Faris and Jack
Page 14
Chapter 13 – The Hills
Holly and the other horses had made their way quickly from The Caves, them galloping most of the way, with her flying high above them using her superior owl-vision to ensure they were not heading into a trap. Nothing had disturbed them on their journey.
Now they stood behind a large pile of rocks and small bushes. Similar rock piles and bushes littered the hillside above the opening to the Spriggans cave. They were definitely in the right place. An owl friend of Holly’s had been watching the cave since nightfall for her and had heard the Spriggans inside but told her that they had not left yet.
Judging by the noise coming from inside the cave Holly thought there must have been hundreds of Spriggans moving around. She listened carefully, with all the banging and shouting coming from inside it sounded like they were getting ready to leave. Now in her faerie-form, she used one hand to pull aside a leaf and she peered through the bush she was standing behind, straining her eyes to see something in the night.
Here they came: the Spriggans marched into view through the darkness. Holly watched as the tiny, frog-like creatures left the shelter of the cave, waddling on their bandy legs. Those foul creatures are nothing like me, she thought to herself getting cross with Jack all over again. Well, they were small she supposed, but that was the only similarity.
Wait a second - what’s going on down there?
It looked like there was some trouble starting.
“Hey! Wotch wot yer doin’ tombstone teeff, I’m walking here!” A small, squeaky voiced Spriggan said as he shoved a taller one who had just trodden on him.
“ ‘Ooo you callin’ tombstone teeth fish face? I’ll deck yer in a minute.” The taller Spriggan shouted back as he pushed the other one in the chest.
A large, very fat Spriggan suddenly appeared next to the quarrelling duo and whacked both of them with his big stick. Holly guessed that he was their leader, throwing his weight around and hitting people with sticks.
“Get in line now dung faces or I’ll deck the pair of yer!” He growled at them. Neither of the pair argued back, they just fell back into step with the other Spriggans and moved quietly down the hillside from the cave.
Holly couldn’t believe it as she watched the Spriggans leaving the cave; she’d never seen such a large group of them before. No wonder the horses hadn’t been able to fight them off in those numbers. The only way this was possible was if someone was getting them organised and giving them instructions. Spriggans normally worked in small groups decided by their clan leaders. They didn’t get on well with one another and so could never organise themselves into such a large group.
Holly was worried. What if Jack and Faris didn’t get to Mooncoin before the Spriggans got there? Even with the added strength and power Jack had, she wasn’t sure that the pair of them would be able to protect themselves against such a large group. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She could not fret about that now, she had her own job to do and Jack had been in worse battles than this before, he knew how to handle himself.