Magic Parcel (6 page)

 “It's Grumblin' Gr...!”

“What's that?” came the thin reedy squeak (or was it a croak?). “What did you say?”

“Er, er, nothing,” Tommy butted in, giving Jimmy a dig in the ribs to remind him to keep his mouth shut. “We, er, beg your worship's pardon, but we are, unfortunately, lost.”

 

Oompah

 

“Well, well,” the toad replied, “and why, may I ask, are you here? Where do you come from, and why didn't you ask our permission to be here in the first place.”

“Well, you see, your honour,” Tommy went on again, assuming the role of spokesman, “we came to, er, visit some friends down in the settlement and ...”

“Where have you
come from
?” the voice insisted this time, as the toad turned a darker shade of green around the neck (what there was of it).

“Well, er, you see your majesty, we ...” Tommy stammered not wanting to tell the truth but at the same time not able to see a way around it.

At that precise moment, a messenger tumbled rather noisily into the chamber, obviously agitated and on some matter of urgency.

“Majesty,” he burst out, after bowing three times in their custom - once to the left, once to the right, and finally to the king.

“Speak,” croaked the toad.

“Majesty, the Sesqui-senti are abroad again,” went on the messenger.

“That's no news,” the toad croaked again. “Raise the drawbridge, and ...”

“But majesty,” the messenger dared to interrupt, “they are
different
this time; stronger and ... and they have no fear of water. They are crossing the outer moat, and will soon be on the island. They are changed; more powerful, evil, and ...” He trailed off to a whisper, “... our defences cannot withstand them.”

“Oh dear, dear,” the toad muttered, rubbing its elongated mouth with an equally long, green fore limb. “I was afraid of that. I must come at once ... supervise ... needed.”

 

Having shot from the throne like a spring pop gun going off, he loped down the hallway, punctuating his words as he went with enormous bounds from those long, green knots of muscle and sinew he called legs. He was out of the hall in a twinkling, leaving one exhausted messenger struggling to keep pace. As he passed the startled door guards he flung back his last order.

“Captain of the Guard,” he shouted, “take ... the ... prisoners ... to ... the guardroom ... I'll deal ... with them ... later “

The Captain of the Guard turned out to be the enormous body which had been gripping both their arms as they stood before the king.

“Well then, now, my lads,” came a deep rumble, “you heard what his majesty said. Come along.”

The two boys turned simultaneously towards the towering guard to see an enormous grin slowly spread across his face, under that huge shiny helmet.

“PC...” Jimmy started but clapped his own warning hand across his mouth before he had had time to say any more. The grin continued to grow until it threatened to swallow the whole of his lower face. Added to this, a distinct twinkle bounced from eye to eye; a twinkle it seemed to Jimmy, which recognised what he had begun to say.

“This way then,” went on the guard. “We'll have to wait down here until ...”

“Attention, Captain Mortifer!” a voice cut in as they wound their way downwards along a twisting corridor. That voice stopped the guard in his tracks and jerked his whole body to stiff attention, and for the first time in an age the brothers were released and able to walk normally. But walk they didn't, for the voice had the same effect, or nearly the same effect, on the boys. It was quiet but authoritative and firm, and as they all stood awaiting instruction, the slight figure of a young boy of about eleven stepped out from behind an enormous oaken chest.

“Highness!” Mortifer said, clicking his heels in salute, and stiffening even more rigidly to attention.

“I will take personal responsibility for the prisoners,” the boy ordered. “You may go about your business.”

“Highness!” the guard answered, saluting once again, turning sharply on his highly polished shoes, and stepping off down a smaller passageway to the left.

During this time the brothers had neither moved nor spoken, but Tommy, with the disappearance of the guard, had found his usual self and began to speak.

“Who are ...?” he began.

“Please have the goodness to come this way,” the boy interrupted.

“I was going to say ‘Who are you and where are we?' but you rudely interrupted me,” Tommy answered with a snort. If there was one thing he couldn't tolerate, it was rudeness.

“I beg your ...” the boy started with mouth agape, but when he saw the earnest look of annoyance on Tommy's face, mirrored in the smaller one of his brother, he changed his mind.

“I'm most terribly sorry,” he went on instead. “It was very rude of me not to introduce myself.”

The brothers chorused a ‘Don't mention it' and waved him to continue.

“My name is Dominic,” the boy went on, “and this is the castle of Oompah, King of the Western Lands of Omni.”

“And ... and ...” giggled Jimmy, “was that ... that
toad
the
King
?”

“Yes, it was,” Dominic answered, taking his turn now to be somewhat affronted by Jimmy's rudeness. “Yes, that is my father.”

That unexpected piece of news stunned the brothers into silence, and covered Jimmy in embarrassment. He thrust his hands deep into his pockets and stared at his shuffling feet whilst muttering an uncomfortable apology.

“Don't mention it,” Dominic replied. “You weren't to know. Forget it, and let's shake on it.”

They all shook hands and sat down on a nearby bench to talk.

“He wasn't always like that,” the prince said slowly, “like a toad, I mean.”

“I was beginning to wonder how you managed to have a ... I mean, how a ...” Jimmy stammered.

“Toad came to have a human son?” Dominic finished off his question. “He was human form originally, but that wicked magician Seth changed him into what he is because father wouldn't consent to Seth having my elder sister, Olwyn, as his wife. And so a toad he must remain until ... well, I don't know when.”

“Coo,” was all that Jimmy could say. All this talk of magicians, magic spells and wicked people had quite taken away his breath. Tommy was also at a bit of a loss, but he was older and had been here before, so he was the first to speak.

“Where do we go from here then?” he asked. “I don't know the way out from hereabouts. Tarna never brought me around this ...”

“Tarna?” Dominic asked a little puzzled. “Do you know Tarna?”

“Why, yes, we ...” Tommy began again but was cut short by the prince.

“Well, indeed,” he went on, “you
are
welcome! Tarna, you see, is not only a great friend of mine, he is my brother.”

“But, but ...” stammered Tommy, “how can he be your brother when ... you're a prince and live in a palace like this. He's only a peasant boy and lives in the Settlement over by the river. Surely ...”

“He
chose
to live there,” Dominic answered quite plainly. “Didn't like the life here; always been the wild member of my family. He's been a constant source of disappointment to father.”

 

There was silence for a short time as Dominic seemed to have fallen into deep thought. Suddenly, he jerked himself out of his reverie as Jimmy began to shuffle around in an effort to stop his empty stomach from rumbling.

“You must accept my humblest apologies for my lack of manners,” Dominic said again. “My own problems have made me cast aside my first duties to my visitors and guests. You must be in great need of rest and refreshment after your trials today. Would a picnic of bread, honey, cheese and the best of last seasons crop of apples be of any use to you?”

Their chorused “Yes please!” and “Thank you very much” gave Dominic the answer he needed to lead them off to the kitchens to collect a large basket to take out to one of the inner garden areas.

As they emerged from the relative dimness of the castle into the sheltered garden, Tommy and Jimmy were dazzled by the brilliance of the afternoon sun, which was unaffected by the darkness it had witnessed earlier. The evocatively beautiful song of the lark in the upper airs carried their minds back to the fields and woods in spring and summer around their own home, and they, for the first time, felt lonely, frightened, and began to wish they were back.

 

The manicured and sculptured lawns could be the ideal pages for a book upon which the poetry of jasmine, veronica, weigela and lavender was written, all set out in the perfect splendour and isolation of their individual island beds and borders. There were three rustic bench seats perfectly placed to take the occasional picnic. The one they were aiming for was sheltered by an aromatic bower of arching yew which was threaded through and held together by dozens of crimson rambling roses.

“This is our private garden,” Dominic broke the silence as they set to the inviting fare in the basket. “I come here often to think and just to be alone. It is a place I used to share occasionally with Tarna.”

Jimmy's puzzled look prompted Tommy to describe Dominic's brother to him, and to run over a few of the adventures they had shared the last time he was in Omni.

“We became almost like brothers,” Tommy explained to Jimmy. “But our meeting, the first time I came to this place, was very different from your experience so far. He seemed to be waiting for me, as if he was expecting me to be there.”

Tommy continued his tales about his great friend Tarna with such enthusiasm and feeling that Jimmy felt he had known him all his life. He was sure he would know him if they were ever to meet. Dominic's feelings were mixed, however. Tarna had never shared with him the sorts of adventures Tommy described. This allowed a mixture of wonder and envy to become intertwined within him.

Silence again descended to be punctured only by the crunching of teeth against apple. In fact, the silence had grown to be so complete that even the thousands of dancing and fiddling midges had been stilled, and every sound from the three companions dropped through the air, ringing as they fell. At that moment, Jimmy realised that, although his brother was speaking, he could hear nothing of what he was saying. It was as if a deadening blanket was cutting off all sound, stifling their voices before words were issued from their lips.

At the same time, Jimmy and Tommy were gripped by a feeling of sudden nausea so violent that they had neither choice nor control of the sickness, which surged from their bodies. Their heads began to swim alarmingly, making them unable to stand, whilst cold, clammy hands fastened themselves over their mouths and around their bodies, binding them as tightly as any stout rope. Before total unconsciousness overtook them, Tommy glimpsed a sea of the same bodies who had terrified him before.

The Sesqui-senti were abroad, and they were taken prisoner.

 

Their unconsciousness lasted but a short while - a brief respite of blessed relief from the nausea they had experienced before. The Senti jostled, prodded and poked their minds and bodies once more to wakeful reality, which was far worse than the dreams they might have had on the blackest of nights. Their journey, always on foot, was an unpleasant if uneventful one, covered in the main in silence, except for the crackling rattle of the Sentis' shambling gait and the pad of their shoeless feet on the soft turf.

Dusk had fallen prematurely, reducing all around to a whispering world of half-light and uncertainty. To the north the opposing cloud battalions of two warring heavenly armies vied with each other in glowering combat, each throwing towering forks of lightening, West against East. Like two great powers, mind against mind, they strove to prove their mastery, but neither gained the upper hand; each retreating to rejoin battle at some later time.

Suddenly, it was before them!