Jody Richards and The Secret Potion (7 page)

“It always seems to be raining here,” Jody moaned as they sheltered under a gigantic tree with wide leaves hanging from its many branches.

“That’s because this is the rain season,” the Bag Man explained. “But it is probably only a shower – it won’t last long.”

When the rain had subsided they made their way through a cluster of pink leaves from overhanging branches until they were surrounded by trees.

“This way”, the Bag Man urged as another clap of thunder sounded above them.

Eventually, they could hear some activity ahead. But, as they got nearer, there was also the sound of dogs barking.

The dogs – bigger and more ferocious than any Pit Bull Terriers – were now coming into view.

“What can we do to prevent them attacking us?” asked Jody.

“I can handle that,” replied the Bag Man. He clicked his fingers and suddenly six pieces of steak appeared on the ground in front of them.

“As I was telling you, I can still do basic magic like producing food,” he said.

The Bag Man then delved into one of his bags and rummaged around until he found a large tube. He unscrewed the top from it and squeezed out a green substance, which he smeared on the steak. Then, walking towards the yelping dogs, he threw each of them a large juicy piece of meat. The hungry animals immediately started to devour it.

“But as soon as they’ve eaten the meat they’ll attack us,” protested Jody.

“I don’t think so,” chided the Bag Man. “I’ve added a large dose of sleeping potion and they should soon be flat out.” No sooner had he spoken than the dogs began to yawn and fall asleep.

After walking a few steps further Jody and the Bag Man came to a small clearing and in front of them was a cluster of giant red trees – much taller than those they had passed already. They were at least 500 feet in height and at the top were a mass of leaves and branches containing golden berries.

Jody gasped in amazement – she had never seen trees so tall and imposing.

When they got nearer they could see three boys – two in the process of climbing up the trees and one climbing down. All had ropes and harnesses to help them.

The boy who was coming down had a large bag over his shoulder, which was full of sprigs containing golden berries. The bag also had an axe and a pair of clippers poking out of it. The lad finally dropped to the ground, freed himself from the rope that had held him and began emptying the berries into a large wooden cart.

As they approached him, Jody could see that he had blond hair and closely resembled her brother. “James,” she yelled. “Is that you?”

Then she began to panic as she remembered the witch’s curse and what she had been told to say to everyone she met. Jody hurriedly added: “I am a very naughty girl who cannot be trusted.” She felt her nose to make sure it had not grown. Fortunately, it hadn’t.

“Don’t tell him that,” snapped the Bag Man.

“I can’t help it,” Jody insisted. “It’s part of the witch’s curse on me.”

The boy turned round sharply, and allowed his bag to fall by his side. He looked at Jody and the wizard perplexed. “James, it IS you,” she called out again and ran up to him. But as Jody hugged him in a warm embrace the boy pulled back, startled.

“What’s the matter?” she cried as he stared at her blankly and the other two boys looked down from their trees, anxiously.

“Why are you grabbing me?” he asked.

“James, don’t you recognise me? It’s me – your sister Jody,” she told him. “Perhaps it’s because my nose has got bigger. I knocked over a witch who put a spell on me by making my nose grow an extra half an inch. She has forced me to tell anybody I meet that they cannot trust me – but you can.”

The boy looked bewildered and insisted: “I don’t know you. It’s nothing to do with the size of your nose. I don’t have a sister.”

“How can you say that?” Jody demanded, and burst out crying.

The Bag Man comforted her and explained: “I told you Augustine The Awful can erase people’s memories – that’s obviously what he has done to your brother.”

“Of course,” acknowledged Jody, wiping her eyes. Then, turning to James, she urged: “Even if you don’t remember me you must believe what I’m telling you. I’m your sister and I’ve come to take you back home to our parents. So please come with me now.”

“No,” stressed James, his bright blue eyes showing grave concern. “Augustine Toby will be very angry if I leave and he’s extremely nasty when he’s angry. That’s why people call him Augustine The Awful. He always has dogs patrolling this area, with a goblin who will report us if he sees we are not keeping busy. Now please excuse me – I’ve got work to do.”

“But surely you don’t like climbing trees all day long,” argued Jody. “You would be so much happier if you came home with me.”

“I’m not just climbing trees,” James corrected her. “We’re cutting down branches of golden berries at the top of the trees and then taking them to Augustine Toby. We’ve also had to go swimming and diving to collect plant life from the bottom of the river for him.

“But you are right – I hate doing this work every day. At first it’s great to climb trees but doing it hour after hour every day is rather boring and very tiring. The berries are hard to dislodge so we have to cut them off with an axe.

“Even so, why should I come with you when I don’t even know you and have no idea where we would be going?”

Just then there was another flash of lightning and one of the six dogs began to stir. “We’d better go,” said the Bag Man, picking up the three carrier bags he had rested on the ground. “The dogs will be awake soon.”

Jody tried to reason with James. “Look, you’ve got to trust me. Please come with me,” she pleaded. “A very kind wizard called Wiffle has granted me a wish which I can use to get us home – will you come?”

“You keep talking about me coming home with you – I don’t even know where you are talking about,” James objected. “If I knew I might come with you.”

Suddenly there was a noise of rustling leaves and a broken twig behind them. Two startled birds – similar to pigeons only much larger – took off in fright and a squirrel scampered up a tree to escape the approaching footsteps.

Jody, James and the Bag Man turned to see the formidable, grotesque figure of Augustine The Awful emerge and tower over them.

He was thinner, taller, nastier and even more intimidating than his brother Hugo. Unlike Hugo’s choice of a loose-fitting robe, Augustine wore a black tailored costume. Next to him were the two goblins Jody had seen in the tavern.

But Jody couldn’t stop staring at Augustine The Awful. She had never seen anyone look so cruel and callous.

He had three black tufts of hair on an otherwise bald head and thick rubbery lips that were twisted in a scowl.

Just the sight of his sinister features and evil black eyes – two large, deep pools of emptiness – caused Jody’s muscles to tighten and stomach to churn.

If any further warning was needed it came when the tiny beauty spot on her left cheek began to itch as it always did when she was in danger.

What struck her most was the sheer size of this dreadful looking wizard. She had once seen a man on television who had been labelled a giant because he was 6ft 6in tall, but Augustine The Awful seemed much taller than that!

“Uga Oooo,” shrieked a clearly shaken Bag Man, jumping almost out of his shoes.

Chapter Eleven

“ZENDA, I’m back,” shouted Huffy Haggard, entering the inner sanctum of her cavern, built inside a mass of rock. Her stark ‘living room’ – containing only basic wooden furniture – was lit up by lanterns hanging from the rugged walls and the glowing embers of a dwindling fire that had been made hours earlier in what passed for a hearth.

There was no reply, but the witch could tell her daughter was in because of the sound of disco music coming from the tunnel to her right. “Zenda,” she bellowed. “Turn that noise off at once and come here – or I’ll put a spell on you.”

In a luxuriously decorated room further down the passage a drop-dead gorgeous female, looking no older than 25, reluctantly eased herself out of her leather arm chair and sauntered across her white fur carpet in black diamond-studded high heeled shoes to reach her multi-decked music centre. One of her long, slender fingers, coated with black nail varnish, pressed the ‘stop’ button.

The blast of the heavy disco beat suddenly cut out, and seconds later Zenda entered through a door of solid rock after pressing a lever on her side of the wall to open it.

Although Zenda had natural beauty, her wild eyes, sharp bone structure and jet black hair gave more than a hint of her fiery character.

“Do give it a rest, mother,” she said defiantly. “Now I’m a senior witch I’m no longer scared by your threats to put a spell on me. You’d better be careful I don’t put one on you.”

“You should show your old, cantankerous mother more respect, Zenda” Huffy told the younger witch, whose looks projected beauty and menace in equal quantities.

“You’re certainly living up to your name, mother.”

“Huffy?”

“No, Haggard!”

“That’s a very unkind thing to say to your old mother.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just home sick,” Zenda told her.

“But you are living at home,” Huffy exclaimed.

“Yes, and I’m sick of it,” Zenda fired back. “You really should come into the 21st century, mother. It’s quite ridiculous. I’ve got all the creature comforts in my room, including a hi-fi music centre, digital television, washing machine and microwave cooker, yet you’re still living in this dump, sitting round a few burning lumps of wood and without even a proper carpet.” She looked down in disdain at the rocky floor, covered only by a couple of plain rugs that were beginning to fray.

Huffy glared at her daughter, whose short leather skirt and top contrasted sharply with her own clothes, but she refused to rise to the bait. “That’s your choice, Zenda, and this is mine,” she said. “I’ve lived in this cavern for nearly 200 years and I’m set in my ways. You should respect that. Anyway I’ve got my clocks.” She pointed to the far wall on which there was every type of clock imaginable – including cuckoo, chiming, weather, talking and grandfather.

“I have a really nice collection of time pieces.”

“That’s just a fetish, not a design statement,” Zenda scoffed.

“Enough of this nonsense,” Huffy snapped. “I’ve got some news for you.”

“What is it mother? Have you come across a new line in broomsticks?”

“Don’t be so sarcastic or you’ll be sorry,” Huffy warned. “What I’ve come across is the secret potion for everlasting life.”

“What?” said Zenda, taken aback. “You really know how to make us live for ever?”

“Not exactly,” Huffy admitted, putting another two logs on the fire. “But I know a man who does. That nasty wizard in the big castle next to the forest, Augustine The Awful, has discovered the formula. And I have been talking to two of his goblins who can get it for us.

“The main two ingredients are kept in the castle’s storeroom and when Augustine The Awful mixes them with the other potion that he has kept hidden then the formula will be complete. The goblins have agreed to steal it for us as soon as they can discover his hiding place.”

“That’s great!” exclaimed Zenda, showing more enthusiasm than her mother had seen for weeks. “Wait until I tell Auntie Leppe. Like you, she has been trying to discover the secret for years.”

“I know,” said Huffy. “Your Aunt and I have both experimented and we thought we had come very close to finding the formula. So maybe if we had the main ingredients from the castle storeroom we could come up with the other potion ourselves. In fact, I have been producing various potions of my own and one of them might be the answer.”

“So why don’t we just break into the castle storeroom and take the ingredients?”

“That would alert Augustine The Awful and then he would take extra precautions to ensure we never get our hands on the complete formula.”

“Not if we send in Elsa,” Zenda said, smiling slyly. “We could make her invisible and then she could get into the castle completely undetected.”

“But she has only just finished learning the craft,” Huffy pointed out. “She is not a fully fledged witch yet.”

“She’s finished her six-months training course and worked well under our supervision – she’s got to be given her first solo mission sometime,” insisted Zenda. “This should be a straight-forward task. Let me call her.”

“OK, as long as she is very careful,” Huffy agreed. “I don’t know whether we can trust those two goblins to do the job properly. So we’ve nothing to lose by getting Elsa to take a look.”

“Elsa,” screeched Zenda, clapping her hands together. “Come hither. Your mistress is calling you.”

There was a cloud of purple smoke and from it emerged an enormous witch with grotesque features, the worst of which were her bulging eyes. She was well over 6ft tall and looked huge despite her hunched shoulders, which caused her to stoop. “You called mistress,” she said, bowing her head and lowering her unnerving eyes.