The taming of Tornak the Terrible 2/5

She was quite right. They were all standing on a path which crossed an open piece of ground. To one side were distant hills and on the other was a forest. The path itself ran from a bridge over a river towards a village.

Riding out from the village was a knight in armour with a very long lance and bright red plumes in his helmet. His shield was emblazoned with a red cross and gleamed in the sun. Cyril took one look at the knight and folded his wings as tightly as he could. He curled his tail between his legs and crouched down to make himself look as small as possible.

"If he asks, say I'm a dog," he said.

The knight trotted up to them and stopped. "Greetings, fair ladies, I ride in search of adventure. Has anyone done you a wrong that I can right, or do you know of any dragons hereabouts to be slain?"

He looked suspiciously at Cyril as he spoke.

"He's my pet dog," said Jennifer Jane hurriedly, "his name's ... er... Rover".

"Wuff," said Cyril hopefully.

"You could 'elp us love," said Esmerelda, "if you tell us where we are, so's we can get 'ome, 'cos we're lost."

"Where is your rightful domain?" asked the knight.

"We live in the land of Tornak the Terrible," said Esmerelda "but we come 'ere by magic and dunno which way to go to get back."

"The land of Tornak the Terrible is over yonder bridge, which is guarded by the Troll Lurgin. None have passed his bridge in living memory. It would be safer by far to remain here in this pleasant land."

I wanna go 'ome," said Dulcibella.

"So you shall love," said Esmerelda, putting her arm round Dulcibella's shoulder. "We'll see if we can't sort out this Lurgin bloke between us."
"Then I bid you farewell," said the knight, "for no human can stand against a Troll".

The knight's horse turned his head and looked at Jennifer Jane. "It's all right for him, sitting there at the thick end of a fifteen foot pole, all done up in his shiny tin suit. I'm the one doing all the hard work and if that Rover of yours is a dog, I'm the queen of the fairies!"

Jennifer Jane glanced up at the knight.

"Don't worry about him," continued the horse, "he can't understand a word I say, it's just 'gee up' and 'whoa' and very occasionally, 'charge'. It's not a very exciting life but the food's regular."

"Gee up," said the knight and raised his hand in salute as he turned to leave.

"See what I mean?" said the horse, as he trotted off.

"Well, at least we know which way to go," said Jennifer Jane as the knight rode back to the village.

"Di'nty talk posh?" said Dulcibella.

"That's what comes of bein' a toff," said Esmerelda. "Now then, I 'ope someone's good at answerin' riddles so's we can get over old Lurgin's bridge in one piece."

"I know lots of them," said Jennifer Jane. "One of my favourite books is about a wicked wizard who turned people into statues if they couldn't answer his riddles correctly."

"Well come on then," said Esmerelda, "let's see if your book's any good at answerin' Lurgin's riddles. You can be the first one to get et if you're wrong."