The eerie sound of the trees closing when we were through was like a sinking-ship sort of feeling. Not that I’d ever been on a sinking ship, but I’m sure it gives out the same sort of panicky, whooshing sound.
Beyond the trees we came to a rough track. I knew then that we really were back in the fourteen hundreds. We turned on our bicycle lamps even though the sky wasn’t completely dark because of the full moon. Mister Lewis went ahead on the track to warn us of any holes or stones.
‘Is it much farther?’ moaned Shane. ‘My bum is numb.’
‘Never mind that. Just remember that you two boys are minstrels,’ put in Mister Lewis. ‘Do you have songs that you can sing?’
Shane and I glanced at one another. ‘Of course we have,’ said Shane. ‘Loads of songs. No worries.’
No worries? At school Shane and I sang so badly that Miss Lee said we sounded like two over-excited geese. She insisted that we mime the songs whenever a school inspector or some posh bores came to visit. And now we were to sing to hairy soldiers who were about to go to battle!
So we tried a few bars of modern songs that scared night creatures into the trees
‘Whoa!’ yelled Ossie as he fell off my carrier and rolled himself into a ball on the ground screaming with laughter. ‘If that’s the sound of singing in your time, Shane, and if girls look like you, Milo, then I truly want to stay in this century!’
‘We weren’t that bad,’ Shane muttered stroppily.
‘Yes you were,’ laughed Ossie, brushing his tunic and hopping back onto my carrier.
‘I’ve heard worse,’ said Mister Lewis, taking his mittened hands from his ears. ‘However, I think the cocoa has gone to my head. It’s been so many years since I’ve had a rich beverage. I need to rest a while. Don’t worry. I’ll catch up with you chaps shortly.’
Worry? Of course I worried. He was the only weapon we had on this creepy road hundreds of years from home. Anything could happen.
Sure enough, after about a mile, our lamps picked up two guys with bony legs ahead of us.
‘Let’s go,’ Shane said, getting up speed and forging ahead.
The two men turned around. At first they looked scared, but when they saw we were kids, they stood out and put up their hands.
I almost fell of my bike when our lamps shone on two thin faces that had the mean looks of Wedge and Crunch!
‘Yo, who goes there?’ said the thinner one with a sneer. ‘Are you young people out alone on this desolate pathway?’
‘What wonderful contraptions are these?’ interrupted the other one, standing right in front of Shane’s bike.
‘I think WE should be the ones to have such riches from these exotic foreigners,’ said the Wedge-faced one. He put his ugly warty face up to mine. ‘What do you think, my pretty damsel?’ he asked, laughing, and went to join his mate who was pulling Shane off his bike. Whew, I have to admit that for one short, cowardly moment I was glad I was a girl.
I looked around, desperately wishing to hear Mister Lewis shout and float along to scare them.
‘This is going to be nasty,’ I muttered, getting ready to put down my bike and look for a stick. ‘If they take that box of stuff from Shane’s bike, we’re totally doomed.’
That’s when Ossie jumped off the back of my bike.
‘Hey, Ossie, come back here,’ I hissed. But he took no notice. He put his hand to his belt and pulled out the mini club. Then he strode up to where the thugs were hassling Shane and tapped the taller one. I shut my eyes and waited for his scream. But it wasn’t Ossie who screamed, it was the tall guy when Ossie kicked his knee with an expert blow that was way better than anything we’d learnt at taekwan-do class. As he went down, Ossie decked him on the nose with his club. When the other thug tried to grab Ossie, the kid stood his ground, lifted his leg and punched him in the belly with his dainty little foot, knocking him down like a sack of rubbish.
‘Would you gentlemen like some more?’ He laughed, waving his club.
‘Ha!’ he said proudly. ‘My renowned Weapons Master has taught me the many ways of besting slime such as you.’ Then he gave a loud ‘YAAAGGGHHH!’ and waved his club as he lunged at them again.
By the time Shane and I had scraped up the courage to help Ossie, the golden oldie bullies had upped and run across the dark, boggy land.
‘Now,’ said Ossie as calmly as if he had just chased away a fly. ‘Let us go and do what we have to do.’
‘Hey,’ said Shane as Ossie jumped up on my bike. ‘That was awesome the way you scared those morons!’
‘Double awesome,’ I added. ‘You were red hot, Ossie.’
‘What do those strange words mean?’ Ossie asked. ‘Do you mock me?’ he added guardedly, his hand on his club.
‘No way!’ I exclaimed. ‘It means total respect, man. You sent those guys running while we just stood scared.’
‘Speak for yourself. Milo,’ grunted Shane. ‘I was just about to clobber them …’
‘With the feather from your fancy hat?’ I said, and the three of us laughed loudly as we headed along the bumpy road.