by Ben Walsh
Chapter Ten
Stan scrambled desperately in an attempt to haul himself up and put some distance between him and his assailants, but found his fingers clutching at nothing but weak weeds which pulled loose from the ground as he grabbed at them. The figures loomed closer, and he soon became able to make out more detail on them. One was substantially taller than the other, an athletic looking man with hair down to his shoulders and a bow around his chest. Alongside him was a shorter, fatter man, struggling to keep up with the ferocious marching pace set by his slimmer companion.
The realisation of how close the duo were provided Stan with the extra strength to pull himself to his feet, and he turned to sprint away. As he did so, an arrow thudded into the ground beside him, closely followed by another. Stan had seen first-hand just how deadly the archer was, and knew that if he wanted him dead, he would be. The message was clear – stay where you are. Stan wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers, and waited for what felt like a lifetime for the pair to reach him.
When they finally did, Stan inhaled sharply in shock, before bursting into nervous laughter and giggles of relief. For the two were not his enemy or death, but his saviours. The figure he had taken a as a slim man was in fact a young adolescent female, one whom he had spent endless numbers of days trying to escape the attentions of at school. Had it been light, Stan would have recognised the bright red hair of Roxanne, the Mayor’s daughter, in a heart-beat.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Stan started, after a long bout of laughter, “but goodness I am glad to see you!”
This made Roxanne grin from ear to ear, something she was always doing. It was one of the things Stan had found most irritating about her, but at this moment he really couldn’t think of anything he’d rather be looking at. Meanwhile, hobbling along after her was Marvin, his face as a red as Roxanne’s hair and as sweaty as Stan’s palm from the effort of keeping up.
Stan side stepped Roxanne and embraced Marvin, relieved to be with his friend once again. As much as he slowed him down and could be infuriating, Stan realised that he found his presence reassuring.
“What in the name of the God’s just happened? Why did you come out of your hiding place, you were supposed to stay there!” Stan hissed at his friend.
“I did stay there Stan, really!”
“No, I heard you, I heard you scream when you came looking for me and saw the goblins.” Stan was annoyed that Marvin wouldn’t just admit that he’d made a mistake, especially as this was all he ever seemed to do.
Roxanne chuckled away to herself in the background. Stan spun around to face her.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, you haven’t worked it out, hahaha, oh this it too funny, sorry,” Roxanne was snorting with laughter, and was forced to bend over and reach down to a tree stump to support herself, as her body was shaking such that she could have tumbled over.
Stan turned to Marvin with a confused look on his face, but Marvin simply shrugged.
Stan was beginning to lose his temper, and quickly forgot the fact that his friends had just saved his life. He grabbed Roxanne and thrust her into the tree.
“Stop that laughing and tell me what I haven’t worked out Roxanne, NOW!” Stan roared, his face bright red in frustration.
Roxanne finally stopped laughing, and composed herself.
“Well, it’s just that Marvin is, uhm, well he’s telling the truth. He stayed in his hiding place, I was watching and he never left. Well not until I went down to get him, that is.”
Stan stepped back in confusion, and released his grip on her. Roxanne slumped down, and brushed herself off. Meanwhile Stan was pacing the ground, trying to make sense of what he was being told.
“So if it wasn’t Marvin I heard, who was it?” Stan started to panic, wondering whether there was a third party hiding, still somewhere in the forest. Even now, they could be watching them, and waiting for the right moment to pounce. “We need to leave, now, come on Marvin, it’s not safe.” He began to head back to camp to gather up his things, but he hadn’t got five steps before Roxanne shouted,
“It was a fox you dingbat!”
Baffled, Stan spun round to face Roxanne, a look of bewilderment on his face.
“You heard a fox screaming, you know, like a fox does? That was what the goblins heard too. If you had just stayed in your hiding place, everything would’ve been fine and they’d have moved on. Probably killed each other knowing goblins! It was YOUR mistake Stan.”
Roxanne was breathing heavily now, and seemed to have more to get off of her chest. Warily, Stan edged towards her, arms outstretched as a sign of peace.
“So where do you fit into it?” He asked, nervously.
“I saw the goblins head towards you from my treetop,” she started, more calmly, “once they surrounded you I headed down, fetched Marvin, and came back to save you.
Stan turned to Marvin, who nodded to confirm that the red headed girl was telling the truth.
This created more questions than it provided answers for Stan, who spluttered over his “I’m still confused, why are you even here? We were banished, remember?”
“That’s exactly why I’m here,” Roxanne replied, frustrated, “you couldn’t have looked after yourself on the road, you’re too weak and naïve. Don’t you dare deny it, tonight has proven that,” she snapped as Stan started to complain.
“I have been following you, from a distance, and was going to do so until you reached your Uncle’s. My father disapproved of my hunting so I used to come out here to practise; I know this forest like the back of my hand.”
It all started to fall into place for Stan; the giggles he had heard earlier in the night must have been Roxanne.
“It was you wasn’t it,” Stan gasped, pointing an accusational finger, “You were watching me earlier?”
Roxanne’s smile returned to her face, smirking as she remembered the scene. “Oh yes I did, that was funny! You really are truly awful with that sword!”
“Stop. That’s not fair, I’ve never practised before.”
“You have a sword?” Marvin chirped. Stan and Roxanne both looked startled, having temporarily forgotten about their friend.
“Yes, he does and he is terrible with it! I can teach you both if you want?”
Before Stan had the chance to give a resounding no, Marvin had squealed ‘oo yes please!’ Stan sighed and nodded in agreement.
“Excellent, I’ll teach you on the way to your Uncle’s, you’ll be a dab hand by the time you arrive! Also, Stan, if you’re going to walk around with a shield strapped to your back, you might want to actually take it off to use it when you’re being attacked?”
“No you won’t.” Stan said, a thin smile spreading across his face, as he ignored the jape about the shield.
“What do you mean,” Roxanne asked, confused, “you literally just agreed to it?” She glanced over to Marvin and mouthed, ‘this guy is weird’.
“You can teach us, sure.” Stan shrugged off the jokey insult and smiled. “But it won’t be on the way to my Uncle’s”.
“Well then where? Sorry to disappoint but once you’re at your Uncle’s I am gone! I don’t wanna linger there, people say there are ghosts!”
“I don’t want to linger there either, not for a day, not for a night. That’s why we’re going back to Oadford, come along, the sooner the better!” With this Stan turned back towards the forest and re-entered, striding determinedly in the direction he thought Oadford might be in.
Roxanne and Marvin looked at each other in bemusement, unable to work out what Stan was going on about.
“Erm, Stan, hate to be the one to bring bad news, but, well, you were banished, remember?” Roxanne asked, jogging to catch up with him.
“We were, you’re right, but we’re going to be un-banished!”
“Stan, no one has ever been un-banished in the entire history of Oadford, it isn’t possible!” Marvin added, gasping for air at the sprint required to keep pace.
“Well then I look forward to being the first!” Stan was positively beaming now, breaking into a slow jog.
“Go on then, Mr Smarty Pants, how exactly are you intending on making yourself and Marvin, two young teenagers who haven’t fought a day in their lives, going to be de-banished?”
“I was beginning to think you’d never ask!” With that he stopped running, and waited for Marvin to catch up, before beckoning for his companions to sit. They reluctantly sat, Marvin clearing the ground before he did so, and nervously glancing over his shoulder for signs of creatures scurrying towards him.
Stan stood impatiently as he watched his friend, but when Marvin was finally ready, Stan began to hurriedly retell the story he’d heard from the goblins earlier in the night.
Considering how short a story it was it seemed to last forever, and Stan was panting by the time he’d finished.
“That’s a really cool story Stan, but I’m struggling to see how it’s going to get us de-banished?” Marvin asked, still looking and sounding unconvinced.
“Think about it… This stone, it has the power to build an entire army, big enough and strong enough to take over the world. But it doesn’t have to be used to build an army, it can build literally anything!”
Roxanne gasped in pleasure as she realised what he meant, but Marvin’s face indicated that he clearly hadn’t yet. Roxanne turned to him, smiling.
“So this stone, it can build anything, right?”
“Yeah, I got that bit,” Marvin replied warily.
“So just think of Oadford for the minute, it’s been completely destroyed remember? Now imagine if we could build new houses and fishing boats, bigger and better than the ones destroyed because of us,” Stan joined in, excitedly.
“That’d be great; we’d be able to go home. But we can’t build and even if we could, how do you propose we do this without breaking the terms of our banishment?”
“But imagine if we had a stone that would let us build anything we wanted…” Stan started, hoping the penny would finally drop for his friend.
Marvin’s eyes lit up, as he understood what Stan had overheard. Stan and Roxanne sighed in relief, and the trio started to jog again, desperate to go and put their plan into place.
At one point, before the sun started to come up, while Stan and Roxanne were alone, waiting for Marvin to catch up, the girl pushed Stan against the tree and moved in close enough to whisper in his ear.
“You might have chosen a good mistake to make tonight, but don’t forget that it was just that. A mistake - a very lucky one.”
Before Stan had the chance to argue back, Roxanne was gone, set off along the trail again.
He called out after her, but all he got in reply was,
“One more thing, you ungrateful dingbat! I hate Roxanne, it’s Roxie to anyone but my father!” With this she skipped away into the distance. Simultaneously, Marvin trundled to a stop beside Stan, but Stan was instantly off again, afraid to lose their guide and only hope of getting out of the forest alive.