Hunk and Thud (5 page)

Five years! thought Jack with horror. Five years trapped in a mine, digging and shovelling. This was worse than being kitchen boy at Veto Castle! We have to get out of here, he thought.

The break ended, and they began working, switching jobs: taking turns on the pickaxes and the shovelling. As the trucks were pushed out of the mine by other prisoners, also chained, Jack shook his head, curious.

‘I thought we were mining for gold,' he said. ‘But so far all I've seen is rock.'

‘The goblins pick out the gold from the rock in a sorting shed,' said the man with the long beard, whose name was Tom. ‘They don't trust us prisoners to touch the actual gold.'

They worked and worked. Jack wasn't sure how much time had passed, all he knew was that his body ached and – despite all his attempts to turn into Thud – he stayed as small Jack. It looked as if Robin was right: he was never going to turn into Thud again.

Jack was just wondering when they'd be given their next break, when Govo, the goblin leader appeared.

‘Stop work!' he ordered.

Jack and the others gratefully laid down their tools, but Jack was instantly alert for trouble as Govo pointed to him and Big Rock and snapped: ‘Take those two up to the top!'

‘What's going on?' whispered Milo, puzzled.

‘I don't know,' said Jack. ‘But it won't be anything good.'

A load of goblins held on to Big Rock while others unshackled him, and then re-chained him to Jack. Big Rock let out a growl, and Jack saw that he was about to launch an attack.

‘Easy, Big Rock,' he said. ‘Let's see what they want with us first.'

Jack and Big Rock, chained together, shuffled upwards through the tunnels, with the goblin guards prodding them with clubs. Govo led the way.

As they stumbled out of the cave, Jack saw where the sun was in the sky and realised that they'd been working all night, and now it was morning. A nasty cackling laugh made him turn, and he saw the figure of Lord Veto standing there, with his orc, Warg, beside him. Warg was also smiling evilly.

‘Here they are, my Lord!' announced Govo, gesturing at Jack and Big Rock. ‘The other two.'

‘You've done well, Govo!' nodded Veto. ‘No sign of the other troll? The one they call Thud?'

No, unfortunately, thought Jack bitterly.

‘No, my Lord,' said Govo. Then he added triumphantly: ‘But we caught their horse!'

‘Take your hands off me!' raged an angry voice, and Jack and Big Rock saw Robin being dragged towards them by half a dozen goblins.

Lord Veto laughed even louder than when he'd seen Jack and Big Rock.

‘Excellent!' he chortled. ‘That's almost the whole gang of them!'

Robin resisted, shaking his old head and digging his hooves in, but it was no use – he was dragged right up to where Jack and Big Rock stood, chained and helpless.

‘What do you want done with him, my Lord?' asked Govo.

Veto shrugged.

‘He's no use to me, and he doesn't look like he'd be much use in the mine. Too old to pull trucks. I suggest you eat him. It looks like there's some meat on him.'

‘Yes!' yelled one of the goblins holding Robin. ‘Horsemeat is really tasty!'

‘You can't eat him!' shouted Jack, horrified.

Lord Veto turned and sneered at Jack.

‘You're in no position to tell anyone what to do, kitchen boy!' he snarled. He waved his hand towards Robin. ‘In fact, take him and cook him now. I shall join you in a celebratory lunch! It will give me great pleasure to eat one of my enemies!'

And with that he gave another loud laugh, and Warg and the goblins joined in.

‘No!' shouted Big Rock and Jack together, as Robin was dragged away towards a hut that had the word “Kitchen” over the door. Robin struggled, trying to break free, but there were too many goblins holding him, on his back, and hanging onto his mane and tail, stopping him from fighting back.

As he watched his struggling friend being dragged towards the kitchen, Jack felt tears come into his eyes.

Then he realised … they weren't tears. They were … hard. Like transparent shale. And a tingly sensation was starting to go through him.

He also realised that he was no longer looking
up
at Lord Veto, but down at him.

GRRRRRAAAARRRRRR!

Jack had meant to shout out
Stop!
, but instead it came out as a deep slow roaring sound. Everyone turned towards Jack. Or, rather, where Jack had been. Because now, in his place, stood a huge troll who simply broke the chain around his ankles. That chain had been too strong for Jack, the small, thin boy, but for Thud the Wrestling Troll, the chain snapped as if it was paper.

Lord Veto and Warg and Govo and the goblins stared up at Jack, their mouths open, stunned. As did the goblins who had been dragging Robin towards the kitchen.

“Where did that Troll come from?” yelled Lord Veto.

Thud reached down and grabbed Lord Veto up in one huge fist, and Govo, the goblin leader in the other.

‘Help!' yelled Lord Veto in a panic.

Warg leapt into action, throwing himself at Thud and grabbing him round the waist.

Thud kicked out, but Warg hung on grimly.

Big Rock, now free of being chained to Jack, but still shackled, grabbed Warg by the back of the neck and tried to pull him off Thud; but the orc had now got a firm grip of his long arms around Thud's waist. The other goblins had recovered after their initial shock and now joined in, jumping on Big Rock and Thud and climbing up the huge trolls, determined to topple them both by weight of numbers. Thud could feel himself being dragged down as more and more goblins climbed up on to him … this was it … he was being brought down!

The goblins who had climbed up him began to beat him with their clubs and Thud heard a ringing in his head … Then the noise changed from a ringing to what sounded like trumpets blowing, and the sound of hooves.

And then he realised that the noise wasn't inside his head – it was real! It was here!

With a sudden effort, Thud shook off the goblins hanging from his shoulders and head, and saw that a small army was drawing closer to them, soldiers in armour mounted on horseback, with a banner flying at the front of the column: the flag of Princess Ava of Weevil! The sound of trumpets and the clatter of hooves panicked some of the goblins, but a desperate shout from Govo stopped them from running away.

‘We must protect our gold!' yelled Govo.

Meanwhile, Lord Veto had wriggled free from Thud's grip.

‘Run for the carriage, Warg!' he shouted.

Lord Veto and his orc ran as fast as they could towards their purple coach. Thud saw them scramble aboard, and Warg shouted at the two yellow horses, and the coach raced off, throwing up dust.

Big Rock was busy, picking up goblins and banging their heads together and throwing them unconscious on the ground, then picking up another pair and doing the same.

By now the column of mounted soldiers had reached the mine head. The first two to dismount were Sam Dent, the wrestler, and a smaller figure wearing a wrestler's leotard and a mask.

‘Princess Ava!' called Robin.

‘The Masked Avenger!' corrected the small figure.

‘Of course,' Robin apologised. ‘My apologies, your Highness. Er … your Masked Avengerness.'

‘Where's Milo?' asked Sam.

‘In cave,' said Big Rock, pointing to the cave entrance with one hand, while with the other he picked up another goblin, turned him upside down and bashed his head on the ground, knocking him out.

‘He's with the other prisoners!' added Robin.

Sam gestured for some of the soldiers to follow him, and they disappeared into the cave entrance.

The other soldiers, led by the Masked Avenger, joined with Big Rock and Thud in taking on the goblins. While the soldiers used their weapons, spears and clubs, it was the three wrestlers who dominated: Big Rock and Thud using the strength and power of their troll bodies, and the Masked Avenger leaping and cartwheeling like a whirlwind, her leg sweeps knocking goblins down like skittles, and her powerful punches and kicks leaving a trail of unconscious goblins in her wake.

A shout from the caves made them look round, and Thud saw Sam Dent and Milo hurry out, closely followed by Odbbit, Captain Odo and Tom.

‘The other rangers are chaining up the goblins who were underground,' called Sam.

‘And I think we're nearly done here!' called back Robin, as he kicked out with his back legs and knocked another two goblins out cold.

It was Thud who saw Govo. The goblin leader had crept into one of the huts, and was now sneaking out, a large sack over his shoulder. As the goblin leader tried to scuttle away, some small pieces of metal fell out of the sack he was carrying and onto the ground, and lay there glistening. Gold!

Thud let out an angry growl and jumped forward, one of his huge hands grabbing hold of the sack and jerking it back sharply. The sack split open and the gold poured out onto the ground.

‘No!' wailed Govo, and he turned and knelt down, and started to scoop up the fallen gold with his hands.

Oddbit and Captain Odo appeared beside the goblin, grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet.

‘You won't need that where you're going,' snapped Captain Odo. ‘You're going to jail for a very long time.'

Suddenly Thud became aware that the things he was looking at from a high point were getting closer. He was shrinking. The rocky glassiness over his eyes was fading and becoming … clearer.

He looked down at himself.

Normal hands and feet. Normal body, for a small, thin boy.

‘Great stuff, Jack!'

Jack turned and found Milo beaming at him.

‘We did it!' said Milo. ‘We beat the goblins!'

‘Thanks to Thud,' smiled Big Rock. His smile grew even wider as he looked at Jack. ‘Thud great Wrestling Troll.'

It was all over. The battle was won.

Jack and Milo sat on the steps of the caravan and looked at the broken wheel, still waiting to be fixed, propped against a rock.

Big Rock sat on the grass, chewing on little pebbles of sweet granite.

Robin the horse moved slowly around, grazing contentedly on the grass.

Oddbit and Captain Odo and the rest of the Elf and Safety Police Rangers had gone, taking with them Govo and most of the goblins, all chained and shackled to make sure they couldn't escape. The rest of the captured goblins had been put into a prison wagon and been taken to Weevil by the Masked Avenger and Sam Dent and the Weevil army, where they would be made to put their energies into repairing homes and public buildings that needed work done. The gold had been impounded by the rangers and taken away to build much-needed hospitals and schools in poor areas. Everything was good.

‘But Lord Veto got away,' sighed Jack.

‘This time,' nodded Milo. ‘But one day we'll get him and put him where he ought to be. In jail.'