The Team and the Cavern

by S G Read

  ‘So you need us!’ Jenny two exclaimed.

  ‘Yes we do,’ Stuart one answered immediately, 'there is no question of that, you have already proved yourself useful. Without you lot we would still be statues hidden in a cave.'

  'You're right we have been useful, so we should stick together.' JC one retorted.

  ‘Don’t even think of saying it!’ CJ one warned, looking at JC one.

  ‘Okay, I will,’ JC two answered, ‘all for one and one for all!’

  CJ one just looked at him sternly while JC one laughed.

  ‘We could have done that in stereo.’ JC one joked when he stopped laughing.

  ‘Not and lived.’ Ben one retorted.

  ‘I know what we can do!’ Molly two declared. ‘There is a large patch of grass over there and we have two complete teams! We could play football.’

  ‘What with, can you see any balls?’ Stevey two asked.

  ‘Surely they have such a thing as a ball round here.’ Molly one asked, supporting her other self. ‘Everyone has a ball, surely?’

  ‘There are always those head things, they are almost round.’ Ben one suggested.

  That caused a laugh but with the idea of a game of football in the offing, they spread out through the village to look for a ball. The net result of the search was a beach ball. It had obviously been brought in by the other outsiders.

  ‘This is going to be a laugh.’ Ben one exclaimed when he kicked it out for the first time.

  ‘Just remember we can’t make the same sort of noise that we usually do.’ Stuart one warned. ‘It has to be played in silence.’

  One of the leprechauns saw the ball as it veered off course and did not go anywhere the intended target. ‘Do you want that a bit heavier?’ he asked. He had settled down to watch what they were doing.

  ‘We do, but we don’t want it made of stone.’ Stuart one answered, a bit worried what the outcome might be.

  ‘That is no problem,’ the leprechaun replied, ‘just think of what the ball you want to play with looks like.’

  Stuart thought about his own football. As he did so the leprechaun waved his hand and the beach ball was transformed into Stuart’s football.

  ‘That’s better!’ Ben declared. ‘Well done Mr. Leprechaun.’

  He booted the ball downfield.

  ‘The name is Seamus.’ The leprechaun answered.

  ‘What the same as the red shoed leprechaun.’ Stuart two asked.

  ‘He comes from the other village.’ Seamus answered.

  ‘There’s another village?’ Stuart two asked.

  ‘Oh yes, behind the other forest and through the mountain.’ Seamus answered.

  ‘But they are all stone as well.’ A copy of Fergus exclaimed. ‘I went there for help but there is only Seamus walking about, he was asleep in the meadow at the time the apprentice struck.’

  ‘So all you had to talk to was Seamus with the red shoes then brother Fergus.’ Seamus asked.

  ‘Yes, we used to discuss ways I could creep up on the apprentice but one day when I walked up to Seamus, it was the apprentice in disguise and he turned me to stone. Ever since then I have been on my own and only talk to Seamus from a distance, just in case.’

  ‘You were lucky that you did not go mad, brother Fergus.’ Seamus replied.

  When they heard Seamus say that, the team members passed significant glances between them but no one said anything.

  ‘I was able to talk to the wizard’s cat from time to time, the apprentice could not do anything about her. He just banished her from the palace, she lives in a cave now. She was always on my side, she wants me to win so that she can go back to her warm bed in the palace and food available when she wants it.’ Fergus added.

  Stuart one listened but said nothing. The game when it started, was a strange affair. Calling was banned and anyone who made any noise was shushed into silence. Even though the lack of calling hampered them and the fact that they could not shout out in frustration when something went wrong, they still enjoyed their first game of football together for what seemed ages. Afterwards, when the game ended in a draw, they all sat resting, apart from Stuart one. He decided to walk over to where Seamus and Fergus were sitting together talking.

  ‘The cat in the cave, is that the grimalkin?’ He asked.

  ‘Yes it is lad.’ Fergus answered.

  ‘So she might be willing to help us then?’ Stuart one asked.

  ‘If it helps her getting back into her warm bed in the palace she would certainly help us, and if I explain what we plan and how we are going to do it, she might even have some ideas that might help us.’ Fergus answered.

  ‘You trust her enough to tell her about our plan and the leprechaun army?’ Stuart one asked worriedly.

  ‘Oh yes and when she knows there is a real chance for us to win she might help us.’ Fergus answered. ‘I should go and see her to let her know what is happening.’

  Stuart one stopped to think about it.

  ‘You go but I want the other group of us to go with you, to show her that we are on your side.’ He answered after a few seconds. ‘Find out what you can about the palace from her and come back but the apprentice must not see you with us.’

  ‘And we certainly don’t want to run into me when I have just been reincarnated, I am very twitchy just after I have been killed.’ The leprechaun answered. 'I am just as likely to turn me into stone and the rest of them as well.'

  Stuart walked over to the group of twos.

  ‘I want you lot to go with Fergus and talk to the grimalkin. When she sees you with Fergus and you are not made of stone, she might just be willing to help. Tell her our plan and how we plan to get out with the other outsiders. Come back with what news you can find out from her and make sure you don’t run into the latest Fergus.’ He ordered.

  They all stood up.

  ‘We will find out what we can and meet you back here before the attack on the apprentice.’ Stuart two replied. 'But we will be careful how we get there, to make sure our secret is kept a secret and we don't end up as statues. I am sure Fergus knows ways to move about this place without anyone seeing us. It is quite a large group.'

  Chapter 8

  The group of twos filed out of the village, following one of the copies of Fergus. They did not go out the way they had come in but by another route, Fergus led them out through the forest into the far left hand corner of the village.

  ‘Where are they off to?’ Ben one asked, when he saw the other group leave.

  ‘They are going to talk to the grimalkin with Fergus, well that copy of Fergus, I don't know which one is the original Fergus, he is probably a stone statue in the apprentice's garden. It turns out that the grimalkin is the wizard’s cat and should be able to tell us in greater detail than the leprechauns, what it is like inside the palace.’ Stuart one answered.

  ‘If she talks to them,’ Ben one retorted, 'and doesn't just go into that cave.'

  ‘According to Fergus she wants her warm bed in the palace that should help them to get her talking to us. Plus the fact that the copy of Fergus is with them and not turning them all to stone, she might well be surprised and interested in what we have to say.’ Stuart one answered.

  ‘I hope so.’ Stevey answered. ‘It would save time knowing exactly where things are in the palace, when we do go in to find the wizard and the book. I for one would like to get in and out as quickly as I could before the Apprentice comes back!’

  ‘How come the apprentice knows how to turn things to stone when it is in my book?’ Simon asked.

  ‘Now that is a good question.’ Toby agreed. ‘If that spell is in our book, how comes he knows.’

  ‘That’s an easy one, it is the punishment spell.’ Another leprechaun answered from nearby. ‘We do have bad leprechauns here from time to time and when we do they were turned to stone as punishment. They are allowed a days rest from being stone every year until their sentence is over. The wizard has a card with the spell on it, just in case he
forgets the spell. He is three hundred years old after all.’

  ‘Do you know the spell then?’ Simon asked.

  ‘We don’t need the spell; we can do it from the age of six, naturally.’ The leprechaun explained. ‘ We don’t need to cast a spell. With just a wave of our arm and it is done.'

  'So who turns them back, when it is time to then?' Simon asked.

  'The wizard and he is on his own when he does it to make sure no one else knows the spell or the prisoners friends might just free them one night.' The leprechaun answered.

  'So if I teach you the other spell I am going against the wizard's wishes?' Simon asked.

  'Yes, but after all, we are the wizard’s army. We are supposed to keep out any invaders and it follows that had we known how to turn our friends back, we could have freed the wizard long before now.’

  ‘Who is likely to invade this place?’ JC asked.

  ‘The trolls, who else? They breed like rabbits, you get one in here and soon you are overrun with them and they are nasty things. They take pleasure in ripping leprechauns to pieces and eating them.’ The leprechaun answered. 'I have lost friends and relatives to trolls. It is not a nice way to go.'

  Jenny covered her mouth in horror, as she did so half the team turned to look at her.

  ‘Well, I didn’t know, did I?’ She protested.

  ‘Is there something we should know about?’ The leprechaun asked.

  ‘We were wondering what this world was like, so we thought of stories from our childhood and now you have goldilocks and the three bears in your kingdom.' Stevey answered.

  'What are they like and what do they do?' The leprechaun asked.

  Stevey went on to explain the story of the Goldilocks and the three bears.

  'So you don't know what happens next or before this Goldilocks goes into the bear's house?' The leprechaun asked.

  'No.' Stevey admitted. 'You also have little red riding hood.’

  He told the leprechaun the story of little red riding hood.

  'So there is a woodcutter as well, the wizard doesn't let anyone cut down his trees, they are his friends.' The leprechaun warned.

  'What about the tree that tried to eat Ben?' Celia asked.

  'There aren't any trees that eat people in here, you must have introduced that when you came in.' the leprechaun answered. 'I can see we have some cleaning up to do when you have gone.'

  'You also have a troll I think.' Jenny added.

  ‘One troll, how long has he been here?’ The leprechaun asked.

  ‘Two days, I think, time is funny in here.’ Stevey answered.

  ‘There will be four of them by now then.’ The leprechaun replied.

  ‘But it is just one troll!’ Jenny argued. ‘Surely you need a lady and a man troll for them to have babies?’

  ‘Not in here lass, one troll for two days means four trolls but it might be useful, if they choose to attack the apprentice, they might keep him busy but we can’t wait too long or we will be overrun by them.’ The leprechaun answered and walked away.

  Jenny looked at the team; none of them said a word.

  ‘I didn’t know, alright.’ She exclaimed. 'Whose bright idea was the tree that eats people anyway? I didn’t do that one.’'

  'That was probably me then, it comes from that supernatural film but I didn't know I made it, did I.' Toby answered. ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘Nothing, we have enough to do now. When we free the wizard he will have an army of leprechauns to sort out the troll invasion, sort out all the things we have introduced and anything the other people brought in.’ Stuart answered. ‘For now we just wait for the four leprechauns to report back and wait for the other squad to find out what they can. Then when the time is right we attack and with luck we can go home soon after that.’

  The team made up of twos walked through the dark forest, into the corner of the village and found a cave. It was just like the entrance to the village they had come into the village through. Fergus led them to the entrance to the cave. They all assumed that like the other cave this was another tunnel.

  'This takes us through the mountain that surrounds our village and comes out behind the wizard’s palace.' Fergus explained. ‘From there we can walk through the forest and keep out of sight. I don’t come this way very often and only then to creep up behind the stone copies of me. It is very odd saying that!’ He added as he walked inside.

  A loud roar and then a scream from Fergus made the team stop dead. When one of Fergus' legs flew out of the cave they took cover, a few minutes later a troll walked out, covered in blood to retrieve the leg. Simon did not hesitate, he just stepped forward and turned the troll to stone.

  'That's torn it,' Ben declared, 'we haven’t got a Fergus with us anymore, do we go back for another one?'

  'No, we go on, we will have to find another Fergus, turn him back and then turn another one back to prove we are here to help, then we will have to explain what is going to happen and that we need there help.' Stuart answered. 'Simon, you and Ben go into the tunnel and make sure there are no more trolls in there. And be careful, you can see what they like doing.'

  Ben turned to look at him as if to say 'be careful, that goes without saying' and they both walked into the tunnel. One walked on the left and one walked on the right so that they could cover each other. They moved slowly and carefully to let their eyes become accustomed to the light. Inside they could hear a noise it was something eating. When they were close enough, they saw another troll and it was eating what was left of Fergus. The two boys exchanged glances and Simon nodded to Ben. Ben nodded an okay and turned the troll to stone. They did not move but waited and listened. When they did not hear any more noise they moved further inside, looking for trolls as they went. They kept going until they came out the other side without seeing another troll.

  'Do you want me to go back and get the others?' Ben asked.

  'No, we'll go together, it didn't look a very nice way to die and I don't want you eaten, even if you would only be a snack.' Simon answered.

  Ben laughed. They started back through the tunnel to make doubly sure there were no trolls hiding in there and finally came out to see the remainder of their group waiting for them.

  'There was one more in there but Ben got it.' Simon announced.

  'Could you see the palace?' Stuart asked.

  'No we couldn't see it but Fergus said we would come out behind it.' Simon answered.

  'Let's go then but keep your eyes open.' Stuart ordered. ‘And we keep as far away from the palace as we are when we come out. The apprentice must not see us.’

  ‘Are we likely to find a Fergus where we are going?’ Toby asked. ‘He did say the only time he came through this way was when he crept up on the apprentice, using copies of himself as cover. The last one he dumped in the swamp.’

  ‘I have no idea but we need a copy of Fergus to show the Grimalkin so we will find one and show him to her!’ Stuart answered.

  ‘Okay,’ Toby answered, ‘but it might have to be the one we turned to stone first and he is well out in the open.’

  ‘Oh shoot, the apprentice didn’t turn him to stone, we did.’ CJ cried. ‘We should have moved him as soon as we were looking for one to turn back.’

  ‘A tricky one but the apprentice might not remember all the Fergus’s he’s turned to stone, on the other hand he may not have actually walked past that place.’ Toby argued.

  ‘Of course he hasn’t, if Fergus appeared he would have the apprentice dead to rights, so we can go and turn that one back.’ Stuart cried.

  They walked through the cave and started walking through the forest. They knew the wizard’s palace was on their left but they did not go toward it. As they walked the came across another copy of Fergus, he was made of stone and laying down. They assumed he was not suitable as an ornament for the apprentice’s garden.

  ‘Does the team think that this one will do,’ Stuart asked, ‘but we should still consider turning the one Simon got back.
’

  The team huddled.

  ‘If he knows what the Fergus knew who was just ripped apart by Jenny’s troll…’ Toby started.

  ‘I do wish you wouldn’t put it like that!’ Jenny complained.

  ‘Then he might already know about it.’ Toby added to finish his question.

  ‘But we should still hold him just in case,’ Simon advised, ‘this one might have been turned to stone a hundred years ago. If so he may not know anything.’

  ‘Better safe than sorry.’ Sherman agreed.

  Do we need a vote on it?’ Stuart asked.

  The answer was no and they decided to change him back. He was the only one they saw, so that made it harder but by holding him and explaining, more than once. In the end the leprechaun accepted them as friends. Now with another copy of Fergus they moved on. He led them through the forest and they traveled quite fast. Later on they reached the cliff at the far end, then they turned left and walked along until they came to the stream. They stopped and drank from the stream before they crossed it, the boys gallantly carrying the girls across. Then they walked on until they came to the edge of the forest, but by now it was getting dark.

  ‘We did well to get this far.’ JC declared.

  ‘Yes we did, I think we stop in the forest tonight but we need some food, two go forward and collect some fruit and two go forward to make sure they are not picked off by predators,’ Stuart ordered, ‘are there any volunteers?’

  Fifteen hands rose up into the air immediately and Stuart selected four to go and get the fruit. The rest moved back into the forest where the trees afforded some cover. Stuart sat down and waited for them to come back.

  ‘I’ll go just in case there is trouble.’ The copy of Fergus said as the others left.

  He followed them to the fruit trees but kept out of sight. For once, there was no sign of the gryphon and another white shoed leprechaun did not appear. They walked back laden with fruit for the others with the leprechaun following.

  ‘We sleep here tonight and see the grimalkin in the morning.’ Stuart ordered.