Star Smells Something

There was a large stone blocking the entrance to get out of the pit. The Tribes pushed it away and a beam of sunlight shot through the hole the rock had been blocking.

Everyone walked out of the hole and found themselves in a busy village. There were huts made of dried leaves and mud. The Tribes living there were dressed in leaves, like the ones who were taking Mavis and Walter.

‘Hey, Oreal! You come here!’ cried the Tribe leader at once.

A Tribe with jutting out teeth came clumsily stumbling over.

He showed Oreal Star’s wing. ‘You can heal this, can’t you?’

‘Of course!’ squeaked Oreal. ‘Every week you shoot down a Pegasus and tell me to cure it. I have practice with this!’

‘Keep quiet, will you?’ hissed the Tribe leader, nervously glancing at Mavis and Walter. He handed Star’s reins to Oreal and led Mavis and Walter away.

He showed them a little hut. ‘You can stay here till Oreal thinks your horse is ready to leave with you.’

‘But what about Peanut Butter?’ asked Walter. ‘There’s no way she’ll fit into this hut!’

‘I’ll take her to the horse stables,’ said the Tribe leader. ‘She’ll like it there–there are lots of horses.’

After the Tribe leader had left, Mavis and Walter hungrily gobbled up the nuts and berries he had left for them. Then they left to see Star and Peanut Butter at the horse stables.

They went around asking where on earth the horse stables were to all sorts of people (including a tortoise crawling around).

Then they finally reached a long field with a wooden shack in the corner. Peanut Butter was standing in front of the shack. Star’s head was poking out of it. The two were gossiping in horse language.

I know, right, humans are so weird . . . Star was saying. His voice trailed off when he saw Mavis and Walter.

With a delighted neigh (which meant, You know, Star, there are two humans who aren’t weird!), Peanut Butter leapt across the field and licked Walter’s face.

Alpha pawed Peanut Butter’s hoof, then looked up at Mavis, as if to say, Okay, now where’s the other horse?

Mavis picked Alpha up and walked into the shack. Oreal was there, rubbing some green ointment on Star’s wing. ‘Really, this is the deepest cut I’ve ever seen!’ he was muttering to himself.

He stopped when he saw Mavis. ‘Once I bandage her wing, she’s ready to go,’ he said. Oreal tied a long coconut leaf around Star’s wing.

‘It’s a he, not a she,’ said Mavis. ‘So, can I take him now?’

‘Yes, you can,’ said Oreal.

Just then, Walter walked in. He stared in surprise at the huge slug coiled around Star’s wing. Then he realised it was just a wet coconut leaf.

‘Mavis, I think we’d better get going,’ he said, ‘because we need to get to the Land of the Giants quick.’

Oreal looked shocked. ‘The Land of the Giants!’ he cried. ‘Why would you want to go there?’

‘I don’t know, to steal a time machine?’ shrugged Mavis.

‘A time machine?’ cried Oreal in disbelief.

‘Yep; a time machine. We need to get back to our time,’ said Walter.

Oreal stared at them for a while, then his face suddenly brightened up. ‘Time travellers! I’ve met time travellers!’

‘Keep your voice down, will you,’ said Mavis nervously glancing around. ‘It’s not like we want everyone to know . . .’

‘Oops, sorry,’ said Oreal hastily.

‘Now, as I said, we need to get going,’ said Walter.

He, Mavis and the horses marched out of the shack, Alpha at their heels.

When they reached the hut they were to stay in, they found a few Tribes outside it, carrying bags of food. When the Tribes saw them, they tied the bags of food to the horses’ backs. ‘The Tribe leader says you need to take these bags with you because you’ll not find anything in the dense forests.’

’Um, thanks,’ said Mavis, peering into one of the bags, which was filled with berries tap-dancing around.

‘Don’t worry, they’re not alive, just filled with magic,’ said a Tribe, noticing the look on her face.

He handed Walter an arrow. ‘This is the Arrow of Fire,’ he said. ‘It returns to whoever shot it.’

Then he gave Mavis a long thin silver rope that was rolled up. ‘And this is a silver spider rope. It’s as strong as any other rope and is made from the web of a silver spider.’

‘Err . . . It won’t break, will it?’ she asked nervously. She pictured the rope snapping in half as she climbed down a cliff.

‘No, it won’t,’ said the Tribe. ‘It may be thin, and all, but it’s quite strong.’

One of the Tribes led away from the hut, to the edge of the ravine. There was a large stone in front of the edge. He rolled it away to reveal a tunnel in the walls of the ravine.

They peered inside to find the flat stone at the bottom. He led them inside. He clapped his hands and the flat stone shot up at once.

Then it suddenly stopped.

The Tribe, with a bit of effort, pushed away the stone that was right above them, forming a ceiling. A beam of sunlight shot into the dark pit. Everyone clambered out.

‘All right, now listen, go west from here. You’ll hopefully come to the Village of the Villagers. They’ll provide you with shelter. We don’t know where the giants live, so you’ll have to ask the Villagers,’ said the Tribe.

Mavis and Walter nodded and mounted their horses. They walked into the dense forest.

At first, it seemed bright and calm, with lots of squirrels and birds hopping around. They had even spotted a herd of silver deer.

But then it started to get dark and shady. The trees were so tall and had such long branches that they blocked out all the sunlight.

They couldn’t see any life except for the trees and bats flying overhead. Star nervously bent his neck and gently perked up his ears. He had a great sense of smell. He could smell something. Whatever he smelt, it wasn’t pleasant.

Finally, they came to an opening in the forest. Sunlight shot through it. Though thankful for the sunlight, Mavis and Walter shut their eyes. It took time for them to adjust to the light. They decided to rest there a bit.

Star was fidgety. He knew they couldn’t stay there. The terrible smell was getting closer and closer. Alpha and Peanut Butter caught a whiff of the smell too. They slowly stood up and perked up their ears.

Then suddenly, Star dashed into the dense forest.

‘Star!’ cried Mavis panic-stricken.

Alpha and Peanut Butter ran after him.

Mavis and Walter exchanged looks of panic and ran after the horses and Alpha.

They decided to split up to find their animals.

‘Star! Peanut Butter! Alpha!’ Mavis called.

Walter came running out of a bush. ‘I can’t find them anywhere!’ he gasped.

Then they suddenly heard a scream. ‘Aaargh! Good horsey, good horsey! Aaargh! A werewolf! Oh–it’s just a dog. Aargh! No biting! No biting! Aargh! Another horse!’

Mavis and Walter froze. Then they ran after the scream. Finally, they found a tiny man, strangely, with purple eyes, squealing as he was chased in circles by Peanut Butter, pounced on by Star and bitten by Alpha.

‘Star!’ said Mavis sternly. Star walked up to her looking apologetic. Alpha and Peanut Butter stopped frightening the tiny man and looked at Mavis and Walter innocently as if they did nothing.

Walter walked up to the tiny man slowly. The man trembled with fear and gave a small whimper.

Mavis pointed Spark at the man. ‘Who are you?’ she asked more bravely than she felt.

The tiny man whimpered, not taking his large eyes off Spark.

‘I am an Olf,’ he said finally: ‘Godge.’

‘An elf?’ said Mavis, lowering her weapon. ‘That means you’re on our side.’

Godge stared at her for a moment. Then he shook his head vigorously. ‘Not an elf!’ he squeaked. ‘An Olf!’

Mavis raised her weapon again.

‘An Olf?’ said Walter, surprised. ‘What’s that?’

‘I am an Olf,’ repeated Godge flatly.

Mavis raised an eyebrow, then lowered Spark. ‘He doesn’t seem to be a threat,’ she whispered to Walter.

‘Let’s ask him how to go to the Village of the Villagers,’ he suggested.

Mavis nodded.

She turned to Godge. ‘Take us to the Village of the Villagers,’ she ordered.

Godge raised his tiny head and stared at her. ‘I know where the Village of the Villagers is,’ he said, ‘but to go there, you must cross the River of Doom, in which case it would take us two days. But if we went around the glacier of the river, it would take us a week.’

‘We’ll cross the River of Doom,’ said Mavis, quickly.

‘If we did that, we’d have to build a raft,’ said Godge; ‘we must not touch the terrible waters.’ He shuddered at the thought.

‘We can do that,’ said Mavis. ‘it’s better than having to waste a week.’

Godge looked from Walter to Mavis. ‘I will take you there. But once we reach, I will still stay with you two. I need protection.’

Mavis eyed their rations. They seemed to have enough for Godge. ‘Well,’ she said, giving a quick glance at Walter, ‘you can come with us and stay with us as our guide.’

Walter didn’t protest, because they hadn’t had company for ages.

‘Okay, Godge,’ he said, ‘lead the way.’

‘Not yet,’ said the Olf; ‘food.’

Walter wondered if ‘food’ meant ‘I need a nap first’ in Mrindawian, then he realised that Godge just wanted food.

Mavis fished into their sack of food, and pulled out a slice of bread and gave it to him.

Godge stared at it in amazement and hungrily wolfed it up in two bites. Content, he turned to Mavis and Walter. ‘I will lead you to the Village of the Villagers. But I want a slice of bread every day.’

‘Is that all?’ asked Walter in surprise. ‘Yes, you can have it.’

‘Then come,’ said Godge ‘I will take you to the River of Doom.’

He dashed into the forest without even making sure the others were following.

Anxious not to lose their newfound guide, they ran after him, and the horses followed at once. Alpha didn’t have to worry, because he was sitting on Peanut Butter.

Mavis and Walter ran after him as fast as possible, but they found no trace of him and began to worry they had lost him. Just then, they realised he was waiting for them, wondering where they were, in a small clearing.

But they were going so fast that they crashed right into him and the three were sent tumbling away.

Mavis was first to recover and jumped to her feet. Just then, their animals came running.

‘You know what; this business of running will do us no good. Let’s just ride our horses.’

‘Yes, we will,’ agreed Godge. ‘You aren’t very fast at running.’

Walter frowned, then stood up. ‘Okay, you can ride on Peanut Butter with me, because Star seems to hate you.’

‘Then I must ride the horse. It will be easier than showing the directions.’

‘We can do that,’ said Walter. ‘I’ll sit behind you.’

They quickly mounted the horses. Alpha sat on Star with Mavis.

They decided to fly because the tall trees kept getting in the way, making it difficult to walk. The horses flew up, dodging the branches of the trees at the top. When they were above the canopy, it was so bright that they wished they had sunglasses.

After flying for about an hour, they landed for the horses to rest and quench their thirst. After fifteen minutes, they took off again.

Three hours later, night began to fall and the horses’ eyes were slowly closing. It wasn’t easy to see in the dark sky either, so Mavis offered that they land.

‘But we’re so close!’ protested Godge. ‘Just a little more to go, and we’ll reach the river.’

‘But it’s too dark to see. It’s pointless to fly now,’ said Walter.

‘Fine,’ said Godge. ‘We’ll stop and rest for today. We can set off again tomorrow.’

Mavis and Walter were relieved. They flew on for a little more and landed when they spotted a clearing, giving them a break from the endless canopy.

They landed there and hopped off their horses, who immediately collapsed and fell asleep. They had a quick dinner of bread and cheese, along with nuts and berries. Mavis found a bunch of dried leaves and piled them all up together to create a kind of bed for them. They sleepily crawled on and fell asleep, and Alpha hopped in between them.

The next day, they were woken up by Godge who was screaming, ‘Up, up, everyone! Up!’

Mavis opened an eye. ‘You should work at a military camp.’

Star and Peanut Butter looked thoroughly annoyed. They grunted sleepily.

Alpha, energetic as always, barked and pounced onto Godge, who yelped and staggered back.

‘He’s mad at you,’ laughed Walter, pulling him off.

Mavis glanced at the horses. ‘We tired them out yesterday. Let’s just walk today without riding them. They have our luggage to carry, anyway.’

Godge nodded. ‘Yes, we can do that. We don’t have a long way to walk now.’

Saying so, he led them into the dense forest.

After two hours, they were all weary. They began to doubt that this was only a short distance.

‘Stop!’ gasped Mavis. ‘Please stop!’

Godge raised his head. ‘You wanted to reach the Village of the Villagers in two days,’ he said innocently. ‘Now come on!’ he cried suddenly; ‘we’re almost at the River of Doom!’ He dashed away.

Mavis and Walter exchanged glances before lazily picking themselves up and following Godge.

After a while, they suddenly heard the sound of water flowing. This made them look up in surprise. Then, forgetting they were exhausted, they broke into a run.

They found themselves at the banks of a sparkling river. There were shining silver flowers with golden-brown stems all over its edge. Godge was standing there grinning from ear to ear.

‘Now this is not what I expected,’ said Mavis looking around. ‘I thought the waters of the rivers were supposed to be boiling lava or something. It is called the River of Doom, after all!’

Godge shook his head. ‘Do not be fooled by looks!’ he said. ‘If anyone touches the waters of this river, they become frightened for the rest of their lives. There is no cure.

‘But these Miana flowers,’ he pointed to the silver flowers, ‘do not allow you to feel fear. If you held onto one and jumped into the river, you would not feel frightened. But if you simply held on to one you suddenly feel there is no danger in the world. That is not good, though. I have heard a story of an elf who ended up in the mouth of a dragon when he held on to one of the flowers.’

Walter grimaced. ‘Poor guy.’

Mavis looked at the water hopefully. ‘Is there anything wrong with, err, drinking it? Our water supply is already over and I haven’t drunk water for ages.’

‘I’m thirsty too,’ agreed Walter.

‘Don’t drink from the river! I’ll go into the forest and see if I can find some water,’ said Godge. He scurried away.

Mavis and Walter waited at the banks of the river for Godge to return. Then suddenly Mavis thought she heard a twig snap behind her. Before she could see what had made the sound, Walter screamed.

Mavis looked into the river in surprise and saw Walter struggling to keep his nose above the waters. ‘Walter!’ she cried in horror.

She reached out to grab his arms. But then she realised they were soaked in the water. She knew she couldn’t touch them. ‘Swim up!’ she cried in panic.

‘It’s pulling me in!’ shrieked Walter.

‘Godge!’ Mavis called. ‘Godge!’ There was no reply. Mavis decided that she had to jump into the water. She was just about to dive in when suddenly she remembered Godge’s words: These Miana flowers do not allow you to feel fear. If you held onto one and jumped into the river, you would not feel frightened.

She plucked a Miana Flower from the ground and tied its stem around her wrist. Then, hoping for the best, she plunged into the freezing waters.

She heard Star and Peanut Butter neigh loudly and Alpha bark. She knew what they were trying to say, Hey! You’re going to die!

She swam deeper and deeper and saw Walter bobbing in the water above her.

She noticed a sort of rope that looked like it was made of water wiggling around. It tried to wiggle towards her, but it somehow couldn’t come near her. Mavis looked at her Miana Flower. It was creating a barrier around her, stopping the rope from coming near her.

She looked up at Walter struggling to stay above the water’s surface. Then she suddenly noticed something: there was another rope clasping Walter’s ankle. It seemed to be made of water, just like the rope that was trying to wiggle towards her.

She tried to untie the rope holding Walter’s ankle, but it was impossible. Mavis swam forwards and grabbed the rope holding Walter. She tried to rip it apart, but it was too strong.

Suddenly she felt that she couldn’t hold her breath any longer. She swam up to the surface and took a long gasp of breath.

Then she held her breath and dove into the water again.

She swam deeper and deeper till she came to the river bed of golden sand. There was some dark green seaweed growing there. Mavis accidentally touched one with her foot. It suddenly coiled itself around her foot and pulled her down.

Mavis struggled to get herself free. She knew she would have to swim up to the surface to breathe. She pulled out Spark and hit the seaweed as hard as she could, but she only got her foot bruised.

She gave a gasp of pain, and some water entered her mouth. She choked and some more water entered her mouth. Careful not to swallow any of the water, she spat it out.

Then she pointed Spark towards the seaweed and sent a spark.

It was only a spark, but the seaweed withdrew. Mavis quickly swam across the riverbed, careful not to touch any of the seaweed.

Then suddenly she noticed one of the seaweeds clutching a rope that looked like it was made of water. Mavis swam as fast as she could and sent a spark from her weapon at the seaweed. It let go of the rope, which floated away.

Mavis swam up to the surface and gasped for breath. Walter, who was floating beside her, crawled onto the land. He looked very pale and still had the rope tied to his ankle. Just then, Godge came walking out of the forest. ‘Hey! I found a clean pond!’ he called out.

He froze when he saw Mavis crawl out of the river. ‘You fell into the river!’ he cried in horror.

Mavis raised her hand to show the Miana Flower tied around her wrist.

Godge looked at Walter. ‘What about him?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Mavis. ‘Somehow fell in.’

She watched as Walter screamed because he saw a lizard crawling on a rock by the river. She wrinkled her nose. ‘Will he always be like that?’

Godge sighed and nodded.

Mavis felt a sudden sadness. Once they found the bronze time machine, everything would be back to normal for her, but not Walter. He was going to remain scared for the rest of his life.

Godge took them to the clean pond he had found so that they could wash the water of the River of Doom off themselves. He also made Mavis take the Miana Flower off her wrist, and she stuffed it into her pocket.

‘Fine, do we fly over the river now?’ she said.

‘That would be foolish.’

‘Why?’

‘Because of the fumes from the river, of course. The effect would be nearly as bad as Walter’s fright.’

‘So what do you propose?’

Godge glanced at the river. ‘We’ll build a bridge. If we used the bridge, it would block all the fumes from the bottom. And the waters flow faster than I thought, so building a raft would mean going downstream.’

Just as they were trying to figure out how they were supposed to build a bridge, Walter was frightened by a squirrel. He ran away screaming, then hit his head hard on a dead tree, fell down and yelped. Mavis looked at Godge. He nodded.

Together, the two chopped the tree down from one side with a few sharp stones. The tree was slowly rotting and was weak, so they could do this easily. They pushed it towards the river. It slowly tipped over, then its branches fell onto the other side, forming a not-so-perfect bridge.

Mavis looked at it in admiration. ‘Though the horses would have difficulty in crossing the bridge, we’ve outdone ourselves!

Godge grinned. ‘True.’

Mavis decided that they’d better set off that instant so that they wouldn’t get into any more trouble. But Walter was too scared to walk over the bridge. Mavis begged him to come, but he refused. Finally, she lost her patience and hoisted him onto Peanut Butter’s back. He screamed and clung to the horse’s neck.

Mavis sighed and looked at Godge for help. ‘I’ll ride the horse,’ he said. ‘No doubt he’d be too scared to even give the reins a tug.’

Godge and Walter went first, slowly walking over the bridge. It crumbled in some places. Peanut Butter stumbled over once, but before she could fall into the river, she gripped the bridge with her jaws. Walter screamed in fright.

Finally, Peanut Butter reached the other side. ‘We’re here!’ cried Godge cupping his mouth with his hands.

Mavis scooped up Alpha and mounted Star, then slowly made her way across the bridge. Just when she was halfway across the bridge, it shook a little. She froze. Then it suddenly shook with a tremendous force.

She saw Godge shouting something. But whatever he was shouting, she couldn’t hear, because Walter was screaming his head off. All she heard was: ‘SEA SERPENT! RUN!’