Free to read but © Copyright David Townsend
Free to read but © Copyright David Townsend
Four Children Change Worlds
You can get stuck for holidays. Craig and Sam were brothers. Crag was oldest. Both their parents worked and couldn’t get leave, so they were sent to their grandmother’s place in Cresstown, way out in the bush. When they arrived, they found that two cousins had also been sent, Angie and Liz. They weren’t sisters, just cousins. Liz was the youngest, she was only eight. The others were older. Craig and Angie were looking forward to going to High School one year soon. The four of them found themselves in a room with two bunk beds. From the window they could see the back yard. There was a big farm tractor shed, and a work shed, and lots of vegetables. Craig and Sam didn’t know the girls very well. They sat on the bottom bunks and talked about their parents and how they had dumped them on a farm for the holidays that afternoon.
Grandma called them to come for tea. “Now, children, you will have to play and look after yourselves a lot. Grandad isn’t very strong, and I run the farm, so I am busy all the time. Angie and Craig, you will make sure the younger ones are looked after. I expect you back in the house before dark every day, and don’t go into the bull’s paddock or near the geese. You can help feed the chooks and find the eggs each morning. I will leave sandwiches for you each day. That’s the best I can manage. I see you each have your own water bottles, so that will be enough. After tea you go to bed. I have to feed grandpa and clean up. Sam, you have to have two pills after breakfast. I will leave the bottles on the table, and you take them yourself.”
Craig laughed. “It’s my job to see that he takes them. One’s Ritalin and the other is a suppressor. If he doesn’t have then he gets really snarky.”
Angie asked, “What’s snarky mean?”
“It’s a combination of sneaky and nasty. He needs the pills. He’s got ADHD.”
“Enough, children. Finish your tea and go to your room,” Grandma said.
The children went to their room. Craig said, “What do you want to do tomorrow?”
“The only thing we can do is explore,” Angie said. “There is bush at the back of the paddock behind the house. We could explore there. Mum said there was a deserted farmhouse in the bush behind this house. We could try that.”
Liz muttered, “They don’t seem to have any books here, so I will have to come with you.”
Sam was surprised, “We will have to do everything together. We are the only kids here. Dad said there are no other people for a long way. This farm is even far from a town. We can’t go and buy things.”
Liz was worried. “Do you think grandma has sweets?”
“Trust you to think of that,” Craig said. There were sweets at that Christmas party we came to once. No harm in hoping.”
They pulled on pyjamas. Angie poked Sam. “Tell us a story. You are supposed to tell stories.”
“O. K., “ Sam said. And he started a story about a detective, which was his favourite.
After breakfast the next morning the children set off to find the deserted farmhouse. There was a track through the bush, so they walked confidently, but after a while the track veered away to the right. The bush was fairly open, so they cut off the track and walked towards the house. The house came into sight eventually, but it was still a long walk to reach it. They stopped and stared at it when it came into view. It was one story but very big. Like lots of old farmhouses there was a veranda all the way round.
Angie said, “There must be dozens of rooms. I don’t think I have seen a house that big.”
“It looks empty,” Craig said. “Let’s go and look.”
“How can you tell?” Liz asked, “There might be people there.”
Craig told her, “Easy to find out. We knock on the door. If someone answers, we just say we are on holiday at the farm and wanted to say hello.”
They received no response from the front door and wandered around the verandas looking in the windows. Ther were no curtains, and all the rooms were empty.
“Let’s get inside,” Angie said. They went back to the front door and tried the handle. To their surprise, it opened. They walked into a big, empty room. “This is amazing,” Sam said. “There is nothing here. I have never been in a room like this.” They wandered from room to room. All were the same. Empty.
“Ther is no furniture, no pictures,” Liz said.
“And no cobwebs or mess,” Sam said. “All the TV I have seen, deserted houses have cobwebs and mess. This is clean. But dusty,” he said, running his finger along a window ledge.
The place makes me feel uncomfortable, “Angie said. “I feel funny inside.”
“I feel really odd, “Sam said. “The house is the wrong shape.”
Craig didn’t look happy. “Sam thinks in shapes. It’s his head. Everything has to be the right shape. And I agree, the place doesn’t feel quite right.”
“Do we just get out and leave it?”
Craig said, “I don’t like leaving things. I want to know. Why don’t we measure it up and see why the shape is wrong? There will be a long tape measure in grandpa’s shed, and we can bring some paper tomorrow. We only have to measure some of the rooms’ walls.” Let’s have lunch and walk back to the farm. If grandpa is well enough we can visit him before tea.”
Next morning they set out for the old farmhouse with all they needed in their backpacks. The sun was shining and there were birds calling in the bush. They saw a wallaby and a lizard with a funny tail as they walked. They reached the house and immediately let Sam sketch the outside walls as Angie and the others measured them.
Sam had made a big outline of the house. “We have to add in the thickness of the walls to the measurements. Let’s go room by room through the house and see what we’ve got.” It took a lot longer than they expected to measure all the rooms and get them down on Sam’s sketch. When he finished, they looked at the sketch. The plan of the house was odd because inside the left of the house there was a big gap in the middle.
“We can’t have made a mistake,” said Sam. “There’s a hidden room right inside the house and we missed it. We will have to go back to these rooms here.” He tapped some rooms on the map, “and check the walls. There must be a door somewhere.”
Angie said, “I am pretty sure I would have noticed any door. The only thing that’s different is in this room.” She pointed to a room near the front. “It has old bookcases lining all the walls. Hey, I’ve seen a film about secret doors in bookcases. Let’s go and try them.” So, they trooped into the front room and looked at the bookcases. They were empty, of course.
“What you do?” Angie asked. And Sam said, “You push, pull and swish from side to side. All of them. And see if one of them opens up.” And so the four began working at the shelves, pulling them, pushing them, twisting them. It didn’t take long to go try every one. Nothing seemed to happen.
“Perhaps there’s a magic word.” Liz said.
“Oh, come on. That’s a bit fairy story,” Craig said. “Look, there’s a tiny space between these shelves. There are more screws, too. Perhaps this is the door. Push all the screws. Hey, hey, hey, here we come. It’s opening.” A doorway made out of bookshelf swung out.
They looked into another dark inner room. There was a dirty skylight which let in a little bit of light. The room looked quite empty. Dull. “I think it’s safe enough, Craig said.
Angie said, “Come on,” and led them into the room. They were stunned when there was a woosh and the door shut behind them.
“I don’t like this at all. This is frightening,” Sam said.
“I know,” said Angie. “I feel very, very funny. It’s just too strange. And something’s going wrong. It’s getting darker and darker. “This is frightening. It’s getting … It’s completely dark. Everybody hold hands. I don’t feel right at all.” Craig, said. “It feels as if the floor is shifting. It shouldn’t be shifting. It’s …. Help! The floor is falling!”
The four woke up In a field in the middle of a flock of sheep. “What on Earth happened?” Craig said. “Where we? We’re not a grandma’s farm, that’s for sure.” And he said, “These aren’t Australian sheep at all. And they seem very tame.”
The children stood up and looked around. There was the big flock of sheep and there was no one else visible at all. The field was on the edge of a big forest. “There’s a bit of a hill over there,” Angie said, “let’s go there and look around.” They walked out of the sheep and climbed the little hill. There was a building in the far distance and a clump of trees close by. They could see the edge of a house sticking out one corner of the trees. And then they heard sobbing, crying. But it wasn’t a child. It was a grown up. They walked towards the trees and the crying. The crying got louder and louder. When I got to the house, they found a woman crying hard. “Angie asked, “What’s the matter?”
The woman said, “The thugs have stolen my two children They’ve taken them away to be slaves or worse.” Craig asked, “What thugs?” The woman said, “There’s a group of men who live in that castle you can see. They take local children. We can’t do anything about it. They’re too strong.”
“Can’t you call the police?” Sam asked.
“What are police?” the woman wanted to know. Craig said, “Hey, what country are we in?”
“Aslucia.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Craig. “What year is it?”
“It’s the third cycle of the star. Year Three hundred and six,” the woman said. “Don’t you know that?”
“It’s 2025 to me.” Craig said, “I think that we’re in a different world.”
The woman sobbed. “I was praying for an army of soldiers to come and help me There’s no one here. You’ve come. You’re children and they will see you and make you slaves as well.”
“No, they won’t.” said Craig.
Angie looked around. “There are no men about. Do the thugs come here often?”
“Oh no.” The woman said. “they only come out to capture a child. We think they have a factory. They make the children work or worse, we think.”
“How many thugs?” Angie asked.
“I have only seen three,” the woman said. “We think they have twenty children or more in that house.”
“I don’t know how we can help,” Craig said. “We can’t fight men.”
“But there is magic,” Angie said. “We were brought here by some sort of magic.”
Sam was looking at the castle in the distance. “We need a drone to look at that.”
Angie said, “In the magic of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there were talking animals. I am going to try . There are magpies over there. They could have look.” She stretched out her arm and let out a shrill whistle.
None of the magpies seemed to take any notice, and she was just about to let out another whistle when an owl landed on her arm. It had big claws and she was glad she was wearing a thick jacket. She said to the owl, “We need to know how many adults and how many children are in the castle.” The owl flew away towards it.
Sam kept watching the owl. “If it comes back, do you think it will talk?”
Craig said, “Keep watching. But even if it comes back, I don’t know how we are going to rescue the children.” He turned to the woman, who looked more frightened than ever. “What are your children’s names?”
“Grath, he is nine, and Lisha, she is eight.”
“Here comes the owl,” Angie said. She put out her arm and the owl landed on it. “How many adults?” she asked. The owl tapped her hand six times. “How many are men?” The owl tapped her hand four times. “How many children?” The owl tapped her hand twenty-one times, and flew off.
“Well, that answers that,” Angie said. “ Owls don’t speak but they understand. This is peculiar.”
“No, it’s magic,” Craig said. “We came here by magic and I think we were brought here by some power. We are supposed to be here and rescue the children, and maybe we have magic powers. Perhaps there are other animals that will help, maybe even people. I am going to try.”
Craig turned and faced the forest beyond the open land where the sheep grazed. He lifted his voice and said, “I command my helpers to show themselves.”
Nothing happened for a minute, and Craig wondered what to do next. Then some big dogs slunk out of the forest. The woman shrieked, “Wolves! Get in the house, fast, or they will eat you.”
Angie grabbed the two younger children and pushed them into the house, but Craig stood his ground as the pack of about fifteen wolves trotted up. When they were close, he held up his hand and said, “Stop.”
The wolves stopped.
“Craig said, “Leader, come to me.” The biggest wolf came forward and lay down at Craig’s feet.
Angie said, “That’s amazing. I could have a helper. I have always wanted a tiger.” She faced the forest and said, “Tiger, come forth.”
Once again they waited, and then there was a movement at the edge of the forest, and a tiger emerged. It was an extra large tiger. It loped up to Angie and lay down at her feet.
“This should be a strong enough force to attack the castle,” Craig said, but Sam was wriggling. “I want one , too.”
“Oh, don’t,” Carig said, “you will do something stupid.”
Sam wasn’t listening. “I command a Tyrannosaurus Rex to help us!”
“That’s ridiculous,” Angie said, “they are extinct.”
But the forest began to shake and trees were pushed down. A huge animal appeared at the edge of the forest. Liz shrieked and ran to hug the woman. A massive dinosaur lumbered towards them.
Sam was excited. “Wow, amazing. A real dinosaur. No one will ever believe this.”
The dinosaur approached. It was at least three metres tall. It stopped at a distance and stood there.
Liz squeaked, “I am not having anything. I want to go home.”
“We can’t,” Angie said, “we have to rescue the children, we start now, come on.” The four set out towards the castle, with the animals following.
They came to the gate of the castle. It was actually a very big door, and it was shut. Angie said to the dinosaur, “Break down the door.”
The dinosaur did better. It leaned against the wall, and a huge chunk containing the door fell to the ground The children and animals rushed inside.
The space inside was bigger than they expected. There was a huge field of vegetables, and the captured children were hoeing and picking vegetables into baskets on their backs. There were three men with sticks walking about, hitting children they thought were too slow.
Everyone was already looking at the fallen wall. The lion roared, and the wolves howled. Out of a door in the wall two women appeared, wearing aprons. The men and women ran for their lives. They were so frightened that they jumped on the rooves of sheds and clambered over the walls. Craig said the wolves, “Hunt them down.”
Sam said, “There is one more man.” He strode over to a doorway, but it opened before he reached it. Out came a very big, tough looking man.
The man shouted, “What are you kids doing here. I’ll have you.” He slapped Sam hard in the face.
There was an explosion of arms and legs and teeth, The man wailed, “He’s bitten me! My ear, my thumb, my arm. Arrgh! He’s kicked me everywhere.” He fell to the ground and was writhing about. Carig said to Angie, “You wanted to know what snarky meant. That was Sam being snarky.”
“Angie asked, “Are all ADHD kids like that?”
“No. It’s very rare, Dad says. Sam is different, but he is really good at some things at school.”
Sam backed off, panting. The lion came and sat on the unhappy man. He stopped being unhappy. He looked up at the lion and was totally terrified.
Craig and Angie and Sam looked around at an astonishing sight. Liz was riding the neck of the dinosaur, surrounded by the freed children. Liz was laughing, “He’s tame. He’s friendly. I’m getting all the children to climb on. We are going for a ride. Come and stroke him. He came and licked me. He is loverly.”
Angie said, “I would never have believed it if someone told me Liz changed so fast, she is actually enjoying herself.”
“That’s great, “ Craig said, “But we have to get these children back to their parents. How are we going to do that?”
“The owl,” Angie said, and she stretched out her arm. The owl settled on it. She said to the owl, “All the parents need to come to collect their children. Invite them, please.”
The owl flew away. Angie said, “Those women came out of a kitchen, Let’s go and look.”
They went into the kitchen. There was horrible food in bowls. “This must be what they fed the children. The adults wouldn’t have eaten this. There is another kitchen through here.”
They walked into a beautiful kitchen with a pantry stuffed with wonderful food. “There is enough for a party,” Craig said. “Let’s get everyone together and have a party as soon as the parents arrive.”
It took nearly a day before all the parents came together. They were so happy to have their children free. Craig and Angie and Sam and Liz organised a massive party.
Angie said, “We can’t have animals here. They are frightening the parents.”
“Right, “ Craig said to the animals, “Thank you for your help. Now go back to where you came from.”
The animals trotted back into the forest.
After the party, Angie said, “I think it’s time we went back to where we came from, too. It’s time. Back to the empty house.”
They held hands and chanted together, “We are going back to the empty house.”
And I am sorry, I can’t tell you whether they got back to the empty house safely, because that is another story.
David Townsend 2025
After the party, Angie said, “I think it’s time we went back to where we came from, too. It’s time. Back to the empty house.”
They held hands and chanted together, “We are going back to the empty house.”
With a thump they landed, not back in the empty house, but in their bedroom in grandma’s house where they had been sent for the holidays. As soon as they landed, they could hear grandma calling, “Tea time. Tea time. Come on, children.”
They muttered to each other, “Don’t say a word about what happened, pretend that we have just been playing.” They couldn’t tell anyone what had happened. They would not be believed.
After tea grandma let them phone their parents. It was an old-fashioned round dial landline. Mobile phones didn’t work out here, and, of course, the children didn’t have mobiles themselves, being too young (parents’ good decision). They didn’t say anything about their adventures to their parents, either.
Next morning Angie said, “Let’s go back to the empty house and see what happens.”
“There might be another dinosaur. That would be fun,” Liz said.
“We don’t know what will happen, but yesterday worked out well.” Angie started packing her backpack.
Craig said, “I think this was meant to happen to us, for us. We are here because of the magic, whatever the magic is. Let’s go.”
They ended up in the deserted farmhouse, went through the empty rooms to the one with the bookshelves. Sam said, “I remember exactly the right screws to push. Here goes.” He pressed his fingers on some screws on the bookshelves, and the secret door swung open.
The four children, Angie, Craig, Sam and Liz walked into the dull, empty room. They stood in the centre and made a little circle, holding hands. They didn’t have to wait. The floor vanished immediately, and they fell.
They found themselves standing in a busy country marketplace. The people were dressed in strange clothes. The men wore heavy leather jackets over rough shirts, and had baggy trousers, all in dark colours. They had beards, and beanie’s that were mostly red or green on their heads which were so long they hung down their backs. The women and children had long clothes draped all around them in dull colours. Everyone looked rather dismal. There were animals wandering around.
Then a man noticed the children and shouted, “Foreigners! Foreigners!” And at once all the crowd were looking at the children and pointing at them, shouting, “Foreigners! Foreigners! Put them in prison!”
The people seized the children and rushed them to a prison cell. The iron door was locked behind them, and they found themselves in a stone cell with nothing but a tiny vent in the ceiling which let in a little light.
Craig said, “The don’t like foreigners.”
Liz said, “Stinky-poo. The smell is awful. How do we get out?”
Sam was looking around. “The cell is an exact square.”
Craig put an arm around him. “Thanks. Now we need some magic. I am going to try it. I command a safe way of escape.”
The four stood huddled together, waiting. Nothing.
They were beginning to worry when a voice said, “Are you coming, or not? This stone is heavy.” They hadn’t noticed a slab of the stone floor near the wall had been raised, and was being held open.
Sam looked and gasped, “You’re an elf!”
The elf glared at him, “What were you expecting; a three horned rhinoceros? You have to escape underground, so you need me. Hurry up. Elf tunnels are made for elves, not hulking great humans, so make yourselves small. Hey, that word’s fun, yourselves has elves in it. Hurry.”
The children hurried into the tunnel in the floor, and the elf dropped the slab back into place. They then followed the elf along the tunnel.
“I always thought elves were only in fairy stories,” Liz said.
“Well,” the elf said,” I grew up thinking humans were only in fairy stories until I had to work with them. You were a surprise. And there are fairies, but don’t play with them. They are all mischievous and a bit dangerous.”
“Where are we going?” Craig asked.
“I am taking you to the Chief Elf. Here we are.”
The tunnel opened into a Great Hall, and seated in the centre at a huge desk was the Chief Elf, who said, “Ah! You’ve arrived. I am sorry you landed in the wrong village. Magic doesn’t always work the right way. We need you because I heard that you could talk to animals. We can’t.”
‘What animals?” Craig asked. “Why do you need us?”
The Chief Elf was worried. “Humans seem to think that all elves are good, but we are just like people. Some are not very good and some are bad. Humans think of us as good elves with Santa Claus, but there is an elf called Vrught. He is very greedy. He wants to own the whole world and stop fun and make us all obey him. The reason we can’t overcome him and his helpers is that he has an army of honey badgers.”
Sam whistled. “I’ve read about them. Wild animals in Africa. They have no fear.”
“That is right,” said the Chief Elf. “They are the size of a solid dog, though with shorter legs, and they love to charge into bees’ hives in the African bush and steal the honey. If you or I did that we would be very, very badly stung, but honey badgers don’t worry. And they also like attacking and eating poisonous snakes. Unfortunately, Vrught has trained twenty of them to be his army, and they are too dangerous for us to attack and recover all the money and things and land that Vrught has stolen. This is where you come in. You can talk to the honey badgers and capture Vrught.”
“If it’s dangerous for you, it will be for us,” Angie said. “It sounds frightening. We need to plan this. If nothing scares the honey badgers it might be risky confronting them head-on. Perhaps we could lure them into a trap with honey.” She turned to the Chief Elf, “Can you get us a lot of honeycomb, dripping with honey?”
“Yes, we can do that, but what do you plan?” The Chief Elf was scratching his beard.
“If you have tunnel which is a dead-end, we could lure the honey-badgers into it and block the entrance. Do you have a way of blocking an entrance?” asked Angie.
“Of course. That’s brilliant. Vrught and his army are on the surface, so we will have to get them down here.” The Chief Elf looked happier.
“We could make a thin trail of honey, so the animals would follow it, and Vrught would surely come behind them. When the honey-badgers are locked up, we and a group of elves can capture Vrught. All the elves helping him will run away.” Craig said.
The Chief was looking even happier. “Right,” he said. “I will send for lots of honey.”
While they waited, Liz said to the Chief Elf, “Why do you have pointy ears?”
The Chief Elf responded, “Why do you have round ones. You think that round ears are normal, and I am different. How do you know that I might be normal, and you are different? Maybe we are all a bit different.” He held up his hand. “How many fingers?”
Liz gasped and said, “Three. Three. And I have four.”
All the elves laughed and waved their hands about. Some of them pulled their shoes and socks off and showed Liz that they had a big toe and three other toes. They got Liz to take her shoes and socks off, and the elves gathered around and looked and laughed.
“You asked for that,” Angie said, “And it was a bit rude to ask.”
Sam was grinning. “It’s like 3D shapes. They look different depending on where you look from. Here comes the honey.”
They made a plan. The honey arrived in ten big bowls. Craig took one bowl and went up to the surface and began laying a trail of honey where some elves thought the honey-badgers would notice. The other three children put bowls of honey in an old passage and came out into the main tunnel to wait for Craig.
Craig came into the tunnel, dripping a trail of honey behind him. He was halfway back when there were tremendous howls and horrible throaty barks. The honey-badgers charged into the passage behind him. Craig threw his honey bowl into the old tunnel and ran towards the three others, but he honey-badgers were very fast. Their big interest was the honey, and they charged at the children, flattened them, running over them and pushing them to the ground. The four children were shocked and unable to get up. The door to the trap tunnel was still open. Sam sat up and shouted, “I command you, SLEEP!” All the honey-badgers dropped to the floor, asleep. The children struggled up and closed the tunnel door.
Angie asked Sam, “Where did you get that from, saying sleep?”
“I saw a hypnosis show once. That’s what the man said, and a lot of people fell asleep.”
“It must be magic,” Craig said, “the honey badgers could not have understood you.”
Liz was crying. “I’m hurt, and my top is torn. Their claws ripped it.” She looked at Sam, “You are bleeding.” The four looked at themselves. They were a mess.
And then Craig said, “Look, that must be Vrught.”
There was a very fat elf wearing a golden robe waddling down the passage towards them.
“You’ve had it,” Sam screamed and flew at Vrught, knocking him to the floor.
The Chief Elf and others rushed up. Craig explained what had happened. The Chief said, “If the honey-badgers are asleep we will cage them and release them back in Africa. Some of you go and rescue Vrught from Sam and lock him up. We had better do something about your wounds and clothing.”
They all returned to the Great Hall. Angie said,” We could use magic to make our clothes the way they were, but I don’t know about healing the scratches. We can’t go back to grandma like this.”
“And you can’t go back in time, either, said the Chief. You can’t have your clothes or your bodies back the way they were. Past is past, even if it just happened. We will have to get the Elder to have things repaired, even if they look the way they did in the past. Hey!” he shouted to an elf. “Ask the Elder to come to me, please. And remember to say, please.” He looked back at the children, “Some of them forget respect for the elderly. We wait.”
It wasn’t long before a little procession arrived, leading a very old elf who was wearing brilliant purple and gold robes. The Elder came to the children, and said, “Ah, some repair work.” He produced a wand from under his cloak, grinned, and zapped them. There was a flash of light. “That was weird,” Craig and Liz screeched. But the children found that their clothes were repaired, and their wounds healed.
The Elder turned to the Chief, and said, “That will be four hundred gold zlots, please.”
The Chief moaned, “Prices go up all the time. Even my chocolate is more expensive. Inflation is everywhere. Very well, I will arrange that.”
Angie said, “Now that this has finished, we should be going home.”
The Chief Elf screwed his face up. “I’m afraid not. There is another problem you can help with. I have just had a disturbing message about Santa Claus.”
Craig said, “We are grown up. We don’t believe in Santa Claus.”
“You didn’t believe in elves this morning. Santa Claus’s real name is Saint Nicholas, and he has a lot of elves helping him. They make toys and gifts, but St. Nicholas also has them trying to persuade rich people to help poor people, which is hard work. A few nasty people don’t like St. Nicholas, and they have kidnapped him. He is being held in an old castle in Norway, deep in a snowy forest.”
Liz’s jaw was hanging open. “They kidnapped Santa Claus!”
‘Yes,” said the Chief, “and you children will have to rescue him. His kidnappers will be watching for police and soldiers, but they won’t be worried if they see children. Most people can’t see elves, but you kids are magic, so you will do the job.”
Angie asked, “How will we get through the snow?”
“Same as here,” said the Chief. “There are tunnels everywhere. We will kit you up with warm clothing and get you there. Good luck in Norway.”
There was a wild whoosh and it felt as if they were being sucked into a whirlpool. The children found themselves all wrapped up in thick hoodies, gloves, and trousers huddled together in a freezing tunnel.
Liz shrieked, “The walls are ice!”
A bundle of fur by the wall that they hadn’t noticed said, “Welcome to Norway.”
Angie, Craig, Sam and Liz experienced a wild whoosh, and it felt as if they were being sucked into a whirlpool. They found themselves all wrapped up in thick hoodies, gloves, and trousers huddled together in a freezing tunnel.
Liz shrieked, “The walls are ice!”
A bundle of fur by the wall that they hadn’t noticed said, “Welcome to Norway.”
Craig said, “Who are you?”
The bundle of fur expanded and stood up. It was an elf in snow gear. “I’m Traith. You are to come with me. We have a room that is warm, under the castle.”
“Are you the Chief here?” Angie asked.
“No, we have a Captain named Mostin. You will meet him and decide what you are doing.” The elf led them a short way to a door, which he opened. They all trooped into a warm room whose walls were covered in maps and photos of the castle. Elves in camouflage gear were seated around a table covered by a floor plan of the castle. It was a war room.
Mostin welcomed them. “Come on in. I don’t know how this is going to work. Santa clause is being held captive in the castle above us. There are five American gangsters, and they have locked Santa Claus in the attic. The gangsters are working for some very nasty rich people who are terribly greedy. They won’t let Santa free unless a lot of countries agree to put an extra tax on toys and Christmas trees and decorations, you know, pay extra money to these nasty rich people. That would mean fewer Christmas presents, for a start. People won’t be able to afford them. But most countries won’t agree to this. It’s blackmail, so we are stuck.
And here is the big problem. This castle was inhabited by witches and warlocks. They have gone now, but our magic doesn’t work, and yours might not, either.”
“Then why are we here?” Angie asked.
“We had an idea,” Mostin said. “We thought that if you went into the castle and distracted the gangsters, we could sneak up the back stairs and free Santa Claus. What could you do to keep the gangsters busy?”
“I don’t know, “ Angie said. “Maybe we could put on an act or something.”
“Carol singing, “Craig said. “It would be a perfect reason for going to the castle and getting invited inside. I’ve seen it on TV from England. We could be a carol singing group. We must know some Christmas carols. What do we know?”
Liz said, “I know ‘Away in a Manger’ and ‘Good King Wenceslas’.”
“We will have to practice so we all know the lyrics. We could go to the front door as a singing group, but how are you elves getting into the back stairs?”
Traith grinned. “We have a hidden door into the dungeons. It will be easy to go up the back stairs. They were servant’s stairs and are out of sight of the hall where the gangsters are spending their days.”
“All right, “ Craig said, “Let’s do it. What we have done in the past has worked, so this will.”
Liz was looking worried. “What if out magic doesn’t work either?”
“Magic got us here,” Craig told her, “We can’t run away. Let’s practice these carols. Elves, can you get us some Christmas gear, so it looks real? Say, a lantern on a pole, some tinsel, warm coats, beanies and gloves. Boots, too, I think.”
“Can do,” Mostin said, “but it will take a while to get that together. You can have a singing practice.”
The children started singing. The elves laughed. Mostin said, “You will have to do better than that or you will frighten them. Sam, perhaps you should just mouth the words and don’t make a sound. The other three can sing loud. It won’t last long. Just sing three carols and get out. They will realise the Santa has escaped and you don’t want to be around then.”
Liz started giggling. “My other grandma used to say that my hair was a mess, and it was elflock – that elves came in the night and tangled my hair. You don’t do that, do you?”
Traith looked annoyed. “Of course not. Shakespeare caused that. It’s supposed to be ‘fairylocks’, they are the mischievous ones. My locks of hair are not tangled, neither are yours.”
A group of elves arrived with the Christmas gear for the children. They made themselves ready, and Mostin said, “We will let you out near the castle door. You go and knock on the door, and as soon as you are inside, we will creep into the dungeon and up the back stairs to free Santa. Good luck!”
The children followed instructions, , reached the castle door, and knocked. It was opened by a big man who was wearing black trousers and a waistcoat over a blue-striped shirt. He looked at the children, and barked,
“What?”
“We are carol singers,” Caig said, “May we please come in and sing to you?”
“We go from place to place to bring Christmas cheer every year, “Angie said.
The gangster didn’t look very impressed. “Oh, all right. Come in,” he said.
The children were led into a big hall. The walls were made of big stones and were high, with lighter patches where pictures and weapons had once been. In the centre was a small table. Four men sat around it, playing cards. One of the men said, “What’s this you’ve brought in, Harry?”
“Kidds are going to sing. Start now.”
Angie took the lead, and they started singing
“In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone.”
The children had nearly finished another two carols when…
One of the men sat up. “Hey, these kids are singing in English with a funny accent. How come they sing in English in the middle of Norway?”
Angie started saying, “We are on a school trip …”
But the man said, “Grab them, there’s something fishy.” All the man rushed the children and seized them, shouting, “Where are you from?”
Sam wriggled free and ran for the stairs. ”Let him go,” Harry said, “He can’t do any harm. “Now, you kids, what do you mean, you are on a school trip. Where are you from?”
Angie said, “We sing in English because you speak English. You wouldn’t have understood if we sang in Norwegian. Just let us sing.”
Meanwhile, Sam had reached the attic, where there was a worried group of elves. Traith said, “Santa is locked up and this door has a combination padlock. It’s a new sort, and we don’t know how to open it. It’s a four number lock and will take years to open.”
Sam looked at it. “Tricky. But lots of people keep reminders of passwords. Look around for a clue.”
An elf said, “On the wall there is a pencil drawing of America and a ship.
“Columbus sailed to America.” Sam said. “He discovered it in 1492 a.d. There is a poem,
‘In fourteen-hundred-and-ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.’
Let’s try that number.”
Sam spun the wheels to 1492. Nothing happened. He thought for a moment. “The other four number way of writing that is 4.373, because you can’t divide 373, it’s a prime number – you can’t divide it. So, we have 4 times 373 equals 1492. Let’s try that.”
Sam dialled in the numbers 4373 and there was a click. The padlock sprang open. Traith gasped, “How did you know that?”
Sam grinned, “I’m a maths’ wizz. Well, actually, I’m ADHD, and probably a bit Autistic as well. Let’s get Santa Claus out.” He pulled the door open.
Sam looked at the man inside. He was wearing a long dark-red robe with a cross hanging on his chest. He did have a beard. Sam said, “You don’t look like Santa Claus.”
The man said, “I haven’t dressed up for Christmas yet. My real name is Saint Nicholas, and long ago I was a Bishop. I have permission to leave Heaven and come to Earth to help people. Now let us get out of here.”
Down below the men were trying to hold the children and see what was happening on the stairs at the same time, as well as quizzing the children.
Harry said, “I don’t like this. Ron and Fred, go upstairs and see what’s happening. Quick.”
Suddenly there was a loud shout from upstairs. “HO, HO, HO, HO! I THINK IT’S TIME TO GO!”
Harry moaned, “Santa Claus has escaped. Run and capture him while I hold the children.” Two more men rushed for the stairs, leaving Harry clutching the three children. It was a mistake.
Liz remembered how Sam had acted once, turned on Harry and bit his thumb very hard. At the same time, Angie, who had been taught to fight if she was taken by a bad man, swung her elbow hard into his middle and the three children escaped to follow the others up the stairs.
The children moved a lot faster than the men and beat them to the top.
“Follow me down the back stairs, quickly,” Mostin said. The children, the elves, and Santa Claus rushed all the way down the back stairs. The were old worn stone steps in a circle and dangerous to run down, and everyone nearly slipped. Liz started lagging behind and started to sob, so Craig turned back, scooped her up, and jumped down the stairs three at a time. but they made it to the bottom, and ran into the dungeon. The gangsters caught up and slammed the dungeon door behind them, and locked it.
The gangsters were laughing to each other. “What idiots, running into a dungeon. Serve them right, we will leave them locked up. Out of the frying-pan into the fire. We are much cleverer than them.”
In the dungeon, as they caught their breath, Mostin opened a secret door, and they all trooped through into the elves’ war room.
“We have to get out of here, “Mostin said, “They will work out what’s happened. I will call the human police, but you won’t be around.”
“We certainly won’t,” said Santa Claus. “I must get back to the North Pole, and you children must get back home. Thank you for helping rescue me. You did well. I will organize it so that your Christmas presents this year are specially good. You can’t take anything away that would tell other people what happened, but I do have something.” He produced some bits of purple cord and tied one around each of the children’s left wrists. “Nobody will notice these, but if you are ever in real trouble, rub the cord and say ‘Saint Nick’ and help will come.
Let us get out into the forest and our magic will work again. I’m going back to the North Pole, and you children go back to grandma. Thank you, elves, for a good job.”
Outside in the forest, the children stood in the snow. They were stunned to find a sled pulled by eight reindeer waiting. Santa hopped aboard, and shouted, “HO, HO, HO! AWAY WE GO!” and the sled shot into the sky.
The children watched with astonishment until he disappeared, and then formed a circle and chanted, “We are going back to grandma.”
They landed in their bedroom, to hear grandma calling, “Tea time, tea time, children.” They walked into the kitchen.
Grandma eyed them with alarm. “You kids look as if you’ve been in a brawl in the snow. Stand by the kitchen fire and warm up (Yes, she had an old-fashioned wood-fire stove.) The chooks were good today, so two eggs each tonight and crumpets and honey to follow.”
While they were getting ready for bed, Liz said, “I wish I could tell my friends what we have done. It’s amazing.”
Angie glared at her. “You can’t. It’s secret between us. Grown-ups and other kids won’t believe it and will make fun of you. It’s just between us.”
“You must not say anything about the purple cord on your wrist, either,” Craig said. “It’s just for real emergencies. If anyone asks, you got it for ADHD Awareness. Sam and the family had one like it once.”
Liz asked, “What’s ADHD again?”
Sam sighed. “Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, which is rubbish because I am attentive all the time, just not where teachers think I should be focused. My brain is a different sort from yours, that’s all.”
Craig grinned at him “More different than most.”
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