The Bands of Evil

An extract

Julioso took Julius,  Aliano Alexander,  Benjio Benjamin.  The boys were so fat they could not struggle.   The dwarves swung the boys in the air.  Then the dwarves did a strange thing.  They never knew themselves whether it was because that morning they were especially dim or because deep down they wanted to save the boys.  But when they swung the boys in the air they flung them in the magic cauldron not the cooking pot.  With loud cries the boys disappeared.

          When Griselda saw what the dwarves had done, she screamed and screamed and screamed.  The noise was so great Boris floated to the top of the highest tree. The dwarves ran and hid.  "Do not think that you can hide from me," bellowed Griselda.  She raised her magic staff: Julioso shot out from behind a water tower which stood to one side of the ruined tower and landed at her feet. She raised her magic staff again: Aliano flew out of a window of an attic in the ruined tower and landed on top of Julioso.  She raised her magic staff the third time: Benjio shot out of a pile of manure and landed on top of Julioso and Aliano.

          The dwarves trembled before Griselda.  She raised her magic staff, uttered an ancient spell and bands of crystal appeared around their necks and wrists; at the front of each band there was a grinning skull.

          "Go to Ramion and recapture my supper.  When you find a boy take a band off your wrist and put it round his neck.  The band will expand to any size.  Rub the skull at the front and then the boy will travel to me.  Once you have returned the boys to my tender care, rub the skull at the front of the band around your necks and you will also return to me.  Do not fail to recapture the boys and then return or I shall come and atomise your cringing bodies."

          Atomise was too hard a word for the dwarves to understand, but they knew it could not be nice to be atomised.  "No, mistress," they stammered as they felt the hard bands around their necks.  "We will not fail."   "Now go."  So saying, Griselda kicked the dwarves into the magic cauldron:  with cries they disappeared.  Griselda went into the tower. As soon as she had gone Scrooey-Looey crept out from behind the bushes, jumped into the magic cauldron and disappeared.

          The boys landed deep within a jungle.  They had returned to their normal size and picking themselves up walked slowly between the trees. They were tired and did not know that Griselda's guards were only just behind.

          They saw flowers in the shape of  trumpets, bent down and picked them.  Soon their arms were full of flowers. A gentle breeze blew and the trumpets began to play a merry tune.  The boys danced and danced until exhausted they lay down on a bank beside a jungle stream and fell asleep, flowers strewn all around.

          The dwarves landed deep within the jungle, one on top of another.  It took a long time to untangle muddled arms and legs.  At last they got up, looked around and found a print from Benjamin's shoe.  "The boys have been here.  We must track them down."

          When Scrooey-Looey landed, he gave a scream of delight: he was in a forest of lettuces and carrots fifty foot high.  "Great!  Great!  Great!  More!  More!  More!" he shouted as he began to eat.

          Scrooey-Looey forgot all about the boys and the need to warn them that the guards were about to hunt them down.  He ate and ate.  He did not see the hairy caterpillar twenty foot long, two foot wide and high, until its jaws began to close around his head.  Then he began to run.

          The dwarves found the boys asleep on the bank beside the jungle stream, flowers growing all around.

          "The flowers are beautiful," sighed Julioso.

          "The boys are beautiful as well,"  sighed Aliano and Benjio.

          The boys awoke, the sound of trumpets still dancing in their minds.  They were not afraid of the dwarves.  They scrambled to their feet and gave each dwarf a flower.

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