“Water!” exclaimed Cleo. “I can finally wash off this horrible stuff!” She ran towards it as fast as she could.
Suddenly a muffled voice cried out, “Luke! Stop her!”
Luke pulled The G.H.O.U.L. Guide from his pocket to find Samuel Skipstone looking agitated. “The moat around the castle is filled with piranha fish!” warned the author.
Resus and Luke exchanged a glance, then quickly set off after their friend. “Cleo!” they yelled. “Stop!”
“So you can get there first?” called Cleo over her shoulder, picking up the pace. “No chance!”
“You don’t understand!” bellowed Luke. “There are piranha—”
There was a loud splash as Cleo dived headfirst into the moat.
Luke and Resus skidded to a halt at the water’s edge. Cleo was swimming around below them, wiping muck from her bandages. “What are you both shouting about?”
“Cleo, get out of the water!” ordered Luke. “Now!”
“There are piranhas in there!” added Resus.
“What?” Cleo exclaimed disbelievingly. “Are you winding me—”
She gasped as something nipped at her leg. She felt another bite, this time on her hand. Then another, and another…
Within seconds, the water around Cleo was churning as thousands of piranhas closed in on her. The mummy screamed and disappeared beneath the frothing surface.
Luke began to pull off his jumper.
“What are you doing?” demanded Resus.
“Someone’s got to save her!” insisted Luke.
“If you jump in there, it won’t be a rescue attempt, it’ll be suicide!”
“Got any better ideas?”
Resus began to rummage around inside his cape. “I must have a rope here somewhere!” he cried. “We can use it to pull Cleo out.” He produced object after object, none of which was any use whatsoever: an anchor, a bottle of no-tears shampoo, a rotting human arm…
“Perfect!” exclaimed Luke. He snatched the arm from Resus and hurled it into the moat near where Cleo had disappeared.
“What did you do that for?” demanded Resus. “That belonged to my Aunt Lidbury!”
“Then what’s it doing in your cape?”
“She said I could have it after she died,” replied Resus.
“Then she doesn’t need it any more, does she?” said Luke. He watched as, one by one, the piranhas followed the scent of the decomposing limb and attacked it hungrily. Cleo floated to the surface, face down. “Come on!”
The two boys lowered themselves quickly but cautiously into the moat, trying to disturb the water as little as possible. They swam over to Cleo and lifted her head out of the water, kicking their legs gently beneath the surface to carry them to the other side.
“What do we do if the piranha fish start biting us?” asked Resus nervously.
Luke grinned. “Try biting back!”
When they reached the far bank, Luke climbed out first and grabbed Cleo’s arms, pulling her up as Resus pushed from below. The mummy groaned as Luke laid her on the grass. “What happened?” she asked.
“You almost became fish food,” said Luke, helping Resus out of the water. “We had to dive in and save you!”
“Even my Aunt Lidbury had to lend a hand,” quipped the vampire, wringing water out of his cape.
Cleo climbed unsteadily to her feet. “Are you OK?” Luke asked.
“It stings a bit,” said Cleo, “but I’ll be all right.” Her bandages were ripped and torn, but she seemed relatively unscathed.
Resus looked up at the large iron portcullis over the entrance to the castle. “OK,” he said, “how do we get in?”
“What?” said Luke.
“How do we get inside the castle?” asked Resus.
“I don’t know,” Luke admitted. “I thought you would.”
“Me?” demanded Resus. “Why me?”
“Well, you’re family…”
“What, so you thought I’d have a secret password or something?”
Luke nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Resus. “Until I met you, I’d never been outside Scream Street! Now you expect me to have special access to the world’s spookiest castle?”
Cleo gripped the rusted bars of the portcullis. “We could try to lift this thing.”
“It was made to keep out angry mobs with torches and pitchforks,” Resus pointed out. “There’s no way three kids will be able to raise it.”
“Let’s look around the walls, then,” suggested Luke. “There could be a back door.”
“A back door?” scoffed Resus. “Don’t you think a vampire-hating horde might have thought of that? Let’s face it – there’s just no way through!”
As he finished speaking, a huge boulder sailed over their heads and smashed into the portcullis. The rusted metal exploded, sending sharp pieces of iron flying through the air.
“You were saying…?” enquired Cleo as the dust settled.
“I told you I could smell dem again, boss!” a voice shouted.
The trio looked round. Stumper and Little Bennett were on the other side of the moat, leading the Medicine Man and an entire tribe of angry trolls towards the castle. Even the five nasterns were there, honking wildly.
Luke glanced down at his sopping clothes and wished fervently that he was still covered in troll dung.
“You won’t get away from me this time,” snarled Stumper.
“Quick!” cried Luke. “Into the castle!”
Resus held up his hand. “There’s no need to panic,” he said. “You’re forgetting there’s a moat filled with deadly piranhas between us and them…”
The trio looked back across the moat, but to their horror they saw the trolls leaping into the water without a second thought. The piranha fish swarmed around them, nipping and biting, but the trolls continued to stride across the moat, swatting them away as if they were flies. Their skin was simply too tough to be pierced by the sharp teeth of the fish.
“OK,” Resus gulped. “Now it’s time to panic!”
Chapter Ten
The Chase
The trio raced past the shattered portcullis and across a courtyard. On the far side was a large wooden door, and Luke prayed it wouldn’t be locked. It wasn’t.
They crashed through the door and quickly slammed it closed behind them, looking back just long enough to see trolls picking up pieces of broken portcullis and gripping them as weapons.
“Barricade!” yelled Luke. He dragged a chair across the floor and wedged it up against the door.
Resus grabbed a suit of armour and threw it across the chair. “It won’t hold them back for long…”
“It’ll give us a minute or two to start looking for the count’s coffin,” puffed Luke.
Cleo tore a strip from an ancient tapestry and tied the door handle to a stout metal candle-holder set into the wall. “Where do you reckon it will be?”
“Who knows?” said Luke. “I suppose there could be a crypt underneath us.”
Resus shrugged. “If I was Count Negatov, I’d have my coffin placed as high as possible – away from the creepy-crawlies.”
The trio looked at one another. “The tower!” they cried together.
Crash!
The door creaked inward a fraction, and the furniture that had been stacked against it moved back a few centimetres. “You tricked us!” roared the Medicine Man from the other side of the door. “I don’t take that from any meal! Now get out here and be eaten…”
Crash!
This time one of the sharp lengths of iron made a hole in the door, splintering the wood and sending the suit of armour skittering away across the stone floor.
“This way!” shouted Luke, running towards the middle of the castle and pausing only to pull an axe down from a wall display.
“Do you know how to use one of those?” asked Resus, catching him up. Cleo was close behind.
“How hard can it be?” replied Luke. �
��Surely it’s just point and chop!”
Unable to argue with this, Resus grabbed for himself a piece of wood with a length of chain attached to it. At the other end of the chain was a spiked metal ball. “I don’t know what this is,” he said, “but I reckon it could cause a bruise or two!”
“It’s called a battle flail,” explained Cleo, arming herself with a sword.
“This is no time for a history lesson,” grinned Resus. “Let’s go!”
The trio raced along a corridor towards a large, stone archway. Behind them, the door finally smashed open. Trolls clambered over the pile of furniture and lumbered towards the children with a roar.
“This way!” urged Luke.
They ran through the archway and began to climb a spiral stone staircase which Luke hoped led to the tower they had seen from outside the castle. The steps were covered in dust that rose up in clouds around their heads as they ran.
“I’m getting dizzy,” coughed Resus. “And it feels like my legs are on fire!”
Behind him, Cleo clutched her sword in both hands, pointing it out in front of her. “Don’t slow down, whatever you do,” she warned. “Or I won’t be responsible for the consequences!”
The trolls reached the bottom of the staircase. There was a smack.
“Ow!” grunted Little Bennett, rubbing his head.
“You idiot!” bawled Stumper. “If the arch was too low, why didn’t you duck?”
“I didn’t know it was!” protested the huge troll. “I can’t fit froo dere!”
“Well, it’s a good job I can,” barked Stumper. “Now get outside and wait at the bottom of the tower. I’ll grab those horrible kids at the top and toss them down to you!”
“Do I have to catch dem?”
The smaller troll grinned. “Not if you don’t want to…”
“WHERE are THEY?” demanded the Medicine Man, skidding to a halt beside Stumper. The rest of the tribe were now packed into the hall, awaiting instructions.
“They went that way,” lied Stumper, pointing down a long, unlit corridor.
“TEAR the place APART!” the Medicine Man roared to his troops, and he led the eager trolls deeper into the castle, leaving Stumper alone at the bottom of the tower.
“You’re all mine, kiddies,” snarled the troll, placing his foot on the bottom step. His wooden leg clicked as he climbed. Thump, click. Thump, click. Thump, click.
By now, Luke, Resus and Cleo had reached a small landing at the top of the tower. Off it stood the entrance to a single room. This door, however, was locked.
Resus slipped one of his fake vampire nails into the lock and began to twist.
Thump, click. Thump, click. Thump, click. Stumper was getting closer. “You can’t get away from me, little tasties…” he called.
“Hurry up!” Cleo urged Resus.
“I’m trying,” retorted the vampire, but his hands were shaking too much.
“It’ll take too long,” barked Luke. “Get back!” As soon as Resus was clear, Luke swung his axe and smashed it into the door. The wood cracked as the blade plunged deep into the grain.
Again and again he struck at the door with the heavy weapon, gradually creating a hole near the lock. The noise of metal striking wood wasn’t enough to drown out the approaching footsteps, however, and they were becoming louder.
Thump, click. Thump, click. Thump, click.
Yelling with frustration, Resus swung the mace around his head and struck the door handle as hard as he could with the spiked ball. The lock shattered from the force of the blow and the door swung open.
Thump, click.
Just as Luke, Resus and Cleo dashed into the room, Stumper appeared on the landing, a wicked smile playing across his face. “Lunchtime!” he gurgled.
The trio backed further into the tiny room and found themselves pressed against a shiny black coffin that lay on a table at its centre. Stained-glass windows cast brightly coloured shapes across the polished casket.
Resus took Count Negatov’s fang from his cloak and handed it to Luke. “We should return this,” he said. “If it’s the last thing we do.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” snarled Stumper, following them into the room. “The last thing you do will be to taste delicious!”
Resus and Cleo spun round and pushed hard against the lid of the coffin. It wouldn’t move.
“We’ve got to open it,” said Luke, coming over to help them. “Count Negatov’s body is in there!”
“I think you’ll find that it isn’t,” announced a voice – and Count Negatov stepped out from behind the broken door.
Luke looked at Resus in amazement. “Do you vampires ever die?”
Count Negatov raised an eyebrow. “I was at peace,” he declared calmly, “but the manner in which you opened my door would wake even the dead!”
Stumper drew himself up to his full height before the count. “Out of my way, vampire!” he ordered. “You’re standing between me and my next meal.”
“Who are you to issue commands to Count Negatov in his own castle?” boomed the count.
“I am Stumper,” proclaimed the troll, less confidently this time. “Soon to be Medicine Man of my tribe and master of all the lands you see before you.” He indicated vaguely out of the window, but his hand was shaking.
“NO!” roared Count Negatov. “You are nothing!” And lunging forward, he gripped Stumper and lifted him clear off the ground. Without hesitation, he hurled the troll through the stained-glass window – and then there was silence.
Count Negatov turned back to Luke, Resus and Cleo. “Do I know you children?”
“I am Resus Negative,” said Resus, holding up his hand so the count could examine his palm. “Descendant of the glorious line of Negatov.”
“And I’m Luke Watson,” added Luke. “You gave me the gift of your fang so I could take my parents away from Scream Street.”
Cleo smiled sweetly. “I’m just here to keep these two out of trouble.”
“We have come to return the fang,” explained Luke.
“Return it?” enquired Negatov. “Why?”
“It’s a long story,” sighed Resus. “Let’s just say his mum and dad saw the benefits of Luke staying among his own kind.”
“Very well,” replied the count, holding out his hand.
Luke took a deep breath and handed back the fang.
Nothing happened.
“Well?” asked Cleo excitedly. “Did it work?”
“Hang on,” said Luke. He took the crystal ball from his pocket and the trio crowded around to watch Scream Street appear. In the central square they could see a tiny image of Sir Otto Sneer sitting on his stool in front of the rainbow-coloured doorway.
Resus gave a sigh of disappointment. “It didn’t work. We came all this way for nothing!”
Luke stared silently at the crowd of normals exploring Scream Street.
“The fang is not yet completely returned,” Count Negatov reminded them. And he opened his mouth and slipped the tooth back into his upper gum.
Suddenly, the red light within the multi-coloured doorway exploded into a shower of sparks, lighting up the crystal ball in a crimson glow. Sir Otto dived for cover as scarlet flares burst from the arch across the square. Peering more closely, the trio could see that the doorway remained open, but it appeared to be smaller than before and the red colour had vanished.
“It worked!” cried Luke.
“And Resus got his fireworks for Vampire New Year,” added Cleo.
“All right!” grinned Resus, giving Cleo a high-five. “Now all we need to do is return the other relics and it’s bye-bye, normals!”
“We have to get home first,” Cleo reminded him. “Starting with a trip back down that staircase.”
Resus groaned. “I don’t think my legs can take it.”
Count Negatov rested his hand on the shoulder of his distant descendant and smiled. “Then let me show you the real reason for having my coffin placed up here…”
&nbs
p; Chapter Eleven
The Gift
Cleo squealed with excitement and the ends of her bandages whipped out behind her. She, Resus and Luke were sitting on the polished coffin lid, surfing their way down the spiral staircase.
“It’s official,” grinned Luke. “All vampires are crazy!”
“Do you want to go back up there and tell the count that?” asked Resus.
“I doubt there’s much chance of us turning this thing around.”
When it reached the bottom of the staircase, the coffin lid shot smoothly along the corridor and across the stone floor of the entrance hall towards the exit. Luke expected them to slow down any moment, but if anything they seemed to be picking up speed.
“Do you think we could get all the way to the Hex Hatch on this?” giggled Cleo, gripping Resus’s shoulders tightly.
Luke gritted his teeth when he saw the discarded suit of armour in their path. “We’ll be stopping right here unless we all lean to the left!” he shouted. Cleo and Resus did as he said and the coffin lid swished straight past it.
The rest of the entrance hall had been cleared of obstructions by their pursuers, so the trio flew out of the castle door and into the courtyard without another hitch. “Look out!” shouted Luke, struggling to keep his balance as they hit the cobblestones.
Suddenly, Little Bennett and a very bruised Stumper stepped out in front of them.
“Duck!” yelled Resus. The three of them crouched down together and shot between Little Bennett’s legs. Stumper growled and spun round, only to receive a crack across his good knee with a studded metal ball.
“WHAT WAS THAT?” he thundered, clutching at his leg in pain.
“A battle flail!” Resus shouted with glee, tucking it into his cape.
Soon the coffin lid was speeding across the grass towards the moat. On the far side, the five nasterns crouched low and watched the trio’s swift approach. “We need to jump off!” called Luke.
“No, we don’t!” screamed Cleo. “Just keep your nerve!”
When the makeshift surfboard hit the surface of the water, it sent up a wave of spray behind it but continued to glide across the moat at top speed. Then it crashed into the far bank, finally coming to a stop. The trio went sprawling and the nasterns shrieked and leapt into the air.
Attack of the Trolls Page 5
