The Secret Mountain Page 5

  ‘I can’t believe it’s ending like this!’ said Rapunzel as she looked at the disappearing shoreline.

  Ella put her hand on Rapunzel’s shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll come up with something. We always do!’

  Rapunzel looked at her. ‘Unless you think a giant octopus is going to reach its tentacles over the railings, put us all on its back and slip away from the ship without anyone noticing, then I really don’t see how we’re getting out of this!’

  came a sudden sound from her left.

  Rapunzel spun around, but there was nothing there.

  ‘Whoaaaaaah!’ came another noise from her right.

  ‘What’s going on?’ cried Rapunzel as she turned around to see nothing again.

  ‘I don’t know!’ replied Ella from behind her. ‘Maybe it’s a – WAAAAAAAA!’

  ‘What’s a WAAAAAA?’ asked Rapunzel, turning around just in time to see a huge tentacle hoist Ella up into the air, over the ship’s railings and then on to the back of a giant octopus, where Hansel, Gretel and Wolfie were balanced, looking very confused. Then a tentacle grabbed her too and she was whisked through the air towards the others.

  ‘Sorry about the weird travel arrangements,’ called Lily the Sea Witch from the water, ‘but Ollie here owed me a favour, and I thought, why not? Right, Ollie?’ The giant octopus stared at Lily with enormous expressionless eyes and said nothing.

  ‘He doesn’t say much,’ added Lily. ‘Still, he’ll get you all back to shore, so hold tight!’

  ‘But what about our parents?’ asked Rapunzel, tying her long plaits into a bow on top of her head so they didn’t go anywhere near the salt water. ‘They’ll go crazy when they realize we’re missing!’

  ‘All taken care of!’ replied Lily with a smile. ‘A few seagulls owed me a favour too! Right now they’re carrying notes up to the ship to be delivered to your parents. Now let’s get you back to dry land!’

  The troll banquet was over and everyone was leaning back in their seats feeling happy and warm. The fire had been lit, and Hurrilan, Rufaro and Adeola were sharing stories about when they were young, while Icicles, Betsy and Snout dozed by the flames. Red looked around at all of her friends, old and new, and smiled.

  ‘Hey, Quartz!’ she said, tapping the troll boy on his shoulder. ‘I’m really going to miss you when we go back to Tale Town! Promise you’ll come and visit soon?’

  ‘As soon as I can!’ replied Quartz, ‘But there’s a lot of work to do before trolls will be accepted there.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ admitted Red sadly.

  ‘But don’t worry,’ added Quartz. ‘I’ve got this.’ He dug down into his pockets and pulled out a small hand mirror. ‘It’s a magic mirror,’ he explained. ‘If you look into it while I’m looking into the other one, then we’ll see each other in the reflection. Pretty cool, eh? You can talk into it too!’

  ‘Really cool!’ exclaimed Red.

  ‘So we can stay in touch, wherever we are!’

  ‘I’d like that!’ said Red happily as she took the mirror and gave her friend a warm hug.

  They were interrupted by shouts and screams from outside and everyone leaped to their feet. A group of human soldiers ran in through the tent, carrying a lot of very unpleasant-looking weapons.

  ‘My amulet!’ gasped Quartz, pointing. One of the guards was wearing a stone carving around his neck that was shaped like a star: he ran straight up to Rufaro and said, ‘Mayor Fitch will be pleased with your work, Commander! You’ve led us right to their hideout! Now come on, let’s get out of here!’

  ‘What?’ roared Hurrilan and Rufaro, staring at each other.

  Hurrilan’s face crumpled in sadness for a moment before immediately hardening again.

  ‘No,’ protested Rufaro. ‘It’s a trick! I swear that—’

  ‘Not again!’ screamed Hurrilan. ‘How could I be so blind? You led them here!’ He picked up his magical crystal-topped staff and swung it around above his head. The tent was plunged into darkness, then the crystal started glowing with a bright red light, leaving shimmering trails that twisted around each other, becoming almost solid. The light trails snaked through the air towards Rufaro and Adeola, twisting around them like a slow-motion lasso that bound them completely and dragged them back towards the glowing crystal.

  ‘Stop!’ yelled Anansi. ‘Leave them alone!’ He ran forward but Hurrilan flicked his hand and Anansi shot backwards against the wall of the tent, unable to move.

  ‘That must be him!’ yelled the soldier with the amulet, pointing at Hurrilan. ‘Get him!’

  The soldiers all ran towards Hurrilan, but he effortlessly cast another spell sending them tumbling backwards, turning into goats as they fell. The amulet flew into the air and Jack leaped up to catch it.

  ‘Hurrilan!’ gasped Rufaro as he was dragged closer to the crystal. ‘It’s a trick . . . I swear!’ The snaking lines of light were fizzing and spitting with magical energy, and Rufaro and Adeola were shrinking in size as they neared the powerfully glowing stone. ‘They’re lying!’ finished Rufaro’s voice, in barely more than a whisper, as the light dimmed and was sucked back into the crystal – taking Rufaro and Anansi’s mum with it.

  ‘No!’ shouted Anansi at Hurrilan. ‘What have you done? We didn’t know anything about it! I promise!’

  ‘It’s too late,’ said Hurrilan, glaring at Anansi and the others. ‘You’ve ruined everything. Now there is nowhere that trolls are safe. We can’t stay here – and it’s all your fault! Why would you do this?’

  At that moment, one of the frantic soldiers Hurrilan had turned into a goat ran into the troll warlock, knocking him off balance and making him drop his staff. As Hurrilan bent over to pick it up, Quartz gave him a quick nudge from behind and he fell forward. Another goat picked up the staff in its teeth and Hurrilan scrambled up to chase after it.

  ‘Quick!’ whispered Quartz to the rest of the group. ‘Get out of here! Now!’

  ‘But what about my mum and Rufaro?’ asked Anansi.

  ‘You can’t do anything about that now!’ said Quartz’s dad. ‘You must leave!’

  ‘He’s right!’ said Anansi’s dad. ‘It’s not safe. I need to get you and the others to the hot-air balloon.’

  Jack pressed the amulet into Quartz’s hand and scooped Betsy up. They all scrambled out of the tent and ran towards the golden balloon. Although it was patched and battered, it looked like it could still fly. They leaped inside and rushed to throw the weighted sandbags over the side, but for some reason, the balloon only rose a few feet into the air.

  ‘Oh no! We forgot to untie the guy-ropes!’ cried Anansi’s dad.

  The scared group of humans (and one hen) peered over the side of the basket. A sea of angry troll faces surrounded them, coming closer with every second.

  Jack heard an arrow flying towards them and instinctively ducked. But instead of piercing the balloon, the arrow sliced through one of the guy-ropes holding the balloon down. A second arrow sliced through another rope and then with a loud shhhhwippp another cut the last remaining rope and the basket rose into the air.

  Red looked down at the mass of angry trolls beneath them. In among them she saw Quartz and his parents, holding their bows and making the smallest possible waves as Hurrilan finally caught up with the goat and snatched his staff back.

  ‘You’ll pay!’ he yelled up at the balloon as it rose past the mountain peaks and out of range of his magic. ‘This is just the beginning!’

  The journey back to Tale Town was fast, but that was the only good thing anyone could say about it.

  Anansi barely said a word, and sat slumped in the corner of the basket with his dad sitting next to him. ‘What happened to Mum and Rufaro?’ he asked, his voice shaking. ‘Are they all right?’

  ‘I’m sure they are,’ replied his dad. ‘I don’t know how, but I just have a feeling. I’m going to find somewhere safe for you all in Tale Town and then I’m going back! I’ll find them – I promise.’

  ‘But nowhe
re will be safe in Tale Town!’ protested Red. ‘Fitch’s men must have been following us the whole time! We can’t go back!’

  ‘I know somewhere that will be safe!’ said Jack, his eyes lighting up.

  squawked Betsy excitedly.

  ‘Exactly!’ said Jack. ‘Rufaro’s secret hideout! If it’s good enough for Alphege and the gorillas, then it’s good enough for us. We can all camp there together!’

  ‘That’s perfect!’ said Red. ‘We can be close enough to Tale Town to keep an eye on what Fitch is up to, but he won’t know that we’re there.’

  ‘OK,’ agreed Anansi’s dad. ‘Let’s wait until nightfall, then we can land in the Wild Woods without anyone finding out.’

  Late that night, after the hot-air balloon had been deflated, folded up and hidden away, Red, Jack, Betsy, Anansi and his dad crept through the woods towards Rufaro’s secret hideout. As they closed in, Jack thought he saw a light shining through the trees, but it went out almost immediately.

  ‘Did you see that?’ he whispered. ‘I think there’s someone there!’

  Red’s face was pale. ‘OK,’ she replied. ‘We’ll go the long way round and sneak up, just to be on the safe side.’

  They crept through the grass as quietly as mice. Well, as quietly as huge loud mice . . .

  Eventually they came to the hideout. Jack tiptoed out into the clearing and was whipped off his feet, dangling upside down in a particularly ingenious trap. Alphege and the gorillas leaped out of hiding, along with Ella, Rapunzel, Wolfie, Hansel and Gretel. When they realized it was Jack they all burst out laughing.

  ‘We thought you were one of Fitch’s guards!’ exclaimed Rapunzel.

  ‘We thought you were!’ replied Red with a grin.

  ‘No way!’ cried Hansel and Gretel together. ‘It’s so good to see you guys again!’

  ‘Yeah! You too!’ said Anansi.

  ‘Helloooooo!’ called Jack from far above their heads.

  ‘So what brought you here?’ asked Ella excitedly.

  ‘Same as you, I guess,’ replied Anansi. ‘We needed somewhere safe to hide.’

  ‘Well, come in, come in!’ exclaimed Wolfie. ‘I’ve been trying to make things a bit more comfortable. I’ve woven a couple of rugs and found some scented candles . . . well, I say scented, I think they’re scented with earwax – they smell vile!’

  ‘Er, they are earwax,’ replied Anansi. ‘Rufaro had a bit of an ear problem last week . . .’

  Wolfie looked as though he was going to be sick.

  ‘That all sounds great,’ interrupted Jack as he swung back and forth above them. ‘But can you please get me down?’

  One of the gorillas lowered Jack slowly down to the floor and Alphege got the campfire going again. ‘OK, so gather round, people!’ he exclaimed happily. ‘We’ve got some tinned pasta shapes to eat, and a lot of stories to tell!

  By the time the embers of the fire were fading, everyone was ready for bed. Red, Jack and Anansi had told everyone about the trolls’ secret mountain. Rapunzel had explained about Fitch banishing the King and Queen, and Hansel and Gretel had told the story about Fitch’s secret war room.

  Then Alphege explained how they’d popped in to see one of the gorilla’s aunts for the afternoon and had ended up staying for a few days, going for long walks and eating lots of blackberry crumble and custard.

  ‘Oh!’ said Red. ‘Well . . . that sounds nice. I mean, the rest of us have been having all these dangerous adventures, and it turns out that you guys were just hanging out?’

  Professor Hendricks – whose aunt they had visited – picked up a stick to write a few words in the ground:

  ‘I suppose so,’ said Red with a shrug.

  ‘Anyway, what are we going to do now?’ asked Rapunzel.

  Red looked around at her friends and smiled. ‘We’re going to take back Tale Town!’ she said firmly. ‘We’re going to get rid of Fitch, and then we’re taking back our town! And we’ll make sure the town welcomes everyone. Humans and trolls.’

  Tom Percival grew up in a remote and beautiful part of south Shropshire. It was so remote that he lived in a small caravan without mains electricity or any sensible form of heating. He thinks he’s probably one of the few people in his peer group to have learned to read by gas lamp.

  Having established a career as a picture-book author and illustrator, Little Legends is Tom’s first chapter-book series for young readers. The idea for Little Legends was developed by Tom with Made in Me, a digital studio exploring new ways for technology and storytelling to inspire the next generation.

  MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

  This book is dedicated to

  Rory Pennington (and Icicles)

  First published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-5098-4216-2

  Text and illustrations copyright © Tom Percival 2017

  Characters and ‘Little Legends’ world copyright © Tom Percival and Me Studios Ltd 2015

  The right of Tom Percival to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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