by Jim Eldridge
‘He turns into Thud,’ added Big Rock. ‘Big strong troll. Stronger than me.’
‘Wow!’ said Hunk, awed. ‘I’d like to see that!’
‘We all would,’ said Milo, ‘but it doesn’t happen a lot.’
‘And I can’t make it happen,’ said Jack. ‘It just sort of … happens. Now and then.’
‘When things are bad,’ said Big Rock. ‘When we’re in trouble. And there’s big danger.’
‘Awesome!’ said Hunk. He gave a big smile. ‘We could be a triple troll tag team: Big Rock, Hunk and Thud!’
‘No!’ snapped Big Rock, still upset. ‘They call you liar!’ He shook his head. ‘Me and Hunk make troll tag team on our own.’
Milo and Jack gaped at their big troll friend.
‘But Big Rock … !’ Milo began to protest.
Big Rock shook his head.
‘Me and Hunk be troll tag team on our own,’ Big Rock repeated. ‘Come on, Hunk.’
With that, Big Rock turned and stomped away.
Hunk looked awkward and embarrassed.
‘Actually, I don’t think you should be too hasty, Big Rock!’ he called after the big troll, but Big Rock kept walking, a cloud of upsetness hanging over him. Hunk turned back to Milo, Jack and Robin and gave an apologetic smile. ‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said. ‘I think he got upset because we’re both trolls. It’s a brotherhood thing. I’ll have a word with him and sort it out.’
And with that, Hunk hurried after Big Rock.
‘Huh! Well, you messed that up!’ snorted Robin.
‘What else could I say?’ asked Milo defensively.
‘You know how sensitive Big Rock is,’ said Princess Ava accusingly, coming forward for the first time.
‘Yes, but Milo was on a loser,’ put in Sam, defending Milo. ‘Whatever Milo said, he would have been in the wrong, unless he said yes to Hunk joining the group.’
‘Don’t worry, Big Rock will come back,’ said Milo confidently. ‘We’ve been together too long for him to walk out just like that.’
‘And Hunk said he was going to talk to him,’ Jack reminded them.
‘Yes, but it depends on what Hunk actually says to Big Rock,’ said Robin thoughtfully. ‘All that being friendly and apologising and flattering, maybe it was all part of an act to get Big Rock away from Milo.’
‘Well, it looks like he succeeded,’ snorted Princess Ava. She turned to Sam. ‘It looks like there’s not going to be anything else interesting happening, so we might as well head back to Weevil.’
‘Yes, Your Highness,’ nodded Sam.
‘Sam, please,’ sighed Ava. ‘You only need to call me Your Highness when we’re at an official function.’
‘What does he call you when you’re not?’ asked Jack.
‘The Masked Avenger, of course!’ said Ava. ‘Come on, Sam. The royal coach is waiting for us!’
CHAPTER 7
As Jack, Milo and Robin walked away from their caravan, Milo let out a long and unhappy sigh.
‘So, I guess that’s it!’ he said miserably. ‘If Big Rock leaves to join Hunk, that’ll be the end of Waldo’s Wrestling Trolls. Big Rock was the very last of the Wrestling Trolls.’
‘He’ll be back,’ said Jack. ‘You said so yourself.’
‘I was just saying that to cheer myself up,’ admitted Milo. ‘You saw the expression on his face, and what he said. He wants to leave and join Hunk. That’s it. Waldo’s Wrestling Trolls is over. Finished.’
‘There’s always Thud,’ suggested Robin.
‘No,’ said Milo, shaking his head. ‘We never know when Jack’s going to turn into him. How can we advertise Thud the Wrestling Troll when ninety-nine per cent of the time he’s just Jack.’
‘Maybe I can learn how to control it?’ said Jack hopefully.
‘How?’ asked Milo.
Jack gave an unhappy shrug.
‘I don’t know,’ he admitted miserably.
Suddenly they heard the fast pounding of hooves behind them, and a voice shouting, ‘Help! Help! The dam!’
They turned, and saw a panic-stricken looking man on a galloping horse arrive on the green. The man leapt off the horse and ran to Milo, Jack and Robin.
‘We need help!’ he exclaimed. ‘The dam’s breaking! If it gives way, the valley and all the towns in it will be flooded!’ shouted the man urgently. ‘Everyone will be killed!’
The man’s frantic yells had brought Princess Ava and Sam Dent hurrying back, and Jack could see that Big Rock and Hunk were also running towards them, anxious expressions on their faces.
‘We need to put logs in the breach and tie them in place!’ said the frightened man.
‘We do that!’ said Big Rock. ‘Come! Quick!’
‘I’m with you, Big Rock!’ nodded Sam Dent, and then he, along with Princess Ava and Hunk with his arm still in a sling, ran after the big troll towards the dam. Jack noticed that, as Princess Ava ran, she was taking her mask from a pocket and pulling it over her head.
‘Let’s see what we can do to help!’ urged Milo.
As Milo, Jack and Robin followed the others, Milo said to Jack: ‘Maybe you’ll turn into Thud. It sounds like we’re going to need Thud’s strength.’
‘It doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen,’ said Jack unhappily.
When he was about to turn into Thud, Jack usually felt a tingly sensation run through his body, and his vision became filmy as a thin layer of transparent rock covered his eyes. Right now there was no tingly sensation – he was still just small, nine-year-old Jack.
As they got near to the dam, Jack realised for the first time how big it was. It was indeed very much like the crude sort of dam that beavers built, but massive. It was made from whole trees piled into the river, and then more trees and huge logs laid on them, each one tied in place by thick ropes. Some of the trees had been kept alive by the water seeping through the cracks in the dam, and smaller trees and bushes had sprouted out from the original logs and trees, so that the whole dam looked like a high mountain wall of living greenery.
Now, in the middle of this massive mountain of logs and trees and bushes, a gap had opened up and water was gushing through. The ropes holding the trees together in the centre must have rotted, or become dislodged. Whatever the reason, the force of the water pouring through the gap had started to make the rest of the trees and logs around the gap unsafe. Even as Jack watched, a whole tree came away from the middle of the wall and tumbled down, rolling over and over before it crashed into the river below. The additional force of water had turned the previously peaceful river into a raging torrent. Jack could only guess at the incredibly powerful force of water behind the huge wooden dam, pressing against it, punching holes in it. More gaps were opening up in the giant wall of wood as logs suddenly hurtled out from the dam like bullets shot from a gun, and more water gushed through the new gap and poured down the dam.
The river below the dam was rising rapidly and was almost up to the level of the riverbanks. Very soon it would be pouring over the banks and begin cascading towards the town, and then on through the rest of the valley to the other towns and villages, drowning them, and the people and animals who lived there.
Already, many of the townsfolk were climbing over the huge dam, clinging onto the slippery logs and trees and trying to tie the loose wood into place. The dam was so big the people looked like insects as they clambered up the wall of timber, ropes wrapped around them so they could tie the trees to one another and try to stabilise the dam.
Big Rock, Sam Dent, Princess Ava (as the Masked Avenger) and Grit were climbing up the dam to join those already on it, slipping now and then on the wet logs and trees, but steadfastly making their way towards the breach in the dam.
‘Where’s Hunk?’ asked Jack. ‘I can’t see him. I thought he was with them.’
‘Huh!’ snorted Robin derisively. ‘I bet he’s hiding somewhere. And after it’s all over he’ll come out and tell stories about how brave he was. He’s a fake wrestler and
a fake hero.’
As they watched, another log spilled out from the hole in the dam and hurtled down to the river, hitting Grit. The young troll nearly fell, but the Masked Avenger stretched out an arm and grabbed her, pulling her to safety.
‘They need more help!’ said Jack.
‘They need Thud,’ said Milo. He looked at Jack hopefully. ‘Anything yet?’
Jack shook his head.
‘No,’ he said. ‘It’ll just have to be little me.’
‘It’ll be both of us,’ said Milo.
‘And me!’ declared Robin.
Milo shook his head.
‘Those logs and trees are soaking wet and slippery, you won’t be able to get a grip on them with your hooves.’
‘In that case, I’ll help the townsfolk,’ said Robin. He looked towards the town, where people were carrying their belongings out of their houses and loading them onto carts. ‘They’ll need a horse to pull the carts to higher ground if the dam breaks.’
With that, he galloped back towards the town.
There was a crashing sound behind them and Jack and Milo turned and saw another log had become detached from the middle of the dam and had tumbled into the river.
Quickly, Jack grabbed up a loop of thick rope from the pile lying by the riverbank and ran towards the bottom of the dam to join the others.
Jack and Milo climbed up the dam. It was hard work; the logs and trees beneath their feet were slippery, and the whole lot kept moving as the weight of water behind the dam tried to push through. Finally, they reached the widening crack in the middle of the dam.
Big Rock, Sam Dent, the Masked Avenger and Grit were working together as a team, passing the ends of ropes to one another along a chain they had formed, and wrapping and tying them around the trees. Jack and Milo worked their way along the mass of slippery logs and joined them.
But how much longer will those ropes hold? wondered Jack. And why can’t I turn into Thud? If ever there was a dangerous life-threatening situation, then it’s right here and now!
Grit passed a length of rope along to Jack, and as Jack reached out to take it and pass it along, there was a sudden woosh! and the section of dam right in front of Jack suddenly cracked open and a gush of water burst through, hitting Jack and sending him tumbling backwards, and away from the dam towards the river below.
For a second, Jack seemed to hang suspended, frantically stretching back at the dam and the ropes, and the others. But his hands just touched thin air.
And then he was falling!
CHAPTER 8
I’m going to die! Jack thought as he fell, and saw the river far below rushing up towards him …
SMACK!!!!
Something grabbed him around the chest, and then he was sailing upwards instead of falling downwards.
I’m flying, he realised.
He looked down, and realised that a massive pair of rock-like legs had wrapped themselves around him, with two enormous rock-like feet holding him securely. He looked up, and was astonished to see the friendly face of Hunk smiling down at him. The half-troll still had one arm in a sling, but with his good hand and arm he was holding tightly onto a rope.
Hunk swung back towards the dam, and took the impact of the crash against the dam with his feet and legs, protecting Jack from the collision.
‘Thanks, Hunk!’ burst out Jack. ‘You saved my life!’
‘You’d have done the same for me,” Hunk called up.
‘Of course!’ yelled Milo in realisation. The large net would hold the logs back far more securely than tying them together.
Milo, Jack and the Masked Avenger moved as swiftly as they could down the wall of timber. To speed things up, some of the townspeople had realised what was needed and grabbed the ends of the net and began to haul it up to where Milo, Jack and Ava could get hold of it.
They grabbed the net, and were just about to haul it up, when there was another sudden gush of water bursting through a new crack in the dam, this one just below them.
For the first time, Jack saw that a small boy had been in the group of townspeople that had scrambled up the wall of shaking timber, obviously doing his best to help the grown-ups haul the heavy net up the dam. The water struck the boy full in the chest, the same as Jack had been hit just a few moments before, and hurled him outwards.
Instinctively, Jack leapt out towards the boy, his hands grasping to try and save the boy, catch him, but Jack’s grip on the dam wall vanished and Jack found himself falling … falling …
Jack couldn’t even see the boy properly; the rush of water pouring past him filled his eyes. No, there was something more than that, a film was forming over his eyes, a glassy, brownish film. As he fell he felt a tingly sensation going through him, then he felt his hands grab something soft. It was the boy!
Still falling, Jack felt himself crash into the raging water and sink, going down, down, down, the boy still held in one hand …
And then Jack was suddenly standing up, his head clear of the water, his feet on the bottom of the river. He realised that he was no longer short and thin Jack, submerged beneath the waters, but he was a very tall, very powerful troll.
He was Thud.
Thud stood in the raging river torrent as the waters poured around him, just beneath his chin. Above him, held aloft in one of his huge hands, was the small boy, soaking wet – but very much alive.
CHAPTER 9
Jack sat with Milo on the steps of the caravan, with Robin next to them.
It was all over. For the moment, at least, the danger had passed. The small boy was safe and well and had been taken home. The huge net had been fixed into place, holding the dam steady. The gushes of water had been reduced to a trickle.
With the dam made safe, Princess Ava and Sam Dent had left for Weevil, and now there was just Milo and Jack and Robin, watching as Big Rock and Hunk – still with one arm in a sling – hammered home the last of the huge steel pegs to fix key logs in place.
‘So Hunk really did injure his arm stopping a runaway horse,’ sighed Milo gloomily.
‘Yes,’ nodded Robin. ‘I met the horse that did it. He was very ashamed. He’d got a thistle stuck under his saddle, that’s what made him bolt.’
‘And Ug really did have stomach ache from something he’d eaten,’ said Jack with an equally heavy sigh. ‘Mushrooms. So it was nothing to do with Hunk.’
Robin snorted. ‘Some people cause a lot of trouble by spreading wild and untrue stories,’ he announced.
‘And some horses as well,’ said Milo pointedly.
Robin shook his head. ‘I was just passing on information in good faith,’ he said.
Milo and Jack again looked towards where Big Rock and Hunk had put down their tools.
‘Big Rock won’t forgive us for what we said about Hunk,’ said Milo gloomily. ‘And nor will Hunk.’
‘You didn’t actually accuse Hunk of lying,’ said Jack.
‘No, but we thought it,’ said Milo, ‘and that’s just as bad.’ He let out a mournful sigh. ‘I guess Big Rock and Hunk will now go off on their own and become the troll tag team.’ He let out another sigh, even heavier than the last. ‘It’s the end of Waldo’s Wrestling Trolls.’
‘Not necessarily,’ said Jack. ‘Maybe Hunk will join us.’
‘After the way we treated him?’ said Milo scornfully.
‘It’s worth asking,’ insisted Jack.
Milo sighed again.
‘I suppose so,’ he said.
They looked up as Big Rock and Hunk joined them.
‘Dam mended!’ announced Big Rock.
‘Almost,’ added Hunk. ‘There’s still a lot of work to be done to rebuild it.’
‘But it safe for now,’ said Big Rock.
Hunk looked at Jack and grinned.
‘I see what Big Rock meant about Thud being so great!’ he said. ‘The way you dived down from the dam, and saved that little boy’s life. Awesome!’
‘Thud big hero,’ nodded Big Rock approvingly.
Jack shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘You guys are the heroes. You were fantastic up there, working on that dam, saving the lives of the whole town.’
‘Three hero trolls!’ grinned Milo. ‘Big Rock, Thud and Hunk!’
‘What a great tag team that would make!’ said Jack, grabbing the opportunity to bring the subject into the conversation. ‘The Troll Tag Trio!’
‘A great idea,’ said Hunk. Then he gave a sigh. ‘But I don’t think it’s on.’
‘No,’ admitted Milo. ‘I can see your point of view, Hunk, and why you wouldn’t want to join us. We were horrible to you. We doubted you and …’
‘Oh no!’ said Hunk quickly. ‘Nothing like that! I don’t blame you at all! The fact is I’d love to join you and WWT. But, as I was just saying to Big Rock, I’ve decided to stay here and help the townspeople rebuild their dam. They need me. It’s going to take some time, but once it’s over …’
‘Hunk says he join us later,’ nodded Big Rock happily. ‘Me and him be tag team together. Milo be our manager. We be part of Waldo’s Wrestling Trolls.’
Milo beamed with a smile so wide that Jack thought it was going to split his face in half.
‘That’s fantastic!’ he said. ‘Brilliant!’
‘Anyway, me and Big Rock are going to get something to eat,’ said Hunk. ‘All that hard work has made me hungry.’
‘Good idea!’ said Big Rock. ‘They got nice granite in kitchen!’
As the troll and the half-troll strode off towards the kitchen in the Town Hall, Milo gave a huge sigh of relief.
‘Hurrah! We’re still Waldo’s Wrestling Trolls!’ he said, delightedly.
Robin nodded sagely.
‘I always knew that Hunk was a good guy really,’ he said.
The Great Galloon is an enormous airship, built by Captain Meredith Anstruther and manned by his crew, who might seem like a bit of a motley bunch but who are able to fight off invading marauders whilst drinking tea and sweeping floors!