by Roger Hurn
‘You’re a big wuss,’ muttered Ritchie as he threw a bath towel at Will who stood dripping great puddles of water onto the shower room floor. ‘And now I’ll have to mop up after you.’
Will pulled a face. ‘I know not what a wuss is,’ he said indignantly, ‘But, i’faith, thou art a craven gallybagger.’
‘Yeah? And you’re a total doofus!’
‘Devil damn thee for a puttock. Thou mewling, swag-bellied clotpole!’
Ritchie felt he was being outgunned in the insults stakes but he hit back with, ‘Neb off, you gusset.’
Will didn’t even flinch. ‘Thou errant flap-mouthed whey-face!’ he spat.
The exchange of insults might have got out of hand if Lizzie hadn’t knocked on the door and urged the boys to hurry up. Ritchie opened the door a crack and Lizzie pushed a pile of clothes into his hands.
‘They’re for Will to wear.’
Ritchie saw that his favourite T-shirt was amongst them.
‘He’s not having this,’ he protested.
‘Yes he is so don’t argue. Now give me his old rags and I’ll put them in a plastic bag and dump them in the bin. And don’t hang about. Mum and Dad will be home soon and we’ve got to get Will and Alice safely up into the den before they are.’
When Will emerged five minutes later dressed in Ritchie’s clothes, Alice erupted into gales of laughter at the sight of him. He, for his part, was outraged to see his sister wearing trousers and no covering for her hair.
‘Sooth, it is not seemly for a maid to wear breeches,’ he said. ‘I command you to don womanly garb.’
‘She can’t,’ said Lizzie, ‘I’ve just thrown her womanly garb in the bin so get used to it. Now, Ritchie let’s get these guys up to the den.’
The four children raced up the stairs into the room called the den. It was a loft conversion that had served as a playroom when Ritchie and Lizzie were younger but was now where they kept their computers and did their homework. On the door they had pinned a sign that said, ‘No Admittance to Parents’ and it was a house rule that their Mum and Dad didn’t come up into the den without permission. It seemed like a good place to hide Will and Alice.
***
Chapter Five
The children settled down on the large beanbag chairs and Lizzie shared out the chocolate bars she and Ritchie kept for refuelling when they were working. She had to stop Will from biting into his before he removed the wrapper.
‘The silver paper kind of makes your teeth go all funny,’ she said. ‘Trust me. You wouldn’t like it.’
Ritchie sniggered. Will scowled, his eyebrows tangled like two furious black beetles, and he was about to say something when his sister gave a cry of pure joy. She had had her first taste of milk chocolate.
Will shot her a look of disgust and shook his head. Then he sniffed the dark brown bar suspiciously before taking a nibble. His eyes nearly popped out of his head with delight and he attempted to stuff the whole bar into his mouth at once. Ritchie and Lizzie grinned as Will and Alice almost wept with pleasure as they gorged themselves.
‘Blimey,’ said Ritchie, ‘I don’t suppose they get much chocolate in the Middle Ages. Hey, we could make a fortune if we could find a way of travelling back through time and selling it to the kids there.’
‘That’s what we’re going to do,’ replied Lizzie.
‘What sell chocolate?’
Lizzie sighed, ’No, dummy. We’re going to find a way to travel back through time so we can rescue Alice and Will’s friends and take them home.’
‘Yeah, right. Seems like a big ask to me.’
‘Well, we can start, as you suggested, by asking Alice and Will where the Piper took them and how they got there. The Piper must be some kind of time traveller.’
‘So how does that help exactly?’ asked Ritchie.
‘Don’t know.’ Lizzie looked thoughtful then her face lit up. ‘But that’s not the point. The point is how they got here! They escaped and did it without him so, if they can do it, then so can we.’
Ritchie wasn’t convinced. ‘But they made a bit of a mess about which year they were going to. If they try again and we go with them we could end up back with the dinosaurs.’
‘Then you’ll be right at home, won’t you,’ snapped Lizzie.
By now Alice and Will had finished their chocolate bars and were watching Ritchie and Lizzie argue. Will was sucking his teeth loudly. He held out his hand. ‘More sweetmeat, I beg of thee.’
Lizzie smiled at him. ‘Certainly,’ she said. ‘When you’ve told us your tale.’
***
Chapter Six
Will nodded but he turned to Alice and asked her to do it. ‘She has the knack of telling tales. Sooth, she tells many to my mother about me and none are to my advantage!’
Despite himself, Ritchie couldn’t help grinning. ‘Blimey, mate, perhaps we’ve got more in common than I thought!’
By now the children had grown used to each others’ accents and found that they could communicate with each other quite easily. It was as if their brains were somehow filtering out the unfamiliar words and supplying the right meanings so that they heard each other speaking normally.
Alice told them how they had followed the Piper out of the town and into the woods.
‘We were all so happy,’ she said. ‘My heart was full of song. We danced and skipped while the Piper played his merry tune. Then I felt my limbs grow heavy and my sight began to fail. A white mist swirled up from beneath the trees and swallowed us. It was clammy and chilled me to my bones. I screamed but then the mist was gone and we found ourselves in a strange place. We were still in a forest but not the woods of home.
The Piper bowed mockingly before us. “Welcome to Elfhame,” he said. Then he put his flute back to his lips and conjured up a new tune. This time the notes seemed to flow like a chain around our necks binding us together. We had no choice but to follow where he led us.
We dragged our feet through that haunted wood until we came at last to its edge. Across a meadow we saw some farm buildings. They looked low and mean and my heart fluttered in fear for I could see that they were to be our destination.
The Piper strode on and we, like helpless sheep, ran behind him. When we drew close the Piper gave a shout and a man with a grim, cruel face came out of the farmhouse. He was not pleased when he saw us. He cursed the Piper for a fool.
“What need have we for children?” he snarled. “You were sent to find the beast not these brats. Do you have it?”
The Piper’s face darkened with fury. “Don’t speak to me as if I am your skivvy,” he said. “I do not answer to you.”
The man laughed. It was like two rocks rubbing together. The sound of it squeezed my heart and I was very afraid.
“She will have your hide when she discovers you’ve returned without the beast,” he said nastily.
Ritchie butted into her story. ‘What beast was he talking about?’
Alice hunched her shoulders in puzzlement.
‘I know not but the Piper didn’t have it. He told the man that when he arrived in Francheville it was plagued with rats. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to make some easy money by ridding us of them.
The grim faced man swore at him.’ “Do you mean to say you have risked the quest for the sake of a bag of gold?”
“It was hardly a risk,” replied the Piper. “I knew I could do it and the half-lifes would be so grateful they would fall over themselves to pay me and then never notice as I stole the Crystal Beast from under their noses.”
‘Who are the half-lifes?’ interrupted Lizzie.
A shadow passed across Alice’s face. ‘I think the Piper means us. I don’t believe the Piper and his kind are human. They are faery folk.’
‘No such thing,’ said Ritchie. ‘They’re most probably aliens or something.’
‘Whatever,’ said Lizzie frowning at her brother. ‘Go on, Alice. What happened next?’
‘Well, the man’s face grew purple
with rage. Then he shouted at the Piper, “but they didn’t pay you did they?”
‘The Piper hung his head and said that was why he had to punish the people of Francheville by taking their children.
That only seemed to make things worse, continued Alice. The man shook his fist in the Piper’s face.’
“It’s Hamelin all over again, isn’t it?” ‘He was beside himself with rage.’ “And just what are we supposed to do with this gang of whelps?”
“We can sell them, like we did before,” ‘replied the Piper quickly.’ “There’s always a market for children.”
“Yes but this time it’s not just you and me is it?” ‘shouted the man.’ “Her Ladyship wants the Crystal Beast and nothing else. Well, my friend you can tell her what you’ve done. She’ll be here shortly and I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when she finds out.” ‘Then he spat on the ground by the Piper’s feet and turned on his heel and stormed off back inside the farmhouse.’
‘ “Rasna, be reasonable,” ‘the Piper called out to the man’s retreating back but the man just slammed the door shut without another word. The Piper looked as if he was about to take to his heels but he saw us watching him. His thin face twisted into a scowl and then he herded us into a ramshackle barn and barred the door. Before he walked away he called out,’ “Don’t fret my little ones. I may be in trouble but, let me assure you, your situation is a thousand times worse!”’
***
Chapter Seven
‘What a nasty piece of work,’ said Ritchie.
‘You can say that again,’ agreed Lizzie. ‘And that Rasna sounds just as bad.’
‘But he was as nothing compared to the Hooded Lady,’ said Will. ‘When she heard what the Piper had done she reacted with all the fury of a banshee.’
‘What happened?’ asked Lizzie.
‘Well, we were left alone in the darkness of the barn for some hours. It was a miserable place. The floor was covered in rotting straw and the damp seeped into our clothes when we lay down to rest.’
‘We despaired,’ said Alice. ‘We knew we were in a land of lost souls and feared for our lives. We huddled together and wept.’
‘Not I,’ said Will stoutly.
‘No, not you,’ agreed Alice fondly.
‘I was determined to escape so I hunted around and, at last, I found a rusting scythe behind a pile of sacks in a corner. I snatched it up and I saw a chink of light between two of the planks in the wall. I forced the blade into that narrow space and tried to prise the planks apart.’
‘When we saw what Will was doing the rest of us all crowded round. My brother is strong and before long he had widened the gap until there was just room enough for us to wriggle through one at a time.’
‘I squeezed through first,’ said Will, ‘as it was the strength of my arm that made the opening. Then Alice followed me as was her right as my sister.’
‘But after that things began to go amiss,’ said Alice sadly. ‘We heard footsteps and angry voices coming towards the barn. The children left inside began to panic and they all tried to scramble through the opening at the same time. The result was that none of them escaped as each blocked the others.’
Alice and Will’s faces were pale and their eyes dark with sorrow as they recalled the terror of that moment.
‘We knew that we would be caught if we stayed out in the open,’ said Alice, ‘and the safety of the forest lay some distance away.’
Will nodded his head. ‘I wanted to run across the open ground and trust to luck that we would make the shelter of the trees before we were spotted, but Alice doubted she had the speed to accomplish it.’
‘I had seen that a barrel stood against the side of the barn. I bade Will to use it to climb up onto the roof. He did so and then hauled me up after him. We both lay on the sloping roof clinging on with our fingers and praying that no one would look up and see us.’
‘You must have been terrified,’ said Lizzie.
‘We were.’ Just the memory of their awful predicament was making Alice tremble.
‘Not I,’ said Will.
‘Yeah right,’ sneered Ritchie. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t just use your thick skull to batter your way out of the barn.’
Will looked hurt. ‘Alice is a girl. It is fitting that she should be afraid. I am a boy. It would be shameful for me to show fear.’ He stared hard at Ritchie. ‘Though I suspect you may well have wet your drawers had you been in my place.’
‘You cheeky …’ Ritchie started to lunge towards Will but Lizzie pushed him back.
‘Leave it,’ she snapped. Ritchie flopped back into the beanbag chair and glowered at Will who glowered back.
‘Forgive my brother,’ said Lizzie. ‘It’s just that times have changed and girls aren’t the weaker sex anymore.’
Alice patted Will gently on the arm. ‘Were we ever? Though, in truth, I think it has always suited men to believe so.’
A puzzled frown crossed Will’s face at this remark. Ritchie stopped sulking and smirked at him while Alice and Lizzie raised their eyebrows at each other.
‘Anyway,’ continued Alice. ‘We could hear everything that was said in the barn. The Piper and his companions discovered the gap in the wall and drove our friends back from it with blows and kicks. Rasna demanded to know if any of our number had escaped. He threatened to kill them if they didn’t tell him the truth and so someone blurted out that Will and I had slipped through the gap.’
‘It was that traitorous wretch, Simon Mugglesford. He’s always hated me.’ Will’s eyes burned with anger.
Ritchie opened his mouth to say something but Lizzie shot him such a murderous glance that he quickly shut it again.
‘Be that as it may,’ said Alice, ‘Rasna, the Piper and their companion came hurrying out of the barn and stood right beneath us. They thought we had escaped into the forest.’
‘Who was their companion?’ asked Lizzie. ‘Was it the mysterious Hooded Lady?’
‘Yes,’ said Alice. ‘She was clothed in a large, loose cowl like a monk. A raven, black as jet, sat on her shoulder and its wicked beak glinted sharp as an assassin’s dagger.’
Alice fell silent for a moment as the memory filled her with terror. Tears gathered in her eyes. Will reached out and touched his sister’s arm. Alice seemed to draw strength from his gentleness. She gulped down her fear and continued.
‘We couldn’t see the Lady’s face for it was swathed in shadows but her voice was as cold as the North wind in winter. She used it to lash the Piper.’
“This is all your fault,” ‘she told him.’ “You must return to the world of the half-lifes and fetch me the Crystal Beast. Fail me again and I will rip out your heart and feed it to Loki.”
‘At this the raven screeched and croaked,’ “Give me his eyes. Give me his eyes.”
‘The Hooded Lady reached up and smoothed the bird’s feathers with her milk white hand.’ “You shall have those tasty morsels my pet if this wretch disappoints me once more.” ‘She spoke sweetly to the raven but her words were like icicles coated in honey.
The Piper fell to his knees and promised faithfully that he would succeed. The Lady lowered her hand to his head and stroked his hair with her long, slim fingers.’ “Be sure you do, my dove. Be sure you do.”
‘I thought I heard the Piper sob but then Rasna reminded the Lady about us.’
“What should my brother do about the brats who’ve given us the slip?”
‘The lady’s reply was simple.’ “Find them and kill them,” she said.’
***
Chapter Eight
The air in the den was quiet and still. Then Lizzie cleared her throat. ‘I think I would have fallen off the roof if someone had said that about me.’
‘Truly, I almost did,’ admitted Alice. ‘The wood I was clinging to was rotten and I clenched my fingers so hard that it crumbled and I slid down the roof towards its edge. Luckily Will was nimble witted enough to reach out his hand and hold fast to mine. But, o
f course that put extra pressure on him and he began to lose his grip on the roof.’
‘How did you stop yourselves from falling?’
‘We didn’t. We slithered slowly down the roof and then tumbled to the ground.’
‘How come they didn’t catch you?’ asked Ritchie.
‘Because by now Rasna, the Hooded Lady and her evil familiar, the raven, had gone back inside the barn while the Piper was striding off into the distance towards the forest. We knew we could do nothing to help our friends so we decided to follow the Piper. We thought that if he was returning to Francheville then we could too. We planned to tell the mayor everything so that he and his men at arms could capture the Piper and make him lead them back here to rescue the children.’
‘It sounds like a plan,’ said Ritchie. ‘So what went wrong?’
Alice sighed deeply. ‘I don’t know. We set off after the Piper in mortal fear that he would look back and see us but he never did.’
‘Twas easier when we reached the forest,’ said Will, ‘as there was plenty of cover for us. The Piper came to a clearing and he stopped. He pulled out his flute from inside his coat and began to play.’
‘Yes he did,’ Alice’s eyes were looking beyond the walls of the den and back into another place and time. ‘All at once the air in the clearing seemed to shimmer and melt like a heat haze in summer. Then the Piper stepped forward and vanished.’
Will was nodding furiously. ‘We leapt out from behind the bush where we had been hiding and dashed after him. When we reached the spot it felt like a giant hand had reached inside my stomach and twisted my guts.’
‘Yes,’ said Alice. ‘I felt that I was swooning but when I recovered my senses I found that Will and I were no longer in that enchanted forest.’
‘That’s right,’ agreed Will. ‘We were in your wood but there was no sign of the Piper.’
‘No,’ said Alice. ‘Only you two.’
