“Obviously it’s some poor, old lunatic woman we’re dealing with here,” the Chief called out as he turned towards his men. “Get ready now, officers, we’re going to round ‘em up.”
Several police officers now approached the mad old lady and miscreant children, their handcuffs at the ready to put them all under arrest and take them away for further interrogation.
“I means, Roger, me boy,” hissed Gran, now answering him as she lifted old Jericho high into the air, brandishing him like a flaming sword, “I means, it’s time I forgets all me Woes an’ I remembers all me Witcheries!”
With that she flung Jericho down. He landed with a thud, but right side up, as all cats do when they fall to the ground. The striped cat with the large green eyes yawned and stretched. Then, just as everybody thought that was it, and the police moved in, the unbelievable happened.
Jericho started growing. He got bigger and bigger and as he did so he started changing his shape too. He was still a cat – but a different sort of a cat entirely. This cat had exceptionally long teeth and razor-sharp claws.
“He’s taking on his true shape now, Roger,” Gran said, then glaring hard at the police she cried, “See, told you, the cat really is out of the bag now!”
“Wow! He’s huge, Gran,” Roger exclaimed, as Jericho rapidly expanded to the size of a heavy horse, and still kept on growing. There standing before them all, as large as life, and twice as deadly, was a huge and mighty Sabre-tooth Tiger!
CHAPTER 6:
RACE TO THE QUAGGY
“Quick everyone, onto Jerry’s back now!” Grannie ordered. “And hold on tight!”
Roger and Mary, without further question, jumped up onto the Sabre Tooth’s broad back. Then Grannie grabbed her handbag from her bike and leapt up in front of them, sitting astride the giant cat’s neck with the two children clinging on desperately behind her.
“Righto, Jericho!” she called to the cat, “let’s be off ter the woods, me boy; we’ve got ter get across the Quaggy quicker than a Hamster’s Heartbeat!”
The large cat rumbled and growled in answer and then suddenly sprang into the air, leaping high over the approaching policemen, knocking off several helmets as he went. He then pounded on down the street on well-padded paws, off towards the nearest part of the good woods. Cats could always tell where they were and what was the quickest way to get to where they weren’t. It was just a natural talent, common to their species.
Soon, the astonished Police were left far behind. Roger could see that there were more men and cars joining them though. It looked like the security people from the Hospital. Then he could see no more as they suddenly dashed between two houses.
“They’ll be after us soon enough,” cried Grannie. “Now they knows there’s a Witch in their midst they’ll bring out the big guns. Well soon have all the might of the local Guvverment after us – with the Psychonomy joining in to boot soon after too, I wouldn’t wonder!”
Just as Gran finished speaking, as if on cue, the police sirens started up again. Just as she’d predicted, they were after them once more.
Jericho wasn’t hanging around though. He’d been Grannie Maddam’s familiar for at least six of his nine long lives. He actually had trouble remembering how many lives he’d had, but had come to the point where it didn’t really bother him. He’d long ago realized he was much more than just a Beast of Nature. He was, he well knew, an elemental spirit, one of the many servants of Gaia.
“Does Jericho talk?” Mary asked as she huddled into Grannie’s back.
“Well, in his own way he does, dear,” she answered, “but like all cats, he talks in a way that very few creatures can understand. Yer see, cats aren’t really of this world, but that’s a story fer another time, dear.”
Just then Jericho had to suddenly put on the brakes as there was another road in front of him and it had a large, noisy red fire-engine tearing down it, right towards them. He just barely managed to avoid skidding into it as it whizzed by. He quickly steadied himself though and leapt over the road in two mighty bounds.
“Bet that’s on the way to join in with chasing after us,” shouted Roger from behind Mary.
“No doubt!” called back Gran.
“How will they know which way we’re heading?” he cried in reply.
Before Gran could answer him though, the answer appeared noisily whirring in the sky overhead.
“I thought they’d send an ‘elicopter soon enough,” Gran sighed, then she called to them. “Right now, hold on real tight, coz I’m gonna use more o’ me Quick Sand. We gotta get to them woods ‘fore they get big trucks an’ barriers an’ all. An’ if they drops a net on us we’re done fer!”
She then leant over and whispered in Jericho’s ear, letting him know her intentions. He had obviously agreed as he quickly skidded to a halt to give her time to pull the stopper from the Quick Sand jar and sprinkle some onto his front paws. She then passed the jar back to Roger.
“Sprinkle a bit on his back paws fer me will yer, love? Make sure it’s even amounts tho’; don’t want poor Jerry here to rip ‘imself apart from ‘avin’ front paws faster than his back ones or one side slower than t’other!”
Jerry gave out a loud roar at this. Roger got the distinct impression that he was saying something along the lines of “we are not amused!”
Then they were off. This time though it was like they were flying! The mighty Sabre-Tooth Tiger sprang through the air, his great leaps now being double or even triple in size.
Roger could again hear the sirens away in the distance, and there seemed to be a lot more of them. The Helicopter had obviously been radioing in their whereabouts and directions to them. Roger could see as they flashed past street after street, that other squad cars and some lorries as well, were appearing now, racing down nearby streets and trying to intercept them.
The Sabre-Tooth Tiger was too fast for them though. Soon Jericho had leapt his way to the edge of the town and Roger could see ahead of them green fields and the edge of the so-called Good Wood that led to the forbidden banks of the River Quaggy and the lands of the Bad Wood.
“Where are we going, Grannie?” Roger called as loudly as he could. He couldn’t telepath using Regor right then, because the poor baby Dragon was still out, sleeping and recuperating from his exertions in snake charming and telekinesis. Roger didn’t want to disturb him just yet.
“Well, we’ve got friends deep in the Great Forest,” Grannie gasped as she concentrated on hanging on to Jericho’s neck as he sped along at twice his normal speed. “No time to explain further,” she continued between leaps. “Trust me though, we’ve got ter cross the Quaggy and the Bad Wood too, on to the banks of the River Tymes. I’ve sent a message and we’ll be expected!”
They galloped on into the fields, towards the distant trees. Roger suddenly recognized where it was they now were. It was the very same field that he’d gone Froghopper Hunting in, not all that very long ago.
“Hadn’t things changed a great deal since then?” he thought to himself.
“Yesh, Wodger” yawned Regor suddenly, now coming awake and in his head once again. “Yous didn’ts have mees for a fwend then. Haves Ize mished anyfings importents, Woj?”
“Only that we’re being chased by half the blinkin’ police force and fire engines in town!” answered Roger sarcastically.
“Weally!” said Regor brightly. “Ooh that shounds like lotsh o’ fun, Woj.”
“Sorry to but in on you two,” Mary suddenly burst in their heads, “but look over there, Roger, we’ve got even more trouble on our tails.”
Roger looked where Mary had mentally indicated and there to his horror he saw that Josh the Cosh and his Cold Arbor Gang were pedaling across the open field like mad, getting ever closer. They were coming at an angle that meant that if Jericho kept his current rate of speed, the gang would reach them just as they got to the cover of the trees. It was a fifty-fifty gamble though.
Roger alerted Grannie to the new threat, w
ho informed Jerry, but he was already flat out and running on Quick Sand Speed. They got to the tree-line just ahead of the speeding bike gang.
Roger saw that a lot of them were armed with catapults. They began firing at the giant cat, seemingly indifferent to the fact that Jericho could quite easily rip them all to shreds in mere seconds. However, they well knew, and were counting on the fact, that these fleeing fugitives couldn’t afford to stop and fight; after all there were now dozens of cop cars in noisy, hot pursuit. If they stopped now they’d soon be surrounded and captured.
Josh the Cosh and his gang hadn’t had to follow the normal twisty roads through the town and instead had dashed between houses and so were well in front of the cops and security guards. Josh was particularly skilled at the use of the catapult, even while riding his bike at top speed, and several of his shots now hit the Sabre Tooth’s flanks, making him snarl with the sudden sting of them. Neither Josh nor his gang could really hurt Jericho, just annoy him, but for Grannie and the children, the stones flying at them could be a lot more deadly.
“I told you we’d get you two sniveling little lovebirds,” cried out Josh in his best and meanest put-down manner. “We’re gonna make sure you pay for that whipping you gave us you little, wild witchling!” he yelled, specifically at Mary.
Then with a nasty leer, he took aim again and this time the missile hit Grannie, right in the back, with a mighty thwack! Grannie Maddam was stunned and then fell sideways and before she or anyone else could do a thing, she had toppled from Jericho’s neck and landed with a big muddy splash on her bum in the middle of a large puddle. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt at all, just shaken, but she was very, very angry.
“That was a very vicious and uncalled for attack, on a poor and defenseless old woman!” Gran called out to Josh, as he rode up and skidded to a stop beside her, all ready to gloat. “But I ain’t got time to bandy words wiv ver likes of you, so hop it!” she commanded. With that she put her hand in one of the many pockets in her skirt and pulled out a handful of what looked like dead flies and threw them all over him.
“Yuk!” yelled Josh, “what in the loony toons do yer fink yer doing, yer mad ol’ bat!”
“Sorry, my dear, can’t hang around ter chat. Yer’ll find out though, soon enough.”
And find out he certainly did. The whole episode had taken mere seconds and now the police cars came tearing across the field towards him and his gang. Josh watched as they got nearer and nearer. They didn’t seem to take any notice of him at all. Were they blind, were they just going to speed right over him as he sat there on the edge of the woods?
The first police car came tearing along nearer and nearer and nearer. It didn’t look like it was going to stop in time. And then, with tires screeching, it came to a sudden, lurching stop; but several feet beyond where Josh had been sitting. The car had run right over him!
Josh gawked and looked up. The car had gone right over his head. They hadn’t seen him at all. And that was no surprise, as Josh was now a small, green frog! Josh now noticed that there were several, fat and juicy flies buzzing about his head and he all at once totally forgot about Gran and Mary and Roger and chasing Witches, he was now suddenly feeling very hungry. He flicked out a long, sticky tongue and caught a nearby fly, and sat under the police car, contentedly munching away.
After munching at a few more flies, he hopped from under the car and just as Granny Madden had ordered, hopped it!
The Cold Arbor gang had already ridden off. As it happened they weren’t particularly on friendly terms with the police. However, there was one member that didn’t scarper. Sid the Squid, the somewhat dull-witted, fat boy had been having qualms. These weren’t germs like measles or mumps, but according to some people, like Josh the Cosh, were even worse!
While Josh was eating his flies, Gran shouted out, “Quickly Jerry, here boy!” The Sabre-Tooth Tiger skidded and turned in a tight grass-shredding circle, returning to Grannie. Meanwhile Sid had hung back and waddled over to where Gran sat and said, “Sorry, lady, I don’t fink that’s right, we’s shouldn’t hit girls and hurt old ladies. It’s not right. My mum says big boys should look after ladies an’ not hurts ‘em!”
“Well your Ma’s quite right, boy,” Gran said kindly, as Sid helped her up out of the mud. “Gadzooks and Godzillas! Look at the state of me bloomers!” she cried, wiping herself down. “What a state fer a grown woman ter be showin’ ‘erself in!”
“I’m very sorry Ma’am, Really I am.” said Sid. “I don’t want to be like Josh an’ the others. I think they’re nasty an’ not nice!” Sid finished very contritely.
“Yes, boy, I totally agrees with yer. But I got to be off now though so here’s something fer your trouble an’ yer kindness.” With that she fished in her pocket and handed him an apple. “Yer can choose what to do with that there apple, boy, you can eats it or you can grows it;’ your choice. One word of warnin’ though. One way’s Humdrum an’ one way’s Magic. Have fun!”
She then pulled up her skirts and quickly ran round the parked police cars and sprinkled some more Slow Worms onto their tires. The police officers were getting out of their cars and starting to converge on her, but she was quite sprightly for an old lady and managed to dodge through them just as Jericho arrived with a loud roar. The policemen scattered, hiding behind their cars.
“Are you alright, Gran?” Mary enquired as they sped off again through the Good Wood.
“Yes, I’m fine, juss a bit bruised and embarrassed is all,” she answered. “Shouldn’t have lost me temper with that fool frog of a boy though. But not to worry, he’ll be back ter his usual ‘orrible, old self in an hour or so.”
“That’s funny, look, the cops aren’t following us anymore. I wonder why?” cried Roger.
Behind them the police cars were revving away, pedal to the metal, but not going anywhere; or at least, going somewhere, but very, very slowly. The Slow Worms had done their work once more. The car’s wheels were turning, but almost imperceptibly.
The giant cat with its passengers hurtled on through the Good Wood; it looked like they were at last safe from any immediate danger. But then Roger suddenly yelled out.
“Look, over there, everyone! There’s jeeps and trucks driving through the woods. They’re out-flanking us over there!” Roger pointed. “They’ve built a road that goes into the woods!”
“That must go to the River Quaggy,” Gran answered. “They ain’t taken long to worm there ways into the Bad Wood and take advantage of that forest fire, now ‘ave they?”
They could now clearly see jeeps and trucks speeding down the new road towards the Quaggy.
Roger could also see that the trucks were full of many angry men and all armed with chainsaws! “What are they going to do, massacre us?” he yelped in alarm.
“It’s a posse … a bunch of vigilantes from the Wood mills; all chasing us!” Mary cried. “Quick, Gran, we gotta get to the Quaggy before they do, or they’ll cut us off and cut us to bits!”
The race was definitely back on now – and with a vengeance!
Jericho sped on as fast as he could. He well knew that they were in danger of being intercepted by this new group of vigilante thugs. They raced through the wood, just ahead of the flanking convoy of jeeps and trucks. Roger could see that they were drawing closer and closer together now and they would soon intersect with the newly-built wooden road.
“We’ve got to keep ahead of them, no matter what!” he yelled.
Then without any warning, Jericho crashed through some bushes and out onto the new log road. He wobbled with the sudden difference beneath him, but quickly found his paws again and sped on down the new wooden road that stretched on ahead, straight as an arrow, towards the River.
Roger looked over his shoulder and saw that the Wood-mill mob weren’t very far behind them. Mary though was looking ahead and was sick with the horror of what she saw. She cried out with outrage and disgust at the sight of the wooden road slashing through her old, peaceful woods
like a horrible, ugly scar on Nature’s beautiful face!
“Oh Roger, look what they’ve done! They’ve ripped down the trees and destroyed it all!”
“There, there Mary,” cooed Grannie, “they’ll grow again one day, I promise. But right now, we’ve got ter sees we lives to grow another day too; so down the ‘orrid log-road we go!”
They hurtled on, Jericho’s mighty pads pounding on the wooden logs like the rumble of thunder. They were heading straight for the Quaggy, with the mob right behind them ‒ and it wasn’t far away now. Roger suddenly thought he’d heard a familiar noise. He looked around and then up and there above them, were two buzzing police helicopters and they had nets!
“Don’t worry none about them Choppers. They can’t drop any nets on us in the woods here,” Gran grimly said. “They don’t have enough room to maneuver.”
“They might do when we get to the Quaggy and try to cross it though,” Roger warned.
Then all at once they were there – at last - at the Quaggy. The log-road stretched right across it, over a newly made trestle bridge.
Roger could see right across toward the shattered slopes of Hooter’s Hill. Now standing as scorched and scarred as a newly erupted volcano, still smoking and fuming from its recent fiery exertions.
Roger shuddered at all the horrible memories the sight of it brought him. He briefly wondered what those evil Fire-Worm Lords were up to now; but he’d already had some inkling of that, from what he’d overheard at his parents Dinner Party, just two nights before.
Roger could clearly see that over the bridge the road split into two, one going left, westward around the base of Hooter’s Hill, and the other right, to the east of it.
There was no going back. They started across the rickety bridge. Jericho was pacing cautiously, unsure of its load bearing capacity. This part of the river was much deeper than where Roger and Mary had crossed before. But the giant cat would still have preferred to tackle the frothing waters in the ravine below than trust to these Humdrum’s clever contraptions.
Dragon's Flight Page 6
