Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing (8 page)

Chapter Fourteen

For a few long moments, nobody spoke. The silence was eventually broken by Lord Scarrabus letting out a surprisingly high-pitched giggle.

“Sorry, I can’t do it. Your faces! You should see your faces!”

“What?” said Ben. “What are you on about?”

“I’m not actually going to do those things, obviously,” said Scarrabus.

“You’re not?” said Paradise and Mr Nuttendudge at the same time.

“Why?” asked Ben, confused.

Inside the circle, Wesley threw up his hands in despair. “Well, don’t make him think about it,” he groaned. “He might change his mind again.”

“Relax,” laughed Scarrabus. “I was winding you up. I’m teasing. I’m not really going to tear open dimensions or that stuff. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“I would,” said Mr Nuttendudge under his breath. His wide eyes darted to Ben’s gauntlet.

“But, but … you’re evil,” said Ben. “Aren’t you?”

Scarrabus shrugged. “Well, I’m definitely mean. Aren’t I?” He turned to the Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing, who continued to stare eerily back. “Yeah, I’m definitely pretty mean, but I’m not evil as such. I was never going to hurt you really. This was all just a prank. It’s what the feast is about. You leave a treat or you get tricked.” Scarrabus laughed. “And I tricked you good!”

“A prank?” snapped Paradise. “You call this a prank?”

“I wasn’t the one who jumped out of the window on the back of a dragon, love,” Scarrabus reminded her. “If it had been up to me you’d have been home ages ago. Why do you think I had your clothes brought through? If I was going to keep you prisoner
would I really have tried to make you more comfortable?”

He gestured towards the ghoul-thing. “Now, come on, let’s get you home. You’ve had enough adventure for one night.”

“I second that,” said Wesley.

The Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing didn’t move.

“Come on, open the cape,” Scarrabus commanded. “Send them back.”

“Please,” added Wesley.

The ghoul-thing’s eyes darkened. Its cloak stayed firmly closed.

“Ah yes, how silly of me. Now I remember,” sniggered Mr Nuttendudge. “This was the second part of my plan. My friend here is sick of being bossed around by the great and terrible Lord Scarrabus. We’ve been looking for
a way to get rid of you for years.”

With a flying grab, the goblin caught hold of Ben’s gauntlet and tugged. Ben yelped in surprise as the glove slipped off and Mr Nuttendudge scurried with it out of reach.

“And now we have one,” Nuttendudge cried.

“Give that back,” Ben barked, making a dive for the little goblin. Mr Nuttendudge’s mouth moved as he muttered an incantation. The glove flashed purple and Ben was sent flailing backwards through the air. He slammed hard against one of the standing stones and landed in a crumpled pile on the sand.

By the time he got to his feet, all nine stones were lit up with the same purple glow. A bubble of indigo light was forming in the air above the circle. Paradise and Wesley backed away towards the centre.

Mr Nuttendudge squashed his oversized hand inside the gauntlet and his eyes lit up a violent shade of violet.

“That’s enough, goblin,” barked Scarrabus,
stomping towards Mr Nuttendudge. The Luck Goblin muttered another enchantment. There was a flash and a
pop
and Scarrabus’s golden armour fell to the ground as the demon-lord disappeared.

A moment later, a plump white rabbit hopped out from within the armour and blinked its glassy eyes in surprise.

“That was quite impressive,” Wesley was forced to admit.

“There’s more than one wizard around here,” said Mr Nuttendudge.

“Why are you doing this?” Ben demanded.

The goblin’s face twisted in rage. “Because I’m sick of it. Fed up. Taken all I can stand, and I can’t stand no more. Five long decades living in Goonderslarg with only monsters
and bad luck for company. Five long decades stuck in a Monstrous Realm while you and all the other humans party it up in the dimension next door. It’s not fair!”

He placed his bare hand against the closest stone. The energy bubble glowed brighter and Wesley screamed in pain.

“Stop it!” Paradise cried. “You’re hurting him.”

“What are you doing?” Ben demanded.

“I’m draining his magic. I’m draining every last drop.”

Ben made a run for the goblin again, but the Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing caught him in its long spider arms.

“Thank you, old friend,” said Mr Nuttendudge. “Our time has come at last!”

Ben struggled against the creature’s grip but he didn’t have the strength to break free.

He glanced sideways at Wesley, who was thrashing around on the ground.

“Why are you draining him? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to crash you humans’ party,” sniggered the goblin. He raised the gauntlet above his head and lightning exploded from the fingertips. “And I’m going to bring some friends.”

Wesley cried out again as the lightning from the gauntlet became a spray of purple fire that stretched all the way up into the clouds. Far overhead, Ben heard the rumble of thunder as the clouds began to bubble and boil.

“Stop,” howled Paradise. “You’re hurting him. Stop!”

Ben wrestled against the grip of the ghoul-thing
as seven holes tore open in the sky above them. Through the holes he saw thousands of dark, twisting shapes. They wriggled and fought and squirmed. It would surely be just moments before they came flooding through.

“The Monstrous Realms,” Mr Nuttendudge announced. “Ooh, aren’t they horrible!”

“Why are you bringing those things here?” asked Ben.

“Oh, I’m not. No, sir.” The goblin nodded in the direction of an eighth hole as it opened like a shutter in the sky. Through it, Ben could just make out the village of Lump. Home. It was so close and yet so impossibly far away.

“You can’t,” Ben pleaded. “You can’t send them there. They’ll destroy everything.”

Mr Nuttendudge winked. “Yes,” he said. “I know. That’s the point. They’ll swarm over there, clear it out, destroy each other, then we’ll swoop in and rule what’s left.”

Ben tore his eyes away from the portal to home. He looked at the other seven, heaving and swarming with monsters and beasts and furious demons. He looked at Wesley, still
writhing on the ground as Mr Nuttendudge used Ben’s own gauntlet to bring about the end of the world.

Tears welled up at the corners of Ben’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he shouted. “Wes, Paradise … everyone. I’m sorry. This was my fault. I caused this. You’re right, I was an idiot.”

Somewhere, in an attic room in another world, metal slid against stone
.

“I … I thought it was a game. I thought it was all a bit of fun.” He looked around, trying to blink back the tears. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I put everyone in danger. It’s all my fault.”

Above the sound of thunder there came another noise. It was a low
whumming
, like
something spinning round and round at high speed. Mr Nuttendudge and Ben looked up, searching for the source of the sound.

Mr Nuttendudge squinted at a small black dot hurtling through the sky towards them. “What in Goonderslarg is that?” he said.

Ben’s arm moved all on its own, with a strength that caught both him and the ghoulthing by surprise. It broke the monster’s grip and stretched up high, palm open, just as the hilt of a shimmering silver sword slapped against it.

Ben’s fingers tightened around the handle. He recognised the monstrous carving on the hilt at once.

“My sword. This is my sword,” Ben whispered. His hand and the sword moved as
one, swiping and swishing in a blur of speed. The ghoul-thing squealed as its spider-like legs fell to the ground.

Ben spun round. The sword flourished in a figure of eight in front of him, slicing the very air itself to pieces.

“This is my sword,” he said again, fixing Mr Nuttendudge with a stern glare. “And I am ready.”

Chapter Fifteen

Mr Nuttendudge muttered an incantation below his breath and a ball of green flame shot from the palm of his bare hand. Ben’s sword immediately moved to block, and the fireball ricocheted off into the sky.

“More wyrdanium!” gasped the goblin. “Give it to me. I want it. I want.”

“Come and get it,” Ben said.

Mr Nuttendudge’s face twisted in anger. He launched two more fireballs, but Ben twirled and knocked them away. The goblin was still pointing the gauntlet to the sky, but the purple energy flowing from it spluttered, then stopped. Mr Nuttendudge looked at his hand and remembered he was supposed to be draining Wesley’s magic.

The Luck Goblin reached for the stone. Ben leaped forwards, sword scything swiftly through the air.

Too late! Mr Nuttendudge’s fingers found the stone. Wesley howled once more and an eruption of purple flame exploded from the gauntlet’s fingertips.

It hit Ben full in the chest, sending him
skidding backwards across the sand. He caught a glimpse of the creatures swarming within the Monstrous Realms above, then Mr Nuttendudge hit him with another bolt of concentrated magic.

Ben felt as if his body was turning inside out and his head was about to pop. He saw shadows creeping behind his eyes and realised he was going to pass out. A big part of him wanted to. Everything would stop hurting if he just gave up and fell unconscious.

But his friends were in danger, and giving up wasn’t an option.

Ben gritted his teeth. He dug the sword into the ground and leaned on the handle. Slowly, surely, fighting against the pain, Ben stood up.

“What? Impossible,” spat Mr Nuttendudge. “Stay down. I order you to stay down!”

“Not … going … to happen,” Ben grimaced. He took a faltering step towards the goblin. Then another. Then another. The
pain was immense, but nothing was going to stop him getting his glove back and saving his friends.

Or so he thought.

“Behind you!” Paradise yelped, but Ben turned too late. The Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing hit him with a shoulder-barge, knocking him over and sending the sword sliding from his grip.

Keeping his hand on the magical barrier, Mr Nuttendudge hobbled closer. He sneered down at Ben. “Good try, boy,” the goblin said. “Almost had me.” He pointed the gauntlet towards Ben’s head, palm open. “But now your time is up.”

Mr Nuttendudge giggled. His eyes narrowed. His fingers spread wide.

And then, with a
ping
, his trousers fell down.

Instinctively, the goblin bent to pull them up, breaking his contact with the barrier. Ben swept with his foot, kicking Mr Nuttendudge’s legs out from under him. The goblin flipped over in the air and landed on his long nose.

Ben scrabbled across the sand and grabbed for his sword, just as Mr Nuttendudge spat out a spell along with a mouthful of sand. The sword came up and deflected something Ben couldn’t even see. There was a
pop
and the Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing seemed to become a thousand different shapes all at the same time.

A second later, where the ghoul-thing had been, there was now a large frog in a tiny robe. It hung in the air for a moment looking really
quite surprised, and then gravity took hold and it landed with a
splot
on the sand.

Mr Nuttendudge kicked backwards along the ground. Before Ben could reach him, he slapped a hand against another of the standing stones and grinned triumphantly.

Nothing happened. He adjusted his fingers, splaying them flat against the stone. The goblin stared at it in disbelief. “It’s not working. Why isn’t it working?”

“Like you said,” called Paradise. “There’s more than one wizard around here.”

Ben turned to see Wesley floating towards them, a metre or so above the ground. Wes
giggled as he skimmed along above the sand, wobbling unsteadily. Paradise ran behind him, her little legs struggling to keep up.

“Magic,” Wesley said. “Look at me … I’m doing magic.”

“Looking good, Wes,” Ben told him.

Mr Nuttendudge scowled. “You’ll never get the gauntlet. It’s mine now. All mine!”

He held up his hand. The gauntlet was no longer there. “Oh, trollfarts,” he cursed.

“It fell off when you were talking,” said Ben, stooping to pick up the glove.

Paradise smirked. “How unlucky.”

Ben looked up at the holes in the sky above them. Shapes were now swarming through, making their way from the other Monstrous Realms into this one. Soon they’d find a way
back to the human world. There was no time to lose.

“How do we stop it?” Ben demanded.

“I’ll never tell you!” Mr Nuttendudge cried. Ben pointed the sword at his throat. “OK, OK, I’ll talk! No need to get nasty.”

The goblin took a deep breath. “There’s just one spell you can use to stop it. One incantation you need to say. Ready? What you need to say is—”

An enormous black rock fell from the sky, squishing Mr Nuttendudge flat. Ben, Paradise and Wesley leaped back, just as five more of the boulders slammed into the ground around them.

One by one the stones unfolded, becoming large rock creatures before the children’s eyes.

“That’s not good,” Ben gulped.

“What do we do?” asked Paradise.

Ben puffed out his cheeks. “I’m at a bit of a loss,” he admitted. “Run away?”

“No.”

Ben and Paradise turned in disbelief to Wesley. “Did you just vote against running away?” Paradise asked.

Energy crackled from Wes’s fingertips. “I can feel it,” he said in a whisper. “All the magic in all the worlds. I can feel it.”

“It’s too much,” said Ben, backing away from the rock creatures. “It could make you blow up.”

Wesley gazed up at the holes in the sky.
Other shapes were already tumbling through into Goonderslarg. “No. I can control it. I can close the holes,” he said. “I can send them all back. I just need a minute.”

“Not sure we have a minute,” said Paradise. The rock-headed rock-things were closing in a circle. Any second now, they’d be upon them.

“Keep them busy,” said Wesley, and with a sweep of his arm he drifted straight up into the sky.

Ben and Paradise watched him go. “‘Keep them busy,’ he says,” Ben sighed. He tightened his grip on the sword and eyed up the monsters around him. They were each over three metres high, with fists like solid slabs.

“I’ll take the one on the left,” Ben said, standing back to back with Paradise. “You take
the other five.”

“Sounds fair,” Paradise said.

Ben smiled, but it didn’t last long. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“This is all my fault.”

“Oh, stop going on about it,” Paradise said. “You made a mistake. We forgive you, OK?”

The closest rock creature raised its arms and stepped closer. Ben swung with his sword at its leg. The blade struck the stone with a bdoing and Ben felt his whole body vibrate.

“Ow-w-w-w-w-w!” Paradise dragged him back. They stumbled and fell together on to the sand.

A rock-thing loomed above them and the children braced themselves for the end.

A tiny ball of flame burst against the creature’s face. It shook its head, irritated, just as three more little fireballs exploded on the side of its neck.

Paradise and Ben scrambled to their feet. Something reddish-pink and bull-sized bounded across the sand, spraying pellets of fire from its throat. The rock-things hissed and swatted at the flames as Paradise squealed in delight.

“Burnie!”

There was a sonic boom from overhead. The clouds swept aside as bolts of electric-blue power snaked from Wesley’s fingertips. With a sharp jerk, the rock-things were yanked
sharply upwards like fish on a hook. They tumbled through the sky, then flipped and flopped back through the hole they’d come through.

All around Ben and Paradise, the other creatures were also being dragged back to their Monstrous Realms. Ben punched the air in delight. “He did it! Wesley did it!”

As the last of the creatures was pulled back into the portals, the holes began to close. At the very same time, Wesley’s lightning vanished. He flapped his arms. He let out a very unwizard-like sob.

“I’ve run out of magic,” he yelped.

And then, with all that out of the way, he began to fall.