Hugo and the Bird

by Jeff Mills

  Chapter 5

  Destruction

  That morning seemed like any other at the Gnome Reserve. The gardener put his fork and spade into his wheelbarrow. Absent-mindedly he started towards the greenhouse to package and label the wildflower seeds that he had gathered from the gardens the day before. He had been working there for twelve years and had become quite oblivious to his surroundings and no longer paid any attention to the five hundred or so Gnomes, Pixies and Elves that peppered the wild garden. He was lost in his thoughts about the defeat of his favourite football club. Plymouth Argyle had lost, three nil to Blackpool and the match was replaying in his mind, especially the massive fumble that Plymouth’s goalkeeper had made by letting in the third goal when, suddenly, the gardener tripped over something and fell head over heels, with the wheelbarrow somehow ending up on top of him. He opened his eyes and saw the points of the prongs of the garden fork about two inches from his face.

  “Phew! That was close,” he said to himself and, pushing away the overturned wheelbarrow, he slowly and painfully got up. He brushed himself down and rubbed his knees and elbows and then looked around to see the cause of his accident. Right in the middle of the path was the overturned wheelbarrow of one of the gnomes.

  “Who in the world left that there? Stupid idiot. I’ll have their…” He did not finish the sentence, for as he looked around, all he could see was a mass of destruction. Many of the concrete gnomes and pixies were on their sides, many with bits and pieces broken off them. Some of the houses had had their roofs torn off and the furniture from inside strewn all over the ground around. Even the little wooden bridge that crossed the stream running through the garden was broken, with its remains making v-shaped ripples in the flowing water. “What in the world’s bin going on `ere?” he thought. “We’ve been vandalised.”

  Not waiting to pick up the overturned wheelbarrow, he limped back to the main office as fast as he could, mumbling to himself and asking who in the world could or would, do such a thing. He reached the office and had difficulty opening the door as his hands were wet, not just from the fall but from sheer exasperation and anger at what had happened.

  The two middle-aged women in the office were drinking tea and the shock of seeing the gardener stumble through the door made one of them spill it over her desk.

  “You silly idiot!” she shouted. “Look what you’ve made me do now. What’s the rush?” Gasping and still rubbing his elbow, he blurted out what had happened and what he had seen. The two women immediately got up from behind their desks, spilling the second cup of tea in the process. The younger of the two looked down at the mess over her desk and swore under her breath, but not wasting any further time, all three rushed out into the garden.

  They had not gone more than a few yards when they stopped and gazed in shock and awe at the sight of the senseless destruction that befell them. None of them spoke but just surveyed the scene in dismay. The elder of the two women put her hand up to her mouth and started to cry. The other woman put her arm around her and they sat down on a bench a few yards away.

  “I’ll go and tell the boss,” the gardener said to no one in particular and, leaving both women cuddling each other on the bench and now crying, he turned and trudged back to the office to give the owner of the Gnome Reserve the bad news.

  Chapter 6

  The Goblin

  Hugo’s head was pounding. It felt as if it had been put in a vice and the handle screwed tightly. He tried to turn over but found that his movements were restricted. All he could remember were the bright colours that streamed across his vision and the weird dreams, or rather nightmares, he had had about dogs, tunnels and witches. Slowly he opened his eyes and tried to rub them but found that his arms were tied to the wall. He moved his head from side to side to see who or what was around him. The pain in his head exploded. He closed his eyes and groaned loudly.

  “Are you okay?” an echoey voice came from beside him. Hugo forced himself to open his eyes again and carefully look to where the voice was coming. At first his vision was blurred and all he could see was a waving purple shape but slowly everything started to clear and the big ears, long beak and bright-green eyes of Bird came into focus.

  “Whatever’s happened?” Hugo whispered.

  “Morgana must have drugged us,” croaked Bird in reply.

  Hugo carefully looked around, trying to avoid any quick movements to prevent the incredible pain still rolling around his head from getting worse. To his left, he could see Emma still asleep, as was Barguff, but both moving around as if dreaming. Hugo tried to nudge Emma with his foot but he could not quite reach, so very quietly he called her name. She stirred but did not wake up.

  “What in the world are we going to do?” Hugo whispered to Bird, but before Bird could reply, a thin voice spoke.

  “You’re going to die!”

  He snapped his head round, to see from where the voice had come, which sent another, more intense, bolt of pain through his brain. He momentarily closed his eyes to absorb the pounding but when he opened them, standing before him was Morgana. She looked straight into his eyes and said deliberately and slowly,

  “You and your meddling friends here killed my best friend and therefore you must also die.”

  For the first time, the feeling of excitement that had gone along with the previous adventures he had had changed, and was replaced by genuine fear. He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. However, he fought to control them; instead he calmly said to his captor,

  “I promise you that we had no intention of hurting your friend, or anyone else for that matter. We were just curious about where Bird had come from and what had happened to make him like he is. We were only trying to help our friend. If Kadavera hadn’t tried to kill us, then she would still be alive.”

  Hugo could no longer control his tears and they flowed freely down his face. He had to sniff his nose, as he could not use his hands to wipe it since they were tied.

  “Ah, that really makes me sad,” said Morgana sarcastically and sniffed her own nose in mockery of Hugo.

  The noise from the talking and sniffing made Emma stir. She gave a low moan and then slowly opened her eyes. She started to mumble something incoherently but, as she regained her focus and saw the witch standing in front of her, she screamed, so loudly that the reverberation made some of the bottles and jars standing on the shelves and table in the cave rattle. The noise was then followed by a cacophony of small whines, screams and shouts from the very back of the cave, which was still shrouded in total darkness.

  “Quiet!” the witch screamed, and within the blink of an eye the noise stopped, except for the echo that bounced up and down the walls of the tunnel and cavern.

  “What was that?” Barguff choked, as he too slowly regained consciousness.

  “Why, it’s our fearless friend. I’m so glad that you have decided to wake and join our little party.” chortled Morgana. “All your friends have been dying to see you again,” and she emphasised the word ‘dying.’ “Now I have the complete set.”

  With this, she burst into a bout of hysterical laughter which could be heard for several minutes, slowly getting quieter as she turned and limped back into the farthermost reaches of the cave.

  When it was felt that she was out of earshot, Barguff, whispering as loudly as he dared, so that he would not attract her attention, called out,

  “Hosper! Hosper! Are you there? Can you hear me?” There was a moment’s delay and then a high-pitched voice came back in a very frightened tone.

  “Barguff, is that you?”

  “Yes it’s me,” Barguff replied. “Who else is there?”

  “Binko and Garbull are with me, trapped inside this big crate.” Quietly two small voices squeaked in unison.

  “Hello Barguff. Please help us.”

  “And I think that nearly everybody else is here too,” Hosper went on, “but we’
re all trapped and can’t get out.”

  “Don’t worry,” whispered Barguff. “I’ll think of something.”

  Relaxing a little, he leant back against the wall, resting against the ropes that bound him, deep in thought.

  During the time that Barguff had been talking with his friends, Bird had been very silent and seemed to be concentrating very hard.

  It was several minutes later that he started to move and seemed to be doing some sort of belly dance. His body appeared to wriggle left and right and at the same time he kept changing from being visible to being invisible. Slowly but surely, he started to shrink in size until at last, he was able to free one wing.

  A few moments later, his second wing was on the point of becoming free when a high-pitched scream was heard from a dark recess in the wall of the cave a few metres beyond them.

  “Mistress! Mistress! They’re escaping!”

  From the depths of the recess emerged a small figure, not as tall as a gnome and much thinner, dressed all in grey. It sprouted a small pair of wings from its back and wore a long, thin, pointed cap, the tip of which flopped over. Hugo was about to ask what it was to anyone listening, when Barguff shouted.

  “You treacherous slug, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “Ha! Got you now, you stupid little gnome. You gnomes think that you are better than us goblins but now you’ll see who’s the best.”

  Still laughing, the goblin lifted a stick he was carrying and pushed it against Bird’s throat to stop him moving and escaping. A scream of rage echoed from the belly of the cave and a hasty shuffling noise became louder as Morgana limped, as fast as she could, to where the stunned children, Barguff, and Bird were held, still tied to the wall.

  Huffing and holding a flickering candle in front of her, she came into view.

  “Thank you, my friend. I knew that you would come in useful,” she said to the goblin sarcastically. “Go and get some more rope.”

  She gave him a sharp kick to speed him on his way. The recipient of her boot cried out in pain, gave the witch an evil backward look and ran into the darkness. She pushed Bird back against the wall and rearranged the ropes around him, making sure that this time they were even tighter. Bird winced in pain as the knots cut deep into his flesh. The goblin returned holding a coil of rope that was even more tar-encrusted than that already holding the prisoners.

  “Is that the best you can do?” screamed the witch and gave the unfortunate creature another kick which sent him rolling across the floor of the cave. “This will have to do for now.”

  After a final pull and tug on the restraints, she picked up her candle and returned to the depths of the cave accompanied by her servant, who was muttering curses at her under its breath.

  Chapter 7

  Chipper

  “Oh! My family, my family! What’s happened to you? Where have you gone?”

  The distraught owner of the Gnome Reserve was wringing her hands as she rushed from path to path, calling out names and looking into the windows of the small cottages which lined the route. The gardener and the two women from the office trailed behind trying to keep up, each wondering what had happened and what to do. The owner finally sat down on a small rickety bench which suddenly creaked and collapsed, sending her sprawling across the grass on her back. Legs and arms flew everywhere, accompanied by loud screams followed by large cries as she finally became still, with only her chest moving rapidly up and down.

  The screaming slowly settled to a gentle but constant sobbing. The other three moved in and carefully, grasping her under the arms, helped her to slowly sit up. The gardener pulled a very dirty handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her to wipe her eyes and nose, which she did. It was not until her tears had cleared that she saw the handkerchief and the condition it was in. Without thinking, she shook it from her hands with a loud “Uhhhhhhhh!” The hanky landed over a metre away but the gardener moved over, picked it up, shook it a few times and then replaced it back in his pocket. The two women looked at each other with disgust but then turned, and with the help of the gardener, helped the owner to her feet.

  “Please call the police,” she mumbled through her tears.

  “Yes mum.” the gardener replied. “Straight ’way.”

  Turning, he shuffled off down the path back to the office and the phone. The two women held onto the owner and gently guided her to another bench, but this time they made sure that it was strong enough to take her weight.

  “Please miss. Do you know where my mummy is?” A very small voice spoke as the three women sat on the bench consoling each other. In unison their heads snapped around to see a very small figure standing behind them. When it saw that it had their attention it repeated,

  “Please miss. Do you know where my mummy is?”

  “Who are you?” one of the women screeched, having never seen a living gnome before, despite having worked at the Gnome Reserve for many years. She was on the day shift and the gnomes normally only came out when it was getting dark, so that they could be sure that there were no humans around. The owner forced a smile and said,

  “Oh hello, Chipper. I am sorry but we don’t know ourselves what has happened.”

  The two office workers looked at each other in absolute amazement. They had always believed, like most humans, that gnomes were fictitious creatures and only existed in children’s fairy stories. They had also thought that the owner of the Gnome Reserve was a little eccentric for admitting to believing in them but now, in front of them, was not only a real live gnome, even though it was much smaller than the concrete ones, but the owner knew it by name and was speaking to it. When they had first heard the voice of the young gnome they had partially got up to turn around but now they both sat down with a bang, totally flabbergasted. The owner was oblivious to the reactions of the other two women and got up, turned, knelt down and then bent forwards to rest on her elbows so that she was at the same level as the little creature.

  “What happened, Chipper? Where’s everyone gone? Who did this damage?”

  “I don’t know,” sobbed the little gnome, becoming tearful himself. “I was playing hide and seek with some of my friends and I hid in that big old log over there.” He pointed to a large tree trunk that had blown down in the winter storms the year before. “I heard a lot of banging and screaming but I thought that it was just my friends trying to frighten me because I’m smaller than they are. After some time, it went quiet and I thought they had got fed up and gone home, but when I wriggled out from inside the log, I found that everyone was gone and my house had been knocked down.”

  Saying this, he let out a tremendous cry and started to sob inconsolably. The owner moved up to him and carefully, with just her finger and thumb, she picked him up, put him on the palm of her hand and gently rocked him backwards and forwards. Slowly the crying calmed down and was replaced by little sniffles.

  “Don’t you worry, my little friend, we’re going to find your mummy and daddy and the nasty people that did this.”

  The little gnome stopped sniffling and cuddled up to her thumb. Carefully, and with a little groan, the woman rose from her knees and stood up. The little gnome looked down and grasped her thumb even tighter, frightened at being so high off the ground.

  The gardener was seen half-walking, half-jogging down the path that led from the office. He reached the three women very out of breath, not noticing the small creature in the palm of the owner’s hand. She put her hand up to her mouth as if to cough but whispered quietly to Chipper that she was going to put him in her apron pocket for protection. She carefully lowered her hand into her pocket and let Chipper jump off and hide in the cloth folds. The gardener was oblivious to what had occurred but it did not go unnoticed by the two assistants, who looked at each other. The owner just winked and put her finger to her lips but making it look like she was going to cough again.

  When the gardene
r had recovered his breath he explained that he had called the police and that they would come, but it might be a little while, as there had been a very large car crash on the A39 and that they had to sort that out first. As an afterthought, he added that they had also told him that they mustn’t touch or disturb anything.

  “Right then,” the elder of the office women announced. “In that case, I think that the best thing that we can do is go back to the office and have a cup of tea, and I think that on this occasion it calls for a spot of medicinal brandy to go with it to calm our nerves.”

  The others agreed, especially the gardener at the mention of some brandy. Slowly and still casting their gazes left and right at the devastation, they made their way back to the office where, within minutes, there stood four, half- empty, steaming cups of tea and an almost empty bottle of brandy. Within the creases of the pocket of the pinafore, Chipper was licking a large sugar cube that the owner had secreted in there to help him recover and settle down.

  Chapter 8

  Puchy to the Rescue

  “Who and what in the world was that?” exclaimed Hugo, as the shock of seeing the goblin had died down and the light from Morgana’s candle had disappeared.

  “That murderous, treacherous, two-faced slug was Bragnar and he’s a low-down, cheating, slimy goblin. He came to the reserve a few weeks ago telling us some hard-luck story about how his friend had died and that he just wanted to get away for a few weeks to recover. I took him in and gave him food and shelter, `cos I felt sorry for him. I should have known that he was up to no good ’cos he kept asking questions about if and when the owner was away and when was the best time to come out of hiding to avoid the humans. He was just scouting around for that pig-faced witch. You wait till I get my hands on him, I’ll…”

  Bird interrupted him and told him to forget his revenge for now as they had to get out of their present predicament, and pretty quickly too, because he thought that Morgana would not take long to come back and deal with them in a way that none of them would like.”