by Jim Eldridge
‘That won’t happen!’ Milo assured her.
‘Why?’ demanded the Princess.
‘Because … ’ began Milo. Then he stopped.
‘Because you’re here to rescue me?’ the Princess finished for him, sarcastically. ‘Well that plan’s a bust!’
‘Not just us,’ said Jack. ‘There are more of us!’
‘Oh?’ said the Princess, brightening. ‘Has the resistance movement risen up? How many are there? Hundreds? Thousands?’
‘Er … two,’ said Jack. ‘Three, if you count the horse.’
‘Two?!’
‘Yes, but two very powerful characters,’ said Milo. ‘Both wrestlers! Big Rock, a Wrestling Troll and Sam Dent! They won’t let themselves get caught so easily!’
The sound of the key in the lock made them turn towards the cell door just as it opened and a soldier looked in. He gave them a nasty grin.
‘Just thought I’d let you know, your two wrestling pals have been arrested and locked up in the town jail. Oh, and General Pepper says you two are to be executed for treason, for trying to rescue the Princess!’
With that, the cell door was slammed shut, and they heard the key turn in the lock again.
Chapter 6
Big Rock and Sam sat on the stone benches in the town jail. Both looked gloomy.
‘No uprising,’ sighed Big Rock. ‘No people help us.’
Sam gave an even bigger sigh. ‘I suppose they were all just too scared,’ he admitted. Then he brightened up. ‘But if Milo and Jack have been able to free the Princess, then the people will rally round, I’m sure!’
They heard a voice calling, ‘Hey!’ from outside. It was Robin.
Big Rock and Sam went to the window of the cell and looked out through the iron bars. The old horse was standing there.
‘Any news?’ asked Sam eagerly. ‘Did Milo and Jack rescue Princess Ava?’
‘No,’ said Robin. ‘They ended up being locked in the tower with her. And they’re going to be executed for treason.’
Big Rock let out a groan that was so loud it made the bricks of the walls rattle.
‘Can you two break out of there?’ asked Robin.
‘No,’ said Sam. He gripped the iron bars of the cell. ‘These bars are set too deep into the wall. We’ve tried pushing against them but we can’t get enough leverage.’
Robin looked at the iron bars of the window thoughtfully. Then he said, ‘Wait there,’ and trotted off.
Sam sighed. ‘Wait there,’ he echoed. ‘Where does he think we’re going to go?’
Inside the room at the top of the tower, Milo paced, his brain working frantically as he tried to come up with a plan to get them out of this spot. Jack sat on the floor and looked at Princess Ava, sitting on the one chair in the room, her face deep in a thoughtful frown.
‘I don’t understand this,’ said Jack. ‘We saw you just a week ago at Lord Veto’s. You were the special VIP guest at the Orcs versus Trolls Slamdown.’
‘And it was when I came back from there that I found my uncle had taken over. He took the opportunity of my being away to declare himself ruler of Weevil, and had me arrested as soon as I got back.’
‘Yes, that’s what Sam Dent told us,’ said Jack. ‘But I can’t understand how it can all have happened so quickly! In just a week!’
‘Fear,’ said Milo. ‘There’s nothing like a load of heavily armed soldiers knocking on doors to frighten people.’ He looked hopefully at Jack. ‘Maybe if I kicked you, it would make you angry and you’d turn into Thud?’ he suggested.
‘It didn’t work when she kicked me,’ said Jack unhappily. ‘Or when she threw me over her shoulder.’ He turned to Princess Ava and said, ‘You are a very good wrestler.’
‘I know I am but, let’s face it, you’re rubbish,’ said Princess Ava. ‘You couldn’t wrestle your way out of a paper bag!’
‘That’s not fair!’ protested Jack. ‘You caught me off guard!’
‘Well that’s one of the things a wrestler has to do,’ said Princess Ava. ‘Make sure they’re not caught off guard.’
There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, and Princess Ava sprang to her feet, ready to attack. The sight of two soldiers pointing their sharp spears at her made her stop.
‘If you had the guts to put those weapons down and face me unarmed, I’d show you who’s boss!’ snapped the Princess angrily.
A short man walked into the cell, dressed in fine clothes embroidered with gold decorations, and with a gold chain hanging around his neck. He had a nasty smile on his face. This had to be General Pepper, realised Jack.
‘And if I were stupid, I would let them put their weapons down,’ smirked General Pepper. ‘But, as it is, I’m not stupid, and I’m also the boss.’
‘Nor for long!’ growled Princess Ava. ‘I am the royal Princess, you are just a general –’
‘I’m also your uncle, which means I have royal blood too,’ snapped General Pepper. ‘Therefore I have the right to be King.’
‘You can’t be king while I’m alive!’ countered the Princess. ‘As soon as I reach the age of fifteen, in two month’s time, I shall become Queen!’
‘Providing you are still alive then,’ said General Pepper. Once more he smiled his nasty smile. ‘Which, I have to tell you, looks highly unlikely. Once your two friends here have been executed, you will also be executed for treason.’
‘You can’t execute the Princess!’ said Jack, horrified.
‘Oh yes I can,’ said General Pepper. ‘In fact, I’ve set the date for all your executions as tomorrow. That should stop anyone else from thinking they can rise up in revolution.’ He smiled again. ‘We’ll be doing it in the old-fashioned way: public beheadings in the town square. I do like to keep up the old traditions.’
With that, General Pepper turned and swept out. The two soldiers scowled at Milo, Jack and the Princess and followed General Pepper out of the room, and then the three prisoners heard the key turn in the lock once more.
Chapter 7
Inside their cell, Big Rock and Sam were feeling gloomier than ever.
‘I can’t see what a horse can do,’ groaned Sam.
A whinnying noise outside in the street made them get up.
‘That sound like Robin,’ said Big Rock.
They both went to the cell window and looked out through the bars. Robin was standing just outside, a long length of chain in his mouth.
‘What?’ asked Big Rock.
Once more, Robin made a whinnying sound.
‘I think he wants us to take the chain from him,’ said Sam.
Sam reached through the bars, took hold of the chain and pulled it into the cell. They now saw that the other end of the length of chain was hooked over Robin’s bridle.
‘Thank you,’ said Robin.
‘Why you make that whinny noise?’ asked Big Rock, puzzled. ‘Why not use proper words like you usually do?’
‘Because it’s very hard to speak when you’ve got a mouthful of chain,’ said Robin impatiently. ‘Right, tie the chain round the bars.’
Sam looped the end of the chain round the bars, and then tied it in a tight knot.
‘Ready?’ asked Robin.
‘Ready,’ nodded Sam.
Robin turned away from the window and began to run as fast as his old legs could carry him. Suddenly he jerked to a stop as the chain pulled him up short.
‘It’s not going to work!’ said Sam despairingly.
‘Shut up!’ said Robin tersely. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
With that, the horse leaned, pulling the length of chain so that it stretched tight … and then Robin continued to lean, pulling against the chain. Sam and Big Rock heard the bars set into the wall groan and creak as the knotted chain pulled against them. Robin leaned harder, straining and pulling. Gradually the bars began to bend, and then the next second they hurtled out of the cell window in a shower of stones and dried cement, flying through the air to land on the cobbled street outside.
‘Right!’ said Robin. ‘Now to put the next stage of the plan into operation!’
In the tower, Princess Ava watched, frowning, as once again Milo asked Jack how he felt: if there was any sign of misting over his eyes, or a tingling sensation.
‘Why are you asking him all these questions?’ she demanded. ‘Is he ill?’ Then, with a note of alarm, she asked: ‘Is it catching? Am I going to catch something off him? I don’t want to catch a cold! I’m a Princess!’
‘No, nothing like that,’ Milo assured her hastily. ‘It’s –’
‘It’s private,’ interrupted Jack firmly, with a warning look at Milo.
Milo hesitated, then he nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It’s private.’
Princess Ava looked at Jack in horror.
‘You mean it’s one of those embarrassing illnesses?!’ she said. She gave a shudder of disgust. ‘Yuk!’
‘No, it’s nothing like that!’ retorted Jack hotly. ‘It’s –’
‘He turns into a troll,’ said Milo. ‘When he gets angry.’
‘It only happened once!’ retorted Jack, annoyed.
He turned to Princess Ava and found her staring at him, her mouth open and an expression of shock on her face.
‘It’s not my fault!’ he said defensively. ‘And, as far as I know, it’s not catching!’
‘How old are you?’ she asked.
‘Why?’ asked Jack.
‘Because it might be important,’ she said.
Jack shrugged. ‘I’m ten.’ He shrugged. ‘But I don’t see –’
‘When was your birthday?’
‘Two weeks ago,’ said Jack.
Princess Ava gave a smug smile. ‘You’re a half-troll!’ she announced.
Jack and Milo exchanged puzzled looks. Then they both asked: ‘What?’
‘A half-troll,’ said Princess Ava. ‘People who are half-human, half-troll. It usually doesn’t show itself until they’re about ten years old. My father told me about them. He’d come across one or two on his travels. They’re very rare.’ She smiled at Jack. ‘You should be proud. Half-trolls make fantastic wrestlers!’ Then she looked at Jack doubtfully and added: ‘Mind, that might not be the case with you. You look a bit weedy. And you were useless when I fought you.’
‘Yes, but when he’s Thud he’s fantastic!’
The Princess frowned. ‘Thud?’ she said.
‘That’s what we call him when he turns into a troll.’
‘It’s only happened once!’ snapped Jack angrily.
But before Jack could say any more, they heard the cell door being unlocked, and then Captain Oz marched into the room, accompanied by about a dozen armed soldiers.
‘Prisoners!’ he barked at them. ‘I have orders to take you at once to the town square, where you will be executed.’
Milo, Jack and Princess Ava stared at Captain Oz in shock.
‘Hang on a minute!’ said Milo, horrified. ‘General Pepper said we’re to be executed tomorrow! Not today!’
‘General Pepper’s changed his mind,’ said Captain Oz. Turning to one of the soldiers, he ordered: ‘Put the chains on them.’
Chapter 8
Big Rock, Sam and Robin stood in the cover of an alley, by the deserted former wrestling hall, and looked out at the town square. A large crowd of townsfolk had assembled, all of them obviously very anxious, and Sam noticed they kept casting worried looks at the armed soldiers around them.
In the centre of the town square was a large wooden chopping block, and standing next to it was a tall muscular man wearing a black hood and holding a large axe, and a smaller man dressed in heavily decorated clothes and wearing a gold chain.
Suddenly there was a commotion at one side of the square and as Sam, Big Rock and Robin watched, they saw a party of soldiers push their way through the crowd. With the soldiers came Milo, Jack and Princess Ava, all of them with chains wrapped around them, pinning their arms to their sides. They came to a stop by the executioner and General Pepper.
‘You said this would happen tomorrow!’ said Milo accusingly.
‘That was before I got word of your friends escaping,’ said General Pepper.
‘Escaping?’ asked Jack.
‘Yes. It seems they broke out of the jail. With two dangerous people like that on the loose, I can’t afford to take the risk they might come back with more of their kind and try to free you. This way, they won’t have time to put together an army.’
‘We don’t have an army!’ protested Milo. ‘There’s just us! We’re harmless!’
‘That,’ spat General Pepper, ‘is what they all say!’ He turned to Captain Oz. ‘Execute them. Start with him.’ General Pepper pointed a finger at Jack.
‘
But we’re innocent!’ protested Jack as the soldiers grabbed hold of him and pushed him towards the execution block. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong!’
‘You’ve broken the law!’ snapped General Pepper. ‘And for that you shall be punished!’
Sam, Big Rock and Robin tensed as they watched Jack being forced to his knees and his head placed on the wooden execution block.
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Sam desperately.
‘We go out there and punch people,’ said Big Rock. And he moved out of the alleyway to the back of the crowd.
‘It doesn’t sound much of a plan,’ said Sam.
‘You got a better idea?’ asked Robin.
‘No,’ admitted Sam. ‘It’s just that I don’t think we’re going to get near enough to stop it before that executioner starts swinging his axe.’
Even as he said it, they saw the executioner lifting his axe into the air, the sunlight glinting on the sharp blade. The soldiers were holding Jack down firmly so that he couldn’t move.
‘Let’s go,’ said Robin, and he moved out of the alley, gathering speed as he followed Big Rock at the back of the crowd.
‘Here we go!’ muttered Sam, and he ran after the horse.
‘Leave him alone!’ yelled Princess Ava, and she struggled frantically, trying to break free from the soldiers who were holding her, but with their fierce grip and the weight of the chains on her, escape was impossible.
Bent over the execution block, Jack gritted his teeth, ready for the axe to fall.
I won’t let them see I’m scared! he vowed to himself. Even though I am! I’m not going to cry!
But even as he thought it, his eyes began to fill up with tears. No, not with tears, with a sort of … mist. Like thick opaque crystals forming. And, at the same time, he felt a shuddering sensation course through him.
The executioner had his axe raised to the highest point and was just about to bring it down hard on the boy when he realised that something was happening in front of him. The boy was getting up. No, not getting up, he was growing … and changing … and getting up.
As the executioner watched, goggle-eyed, a huge creature stood up from where the boy had been kneeling. The two soldiers who’d been holding the boy down were now dangling off the creature, their feet kicking the air. The chains around what had been the boy bulged and stretched, and then snapped and broke as the creature became even wider and taller.
‘Yes!’ yelled Milo exultantly. ‘Thud is here!!’
‘Wow!’ said Princess Ava, awed.
General Pepper stared upwards at the towering figure of Thud, his mouth open, stunned. Then he snapped out of his shock and yelled out, ‘Kill it! Kill the troll! Kill all of them!’
The executioner also came out of his state of shock and began to swing the axe towards Thud, but the huge creature grabbed hold of the axe by the handle and tore it from the executioner’s grasp.
Thud gave a snarl and slammed the axe down hard onto the wooden block, smashing both the axe and the block. Then he reached out and grabbed hold of the shocked Captain Oz, lifted him clear off the ground, and threw him into a group of shocked soldiers, knocking them all down.
‘Get us out of these chains!’ yelled Princess Ava, as she kicked out
at the soldiers nearest to her.
‘Happy to oblige!’ said a voice.
Milo and Ava turned and saw Sam appear beside them. They looked out into the crowd and saw there was even greater commotion going on as Big Rock grabbed the soldiers nearest to him, and other soldiers dropped to the ground as Robin charged into them.
‘Long live Princess Ava!’ came a sudden shout from the crowd. And then they heard other voices taking the call up so that it became a chant: ‘Princess Ava! Princess Ava!’
Milo became aware that some of the crowd had now also turned on the soldiers. Desperately, the soldiers tried to defend themselves, but as their spears and swords were snatched away from them, many of the soldiers turned and ran.
Meanwhile, Thud was causing havoc, picking up the terrified soldiers and slamming them down on the ground where they lay stunned and senseless.
‘Where’s General Pepper?’ called Milo, searching the crowds, but Pepper seemed to have vanished, lost in the masses. Then suddenly Milo saw him, plucked out of the crowd and held aloft in one of Big Rock’s huge fists.
‘Here he is!’ called Big Rock.
The troll whirled General Pepper around his head, then released him to sail through the air. Thud reached up and skilfully caught the horrified General Pepper, turned him upside down, slammed him to the ground and then fell on him, pinning him down.
‘Tag wrestling!’ grinned Milo. ‘I love it!’
Chapter 9
Within minutes it was all over. General Pepper and Captain Oz were sprawled on the ground, chained together, both looking dazed and bruised. The soldiers who hadn’t thrown away their weapons and run were now also sitting on the ground in chains, prisoners.
Big Rock had lifted the Princess up and placed her on his shoulders, so she could acknowledge the crowd as they cheered her and chanted her name. Milo and Jack stood to one side, next to Robin, and joined in the applause for the Princess.
‘I still don’t know why it happens,’ whispered Jack, once again a small, thin boy.