone nodded.