Mr Horsey Gets Kidnapped

Godge agreed with Mavis’ plan, so now here he was, on top of the hill with the horses, Alpha (who was busily sniffing for rabbits) and Mavis. Walter was down the hill, chewing his fingernails and nervously glancing around in fear of being ambushed by dragons. He had stubbornly refused to climb the hill in case he tumbled off. Mavis had not argued with him. She knew Walter would win the argument and would be ready to put up a fight just to avoid the wrath of the hill. And, anyway, she had told Godge they’d leave one person behind.

Godge surveyed the hill keenly. ‘It doesn’t look like a cutout. . .’ he said slowly. ‘It could be paper mâché though . . .’

‘Oh, for crying out loud! Newspapers don’t even exist yet!’

‘Good point, but it could be concrete.’

‘Nope, doesn’t exist yet either.’

‘Well, maybe someone just built a real village as a trap?’

By now Mavis had lost her patience. ‘You know what, I don’t even care what you say about the village. I’m just going!’

‘Well, how do you explain us getting here in a single day instead of two?’

‘Maybe your calculations were wrong. And there’s no point in wasting time, or we really will take two days in reaching that village.’

Godge knew he was defeated. ‘Oh, I give in. Just don’t blame me if we’re caught.

Mavis grinned. ‘Works every time.’

The two marched down the hill with the horses. Alpha was still looking for a rabbit, and he was sure he had caught a whiff of its scent. So, naturally, he was thoroughly disappointed he couldn’t catch it when Mavis called him down.

‘Is it a village or trap?’ asked Walter the moment Mavis and Godge were down.

‘We’re not sure,’ admitted Mavis. ‘But we’re still going to go and check it out.’

Walter looked at her in horror. ‘But we’re taking such a big risk!’

Mavis shrugged. ‘Walter, when you’re stranded in an unknown land, millennia before your time, certain risks must be taken.’ She paused. ‘But then, Godge is in his right time and place,’ she added slowly, glancing at Godge. ‘We won’t blame you if you decide not to come with us.’

‘I’m certainly coming,’ snapped Godge. ‘I don’t want the giants catching me–and without a guide, you wouldn’t survive a second!’

‘Then it’s settled,’ said Mavis. ‘Come on–we’ve got a village to look at to see if it’s a trap or not, and prepare to meet our doom if it is,’ she finished badly.

Walter was pale as a sheet. He suddenly screamed and tried to flee.

Godge barely had time to give Mavis a what-just-happened look. She grabbed Walter by the arm, preventing him from running away into the forest.

‘What do I do?!’ she shouted to Godge, but he was as clueless as her.

Finally, Mavis managed to hoist him onto Peanut Butter’s back. She tied him to the horse’s back with her silver spider tread. He struggled and wiggled and shouted. ‘HELP! I’M BEING KIDNAPPED!’

Godge looked around worriedly. ‘If someone hears us, it would be their cue to trap us!’

‘You and your traps!’ cried Mavis, but she taped Walter’s mouth shut with his bandages, all the same.

A look of betrayal flashed across his face. Not because his best friend was kidnapping him, but because his own bandages were gagging him.

Godge looked at him guiltily. ‘I have the sudden feeling we are kidnapping him.’

Mavis glared at him. ‘Well, we’re not, so no need to fuss over it! And anyway, Walter obviously didn’t want to be left alone because of running away, so we’re doing him a favour.’

Godge still looked uncertain. ‘Well, he obviously didn’t want to be kidnapped either.’

‘What did I just say?’

The group made their way across the grassland. Everyone was grave. Even Alpha didn’t even stop to sniff for a rabbit.

Eventually, they made it. They reached a large stone wall, stretching on either side for miles and miles.

Godge looked around. ‘We need to find an entrance. Look for inscriptions on the rock. You should find a riddle that must be answered to enter.’

Mavis searched and searched. She found no inscriptions, but she found a large wooden door with a doorbell. She called Godge over.

He scanned it suspiciously. ‘Sometimes objects are just placed as distractions . . .’ he kneeled down and ran his fingers through the green grass in hope of finding an entrance.

Mavis shrugged. ‘And sometimes, they aren’t.’ She rang the doorbell, sending a loud DING DONG!

Godge looked at her horrified. ‘What have you done?!’

The door swung open.

Mavis smiled. ‘I have just earned us a one-way ticket inside!’

At the door, was a scowling short man. ‘Prove to me that you’re not trolls.’

Mavis frowned. ‘We’re not trolls?’

The man smiled brightly, changing his appearance completely. ‘Then, in you go!’

Mavis, Godge, Walter (tied to Peanut Butter), the horses and Alpha nervously made their way in.

‘Who would have known such a complex village had such a simple entrance?’ said Godge amazed.

‘Who said it was a complex village?’ said Mavis drily.

They walked across the muddy roads in the small village. On either side were little cottages with straw roofs. Though obviously, the small village didn’t have enough space for all its inhabitants, they seemed pretty happy. The whole community was like a big family.

On each cottage, they saw small carvings of birds. Mavis noticed that they were the same ones on their weapons and also the one that they saw with the Tribes.

‘Those are Mrindawian seals,’ said Godge noticing her eyes wander over to them.

For some reason, all the Villagers took their eyes off their work and glanced across the streets at the company.

‘Do we look suspicious?’ Mavis whispered to Godge nervously.

He pointed with his thumb behind him.

Mavis glanced around and saw Walter tied to Peanut Butter’s back. ‘Oh, I see,’ she muttered.

She untied Walter from Peanut Butter’s back. He clambered down immediately and looked around, frightened. He hadn’t been able to see much because he was tied onto his horse’s back facing upwards. He had not the slightest idea where they were.

‘Don’t you dare flee now,’ said Mavis quickly. ‘You missed your chance.’

But Walter wasn’t planning on doing so. Where could he flee?

Godge looked around. ‘These Villagers seem friendly. Let’s ask them for help. They could help us find the King.

So, Mavis marched up to a short woman milking her cows. ‘Hello!’ she said brightly. My friends and I need to see the King.’

The woman smiled fondly. ‘Well, he wanted to borrow strawberries from me, so I was going to go to his palace anyhow. You can come with me.’

Mavis smiled. ‘Thanks!’

She walked up to Walter and Godge. ‘Now I’ve earned us a one-way ticket inside the palace. Oh, what would you do without me?’

Godge rolled his eyes.

The woman led them down the streets, with her basket of strawberries, stopping to feed a few strawberries to what looked like a zebra with brown fur on its back, a pink mane, a blue unicorn horn, brown wings, a long brown tail and huge rabbit ears.

‘That’s a zio,’ Godge whispered to Walter and Mavis.

The woman finally rounded up on a stone castle. There was a blue flag with the Mrindawian seal embroidered on it on top of the castle.

The castle was surrounded by a moat so that no one unwelcome could cross without letting down the drawbridge.

Mavis peered down to see if any crocodiles were swimming there. But instead, there were only a few ducks and swans. The moat was filled with lily pads and pretty flowers. She raised an eyebrow.

They trotted up to the drawbridge of the castle.

‘Open up!’ shouted the woman.

With a creak, the drawbridge slowly closed down, revealing an entrance into the castle. A smiling guard with a spear was standing there. His spear had a blob of mud stuck to the sharp side in case he accidentally poked himself.

The woman led them inside.

Mavis was surprised that the guard didn’t attempt to take away their weapons or tell them that no pets were allowed inside.

They found themselves in a long corridor. Paintings of kings painting kings on canvases, kings baking cookies, kings eating their lunch, kings sitting on tables with pigs, kings painting their siblings blue, and kings doing whatnot were hung on the walls.

They reached a large room with a throne on one end. There was a king peacefully sleeping on it. There were many other small thrones all over the place. Courtiers were sleeping on each one.

‘Shall I eat your strawberries then?’ shouted the woman, annoyed.

Everyone sat up immediately. The King gave her an innocent look. ‘We weren’t sleeping, we were meditating!’ he squeaked.

‘Good for you,’ said the woman drily, handing him her basket of strawberries.

‘Oooooh, yummy!’ he said in delight, popping one into his mouth and handing some to his courtiers, who were now wide awake.

The woman gave Mavis, Walter and Godge an encouraging look before leaving the court.

Only then, the King had noticed them. ‘Oh hello!’ he said. ‘Are you from another kingdom? I’ve never seen you before.’

Mavis suddenly felt afraid. True, she had spoken to the friendly woman, but speaking to the King was an entirely different matter!

Thankfully, Godge stepped forward. ‘I am Kioa, she is Siara, and he is Kiwu. We are from a faraway land and would like some food and shelter, as we are on a quest.’

He clearly didn’t want to reveal too much.

The King looked interested. ‘And this “quest” you are on, is it something about destroying Mrindawa or anything like that?’

Godge shook his head, and the King looked relieved. ‘I’m not going to press the matter about what quest you’re on, because you probably don’t trust me enough. But knowing that you are not causing harm to anyone, I’m assuming it’s a good cause. Yes, I can provide you with food and shelter. That courtier (whose name I keep forgetting), will take you to your cottage. And that other courtier (whose name I can’t remember either), will take your horses to the stables.’

There was a frantic shuffling of feet as the courtiers tried to work out which of them were supposed to assist the company. Then they just gave up and sent some random people to help them.

Before the courtiers could lead them away, Walter demanded: ‘Why did we take only a day to get here? Godg–Kioa, said we were supposed to take two. Do you think you could fool us? Obviously, this is a trap.’

‘Well, this does seem like a trap, doesn’t it?’ said the King. ‘But dark times are these. The trolls are trying to conquer Mrindawa–come to think of it, they have brains the size of peas, so it’s strange to think that they hatch plans themselves and conquer kingdoms. Well, anyway, we Villagers have put a magical spell on our kingdom to make it randomly change its position every day. Then, of course, the trolls wouldn’t have any idea where our kingdom would be. To be honest, we don’t know either. Its movement is quite unpredictable. This is our only way of escape. We could, of course, just have a lot of defence at our borders, but our population is less.

‘You see, a few hundred years ago some of us didn’t want to live in this tiny village with the tiny cottages, so they formed their own civilization called Olves.’

Mavis glanced at Godge nervously, didn’t he say he was an Olf?

The King continued, ‘I’m not saying they’re all bad, but Olves can’t be trusted so easily. They usually care only about themselves and wouldn’t care to betray anyone if it is beneficial to them.’ He looked deep in thought for a moment, then suddenly came back to his senses. ‘Oh, I can’t keep you waiting, can I? You must be tired–just remember that this is not a trap.’

A courtier took the horses by their reins and led them to the royal stables, and another led the company away.

They walked through streets and markets till they finally reached a little cottage. One of the courtiers handed them a stone key to the cottage and marched away.

Mavis opened the door. The inside of the cottage smelled sweet and had a few squirrels and birds sitting at the windowpane. The walls were painted pink and yellow, with paintings of trees bearing beautiful flowers.

‘I could get used to this,’ said Walter happily.

‘Well, don’t get too attached to this comfort; we’re only staying for today,’ said Mavis.

Godge was carefully inspecting the cottage. Mavis sighed. ‘You still think the Villagers want to trap us?’

‘Well, why not? Honestly, the King didn’t strike me as someone to be trusted.’

‘But he was nice!’ protested Walter.

‘He seemed nice,’ corrected Godge. ‘And that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is.’

Mavis wasn’t sure why Godge was so suspicious. After all, the Villagers had no need to trap them, did they?

Godge managed to get Walter to help him in searching for what could be traps. He clearly didn’t like the Villagers; probably had something to do with their enmity with the Olves.

‘This is ridiculous!’ said Walter inspecting the area behind a bookshelf. ‘The Villagers are the nicest creatures I’ve ever seen, yet you think they want to trap us.’

‘Nothing wrong with being careful. For all we know, they’re plotting to feed us to a dragon.’

Walter turned pale and quickly started searching harder.

Mavis, meanwhile, decided to do something more worthwhile. That was teaching herself Mrindawian. She was not going to have others talking behind her back.

She found a book titled MRINDAWIAN FOR DOOFUSES under a stack of books on a table. She was not a doofus. But she went through it anyhow. It was probably for the humans in Mrindawa because it was all in English.

She studied the book, flipping through pages. It was surprisingly easy. Mrindawian seemed to come naturally for her.

A sudden jolt of pain shot through her chest. She clutched her heart in surprise. A vision flashed in her mind.

She saw a woman with a tangled mess of black hair and jet-black eyes. She looked startlingly similar to Mavis and was smiling down at her.

Mavis gasped softly and dropped her book. She knew this woman. She had seen her before. But where?

‘I found something!’ said Walter, snapping her out of her thoughts. He was pointing to a Mrindawian seal carved into the walls of the cottage. ‘This could be a trap!’

Godge suddenly didn’t seem so anxious about traps. ‘It’s only a Mrindawian seal!’ he protested. ‘There’s no way it’s a trap. Maybe the Villagers aren’t trying to trap us after all.’

‘But what if it is?’

Mavis rubbed her temples to get rid of the throbbing pain in her head. ‘It’s only a carving!’ she moaned. ‘It won’t fly out and kill us all!’

‘That’s because it’s a secret passage!’ declared Walter.

Mavis knew that although Walter was now a scaredy-crow, he was still the same old smart person. That didn’t stop her from being sarcastic, though.

‘Of course, it’s a secret passage! Why didn’t any of us think of that?’ she said, turning to the Mrindawian seal. ‘Open up, you!’

Nothing happened.

‘English won’t work on it,’ said Walter. ‘Common sense. These passages are ancient and all over the Village. They’re hundreds of years old. You need to feed them Mrindawian.’

‘And how exactly do you know this?’

‘I read books. Now someone, tell it to open.’

‘Look,’ interrupted Godge, ‘this is probably a passage, but I don’t see why it should be a trap. So, why don’t we just look somewhere el–’

‘Ziallo,’ interrupted Mavis.

A small crack appeared at the bottom of the seal. The wall separated under it, cracking and letting the bricks crumble, revealing a passageway.

‘Since when did you know Mrindawian?’ gasped Walter.

‘Since a minute ago.’

Godge was so frustrated he was tugging at his hair. ‘Whether or not this is a trap doesn’t matter. Let’s just forget about this passage. We won’t get anything out of entering it.’

‘But we need to see what it’s about!’ protested Mavis. ‘Let’s just go in and take a look around.’

Now it was Walter’s turn to disagree. ‘But why take the risk?’

Both Mavis and Godge flung him glares.

‘For God’s sake, who’s side are you on?’ snapped Mavis.

‘Just stay out of this!’ agreed Godge.

Walter shut his mouth with a tight snap.

‘Listen,’ Mavis told Godge in the sweetest voice she could muster, ‘why don’t we just take a peek in the passage. If we find anything dangerous, we’ll come right out!’

Godge looked as if he might protest, but Mavis had already skipped inside.

As they crawled through the cobweb and dust-filled tunnel, all Godge could do was complain loudly.

‘The aim of searching for traps is to not walk into them!’ he wailed.

‘You don’t know this is a trap,’ said Mavis. ‘Anyway, it’s only a little tunnel.’

‘A dusty one,’ said Walter, sneezing uncontrollably.

The passage would have been dark if it weren’t for Walter’s bow, which had started to glow faintly ever since it had been paired with its arrow. The passage stretched for a whole mile, till it came to an abrupt stone wall marking its end.

Mavis stared in disbelief. ‘Oh, this is ridiculous!’

‘Exactly!’ said Godge. ‘Now time to get out of here.’

But Walter didn’t lose heart. He pointed to a brick with fewer cobwebs than the others. ‘Either someone has dusted the webs away, or . . .’ he pushed it hard. It slid in, revealing a small tunnel. ‘Or someone has used this before,’ he finished.

Godge looked at both of them helplessly. ‘It’s too dangerous. Let’s just go back.’

Mavis shook her head. She pointed into the tunnel. A bit of light shone into it. ‘That definitely leads outside,’ she said; ‘not into a trap.’

They crawled inside and found that the tunnel curved upwards. They would have to climb the rocky walls to get outside. ‘I’ll go first,’ offered Mavis. ‘Hoist Alpha up after me.’

‘If you survive,’ muttered Godge drily.

Walter turned pale with fright.

Mavis groaned at Godge. ‘You couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?’ She turned back to the rocky wall and climbed up. She pulled herself up the hole and found herself in a rose bush.

You may say that she was welcomed by the sweet smell of fresh roses. But this was an entirely different case. The thorns of the bush gave her a nasty surprise and she jumped up in pain. ‘YEEEOUCH!’

‘All right up there?’ she heard Walter call anxiously.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Hoist Alpha up now.’

Walter stretched out his arms and handed Alpha to Mavis. Then he crawled up. He had quite a welcome from the thorns and winced, but didn’t scream like Mavis, in case there was ‘a dragon lurking around in the shadows.’

Godge didn’t come up. ‘I really don’t have a good idea about this–’

‘Are you coming or should I throw something at you?’

Godge muttered something and climbed up, but all the thorns were poking through Mavis and Walter’s skin, so there were none left on the plant to prick him.

They crawled out of the bush and found themselves in the garden of a cottage.

‘What, seriously, that’s all?’ they heard a voice.

Panic-stricken, the company jumped behind the rose bush. They saw a Villager talking to a troll, who wore clothes that covered his whole body to hide his warty skin. Still, his large body made it clear that he was a troll.

The troll had given the Villager a sack of gold.

‘They promised me two!’ said the angry Villager.

The troll mumbled something.

‘How do I care about that?!’ snapped the Villager. ‘I spend half my life in this terrible village just to find out the Villagers’ plan, and this is all you give me?’

‘He’s a spy!’ whispered Mavis excitedly.

The troll walked away.

The Villager looked startled. ‘No, wait–what about my gold?’

Just then he froze and turned to the rose bush. He had seen it rustle slightly. He slowly walked up to it. Then suddenly he jerked it to the right.

Mavis, Walter and Godge screamed. Alpha barked. They jumped out of their hiding place and fled. They dashed to the front garden of the cottage. A wooden carriage with a thin grey horse stood there. This was probably the troll’s.

Mavis knew that they wouldn’t be able to outrun the Villager and the troll, so she leapt onto the horse and hoisted Walter, Godge and Alpha on, and they galloped away.

Mavis heard the horse whine, unable to bear their weight.

‘Go on, just a bit further,’ she urged, nervously glancing around at the troll and the Villager who were running after them at top speed.

Just then, the horse whined and collapsed. Mavis slipped off its

neck and hit her head hard on the rocky ground. Then everything went blank.