The Story Traveller (11 page)

Disappointed that once again she had not been to meet Ash, Lucy returned to school on Tuesday with the faint hope her money would be back in her desk. But it wasn't.

She had no recourse but to report this to Miss Lewis. Once again, Lucy didn't mention anyone by name. It was obvious Martha was in a dreadful state and Lucy could see no advantage in her being punished, when Anna would get off completely. Lucy knew there was no way Martha would put the blame on Anna.

The missing money was discussed in class. Miss Lewis asked if anyone knew anything about it and, as usual, there was silence.

‘It's never pleasant when something goes missing,' she told the class. ‘I would ask you to reflect on the matter and, if you've anything to tell me, come and see me during the lunch break.'

Though many had their suspicions, they were only that, and so no one came forward.

‘At least,' thought Lucy, ‘the terrible trio are leaving me alone in school time.'

Now that Lucy was surrounded by friendly faces, her friendship with Frances grew and gave both girls a lot of pleasure. Each knew what it was like to be bullied, but when Lucy heard Frances's story she realised how much worse it could be. Poor Frances had lived on a large housing estate, served by a huge school. She had been bullied by a group of girls and boys who lived on the same estate, so she could never get away from the misery.

The school had done their best to deal with the bullies, but couldn't help once Frances left the school premises. Then the police did what they could, but in the end the family had to move to a new area. Although shy and reserved, Frances had settled in well by the time Lucy joined the school.

But the scars were still there and Lucy realised Frances hadn't got over her fear of being bullied again. Anna, Diane and Martha, with their treatment of Lucy, had made her fears resurface. So Lucy did everything in her power to help Frances and little by little she saw the timid girl emerge from her shell.

Lucy longed to tell her she was a story traveller. She knew Frances would love to hear about her adventures, but the rules forbade it, so Lucy said nothing.

Meanwhile, Anna made up for not being able to get at Lucy in school by increasing the intimidation in out-of-school hours and Lucy found it impossible to leave her mobile on, as she was constantly at the receiving end of abusive or silent ‘phone calls.

Another night, another day passed. Then, Wednesday evening, just as Lucy was drifting off, she heard Speed's whinny.

‘Thank goodness!' Lucy said, as she leapt out of bed, grabbed her cloak and mobile and, once more, crept out of the house.

As Lucy walked towards Speed, she saw what she thought was a mass of glow-worms hovering near her faithful steed. But, as Lucy got closer, she was surprised and delighted to see Twinkle and her basket of little helpers. Lucy quickened her step and then ran up to the fairy godmother.

‘Twinkle! What a surprise! It's lovely to see you.' ‘Ditto!' replied Twinkle with an affectionate hug. ‘I thought I'd pop over with Speed to one, apologise and two, talk to you about your magic pink thingy.'

‘Apologise, whatever for?' Lucy said as she went up and gave Speed a big hug.

‘For the delay to your visit to Ireland. I'm afraid the ILU are not the easiest people to deal with.'

‘ILU?'

‘Irish Leprechaun Union. They aren't a sociable bunch; rarely meet up, so I had difficulty getting permission for you to pop over. Trouble is they've so many story travellers of their own, some of them can't see the benefit of a visiting story traveller.'

‘But they did say I can go?' asked a worried Lucy.

‘Eventually. Had to pull in a few favours though!' As Twinkle talked, the little helpers all jostled and flew round Lucy. They brought her small gifts of flowers and all of them tried desperately to get her attention. ‘Stop it, all of you!' Twinkle said in a firm voice. At once the fairies returned to her basket.

‘What was that all about?' laughed Lucy, who'd constantly been tickled as they'd landed on her head and hands.

‘They all want to come and stay with you. The little helper, who came the other day, has been on and on about the lovely house you have, so they all want to see it.'

Lucy laughed again.

‘It's not mine; it's my little sister's, but if at any time…'

‘No, No!' Twinkle said hastily. ‘That wouldn't be a good idea. I can't do without them, you know.' ‘I understand,' Lucy said with a smile. ‘What did you want to ask me about my mobile?'

‘Mobile? Oh, yes, the pink magic. I've managed to work out how we can send messages to each other, but not how we can speak.' Twinkle looked really pleased with herself and from her cloak pocket brought out an almost identical mobile, except it was blue.

‘Oh, you are clever, Twinkle! Show me!' Lucy was delighted.

‘Well, if you want to send a message address it to “Twinkle – Storyland.” When I want to contact you I will address it to “Lucy – story traveller”. But it must only be used in emergencies. It uses up a great deal of my magic each time and it takes a while for me to replenish my stock. I'll have to work on it a bit more.'

‘Right! I send to “Twinkle – Storyland.” That's it?'

‘Yes.'

Lucy carefully placed her mobile in her pocket and wrapped her cloak round her.

‘Any instructions, Twinkle? Who am I going to meet first?'

‘When you reach Ireland you must go to Mount Leinster. There will be a leprechaun there to meet you and he's to take you to Ash.'

‘How will I know if he's the right one?' Lucy asked.

‘His name is Thomas Murphy and he'll be alone. Unlike fairies, leprechauns are solitary beings. They're rarely seen together and even seeing one is difficult if they don't want to be seen.

‘But it has been arranged. Your host will be old, ugly and have pointed ears. The first trace that he's around could be a swirl of dust, but another sure give away is if you can smell tobacco. They all, without exception, smoke clay pipes, which have the most dreadful smell'

‘I get the feeling he doesn't want to meet me,' Lucy said in a worried tone.

‘Perhaps, perhaps not. Leprechauns have little time for humans. They see them as foolish and greedy, but they also know that story travellers are the people who keep them alive. Once you meet him, keep eye contact until he's agreed to take you to Ash. Then he can't rush off and leave you.'

‘Right, we'd better be off, my Lucy,' Speed said impatiently.

‘Have a good trip, Pumpkin,' Twinkle said, as she helped her on to Speed's back. ‘One last piece of advice, mischievous though they may be, leprechauns must tell the truth; it's a strong law of theirs, so be wise in your choice of questions.'

Lucy just had time to say ‘I will,' and they were off.

They travelled swiftly across England towards the coast and the Irish Sea. As usual with Speed, when he stopped on a beach, he asked Lucy to make sure she was well covered before they were up and away.

As they passed through the Once Upon a Time gate Lucy felt the shudder and the faint taste of potatoes! She wasn't expecting that!

It didn't take long before they both realised they'd chosen the wrong night to travel. The sky was full of loud and angry, ancient Irish gods in some kind of dispute. ‘It's not Halloween is it?' Speed whispered to Lucy.

‘No, why?' ‘That massive giant with the enormous club, that's The Dagda. He seems to be having an argument with The Morrigan and her sister Macha. They usually only meet once a year at Halloween.'

‘Which is The Morrigan?' asked the rather nervous Lucy, though she didn't like the look of any of them.

‘That rather terrifying one over there; she's the Irish goddess of War. Her sister Macha is only a bit less terrifying. It's said they and another sister hang round battlefields in the form of crows and feed on the flesh of dead bodies.'

‘Ugh! That's horrid,' Lucy said, ‘but looking at them I'm not surprised.'

The Dagda seemed really angry. He continually flung his club around and shouted at the sisters, who shouted and spat back at him.

Speed did his best to skirt round them, so they could continue on their journey. Lucy kept her cloak wrapped tightly round her and was glad of their invisibility, when, suddenly, The Dagda took several strides sideways, as he brandished his huge club.

Unfortunately, that was the exact moment Speed attempted to pass and the tip of the club caught his chest a glancing blow. Even though it was only a glancing blow, the weight and strength behind it completely winded the poor horse and Lucy found herself spiralling rapidly downwards, as Speed struggled to get his breath back.

There was little she could do except cling on and whisper gently to the wounded animal. After they'd fallen quite a long way, Speed managed to get back some control, but it was obvious he was in a great deal of pain.

‘Land as soon as you can, Speed dear. We must try and get you some help.'

The exhausted horse looked down and saw a small island beneath them. This gave him the determination to struggle a little further and, with enormous effort and bravery on his part, he managed to land in a green field. He was just relieved his precious cargo was not hurt.

Lucy gently slid off and watched as Speed, with difficulty, stretched out his front legs and lay down. She could see he was in a lot of distress.

Without another thought, Lucy took off her cloak and draped it over the now shivering horse. As soon as her hands let go, Lucy found she and Speed were back to a normal size. The minute cloak hardly covered one of Speed's hooves.

‘Perhaps I should send a message to Twinkle,' she said.

‘Not yet, Lucy my pet. We may need her when we're really in trouble,' Speed managed to say and then he whinnied in pain. To Lucy's amazement his whinny was answered and two horses, a roan and a grey, came trotting up. ‘Ask them where we are,' Lucy said to Speed. ‘Why can't you ask us, yourself?' said one of the horses.

‘You can talk!' Lucy was amazed.

‘What's even more surprising is you can understand us!' said the other. ‘You must be someone special. Are you a horse whisperer?'

‘No,' Speed said proudly. ‘But she is someone special. She's a story traveller!'

The two horses looked suitably impressed.

‘Please…' Lucy said anxiously. ‘My friend is really hurt, we need some help.'

The two gently moved towards the prostrate Speed and looked down at him.

‘You need to speak to the mooinjer veegey,' said the older of the two.

‘The mooinjer veegey?' ‘Themselves: you may know them as the little folk or little people.'

‘Oh!' Lucy jumped up ‘I know where we are. We're on the Isle of Man. I've been here on holiday.'

‘That's right. Now the Ballalonna Bridge is just down the road. If you go and put a piece of silver down and say hallo, I'm sure they'll help you.'

Lucy looked distressed.

‘I haven't got any silver. Does that mean they won't help Speed?'

‘Possibly,' said the roan. ‘You need to catch an Arkan Sonney. If you can find one and catch it you'll find a piece of silver in your pocket.'

‘What does an Arkan Sonney look like?'

‘Like a pig with long hair.'

‘A pig with long hair?' ‘Yes.'

Lucy's heart sank. There was no way she would find something that looked like that. Then the younger horse, the grey, said quietly: ‘If you pick up your cloak and throw it over that bump there, you'll catch one. I've just seen it.' Lucy wasted no time. Her tiny cloak was quickly tossed in the direction of the mound and she leapt forward and gathered it up in a ball, hoping the Arkan Sonney was safely inside.

Lucy knelt in front of Speed and using his body to stop the animal escaping carefully unwrapped her cloak. Inside she found a minute hedgehog curled up in a tight ball.

‘Oh it's a…‘

‘Arkan Sonney, well done!' the roan said. ‘Now look inside your pocket.'

Lucy felt in her apron pocket. There, nestled inside was a shiny silver coin. Gently Lucy took the bundle of hedgehog and let it go.

‘Thank you,' she whispered.

‘Lucy, you'd better put your cloak back on to meet the mooinjer veegey,' Speed rasped. ‘I doubt they'll speak to a full sized human.' Lucy draped the cloak round her shoulders and waited, as she and Speed sunk down to a Storyland size again.

‘Like Alice in Wonderland!' she said.

‘Who?' asked the grey.

‘Oh someone from Storyland, that's all!'

While the roan stayed with Speed, to make sure no passing owl fancied the tiny horse for supper, the grey took Lucy to a five barred gate and showed her which way to find the Fairy Bridge. Lucy was glad the moon was out. Now she was so small the road seemed very long, but eventually she reached Ballalonna Bridge.

Lucy took the silver coin out of her pocket and placed it by the side of the bridge.

‘Good evening, little people. I could do with your help.' Silence.

'Good evening, mooinjer veegey,' she tried again. ‘I really could do with your help.'

This time a tiny person arrived on horseback. He was dressed in a green jacket and a red cap and behind him came a pack of hounds. To Lucy's delight she saw they were all the colours of the rainbow. They reminded her of Twinkle's little helpers.

‘You're small for a human,' the little man said. ‘Why do you need our help? We don't help humans as a rule.'

‘It isn't for me, sir,' she said. ‘It's for my horse, Speed. He was hit by The Dagda's club, as we were on our way to Ireland.'

‘I take it you must be a story traveller,' said the rider, now a little less spitefully, for like the leprechauns, themselves needed story travellers to help keep them alive.