Excerpts

Taken from Chapter Two

“You open the box, Lucky,” said Little Ed and Go-Go at the same time.

Everyone gasped and then there was complete silence.

The inside of the box shone. It was a brilliant bright light and everyone gazed at it for some time. Little Ed seemed to recover from the shock first and he put his hand into the light slowly. Nothing happened. Gradually he lowered his hand into the box. He felt three stones. He took hold of one, brought it out and asked Lucky to put out her hand, so he could place the stone in it. It shone brightly and lit up her entire face. He put his hand back into the box and took out the next stone, before placing that in Go-Go’s hand. This glowed too, revealing the amazement on Go-Go’s face. Little Ed took the last stone and held that himself. He closed his fist around it and the light shone between the gaps in his fingers. The three children were enchanted.

“What are they?”

“They must be the lost stones of Oaktreeland,” replied Goldhorn. “They were lost hundreds of years ago when the bad gnomes fought the good gnomes. The good gnomes buried the stones for safety and because the bad gnomes took over Oaktreeland, the good gnomes were scattered far and wide and the stones were never recovered. They used to be used by our gnome leaders to ward off evil.  Now you have found them they’re yours. But, my friends, I warn you to take care of them. You must only use them for good deeds.” He paused and looked at the children. “Now we must get you back up above.”

Taken from Chapter Seven

Fi-Fi appeared and tapped lightly over their hands. There was a blinding flash and there in front of them were two pink pigs and eight beautiful parrots. The parrots were all different colours. There was a green and blue one with a red beak, a yellow one with blue wings and a long tail and another with an orange head, a long black beak, a green breast and yellow wings. The others were stunning too. It took the parrots a second to realise they could fly, and they all took off at once. The pigs were bewildered to be alive, but they were soon in their element, snuffling through the rotten things on the floor.

Once again the dogs almost jumped out their skins at the flash of light. They were blinded by it for a second and when they could see again they blinked their eyes several times. There were two pigs snorting around the cell and lots of brightly coloured birds. What would Grimehog do to them? This was the third time they had been left in charge. They could round up the pigs and shoo them into the woods, but there was no way they could catch the parrots. They decided to start with the pigs. They rushed into the cell just in time to stop the pigs rooting out the other pictures Lucky had hidden. Lucky was worried so she ran towards them to change their direction, but she got in the way of the dogs and they knocked her flying. She lay sprawled on the ground. The dogs did not stop, but went straight for the pigs. The pigs were not at all disturbed at being chased by two dogs and they trotted happily out of the cell, towards the open doorway of the palace, which led into the woods. The dogs went after them.

Go-Go helped Lucky to her feet. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” She dusted herself down.

“Right, the dogs have gone. Good riddance. What now? Can we leave too?” Go-Go sure hoped so.

“No,” said Little Ed, “We have to get rid of Grimehog. We need him to use more of his magic powers. Let’s call the parrots and try to make them sit around the bars of the cell. Come on Go-Go you can make a lot of noise when you want to.”