by Jim Eldridge
‘It wouldn’t do much good if he did,’ whispered the Avenger. ‘Ninjas are the fastest creatures ever known. By the time Jack turned into Thud, most of us would already be dead. These guys are fast!’
‘These guys also have excellent hearing,’ snapped the ninja nearest them. ‘Even when you whisper.’
They walked on down the corridor.
‘We’re going to the dungeons,’ said Jack.
‘Yes,’ said the ninja.
The ninja stopped at a door and opened it. ‘Everyone in,’ it said. ‘Except you.’ And it pointed the sharp tip of its sword blade at Jack.
‘No!’ shouted Big Rock. ‘You not kill Jack!’
‘Yes. If you kill him, you’ll have to kill me as well!’ shouted Milo.
Robin sighed.
‘Oh well,’ he said unhappily. ‘I suppose if we’re doing that “One for all, all for one” stuff …’
‘No,’ said Jack. ‘If they were going to kill me, they’d have done it already.’
‘You’re right,’ hissed the ninja. ‘If you behave, you will all stay alive, until our Master tells us what to do with you.’
‘Your Master?’ queried the Avenger. ‘Who’s your Master?’
‘In,’ said the ninja, and gestured with the sword at the door to the empty cell.
All the gang except Jack filed in.
‘It’s going to be a bit crowded in here,’ complained Dunk.
‘Tough,’ said the ninja, and it slammed the door shut then drew the two heavy bolts across on the outside.
‘Stay here and guard,’ the ninja ordered three of its comrades.
As they took up their positions outside the cell door, the head ninja snapped at Jack: ‘This way.’
Flanked by the three remaining ninjas, Jack walked along the corridor to another door, about fifty metres further on. The head ninja unbolted the door and swung it open.
‘In,’ it said.
Jack stepped in, and was shocked to see two figures sitting on a bench, who jumped to their feet as he came in. They were Lord Veto and Warg.
The cell door clanged shut, and Jack heard the bolts slide back into place. He glared at Veto and Warg.
‘So!’ he said. ‘You’re their Master!’
‘Of course I’m not, you idiot!’ raged Lord Veto. ‘If I was, do you think I’d be locked in this cell?’
‘Yes I do,’ said Jack. ‘It’s so you can be safe from the Voyadis.’
‘Those ninjas are the Voyadis!’ stormed Lord Veto. ‘Or, at least, they work for them! They’ve locked me up in here, and they’re going to take terrible revenge on me! They’re going to slice me up and feed me to goblins!’
‘They said they’d slice us both up, my Lord,’ said Warg.
‘You?’ sneered Lord Veto. ‘You don’t count. You’re just an orc! I am Lord Veto!’
‘Soon to be Lord Goblinmeat,’ said Jack sarcastically.
‘But you can change that, Jack,’ said Lord Veto, his face forcing a smile. ‘I know you can turn into that fierce giant troll, Thud. You can turn into him and break us out of here. You can save me, Jack!’
‘Why would I want to save you?’ demanded Jack. ‘You kept me working here in the castle as a slave, right from when I was a tiny boy. You didn’t feed me properly, you didn’t clothe me. I was cold and hungry. I slept in a basket in the kitchen!’
‘A nice warm place to sleep,’ purred Lord Veto.
‘No, it wasn’t!’ shouted Jack. ‘At night the fire went out and it was cold! And then, finally, you just threw me out in the rain without a penny!’
‘I was upset at the time, Jack,’ appealed Lord Veto. ‘I wasn’t myself.’
‘Yes, you were yourself!’ retorted Jack. ‘Cruel. Selfish. Nasty. Unfeeling. That’s what you are!’ And Jack moved closer to Lord Veto and glared at him. ‘So, bearing all that in mind, can you think of one reason why I should lift one finger to save you?’
Lord Veto hesitated, his eyes avoiding Jack’s as he scowled unhappily. Finally he looked Jack in the face and announced firmly: ‘Because I am your grandfather.’
CHAPTER 9
Jack stared at Lord Veto.
It couldn’t be true! This was another lie, a sneaky trick by Lord Veto.
‘No!’ he shouted. ‘That’s not possible!’
‘Yes it is, Jack,’ said Lord Veto. ‘Warg knows the truth, too.’
Jack looked at the orc, who nodded.
‘Warg will say anything you want him to say,’ said Jack.
Lord Veto fell silent for a second, then he asked, ‘Did you find it, Jack?’
‘Find what?’
‘The thing you came back for. Hidden behind that brick by your basket in the kitchen. The ring.’
Jack stared at Veto, shocked. Lord Veto nodded solemnly.
‘I’ve always known it was there. But I let you keep it.’ He gave a sigh. ‘I suppose I’m just an old sentimentalist.’
‘You! Sentimental!’ scoffed Jack. ‘You haven’t any feelings!’
‘I did once, Jack,’ said Lord Veto sadly. ‘I had a daughter called Leonora. She was your mother, and I loved her very much.’
Jack was unable to take his eyes off Lord Veto. Could he be telling the truth? Or was it another of Lord Veto’s ploys?
‘Unfortunately, she fell in love with a troll.’
And then Jack recalled the shield design on the silver ring in his pocket, and what Big Rock had said about it. ‘The troll she fell in love with was a Prince!’ he said.
‘Yes, but a Troll Prince! What use is a Troll Prince? Trolls don’t care about the important things in life, like money, or social position …’
‘What happened to them?’
‘I forbad Leonora to have anything to do with this troll,’ said Veto. ‘I went to see the Troll Prince’s father, the Troll King, and told him it was an unsuitable match. A troll and a human! Unthinkable! He agreed with me. He had other plans for a wife for his son.’
‘But they had me.’
‘Yes,’ growled Lord Veto. ‘Leonora defied me, and the Troll Prince defied his father, and they ran away together. The Troll King disowned his son. But I put out a search for them, determined to bring my daughter back home. It took me a year of searching, but finally my orcs learnt where the couple were living, and that they had a child.’
‘Me,’ said Jack.
‘Yes,’ said Lord Veto. ‘I set out with my orcs to bring my daughter back. She didn’t want to come. When my orcs tried to take her, the Troll Prince …’ Veto hesitated, ‘… he resisted.’
‘You killed him,’ said Jack accusingly. ‘You killed my father!’
‘It was an accident!’ cried Lord Veto. ‘We caught up with them at the top of a very high cliff. There was a struggle and he … fell. Even trolls die when they fall from that height.
‘I brought Leonora and you back here to Veto Castle. I thought she’d be able to start a new life. Forget about the Troll Prince.’ Suddenly Lord Veto looked very sad, and very old. ‘The stupid girl! She told me she was going to run away, so I had to keep her locked up in her room in the castle. I thought if I took you away from her and she didn’t see you, it would help her forget about the Troll Prince. So I gave you to one of the kitchen women to look after.’ He shook his head. ‘Leonora became more and more unhappy. She refused to eat. And …’ Lord Veto’s eyes closed, and Jack thought he could see a tear glinting on his cheek. Veto finished with, ‘… she died.’
‘She died of a broken heart!’ said Jack. ‘You killed her!’
‘I could have given her everything!’ retorted Lord Veto angrily.
‘Except the things she really wanted: the ones she loved.’
‘Love!’ scoffed Lord Veto. ‘What good is love? Does it earn money?’
‘Why did you keep me?’ asked Jack.
‘Because you were my grandson!’
‘But you were cruel to me! You kept me working in your kitchen and sleeping in a basket. You treated your animals better than you
treated me.’
‘Because I hated you!’ grated Veto. ‘Every time I looked at you, I thought of my daughter and what had happened to her, and I blamed you! It was all your fault!’
As Jack glared at Lord Veto he could feel anger rising up inside him like he’d never felt before. Because of this man, his father and mother had died. Then Lord Veto had kept him as a slave for the whole of his young life, and just discarded him into a rainy night without a thought for him. Tears of pain and rage sprang to his eyes, blinding him. No, not tears, something harder, something shale-like; and he was growing, filling the cell, looking down on the upturned and terrified faces of Lord Veto and Warg …
‘GRAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!’
He kicked out, overwhelmed by anger, but he managed to turn away from Lord Veto just in time and his foot smashed into the cell door, sending it crashing out into the corridor.
Thud leapt out of the cell, and as he did so the ninjas on guard sprang at him, brandishing their swords.
CRASH!!! SNAP!
The giant Thud snatched the swords from all three and broke them as if they were matchsticks. Then his huge arm swung in an arc, swatting all three ninjas and sending them sprawling to the ground, unconscious.
The other three ninjas ran towards Thud, swords raised, from their position outside the other cell door. But before they could advance, Thud had rushed to them, his huge fists swinging. The three ninjas slashed at Thud, but their swords shattered on the troll’s rocky body.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The three ninjas crumpled to the ground alongside their fallen comrades as Thud’s fists connected.
‘GRAAAAR!!’
Thud let out another yell of rage and kicked at the door of the other cell. The door buckled, and the huge troll flew into the cell, skidded across the floor and smacked into the opposite wall.
Robin looked at the open doorway, and then at the shrinking figure of Thud, now being replaced by the tiny, frail person of Jack.
‘You could have just pulled the bolts open,’ he complained. ‘That flying door nearly hit me.’
‘Sorry,’ said Jack. ‘But I’ve just had some bad news.’ He looked at them and then said helplessly, ‘Lord Veto’s my grandfather.’
CHAPTER 10
They listened in stunned silence as Jack told them what Lord Veto had said. After he had finished, they carried on looking at Jack in the same stunned silence. It was Blaze who broke the awkward hush.
‘That’s so sad,’ he said.
‘Are you sure he wasn’t lying to you?’ asked Robin. ‘Lord Veto lies all the time.’
‘No,’ said Jack. ‘I knew as he was saying it that it was the truth.’ He hesitated, then said quietly, ‘I could see it in his face. In his eyes. It’s the truth.’
‘You Troll King,’ said Big Rock. And he bent low and bowed to Jack.
‘What?’ asked Dunk.
‘Jack son of Troll Prince. Prince only son of Troll King. Jack heir to Troll Throne.’
‘No!’ said Jack quickly. ‘I’m not a proper troll. I’m only a half-troll!’
‘You King,’ said Big Rock.
‘Wow!’ said the Masked Avenger, staring at Jack with awe. ‘Big Rock’s right.’
‘No!’ repeated Jack, but even more seriously. And he looked at the others and said very firmly: ‘This has got to be a secret between all of us. No one else must know about it.’
Robin looked at Dunk suspiciously.
‘I know I won’t say anything, if that’s what you want …’ Robin began.
‘That’s what I want,’ nodded Jack.
‘… and I’m sure none of the others will. But what about him? He’s an orc! And we know they’re not to be trusted.’
‘I trust him,’ said Jack.
‘And me,’ said Big Rock. ‘He save me.’
‘Not all orcs are sneaky and cheat,’ said Dunk. ‘That’s how Lord Veto ordered us to be when we wrestled for him. Like I told you, I’d begun to think that wasn’t the right way to live. And now I’ve seen how you guys are together … Well, it’s definitely a nicer way to be. And I promise I won’t say anything about your secret. Not until you tell me I can.’ And he looked appealingly at Jack, and added, ‘Because I’d love to tell someone this! It’s so fantastic!’
‘No,’ said Jack again.
‘Okay,’ nodded Dunk. He sighed. ‘I’ll keep my snout shut.’ Then he asked thoughtfully, ‘By the way, has anyone checked if Lord Veto is still here?’
That shook everyone out of their stunned amazement at learning Jack’s story, and they all rushed out of the cell and along the corridor.
The cell where Lord Veto and Warg had been was empty. The corridor was also empty. The ninjas had gone.
‘What happened to the ninjas?’ asked Milo.
‘They failed, so there’s only one course of action they can take,’ said the Avenger.
‘What?’ asked Big Rock.
‘They run away and hide.’ The Avenger shrugged. ‘They’ve failed, so now the Voyadis will be after them.’
‘And they’ll be after Lord Veto,’ said Milo.
‘And they’ll be after Jack,’ added Meenu unhappily.
‘Why?’ asked Robin.
‘Because they’ll work out that someone helped Lord Veto escape. And when they ask around, they’ll find out that we were all here when it happened. And when they discover that the ring has gone from behind that brick in the kitchen …’
‘But how will the Voyadis know that’s anything to do with Jack? How would they even know the ring existed?’ asked Milo.
‘Because the Voyadis know everything,’ said the Avenger. ‘That’s their real power! I bet they even know about Jack being the half-troll grandson of Lord Veto.’
‘What makes you think that?’ asked Jack.
‘Remember what that ninja said to you when he first appeared? “Ask Lord Veto.” Lord Veto must have tried to make a deal with them before they locked him up. He would have told them everything.’
‘So your secret’s out anyway, Jack,’ said Dunk cheerfully. ‘So now I can tell people!’
‘No,’ said the Avenger. ‘The Voyadis will be keeping it to themselves. That’s the way they work. So we’ll all respect what Jack wants and keep it a secret, too.’
‘I wonder if the water’s gone from the tunnel yet,’ said Robin.
‘I’ll check,’ said Blaze. And he turned into a rat and scurried off.
‘And then we can all get out of here,’ said Jack, pleased at the prospect of leaving it all behind him.
‘Yes, Majesty,’ said Big Rock, and he gave a low bow to Jack again.
‘Please stop that, Big Rock,’ said Jack. ‘I’m just Jack. I’m not the Troll King.’
‘No, Majesty,’ said Big Rock.
And he bowed low again.
CHAPTER 11
Jack and Milo waved goodbye to Princess Ava and Meenu as their caravan trundled out through the gates of Veto Castle. The pair were heading back to Weevil.
No one else in the grounds seemed to take any notice of the caravan’s departure. All the others – goblins, elves, orcs and humans – were too busy trying to get as near to the castle as possible, in readiness for when the doors opened for the auction.
‘We ought to be getting on our way as well,’ said Milo, ‘now our business here is done.’
Jack looked towards their caravan, where Big Rock was putting a soft cushion on the driving seat for him.
‘I wish he wouldn’t do that,’ sighed Jack. ‘I can’t convince him I’m not the Troll King.’
‘Technically, you are,’ said Milo.
‘No, I’m not. I’m Jack,’ said Jack.
‘Yes, you are,’ said Robin, joining them. ‘I recognise you. You are the true Troll King …’
‘Oh, don’t you start!’ said Jack grumpily.
‘It was a joke,’ said Robin defensively.
‘And not a very funny one,’ said Jack.
Big Rock joined them.
‘Cushion in place, your Royal Highness,’ he said.
‘Big Rock, I am not –’ began Jack. Then he saw the happy look on the troll’s face and stopped. ‘Thank you, Big Rock,’ he said.
Blaze and Dunk joined them.
‘I said to Dunk he could come with us if he wanted,’ said Blaze.
The others looked at the phoenix in surprise, and then at Dunk. Then Robin nodded and said, ‘Yes, he can. Why not? A Wrestling Troll and a Wrestling Orc on the same team. We can try that out at the next tournament we go to! That would be something to see!’
Dunk shook his head.
‘Thanks for the offer,’ he said. ‘But I’ve decided to stop being a wrestler, or a bodyguard. I’m going back to my parents to work on the family farm.’
Robin stared at Dunk, his mouth dropping open.
‘Farming orcs?’ he said, stunned.
‘Not all orcs are warriors,’ said Dunk. ‘We’re very good at growing things too.’ He gestured towards a group of orcs watching them. ‘I’ll wait here with the other orcs until the auction’s over and see if we get the back pay we’re owed, then I’ll set off for home.’
With that, Dunk headed towards the other orcs, and soon they all had their heads together and were talking animatedly.
‘Right, then, I suppose we can go,’ said Milo. ‘Everyone ready?’
‘Hitch me up,’ said Robin.
As Milo hitched the old horse to the caravan, Big Rock lifted Jack up and placed him gently on the cushion on the driving seat.
‘There, your Majesty,’ he said.
‘Thank you, Big Rock,’ said Jack.
‘Right,’ said Milo. ‘Let’s go!’
Robin gave a heave and the caravan, with Milo and Jack on board, rolled forward, while Big Rock trotted along beside it and Blaze flew overhead.
As it rolled out through the gates of Veto Castle, a figure dressed completely in black appeared from behind a tree, then was joined by another.
‘We have to save our reputation,’ said one of the ninjas.
‘And save our lives,’ said the other. ‘If we capture Lord Veto and bring him to the Voyadis, they might forgive us.’