Jody Richards and The Secret Potion (12 page)

“I’m the Monster from Hell. I have been created by Augustine the Awful to guard these barrels,” the monster informed them. “And if anyone comes near them I am to kill them.” With that it opened its mouth to send a second, bigger flash of fire across the room, as if to demonstrate its power.

“How would you like some food?” asked the Bag Man, thinking he could doctor it with a drug and send the creature off to sleep. “I can provide you with some juicy steaks.”

“I don’t need any steaks,” came the reply. “I’ve been suffering from indigestion after eating a young but very ugly witch. I’m not sure how she got in here, but she suddenly appeared. She began trying to remove some of the contents from these barrels which the master asked me to guard.”

“Did the witch cast a spell on you?” asked Olaf, unable to believe that his master could have created something quite as dreadful as this.

“No she didn’t. I caught her opening one of the barrels and she seemed absolutely flabbergasted when she saw me,” chortled the monster. “She was so

shocked she dropped her wand as she tried to get it out.

“Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to decide whether I was going to roast her or grill her. As it was, I burnt her young flesh to a crisp. It was a shame because even her giblets were over-done.

“But I washed her down with 16 slugs and a very tasty rat. I would have preferred a frog, but maybe I could find room in my stomach for you three instead once this indigestion goes. I could take more time cooking you. The girl would be nice toasted. I could cook you three now and eat you later.”

The Bag Man frantically looked through his carrier bags to see if he could find something to stop the monster as it took one step towards them. “Yes, I think I could soon manage another course,” it said, licking it’s large tongue. “You three would do nicely.”

“Do something,” urged Olaf. “Use your magic powers.”

Milo clicked his thumbs against his fingers as the creature was about to throw out another burst of flame from its ghastly mouth and a heavy shower of water fell to extinguish it.

“Now it’s time to use your assertiveness” Jody said encouragingly, as the ‘thing’ looked dumbstruck.

“I’ll give it a try,” the Bag Man agreed “Perhaps I should resort to the ‘stiff upper lip technique’ I’ve been reading about.” He raised his voice to address the monster in a superior upper crust accent. “You don’t seem to understand the situation, my dear fellow. We have just come from Augustine The Awful.”

As Milo spoke he delved into one of his bags and brought out two packets. “I have something for you, and in view of the fact you enjoy eating frogs I know Augustine The Awful wants you to have it right away.”

“What is it?” demanded the beast. But it watched transfixed as the Bag Man took a syringe from one packet and a small glass vessel from the other. Milo then calmly uncapped the needle of the syringe and drew half the liquid from the vessel.

“It’s time to use the ‘doctor-patient technique’,” he whispered to Jody. “This is just part of the castle’s health and hygiene procedures,” he informed the ‘thing’. “Presumably Augustine The Awful has told you about health and hygiene procedures.”

“No he hasn’t,” growled the creature, its bulging eyes blazing in annoyance.

“Well, they have to be followed,” the Bag Man assured it. “Now roll up your sleeve – ah, of course, you haven’t got one.”

“Don’t come near me with that,” warned the monster.

“Don’t be such a baby,” the Bag Man told him. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I said NO!” bellowed the monster and shoved out its huge tongue to whip the vessel out of the Bag Man’s hands. But, in doing so, it caused the remainder of the liquid to gush out into its mouth. Within seconds the monster was gasping and, after letting out an anguished cry, it collapsed dramatically in a heap on the floor unconscious.

“Well, I never,” said the Bag Man. “It’s done the job for me by self administering the dose.”

“That was very brave of you and so assertive,” cried a relieved Jody, hugging him. “But I don’t think the monster would ever have allowed you to get near enough to use that needle.”

“Maybe not,” admitted the Bag Man. “Though it is amazing what you can get away with as long as you remain calm and self assured. As my book says, it’s just a matter of having the confidence to carry it off.”

“What was in that bottle?” asked Olaf.

“It’s what you would call a magic potion,” the Bag Man answered. “I would call it a drug containing the sperm from a toad and the sting of a bee.”

“But that wouldn’t knock the creature out cold like that,” Jody insisted, wrapping her arms around herself to keep out the chill of the damp storeroom.

“Ah, I forgot,” said the Bag Man, reading the label on the back of the bottle that was still in his hand. “It also contained, in equal measures, the poisons of a snake, a deadly spider and a scorpion.”

“That would be enough to knock it out,” Jody agreed. “You might have even killed it.”

“No, it’s still alive – I can hear it breathing,” volunteered Olaf, moving forward cautiously.

Taking care to walk around the prostrate monster, Jody and the Bag Man went over to the six barrels in the corner and lifted the lids to reveal the juice from the golden berries in five of them and something that smelt like river plants in the other.

“How can we destroy the ingredients?” Jody asked. “The witches are already trying to get their hands on them.”

“Let me see if I have something in my bags,” the Bag Man answered. He searched the first, pulling out a pair of old smelly socks, a bar of chocolate and a coat hanger. But after delving into the second bag he eventually came across a tube of super glue. “This should do the trick,” he said. “It is a special glue that will set any chemical rock hard. So nobody will be able to use what is in the barrels.”

But try as he might he could not get any out of the tube. “Damn,” he said. “It seems to have come into contact with some of the orange drink I keep in the bag and has set itself solid.”

“That wasn’t very clever was it?” scolded Jody, putting her hands deep into her dress pockets to keep them warm.

“You’re in the black book again,” the Bag Man rebuked her.

We’ll just have to find something else.”

“How about this?” Jody asked, yanking something out of one of her pockets. It was the sachets she had obtained at the café which turned out to be a petrol station.

She read the label on one of the sachets: “It says ‘Zingers – the special acid drops that put a zing under your car bonnet and burn away any rust. Extra strong. Do not touch or drink.’

“Nobody is going to be able to drink what’s in the barrels if we put this acid in it are they?”

“Ideal,” agreed the Bag Man. “The acid would burn anyone’s lips as soon as it touched them.”

He helped Jody break open the sachets and tip some of the contents into each of the six barrels, taking care not to touch the acid. Then, turning to the pixie, he asked: “Do you know where your master kept the other secret ingredients, Olaf?”

“He never let me see them,” Olaf replied, rubbing the scar on his face ruefully. “I don’t even know what they are.”

“What about the formula? Augustine The Awful must have kept notes,” Jody persisted.

“Perhaps they are in his study or his lounge, I don’t know.”

“Why don’t we...” but Jody was cut short by the Bag Man.

“We haven’t time to look,” he insisted. “Augustine The Awful’s brother will be here soon. We must go to the forest now and find the boys.”

“I’ll take you out of the castle and get you past the guards on the front entrance,” Olaf offered. “But when we reach the spot where the boys are working in the forest you had better use your magic powers to stop the dogs attacking you.”

The Bag Man smiled as he picked up his bags, stepped round the monster and headed for the door.

“That’s one trick I’ll be happy to do. It looks like the dogs will be tucking into some nice juicy steaks again.”

Chapter Eightteen

ZENDA hated leaving her luxury quarters to go into her mother’s barren cavern but it was necessary to talk to the old bat.

“What’s wrong, dear,” Huffy Haggard greeted her daughter.

“I’m a little concerned that Elsa has not reported back,” Zenda admitted. “Perhaps, on reflection, I placed too much trust in her.”

“Yes, it is strange she has not returned. But maybe it is taking her longer than we thought to find where the secret potion is stored.”

Zenda made a ‘V’ shape with her long fingers, and saw to her disgust that the black varnish on one of nails had flaked off. She tutted at what was her second cause for annoyance.

“Perhaps I should send one of our eagles to fly over the castle and investigate,” she mused.

“Well, we don’t want to raise any suspicions at the castle by having a two-headed eagle hovering around there, do we dear?” Huffy pointed out. “We could wait a little longer to see if either Elsa or those two goblins I spoke to come up trumps.”

“Maybe, you’re right,” Zenda conceded. “But it won’t do any harm to send a bird to look in the town and the forest for that troublesome girl Jody, will it?”

“But if one of our eagles finds her can it be trusted to bring the girl back to us?” Huffy queried. “It might kill her.”

“So?” asked Zenda, rubbing the offending fingernail. “That wouldn’t be a problem, would it?”

Chapter Nineteen

TRUE to his word, Olaf took Jody and The Bag Man out through the front gate of the castle past the guards – two ugly goblins.

As the trio made their way to the forest, Olaf warned: “Make sure you don’t get trapped by one of the creepers.”

“What are they?” asked Jody.

“They are long pink plants which grow among the grass and can wrap themselves around you,” Olaf replied. “Some of them are so strong they can do you a serious injury and even crush you to death.

“Before Augustine recruited your brother and the other two boys, he created a giant pixie to pick golden berries for him. But the pixie was slow and stupid and lazy. He stopped working early one day and while wandering through the forest he lay down and fell asleep. When he woke up he was trapped by the creepers.

“They were so big they had wrapped themselves completely around him.”

“What happened to him?” Jody inquired rather apprehensively. “Did the creeper kill him?”

“Not quite – but Augustine did when he found him. He said that fools were no use to him. Augustine is absolutely ruthless and if he ever escapes from the spell you put on him he will kill us all.”

“Don’t worry,” said The Bag Man soothingly. “How can he possibly escape? He will remain a frog for the rest of his life.”

From then on Jody and The Bag Man kept their eyes pinned to the ground looking for creepers until a giant bird circled overhead.

“That’s a strange bird,” said Jody, looking up alarmed as it drew nearer. “It looks as if it has got two heads.”

“It has,” The Bag Man confirmed. “It could be one of the witches’ eagles.”

Suddenly the eagle swooped down towards Jody.

The startled girl tried to scamper away, only to trip on a creeper.

“Look out” shouted Olaf, but the warning was too late.

A frantic Jody screamed for help as the plant’s long stalk wrapped itself around her ankle, causing her to crash to the ground.

The fall proved to be a blessing because it took her beyond the eagle’s swoop.

Milo acted with amazing speed for a man who had seemed so ponderous. He raced over to a burrow, pushed his arm deep into it and yanked out a rabbit, just like a magician pulling one of the furry animals from a hat.

As the eagle prepared to attack Jody, Milo threw the rabbit at it. The eagle’s natural instinct took over and it sunk its talons into the terrified bunny which shrieked like a banshee.

Olaf was equally quick. He picked up a large, thick branch from the ground and hit the eagle with it, catching it right on the top of one of its heads.

The eagle fell on to the creeper which wrapped itself around the bird, causing it to drop it’s prey. The relieved rabbit promptly bolted.

Meanwhile, Milo delved into one of his bags and found a paper knife which he used to hack at the part of the creeper that still held Jody’s ankle.

Three hacks with the knife succeeded in forcing the creeper to release Jody from it’s grip and concentrate instead on squeezing harder on the bird.

Milo pulled Jody clear as the giant bird began to fight for its life by pecking and clawing at the plant. But it was to be a fight the bird would lose as the creeper increased the pressure on both of the eagle’s swollen necks.

Within seconds the bird was strangled to death.

“Thank you so much, Bag ...Milo,” Jody stuttered.