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- Herausgeber: Knights Of
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Knights and Bikes
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
Adventure awaits Demelza and her best friend in the whole world, Nessa, as they embark on a whole new adventure, solving mysteries, fending off bullies and celebrating the greatest friendship of ALL TIME. When an unexpected guest arrives in Penfurzy, Nessa and Demelza go out of their way to help them, entering a world of ancient myth and legend. Facing ghosts and monsters, and Conan the bully who just keeps getting in the way at the worst possible moment. JOIN the brave knights of the Penfruzy Rebel Bicycle Club in an all new stand-alone KNIGHTS AND BIKES adventure packed with laughter, heart, action and award-winning illustrations.
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Contents
Chapter One
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE KNIGHT
‘Bang, bang, bang!’ said Nessa, shining her torch under her chin so that her glowing face hovered spookily in Demelza’s pitch-black caravan. Her earrings glinted in the light and her spiky black hair cast eerie shadows on the ceiling.
Demelza’s frizzy red bunches bounced as she grabbed her pet goose, Captain Honkers, and squeezed him so tight that he let out a squeaky honk like a deflating set of bagpipes. Why had she suggested sharing scary stories during their pre-Halloween sleepover? Nessa was far too good at telling them.
‘Bang, bang, BANG!’ said Nessa again, thumping her fist on the edge of the bunk bed. Demelza shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth to stop her teeth chattering.
‘BANG, BANG, BANG!’ shouted Nessa for a third time, then leant forwards, dropping her voice to a whisper. 2‘Wondering why her boyfriend hadn’t come back from the woods, the woman opened the door of the car, and there on the roof was a man with an axe!’
‘Nooo!’ squeaked Demelza, pulling her sleeping bag up over her head and peering at Nessa through a tiny gap.
‘And what was that in his other hand? The thing he had been banging on the roof? He held it up in the moonlight and the woman screamed as she recognized … HER BOYFRIEND’S SEVERED HE—’
‘LA-LA-LAAA!’ shouted Demelza, shoving her fingers in her ears as she scrambled out of her sleeping bag and rolled onto the floor. ‘LA-LA-LA-LA-LAAA!’ she screamed as she ran around the caravan to stop her legs trembling. Captain Honkers flapped up to the top bunk in fright. ‘LA-LA-LAAAAAAAAAA!’
HONK! HONK! said Captain Honkers.
‘Whoa, calm down, D!’ shouted Nessa. ‘It’s OK, it’s just a story!’
‘LA-LA-LA-LA-LAAAA!’ Demelza shouted even louder.3
Nessa leapt off the bed and grabbed Demelza around the waist, lifting her half off the ground as her legs kept running in mid-air, sending one of her bunny slippers flying across the room and into the goldfish bowl, much to the surprise of Sir Bubbles III. ‘It’s OK, it’s made up. It’s not true!’ Nessa yelled over the La-La-La’s.
Demelza’s legs slowly stopped running. Her bare feet dropped back down onto the carpet.
‘It … it’s not?’ She twisted in Nessa’s arms and scanned her face for signs that she might be fibbing.
‘Of course not!’ said Nessa, letting go of her. ‘It’s just a silly story the kids at my old school used to tell.’ She switched the bedside lamp on and threw Demelza’s Game Gauntlet over to her. ‘Sorry I scared you. Come on, howz about we play a bit of Legend of Melder before bed?’
‘I wasn’t really scared, you know,’ said Demelza, pulling their sleeping bags down from the bunk bed to make a little nest on the floor. ‘I was just tricking you into admitting you was making it up.’
‘Ah, OK,’ smiled Nessa, climbing into the nest beside her and picking up the other game controller. ‘Nice. You totally tricked me.’4
Demelza munched through a whole packet of Opal Fruits as they watched the computer loading screen. By the time the opening fanfare of the game filled the little caravan she felt much better. She put on her Game Gauntlet and bumped fists with Nessa as the words Welcome to Luxulyan Valley appeared on the screen.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
Demelza spun round and glared at Nessa. ‘That’s not funny!’
Nessa wasn’t laughing – Nessa was staring at the ceiling. So was Captain Honkers. He flew down from the top bunk and wriggled into their nest.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
‘A head! It’s a head!’ yelled Demelza. She shot down under the sleeping bags and felt Captain Honkers wriggle into the cotton shelter with her.
‘It’s not a head!’ said Nessa, though Demelza was sure her voice wobbled a bit. ‘It can’t be a head.’
BANG, BANG, BANG.
‘It’s a head!’ shouted Demelza, absolutely one hundred per cent, totally and utterly positively definitely sure, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that it was, undeniably, a head.5
HONK! agreed Captain Honkers from between them.
‘Look, I’ll go out and prove that it’s not a head,’ said Nessa. She got up and pulled on her boots and denim jacket over her pyjamas. ‘I bet it’s just the TV aerial flapping in the wind.’
Demelza peeped out of her shelter. Nessa had paused with her hand on the door. She didn’t look as though she wanted to open it.
‘It’s dangerous to go alone,’ said Demelza.
Nessa gave her a relieved grin and held out her hand. ‘Come on then, D.’
Demelza wriggled her hand out of the Game Gauntlet and slapped it into Nessa’s. ‘Take this.’
6‘Oh, er, right. OK,’ said Nessa, looking down at the Game Gauntlet as if it wasn’t quite what she had expected. She donned the gauntlet and clenched her fist.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
‘Go get ’em!’ shouted Demelza, trying to think of something rousing to say. ‘Death or glory!’
Nessa took a deep breath, threw open the door and stepped into the night. Demelza cuddled Captain Honkers.
Honk!
‘It’s OK, Honkers, Nessa is super tough.’
Honk?
‘All right. If she’s not back in ten seconds we’ll go rescue her.’ She pulled him closer. ‘One, two three,’ she counted. A flash of light came through the window as Nessa shone her torch up at the roof. ‘Four, five, six,’ as Nessa’s footsteps squelched around the caravan. ‘Seven, eight, nine …’
The footsteps had stopped. Demelza lowered the sleeping bag and picked up a badminton racquet.
‘Tttttt-eeeeeehhhhhhhhh-nnnnnnnnnnnnnn,’ she said as slowly as she possibly could. ‘OK, Honkers. Nessa is right, it can’t possibly be a head. I’m going out there. Are you with 7me, Captain?’ The goose waddled up behind her and looked out from between her knees. Demelza nodded and raised her racquet. ‘Let’s go!’
She jumped out of the door, then jumped out of her skin. Nessa was running screaming towards her!
‘IT’SAHEAD-IT’SAHEAD-IT’SAHEAD!’ Nessa yelled, leaping into the caravan and dragging Demelza with her. Captain Honkers flapped after them, sending feathers floating like snow. Nessa slammed the door and dragged furniture across it.
‘What was it?’ asked Demelza, grabbing Captain Honkers and shielding him from flying debris as Nessa flung everything she could in front of the door.
Nessa grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. ‘A head, D! It’s a head!’ she shouted, eyes wild. She dragged Demelza to the floor and flung the sleeping bags over them both.
‘Are you … are you reaaaallly sure?’ said Demelza. Something about seeing her usually cool and calm friend panicking made Demelza feel strangely brave. She gently pulled her Game Gauntlet from Nessa’s hand and put it on.
‘Wait, what are you doing?’ asked Nessa as Demelza wriggled out from under the sleeping bags.8
Demelza picked up her racquet again and pushed aside the junk in front of the door. There was no way there could be a head outside, and if she went out and proved that then she would be even braver than Nessa, and Nessa was the bravest person in the whole world.
‘Seriously, don’t go out there, D.’
Demelza looked her straight in the eyes and made a fist with the gauntlet. ‘If I don’t come back, look after Honkers for me.’
Nessa nodded as the goose hopped up onto her knee.
Honk! he said.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,’ said Demelza. She breathed deeply, then threw open the door, jumped down onto the little welcome mat and yelled into the night with a bloodcurdling ‘Raaaaargh!’
THUNK!
Something fell from the roof of the caravan and splatted onto the wet ground in front of her. Demelza stopped roaring and squinted at the thing lying in the grass. She bent down for a closer look. She blinked three times, then looked again.
It was a head.
Most definitely, a head.
A severed head.9
A blue-tinged, completely bodiless head.
A white-bearded, big-nosed, very dead head.
It lay in the grass staring up at her with glassy, lifeless eyes. Then it blinked. Demelza fell back and hit her bum hard on the caravan step. She had used up all of her breath in her roar and couldn’t even shout for Nessa until she remembered how to breathe.
The head shuddered, wriggled and flopped up onto its severed neck. It gave her a piercing glare.
‘Was all that shouting absolutely necessary?’ it grumbled. Then it bounced on its neck-stump, hopping over to the welcome mat, up and over Demelza and into her caravan.10
Chapter Two
THE PICKLED KNIGHT RETURNS
‘AAAARRRRGH!’
Demelza scrambled up the steps as Nessa’s yells poured out of the caravan. It was chaos inside. The head had clamped its jaws onto the pillow Nessa had whacked it with and was flying around in the air as she tried to shake it loose. With a great riiiiiiiiiiiiiiip the pillow tore open and feathers exploded across the room as the head dropped to the floor. Captain Honkers dived towards it and began pecking at its eyes and nose.14
‘Call. Off. Your. Demon!’ yelled the head. The voice sounded familiar. Demelza peered through the floating feathers. She had only met one talking severed head before. Could this be the same one? The head that they had met inside Penfurzy Castle during their hunt for its cursed treasure?
‘It isyou!’ she said, pulling Captain Honkers away as the goose pulled out a tuft of its beard and gulped it down. ‘The pickled knight. You got your head lopped off by one of the other Penfurzy knights.’
‘My name,’ said the pickled knight, ‘is Sir Calenick.’
‘Oh yeah! The pickled knight,’ said Nessa, dropping the empty pillow and crouching on the feathery floor to look at the head. ‘I thought your spirit was freed along with all the others when we broke the curse on the treasure you lot stole.’
The head looked a little uncomfortable. ‘Ah. Well, almost. But there may have been one or two other things I, er, borrowed during my lifetime. It appears I need to return those too.’
‘So, you nicked stuff other than the stuff you got cursed for nicking?’ said Nessa, wafting feathers out of her face. ‘I’m sooooo surprised.’ Demelza didn’t think she looked surprised at all. The pickled knight noticed this too.
‘Yes, well, things were different in those days,’ he said.15
‘You mean people didn’t mind their stuff getting nicked?’ said Nessa.
‘No … well, yes … but it wasn’t just me. Everyone was doing it,’ said the head.
‘If everyone jumped into a fire, would you?’ said Demelza, copying the voice her dad used whenever he caught her doing anything super-exciting.
The pickled knight looked down towards where his feet would be, if he still had feet. ‘I came here to ask for your help. I thought that if anyone could help me locate lost treasures, it would be you two, the Imp and the Trespasser. If you do not wish to join my quest, I shall take my leave.’ He took a teeny-tiny hop towards the door.
Squelch.
‘Away into the night.’ He took another little hop.
16Squelch.
‘Off into the darkness.’
Squelch.
‘Out of your lives.’
Squelch.
‘For evermore.’
Squelch.
‘Never to return.’
Squelch.
He teetered on the top step, looking back at them out of the corner of his eye.
17Demelza looked at Nessa.
Nessa raised an eyebrow. ‘A quest, eh?’ She shrugged. ‘We could get on board with that.’
Demelza clapped her hands, scaring Captain Honkers who had waddled over for another look at the pickled knight’s juicy eyeballs.
‘We’re the best questers in Penfurzy,’ she said. ‘So, what are we questing for?’
‘Maybe we should clean him up a bit before he tells us,’ said Nessa, pinching her nose.
Demelza looked down at the muddy knight’s straggly wet hair and the greeny-brown goopy puddle that was spreading on the carpet from his severed neck. ‘Good idea.’
Captain Honkers watched from the safety of the top bunk as Demelza filled the sink and poured in half a bottle of her bubbliest bubble bath. 18
‘Unhand me!’ cried the pickled knight as Nessa swept him up, plunged him into the bubbles and began scrubbing with a dish brush.
‘Aargle, wargle!’ he spluttered as Demelza tackled his smelly brown teeth with her old toothbrush, the one she kept for cleaning her toenails.
‘Keep still!’ she shouted as they shampooed his yellowed hair and beard. ‘The bubbles are getting up your nose.’
‘Aaaargh-chooo!’
There was a loud pop. One of the knight’s eyeballs rocketed across the room.
‘See!’ shouted Nessa triumphantly. ‘I told you that’s what happens when you don’t close your eyes when you sneeze.’
Demelza rushed to catch the eyeball before Captain Honkers could peck it up.
‘Stop that goose!’ 19screamed the pickled knight, trying to launch himself out of the sink. ‘Noooooo!’ he screamed as Captain Honkers snapped up the eyeball in his beak and flapped around the caravan as Demelza tried to wrestle it from him.
‘Bad Honkers! Spit! Spit it out! Now!’ she shouted, prising his beak open as he tried to pop his juicy prize and guzzle the delicious jelly inside.
The pickled knight leapt out of Nessa’s soapy grasp and launched himself into Demelza and Captain Honkers like a soggy cannonball.
‘Oof!’ said Demelza.
HONK! said Honkers. He dropped the eyeball and retreated to his bunk in a shower of flying foam.
The pickled knight scooped up the eyeball in his mouth, rolled back so that he was looking up at the ceiling, then spat it high into the air, opening his empty eye socket wide so that the eye dropped back down into place.
‘Sorry,’ said Demelza as the knight blinked and scrunched up his face until his eye was facing the right way again. ‘It’s not his fault. Eyeballs ishis favourite.’
They finished rinsing the knight’s hair and beard as he muttered something about roast goose. Both head and Honkers 20kept their eyes locked warily on each other as Demelza ran the hairdryer over the knight. Nessa grabbed her hair gel and combed and styled his hair and beard – now a snowy white - then powdered his face so that it didn’t look quite so blue.
‘Whaddya think?’ said Nessa, holding up a mirror.
‘What have you done to my flowing locks?’ shrieked the knight as he saw the spine of hair standing up along the centre of his head.
‘It’s a Mohican,’ said Demelza. ‘You look cool.’
‘Then I would rather look warm!’ said the knight. ‘Undo it immediately.’
‘OK-OK, geez-louise!’ said Nessa, combing his hair back down.
‘You can leave the eyes,’ he said, turning his head to admire the black ink Nessa had applied like eyeliner.
‘Right, tell us about the quest!’ said Demelza, excited to get started now that the knight smelled a lot better and had stopped oozing on the floor. She popped him onto a shelf so that he could talk down to them - something she remembered he enjoyed doing - then scrooched onto the bottom bunk next to Nessa. ‘Right, what are we looking for, and where is it?’
‘That’s where I’m having a few problems,’ said the head. 21‘After centuries bobbing around in the sea with only fish for company, my memory isn’t what it used to be. The only thing that springs to mind is a chalice.’
‘A chalice?’ Demelza scratched her nose. ‘That’s like, a fancy cup?’
‘Quite. This one was rather plain and made of wood rather than gold, but I remember Sir Bude saying it was rather special. It belonged to a king buried here on Penfurzy. I believe he was rather famous.’
‘This cup,’ said Nessa. ‘I’m guessing it was buried with the king, right?’ Demelza noticed the head take a sudden interest in the Slinky spring on the shelf next to him rather than meet Nessa’s gaze. ‘How did you get hold of it then?’22
The pickled knight nudged the Slinky off the side of the shelf and ooohed and ahhhed as it climbed down two shelves before dropping to the ground. He peered at the girls to see if his distraction had worked. It hadn’t.
‘Well?’ said Demelza.
The pickled knight sighed. ‘Sir Bude, Sir Cubert and I were carousing one summer’s eve and, you know how it is, one of them dared me to break into the Great Barrow.’
‘What’s car-OW-zzzzing?’ asked Demelza. She liked the sound of the word.
‘Boozing and being daft and loud,’ said Nessa. ‘What’s the Great Barrow?’
‘I know, I know!’ Demelza stretched her hand up to the ceiling, then went pink as she remembered she wasn’t in school and put it down very quickly. ‘It’s a mound of earth that people from a long-long-long-long-long-long time ago were buried inside. Mum said there’s a few on Penfurzy. One got all dug up when they built that new housing estate. There was all pottery and bones an’ stuff in it. Connan Lenteglos said the houses are all haunted by the people who were buried there.’
‘AS I WAS SAYING …’ hollered the pickled knight, 23tired of being ignored during his own story. ‘Bravely, I entered the tomb. Inside was a great throne upon which sat a sword, shield, crown and a cup. The cup didn’t look particularly special, so I took it to prove I went all the way inside. Besides, I couldn’t remember where I’d left my tankard and I needed something to drink mead out of.’
‘What’s so special about the cup then?’ asked Nessa.
‘I’m not sure, but I always felt wonderful after I drank out of it. It seemed to cure any illness I had. I think it might have something to do with why I survived my head being lopped off and bobbing around in the sea for centuries, even outside the magical curse on Penfurzy Castle that preserved my fellow knights.’
‘So, you just have to return the cup then?’ said Demelza. ‘Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.’
