Mr Mountain Plays Tricks

They dashed back to their campsite and were horrified to find it in ruins. Their sacks of food had been rummaged through and their tents lie open.

‘Someone has been looking for something,’ whispered Walter with fright.

Mavis jumped into her tent and shook her head. ‘I’ve got all my stuff,’ she said.

Walter peered into his tent. ‘Me too.’

‘None of my things have been taken,’ agreed Godge. ‘And it seems that none of our food has been taken either.’

Mavis gave a sigh of relief. ‘Then whoever was looking for something, didn’t find it.’

Godge nodded. ‘Yes, but they soon will. We’d better leave right away.’

So, mounting their horses, the company galloped away. Walter, who was sitting behind Godge on Peanut Butter, was giving them the directions. The King of the Villagers had given them a map of Mrindawa, which Walter was reading. ‘Err . . . well, the King wanted us to go to his old kingdom, so we need to go west.’

But Godge shook his head. ‘If we need to fix Mavis’ weapon, we need to go to the glacier of The River of Doom. That’s where the blue phoenixes live.’

‘In that case,’ said Walter eyeing the map carefully, ‘we’d have to go north.’

Mavis shrugged. ‘My weapon is pretty useless anyway. We don’t need to deviate our path for the sake of it. I could always get a new stick.’

‘Actually,’ said Godge calmly, ‘your weapon is much powerful than you think. Everyone is after it. Now that the weapon is in your hands, it’s your duty to protect it.’

‘So,’ Mavis said slowly, ‘we’ll have to deviate our path. Okay, we’re going north!’ She tugged at Star’s reins and the horse spun around and began galloping.

‘Let’s fly,’ suggested Godge. ‘This way, we wouldn’t miss the glacier.’

Mavis looked at Walter and hesitated. ‘You–you won’t fall off, will you?’

Walter looked frightened. ‘I won’t. Let’s just get out of here.’

So, Mavis tugged Star’s reins and he took off.

Godge flew Peanut Butter after them. Alpha, who was sitting on Star with Mavis, had suddenly seemed to have lost his fear of flight. He peered off the horse’s back and nearly fell off. Thankfully, Mavis grabbed him just in time.

They flew over the lush green forest. Walter read the map and gave directions.

Soon, they were towering above a stretch of white snow. Alpha poked his head off Star’s back again and found himself falling.

‘Oh, you have got to be kidding me!’ cried Mavis. She tugged hard at Star’s reins. But he didn’t need the signal. He swooped down and tried to catch Alpha, but it was too late. The black dog bounced on the snow and sank inside.

Star softly landed on the snow and Mavis jumped off. She rummaged through the snow with her hands, which she thought would fall off because of the cold.

She finally dug out a freezing Alpha. He gave the tiniest woof. Peanut Butter landed on the snow with Walter and Godge. Walter looked at the map nervously. He gave a sigh of relief to see that it wasn’t wet because of the snow.

‘Um, the glacier should be around here somewhere.’

Everyone looked around, craning their necks.

Suddenly Mavis jumped up. ‘It’s there! Do you see it?’ Everyone turned to look in her direction, but nothing was there.

When they looked very hard, they could make out the outline of a mountain peak. But when they blinked, it would disappear out of sight.

‘It’s playing tricks,’ declared Godge, ‘but don’t be fooled, come on, we’ll eventually reach it!’

They slowly made their way across the fluffy snow. Suddenly, Walter thought he had seen the foot of the mountain, but when he tried to get a closer look, it had disappeared faster than it had appeared.

He wasn’t sure if his plan would work, but he rolled up a snowball and flung it away as hard as he could. He could have sworn he heard a faint thud.

‘Listen,’ he called out to Mavis and Godge, ‘don’t trust your eyes! Follow your ears!

He rolled up another snowball and flung it away. Another thud. He inched forward towards the sound. Following his example, the other two made their own snowballs and flung them away.

After a lot of flinging and inching, the company finally reached the foot of the mountain.

They quickly felt it to make sure it was real, before crawling up.

Star was a mountain horse and could climb up with ease. But Peanut Butter needed a bit of help because she was good at running, not climbing. All Alpha had to do, on the other hand, was hitch a ride on Star’s head.

They looked down from the mountain, but all they saw was just a wide stretch of snow. When they looked a bit closer, they could see The River of Doom glittering across the snow.

‘If we pushed Walter in again, would he lose his fear?’ asked Mavis hopefully, but Godge gave her a don’t-try-anything-weird look.

They looked up at the top of the mountain. But it was too tall for them to see its peak. They did spot a rocky opening of a cave, though. They weren’t even sure there were blue phoenixes in there, but they crawled in anyway, purely out of curiosity.

The walls of the cave were freezing, just like the snow. Stalactites sprouted out from the ground and stalagmites hung from the ceiling. Clear water dribbled from each one and showered all over the company.

They were slightly creeped out by the spooky cave but went on. Somehow each of them wanted to know what was in front of them. This was strange: for all they knew, there could be a dragon right in front of them. In fact, the dragon may not have had breakfast yet! But the company didn’t stop to think about it.

They went on walking for what seemed like ages. The only light in the dark cave remained as Walter’s Bow of Fire.

Suddenly, Mavis stopped in her tracks.

Everyone looked at her inquiringly.

‘My foot’s stuck,’ she said nervously.

Walter shone the light of his bow on her foot. It was stuck in a small crack in the ground.

‘Oh no,’ he said worriedly.

Mavis attempted to yank her foot out, but it wouldn’t budge.

‘I’m going to have to have my leg sawed off!’ she wailed.

‘Don’t be absurd!’ snapped Godge. ‘It’ll come out in a moment!’ Mavis made another vain attempt to pull her leg out.

Amazingly, it came out–but unfortunately, the crack got wider, swallowing her up. It didn’t stop right there: it got so big that it swallowed up Walter, Star, Peanut Butter, Alpha and Godge.

Screaming, they all slipped through a long tunnel. The ground of the tunnel was freezing, but they were moving so fast that they hardly felt it. It was dark and narrow, so they could make out nothing, including each other.

They landed with a thud on a mossy lichen-covered ground. They appeared to be in some underground chamber. But it seemed like the normal world above. The ground was covered in moss and a few plants grew from the cracks. There were many springs squirting water out, making a few small pools. There even was light! It seemed to be coming from a few blue-coloured birds.

Godge gasped. ‘Blue phoenixes!’

Though the rest of the company had never seen these birds, they knew what they were instantly. They stared at the birds in amazement, unable to take their eyes off them. The birds were (obviously) blue coloured. They seemed to be made of flames and glowed brightly. Their beaks were sharp and black.

The blue phoenixes were frightened of the company. Most of them had been born in the cave and had lived in the company of only the other blue phoenixes all their life. They nervously inched away.

‘It’s all right,’ neighed Star, ‘we won’t hurt you!’

The phoenixes looked at Alpha in uncertainty.

‘He already had breakfast,’ said Peanut Butter quickly. ‘Oh–our owners and Weird Guy? No, they won’t hurt you! It’s all right, come out now!’

The blue phoenixes slowly crawled forwards.

‘Err . . .’ said Mavis, not quite sure how to put it, ‘we really need one of your feathers.’ She wondered how the phoenixes would react. If someone asked her for a lock of hair, she’d assume them mad.

One of them blinked. It turned its neck around and pulled a shining blue feather off its back. Mavis was surprised. She wondered how the blue phoenixes had understood her.

‘Blue phoenixes can understand the language of every creature,’ Godge explained quickly.

She took the feather from the phoenix’s beak. It burnt her fingers and she dropped it in surprise. Before she could pick it, Godge grabbed it. It burnt his fingers and he released it immediately but caught it with his other hand quickly. This time it didn’t burn.

‘Great,’ said Mavis, ‘now how do we fix Spark?’

But Godge wasn’t listening. He was gently stroking the feather.

Mavis froze. In his violet eyes, there was pure greed and nothing but greed. On his face was a self-satisfactory smile. ‘If I bring this to them, they’re sure to pay me handsomely,’ he whispered to himself. It was in a low voice, but Mavis had caught a few words of it.

Walter had too. He looked nervously at Mavis and nodded. But she didn’t need the warning. She pounced onto Godge, pinning him to the ground. ‘You are a spy of the giants!’ she shouted.

The blue phoenixes sensed something was wrong. Squawking, they surrounded the company within a few seconds.

‘Don’t hurt our owners!’ cried Peanut Butter defensively. ‘Weird Guy is to blame!’

The phoenixes aggressively snapped at Godge’s fingers. Mavis jumped off, leaving him to them. She had the blue phoenix’s feather, which she had wrestled out of his pathetic little fingers.

Godge got to his feet and knew he had been defeated: the blue phoenixes had him surrounded.

He had no escape now. Then suddenly he noticed Peanut Butter standing close to him. So, with a flying leap, he landed right on her back. He tugged at her reins ready to gallop out of the cave. But Peanut Butter wouldn’t budge however hard he tugged.

She let out a neigh and struggled to get him off. Star and Alpha attempted to attack him. Star kicked him with his hind legs and Alpha bit his ankle. But Godge held on to Peanut Butter–his life was at stake here!

Mavis looked at Walter. Why was he not trying to help his horse? What she saw made a chill run down her spine. His face was red with anger. He was struggling to contain himself from exploding. He was gritting his teeth, which appeared to be breaking to pieces.

Mavis froze with fear, then jumped away just in time. ‘Someone, get a fire extinguisher!’ she screamed.

But it was too late. Walter flung himself at Godge and wrestled him to the ground, with a sudden bravery she hadn’t seen in him since he’d fallen into the River of Doom.

‘Goodbye world!’ wailed the poor Olf.

Mavis hated Godge more than anything right now. But could she just leave him to meet his doom? She pulled Walter off him with a bit of effort.

‘You get away,’ she growled, but Godge didn’t need a warning: he got to his feet and fled, climbing up the tunnel that they had slid down before.

‘Sheesh!’ cried Mavis. ‘I see why the King told us not to trust Olves!’

Walter shook his head in disbelief. ‘I know, right! I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Godge who pushed me into The River of Doom!’

Mavis nodded. ‘I knew there was someone behind us when you fell in.’ She suddenly paused. ‘Hey, if you did fall into The River of Doom, why aren’t you screaming in fright?’

Walter shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m just not in the mood.’

Mavis’ face lit up. ‘You’re cured of fright! Must have been the magic of the blue phoenixes!’

Walter grinned. ‘I could climb Mount Everest! But this glacier seems to be much taller, doesn’t it? Maybe I could climb up to its peak?’

Mavis rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t get any weird ideas.’

She fingered her blue phoenix feather. ‘Well, we’ve gotten a blue phoenix feather now, but what do we do with it?’

Walter shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Why don’t you just hold the feather to Spark and say: abracadabra?’

So, Mavis held the feather to her weapon. Before she could even say: abracadabra, the weapon took in the feather’s magic and glued its two pieces together. The feather, now without the magic, wilted away.

‘I can’t believe that actually worked!’ said Mavis, surprised. Her heart sank when she remembered something. ‘If Godge is evil, he may have been lying that this weapon is great. After all, it’s just a stick. He probably just wanted us to stray from our path.’

‘If you think we’ve been wasting our time you can rethink that,’ said Walter. ‘Firstly, you don’t have to deal with me being a scaredy-crow. Secondly, we’ve figured out that Godge’s evil, so now he won’t be spying on us again.’

Mavis shrugged. ‘I guess you’re right. We’d better be on our way now.’ The two mounted their horses. Peanut Butter hadn’t given the usual whine now that she didn’t have to carry two evolved-apes.

The horses spread out their wings and flew up the tunnel. This proved to be very difficult as their wings kept bumping the sides of it. But eventually, they managed to get out. They were startled to see Godge standing at the mouth of the cave.

Mavis and Walter suspected Godge was waiting for them to leave so that he could take over the flock of phoenixes.

‘Some nerve you’ve got to stand here,’ growled Mavis.

‘You,’ said Godge angrily jabbing a finger at them, ‘would trust anyone, wouldn’t you? When I was spying on you two in the forest, you decided to take me as your guide, making it easier for me to spy. And when I pushed Walter into the River of Doom, did you suspect me? No!’

‘So it was you,’ said Walter with a murderous look.

‘And when I called that giant cobra to attack you, you suspected nothing. Not even when I rummaged through your belongings!’

Mavis was aghast. She hadn’t realised how much Godge was capable of.

‘Why did you rummage through our tents? What were you looking for?’ demanded Walter, but Godge only pursed his lips and said nothing.

Unexpectedly, he drew a metal sword.

Mavis and Walter were just about to pull their weapons out, when the Star charged towards him, neighing in anger.

Godge had to run and flee to stay alive, so that’s what he did. All Mavis had to do to stop Star was to tug at his reins, but she enjoyed chasing Godge around.

Seeing this, Peanut Butter didn’t see why she couldn’t have some fun too. She ran at Godge.

Alpha played his part too. He jumped off Star’s back and bit Godge’s arm.

The horses and dog chased Godge out of the cave. Godge jumped down the rocks of the mountain and landed on the snow. ‘I am more powerful than you think!’ they heard him shout as he dashed across the snow. He nearly slipped into The River of Doom, but missed narrowly, much to Walter’s annoyance.

Mavis felt betrayal–an ache in her heart. She had thought Godge a friend, but he had been working for the enemy all along. She was filled with rage

‘Coward,’ she muttered under her breath.

‘Now it would take him ages to get back here,’ said Walter blissfully, ‘and even if he manages to spot the glacier, the blue phoenixes would chase him away!’

Mavis had to laugh to this.

The two decided to fly instead of starting to gallop: the horses’ hooves would freeze if they needed to walk on the snow again. So, the horses spread out their wings and started the flight.

Alpha knew better than to peer off Star’s back, so he stayed put. But the stretch of snow under them was so beautiful and breathtaking that he was forced to make the same mistake. (Actually, he wasn’t interested in its beauty at all; he had just seen a rabbit hopping over the snow.)

Mavis was too busy riding Star to notice him. But Star felt his head poke off his back. He gave a warning neigh and Alpha, with a grumpy woof sat properly.

‘I just realised,’ said Mavis to Walter, ‘we’re on this journey to get back to our time, right?’

Walter nodded, confused.

‘Well,’ continued Mavis. ‘But if we just went back to our time, we’re abandoning Mrindawa, don’t you see? The giants are trying to take over it, and we’re doing nothing to stop that?’

Walter chewed his lip. ‘I see your point, Mavis, but we’re just kids. What do we do? This is just going to result in us being killed!’

‘Kids?’ cried Mavis angrily. ‘We’ve escaped Trolls, found a spy in The Village of The Villagers, and annoyed an Olf! You call us kids?’

Walter rolled his eyes; he could tell this was a dramatic scene like in all those movies.

‘Now tell me: are we saving Mrindawa or not?’ Mavis hissed.

Walter shrugged. ‘Well, just don’t blame me if we get buried here in Mrindawa instead of peacefully resting in our own time.’

‘We. Will. Not. Die,’ growled Mavis, every syllable trembling with rage.

A few days later, Walter was muttering under his breath. There was a terrible storm and Mavis and him were carrying their folded-up tents. They couldn’t set them up, because the heavy rain would have them in ruins in no time.

The two were walking on the wet ground in search of some proper shelter. Alpha’s fur was soaked. With all of it hanging down, you could see how thin he really was. Star and Peanut Butter were obediently walking behind Mavis and Walter. Like Alpha, their fur was soaked, giving their legs extra weight to hold.

Walter thought it was the worst day of his life.

Mavis was panting as she struggled to hold up the weight of her tent. ‘No more,’ she gasped unconsciously.

Walter was looking down at his feet as he walked, too tired to go on much longer. Suddenly, he slipped on the wet ground. This brought him back to his senses.

He staggered back to his feet and looked down. He was at the edge of a rocky cliff. He gave a sigh of relief; he was lucky he hadn’t fallen. ‘Cliff!’ he called out to Mavis, who was behind him. She hardly raised her head.

Just at that moment, there was a gust of wind. Walter was knocked off his feet and was horrified to find himself falling down the cliff. He grabbed a root of a tree jutting out of the cliff just in time. He stayed dangling from the root. He looked down worriedly. He couldn’t see the bottom of the cliff.

Mavis jumped to her feet to see her friend fall. ‘WALTER!’ she screamed, rushing forwards.

‘I’m all right,’ she heard a voice from down the cliff.

She craned her neck and peered down, but she saw nothing. Walter was meanwhile losing his grip of the root.

‘I’m slipping!’ he shouted. ‘Mavis! Let down something!’

Mavis knew she had to do something quick, or it’d be the end of Walter. She couldn’t risk sending down one of the horses, not in this raging storm! The wind would blow them away the moment they opened up their wings.

Then she suddenly remembered her silver spider rope.

That would work. It had to. She pulled it out of her pocket and carefully unrolled it. She tied one end to a stone so that it would go down the cliff without being blown away by the wind. She let down the end tied to the stone till it disappeared beneath the swirling mist. ‘Walter, grab onto it!’ she shouted.

When Walter heard Mavis shout out and let down the rope, he was surprised. By human instinct, he was made not to grab onto the stone. It was tied to such a thin rope, which could snap in half when he held on. But the root was gradually bending and he could fall any moment. He reached his right hand out and grabbed the stone. Then, using his right arm for support, he pulled himself up and released the root.

When Mavis suddenly felt a huge amount of weight on her arms, she knew Walter was holding onto her silver spider rope. But she couldn’t hoist him up. She rooted her legs to the ground to stop herself from slipping off the cliff. She wished she had thought of how she was to hoist Walter up once he had held on.

Star and Peanut Butter could tell Mavis was going to fall off the cliff like Walter. They definitely didn’t want that! They dashed over to her and grabbed her collar with their jaws. With some tugging, they managed to pull Walter up.

The first thing he did when he got up was collapse and begin to gasp frantically for breath. He lay sprawled on the ground as his brain processed what had just happened.

‘If you hadn’t gotten over that fear, you would–you would be screaming now,’ Mavis managed to gasp.

Walter had to laugh. He had so narrowly escaped death he was bursting with relief.

The two didn’t lie on the muddy ground for long. The heavy rain was battering all over them and they were forced to get to their feet. Walter pulled out their map and kneeled over it to shield it from the rain. ‘The Old Village of The Villagers isn’t far,’ he declared; ‘just across this cliff.

Mavis peered across the cliff to see the other end. ‘We can’t fly; that’s for sure,’ she said. ‘Our horses would be blown away. But . . .’ She looked thoughtful, ‘if the Villagers once lived across this cliff, how did they get here to settle down again?’

‘If they crossed the cliff, there must be a bridge around here somewhere,’ concluded Walter.

The two walked by the edge of the cliff in hope of finding a bridge. Unfortunately, they found nothing. By now, the horses and Alpha were getting tired. They whined piteously. ‘We need to find shelter,’ said Walter worriedly; ‘whether it’s the old village, or not!’

Mavis swallowed hard. As far as she could see, there were no caves anywhere. The only other shelter was the trees. And this was no proper shelter from the storm. ‘Take the horses and Alpha under that big tree there. We need to keep looking.’

Walter decided to go with it and took the horses under the tree.

Mavis was worried, they had to find that bridge! She absent-mindedly kicked a stone off the cliff with her foot. She jumped up in surprise to hear a small crack.

She shot Walter a startled look. He walked over. ‘What is it?’

‘There’s something down there,’ she said anxiously. She dropped another stone down the cliff. They listened for a moment before hearing the crack.

‘It could be the bridge!’ said Walter excitedly.

‘Only one way to know,’ said Mavis gravely. She tied her silver spider rope around her waist and gave Walter the other end. ‘I’m going down. You won’t feel any weight, because I’ll be climbing, but if I lose my balance, you’ll have to pull me out.’

‘Be careful,’ he said worriedly as she disappeared down the mist.