The Courtiers Play Eye-Spy

Mavis sat up to find herself on a fluffy white bed. She looked around nervously and found that she was in a long room with lots of other white beds. She touched her bandaged head lightly, but it hurt badly, so she quickly withdrew her hand.

A woman with a white apron came walking over. In her hand, she had a tray with disgusting bottles of medicine. Mavis decided that she was in a nurse room, about to be fed unnecessary medicine. ‘I’m fine! I’m fine!’ she said. ‘Honestly, I’ve been knocked unconscious billions of times!’

But the woman didn’t look too convinced. ‘You had a terrible fall,’ she said. ‘Medicines are absolutely necessary.’

Just then Mavis remembered her fall off the grey horse.

‘What happened to the troll and Villager?’ she demanded.

‘The troll escaped, but the Villager has been taken for questioning. Turns out he was a spy. The King was pretty upset to see that one of his own people would do such a thing.’

‘And the horse?’

‘Taken into care. The poor guy had been mishandled by the troll. He was starved and covered in bruises given by a whip.’ Then, using this as a distraction, she attempted to pour the medicine into Mavis’ mouth. But she caught her doing this and jumped out of the way. ‘Oh, no you don’t!’

‘If you think you really are okay, why don’t you just go for a stroll?’ the woman muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Mavis smiled brightly, then hopped off her bed and trotted away.

The woman groaned. ‘What is the world coming to?’

Mavis skipped across the castle gardens and managed to find the stables. They were cleverly hidden behind a thick hedge of rose bushes in case any wild animal were to try and attack. Mavis winced in pain as the sharp thorns gleefully pricked her.

Then she realised that the hedge was much too thick for her to walk through, so with one flying leap, jumped to the other side.

She found that there was a large wooden stable with a dozen horses on the other side. They formed a long row and had a small bucket of water at the top of each stall. If there was a fire, the horses could bump the top with their heads, and water would come pouring down, putting it out.

Star stood in one of the stalls. He neighed with delight to see Mavis. He had been feeling quite bored in the stables. Peanut Butter had fallen asleep and the other horses kept whining that they were hungry. To make matters worse, the strange grey horse brooded on about his horrible life with the trolls.

Mavis stroked his head and Star attempted to chew the bandages on her head. She didn’t protest, because they made her head feel itchy and sweaty.

She turned to the grey horse. He wasn’t sure whether she was a good evolved-ape or a bad evolved-ape. True, if it weren’t for her, he’d still be with the trolls. But then, she had also ridden him till he collapsed.

She stroked his mane and he decided that she was a good-evolved ape.

Then suddenly, Mavis remembered about Walter, Alpha and Godge. They’d still be thinking she was in the nurse room. They were definitely not going to get a straight answer from the nurse: she was much too sarcastic. And her friends would worry and assume she had been kidnapped–not very desirable.

So, she said a quick goodbye to the horses (‘goodbye, my friends, it was nice knowing you!’), and leapt over the rose bush hedge. She dashed out of the castle gardens to their cottage. She didn’t knock on the door. Instead, she jumped to the top of the cottage and climbed down the chimney.

She landed with a bump in the fireplace. Walter was standing in front of it and screamed when he saw her land.

‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘It’s just me!’

‘I know!’ wailed Walter. ‘It’s you, the Dark Ghost! Please spare my life!’

Mavis was taken aback. Then she realised she was covered in ash and cinders because of falling down the chimney.

‘Err . . . no, it’s me, Mavis,’ she said, dusting the ash off her face. Walter looked relieved.

Godge came walking over that moment. ‘Everything all right, Walter?’ he said nervously.

Just then he noticed Mavis. He froze. ‘Aaargghhh! The Dark Ghost . . . with Mavis’ head?’

Mavis rolled her eyes, then dusted the ash off the rest of her body.

‘Oh, come on, Godge, I’ve been unconscious tons of times!’

‘You’ve been in the nurse room for four days,’ Walter pointed out.

‘That long?’ said Mavis in surprise.

Just at that moment, there was a knock at the door. Mavis opened it up. A Villager was standing there. ‘The King wants to see you,’ he said and scuttled away.

‘Why would he want to see us?’ asked Mavis, confused.

‘Must be about that spy we caught,’ said Walter.

They marched out of their cottage, to the King’s castle, surrounded by the moat. They walked up to the drawbridge.

‘Now, err . . . what was the magic word to lower the drawbridge?’ asked Mavis nervously.

Godge shrugged. ‘I’m pretty sure that woman had said, open up?’

At those words, the drawbridge opened up with a creak. The guard at the other side narrowed his eyes at them, trying to work out whether he should let them go. They didn’t really look like Villagers. But he didn’t have time to think about it because they slipped past him.

The company walked in nervously. They found themselves in the long throne room. They glanced around. The King was not on his throne, but the courtiers were on theirs.

They were playing a game of Eye Spy.

‘I spy wit’ me wee eye, somethin’ pink!’ shouted one of them.

The others scratched their heads.

‘The floor?’ one suggested.

‘The chandelier?’

‘The pig?’

‘It’s the throne! Har! No one guesses wha’ I say!’ laughed the courtier.

‘But the throne’s green.’

‘Oh, aye, forgot that I’m colour blind.’

Mavis cleared her throat loudly and all the courtiers turned to face her. ‘Err . . . did the King want to see us?’

A few minutes later, the company was in a little dusty room in front of a table. The King was on the other side looking down at a map of Mrindawa.

‘Why did you want to see us?’ asked Mavis.

The King looked up at them. ‘This is a very necessary question: where are you travelling to?’

Mavis looked at Walter and Godge with hesitation. ‘Uh . . . The Land of the Giants?’ she said nervously.

The King pointed to his map. On it was a point marked: The current location of our kingdom (‘current’ was spelt as ‘curent’). ‘You see,’ he said, ‘from here if you travelled to The Land of the Giants, it would take you forever.’

‘I don’t see what you’re getting at,’ said Mavis slowly.

The King continued, ‘But if we took our land to its original position . . .’ He pointed to a point on the map marked: The Original position of our land. ‘It would take you less time comparatively.’

‘How do you plan to do that?’ asked Godge.

The King shrugged. ‘Oh, we’ll just remove the magical spell from our land and it’ll go back to its original position. When you’re gone, we can put the spell on it again.

‘That would be helpful,’ admitted Mavis. ‘When is this land going back to its original position?’

The King nodded. ‘We’ll get our best witches and wizards. They should be able to lift the spell at twilight. That’s the only time you can.’

‘We’ll leave then,’ said Mavis.

‘We’ll get you some food and water ready for when you’re leaving,’ said the King. ‘But for now, you’d better get some rest.’

Sitali held up his gleaming lamp. It lit up like a firefly in the misty night. He looked around. There were thirty-one other witches and wizards with him, standing in a perfect circle, holding up their own lamps. At the centre of the circle was a large sapphire placed on a gold stand. This was the Sapphire of The Villagers.

Sapphires are the only stones that can hold magic. Diamonds work too, but only for a while. After that, they blow up in your face.

‘Ready?’ whispered Sitali. Everyone nodded. They held up their hands. Coloured sparks burst out and began swirling around the sapphire. The sapphire gradually took them all in, till they all disappeared.

It lay there motionless for a moment.

The witches and wizards watched with bated breath. Then suddenly, the faintest glow appeared in the sapphire. The large gemstone began to levitate in the cold air. Sparks zoomed into it from all over the village, making it shake.

It wasn’t the only one shaking. The village was shaking too. There was suddenly a flash of light. The village wasn’t shaking anymore. Neither was the sapphire.

But the village was now in an entirely different place.

Everyone stood staring at the sapphire for a moment. Then suddenly began cheering.

‘The spell has been lifted!’ they cried.

‘If it’s so difficult to even lift the spell, I can’t imagine putting it on this village,’ said Mavis.

She was standing next to Walter, Alpha, the horses and Godge. Walter looked shaken. ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’ He turned around and threw up his dinner’s contents.

A witch came limping over. ‘Listen, I think it’s best you leave right away. We can’t keep our kingdom here for longer. Not in these times.’

The King, who was standing with the company, nodded. ‘We don’t want the trolls finding us!’

‘Well, actually the giants are the real villains. It’s them you should be worried about. Time you knew,’ said Mavis.

The King looked horrified. ‘The giants? That’s worse!’

Then he told himself he was being silly. After all, with the spell, the giants would never find them.

He clapped his hands. Two Villagers trotted over. They had two sacks of food and water with them. The King turned to the company. ‘Here’s your food and water.’

Mavis smiled. ‘Thank you for all your kindness. I think we should be off now.’

She tied a sack of food to Star’s back and mounted him, carrying Alpha.

Walter tied the other to Peanut Butter and mounted her with Godge.

‘Oh–and I forgot to mention–our old kingdom, which was, by the way, destroyed by trolls, would probably shelter you, though it’s doubtlessly in ruins. You may want to stop there,’ said the King.

‘We’ll stop there,’ agreed Walter.

Waving goodbye, the company galloped away, out the gate.

Mavis looked up at the starry night sky. Green aura shone on it. Somehow, you could always see this at night in Mrindawa. She turned around to look at the Village of the Villagers one last time, but it was gone.

Alpha woke up to an utterly disgusting smell. Normally, he would have assumed it was Godge. But then, he smelt of dirty socks and smoke; this smelt of rats and raw lemons.

He soundlessly got to his feet and walked out of Walter’s tent. They had set up their campsite in a clearing, the forest surrounding them.

Star and Peanut Butter were outside on their feet. Their ears were perked up and they were cautiously staring at a bush.

Alpha couldn’t speak horse language, but seeing Star and Peanut Butter looking so frightened, he knew it was the python.

Alpha was panic-stricken. That snake was terrible, there was no other way to put it.

He dashed into Walter’s tent and licked his face till he sat up. He groaned when he saw Alpha. ‘Oh, why don’t you wake Mavis up?’ But Alpha wouldn’t budge. He tugged at Walter’s sleeve to make him come.

He grunted and sleepily followed Alpha outside the tent. He was confused when he saw Star and Peanut Butter staring at a bush. He followed their gaze and looked at the bush. He was horrified when it gently rustled.

‘It’s a wolf or fox,’ he heard a voice. He spun around and was startled to see Mavis standing there. He had almost forgotten about her ability to appear silently without being noticed.

‘You can tell by the clink of its claws,’ she explained.

She walked up to the bush.

‘Are you crazy?’ Walter hissed.

She looked at him and smiled. ‘Wolves don’t eat humans and foxes are just scared of them.’

Walter shook his head. ‘You don’t even know if it’s a wolf or fox!’

‘You’re right,’ said Mavis seriously; ‘it could be a dog.’ Before he could stop her, she reached into the bush.

She pulled out a small red wolf cub, with a coat of fur that seemed to be made of flaming fire.

‘It’s a wolf,’ she said simply.

Walter raised an eyebrow. ‘So that’s it?’

Godge suddenly came walking out of his tent. ‘What’s going on here?’ He looked amazed at the sight of the red wolf cub. ‘Why, that’s a fire wolf!’ he cried in surprise. ‘But they’re non-solitary animals! He must have lost his pack!’

The cub was trembling with fear and made a desperate attempt to get out of Mavis’ arms. She set him down and he sped away like a jet.

‘That’s weird,’ said Walter, surprised.

‘Almost like he was running away from something,’ agreed Mavis.

Just at that moment, they heard a hiss behind them. The cobra’s head was peering out of the bush.

Before it could even throw a hypnotizing look, Mavis was off the spot like a hare.

It was startled, and decided there was no point in going after her: she seemed to be pretty fast and could already be far away. It turned to Walter, who was quite paralyzed with fear. It snapped its jaws loudly and began slithering towards him.

He suddenly came to his senses. He dashed away at top speed. The snake was close at his heels and had its jaws open, ready to strike. They ran through the deep green forest without pausing for breath.

They sped past an almond nut tree. Mavis was on one of the branches of the tree. When she was fleeing the snake, she had suddenly noticed this tall tree and climbed up it so that the snake couldn’t see her. When she saw Walter and the snake, she knew she had to help.

So, picking a nut from the tree, she flung it at the snake. But she missed, and it hit Walter square on the head. He immediately fell unconscious.

‘Sorry!’ called Mavis.

The snake gleefully slithered to the unconscious Walter.

‘Oh, no you don’t!’ cried Mavis. She flung a nut at the snake’s head. But it wasn’t enough. It stopped only for a mere second. ‘Tricky one, eh?’ cried Mavis flinging a whole bunch of nuts at the snake.

Ridiculously, even this didn’t make the snake fall unconscious, although it looked like it was in pain.

It turned to Mavis and gave an angry hiss. Then it slithered up the tree.

‘Darn it,’ muttered Mavis climbing higher to escape.

The snake wouldn’t give up so easily. It quickly followed her, climbing after her.

Finally, Mavis reached the highest branch. It was thin and delicate and seemed to be bearing her weight with difficulty. It was going to snap any moment and that would be the end of her.

She needed to think fast; the snake was not far behind her.

She took a deep breath and leapt off the branch.

Suddenly, the whole world was in slow motion. She was suspended mid-air, screaming, ‘I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!’ She turned behind her and watched the snake slither up the branches of the almond tree so fast that it couldn’t stop as it came to the highest branch. It snapped under its weight, and the snake started to fall. It hit the ground next to Walter. For some moments, Mavis could feel a sense of glory.

Then, realising she was about to die, she started screaming again. Then, she hit the ground hard. She fell on top of the body of the black cobra, and her fall was cushioned. Still, she felt unbearable pain shoot through her back.

She shut her eyes, waiting to die. Then she realised that she wasn’t dead yet, and opened an eye.

Just then, she heard a voice. ‘Mavis! Walter! Where are you?’ It was Godge.

He emerged from the undergrowth, followed by the animals. He looked bewildered to see Walter and the black cobra lying on the ground, with Mavis lying on its back.

‘What on earth–'

He looked at Mavis. ‘What happened?’

She wearily told him the whole story, then staggered to her feet.

Godge prodded the snake with a stick. It didn’t move. ‘Mavis–you’ve killed a giant snake!’

‘Huh,’ she mumbled. ‘I did, didn’t I?’

Godge looked at Walter. ‘Did you kill him too?’

‘Nah, hit him with a nut, but I know just how to make him get up again!’ She picked up an almond nut from the ground and flung it at Walter’s head. He gave a cry of pain and jumped up. He was startled to see the huge body of the cobra lying beside him and quickly got to his feet.

‘How–who–?’

‘Thank her,’ said Godge, nodding towards Mavis. ‘Now we don’t have to worry about Snake Guy.’

Walter still looked amazed and horrified. He gawped at the body of the snake, then at Mavis, trying to work out how she killed it.