Petronella & the Trogot (12 page)

“So it was
Maalox
who started all this?” she asked.

“Indeed it was. He were draweth to myn body. A natural instinct ye could calleth it.
Maalox
be a special cat. Ye knoweth he be much bigger than other cats, he can swelleth up, and that shield he hath on his breast be important. It protecteth him and others.
Maalox
be a Strincas, too. He hath been around for centuries. He were myn cat.”

“Well, I never,” said Petronella. “What else do you know about
Maalox
?”

“Look I be so sorry. I cannat telleth ye now. I must needs be off. I be going back up the hole, and taking the short cut out of here. I must needs returneth to myn horse and the woods. Ye could taketh the short cut with me, too. It would meaneth leaving Percy and then him being trapped at the way out of
Trogot Caves
with his parents and the others there. They cannat getteth out without ye.”

“I will never abandon Percy. I wouldn't even dream of it,” said Petronella.

“I knoweth that. Ye be such a good person.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“Ah, just one more thing. Ye may well findeth that when ye reacheth the way out ye shall be able to leaveth
Trogot Caves
but nat the others. Ye may hath to leave Percy in
Trogot Caves
,
anyway.”

“I have said it once and will say it again: I will NOT leave without him.”

“Ye may hath to,”
The Hooded Horseman
said.

Then he disappeared back up the hole.

 

 

So Petronella and Percy had no choice. They had to see this journey through to the bitter end.
The Hooded Horseman
had left them in the middle of nowhere. They weren't too sure where to go. They got up, dusted themselves down and started wandering not knowing where to go... until all of a sudden they were standing on the edge of the highest face of a cliff you can imagine. And on their right, they could see that a steep pathway had been cut into the rock. It was in a terrible state. Exactly as
The Hooded Horseman
had said.

Both our travellers got down on their hands and knees and started crawling along the pathway. Petronella went first. She could see all the way down. Wobbling a little she nearly lost her balance. Percy was so frightened. What would he do if he lost Petronella? How he loved her. She was risking her life for him.

“Just don't look down, Percy. Concentrate on the next bit of path in front of you all the time, and you'll be OK.”

It wasn't too bad for their hands, but their knees soon got red and sore.

“Petronella, myn knees be bleeding. The skin be scratcheth back.”

“We can't do anything about that now. You have to be brave and keep going. If we stop we'll probably fall to the bottom. Please, Percy, do it for me.” By now Petronella's head and stomach were spinning round and round.

“I shall try to doth that for ye, but I doth nat knoweth how much longer I can keepeth going.”

Petronella started to cry. This must be the most terrible place in the universe. No place for a child.

All at once, she realised what she had to do. Of course. How could she have been so stupid? She needed to get
The Black Box
out. But how could she do that without toppling over the edge of the cliff? Percy wasn't going to last long before giving up. Not with raw bleeding knees. She shouted out to Percy: “We'll stop when I count to three, then I'll say
‘
freeze
'
. Whatever you do, Percy, just don't look down. Keep your gaze on the next bit of pathway. Do you hear?”

“Yes, I heareth ye. I shall doth as ye sayeth.”

“One, two, three... FREEZE.”

For a moment, they were both still as could be. Now Petronella had to reach into her pocket to pull
The Black Box
out.
Lifting her right arm, the one closest to the rock face, she slipped her hand into her pocket.
The Black Box
wasn't there. It must be in the other pocket. She lowered her right arm down again and lifted up her left arm. Tried to get the box out but couldn't find the opening of her pocket. She kept feeling for the slit but just couldn't find it. She was getting quite worked up. Started sweating. Ah, yes, there it was. She'd got hold of the corner of
The Black Box
, and fumbled around nervously to free it. As she was groping about, without warning, she looked down and the sheer height below her, lost her balance... tumbled off the edge.

“PETRONELLA!” Percy called out, his scream echoing loudly all around the cave.

Straight down she shot through the air. She had by now torn
The Black Box
out. It opened, a light shone out of it. Petronella's black skirt swelled up like a parachute. She'd stopped diving through the air and was now floating gently and slowly towards the bottom of the cave. A valley with withered trees. She had landed in
The Valley of the Dead Trees
.

All the way round, at the bottom of the cliff, were shadows fastened to the rock face by chains.

What about Percy? Was he still on all fours on the pathway? She couldn't see him from where she was standing. It was far too high up. “PERCY!” she tried calling but knew too well he couldn't hear her. This place was vast.

 

 

The dead trees were standing up but on wrinkled trunks. And their branches had totally dried out. Twisted twigs made them look as if they were in pain. The valley was full of sad cries, the voices were thin and piercing. Something popped its head out from behind one of the tree trunks - and popped it back again, as Petronella turned around. The same thing happened with another two trees. She rushed to one of those trees but there was nobody behind their trunks. Strange. Then she tried looking behind the other two trees. Nobody there either.

“Are you seeing things again, Petronella?” she said to herself.

“Try look...ing up the tree, you'll see ME,” came a loud harsh squeak.

She threw her head back to see where the shrill cry was coming from. When lo and behold she saw the most ugly creature sitting on one of the branches above her. Petronella jumped backwards with fright.

“Hee... hee... hee... hee...,” a high-pitched wicked laughter. “I'm a
Harpie,
see. And two of my sis...ters are here with me,” it said.

“I am not frightened of you, so you can stop that silly talk at once,” said Petronella, lying.

“I'm a
Harpie
, see. Plus two sis...ters, that makes three.”

Petronella walked on. No good arguing. All of a sudden the woodland track was barred by another
Harpie.
Petronella tried to bolt off in the other direction, the third
Harpie
flew down and stood there cutting Petronella's escape short. So with a
Harpie
above her, one in front of her and one behind her, Petronella was well and truly blocked. All three
Harpies
started flapping about, squawking away. Gigantic birds. To tell the truth, they had the bodies of birds, very long sharp crooked claws. But their faces were of women pale with hunger. Their jaw wide and gaping. Harsh shrills came from their throats.

“Per...cy is on his knees, above the sha...dows changed in...to trees.”

“So Percy is all right, is he?”

“Prob...ab...ly. May-be. Who cares? Not me.”

“Look just stop it, NOW, this minute,” Petronella shouted. “Tell me, are these trees really shadows?”

“Really sha...dows, one, two, three. All my sis...ters come with me. Let's look for food, we're so hun...gry.”

Petronella couldn't see any food anywhere. She now knew enough about
Trogot Caves
to work out that these
Harpies
must be scavengers. Creatures who fed on whatever had died. These trees must have had leaves on them once. Had
The Harpies
pecked at them until they were all bare? How awful was this? The shadows they'd seen in the other caves moved around. But these had to stand dead still for ever. Always being pecked at by
The Harpies
.

Something squeaked. It was a tree close to Petronella. It said: “Go and see. They've flown up to Per...cy.”

She hadn't thought of that. Sure enough,
The Harpies
had said they were hungry. And there's nothing down here for them. So they've flown up to Percy to see if he is dead and... Oh, no, that was simply too terrible to even to think about. She had to do something. But how could she get up there? There was only one thing for it: to use
The Black Box.
She whipped it out of her pocked.
The Black Box
opened and a light shone out of it. Nothing seemed to happen. Not anything she could see anyway.
The Harpies
did not come back. Neither did Percy appear.

But
The Hooded Horseman
had said the box would get her out of trouble in case of danger. Did he mean get HER out of trouble, but NOT anyone else? What was it he'd said exactly? She couldn't remember. Think, Petronella, think. And calm yourself down. What is there here that I can use? Nothing. There is nothing.
The Metal Disc!
What about
The Metal Disc!
What had
The Hooded Horseman
said about
The Metal Disc
? She was in such a panic that she couldn't remember that either. Wasn
'
t it something about making The Strincas do what she wanted? Yes, that's it! Flash it at The Strincas and she can then get them to do whatever.

Now all she had to do was find a Strincas.

“ARE THERE ANY STRINCAS IN HERE,” she shouted at the top of her voice.

No answer.

“ANY STRINCAS AT ALL?” she tried again.

A tree shrieked. “Was that a
‘
yes'?” she asked.

“Yes,” shrieked the tree again.

Petronella moved towards it.

“I be the shadow of one of Lord Fortesque's soldiers,” began the tree. “My name be Maddox.”

“Now Maddox, I need your help,” Petronella flashed
The Metal Disc
at it.
 

“I shall helpeth ye, lady,” Maddox said.

“I want you to tell me as much as you can about how things work here. There is a child up above us stranded on a shaky ledge. His knees are bleeding and he's on his own. Is there any way I can get him down? Or any way I can get up there to help him out.”

“I cannat helpeth ye, lady; I be rooted to the ground.”

“Yes, but surely you can tell me if anyone else can help. Is there a guardian round here?”

“The only guardians that be here be
The Harpies
and they would never helpeth ye. They be pure evil, pecketh at us every day, breaketh twigs off us. It be nat as if they be pecking at real trees. We be shadows in forms of trees. I must needs tell ye we feeleth as much pain now as we didst when we was humans.” Tears came out of its bark.

“Tell me how you think I can get out of here, please,” said Petronella.

“All I can tell ye be that during the earthquake some rocks tumbleth down from the cliff face. This should maketh it easier for ye to climbeth up and getteth to the lad. You must needs reacheth
The Valley of Thieves
first. Then the guardian there shall telleth ye where to goeth. If he be there. He be
The Centaur
. That meaneth he be half horse and half man.”

“Which half is which?” Petronella asked.

“He hath the body of a horse and the head of a man.”

“May I ask why you are here in this terrible place?”

“As I telleth ye, lady; I were one of Lord Fortesque's soldiers and I killeth a lot of peasants who would nat obeyeth myn Lord's orders. I also murdereth a soldier. A mate of myn, if truth be told. The man were a traitor, he would nat killeth any peasants even though he were ordereth to doth so.”

“Was his name Alfie by any chance?”

“That be it. Alfie it were. Yes, it were I that killeth him. That be why I be here now.”

“Well, if it is any interest to you. I know Alfie. He has come back to life and is living where he used to 1,159 years ago. At 49 High Street. He is doing swimmingly. Has pigs, chickens and the last I heard, maybe goats, as well.”

“So he be having a good time while I be trappeth here in
Trogot Caves
.”

“I'm afraid so,” said Petronella. “I'm very grateful for your help. I'm sorry I can't do anything to repay you for that. All I can do is tell you about what
'
s happening in Fort Willow and that's not going to be much use to you down here, is it?”

“No, I suppose you be right.”

“Just another quick question before I set off for
The Valley of Thieves
and
The Centaur
's cave. Did you kill any children?”

“Yes, I didst. I were told to killeth children in front of their mothers.”

“How could you do that? You heartless man! No wonder you are planted here for eternity.”

 

 

Petronella climbed up the fallen rocks until she reached an opening in the cliff. She entered this earthquake crack and snaked her way through it until she came to a cave. It was pitch dark in there and Petronella wished she had a lantern. It was no good, she had to do it. She reached for
The Black Box
. A bright light shone from it. Enough for her to see where she was going. This could not be the right way to go. Instead of entering deeper into the cave, she should be going upwards, surely. She hadn't climbed up far on those rocks. Had
Maddox The Killer
tried to get her trapped? Was he a sweet talker and an evil doer? Had he been telling her lies? No, he can't have done, he'd been under the spell of
The Metal Disc
.