Granny clapped her hands and Nathan hopped up, excited. “We have a whole new army,” he said.
Ferdinand bowed. “I have enjoyed many months of safe comfort with my most illustrious, kind and courageous Lady Altabella, but now I believe I must return to Lashtang and muster the peoples of the plains, the marshes and the villages. I believe we can trace the murderous guns of the traitor Braxton.”
“I’ll come with you,” insisted Nathan, elbows on the table in the puddles of tea, “and I know one of the places where I think the weapons may be hidden. It’s the old ruined castle of Fibillank. It’s a strange place and I’ve seen Wagster there.”
With a soggy wash-cloth, Granny wiped up the tea leaves. The tea drips had already been soaked up by Nathan’s elbows. She said, “Wonderful. I shall come too. Another Octobr muster.”
“We all want to come,” said Poppy, “You can’t leave any of us behind.” She jumped up and promptly spilt the milk.
Granny nodded, and wiped up the milk. “I shall make chicken and bacon pies with chips, chocolate cake with raspberries, custard tarts with dollops of cream, and coconut biscuits for bedtime to go with mugs of hot chocolate. Then in the morning I shall whizz us all off to Lashtang.”
“But it ain’t really a proper Octobr muster,” John said, grinning widely. “Tis a froggy muster.”
Ferdinand looked somewhat offended. “I thank you, young gentleman,” he said, “but I do not consider myself to be a froggy. I prefer to call it, since it will be led by the illustrious Lord Empole, a Bannister’s Muster.”
“My father will be most proud to have his name remembered for a change,” said Nathan. “After all, we’re Octobrs but I’m really Nathan Bannister.”
“Bannister’s muster it is,” said Poppy, dancing around the kitchen table. Granny grabbed hold of the milk and put it safely out of the way back in the fridge.
That night Nathan lay in his own bed, remembering that it was here, so long ago, that everything had started. He had been fast asleep when Brewster Hazlett, sitting in the basket of a hot air balloon, had suddenly appeared beside him and dragged him off for the most amazing adventure.
Now, in a world he had never known existed, he was about to lead a great muster and rally an army to beat his enemies. But he laughed, burying his head in the pillow, for his brave army would consist of spiders, fleas, worms and beetles. Not the best looking army in any world.
Nathan curled up and hugged his knees. He had left Lashtang last time in the depths of a freezing and snow-thick winter. Now he would return in summer, and that would make everything a whole lot easier. But not if they couldn’t find Braxton’s hoard of secret weapons. And so, drifting off to sleep, he dreamed of battles and exploding bombs, rifles and hurtling balls of magic. The one battle he had ever personally seen was the Battle of Bosworth, where King Richard III had given up his own life to fight for his people. That hand to hand bloodshed had horrified him and he hoped that the fight for Lashtang would not be so terrible.
He woke to a thunderstorm. “Oh bother,” muttered Nathan as he tumbled out of bed. “So much for summer.”
Stumbling down to the kitchen for breakfast, he bumped into all the others. Poppy was trying to remember the words of the song Bayldon had chanted, and Peter was singing the tune he had invented for it. Sam was muttering about missing Mouse, Mars Bar and Flop, and how he hoped some of the people of the plains had been turned into kittens. At least Gosling was there, scampering down the steps chasing Hermes. Alfie and John were discussing the tennis match they’d seen the previous evening on television, which they now loved even though it was nothing like the tennis they played in medieval England, and John was saying, “Tis them ladies I likes watching.” “Not likely,” objected Alfie. “Them gents smashes that ball like it were a helm in a tournament. ‘Tis Raffa is the best.” “I likes Murry,” said John. “Feller’s got wonky legs like me.”
Alice trailed behind everyone else, trying to comb the knots out of her long hair as she came. “I ate too much cake last night,” she told Nathan. “I feel like a stuffed pillow.”
The kitchen smelled of hot toast, melting butter, scrambled eggs and fried bacon. Everyone sat at the table, squashed up together and grinning. Granny passed the toast. “Help yourselves, all of you. Then take turns in the bathroom, dress in your Lashtang clothes, and we’ll be off.”
“Ladder? Rainbow? Goose? Magic words?” Poppy asked, but she was busy looking at the piles of special things Granny had spread over one of the wooden work-tops near the table. “And can we help ourselves to the chocolate bars and things too?”
“Mars Bars, Twix and Snickers Bars,” Granny said, waving a hand to the overflowing heap. “But other more useful things as well. Torches and pens, watches and a Polaroid camera. Walky-talkies. A calculator. Special bags with separate compartments for carrying insects, and soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes will keep you nice and fresh even in muddy marshes.”
Poppy had started wiping the table with a tea towel. “If I help clean-up, Granny, can I have the camera?”
Granny looked at her over the top of her glasses. “Kitchens are for food and pleasure, cooking and chatting, tea, coffee and cake,” she said, flicking away the tea-towel. “Not for endless cleaning up. Now, you can have the camera but you have to remember to photograph sensible things and not just friends.”
They all stuffed in their scrambled egg and toast, and jumped up to choose which chocolate bars they wanted. Hermes, Gosling and Ferdinand had already wandered outside into the rain, but Gosling was scampering between Hermes’ legs, using him as an umbrella. Nathan, pockets full, leaned against the table, avoiding the toast crumbs. “We’ve got to find these weapons, I know that. And I think we will,” he said softly. “But what if Braxton never managed to get any, and we’re searching for something that doesn’t exist?”
“The risk is too great,” Granny answered, flopping back down on her chair. “Just imagine – machine guns and grenades against bows and arrows!”
“It would be awful. But we’ve got magic too.”
“So do they,” Granny pointed out. “Yaark, Clebbster and the dreadful twins have the greatest magic in Lashtang. And now it seems Braxton’s magic is getting stronger too. Besides,” she looked increasingly worried, “he must have gone to Mexico for weapons. What else? Not to buy piñatas for Yaark’s birthday party, I’d guess.” She stood again, brushed crumbs from her apron, and nodded. “Maybe he’d have had trouble buying atomic bombs, but rifles and grenades and machine guns are available over there. I guarantee he has quite a store. And he will have magicked them all somewhere. He doesn’t have to pay postage.”
Reluctantly smiling, Nathan trudged back upstairs to wash and dress.
There was still pouring rain and thunder when everyone gathered in the living room, and Granny clapped her hands and raised her arms. “Not Hermes naturally, who can fly himself and Gosling, and perhaps take dear Alice with him since she’s still covered in bruises, but everyone else must raise their arms as I do, and say after me –” she waited as Alice climbed on Hermes’ back, “one, two three, off to Lashtang.”
With a whizz and a small gusty wind, everybody did as Granny asked, then opened their eyes to a bright blue sky.
“Wow,” said Poppy, “you said Braxton’s magic is getting stronger, but I think yours is too, Granny. Just one small clap, and a whizz, and here we are.”
Zakmeister was lying on a long bench outside the cottage doorway, soaking up the sun. Sherdam was standing in the doorway, then looked up and saw everyone arriving. He marched forward and took Granny’s hand, while Zakmeister sat up, beaming at the group. Ninester hurried from the cottage, calling, “Mummy, our lovely friends have all come back.”
Bayldon and Messina hurried to embrace Nathan and Poppy. “I didn’t expect you here so soon,” Bayldon said, his smile as big as his embrace. I’m delighted we are a united family again.”
“Tansle?” asked Nathan quietly. “I mean, Little Seed?�
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Messina shook her head. “No, as soon as she felt a little better we helped her return to Sparkan. But she insisted that one day we go there, and meet her again.”
“We’re here for Bannister’s muster,” Poppy giggled, kissing her mother’s cheek. “It’s a whole exciting new idea. So we’ll all be off again in a couple of days. Maybe less. But there’s a lot to do. There’s never been a muster like it.”
It was Granny who strode over to explain. “No magic has yet found the Braxton weapon hoard,” she said. “And at present, this is our greatest problem. But if we cannot break through the magic then perhaps we should try the old fashioned methods. So Nathan and Ferdinand will lead their friends to summon all the insect and animal folk of the plains, the marshes, the villages and the great savanna. A mouse can smell where we can only walk past wondering. A lizard can wriggle into places we can’t even see. All the poor folk that Yaark turned into creatures things, can now help us find the weapons.”
Tryppa peeped from the cottage window. “Better than magic,” she said, pushing open the little casement. “And no need for any baking, Altabella dear, for I’ve just made a lemon cheesecake.”
They all sat that evening in the garden, cross-legged on the warm grass, or stretched in the garden chairs. Peter nursed his lute, plucking idly at the strings as people talked. A hundred thousand stars glinted out from the vast black sky, and finally the first moon rose, small and shrouded in a pink glow, almost full.
Nathan looked up, half asleep. “It’s a good sign, isn’t it,” he asked, “when the pink moon’s full?”
“When both moons are full together,” smiled his mother. “And look, just below the smaller moon now comes the larger.” As she spoke, the great silver moon slipped up over the horizon, huge and glittering as though studded in diamonds.
“But that one’s not quite full either,” pointed Nathan. “Both of the moons look as though they’ve got a bit shaved off.”
“They’ll both be full tomorrow night,” said Bayldon. “Just one night less than full, I think.”
“Then I want to leave tomorrow,” said Nathan at once. “I think we need all the luck we can find.”
Peter had begun to play the same tune he had strummed when Bayldon had chanted before, and now all the Lashtang folk, who all knew the song since they were children, started to sing. But Bayldon still chanted as the other voices raised over his, and he had slightly changed the words.
“It is the horror of killing,
And the sadness of fading,
And the end of our dreams that means we must part.
It is not the spilling,
Nor the falling,
But the hatred that blinds the hopeful heart.
Born of hope, Lashtang sings.
But Lashtang dies under Hazlett kings.
Sweet magic glows with bright healing light,
But dark wizardry creeps out to hunt in the night.
The Bannister’s muster brings cheers of delight,
As we Bannisters call on our people to fight.”
The next morning, after the blaze of golden dawn had faded, Nathan left, with Ferdinand sitting wide-eyed and excited on his shoulder. He remembered the song of the night before and it felt like a different sort of magic.
Beside him walked both John and Alfie, and behind him skipped Poppy and Alice. Finally came Peter and Sam. Sam had wanted to bring Gosling but everyone had told him not to be crazy. Meanwhile Tryppa had seen that Peter’s lute had been slightly damaged and she had mended it for him overnight, but now she also gave him back the magic lute which she had once given him herself. He proudly packed the other safely away, and took Tryppa’s wonderful lute with him. He carried it proudly slung across his back like a true troubadour.
Poppy had her new camera in her pocket, Nathan and Alfie carried walky-talkies, and they all had a small torch. Most of them had already eaten their chocolate bars, but they also carried sandwiches in case they found no food along the way. In addition they carried capes, for although it was a bright hot morning, they could not be sure it would stay like that, and they also needed some bedding if they slept out on the plains, which they all expected to do. “But we ain’t gonna carry no more,” said Alfie. “Reckon I’d like a quilt and spare shirt, but t’would be ever so heavy carryin’ all them fings fer miles.”
“I remember when you felt lucky to have a pair of old shoes and some straw on a cold floor,” smiled Alice.
“That were when I were a beggar brat,” grinned Alfie. “Now I’s a warrior, and a mighty traveller, and I’s off ter muster fer Bannister’s army.”
“We should have caught the sky-train,” sighed Sam. “I think we’ll be tired out before we even get to the marshes.”
“On a day like this,” said Nathan, “I’m ready to walk forever.”
“And,” squeaked Ferdinand from his shoulder, “we will meet some of our folk long before that. You may not notice them, but I shall. Our muster will start within the hour.”
“And tonight two full-moons will brighten our way,” said Poppy, with a little skip. “Good luck for all of us.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Lashtang summer brought balmy nights, huge open skies studded with stars, and the two moons full and glimmering as they rose, crossed over each other, and set down behind the horizon.
Everyone slept outside, curled together on their capes, talking softly before dozing off into deep dreams. The grass across the plains was soft and short and the sun warmed it so that it was cosy at night.
Ferdinand called when he saw any of the tiny inhabitants. He knew the difference, which the others did not, of a genuine insect and one of the people changed by Yaark. “Come along,” Ferdinand called, “We are going to claim back our heritage. This will be the great war of Justice. But first we must find the store of wicked weapons which the enemy has brought from another world. These weapons could annihilate us before we have any chance of fighting back. The Octobrs and their friends have tried to discover and destroy the hoard, but without success.” He hopped down from Nathan’s shoulder and skipped over the grassy slopes. “Come on, my friends and neighbours. Let’s show these people what we are capable of.”
“It’s a Bannister’s muster,” called Nathan. “And as the empole and the Lord of Clarr, I promise you all freedom and a return to your own size.”
They crept from small holes, or twisted down from the branches, they jumped from bushes, or flew on the breeze. A clamour of little voices peeped from all around.
“My illustrious lord, we come willingly.”
“Tell us what to do, and we’ll do anything.”
“Sniffing out weapons? But what do they smell like?”
“What do they look like?”
“We’re delighted to have something good to do at last, instead of just sitting in the sun and eating flies.”
“Don’t you eat me, or I shall bite.”
“My illustrious lord, have you not yet found The Eternal Chain?”
And Nathan shook his head, feeling rather ashamed. “I’m afraid not. I’ve searched and searched. But I promise I’ll find it soon and I’ll never stop searching. But first we have to find these weapons or surely the Hazletts will destroy us all before we can start protecting ourselves.”
A large black hairy spider climbed onto Poppy’s finger, and Alice immediately moved away. Poppy stared at the tarantula with interest. “My dearest lady,” it said, with a sweet feminine voice, “I wish to help in everything. For so long everyone calls me ugly and runs away. If I walk close to people, they scream and leave me crying. I was never ugly when I was a young woman. Now I want to prove my worth.”
With a slight shiver, Poppy bent her head and kissed the hairy black spider on the top of its head. It gazed back with its many eyes. “I’m Poppy,” she said. “What’s your name?”
The spider was so thrilled, it gave a little dance on Poppy’s hand. “My name is Dimples,” it said. “And I’m very good at fi
nding hidden things.”
“I shall call you my second in command,’ smiled Poppy, and she turned to the others. “Let’s carry everyone in our bags, or they’ll be too slow. Except for the ones that fly. They’ll be quicker than us.”
“Many hundreds can sit on my back,” said Hermes. “But I regret the insult, yet I cannot carry the fleas.”
“We can all gather and meet up on the high banks of the River Rass,” suggested Ferdinand. “Then our illustrious lord the empole will explain to us what weapons are, what they look like and how they smell. Then our muster will end, and our work will begin. Tell your friends and tell your families. This is where our futures change.”
John, Alice, Alfie and Peter gathered up all those who wished to be carried, and Nathan and Poppy offered their pockets. Hermes, clucking softly, sat while half a dozen tiny lizards, three little beetles, two large black beetles with waving antennae, and a very fat slug all sat on his back, wriggling into cosy spots between his feathers. Nathan thought this was very kind of him, and didn’t blame Gosling who objected to all of them and refused to let anything on her fur.
Sam not only carried a large bag full of little creatures, and two pockets full too, worms all in a tangle in one, and sleepy heaps of snails in the other, but he marched cheerfully along with fireflies on his head like tiny torches in his hair, and several lizards on his shoulders. There was also a small golden spider which found a comfy spot on top of his left ear.
Dimples sat solid and smiling on Poppy’s shoulder, and Ferdinand sat on Nathan’s. One of the larger lizards slipped into John’s boot and tickled his foot. “Counting me toes?” John remarked. “Reckon I still got ten. But might only have nine after this.”
As they walked, and as they stopped to sleep each night, so other creatures joined them. Running out from tree bark and burrowing up from the grass, they continued to come to call as Poppy laughed, saying, “I bet this is the most successful muster ever.”
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