Superpowers (4 page)

‘Move it, Max!' Finlay yelled. ‘Get out of the field!' He ran out into the middle of the field to try and distract the bull but it charged past him – and with a sick feeling Fin realized it had fixed on to Max as an easier target.

Run!
Max thought, suddenly remembering that he didn't have a superpower or even the blanket now. Sprinting for the fence, he glanced over his shoulder; the charging bull was bearing down on him. Its horns were going to get him. He pushed himself even harder, even faster, until he couldn't tell the pounding of his heart from his footfalls as he tore over the springy turf…

Suddenly the thunder of the bull's hooves stopped. Max looked round over his shoulder in surprise. What had happened?

‘Fin!' he gasped, skidding to a halt.

Finlay had seen the bull charging past him towards Max, and at the last moment had sprung into the air, landing perfectly on the bull's back! The bull was now only interested in getting him off. Ignoring the pain in his side, Finlay threw himself forward so that he was sitting just behind the bull's neck on its mighty shoulders.

Chucking its head down, the bull began to kick its back legs up like a bucking bronco in a rodeo. Finlay threw one arm back, and hung on to the bull's neck with his other hand. His knees gripped the bull's shoulders. ‘Wahey!' he
yelled, his eyes alight with a mixture of fear and excitement as the bull plunged around the field, its head down, its hooves kicking upwards, its great muscles bunching and heaving.

Max gazed, open-mouthed. Finlay might be super-agile but he couldn't hang on forever. Max looked back at the fence and an idea came to him. He picked up the torn blanket then ran forward, waving it at the bull. Catching the flash of red, the bull stopped for a second and looked up.

‘Come on! This way!' Max yelled.

‘What are you doing?' Finlay shouted as Max started running towards the fence with the bit of blanket.

Max didn't reply. The idea was still just forming in his head. He looked at the
fence ahead of him. He reckoned that with its head lowered the bull's horns were about the same height as the top slat of the fence. If he could just get it to charge into the fence with its horns lowered then maybe…

There wasn't time to think any more. The bull was galloping after him with Finlay clinging to its back. Hoping desperately that his plan would work, Max raced up to the fence.

He chucked the blanket through the gap between the first and the second slats and dived after it, head first. As he crashed on to the ground on the other side of the fence, he heard Finlay yell in shock and then the fence shook as the bull's nose and muzzle shot between the slats. Its horns pierced into the top
slat, the force of its heavy body driving the pointed tips straight through the sturdy wood and out the other side. Finlay was thrown over the bull's head. He fell, tumbling through the air like an

acrobat, and landed, with a gasp, on both feet without even so much as a wobble. He offered Max his hand, who took it gratefully and scrambled up.

They turned to survey the leading bull. Its muzzle was shoved between the slats and its horns were trapped in the wood of the top slat. It tried backing up but its horns wouldn't come free. It bellowed in frustration and stamped a hoof, however there was nothing it could do. It glared at Max and Finlay. It was caught fast.

‘We've caught it!' Finlay exclaimed. ‘It's stuck! That was a cool idea, Max.'

Max's heart was still pounding. ‘I didn't know if it would work or not. I thought the bull might crash straight through the fence!'

‘But it didn't!' Finlay grinned. ‘Now
that's what I call taking a bull by its horns!'

Max looked at the trapped bull and then at the field where the other bulls were milling around. ‘We might have trapped it, but, Fin, how are we going to get it and the other bulls back to the castle?'

Finlay looked at the bulls. Max had a point. How could they possibly get all twenty bulls back?

Max looked at the bull that was stuck in the fence and frowned. ‘I wish it had a ring through its nose. We could use that to lead it and then maybe the others would follow. It is the lead bull, after all.'

Finlay peered at the bull. ‘It has got holes where a ring should be.'

‘Bet Juno took its ring out to make things harder for us,' Max groaned.

‘Hang on, we might not have a ring,' Finlay said thoughtfully, ‘but we could use something else. We just need something that will go through those holes. Maybe we could use some string or rope or…yes, I know!' He ran over to the picnic basket and pulled off the cord that attached it to Max's bike. ‘This will do! We can put this through the holes in its nose and make a ring from it!'

‘Brilliant idea!' Max exclaimed.

Finlay went up to the bull. It tried to shake its head but the fence held firm. The other bulls were watching. They

didn't look mad any more, just anxious; now they could see their leader was in trouble their furious bellows had faded to wary snorts and low rumbling moos.

Finlay reached forward gingerly. ‘Urgh!

Its nose is all snotty!' he said, looking at the bull's foam-flecked muzzle and nose. ‘I'm going to get bull's bogies on me!'

‘Here, I'll do it!' Max liked animals and didn't mind anything to do with them. He took the strap from Finlay and went up to the bull. Trying not to look too closely at the bull's strange glaring red eyes, he carefully pushed the end of the cord through one of the holes in the bull's nose and out through the other side. He tied the ends in a firm knot so that it formed a ring between the bull's nostrils. As he took hold of the ring, the bull sighed and some of the fire in its eyes seemed to die.

‘You know, I think this might work,' Finlay said. ‘It doesn't look nearly so mad now. I bet we'll be able to lead it.'

‘First, though, we've got to get its horns out from this fence,' Max pointed out. He examined the way the bull's horns were jammed through the wood. He had no idea how they could get them out. ‘It looks almost impossible. We'll need a saw or something.'

‘Or my screwdriver!' Finlay pulled his penknife out from his pocket. The knife bit was small and useless but it had lots of clever gadgets on, including a screwdriver. ‘If we can't take the bull's horns out of the wood, we'll just take the wood with us instead!' Finlay began to unscrew the plank of wood from the fence posts. ‘I'll take it off the fence and the bull can just carry it!'

Max shook his head in wonder.

‘Sometimes you have really cool ideas!'

‘Well, I can't help being naturally brainy,' Finlay said airily as he unscrewed the other side of the plank. ‘Just call me a genius.'

The bull snorted. Slobber and foam flew out of its mouth and nose, covering Finlay's torn T-shirt.

‘Yuk!' Finlay yelled, pulling a face.

Max grinned. ‘You're a snot-covered genius now!'

The bull lifted its head. The plank of wood was still attached to its horns but it was free. Keeping a careful hold on the cord through the bull's nose, Max climbed over the rest of the fence and led the bull through the other bulls towards the gate. ‘Come along, boy.'

Finlay rolled his eyes. ‘He's not a dog, Max!'

‘Now he's stopped trying to kill us, I actually kind of like him.' Max went to pat the bull's nose but the bull tossed its head angrily away. The plank of wood swung round. Max ducked just in time. Finlay grabbed him and stopped him from falling over.

‘OK, less of the Dr Doolittle stuff, Max,' he said grimly as the bull glared at them with its red eyes. ‘Let's just get this lump of beef stew with bogies back to the castle.'

He ran on ahead and opened the gate. The other bulls jostled to one side to let Max and the lead bull past. Finlay watched them. Would they follow?

He needn't have worried. As soon as the lead bull was through the gate, the other bulls walked out tamely too.

‘I think this is going to work!' Finlay shouted in excitement.

Max was holding on to the cord through the bull's nose and watching

warily for any sudden movements. A thought struck him. ‘If we get them all back to the castle, we'll have completed the task!'

‘And then Hercules will be free!' Finlay exclaimed. ‘Let's go!'

They made a strange procession as they walked up the hill, with Max leading the main bull and the other nineteen bulls following. Finlay raced around behind them, making sure all the other bulls kept up. They had to leave their bikes and the picnic basket behind.

‘We'll come back for them later,' Max said. ‘I just hope we don't meet anyone on the way back to the castle.'

Luckily they didn't.

‘We're almost there!' Finlay exclaimed
as the castle came into view. They led the bulls up the hill and on to the bridge that crossed the castle moat. As the leader bull crossed the bridge and reached the gatehouse there was a bright flash of lightning and suddenly all twenty bulls vanished!

‘We've done it!' Finlay exclaimed.

‘We've completed the last task!'

‘Come on!' said Max.

The boys scrambled through the gatehouse. As they emerged into the keep, Finlay felt a warm swirling in his chest. The next second golden light flooded out of him and streamed across the keep towards the tower. It was the superpower returning to Hercules! As it flooded through the tower wall the stones in the wall began to fall.

‘Look, Fin!' Max gasped as the stones smashed to the ground faster and faster.

With a crash, Hercules burst free from the tower!