Mathias cried out in excitement, ‘That’s it, the final touch, now I’m ready for the two fur balls!’ He turned around looking Frank and Philip up and down with a sinister smile. They were seated on the edge of the chair with eyes wide as saucers, having no idea what he was up to. They only hoped and prayed that their plan was going to work.
Frank sat near the edge of the steel chair; he was quite a bit older than Philip and appeared to be the larger monkey of the two, with his head sticking out a couple of inches higher than Philip’s. Mathias confronted the boys, his face alight with glee. He raised his hands and clenched his fingers inwards, then pierced them forward in a threatening manner. The candlelight created dark shifty shadows around him, making him look like a hideous beast. Frank gulped as he approached.
‘Let’s not be in such a hurry,’ he rumbled in an eerie voice, reaching down to the floor for his gloves, and carefully slipping them on over his sharp talons. ‘We can’t have one of you critters infecting me with rabies, now can we?’
‘So you’ll be first then?’ he asked Frank, not bothering to wait for an answer. Reaching to his side for the keys, he carefully unlocked Frank’s shackle, and yanked him up roughly by his paws. He flung him onto the rubber mat like a rag doll, sprawling him out over the table.
‘There we go, that’s a good hair ball!’ he cackled, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
The moment Frank’s paws were released, he flung them forward into Mathias’s grinning face, aiming straight for the eyeballs. He launched them forward with boxing accuracy, sinking his razor sharp monkey nails into the green snake eyes of the enemy, causing the wicked wizard to shriek in agony. He toppled to the floor, groaning in excruciating pain, with his hands cupped over his face. In seconds, Frank unclipped the keys from his leather belt and fumbled frantically over Philip’s shackle.
‘Hurry Frank, he’s crawling towards us!’ Philip shouted, jumping anxiously up and down on the chair.
‘When I catch you, I am going to kill the pair of you!’ Mathias roared, slithering towards them like a serpent. Frank endeavoured to remain calm as he tried each key, only testing the ones small enough to fit the shackles. There were many keys to check on the unusually large bunch though, and Frank wasn’t having too much success.
Mathias slid closer, groping for the top of the chair with his leather mitt.
‘You can’t escape me, you mangy parasites! How dare you even try?’ he roared, fumbling blindly for the chair.
Philip jumped up and down in panic. Mathias had both hands placed on the steel chair, and would very soon have him in his clutches.
‘Just leave me here Frank; run away before we both get caught!’ Philip yelled in desperation.
‘Not a chance! I am not leaving you here alone with this devil,’ he replied, determined to find the key.
‘Now I’ve got you!’ Mathias roared, stretching forward. Desperate, Philip leaped onto his head, and bit his pointy ear. He screamed out in pain, reaching up to grab Philip as he fell backwards onto the floor. Philip bounced smartly back onto the chair, not really believing what he had just done. Click, the lock opened, much to Frank’s relief.
‘Let’s go Philip, before we get caught!’ he yelled, bounding towards the exit. Mathias rolled on the floor, holding his head in agony. The boys shot up the ladder like lightning, dashing between the trees as fast as their monkey legs would carry them. They needed to disappear as far out of sight as possible, even though they had absolutely no idea where they were going.
* * * * * * * *
‘Where are we, Frank?’
‘I’m not sure, Philip. I’ve never been this far into the woods before.’
‘Well, it doesn’t really matter which way we go, but we had better run before that evil man comes after us.’
‘Let’s go this way,’ Frank said, pointing to a large clump of dense trees. ‘Seeing that we are a pair of monkeys, trees should be the quickest form of transportation I would think.’ They headed towards the clump of trees, very surprised by their own speed and agility. Frank approached a large tree trunk and climbed it with ease, his small monkey paws and feet taking a nice firm hold on the bark. Philip followed after him, taking to it just as easily as his friend had. Very soon the two were cruising through the woods at an alarming rate, bouncing from tree to tree like a proper pair of monkeys.
‘This is great fun!’ Philip shouted, landing on a branch next to Frank.
‘Absolutely magic!’ Frank cried, leaping wildly into the air. The boys were having the time of their lives and soon forgot all about Mathias. They really weren’t all that worried anyway; they must have travelled miles from his seedy den by then.
Suddenly an all too familiar voice boomed down from above, ‘So you think you can escape from me hey? You pair of nitwits!’ They froze in mid-flight, absolutely horrified. Landing on a branch, they turned their heads to see where the voice was coming from. Mathias hovered victoriously above them dressed in a large pair of magical blue hover jeans, with his robe tucked neatly inside. He had a very sharp sense of smell and could pick up the scent of a monkey a mile away. His face shone red with rage; his eyes even though still very bloodshot, protruded from their sockets like daggers.
‘When I catch you boys, I’m going to cut your tails off! How dare anyone make Mathias out a fool?’
Down he swooped after them like a vulture on a decaying carcass. He had a nice long whip coiled over his right shoulder, which he used to catch small animals. He was an absolute master with his whip and never went hunting without it.
Frank and Philip ran for their lives, bolting down the tree to the turf below. They zigzagged in between trees, desperately trying to escape his grasp.
Mathias flew after them, laughing like a maniac, ducking in and out of the tree trunks with his whip held ready for the catch. Frank ran ahead, showing stamina Philip didn’t possess. Philip could feel himself starting to tire; his poor little heart was taking serious strain; keeping up with his friend would not be possible any longer. Crash, down came the whip, skimming past his ear, leaving the poor monkey boy in a state of sheer panic. Once again the whip crashed down, only this time it wrapped itself neatly around his neck.
‘I’ve got you now, you furry runaway!’ Mathias cackled, jerking him back with his whip. Philip went flying backwards like a stray dog caught by the pound, and his heart nearly exploded with shock. In a second, Mathias reeled him in and shoved him into a big black bag. Landing inside, the poor boy clutched at his neck, gasping for air, half strangled to death.
‘That will teach you for playing games with me, you little rat! Now let’s go and collect your rodent friend,’ he complained, whistling off after his next victim.
Frank looked back to see where Philip was, but there was no sign of him. ‘I really hope he’s okay,’ he thought as he ambled on, totally unaware of what was hovering directly above.
Once again the whip came crashing down; unlike with Philip, this time Mathias didn’t miss with his first attempt. The whip coiled itself neatly around Frank’s neck and jerked him backwards viciously, almost ripping his little monkey head off. Mathias grabbed Frank brutally by the tail, and shoved him into the bag.
‘Well I guess that’s the lot then, and just when I was starting to have a bit of fun,’ he said, sounding half disappointed. ‘Don’t even dare try another stunt like that again, peanut brains; next time I won’t be quite so forgiving.’ He tied the bag up tightly, tossing it over his shoulder, and casually flew back to his underground lair.
* * * * * * * *
On their return, the boys were thrown into a single cage together. Mathias carefully tied them both up back to back. Making sure that they didn’t pull any stunts, he proceeded to tie their arms and legs together.
‘My potions take forever to set up, and now they have all gone stale. Looks like I will have to start all over again tomorrow, you hairy pests!’ he complained, brutally twisting Frank’s ear.
Frank cringed in pain, a bit su
rprised that he hadn’t caused them any other serious harm. The wizard would have tortured them both with pleasure, but he knew that they had to be well preserved if they were to be a perfect pair of drummer monkeys, that could fetch him a large sum of money.
‘Night-night, fur balls, don’t let the cage creatures bite!’ he cackled, disappearing down the passage and leaving them behind in complete darkness once again.
Frank and Philip sat very uncomfortably, unable to move a limb. They were absolutely starved from all the pointless running. Mathias had also very kindly emptied their little food bowls in a spiteful attempt at teaching them a lesson. This time they knew all hope was lost, and that they were surely doomed.
Chapter 7
Chimzen’s home was situated along the outskirts of the woods, near the top of an enormous pepper tree that stretched high up into the sky, far above all the others. Unlike Mathias’s gloomy dungeon, radiant sunlight flooded into his tree house, which possessed lovely Cape style cottage windows on two sides. The entrance door was rounded at the top, made from slats of old weathered oak. It had a lovely brass doorknob with a sculptured lizard moulded around it, which looked so real that you would almost expect it to dash across the door at any moment. The ceiling appeared very heavy, also structured with long slats of oak. In the centre of his home stood a fairly large, round stinkwood table, very rugged and unpolished. Around the table stood six matching chairs, each one beautifully carved at the back with a picture of a small animal from the woods. The table was positioned on a dark green rug with frayed edges, which gave the place a warm homely feeling. Suspended in midair below the ceiling, above the table, a large array of small planets spun around. They were completely unique, resembling a foreign solar system. To the left of the entrance stood a long desk, extending across the length of the room. It had wide sturdy legs, with four large drawers on either side, each one set with a small brass knob. The top was smooth and nicely polished. It came equipped with a solid chair, which displayed beautiful flowery carvings on the arms and back. On the opposite side of the room, bookshelves extended from the ground all the way up to the ceiling. The shelves of thick stained pine were bolted to the wall. The bookshelves were open, with many of the books suspended mystically in midair, hovering in front of the shelves.
Opposite the door, to the far end of the room, stood a large fish tank positioned on a steel table. The table had spiral steel legs, which appeared a bit unstable. The fish tank swayed gently from left to right, with water occasionally splashing over the top. The inside was set up like a circus act, with tiny suspended hoops and bars. Some of them rotated slowly in the water, similar to a dolphin aquarium. The steel bars moved up and down, creating a kind of tiny obstacle course. In the corner of the fish tank lay a small house with two entrances. Floating magically above the fish tank was another hoop, slightly larger than the others. There was also a small platform mounted at the top corner of the tank.
The table in the corner was neat and orderly, holding a pair of spectacles, a good old-fashioned quill pen and inkpot, and a large black book used for jotting down any new and interesting ideas. Towards the back lay a large book of spells, which lay open, displaying an unusually large foreign text. Chimzen kept it tightly under lock, key and spell when not in use, making sure no one other than himself could access its power. On the right-hand side of the table lay a variety of berries, stones and leaves, as well as a large collection of glass flasks of all shapes and sizes. Only one of them was currently in use, a small one filled to the brim with a green paste, for healing injured animals. He found a poor feathered fellow earlier on that day trying its best to take off, yet only able to flap around in painful circles. A few dabs of the green goo on its broken wing, and the poor bird was as good as new in no time at all. On the far corner of the desk lay a pile of books, with the top one hovering slightly above the rest.
* * * * * * * *
Chimzen sat at his desk looking very worried, pondering over his walk in the woods earlier that day, wondering about the search party he had overheard, and the shoe print he had noticed in the sand. ‘I am very sure that my wretched cousin has something to do with this,’ he muttered, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.
The Malco trio were spinning around the planets suspended above the big round table, giggling amongst themselves. They were becoming quite annoying as they tapped in between the colourful planet balls.
‘Will you three please be quiet?’ he snapped, giving them a stern gaze. The three balls immediately stopped giggling and hovered in alarmed silence. Chimzen reached carefully into his left hand pocket, and produced some of the sand he had gathered earlier from the shoe print. He placed the soil onto the table, spreading it in a circular shape. Opening his bottom drawer, he pulled out a little bottle that contained blue liquid. Holding it well away from himself, he carefully unscrewed the cap, and the exposed liquid started hissing like deadly acid. Carefully, he poured a few drops onto the circular sand formation. The bubbling mixture instantly burst into flames, and fizzled out soon afterwards, leaving behind a lump of green sticky tar, which slowly resumed a round shape. After a few minutes the sticky round lump of tar settled and formed a bright green sand disc.
Chimzen opened his book of spells and flipped hurriedly through the pages. Stopping near the middle somewhere, he began chanting while twisting the disc with his fingers, making it spin on its edge like a coin.
‘Keez ratuz geel das tortune,
Green sand disc tell us your fortune.’
The green disc began spinning even faster, until it appeared as though it was a solid green ball. He summoned the trio to take their positions. The three balls spun to his desk, and formed an evenly spaced triangle around the spinning disc. The three balls projected bright colourful beams towards each other, then projected them upwards to a point, forming a pyramid of light very much the same as the one used for teleporting. As the disc spun, green light projected onto the pyramid walls, appearing transparent as the sand story began to unfold.
Chimzen gazed anxiously into the pyramid. The green disc projection showed a schoolboy running through the woods. As he ran, he kept looking behind as if being followed by someone. Chimzen gazed on, watching Philip attempt to escape from Frank. Philip was standing by a large tree now, looking around to see if Frank was approaching. Suddenly he was struck over the head with a large plank. Chimzen edged forward in horror, watching his evil cousin drag the unconscious boy off to his gloomy hole.
He sat back, shaking his head in disgust.
‘So that dreadful cousin of mine is using schoolboys for his evil experimentation now! This is totally unacceptable! I must put an end to this treachery!’ Tapping his fingers sharply on the desk, he planned the rescue of the victims he had seen in the sand disc, hoping that only one of them had been caught. The light projected by the trio gradually grew dim and faded. The green disc stopped glowing and spun to a halt.
* * * * * * * *
Chimzen could hear the joyful splashing of his goldfish, Elvis, by the window. He had been resting in his little house and was stirred by the vibration of his master’s alarmed cries. The little fish swam in and out between the little bars and through the hoops at a mean speed. Reaching the end of the tank, he made a sharp U-turn, gained some speed and shot through the little hoop suspended in the air. Down he flew, landing back in the water with a big splash. The fish tank rocked back and forth on its springy legs, causing water to splash over the side. Elvis swam towards his little platform in the corner, shot up in the air, and landed neatly on top of his wavy orange goldfish tail fin. Chimzen walked towards his scaly friend, clapping his hands and smiling from ear to ear.
‘Bravo Elvis! Bravo! So you managed to jump the magical hoop at last?’
‘Yes master, finally master,’ the little fish said breathlessly.
‘Good show, I knew you would get it right,’ he cheered, stroking Elvis softly on the back fin. ‘And how are you this morning my friend?’
&nbs
p; ‘I’m fine and splashy today master! I’ve just been picking up a very bad vibration inside my tank. Is there something wrong master?’ Elvis replied in his surprisingly deep voice, bouncing up and down on his tail while he spoke.
‘Mathias is up to no good again Elvis. I’m quite sure it’s nothing I can’t handle though.’
‘That man is so evil, especially with all the things he has done to small creatures like myself. It’s about time something was done to stop him.’
Chimzen leaned forward, tapping the little fish on his head. ‘Don’t you worry yourself Elvis, my scaly friend, I’ll take care of him.’
‘Yes, but you have to stop him master or…’
‘I said not to worry Elvis,’ he insisted, blocking the little fish’s mouth with his pinkie finger. ‘There is definitely something fishy about that cousin of mine, but don’t go making that your problem. Elvis will not be leaving the building; you are quite safe with me. Okay?’
‘I won’t be leaving which building?’ Elvis asked, looking very confused.
‘Never mind Elvis, never mind,’ Chimzen chuckled.
The puzzled fish did a wobbly bow, and flipped sideways into the water. He disappeared into his little house, scratching his head with his fin. ‘What building? I don’t stay in a building? What is master on about?’
Chimzen sat at his desk where the trio hovered in a slow moving circle. Giving the three balls a discerning look, he placed his hands behind his head. ‘You do realize that this is a job for the three of you?’
‘Of course!’ the trio replied, all at once, with excited squeaky voices.