A meet and greet
Pete laughed at Molloy, who was running alongside his horse, pretending he was exhausted and that the horse wouldn’t let him on. Tahnee watched Pete laughing and smiled. Smithers rolled his eyes.
‘Don’t you ever act serious?’ he asked Molloy.
Molloy was about to answer when a voice, speaking in a strange accent, stopped them all in their tracks.
‘Pete McGee,’ said the voice. ‘How do you do?’
Pete looked at the others, who obviously had no idea what was going on. Pete shrugged.
‘Pretty good, thanks,’ he replied. ‘Yourself?’
‘Well, actually I am good, thanks for asking …
I mean, how dare you speak to me, the Master of Darkness?! I do the talking and you do the non-talking.’
‘Also known as listening,’ cut in a rather posh English voice.
‘I know it’s listening,’ said the first voice. ‘I was being dramatic.’
‘And a tad over-wordy.’
‘Perhaps, but that’s what we do when we are evil. We talk too much and by the time we’re finished it’s always too late.’
‘Like now? When those jolly old children have already moved on?’
‘Yes, like now when those—WHAT?’
Syra looked in the crystal ball, which now showed an empty field. He groaned and re-tuned the vision so it focused on the group again. They would only be able to hear him if they were visible in the ball.
‘Hello? I am back now.’
‘This is really weird,’ Pete said to the others. ‘But let’s hear him out. Could be fun.’
‘It could be fun,’ cut in the voice. ‘Or it could be no fun at all! A complete lack of fun. Funless. No fun for you, little boy with the one arm.’
Pete was stung by the one-arm and the little-boy name-calling, but he had been hearing it for so long he moved on pretty quickly.
‘Yeah, yeah, heard it all before, voice in the sky,’ he said. ‘Who are you anyway?’
‘Pete,’ said the voice, deeper than it had been before. ‘I am your father.’
‘Really? My dad? That’s … hang on a minute! No you’re not. My father never had a weird accent. Who are you really?’
The voice hesitated for a second, then spoke in a whisper.
‘I’m Batman.’
‘Who?’
The voice tried again.
‘I am your worst nightmare.’
This caught Pete out a bit. How did the voice know about his dreams?
‘Really? The one where I turn up at knight training in a pink tutu and have a pink ribbon in my hair and do a hula dance?’
Smithers and Molloy laughed, and Pete realised he had said too much. It didn’t matter to the voice.
‘What? No, that is just weird. Hula dance? What is that anyway?’
‘Never mind,’ Pete said. ‘Do you have a point to make?’
‘Well yes, little one, I do. I am here to challenge you.’
‘By gum, that rhymes.’
‘What’s that, Bob? Oh yes, it did indeed. I am a poet and once again I was unaware of it.’
‘Jolly good show though, old man.’
‘Thank you, my evil sidekick.’
‘HELLO? Can we get to the point please? I have a wedding to get to.’
‘Sorry, McGoo.’
‘That’s McGee,’ Pete said, trying to keep a straight face. Smithers and Molloy were having their first bonding moment, laughing like crazy at the whole scene. They looked at each other, realised they were both laughing, then put on their serious faces and turned away from each other. Tahnee just rolled her eyes.
‘Yes, of course: McGee. Sorry. Now, McGee, I am going to set you a series of challenges, each one more difficult than the one before, to see if you are truly worthy of being the hero to my villain.’
‘Oh,’ Pete said. ‘Will it take long? I really do have to get home.’
‘Yes it will take long! It will take lots of long!’
‘Oh. Okay, well, sorry, funny-voice, but I will have to say no. I just don’t think challenges and quests are who I am any more. Try again in a month. I might be ready then.’
‘No! Most certainly not in a month! Now!’
‘Right. Well, that’s a no from me then.’
‘Really?’
‘Really.’
‘Oh, come on, just a couple of little challenges? To warm ourselves up?’
‘Nope, I am not going to be distracted. I have things I need to do. I promised Mum I would help her with the wedding. Knight training starts up again soon too.’
‘It won’t really take long though. I was pulling your leg off. It will just take a little long.’
‘Nope.’
‘Yes.’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘I do think so.’
‘No! I’m over running off on challenges and quests. People I love get hurt. People I love die. I’m done. It’s time for me to grow up.’
‘Time to grow up? You are ten, or eight or something.’
‘Fifteen, my friend, and now our very odd conversation has to finish. Bye for now.’
‘Oh, come on. I really need to …’
The voice faded out as the group of friends rode on. They realised that if they kept moving, the voice couldn’t speak to them. Every now and again (which was when Syra could re-focus on them) they would hear a ‘Pleeeease?’ or a ‘Do as I say’ faintly in the distance, but that was it. After a little while they looked at each other and burst out laughing at the total weirdness of the whole thing. Then they kicked their horses into action and galloped off.
Syra Tanooth was disappointed. He had really thought that Pete McGee would take him up on his challenge. He looked forlornly at Bob.
‘Well, Bob, it seems we are finished before we even began.’
‘Not at all, old bean,’ Bob replied. ‘You did hear the young chap mention a wedding, did you not?’
‘Well, yes, I think I did hear that.’
‘Righty-o then: would a wedding be the perfect place to cause some chaos, perhaps? Would it give this McGee fellow no choice but to face us?’
Syra’s eyes slowly lit up. Then the whole room lit up. Then the forest around his house lit up. Then he did a quick spell to put out the flames so the forest didn’t burn. Then he turned everything to black and darkness fell.
‘Yes. Yes, Bob, you are right. I am the Master of Darkness, and now my power shall be lit up for the world to see—that and I do like wearing a tuxedo. I don’t know what we will put you in; you have an awful figure to dress. Perhaps a muu-muu? But that is for later. Come, Bob, we must plan our attack.’
With that he swirled his cape around his shoulders and moved off to the planning room. Bob followed, a radiant smile on his face. He had always wanted to wear a muu-muu.