by Adam Wallace
Lightning snorted, as if to say, ‘Well, watching the house was the most boring thing ever. I wanted to be part of the adventure. As to how I found you, that’s for me to know and you to find out!’
Pete smiled at the look on his horse’s face.
‘Well,’ he said. ‘You know what? I’m really glad you’re here.’
Lightning showed all his teeth in what Pete could only assume was a horsey smile. He hugged Lightning tightly around the neck. When he let go, he was ready for action.
‘You wait here. I have to make sure Tahnee’s okay. Then we go.’
‘Whinny?’
‘No. Just us. We can’t put them through danger any more. It’s up to us, boy. We’re going on alone.’
‘Neigh.’
Pete walked over to Tahnee. She was sleeping peacefully now. Pete felt her forehead. It was dry and cool. The fever had passed. He checked her lower leg. All that was left were faint black lines, the last traces of poison. She was going to be okay. Pete smiled, wanting to stay and see her wake up healthy, but he knew the only way he could leave the group would be to do it now.
He leant in and kissed Tahnee on the forehead then grabbed his pack and ran over to Lightning. He jumped astride his horse and, with one last look at his best human friends in the world, he kicked Lightning into action and they were off.
Tahnee woke first, feeling refreshed, which she was amazed at. Her last memory of the previous day had been of an intense, burning pain through her leg, and nightmares of spiders the size of houses.
She sat up slowly, still unsure as to how well she actually was. She felt fine though, and her hand went up and touched her forehead as she remembered the dream she had been having just before she woke up.
She glanced around the group and saw Smithers sleeping with his head on his pack, his hand wrapped in bandages. Next to him was Molloy, wriggling and squirming and mumbling as he slept. Tahnee laughed under her breath. Her brother could never sit still and he could never sleep still either. Then her laugh stopped as she realised the only other person there was Ashlyn.
There was no Pete.
He was gone.
Tahnee swore under her breath and stood up. She walked over to Molloy and kicked him in the side. He grunted and sat up in an instant, sword drawn. Tahnee pointed to the space where Pete should have been lying. Molloy also swore, although he did it in rhyming slang. He gathered up his pack while Tahnee woke Smithers and Ashlyn.
Once the group was gathered and their gear collected, Molloy said the thing that none of them wanted to believe.
‘He wouldn’t have gone home would he? You know, Billy Pickened out?’
‘Who’s Billy Picken?’
‘I dunno, I made it up. It just rhymes with chicken is all.’
Smithers rolled his eyes. Tahnee punched her brother on the arm.
‘There is no way, Molloy, and you know it,’ she said. ‘For one thing, Pete doesn’t chicken out of anything. Ever. And especially not when his mum’s in trouble. I have never met anyone as brave as him; he’s amazing. He will be going it alone to protect us, because that is the type of incredible person he is.’
She finished speaking and realised her voice had become quite emotional. She also realised the others were staring at her and, even in this moment of seriousness, Molloy couldn’t resist. He danced around his sister.
‘Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh, Tahnee loves Pete, Tahnee loves Pete. Kissy kissy love love—OW!’
He had danced within reach of his sister, who had flicked out a fist and punched him in the stomach. Molloy bent over, winded.
‘Shut up, Molloy,’ Tahnee said, embarrassed. She was glad for her brother’s actions in a way though, because he had both lightened the mood and taken the attention off what she had said. She knew she loved Pete; it hadn’t just been a random thought when she believed she might die with the spiders. She also knew that it scared her that he was out there alone. She also, also knew what she had to do.
‘I’m going after him,’ she said.
‘But we don’t even know which way he’s gone,’ Smithers said. ‘I want to find him too, but how do we know where to go?’
Tahnee smiled.
‘Luckily my doofus brother here, you know, the one still crying because I tapped him in the tummy, luckily he’s the best tracker I know. He’ll be able to pick up Pete’s trail.’
Molloy stood up straight, rubbing his stomach. Tahnee stared straight at him, her look showing she wasn’t playing around any more. She really believed in him. It made Molloy stand even taller.
‘Damn straight!’ he said. ‘Damn straight I’ll find Sweet’s tail. Let’s groove!’
With that he grabbed his pack and started tracking his best friend, the rest of the crew hot on his heels.
‘So then,’ Syra Tanooth said sarcastically from the sky. ‘The great Pete McGee does not need anyone. Do you really think you can defeat the two most evil, brilliant, evil villains in the entire world on your own? Your friends are at my mercy, and they will never be married. I will dispose of them before you can save them. They will be like garbage and I will be the garbage man.’
Pete stopped Lightning and looked up at the sky.
‘Married? What are you …? It matters not. They shall not die, evil one. I shall save them.’
Lightning snorted. Pete nodded.
‘I mean, we shall save them. My mother shall not suffer at the hands of thee.’
‘Mother? What? Ohhhh, that explains a lot. Bob, you dolt, you took the wrong person. It seems our young captive does not have a penchant for old ladies after all. But that is beside the point, and it is even better than I thought. McGee, you must get here soon to challenge me or your mother, yes, your beloved mother, shall be tortured and killed!’
‘NO!’ Pete screamed, losing his composure even though he knew Syra was trying to bait him. ‘Don’t you touch her. Don’t you dare.’
Syra’s well-rehearsed evil laugh boomed down at Pete.
‘I shall touch who I want. Oh, that sounded really bad. Just be here soon, Pete McGee. Your tests are almost over. Only one remains. You must face me and Bob. Bob and I? I don’t know, but you have to defeat us both to save your mother and friend.’
‘I don’t even know where you are,’ Pete said.
‘Oh yes, of course, sorry. 12 Evil Lane, Evilville. You know, take a left at the mountains, follow the river, you’ll be here in half a day. It’s the house surrounded by dark trees and bats.’
‘I’ll be there, and you will regret the day you started this,’ Pete replied. He had almost lapsed into talking like a knight, with the thees and thous and all that, however something had stopped him. He wanted to act like a knight, he always would. He wanted to uphold a knight’s values and integrity, but he wanted to do it as Pete McGee. He wanted to speak and act like Pete McGee in the manner he believed was right, not just because other knights had done things a certain way in the past. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it his way.
‘YAH!’ he cried, spurring Lightning on. Pete McGee’s noble steed whinnied in response and was off, galloping at top speed. Pete leant in low against the horse’s back, as determined as he had ever been. It was time, once again, to show the world how great a man with one arm could be.
Chapter Twenty
Poisonous spikes and all things nice
Syra Tanooth stood staring at Marloynne and Mrs McGee. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. There had to be a better way to use them. Syra wanted to defeat Pete McGee and become known as a great evil person thingy, but at the same time he wasn’t averse to turning things to his advantage a little. Some might call it emotional blackmail. Some may call it being sneaky. Some may call it dirty rotten cheating. Whatever, Syra thought; those people can think what they like. I just want to win.
He had some ideas of how he could weaken Pete physically, but how to do it emotionally?
Bob sluffed his way over with some ideas (sluffed may not have been a word before, but let me te
ll you, when Bob moved, he sluffed. If you watch the movie you’ll get it).
‘Perhaps you could pretend they’re dead. Or perhaps you could string them up over a poisonous pool of acid with poisonous creatures in it and spikes.’
‘Poisonous spikes?’
‘By gum, yes!’
Syra nodded.
‘I like that, Bob. You truly are getting more and more evil every day.’
Bob blushed and looked like a red beanbag.
‘Gosh, Syra, you do say the kindest things.’
‘Well it’s true, Bob. It’s almost beautiful to see how evil you are becoming.’
Bob blushed again and waved Syra away.
‘Oh you.’
‘Okay,’ Syra said, ‘enough with the We Love Bob Admiration Society. Let’s get to setting up the poison and the spikes.’
He turned back to Mrs McGee and Marloynne.
‘Yes. You will be hung up over poison and spikes and you will be very, very scared. Your little boy will not save you this time.’
Mrs McGee stood, Marloynne beside her.
‘You do not know my son,’ she said. ‘He is a great man and a powerful knight. He acts out of love and you will not defeat that.’
‘Oh, but I might. I have poison and spikes.’
With that Syra turned and walked away. Behind him, Marloynne pointed two of his fingers at the roof … for some mysterious reason. Mrs McGee slapped his hand and looked at him, her brave facade fading.
‘I am not sure what will happen, Marloynne. I do not know if Pete will be able to save us this time.’
Marloynne shook his head, his voice strong.
‘Don’t say that. Don’t you doubt Pete. He is incredible, and don’t ever tell him I said this, but when we chose him to be our best man, it’s because that’s what he is: he is the best. He’ll save us, don’t you worry about that. Besides,’ he said, trying to lighten the mood a little, ‘I have to see Ashlyn again. We have to get some use out of that wedding dress we paid a fortune for.’
Mrs McGee smiled despite herself. She was glad for Marloynne’s company; it helped her stay strong. Not for the first time though, she wondered where Pete was and if she would see him soon, if she would see him again at all.
Pete McGee rode Lightning hard, urging him on, determination on his face, in the way he moved, and in his heart. It felt like this truly was going to be his biggest test, and he knew that he would pass it. He would not let his mother down.
‘Jeez,’ Molloy said as he walked ahead of the others. ‘I know he’s somehow riding a horse, but it’s like following an elephant that’s been jumping up and down, then taking a step, then jumping up and down. Sweet is the worst ever at covering up his tracks. This is too easy.’
No one else spoke. They just kept walking, hoping they would catch up to their friend before too long.
Syra Tanooth looked at Bob’s handiwork.
‘You truly are a master craftsman, Bob. I would actually like to nominate myself for President of the We Love Bob Admiration Society. Look at the way those spikes angle. Look at the way those points glisten. Look at those real killer sharks and deadly snakes and flesh eating viruses all living in harmony in the tank of poisonous acid that somehow does not dissolve them. Oh. Well, they are all in harmony except for that flesh-eating virus over there. It seems to be eating one of the sharks. Oh, that looks disgusting.’
‘Yes,’ Bob said, smiling. ‘That is Jeeves. He jolly well is my favourite. Look at him devour that flesh.’
‘You’re scaring me a little and that is good,’ Syra said. ‘I don’t scare easily, so anyone else would have been peeing their little pants right now.’
He checked his crystal ball, which showed Pete McGee getting closer by the second. He would be there soon. Syra smiled.
‘Let us hook up the prisoners!’
It was showdown time.
Chapter Twenty One
It’s showdown time
Pete McGee and Lightning reached the house around the middle of the day. The sun was high in the sky, but it seemed to bounce off something in mid-air, leaving the house and surrounding trees in darkness. As Syra Tanooth had said, bats flew in circles around the house, screeching and flapping in the darkness. If they happened to find the warmth and brightness of the sun they would turn around sharply, as if repelled by its glow.
Unlike the bats, Pete McGee didn’t want to leave the sun. It was warm. It was comforting. It was safe. But, it was also where his mum and Marloynne weren’t, and so he knew he must enter the darkness and face whatever lay inside.
He slid his hand into his jacket pocket and held his tiger eye crystal tight. Then he pulled out his note, the one his mother had written him when he was seven and, although he knew it word for word, he read it one more time.
You are Sir Peter McGee, a brave and noble man, slayer of monsters and righter of wrongs. You are strong in many, many ways. If you believe in yourself, the world will see just how great a man with one arm can be.
A bolt of light blasted out of the darkness, striking the note, turning it to ash in Pete’s hands. Syra shrieked with glee from inside the house, but Pete cried out in anger and shock, falling to his knees. Desperately, he tried to piece the paper back together but it was no use.
The note was gone.
The note Pete had used to gain courage and heart when he needed it most, his connection to his past, had been destroyed, and a flicker of doubt rushed through the young man’s body. He knew that note word for word, and yet not having it as a physical piece of paper seemed to make it less than it had been. How could he do it now? How could he go on without it?
Pete looked at the house. He pictured his mum inside, captured, a prisoner, waiting for him, relying on him. He pictured Marloynne too, family now, an older brother in everything but blood.
His eyes became fierce. The note was gone, but everything it meant to him lived on. It was a symbol … a beautiful, powerful symbol and reminder of the faith his mother had in him, but he didn’t need a symbol to know that. It would always be with him.
Pete thought next of Sir Loinsteak, the amazing magic knight who helped bring out strength and skills Pete had doubted he possessed.
He thought of Sir Mountable, who lay down his life so that Pete could survive; who taught Pete that a knight is not a knight by title alone, that actions will always be more important; who thought of Pete as a son; who had been a man Pete would have been proud to have called his father.
Sir Pete McGee, the brave and noble knight, slowly rose to his feet. The sun felt warm on his back, but it was nothing compared to the warmth he felt inside.
‘Stay here, boy,’ he said to Lightning. ‘I need you to stay safe. I need you to be ready to get the others.
Okay?’
Lightning whinnied and shook his mane, wanting to go with Pete, but knowing he would have to run and find help if anything happened. Pete nodded, and then strode out of the light and into the darkness, knowing he would not be defeated.
‘Not far now,’ Molloy said, his voice full of excitement. They had made excellent time, and he knew that Pete wasn’t far away. The only problem was he had reached the end of the trail. There was no Pete McGee. No more tracks. The trail had been false.
‘Well now, how did he do that?’ Molloy wondered out loud.
‘Oh, great tracker,’ Smithers laughed, bowing low. ‘Where to now?’
Molloy didn’t answer and Smithers stopped his teasing. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. They figured out what it was when the sky darkened and a voice boomed down.
‘Oh, great friends of McGee, it seems you have lost your way. What a sad shame that is.’
‘Myra!’ Molloy cried angrily. ‘How did you do it? What have you done with Pete?’
‘Well what I did was—hey, my name is not Myra! It is Syra! Syra Tanooth, Master of Darkness. I am not a lady. I only wore a dress once, and that was because I was dared to. I am not a Myra!’
The friends all laughed
in spite of the terrible situation they were in.
‘Do not mock me! I am a man, believe me!’
Molloy put on his best girly voice.
‘Oooh la la. I am Myra, Master of Dresses and Lipstick.’
‘NO! I do not wear lipstick, little boy! I wear strong shoes with steel caps and I also wear a long black cape. It is all very manly and tough.’
‘I love to dance around the house. I love to put a tiara in my hair,’ Molloy continued.
‘I’ll tell you one thing; you are so lucky you are not here at 12 Evil Lane in Evilville after taking a left at the mountains, following the river, and finding the house that is surrounded by—oh dear.’
Molloy, Smithers, Tahnee and Ashlyn were sprinting towards what they now knew was their destination. They had finally seen the light.
Pete McGee took a tentative step into the darkness. It was like going into the FOREST OF DEATH again, so he took out the rock Santora had given him and shook it. It glowed brightly, showing Pete the way.
A bat screeched past his ear, making the young knight jump, but he continued on. Another bat flew by, this one brushing his shoulder.
‘Holy flying bats,’ Pete said, walking faster, the house only fifty or so paces away. Suddenly though, the bats were everywhere, their piercing screeches disorientating Pete. He moved through the black cloud, waving the light at them. They weren’t hurting him yet, but he wanted to get through and into the house. At least there he would know how to fight.
A bat squealed and latched onto Pete’s shoulder, digging in its claws. Pete cried out and swung his arm to brush it off, but it held on tight. Swinging his shoulder left and right did no good either, so Pete squished the bat against the tree.
‘Yeah,’ he said when the bat grunted and let go. ‘That’s right, little bat thing, you let go. And don’t come back. I am The Man now.’