by Tom Percival
It was not a pleasant walk and nobody seemed to be enjoying it, although Betsy and Icicles seemed to be getting on really well. She sat perched on his left neck, snuggling down into his shaggy white fur when she got too cold.
All of a sudden they turned a corner and the path ran into a huge, snow-covered plain, surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs which towered above them. The wide-open space was filled with tents and makeshift huts. Tired, thin-looking trolls peered out warily from the doorways or sat huddled around campfires which flickered in the cold night air. A few muttered angrily when they saw the humans and stepped forward to block their way.
‘Calm down!’ warned the soldier leading their procession. ‘We’ll have no trouble here!’ He glared at the trolls in front of him and added, ‘Unless you want to discuss it with Hurrilan?’
The trolls stepped aside, but continued to glare.
‘But we haven’t done anything wrong!’ protested Red.
‘Maybe not . . .’ replied the troll that was leading them. ‘But it’s humans who’ve taken away their homes, their farms – everything. You can’t blame them for feeling angry.’
They were led to a large tent in the middle of the plain and ushered inside.
‘Wait here,’ commanded the lead troll. ‘I’ve set guards all around the tent . . . so don’t bother even trying to escape.’ He turned briskly and marched out.
‘What do we do now?’ whispered Anansi.
‘There’s not a lot we can do,’ replied Rufaro anxiously. ‘We just have to wait for Hurrilan . . .’ He looked over at his sister. ‘And I have no idea what he’s going to say when he sees us!’
The tent flaps were flung back and all that could be seen in the sudden glare of a flaming torch outside was a tall, thin silhouette striding into the tent. ‘Well . . . look who it is!’ called out a voice. ‘My dear old friends . . .’ The words sounded friendly enough, but the voice was icy-cold. The tent flaps closed again and everyone could see Hurrilan’s face clearly. He walked up close to Rufaro and Adeola. ‘Admittedly, you look different to how I expected you would. You broke my curse? Impressive. But then again, if you can so easily break your promises – break a friendship – why wouldn’t you be able to break a curse?’
‘Look. I know you’re angry . . .’ began Rurafo slowly.
‘Angry?’ interrupted Hurrilan. ‘When you and that boy Fitch –’ he spat the word as though it was a bad taste in his mouth – ‘tricked me into that cage all those years ago, you broke something in me! You were my best friends, my only friends! How could you do that to me? You’ll never know how happy I was on the day my magic grew strong enough to track you down! And when my curse worked? Well, I felt as though – finally – I could let it all go! But here you are – back to taunt me! Why?’
‘You’ve got it all wrong!’ cried Anansi’s mum. ‘We were never friends with Fitch – he captured you to hurt Rufaro! I mean, he does hate the trolls, but he hates us just as much! After you escaped, he twisted everything so that our whole family had to leave Tale Town! We were banished and became outcasts – just like you . . .’
Hurrilan said nothing. His eyes darted between Rufaro and Adeola. Red, Jack, Anansi and his father didn’t dare move.
‘So . . . he lied?’ asked Hurrilan. ‘You weren’t trying to trap me?’
‘No!’ exclaimed Rufaro. ‘Fitch has always lied – that’s what he does!’
‘You can prove this?’ asked Hurrilan, his eyes narrowing.
‘Well . . . he was very clever,’ started Rufaro. ‘He made sure that—’
‘Yes!’ interrupted Red. ‘We can prove it!’
Hurrilan turned to face her, his cold eyes staring down.
‘Well, I mean, you know . . .’ stumbled Red. ‘Maybe we can’t prove exactly what happened when you were kids.
But Fitch has definitely been lying! We found the second half of the “Long Live the Story Tree” poem, which makes it clear that everyone should be allowed to use the Story Tree – even trolls!’
For a second Hurrilan stared at her, and then he laughed. Eventually he said, ‘Even trolls? It was a troll who wrote that poem! I suppose you didn’t know that!’
Red, Jack, Anansi and all the others looked around at each other.
‘But then again, why would you?’ asked Hurrilan. ‘That was hundreds of years ago. Before humans rewrote all the old stories with their version of events!’
‘Seriously? A troll wrote “Long Live the Story Tree”?’
Hurrilan sighed. ‘Is that really so hard to believe?’ he asked. ‘Anyway, you don’t need to take my word. I can prove it!’ He made a slight gesture with his fingers and a wooden chest appeared floating in the middle of the room.
croaked Betsy quietly.
‘Yes,’ said Hurrilan. ‘I suppose it is rather impressive.’
The chest opened and Hurrilan pulled out a small, locked box. He took a key from his waist and slid it into the lock. The bolts and bars slid open one by one as the box opened to reveal a single, carefully preserved silver leaf.
‘This is the oldest leaf from the Story Tree we still have,’ he said. ‘Hundreds of years old. Now, reach out carefully, and touch it – then you will see . . .’
Jack leaned forward, his heart pounding, and ever so gently, he touched the leaf.
As soon as Rapunzel had explained to her parents what they had seen in Fitch’s secret war room, the King and Queen leaped into action. Well, that was after they’d finished having a massage and the cook had prepared their favourite lunch – a hot, fiery soufflé made out of phoenix eggs.
Then they had leaped into action.
Well, they agreed that the King should ‘pop over to see what that confounded Fitch fellow was up to now’.
‘Seriously, Dad!’ protested Rapunzel as they walked towards the Town Hall, ‘You’ve got to be careful! Fitch is super-clever!’
‘Yes, yes, my dear,’ replied her father. ‘But is his so-called cleverness any match for my royal bearing, dignity and pride? I think not! I am the Crowned King among men! No, that ghastly little toad will have to just hop off, and that will be the end of that. The Fitch family have been meddling around here for too long. After all, I’m the King! Surely I should be the one making up all the rules!’
‘But didn’t you agree to the Mayor’s office making all the “boring little decisions” about Tale Town so that you could have more holidays?’ asked Rapunzel.
‘Well, yes,’ spluttered the King. ‘But now I’ve decided it doesn’t suit me. So I’m going to go into his office, find that second half of the Story Tree poem and show everyone the truth! Then he’ll be gone and everyone will love me! I should have done it ages ago! Or at least, last month.’
‘You were on holiday last month,’ said Rapunzel.
‘OK, well the month before that,’ said the King.
‘You and Mum were on a cruise.’
‘Well, fine! It’s not like you did anything to stop him, was it? Hmm? Little Miss Know-it-all!’
‘Dad! I’m just a child! You’re the King!’
‘That’s the trouble with today’s youth!’ muttered the King. ‘No sense of responsibility! Anyway, let’s get this done. My butler’s running me a bath of warmed dragon milk and I don’t want it to go cold.’
Jack looked around in amazement. He was in the middle of Tale Town’s square, but the Story Tree was far smaller, barely a sapling, and he only recognized one or two of the buildings. More surprising was that a crowd of trolls, humans, imps and other magical creatures were milling around happily together. In front of the crowd stood a man and a troll. They were standing side by side, wearing old-fashioned clothes and each holding up a giant stone tablet – one written in the trolls’ language, and one in the humans’.
‘My good friend Gravam has written this poem,’ called out the man, ‘so that we may all remember how lucky we are to have such a gift as the Story Tree in the town we have founded together!’
Everyone cheered.
The crowd went wild and repeated the chant. Jack had a few more seconds to look around, and then he was back in the tent with Red and the others.
‘Whoa!’ he exclaimed, looking up at Hurrilan in amazement, ‘So trolls and humans founded Tale Town together?’
Hurrilan nodded.
‘But why did it all change?’ asked Anansi.
Hurrilan shrugged. ‘Who knows?’ he replied. ‘But somewhere along the line it did, and things have been getting worse and worse for the trolls since then. At first we tried talking – but nobody listened. So now it’s come to this, we’re going to take what’s ours. By force if we have to.’
‘But don’t you see?’ said Rufaro. ‘A war would be devastating! For both trolls and humans!
Look, I know that what Fitch has done is awful, I know that he needs to be stopped, but there has to be another way! The people of Tale Town are scared of trolls, but only because of what Fitch has told them. If we can stop Fitch, then we can make people see the truth!’
‘And you’d help me do that?’ asked Hurrilan.
‘Absolutely,’ replied Rufaro and his sister, Adeola.
The three old friends looked at each other for a long time. Then Hurrilan put a hand on each of their shoulders and quietly said, ‘Thank you.’
‘So you don’t deny any of it?’ asked the King as he stood in front of Mayor Fitch’s desk. ‘The hidden second half of the poem? The underground war room and the plan to enslave the trolls and steal all of their magic?’
Rapunzel, Ella, Wolfie, Hansel and Gretel were standing next to Rapunzel’s dad. Everyone looked surprised.
‘Not at all!’ said Fitch cheerfully. ‘I suppose that’s it, you win!’
‘I do?’ asked the King, looking confused.
‘It certainly looks like it!’
‘Yes, I rather suppose it does!’ said the King, puffing up his chest. ‘Now be a good fellow and fetch the second half of the poem, I need to show the townsfolk immediately. I’ll be as lenient as I can, but it’ll probably be the old “banishing to Far Far Away”, I should imagine. No hard feelings?’
‘None at all,’ replied Fitch as he opened his secret cupboard and took out the stone into which the second half of the poem was carved. ‘I’d have done exactly the same if things had been the other way around.’
‘Right!’ exclaimed the King, taking the stone. He couldn’t quite believe that it had all gone so well. ‘Well, I’ll be off then. Come along, children.’
Rapunzel looked around as Mayor Fitch waved the King past, indicating that his guards should just let them all go.
‘Something feels weird about this,’ she muttered.
‘Nonsense!’ snorted the King, ‘Fitch just knew better than to tangle with me! Now come on. I’ve got a town to save!’
The King strode to the door, opened it and walked out, before it suddenly slammed shut, trapping the children inside Fitch’s office. He spun around, but his path was blocked by two of Fitch’s guards who had been waiting just outside the door.
‘What’s going on?’ protested the King.
‘Sir, we have reason to believe that you are in possession of stolen property,’ said one of the guards loudly, as they grabbed the King by his elbows and dragged him out of the Town Hall.
‘What? No! Listen, I can explain!’ spluttered the King. He was making quite a commotion and a crowd was starting to gather in the town square. It wasn’t every day you saw the King being held back by an armed guard.
‘Oh? You can explain why you’ve been lying to us all these years?’ asked Mayor Fitch as he strode calmly out of the Town Hall behind the King.
‘What?’ replied the King, confused, ‘No! I was just—’
‘Mark my words!’ called out Mayor Fitch to the crowd, in his clearest speech-making voice. ‘The King has been lying to all of us!’
There was a gasp from the steadily growing crowd as Fitch held up the original ‘Story Tree’ poem.
‘We all know what this is!’ he called. ‘But do you see what he holds? There is more of the poem! A second half that we never even knew about!’
The King was indeed clutching the second half of the poem close to his chest – things weren’t looking good.
‘The royal family have been keeping us in the dark, all these years!’ Fitch continued. ‘There is a secret on that stone. A secret that the King wants to keep from us!’
‘Boo!’ shouted a voice from the crowd.
‘Why?’ yelled another.
‘I don’t know!’ replied Fitch. ‘Shall we find out?’
‘Yes!’ roared the crowd.
Fitch strode over to grab the stone. The King struggled to keep hold of it but Fitch wrenched it out of his hands, making sure that the stone fell as he did so. It tumbled down to the paving slabs beneath their feet and shattered into tiny pieces.
‘What have you done!’ exclaimed Fitch, sounding shocked.
‘What do you mean?’ replied the King. ‘I didn’t do anything, it was you who—’
‘Friends!’ shouted Fitch. ‘For years the King and his family have lived a life of leisure! While you and I, the hardworking people of this town, sweat to put food on our plates!’ Of course, this wasn’t strictly true – the Mayor had always been paid very well – but the crowds weren’t concerned about a detail like that right now.
‘And now we find out he’s been lying to us!’ continued Fitch. ‘What else has he lied about? Where does this web of deceit end? And what should we do with him?’
The crowd roared angrily, the King protested and Fitch stood there pretending to look as though he didn’t know what to do next.
‘My friends!’ called Fitch finally, lowering his hands to calm the crowd. ‘We have but one choice. The King, his family and supporters must be exiled! Sent to Far Far Away! Only then will we be safe from this treachery!’
The crowd roared its approval and Fitch nodded. ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘We shall prepare the boat. They sail at dawn!’ He gestured to the guards holding the baffled King. ‘Secure the King, but make him comfortable. After all, he is royalty.’
Fitch waved one last time to the crowd, turned smartly on his heel and marched back into the Town Hall.
‘Knock, knock,’ he said, as he opened his office door.
Inside were Rapunzel, Wolfie, Hansel and Gretel, who were tied up. Even though they hadn’t been able to see what had happened to the King outside, they’d heard everything through the open window. Rapunzel’s eyes were wide with panic.
‘Don’t worry,’ Mayor Fitch said to Rapunzel in a low voice. ‘You’ll see him soon enough. You all will! After all, you’re traitors too, and you’ll be sailing off on that boat at dawn!’ He laughed and then added, ‘And don’t think that your friends can help. My men have been following them since they left Tale Town with the troll child. Everything has worked out even better than I could have planned. They’ve led me right to where the troll warlock Hurrilan is hiding! I suppose I ought to thank you.’ He smiled. ‘I really couldn’t have done any of this without you!’
‘I am sorry, you know . . .’ said Hurrilan as the children from Tale Town and Anansi’s family all sat down to a troll banquet. ‘For turning you into trolls? You see, I really thought that—’
‘I know,’ interrupted Rufaro, patting his childhood friend on the back. ‘I understand. Although life would be a lot easier if you could completely lift the curse?’
‘Of course!’ said Hurrilan with a smile. ‘But I’ll need everything I used to make the original curse. As soon as I have everything to hand then I will. I promise.’
Quartz was sitting next to Red, Anansi and Jack after being reunited with his parents earlier that afternoon. Even Betsy had found the whole thing rather emotional. She’d covered her face with one wing and squawked a little about having some dust in her eye.
Quartz’s pet pig, Snout, Betsy, and Icicles the two-headed snow leopard were all in the corner eating from bowls on the floor. Betsy didn’t look very happy about it – she always sat next to Jack at mealtimes.
They were halfway through dinner when one of Hurrilan’s soldiers came in to announce that they’d fixed the hot-air balloon and it was being inflated outside, ready for their return to Tale Town. Now they had to work out how to get rid of Fitch and make sure that the trolls were once again allowed freely into Tale Town.
The royal ship, the Silver Spoon, was slowly pulling out of the Tale Town docks. Normally, when the boat pulled anchor, the harbourside would be lined with flag-waving townsfolk, keen to wish their royal family a happy journey.
NOT this time. Instead the crowd threw rotten eggs and mouldy cabbages. The King and Queen had run away sobbing to hide below decks.
Hansel and Gretel, their father and his newest wife were all on board too. As were Jack’s family, Red’s family, Wolfie, Rapunzel and Ella. The only person Fitch hadn’t tried to round up was Wolfie’s dad. Fitch might have been crazy, but he knew better than to try to mess with the Big Bad Wolf.
Jack’s parents and Red’s parents had fought and protested, scared their children would come home from their camping trip to empty homes, but Fitch had just sneered. ‘They’ll be following along in another boat, just as soon as they return from their so-called camping trip!’ Then he had bundled all the adults into small servants’ cabins, locked the doors and mounted guards outside.
Luckily for Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Wolfie and Ella, they were allowed on deck as Fitch didn’t see what harm they could do – after all, they were only children.
As the ship pulled out to sea, the children looked sadly back towards Tale Town – their home.