The Viking's Apprentice

by Kevin McLeod

  Chapter 13

  Onboard the witches' ship the children were being kept at the bottom in cages laid out in two rows that faced each other. There was an awful smell and it was dark and damp. Charlotte and James huddled together in a small cramped cage with eight other children. Now and then a troll or goblin would patrol up and down hitting the cages, laughing as the children cried and screamed. The shadow walkers who had stolen them were never far. Occasionally a dark spot on the wall would move or float away. Charlotte was terrified, she didn't understand what had happened, and had not seen Peter or George since they had been taken. She hoped they had escaped and hoped help was on its way. A large troll entered, bigger than the others she had seen. He was accompanied by a tall woman who Charlotte recognised as one of the sisters from next door to Peter's Granddad's house. She nudged James and pointed as the woman approached. Confusion spread over his face as he realised where he had seen her before.

  The woman and the troll walked past every cage, looking in then moving on until they came to the one with Charlotte and James. The lady looked at each child in turn until her eyes rested on Charlotte.

  ‘Finally we have found them, Graff open this cage and take those two upstairs,’ the lady said pointing a bony finger at Charlotte and James.

  Graff opened the cage, and the children cowered away to the corners trying to avoid being touched by his horrible hands. He grabbed hold of Charlotte and James and pulled them through the door, dropping them on the floor in front of the woman. James had a large drop of greenish-brown slime from a burst spot on Graff's hand on his pyjama top.

  ‘Do you know who I am?’ she asked bending down to stare in their faces.

  ‘You're Ms Kirke, and you live next door to Peter's Granddad,' Charlotte replied in a quiet, shaky voice.

  ‘That is partly right I suppose, although there is so much more to me. I am the Master, and you are now my slaves. There is a new world waiting for you, but for now, I need you up on deck to help me with something.'

  ‘Graff take them up to the deck and put them in the usual place for our guests,’ she said with a smile.

  Just then the darkness behind the Master changed and the Shadow King appeared. Charlotte screamed and James jumped back stumbling into Graff who lost his balance and fell over.

  ‘Master, Tolldruck has arrived and he is injured. He says the children are with Jacob and a small army of Vikings; Arto is with them. They are catching us fast on a Longship, and we don't have much time to prepare.'

  ‘Arto, well well, it has been a long time since I have seen him,’ The Master said.

  ‘I will speak to Tolldruck myself and ready my sisters for Jacob and his army.’ She said the word army with a sneer as if she doubted such a small group could cause them any problems. She turned to Charlotte, winked, then vanished.

  Graff pushed Charlotte and James through a door that took them out into a wild storm. The rain lashed down, and the wind howled as the sea swelled all around them. Oddly, there was not a drop of rain on the ship, and the wind didn't seem to have any effect onboard. Graff guided them to two small cages on the centre of the deck and shoved them roughly inside locking the doors with chains. He smiled as pus ran from his lips down over his chin.

  ‘I hope you’re comfortable,’ he said laughing as he walked away.

  ‘Look over there,’ James said, his voice trembling with fear. Charlotte looked where James was pointing and froze. A large black monster was talking to the Master. Charlotte fought the need to scream and looked away.

  ‘What’s going on?’ James asked his voice breaking, and tears streaming down his cheeks. ‘That Shadow thing mentioned the children were with Jacob. Do you think he meant Peter and George?’

  ‘I don’t know James. I don’t understand any of this. Do you think Peter’s Granddad’s stories might be true?’

  ‘What? I, eh, I-I don't know.'

  ‘Oh the stories are true,’ the Shadow King said, appearing from nowhere, his darkness swirling around the cages.

  ‘Especially the ones about missing children.’ His red eyes flashed from within the darkness as James screamed and Charlotte fainted.

  The Longship was closing fast, and the storm was battering them. Large swells lifted the ship out the water, dumping it back into the sea with tremendous force, but still the Vikings held their course, closing in on the witches' vessel. Peter and George gripped onto one of the benches as they carried on with incredible speed. Granddad and the Vikings seemed to have no problem walking around in the storm. The only other people that were having problems were the Elders. They were also huddled together, struggling to stay upright.

  ‘You will find your sea legs soon enough boys,’ Granddad said coming to sit with them.

  ‘Very soon we will catch up to the witches and board their ship. We have to assume they know we are coming, and will be ready for us.’ He paused, looking at each boy in turn, before continuing. ‘It is up to both of you to decide for yourself whether or not you want to go on board their ship, and if you want to stay here that is fine.’

  ‘I want to come. James and Charlotte might be on there, and we need to help them,’ said Peter surprising himself with how quickly he volunteered.

  ‘Well if he's going so am I,' said George, pushing his soaking wet hair out of his eyes. ‘We'll need a weapon, though.'

  ‘Indeed you will; Elder Thomson has just the thing.'

  The Elder appeared holding what looked like water pistols full of a glowing liquid.

  ‘This is liquid sunshine, even a small drop on the body of a troll or goblin will kill it instantly. Be very careful with it, and remember just a small amount will do a lot of damage.' With that, he handed one of the pistols to each of the boys and left them with Granddad.

  ‘We have a plan of how we are going to attack their ship and now that you have agreed to join us you must play your part,’ Granddad said. He then turned to Jake and picked him up.

  ‘You will have to remain on the ship boy, and guard it against attack while we are gone.' Jake barked his approval.

  Granddad called to the remaining three Vikings from the paintings, Arto, the Elders and knights. They all gathered round and went over their plan one more time.