by S G Read
‘I like it,’ JC one exclaimed, ‘and I am sorry for doubting you Sherman.’
‘It is alright JC one, I wouldn’t let Molly hurt you.’ Sherman one replied.
JC one gave Sherman a disapproving look but did not answer.
‘So all we have to do is to choose the right leprechaun to wake up,’ Jenny two Cried, ‘that is brilliant Sherman.’
‘Come on then let's get moving, at least we have purpose in our walking.’ Simon one urged.
They hurried on, passing the Grimalkin as they went. She was in front of her cave in cat form and watching the world go by. She looked up as they passed and her eyes opened wide when she saw how many of them there were but she did not say anything. The team walked on for some time and saw the leprechaun Simon had turned to stone just after it had turned the rest to stone but passed it by. They decided it was too near the point where a new one would come out of the rock face. They saw a leprechaun with white shoes that the apprentice had turned to stone further on and decided that he was the one. Before they approached him to do it, Stuart called a meeting in a small opening, to make sure they were out of sight of anyone who might be watching.
'The apprentice must have been hiding in wait somewhere to turn the leprechaun into stone without him knowing, we need to work out where he was hiding and make sure the apprentice isn't lying in wait there again for the next one.' Stuart one whispered.
'How do we find out without letting him know we are here?' Ben one asked. 'I can walk up there if you like and look but if he doesn't already know we are in his world, we need to make sure he doesn't find out. He hasn't been out looking for us has he, he has only been sorting out the leprechaun, if it is a stand up fight between him and us, who do you think will win?'
'He will,' Stuart one answered, 'I get your point Ben, so what can we do to find out?'
'We can wait until the leprechaun comes round this way and the apprentice zaps him after that we can turn them both back.' Toby one answered.
'If he doesn't take the second one to be an ornament in his garden, like he did with the other leprechaun.' JC one added.
'So we need to watch this area without being seen and this place is no good, are there any proposals as to where we should watch from?' Stuart one asked.
'I propose we go back to a place he won't see us from, cross over to the trees;’ Jenny two answered, 'that way we can move through the trees and watch from there.'
'I second that one.' Jenny one declared.
'I am not arguing that that isn't a really good idea but isn't she just seconding herself?' Toby two asked.
'Just to make sure everyone is happy, are there any other seconders?' Stuart one asked.
Apart from Stuart one, the rest raised their hand, including Toby two.
I think we can safely say that is carried then.' Stuart one declared. 'We go back and make our way into the trees without being seen by the apprentice, just in case he is already hiding there somewhere. He might be just as engrossed in his battle with the white shoed leprechaun that he might not have a clue as to what it going on around him anymore.’'
They walked back the way they had come until they were sure they could make it across to the trees unseen. They did not walk in one big group when they crossed the open space, instead they split into twos, making sure at least on of the two was confident with the stone spell, in case they ran into trouble. The group by the mountain slowly decreased and the group in the forest increased, until they were all safely over there. They traveled into the trees to be out of sight and then moved through them, until they arrived at the spot they had chosen to keep an eye on the stone leprechaun. They settled down to wait but it was a long boring wait, in the end Stuart one sent a small group of his team to collect fruit to keep them refreshed while they waited. Their ingenuity found them searching the three bear's house while they were chasing Goldilocks. They borrowed two bags in which to carry the fruit. They also borrowed some water bottles to keep everyone happy. They assumed that the three bears would think Goldilocks had taken them. It did mean that when the sun went down with nothing happening, no one minded. They settled down to sleep in the forest, making temporary shelters for the girls just to show off their skill at making them. Something they had to do a lot in the jungle as it often rained.
'You do realize that this means we could have just woken him up and started the fight back.' Toby one declared.
'That is true,' Stuart one replied, 'but what would the apprentice think when he turned the leprechaun into stone but the first stone leprechaun was no longer there? I think he might think it was odd and investigate. We have to wait until he turns a second leprechaun into stone in the same place before we act. The fact that there is just the one leprechaun there seems to imply that there is quite a long list of different attacks from the white shoed leprechaun to get through before we get back to that one again and that will give us time to build up an army.'
'Put like that it makes perfect sense.' Toby one admitted.
'So we stay here until the apprentice turns a second leprechaun into stone,' Molly declared, 'now that I can hack.'
Others nodded their approval and some of the boys started making improvements to the shelters and adding shelters for them selves. They were settling in for a long stay, anything that decided to threaten them ended up as a stone ornament. Stuart thought about sending out someone to recover the three bear’s porridge cauldron and their bowls but it the apprentice saw them they would be in a great deal of trouble.
The wait lasted three days, with regular deliveries of fruit and water. While they watched, they saw the white leprechaun walk along but when he saw his stone likeness in front of him, he took a wide berth, nearly going as far as the watchers hiding in the wood. He did the same the next day but on the third day, before they saw the leprechaun, they saw the same young man wearing the cloak that had mysterious symbols on it. He walked up to the solid rock, made an opening and walked inside. The watchers saw the opening close again, to leave the rock looking just as it had before the man in the cloak arrived. The leprechaun came round the corner but instead of going wide, he kept close to the rocks. As he passed his stone effigy, he suddenly went rigid and turned to stone. The young man in the cloak, who the team had assumed was the apprentice, reappeared to look at his handiwork. The watchers watched closely, this was their adversary and they wanted to find out all they could about him. They were not surprised when the apprentice point his wand at the newest stone leprechaun and make him rise in the air, allowing the leprechaun to lay on his back just off the ground. Worse was to come though, he did the same to the original leprechaun and then walked off with them following him.
'Did you see what he just did?' JC one asked in dismay.
'Well no actually, we were all looking the other way at the time.' Toby two retorted.
'That didn't come out right,' JC declared, 'did you see what he did?'
'That isn't much better.' Toby one replied. 'I think you mean were we expecting what just happened? And the answer is no I think, we expected him to take the new one and to leave the old one. We have just wasted three days for nothing.'
'That makes it awkward, as we were going to turn one of them back so that we could talk to him,' JC complained, 'and he took them both.'
'Why would he take them?' Celia one asked. 'Does he already know our plan to turn them back to make an army?'
'How could he?' Ben one asked.
'This is a weird world and who knows what he knows.' Celia two answered.
'She's right, we need to start turning leprechauns back as soon as we can.' Jenny two added.
'No, we need to do it so we can keep it a secret right up until the time the army attacks,' Jenny one argued, 'or it will be a complete waste of time.'
'What are we going to do next Stu?' Sherman one asked, looking at Stuart one.
Stuart one looked about the group and then at the containers with the fruit in before he answered.
'First we collect
more fruit and water, while we are doing that someone goes and gets the stuff we borrowed from the three bears and put it back in their house. After that we move on, keeping in the forest to make sure we aren’t seen, until we see a likely candidate. If there is one on their own we watch it, if there are two we turn one back straight away. Toby one, you arrange for some supplies to be brought back, the two Bens and the two Denis’s go forward and see what is ahead of us. Colin one and John one go and get the stuff from the three bears, one of the Simons can go with you as extra protection. The rest will wait here out of sight until both lots return.' He ordered.
There were no arguments, the three groups moved off and the rest settled down to wait for them to return. The fruit and water arrived first, followed soon after by the boys with the cauldron from the three bear’s house. They had to wait for the right time to return the things and then settled down to rest. The other group was gone for several hours before they returned.
'We found one on its own, it is lying down as though it was crawling through the undergrowth to get closer to the apprentice but the apprentice spotted him and zapped him.' Ben one reported. 'It's a bit swampy there but I think we can pull him out.'
'Then we will go and investigate that one, as it is in the forest. First we will eat but from now on the fruit and water are rationed, until we are close enough to the stream to get some more.' Stuart one announced.
The decision made both Simons happy.
They ate the fruit and drank water ready for their journey, then followed Ben one through the trees. They moved slowly, making sure no one saw them, until Ben pointed ahead to where the stone leprechaun lay, it was half submerged in mud. Stuart one looked about to see what trails there were in the forest at that point and did not like what he saw. There were trails coming through this one and it made this a sort of crossroads in the forest not far from where they stood.
'We need to get him out of the mud and move him away from all these trails, we'll chose one to carry him down before we turn him back.' He announced.
'He is made of stone.' Ben two pointed out.
'So,' Stuart two retorted, 'there are enough of us to carry him, we carried Captain Torres if you can remember?'
‘Funnily enough I can remember that,’ Ben two answered, ‘but he wasn’t made of stone.’
'We can’t afford to drop him as we carry him though,' Toby one ordered, 'he's not much good to us if he is broken.'
Sherman walked forward and sunk to his ankles.
'This reminds me of the jungle,' he complained, 'that bamboo field especially.'
Others followed him, when they saw that he did not sink any further and he took hold of one arm then waited. The rest took up the invitation and anyone who could get a handhold, did so, despite the mud. They picked the leprechaun up and carried him where Stuart one nodded, He had taken hold of the leprechaun's other arm. They walked onto the nearest trail and then up to where four trails converged. Stuart chose one trail and they walked along it to be far enough away from the crossroad.
'Just here will do,' Stuart one announced, 'put him down carefully but we need to turn him over so that he can see us. Both Si's keep out of sight in case this all goes pear shaped, if the worst happens, zap him then turn us back.'
The two Simons retreated in different directions, so that the leprechaun could not turn them both to stone in the same movement. When they were out of sight The others rolled the leprechaun over then two boys took each arm and one held each leg with both Shermans holding the head still, just in case. Toby one recited the spell to turn him back to flesh and blood and they waited. The leprechaun returned to his normal colour and tried to move.
‘What devilry is this?’ The leprechaun asked.
‘You were stone.’ Stuart one declared, stepping in front of him. ‘We turned you back and we want to talk to you. For once we want to do it without you turning us into stone, just for the fun of it.’
‘It is not for the fun of it, I want to free the wizard and I want to be on my way to do so, so what do you want to talk to me about?’ The leprechaun asked.
‘We want to discuss helping you to defeat the apprentice.’ Stuart answered.
‘So you know about him and my fight to free the wizard?’ The leprechaun asked, no longer struggling to get free.
‘Yes. At the moment there is one of you against the apprentice and he knows just where you are going to attack from, as it has all happened before. He knows just where you are going to attack him and is ready for you but what if we made all your brothers, the ones who are turned to stone, come back to normal like we have done to you. Then there would be an army of you and you could all attack at once when he wasn’t expecting it?’
‘You can do that, turn us all back to flesh and blood?’ The leprechaun asked, now very interested in what Stuart was saying.
‘We can, we just turned you back didn’t we?’ Stuart one answered patiently.
‘Oh yes, you did didn’t you.’ The leprechaun replied.
‘We can also let you know how to turn your friends back when they are turned to stone again during the battle.’ Stuart offered.
‘We can learn that?’ The leprechaun asked.
‘I hope so.’ Stuart exclaimed. ‘You can try it with the next one if you like.’
‘It sounds a good idea and I thank you, can I get up now?' The leprechaun asked.
'We will let you up, but only if you promise not to turn us all to stone with a wave of your hand.' Stuart one answered.
'I just want to free the wizard and if you can help me to do that then you are my friends.' The leprechaun answered.
'Let him up team.' Stuart one ordered.
The boys and girls holding the leprechaun rolled away and stood up themselves, leaving the leprechaun to get up. When he was on his feet, he looked at Stuart and stroked his chin.
'What are you thinking about?' Stuart one asked.
'I am trying to think where we are in the cycle of attacks and I think I will be coming down that trail behind you fairly soon.' The leprechaun answered.
Stuart one turned to look up the trail.
'I even got that choice wrong.' He complained.
'With four to one odds you were unlucky to choose the one he will come down next.' Toby one pointed out.
Toby two nodded in agreement.
'I will go and meet him to explain what is going on.' The leprechaun offered.
'He will just turn you to stone, he will assume that you are the apprentice in disguise.' Ben two declared. 'You did turn Goldilocks to stone didn't you?'
'Oh her, she is just a porridge thief, safe is better than sorry after all.' The leprechaun answered. ‘I don’t like thieves.’
'We will hide and you wait for him to come along, that way if he does turn you to stone, we can turn him to stone and then turn you back.' Stuart one explained. 'That way we can hold him while you explain what is happening.'
They all hid and the leprechaun they had just turned from stone stood in the open, to wait for the next leprechaun to come along. It was not a long wait, the leprechaun they had just reincarnated held his hand up in greeting but the approaching leprechaun turned him back into stone again, as soon as he saw him. Simon two was behind the leprechaun who had just turned himself into stone and he acted. He turned the Leprechaun into stone.
‘Well, that worked, not.’ Ben two chided.
‘Quick grab that other one and we will try again.’ Stuart ordered.
They took hold of the newest stone leprechaun and turned him back to normal. While they held him still the conversation was roughly the same but now they were able to turn the other leprechaun back and demonstrate what they meant.
‘Brother Fergus, you are no longer stone.’ The leprechaun they were holding declared.
‘No and you were the one who made me stone! Brother Fergus.’
‘Well I thought you were an emissary of the wizard and up to no good brother, as I was sure by now that there can only be one of us.
’
‘Well now there can be more than one of us and you have probably heard these young person’s plan, are you with me brother?’
‘I am brother and I am sorry I turned you to stone.’ The latest leprechaun answered.
'What do we do now little boy.' The copy of Fergus they had first reincarnated asked.
'I am Stuart one,' Stuart answered, 'we need to get out of sight in case another Fergus comes along.'
Toby one raised his hand.
'Yes Toby one?' Stuart one asked, he was glad of any help at this moment.
'Well we turned this one back before another one came out of the rock face, so he really needs to go on and fight the apprentice.' Toby one explained.
Stuart one looked at both Fergus's.
'That seems to make sense,' he admitted, 'we can't let the apprentice know what is going on until we are ready to attack in numbers.'
'Then I will go and do battle with the apprentice, now that I know you will turn me back when he does so, I am quite happy to be surprised by him but I will still try to turn him to stone before he can do it to me.' The latest copy of Fergus declared.
The two leprechauns shook hands and the latest copy went off to continue the fight so that the apprentice did not smell a rat.
'So what do we do now?' Toby one asked.
'Now we go deeper into the forest, not on any trail and try to work out the best plan of action.' Stuart one answered.
They all melted into the trees with the leprechaun following, they kept going until Stuart one thought they had gone far enough not to be spotted.
'Remember, we can't let the apprentice see two white shoed leprechauns together, or he will know something is up.' Stuart announced when they had settled in the chosen spot.
'So we need to turn back leprechauns but keep them all hidden somewhere until we are ready to strike then.' Stuart two asked.
'That is safest, I think,' Stuart one answered, ‘but we will need a lot of them to fight the apprentice, or it will be over too quickly.’
'Where do we hide an army of leprechauns?' Ben one asked.