Rampage of the Goblins

by Tommy Donbavand

  “That must have been what was rocking the pyramid,” said Luke, kneeling upright. “I’m starting to believe in that curse after all.” He looked around. “Where’s Cleo?” he asked, suddenly realizing that she wasn’t with them.

  “Here,” came a muffled voice. “And you won’t believe who’s with me…”

  The boys crawled deeper into the worm, trying to keep their balance as it rocked and twisted from side to side. Before long they spotted something shining in the pink glow and Luke was amazed to see Cleo sitting on top of Heru’s sarcophagus. “What’s that doing here?”

  “I think the worm must have taken a shortcut through the tomb,” replied Cleo. “And look – the sarcophagus wasn’t the only thing it picked up along the way…” She lifted a fold of sticky worm intestine to reveal a small collection of treasure, the entire golden chariot and a dozen or so statues.

  “It looks like we got out of Heru’s tomb just in time,” said Resus.

  “Yeah,” Luke retorted sarcastically. “I’d hate to have missed fighting the mental mermaids before the worm swallowed us.”

  Another crash flipped the trio upside down.

  Cleo began to wipe the slime off her bandages. “Of all the things I’ve been through since I met you, Luke Watson, this counts as the worst!”

  “Speaking of ‘going through’ things…” began Resus.

  Cleo scowled. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

  “I’m pretty sure I saw teeth as I was gulped down,” continued the vampire. “Which means we probably can’t get back out that end.”

  Cleo pressed her hands over her ears. “I’m not listening…”

  “The other end might be the only way out, Cleo,” said Luke.

  Resus pulled a sword from his cape and pointed the blade towards the slimy wall. “I suppose we could always just cut our way free.”

  Cleo snatched the sword away from him. “No!” she snapped. “You can’t. OK, so this thing might have tried to eat us, but it’s a living animal.”

  “It didn’t try to eat us, Cleo!” exclaimed Resus. “It did eat us!”

  “I don’t care,” retorted the mummy. “It’s only doing what’s natural, and you’re not going to hurt it – even if that does mean we have to take the … take the…” Her words trailed off and she looked around her, confused.

  There was another violent crash and the worm twisted sharply to the left.

  Luke crawled through a puddle of gloop to reach her. “What’s wrong?”

  “I… I don’t know…” replied Cleo groggily. “Just feel … odd…”

  Suddenly the worm gulped and undulated, and a screeching goblin swept down the creature’s throat, landing at Resus’s feet.

  “Squiffer!” exclaimed Cleo.

  “Oh, great,” groaned the vampire. “Just what we need. Another … er … another … what are these horrible things called, again?”

  The goblin sat upright. “Squiffer be not horrible,” he protested. “Squiffer be…” Then he collapsed, out cold.

  “He’s gone asleep,” slurred Resus. “Actually … not bad idea…” He lay down and closed his eyes.

  Luke shook him. “Resus! No! Wake up!”

  The vampire opened his eyes. “Wassa marra?”

  “Something’s wrong,” said Luke, trying to prop his friend up against the sarcophagus.

  “Ooh, look,” hissed Resus, pointing at the goblin. “He’ssss got the smaph … phass … sapphham…” He took a deep breath. “He’ss got the blue onesssss…” Then his eyes closed again and his head sagged forward.

  Luke turned to see that Resus was correct. The unconscious Squiffer had a large sapphire clamped in each hand. Luke pulled them free and stuffed them into his pocket.

  Behind him, Cleo slumped over, moaning softly.

  Luke reached into his other pocket for The G.H.O.U.L. Guide, panicking when he couldn’t find it. Then he remembered handing it to Resus before he dived into the … dived into the … what was it he’d dived into?

  It felt like his mind was obscured by a dense fog and every thought was coated in thick treacle. He had to get everyone out of here.

  Luke’s vision began to blur, and it took three attempts for him to slip his hand under Resus’s cape and retrieve the golden book. “Wasss goin’ on, Misser Skipsssone? Wasss happnin’ to usss…?”

  The author frowned. “You’re inside a chloroworm, Luke – almost certainly brought into existence by Heru’s curse. The chloroworm swallows its food whole, then uses an anaesthetic in its stomach to render victims unconscious so it can digest them at its leisure.”

  “Digessss atisss leisssurrreee?” slurred Luke.

  “Luke, you have to listen to me!” shouted Skipstone. With a supreme effort, Luke managed to get his eyes to focus on the friendly face. “You have to get yourself, Resus and Cleo out of here – now! If you pass out, you’ll never wake up again.”

  Luke nodded and climbed numbly to his feet, tucking the book away. His friends were snoring away happily in pools of slime: Resus was leaning against Heru’s sarcophagus and Cleo’s head was resting against the wheel of the golden chariot.

  The chariot – that was it! Maybe he could use the chariot to drag everyone out of the worm before it was too late.

  Struggling to retain consciousness, Luke pulled Cleo up and onto the platform of the chariot, then crawled back along the chloroworm’s intestines and did the same with Resus.

  Then his eyes rested on the sleeping figure of Squiffer, and briefly he wondered if he should leave him to be digested. But – unconscious or not – he could almost hear Cleo nagging in his ear, and he tossed the goblin onto the platform beside his friends. Squiffer gave a gentle eep, filling the air with stinking green fumes.

  Luke grabbed a length of gold chain that was attached to the back of the chariot and tied it around Heru’s sarcophagus in what he hoped was a workable knot. His mind was beginning to shut down and he was finding it difficult to see or hear.

  Now he just had to attach the reins to the inside of the … the inside of the… No, that could wait until he’d had a bit of a rest. It wouldn’t matter too much if he had a quick nap – he could carry on rescuing his friends after that…

  As Luke lay his head down beside Resus and Cleo, faces floated through his mind, the same faces he had seen when he’d passed through the Hex Hatch that morning. He saw the bully from his old school taunting him, Resus spraying dye over his hair on the day they’d first met, and his mum laughing as she struggled to beat his score on his favourite computer game…

  The thought of his mum jerked Luke back to reality and he pulled himself to his feet. His mum was back in Scream Street and she needed his help to cope with her werewolf transformations. He had to get out of here – and home.

  The chariot had two leather reins, each one ending in a sharp, metal spike. Luke plunged the first one into the soft, jelly-like stomach of the chloroworm. The creature screeched and twisted angrily, but Luke managed to keep his balance as he embedded the second hook. Now he just had to find a way to get the chariot moving.

  Squiffer murmured softly in his sleep and turned over, more noxious fumes pumping from his behind as he did so. Good thing I don’t need a flaming torch in here, thought Luke groggily, or I’d be…

  The torch! That was it! It would be dangerous, but perhaps the only way out. Lifting Resus’s cape, Luke rummaged inside until he found the burning length of wood. Then he held the flame over the goblin’s behind and closed his eyes.

  Chapter Ten

  The Wedding

  The golden chariot shot out of the chloroworm’s back end in an explosion of goblin gas, dragging Heru’s sarcophagus behind it. The reins pulled taut just as the wheels hit the ground and began to spin for the first time in thousands of years.

  Cautiously, Luke opened his eyes – just in time to see the worm charge angrily for the nearest wall. Giant blocks of thick, heavy stone rose up as far as the eye could see. There was no way the worm, or the ch
ariot, would survive the impact.

  Luke barely had time to brace himself for the collision when instead the worm plunged down into the sand and began to dig with its jaws. Without losing speed, the creature excavated a makeshift tunnel and plunged into it, chariot and all.

  Foul, slimy sand erupted from the creature’s back end and Luke ducked behind the chariot’s front shield to avoid being swept away. Then, in what seemed like no time at all, the chloroworm changed direction and climbed back up towards the surface.

  Resus woke just as the worm burst through the hot sand and into the glaring sunshine. “Watson!” he yelled. “What have you done?”

  “I’ve got us out!” Luke shouted back as the worm began to drag the chariot across the desert. “And not a moment too soon. We were being digested in there!”

  Cleo opened her eyes and found Squiffer curled up on her lap. She squealed and pushed him away.

  The goblin bounced off the platform of the chariot and onto the sand, where he sat up groggily, clutching his head. “What be Squiffer drinking last night?”

  The mummy clambered to her feet and joined Luke and Resus at the front of the chariot, holding on for dear life. “What’s going on?” she cried.

  “Luke’s finding new and unusual ways to kill us!” Resus bellowed back.

  “Excuse me!” shouted Luke, keeping a tight grip on the reins. “Thanks to me, we’ve got the three rubies and the two sapphires for the top of Heru’s sarcophagus. We just need the diamond and we can open it again.”

  “But we don’t know where the diamond is,” countered Cleo.

  A glint caught Luke’s eye and he squinted against the glare of the sun to get a better look. “I think we might have just found it…” he said.

  Cleo and Resus followed Luke’s gaze. Some distance away, hundreds of goblins were arranged in rows on the sand. The Great Guff and Princess Poot seemed to be proceeding between the rows, and the sparkle was coming from a ring on the bride’s finger.

  “The royal wedding!” exclaimed Cleo.

  Luke nodded, pulling slightly on the right-hand rein to adjust the worm’s course. “And I bet the diamond was the gemstone the goblins took out of the pyramid, triggering the treasure’s curse.”

  “I told you it was all true,” snapped Cleo.

  “There’ll be time for you to gloat later,” retorted Resus as the chariot hit a sand dune and lurched violently to the left. “At least, I hope there will!”

  “But how do we get the diamond back?” asked Cleo.

  “Resus can take the reins and you can snatch the diamond as we go past,” instructed Luke. “I’m going to slot the other gems into their holes.”

  Cleo looked back at the golden sarcophagus swinging wildly from side to side behind the chariot. “While we’re still moving?”

  “If we stop, the goblins will be all over us,” said Luke as he thrust the reins into Resus’s hands and hurried to the back of the platform. He gritted his teeth and leapt across the gap to the sarcophagus, landing on top of it with a thump!

  “Who’s there?” demanded Heru from inside. “What’s going on?”

  Luke glanced up towards Resus, who was now steering the chloroworm towards the goblin wedding. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he shouted back. “Just hang on, and we’ll have you out of there.”

  Luke was now crouching on top of the sarcophagus, grasping the chain with one hand to avoid falling off. He steadied himself and took the first ruby out of his pocket. He slotted it carefully into the correct recess on the lid and twisted. The lock gave a click. “It’s working!” he yelled, taking out the next ruby. “Get that diamond!”

  The Great Guff didn’t look up until the worm was almost upon him. Resus shook the reins and urged the creature onwards. Its teeth gnashed hungrily as it became aware of the goblins in its path.

  Cleo suddenly grabbed one of the leather straps and pulled hard, causing the worm to swerve. “None of them gets eaten!” she ordered.

  “You’re not making this easy,” called Resus, swinging the worm back towards the wedding and fighting to steer its snapping jaws away from the terrified guests.

  “What be going on?” the Great Guff screamed angrily as the worm shot past.

  Cleo reached down out of the chariot and plucked the massive diamond from the ring on Princess Poot’s finger. “This isn’t yours!” she yelled.

  The family of goblins leapt to their feet in rage, only to be knocked off them again as Resus circled back round and Heru’s sarcophagus ploughed through them. Luke, now lying flat on top of it to keep his balance, twisted the final sapphire eye into place.

  “That’s it!” he shouted. “Now I just need the diamond!”

  Cleo carefully made her way to the back of the chariot, unaware that the goblins were now angrily giving chase. As she stretched out her hand towards Luke, she suddenly spotted something on the sarcophagus lid behind him. Two somethings…

  “Luke!” she called. “Behind you!”

  Luke twisted round to see the Great Guff and Princess Poot clinging onto the golden casket, their big leathery ears flapping in the wind. “You be give me shiny stone!” roared the goblin leader, crawling towards him.

  Luke turned back to Cleo and urged her on. “Quick!” he shouted. The mummy gripped the back of the platform with one hand and stretched out the other. Luke’s fingertips brushed the diamond … he almost had it…

  Princess Poot raced up Luke’s back and snatched the gem from Cleo’s fingers. “If I can’t be have shiny stone, no one be have it!” And she gave a loud eep! and held the diamond into the flow of gas, where it melted away.

  “Goblin guff!” Cleo cried. “The only substance in the world that can destroy diamonds!”

  Luke stared in horror, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it.

  “Pyramid alert!” bellowed Resus. Luke and Cleo turned their attention back to the chariot to discover that they were almost back at Heru’s pyramid. In fact, they were charging towards it at breakneck speed…

  “Go up!” hollered Luke.

  Obediently, Resus pulled back hard on the reins, lifting the chloroworm’s head just as it was about to dig another tunnel. The creature gave a screech and began to charge up the slope towards the peak, still dragging the chariot and sarcophagus behind.

  As the worm reached the top of the pyramid, Resus pulled out his sword and sliced through the reins. Free at last, the chloroworm let loose another terrifying cry, then began to slither down the other side. When it reached the ground, it opened its gargantuan jaws and dug into the sand. Within seconds it had disappeared from view, the hole collapsing in behind it. Both Luke and the sarcophagus were flung onto the back of the chariot with a crash!

  Then silence filled the desert. And the golden chariot sat balanced on the tip of the pyramid, rocking gently back and forth in the warm desert breeze.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Key

  Luke took a deep breath. “No one move,” he hissed. The wheels of the golden chariot spun to a stop.

  “We can’t stay up here,” said Cleo.

  “We can’t risk rolling down the side of the pyramid, either,” whispered Luke. “This thing hasn’t got any brakes: we’d slam straight into the ground.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Cleo, gripping onto the chariot as a gust of wind threatened to push it over the edge.

  Resus risked a cautious glimpse over the side. “Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly…”

  The Great Guff and Princess Poot were already leading the pack of angry goblins up the slope of the pyramid towards them.

  “Goblins be take back shiny stones,” growled the Great Guff. “I be toss pesky kids off top of pointy house.”

  “Look!” cried Cleo, pointing at something on the other side of the pyramid. A swirly, purple window had appeared a few metres above the ground. “It’s a Hex Hatch!” she exclaimed. “Mr Chillchase has opened another Hex Hatch for us!”

  “Maybe we could climb
out and slide down towards it,” Resus said thoughtfully.

  “Slide? On what?”

  Resus shrugged. “Our bottoms? OK, so it’ll hurt, but at least we’ll get down alive. Well, more alive than if the goblins get to us!”

  Luke looked wistfully down at the sapphires and rubies fixed in position on the image of the pharaoh’s face, and then at the space where the diamond should be. “It means we’ll have to go home without returning Heru’s heart,” he sighed. “There’s no way we can get this open now.”

  Cleo pulled the skeleton key from her bandages. “What about this?”

  Resus and Luke looked at one another. Could the key work in the final section of the lock? There was only one way to find out…

  Taking the skeleton key from Cleo, Luke leant over the back of the chariot and stretched out his hand towards the far end of the sarcophagus. The carriage tipped slightly but stayed balanced as he pressed the fnger bones into the dip above the image of Heru’s nostrils.

  “Quickly,” urged Resus. “The goblins are getting close.” The Great Guff and his army were now using blasts of goblin gas to aid their ascent.

  Slowly, the key began to expand until it exactly fitted the diamond-shaped hole. With a trembling hand, Luke turned the key in the lock.

  Click!

  The lid of the sarcophagus swung open and Heru climbed out. “That’s more like it!” he cried, leaping onto the chariot and causing it to wobble violently. He appeared not to have noticed their predicament. “Now, are you any good at sewing?”

  “Sewing?” asked Cleo. “What on earth for?”

  “I shall need a new outfit for the royal wedding, of course,” beamed the pharaoh. His face suddenly fell. “Oh no – I haven’t missed it, have I?”

  “No,” growled a voice behind them. “You be just in time.” The Great Guff and Princess Poot, at the head of the goblin mob, clambered over the sarcophagus and onto the platform of the chariot, where their weight finally upset the balance.