Read Milo and the Raging Chieftains Online
Authors: Mary Arrigan
Milo and the Raging Chieftains (5 page)
M
y leg muscles were screaming by the time we got to the top of the winding steps. Mister Lewis got me and Shane to push open a big door on to the battlements. It’s his hands, you see. Being a ghost, he can’t do much pushing because they would just go through the wood.
‘We’re here. Sshh,’ he whispered, putting
his fingers to his lips again. ‘Just wait here a moment,’ he went on. ‘I’ll have a look around to see if the coast is clear before you come out.’
‘Ha, you’re going to go invisible,’ I giggled. ‘You don’t want to scare the watchman.’
‘Eh, something like that,’ he said before disappearing.
‘How did he do that, Milo?’ whispered Shane.
‘Because he’s a ghost, Shane.’
‘A real ghost! Are you serious? So you weren’t joking me!’
‘That’s right,’ I said.
‘Hm, fair enough,’ whispered Shane.
See what I mean? Nothing panics Shane – except maybe when he first meets a dead man.
Mister Lewis wafted back after a minute or two, the moonlight shining through one
of the skinny windows, showing up his puzzled frown.
‘Strange,’ he said, ‘No watch outside. Battlements are empty.’
‘He probably went down for a sandwich, or something,’ I said.
Mister Lewis shook his head. Just a slight shake in case he’d lose some bits, as happens when he gets excited.
Well, there wasn’t much to see when we went on to the battlements.
‘They’ve turned off all the lights in town!’ exclaimed Shane. ‘Look. Milo. Look at how dark it is. The houses and streets have no lights.’
‘Electricity wires must be down,’ I said.
‘Well,’ said Mister Lewis, ‘it’s just the old part of the town in the area around the castle which is in darkness.’
‘That’s weird,’ I said. ‘You’d think if one part
goes then the whole lot would go too. That has happened during bad thunderstorms …’
‘Well,’ put in Mister Lewis again, ‘we’re sort of in a different era just now.’
‘How do you mean?’ asked Shane.
‘Listen carefully,’ Mister Lewis said, pointing in the distance. ‘You see where those trees are against the moonlight?’
‘Yeah, that’s where we live,’ said Shane. ‘Me and Milo live over there.’
‘Right,’ Mister Lewis went on. ‘That’s the newer part of town. The
now
part. And you see where we’re standing here?’
‘Yes, of course we know. We’re on the
then
castle,’ I quipped. ‘Get it?’
The old guy’s brain is going down the tubes, I thought. Should we leave, Shane and me, before we get caught up in a dead man’s ramblings?
‘We are indeed, Milo,’ he said. ‘But we’re
not in the
now
.’
‘What’s he talking about, Milo?’ whispered Shane.
I was too scared to ask.
Then Mister Lewis gave a slight cough before saying words I would never have expected to hear.
‘We’re, eh, back in the fourteen hundreds,’ he said. ‘But don’t worry,’ he went on, as Shane’s chin slipped down to his chest and my knees buckled like boiled chicken legs. ‘It’s just for a little while – until I get Ossie sorted.’
I noticed he crossed his fingers as he said that. Did that mean we might be stuck here in the past for longer? Forever even? I wanted to faint and wake up in my bed. But, hey, Mister Lewis was my good, if deceased, buddy, and buddies don’t mess with their pals.
Shane squeezed my arm, really hard. ‘Hey Milo,’ he whispered. ‘I think I’d actually like to go now. Right now,’ he added. ‘We’ve seen enough. I don’t much like this century.’
Before I could croak an answer, Mister Lewis herded us over to another vantage point on the battlements.
‘You see that light?’ he said, pointing away in the distance.
Sure enough, when we squinted our eyes we could see flickering lights far away through the trees.
That,’ said Mister Lewis, ‘is where we must go on your bicycles, across an ancient track. The town, the people and this castle are depending on you two chaps, and Ossie and me.’
Well, Shane and I looked at one another. I hoped he wasn’t going to fall down in a faint again because I needed him as he was
the only other live person here. Spooks are OK in their own way, but when the chips are down you want a warm-blooded mate to be with you.
‘
D
epend on us to do what?’ I almost didn’t want to know, but if you’re several centuries away from home, you need to know these things.
‘Well, just trust me, Milo,’ said Mister Lewis.
Those were not the words I wanted to hear. Much as I like my spooky friend, there’s always the danger that he’ll disappear, and we’d be, like, shuffling about in an age that
didn’t have X-boxes or ice cream, forever.
‘Now let’s go back downstairs and sort things out,’ said Mister Lewis, giving another glance around the dark battlements.
‘Still no sign of the watchman?’ I whispered.
He sighed and whispered a quiet ‘no’.
Just as well, I thought. Being caught by any watchman is not funny. But facing a fourteenth-century one was more than nerves could stand.
‘Why me and Shane, Mister Lewis?’ I asked. ‘We’re just regular kids. What can we do?’
‘Yeah,’ added Shane. ‘I was only following Milo. I’m not into this sort of stuff.’
‘Ha! Well you are now, lad,’ said Mister Lewis.
‘So why us?’ I went on.
‘Your friendship, Milo,’ Mister Lewis replied. ‘Who else could I turn to in an
emergency like this? And, of course, your trusty bicycle.’
‘My bike?’
‘Indeed, I remembered your bicycle from the last time we worked together. It is silent and fast. What better way to get from one castle to another? And,’ he added, rubbing his spooky hands together, ‘thanks to Shane joining us, we now have
two
bicycles to take us there.’
‘You mean that castle that we saw from the tower?’ I asked.
I was beginning to sense a black shadow drifting inside my head. You know those nightmares caused by a late supper of fish and chips, and chocolate that the minder gets in when your parents are out? Except that there was no nightmare here. It was the real thing.
‘Why should we go there?’ asked Shane.
‘One visit to an ancient castle is enough.’
‘All in good time, Shane,’ sighed Mister Lewis. ‘Let’s go downstairs. Quietly,’ he added. ‘Mustn’t waken the sleeping inhabitants.’
There was no sign of Ossie when we went down to the big hall.
‘I hope that grumpy kid has gone to bed,’ I whispered to Shane.
‘Looks like he has,’ said Shane. ‘Good riddance.’
‘Why the grin? Are you not scared?’ I asked him. ‘You and me, we’re way back in a time when anything might happen, and you’re grinning like a chimpanzee with a bucket of bananas.’
Shane just shrugged his shoulders. ‘Well, I’m not really scared any more. I’m with
you
and I trust
him
,’ he nodded towards Mister Lewis. ‘So, what’s to worry?’
That was fair enough, I figured. If he could stamp down panic, so could I.
As we stood around the dying fire in the big hall and thawed out our fingers, Mister Lewis explained some of the history – not that I’m a fan of history, but when you’re actually in it, it needs your full attention.
‘A man called Rory Rua – Rory the Red because of his red hair – built this castle in the fourteen hundreds,’ Mister Lewis began. ‘He was a good man, kind to his wolfhounds, his falcons, and his family – in that order,’ he added. ‘And he only allowed hangings and floggings on sunny days to make the culprits feel good.’
‘Nice man. OK,’ I said, pushing Mister Lewis to get to whatever we needed to know.
‘A decent sort, as noblemen go,’ went on Mister Lewis, ignoring my hopping from
one foot to the other, ‘but Rory’s jealous, greedy cousin, Roc, wanted to oust Rory from this fine castle. He took over a smaller neighbouring castle – you saw the lights of it from the battlements – and was preparing his men for a battle. But when Rory heard of this he hid the Grant.’
‘The what?’
‘The Grant was a valuable document, signed by the King, giving a nobleman land and permission to build a castle,’ he explained. ‘When Rory heard that his enemy, Roc, was nearby, he hid that Grant. If Roc got his hands on it, Rory would lose everything. No banks back then,’ he continued. ‘So people had to protect their valuables—’
‘Just like now,’ Shane interrupted. ‘That’s why I keep my bike in my bedroom. And I chain it to my bed—’
‘So what has this to do with us?’ I interrupted.
‘Well, this is the thing,’ Mister Lewis sighed. ‘An architect in your time, who was working in this castle, found a leather pouch under a stone slab on one of the upper windows. Inside it was a parchment …’
‘The Grant!’ I exclaimed.
‘The very Grant,’ Mister Lewis nodded. ‘Written in Latin.’
‘And what did it say?’ Shane interrupted again. ‘How could he understand the funny swirly writing that was used back then? They wrote with feathers in those days, didn’t they?’
‘I’m coming to that,’ said Mister Lewis. ‘Heavens, boy, you do go on!’
‘Can you make it short, Mister Lewis?’ I whispered. ‘Get to the point.’
‘Well,’ he began. ‘He gave it to his nice
lady friend for safekeeping, an educated teacher lady who said she’d find out more about it.’
A cold feeling iced its way up my neck. ‘Miss Lee,’ I whispered.
‘That’s her,’ said Mister Lewis. ‘Nice lady. Smart sense of style, and great teeth. And, by the way, she’s a descendant of the same Rory Rua.’
‘Miss Lee?!’ said Shane. ‘Cool.’
‘So that’s why she was always hanging around the castle,’ I exclaimed.
‘She wasn’t at school,’ Shane put in. ‘We had to suffer the super hairy principal. All day!’
‘Her car was found,’ I said. ‘The doors were open, and there were papers strewn around. Do you think it was spooks looking for the Grant?’
‘If they’d found it,’ Shane said, ‘they
wouldn’t have needed to kidnap her. So she must be hiding with it somewhere.’
‘There were extra gardaí brought in to look for Miss Lee,’ I added.
‘Mister Lewis shook his head carefully. ‘Well, they won’t find her,’ he sighed. ‘Nobody will.’
‘Why not?’ Shane asked.
I’d gone dumb.
‘Because Roc found his way to your time and he has abducted her,’ Mister Lewis went on. ‘She’s imprisoned somewhere in his castle. And it’s up to us to find her and prevent Roc from getting that Grant.’
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Just for an ancient a piece of paper …?’
‘Because,’ Mister Lewis interrupted, in a low tone of voice, ‘if he gets his hands on that Grant, then this town will never have existed, nor the people who live here.
So that’s why I’ve brought you here, you and your bikes and—’ But before he could continue, Ossie came barging in, red-faced and angry.
‘
W
here have you all been? I’ve been looking for you all over the place – even the dark west battlements – ALL ON MY OWN!’ Ossie ranted, waving what looked like a small wooden club – as if that would have sent the enemy running!
‘Calm down, Ossie,’ said Mister Lewis. ‘You’re in a right state. We were on the
south battlements. What is your problem?’
‘Master Lewis!’ Ossie erupted like a mini volcano, all red-faced and spewing little spitlets. ‘They’re all asleep in the kitchen.’
‘Of course they’re asleep, lad. That’s why you asked me to come and help you at this time of night,’ said Mister Lewis.
‘Those soldiers, who are supposed to be on watch, looking out for Roc and his men at the outer castle walls,’ Ossie panted. ‘They’ve been drinking apple wine. Someone must have put a potion in their food and water, and the wine. They’re all asleep. I couldn’t waken them, not even when I thumped them with Mistress Kate’s heavy pan. All the kitchen staff are sleeping on the floor. Even the hounds are snoring. And I couldn’t waken my mother, father or sisters in their beds!’
‘Aha, so that’s why there was nobody on guard!’ said Mister Lewis, getting up from his chair.
Ossie’s white face went even whiter. ‘What will we do now?’ he said, spluttering with fury.
I hadn’t known that dead guys have spit – but then I realised that he was back in his own time.
‘Roc will come and there will be nobody to stop him from taking over our castle – especially now that he probably has the Grant.’
‘Oh, chill up, boy,’ said Mister Lewis. ‘I thought this would be an easy job to slip into Roc’s castle, get Miss Lee and the Grant and head back to the present.’
Mister Lewis fiddled with his hat as he thought.
We waited and waited for him to come
up with an idea. From the look on his face, it didn’t look like anything was stirring in his mind.
After a few moments, Shane spoke. ‘I’m starving,’ he said, looking at Ossie. ‘Is there any food?’
‘Are you mad?’ I cried. ‘We’re facing the rest of our lives trapped in a freezing castle and all you can think of is food! And anyway Ossie said the food was drugged!’
The three of us jumped when Mister Lewis leapt up, waving his hands and dancing about on his skinny legs.
‘FOOD!’ he shouted. ‘That’s it. FOOD!’
Now I knew that his time had come. The spook had finally flipped. He was stone mad. We were really going to be stuck here forever, me and Shane, wearing tights and ploughing through cold muck and horse-dung (I’ve seen the films).
‘Food?’ I cried out. ‘Are you crazy too, Mister Lewis? This isn’t a time for food!’ Oh shoot! The old guy’s dead brains had finally kicked in. I sat on a stool, put my head on my hands and groaned.
‘Shane,’ Mister Lewis said, ‘Your gran, Big Ella, bless her, is a food-loving lady, isn’t that so?’
‘Yeah. Me too,’ Shane replied. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
My head sank further into my hands.
‘Her cupboards are filled with all sorts of strange ingredients,’ Mister Lewis continued.
‘How do you know that?’ said Shane, frowning. ‘Have you been poking about in our cupboards?
‘Of course I have. And I’ve often marvelled at the jars of exotic ingredients she gets from her friends in Africa, and other parts of the world. What else is there to do for
entertainment at nights when you’re dead? Now, listen closely. Here’s my plan, boys. Then get those bicycles. There’s much work to be done.’