TUB-ARP went the fat blue slave on his double-headed trumpet. He hadn’t done a good tub-arp for a while and was getting a bit bored. Madreesh was back on the stage, standing between Borgon and Akabbah.
‘It is time for me to decide who is to be the Prince’s new Shadow,’ said the dame.
‘I was the first back from the mountain,’ said Akabbah. ‘And I never fell off the rope, so the rules say I win!’
‘I know what the rules say,’ said the dame crossly. ‘It was me who made them up!’
‘Forget the rules!’ shouted Grizzy from the crowd. ‘If you want a bodyguard for the prince, you haven’t tested the most important thing.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Madreesh.
‘Loyalty!’ said Grizzy. ‘Borgon would risk his life for the prince.’
‘How do you know that?’ demanded Akabbah.
‘Because that’s what he does,’ said Grizzy. ‘He even risked his life for a duck!’
‘That’s true,’ said Madreesh. ‘He has also shown exceptional strength and courage.’
‘But he’s mad!’ shouted Akabbah. ‘The prince needs somebody calm and reliable. That fat kid is totally out of control.’
Borgon’s hand immediately went to his axe, but before he could pull it from his belt, Grizzy hissed at him.
‘Ignore him, Borgon!’ she said. ‘Don’t ruin it now. You could win this!’
Borgon looked back at Akabbah and smiled sweetly.
Akabbah pushed past Madreesh and shoved his nose right into Borgon’s face.
‘You can’t be the Prince’s Shadow. You’re too small, you’re too fat and you’re FAR too smelly.’
Borgon’s knuckles were going white, but still his axe remained tucked safely in his belt.
‘Well?’ said Akabbah. ‘Are you just going to stand there and let anybody say what they like to you? What kind of savage are you?’
‘Small, fat, smelly, mad and totally out of control,’ said Borgon.
‘There!’ said Akabbah to everyone. ‘He said it himself. Are you really going to let him win?’
Madreesh examined Borgon carefully. His hand had relaxed on his axe, he was breathing calmly, he even had a smile on his face. Down in the crowd, Mungoid and Hunjah started to chant:
‘Borgon, Borgon, Borgon …’
Quickly it caught on. The noise got louder and louder as everyone joined in:
BORGON! BORGON! BORGON!
The dame needed to be certain. She looked over to the blue slaves. They were all just scratching their noses like they didn’t care, but secretly they were pointing their fingers at Borgon.
‘Well done, barbarian,’ said Madreesh. ‘Not only have you faced the other challenges, you have just overcome the hardest challenge of all. You have proved your self-control. Therefore it gives me great pleasure to announce …’
‘NO!’ shrieked Akabbah. ‘I can’t believe it! The only reason you’ve picked him is because he made friends with that stupid, horrible, ugly little duck.’
‘What did you say?’ said Borgon.
‘Ignore him!’ said Grizzy.
‘WHAT DID YOU SAY?’ roared Borgon, marching up to Akabbah.
The tall boy took a nervous step backwards.
‘See? See?’ whimpered Akabbah. ‘He’s mad!’
‘I know I’m mad,’ said Borgon. ‘And small and fat and smelly. You can say what you like about me, it’s all true. BUT NOBODY INSULTS MY DUCK.’
He launched himself at Akabbah. The tall boy tried to skip aside, but Borgon was too fast. He caught Akabbah’s ankle with the edge of his axe and sent him sprawling across the stage. Akabbah tried to pull his sword, but Borgon charged forwards and kicked the blade out of his hand. Akabbah was lying on his back, with the axeboy standing on his chest, axe raised high in the air.
‘I’m sorry, Borgon!’ whimpered Akabbah.
‘No!’ said Borgon. ‘You’ve got to say sorry to the DUCK.’
‘The duck?’ repeated Akabbah. ‘I’m not saying sorry to a duck! How mad are you?’
‘You’re about to find out!’ screamed Borgon.
Suddenly Borgon was dazzled by a flash of white light. Something was flickering in his face and all he could do was stare as it made pretty swoops and circles in the air. Borgon’s head went up and down and twisted and turned, and his whole body started to feel heavy. He staggered away from Akabbah and the next thing he knew there was a loud clatter. Pain shot from his foot.
‘Yow!’ yelped Borgon.
He realised he’d dropped his axe on his toe. It was sore, but at least he wasn’t being dazzled any more. He saw that Madreesh was holding her staff away from him, releasing him from the power of the silver crystal.
‘Are you all right?’ asked the dame.
Borgon nodded.
‘Sorry about that,’ she said. ‘But I could see it was going to get messy, and some of us aren’t really dressed for that sort of thing.’
Akabbah was back on his feet. He stomped up to Madreesh.
‘See?’ said Akabbah. ‘There’s no way he can be the winner now!’
The dame slipped the end of her staff between his feet and gave it a sharp flick. Akabbah’s legs flew out from under him. He tumbled off the edge of the stage and crashed down on to the stony ground.
WHUMP!
The laughs from the crowd were enough to tell him that it was time to give up.
‘And so, Borgon,’ said the dame, ‘as I was about to say, it gives me great pleasure to announce that you are … THE PRINCE’S SHADOW!’
‘Hooray!’ cheered the crowd.
TUB-ARP! went the double-headed trumpet.
But Borgon shook his head.
‘No thanks,’ he said. ‘Goodbye.’
Then he jumped off the stage to join his friends.
‘Ha ha ha!’ they all laughed. ‘Good one, Borgon!’
‘No, wait!’ she called out, then she hurried down the steps to join them. ‘If you never wanted to be the Shadow, why did you put yourself through the trials?’
‘Those Raggahoos were getting on my nerves,’ said Borgon.
‘He wanted to teach them a lesson,’ explained Grizzy.
‘He won, they lost, job done,’ grinned Mungoid.
‘Can you seriously imagine Borgon being at the palace with all you posh types?’ asked Hunjah.
‘He’ll get a really smart uniform,’ said Madreesh.
‘Borgon in a uniform?’ giggled Grizzy.
‘Of course!’ said Madreesh. ‘The Shadow dresses up so he can go wherever the prince goes.’
‘All the time?’ asked Hunjah.
‘Oh yes,’ said Madreesh. ‘Even when he’s at the perfume baths.’
‘PERFUME BATHS!’ they all laughed.
‘I’ve never had a bath in my life,’ said Borgon. ‘Yuk!’
The crowd were all starting to drift off, and a few of them were saying ‘well done!’ and patting Borgon on the back as they passed.
‘I wish you’d think about it,’ said Madreesh. ‘We really need you.’
‘I know what might change his mind,’ said Mungoid. ‘Would Borgon get to eat whatever the prince eats?’
‘Of course,’ said Madreesh. ‘Everybody at the palace eats the same as the prince. You can have as much as you like.’
‘I like the sound of that!’ said Borgon. ‘I hope he likes elephant tongues and hippo steaks.’
‘Er … actually the prince has a very special diet,’ said the dame. ‘It’s mainly nuts and roots, with a little bit of sour cream as a treat.’
‘Ha ha ha!’ they all laughed again.
‘Honestly!’ said Borgon. ‘Uniforms, baths, nuts and roots … who’d want a job like that?’
Grizzy pointed at a sad figure sitting all alone on the ground. Akabbah was still where he’d landed.
‘Him,’ she said. ‘He was prepared to do anything for it.’
‘Then he can have it!’ said Borgon. He looked at Madreesh. ‘If that’s OK with you?’
‘I suppose he was the best of the rest,’ said the dame. ‘But you were the winner. You deserve to get something.’
‘Really?’ said Borgon. He thought for a moment. ‘Then perhaps you could do me a favour?’