CHAPTER NINE
During the year that Druid Mogie and Greebie were thinking, Druid Lufgi Ufi and his companions Druid Chook, Druid Master Evol and Ben Ufi’s own nephew Druid Lufgi Ufi were secretly creeping toward the evil Lord Mogodawns own castle and home. They arrived there months after they set out and they hoped against hope that they weren’t too late.
The lawn was a flat area which housed a swimming pool and a myriad of statues.
“Whats with all the statues?” asked Druid Lufgi Ufi in a whispered question.
“Don’t you know it’s her looks that does it!” replied Druid Chook in another whispered tone. “When she looks at someone she turns them into stone. She is Matilda with the Gorgon hair. A head full of snakes is what she’s got. One look from her, or even a sideways glance and Wham! Stone you become!”
“That’s right!” confirmed Druid Master Evol. “You’d do well to keep well away from her. Matilda Te-Marze-Pam has a reputation she does. She is the Mistress of dreams and can turn people and even animals to stone in the blink of an eye. She can put you to sleep in a permanent state if she so desires.”
“Then all these statues are actually people that have been turned to stone.” Whispered Druid Lufgi Ufi amazed as the realization overtook his senses. He made a mental note not to tangle with Matilda Te-Marze-Pam. (The mental note he made was probably a B flat as he was not very musical).
“That’s right so we’d better be on our toes”. Replied Druid Chook. “Follow me” he said as he tiptoed from statue to statue in a bid not to be seen.
The other Druids all tiptoed as he did creeping up onto the back porch of the mansion. Through enormous glass doors they could see into the games room and at one end was a pedestal containing a glass dome covering the Main-shard.
“God be praised, we are not too late.” Whispered Druid Chook but nobody actually praised God. “There’s the Main-shard under glass on that pedestal”. He qualified. “We’ll have to sneak in and grab it without being seen.” He said dreaming of the task in hand.
“Remember to be seen is to be turned to stone” reaffirmed Druid Lufgi Ufi. “None of us want that, so be on the lookout” he said in a whisper so soft that the others did not catch what he had actually said. They were being on the lookout anyway because they were now sneaking into Lord Mogodawns private castle. His Castle was his home as he had always claimed and this was a particularly dangerous pastime to pursue.
All three could now see the pedestal and the Mother-shard, they were so close they could almost taste it (which of course was not the case at all). Nevertheless they had only to enter the room and grab the shard. It suddenly dawned on Druid Chook that this seemed too easy. It was too easy travelling from Skard, at a time when pilgrims were being evacuated; it was too easy sneaking from city to city on the mainland of Droop; it was too easy finding the Castle of Mogodawn it being the only Castle of size on the planet and it was too easy tiptoeing across the lawn to arrive at the glass back door to the games room which housed the Mother-shard.
“Wait!” he exclaimed in a hushed tone. “Doesn’t this all seem to be a little too easy?” he offered.
The other Druids looked at him quizzically “No-oo” They drawled in unison wondering what Druid Chook was actually inferring. They had not thought of any of their adventure to be easy. In fact it was rather difficult riding in an Arkwright ship for weeks with poor food and sea-sickness as it was also difficult sneaking from city to city in the most hideous of disguises not to be recognised and it was especially not easy tiptoeing across the lawn from Statue to Statue in order to reach this the glass back door to Lord Mogodawns Castle.
“We’ve come this far!” stated Druid Lufgi Ufi revealing the most obvious of all observations. “We may as well get on with it and do what we set out to do” he confirmed.
Slowly he opened the door. It was not locked but slid silently open on rails that were greased with pig fat. This was not an important observation so no-one took any notice of it.
They crept into the games room. It was a large room with trophy heads mounted on the walls and in the centre a large billiards table. At the far end was the pedestal and Mother-shard. The Druids crept very stealthily towards it with arms outstretched as if in position ready to grab the shard when suddenly a voice behind them bellowed.
“So you’ve come to steal the Mother-shard have you” shouted Matilda in an echoing voice.
“Don’t move” whispered Druid Chook. All three of them froze in their positions of taking a step with arms reaching for the shard.
“So you’ve come for the shard!” repeated Matilda with a sneer.
By this time the Druids legs were getting heavy and their hands were turning red from blood-flow being held outstretched as they were.
“I’ve caught you red handed” exclaimed Matilda with a laugh. “Now I will deal with you. Look at me when I am speaking to you” she demanded.
“Don’t look!” whispered Druid Chook with a stern but trembling whispered order.
“I demand you look at me” reiterated Matilda “Very well if you won’t look at me then I will look at you” she threatened as she ambled around the room in order to face them.
“Look at my beautiful hair” she said as she proudly stroked her locks of snake like hair. It completely covered her whole body streaming from her head. She looked particularly gross to look at so much so that only a demented megalomaniac could love her.
“Don’t look” whispered Druid Chook through clenched teeth. He was very good at clenching his teeth.
“Ah-ha” she exclaimed as she drew up before the Druids who remained standing in pose. “Now I will turn you to stone where you stand” she threatened. “but only from the waist down so that Lord Mogodawn can see who it is that would steal the Mother shard.” She explained.
“No! You can’t “
“No! Please No”
“Wait!” exclaimed all the Druids at the same time but their pleadings came too late as their legs slowly felt icy cold and stiff as boards then in mid step their legs became stone; a kind of marble material with the smooth texture of polished jade.
“Ha ha I have a tidy little plan for you lot” said Matilda Te Marze-Pam. “I will send word to the other druids of your clan and they will come to rescue you and when they do, that’s when I’ll get them too”.
At this time Druid Mogie and Greebie Pigleman also known as Pyxie Greebie were somewhere wandering about thinking of several different things at a time. In actual fact they were lost in thought and had no idea where they were but even though they were lost they were still discovered by a black boomerang bat sent out to find them by Te Marze-Pam the sorceress.
The terrible bat creature found then and dropped a note containing a message. In those days there were many notes containing messages getting about but this message was for Druid Mogie himself.
“It’s a personal note from Te Marze-Pam.” He told Greebie. “It says that three Druids have been captured and turned to stone whilst they were in the act of attempting to steal the Mother shard”. In fact the note didn’t say anything as notes can’t talk.
Druid Mogie read on “Come and save them if you dare.”
“Goodness me” said Greebie “What can we do?” he asked
“Obviously it’s a trap” Druid Mogie said in a serious tone but it being a trap was not obvious to Greebie. He just stared at the elder Druid in disbelief.
“We mustn’t go unprepared” he said at last. “I’ll need to get some sort of protection. This might take some time” he added.
“We can’t leave Druid Chook, Druid Lufgi Ufi and Druid Master Evol trapped in stone. We’ll have to rescue them as soon as possible.” he said.
“We can’t go unprepared or ill prepared” the elder said.
“But we have to go. Soon.” replied Greebie.
“You can go if you want but I’ll not be coaxed into a situation that I am not prepared for. I’ll have to seek out a witch to help me find protection from her stony powers.”
“Well if you’re going to do nothing I will go. I’m not afraid of Matilda Te Marze-Pam.” Retorted Greebie impatiently.
“Very well then! You do that. But I.ve got to find a witch to get a protective charm against the sorceress. This could take some time.” He added.