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- Herausgeber: Knights Of
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Knights and Bikes
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
A new mystery has rolled onto Penfurzy island and the Rebel Bicycle Club are ready to investigate! Nessa, Demelza and Captain Honkers set-off to explore a travelling fun-fair when things begin to get strange. With new friends and a new legend to uncover, the bestfriends do what they do best: SAVE THE DAY FROM A FATE WORSE THAN HOMEWORK. A mysterious adventure with twists, turns and gross-out caravan invaders guaranteed to make you laugh!
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CONTENTS
Chapter One
INVASION OF THE SNOT GOBLINS
“Monsters!” screamed Demelza, as she peered between the flowery curtains of her little caravan with one eye.
Honk! her pet goose, Captain Honkers, squawked from under her armpit, as he poked his head through the curtains next to hers.
“Look at them, Honkers. Drooling, screaming, stinky invaders! They’re EVERYWHERE!We’re surrounded and Nessa’s on her way up the hill… she’ll never make it through the horde!”2
HONK! Captain Honkers couldn’t contain his fury any longer. He wriggled out from under her arm and ran around the caravan flapping his wings, knocking books, toys and crayons off the shelves. Honk-HONK!
“You’re right,” shouted Demelza. “They shall not defeat us! We’re going out there! We’ll fight our way through to Nessa.” She stood tall and placed her hand on her chest. “For she is our bestest friend. She’d do the same for us.” She grabbed two foam swords from under the bed and slotted them through the straps on the back of her dungarees. Pulling her Game Gauntlet out from under her pillow she slid it onto her hand and made a fist.
“Ready, Captain?” she asked her goose. “Will you brave the rabid horde with me and risk your life, NAY… your very SOUL, to save Sir Nessa, trespasser extraordinaire, founding member of The Penfurzy Rebel Bicycle Club and the awesomest spit sister in the history of spit?”
Honk? said Captain Honkers, head tilted to one side.
“Then let’s go!” cried Demelza. She kicked the door of her caravan open and braced herself against the overwhelming shrieking, cackling, shouting and singing of the army of monsters. She pulled out her swords, took a deep breath and leapt down the steps with a roar:
“Penfurzy Rebel Bicycle Club to the rescue! For one, for all, for Nessaaaaaa!”3
She brandished a sword in each hand as she edged her way through the caravan park, waving her weapons warningly at any invaders that came too near. Some of the larger ones were lounging around jabbering to each other, or scratching their big sweaty stomachs and hairy backs, as the smaller ones ran wildly around, shrieking and drooling, snot dripping from their noses. Far in the distance Demelza could see Mr Calenick – the pickled knight, caravan park caretaker and former beheaded Penfurzy Knight - riding his new lawnmower around the crazy golf course. The horde hadn’t breached that field yet, but he was too far away to hear her call for help. She had to make it through alone.
“Raaaargh!” shouted a snot goblin, charging at Demelza with a handful of worms.
Hissssssss! Captain Honkers spat so loudly that the little monster fell over in fright, scattering worms everywhere.
“Hah! Nice try!” Demelza shouted, as the monster scooted away from them on its bum. “Maybe little girls are scared of worms where you come from, but here…” she gave him a very wide, very toothy grin, “we eats worms for breakfast. Isn’t that right, Honkers?”
HONK! Captain Honkers pounced on the worms and gobbled up as many as he could fit in his beak.4
“Nessa! shouted Demelza, “Look Honkers, here she comes!” Nessa did a little hop on her back wheel as she wheelied through the gates of the caravan park on her shining steed, Neon Justice II.
“Nessa, stop!” Demelza shouted, swerving to avoid a hairy lumbering beast as it thundered past her to stop a fight between two shrieking goblins.
Nessa’s jaw dropped as she surveyed the scene.
“Stay back,” yelled Demelza, “we’re overrun! We’ll come to you!”
HISSSSSSS! Captain Honkers spat as a snot goblin scampered up behind him and tried to pull a feather from his tail.5
“Hands off my goose!” yelled Demelza, slapping away the goblin’s grimy grasping hands with a foam sword. More goblins started to gather, grabbing excitedly at her swords and Game Gauntlet as they wailed and screeched, drool running down their chins:
“Me!”
“Mine!”
“Gimme!”
“Me want! Me want now!”
Demelza fought hard, but it was no use, there were too many of them. Captain Honkers took to the air, squawking as the horde closed in. Demelza raised her face to the sky and screamed up at him: “It’s too late for me, Honkers. Save yourself! Say goodbye to Nessa for me!”
Then darkness closed in. She fell to the floor, holding on to her swords with all her might as the goblins tried to tear them from her grasp. There was no point in fighting it. The caravan park belonged to the horde now. Just as her swords and gauntlet began to slip from her fingers, she heard a muffled battle cry over the din.
“Pennnn-furrrr-zeeeeee Kniiiiiights foreverrrrr!”
Daylight broke through. A hand reached down and grasped Demelza’s arm. Demelza shaded her eyes from the morning sun to see a face beaming down at her as the goblins scattered.6
“Need a ride?” Nessa asked.
Demelza leapt onto the back of Neon Justice whooping with glee. She waved her battered swords, laughing as the goblins ran from Neon Justice. Honkers flew over them honking loudly as they rode victoriously through the park gates and freewheeled down the hill towards town.
Demelza closed her eyes and tilted her head back so the sun warmed her cheeks as she breathed in the fresh smell of spring on the breeze.
“Thanks for the rescue,” she said, wrapping her arms around Nessa’s waist and giving her a big squeezy hug. “I thought the snot goblins had got us good!”
Nessa laughed as they slowed for the bend at the bottom of the hill and rolled over a little wooden bridge.
“You were a snot goblin once, D. We all were. And my Dad said the tourists are bringing in a lot of money, he’s even meeting your dad this afternoon to talk about extending the park and buying more caravans.”7
“MORE caravans?” shouted Demelza, clenching her fist and waving her Game Gauntlet at the sky. “So that more noisy, nosy, smelly tourists can mess up MY caravan park?”
“Don’t forget, the tourists are the reason you still have a caravan park,” said Nessa, as they swerved to avoid a couple of kids more interested in their ice-creams than looking where they were going. “And if your Dad and my parents are working hard to bring in tourists, maaaaabye you could be a teeny-tiny bit friendlier to their kids?”
Demelza picked a little scab off her chin and flicked it over her shoulder. Maybe Nessa was right.
“I’ll think about it,” she said with a nod. “But first, let’s go to the arcade. They’ve fixed the Luxulyan Warriors machine. I bet I can beat your high score this time!”
“You’re on!” Nessa hit her horn to warn off the seagulls as they took a shortcut down an alley full of lobster pots. “Maybe you’ll be fifty-sixth time lucky…”
Chapter Two
CONVOY!
“Twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety!” shouted Demelza as she hammered the buttons of the blooping arcade machine. “Thirty thousand. Yes! Extra life! I’m coming for your score, Nessa!”
“Nice going, D,” said Nessa resting her chin on Demelza’s shoulder, “just another twenty-one thousand, five hundred and sixty points to go. Watch out for that…”
“What?” shouted Demelza, pummelling the wallop button as a character in a horned helmet ran onto the screen behind her.
“…berserker.” 10
“Nooo!” Demelza wailed as the berserker bopped her character on the head. Her warrior’s eyes turned to little crosses and the machine let out a loud bleep-bleep-bleeep-bleeeeep-blooop, spadoi-oi-oing!
“Thirty-eight thousand five hundred. Your best yet,” said Nessa, gently punching her arm. “You’ll beat me next time.”
“I would have beat you there,” grumbled Demelza as she spelled out D-E-M on the high score table under the letters N-E-S which filled the first two lines of the highest ever scores. “Only you was breathing too loud in my ear and distracting me.”
“My bad,” said Nessa with a straight face, “I won’t move, talk, breathe or exist next time. Then you’ll totally beat my score.”
Demelza looked at her sideways. Nessa’s face was completely straight with only the tiniest twinkle in her eye.
“Hmm, well, yes. Good,” she lifted Captain Honkers down from his perch on top of the arcade cabinet. “Now, seeing as you made me lose, you can buy me an ice-cream.”
“Sure,” Nessa grinned as they left the bleepy-bloopy music and noises of the arcade and hopped back on Neon Justice.
“With a flake, an’ sprinkles, an’ a big squirt of beetle blood.”
“You got it.”
There was a long queue at the ice cream van, but it was worth it once they were sitting on the pier, legs dangling over the edge as 11they ate their ice-creams, slurping up the drips and raspberry sauce that dribbled down over their hands. Captain Honkers pattered around behind them, happily snapping up pieces of wafer. A deep horn sounded as the Penfurzy ferry pulled into the harbour.
“More invaders,” grumbled Demelza, licking her hands clean and running her tongue around the outside of her mouth as cars started to roll off the ferry.
“OK, holiday makers!” She corrected herself as Nessa raised an eyebrow. “With lots of lovely money to spend at the caravan park and golf course.”
“Better,” Nessa nodded. “Whoa, look at that!”
A row of brightly coloured lorries and caravans were driving off the ferry. They tooted their horns as they headed through town in a convoy.
“It’s a fair!” Demelza squealed, “the fair has come back to Penfurzy!” She drummed her fists on the railing then jumped up to wave at the trucks as they carried their strange cargo of dismantled rides painted with quirky images of popular cartoon characters. “It’s a fair, Nessa. A FAIR!”
“I can see that,” said Nessa, “cool. I haven’t been on a ferris wheel or dodgems since before we moved here.”
Demelza stared at her, eyes wide.
“You… you’ve been to a fair before?”12
“Of course,” said Nessa. “One used to come to town twice a year when I lived on the mainland. It was a pretty cool place to hang out. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal?” Demelza shook her head as if trying to shake some sense into Nessa’s words. “The big deal is that I’ve NEVER been to a fair before! The last time this one came to Penfurzy was ten years ago, before I was even born. The closest I’ve ever been to dodgems are the old rusty ones in Madern Stibb’s scrapyard.”
“You’ve never been to a fair?” asked Nessa in surprise. “Never-ever?”
“Never-ever-ever!” said Demelza. Her stomach felt fluttery with excitement. She grasped Nessa’s arms and danced her around in circles. Captain Honkers ran around them flapping his wings and honking excitedly as Demelza sang:
“We’re going to the fair-air, we’re going to the fair-air!” Nessa tried to stay cool but finally gave in and snorted with laughter as she joined in the silly song.
“We’re going to the fair-air, we’re going to win a goldfish, we’re going to ride the waltzers, and scream until we’re SICK!”
“Arr, I wouldn’t be celebrating the arrival of that lot,” said a cracked voice from a bench behind them.
“Mister Greensplat?” said Demelza, as they turned to see a bearded old man in oilskins climbing out of a fishing boat with 13a bucket of pollock. “What’s wrong with the fair? Mum and Dad always told me it’s the bestest ever, even if it only comes to Penfurzy every ten years.”
“That be ten years too often,” grumbled the old man. He refilled his pipe and glared at the tooting trucks from under his huge bushy brows. “They’re a funny lot, those fair folk. They bring bad luck with them. My one true love left me forever when they was here sixty years ago. Said goodbye to me while we was riding the ferris wheel. I had a ring in my pocket ready to give her that night, but it was the last time I ever saw her. She left and never came back. She could have been Mrs Greensplat.’
‘Lucky lady,’ grinned Nessa.
‘Mark my words, there’s strange goings on whenever they comes to Penfurzy.”14
“Yeah, but there’s always strange goings on in Penfurzy,” said Nessa. “Ancient curses, castles rising from the sea, pipe smoking old salts giving mysterious warnings…”
“Cheek!” he grumbled, as he lit his pipe and let out a puff of smoke that made him look like a grumpy old dragon. “Penfurzy might have its oddities, but that’s good old homegrown strange stuff. We don’t wants no fair folk bringing their own strange stuff over to our island!”
“What kind of strange stuff?” asked Demelza. Her skin tingled. It had been nearly five months since their last big adventure, though Nessa helped make sure they had at least a mini adventure every week. Her nose was itching to sniff out another good mystery.
“Merrin Carnkie thinks they’re up to something at the old quarry. They always set up near there. She sez every time they’re here they go tramping down into the quarry at night and don’t come out until morning. Sez all these strange noises come echoing out of the rabbit holes on the tor.”
“What sort of noises?” whispered Demelza.
“Pffht! Probably the voices in Merrin’s own head,” he wheezed, “no, I’ll tells you what they’re up to…” he beckoned them towards him. Demelza and Nessa moved in closer. He looked from side to side then hissed;
“Pie.”
“Pie?” repeated Nessa.15
“Pie! They’s after stealin’ the recipe for my stargazy pie. Ooh, hello Mr Greensplat, they sez. Can we order a dozen of your delicious stargazy pies? If you ever want to share the recipe we’ll gladly pay you for it. Best pie in the world is that. Well they’re right, my pies are the best in the world, but they’re not taking my grandpa’s recipe off this island. That’s Penfurzy pie. Penfurzy is where it’s staying!”
Demelza jumped as a loud horn tooted. A tall man with a ponytail, tanned muscly arms and a faded black skull t-shirt leaned out of his lorry window and shouted:
“Morning, Mr Greensplat! Good to see you again. I’ll send my son Jack down with our usual order for your delicious pies.”
“I’ll get the oven on now!” the old fisherman called back with a wave. “See what I mean,” he growled to the girls, “pie! They’ll have run out of cats for makin’ those hotdogs they sell, so I bets they’re wantin’ to sell my pies. Well, they can come back all they like, but they’ll never find out that my secret ingredients are a pinch of nutmeg, a couple of cloves and a small grating of…” His pipe dropped to the floor as he clamped his hand over his mouth. “Spies!” he shouted as he grabbed his bucket of fish.
“Tell them it was a nice try, but there’s no way they’re getting their hands on that recipe, or my name isn’t Humfra Meriasek Greensplat!”
Nessa looked at Demelza and shook her head as they watched him scurry down the pier, pausing briefly to yell back to Demelza, “Tell yer dad I said hi!”16
“Will do. Byyyye, Mr Greensplat,” Demelza shouted as he hurried home. “He’s a bit odd,” she whispered to Nessa. “Tells everyone he used to go out with a mermaid.”
“Each to their own,” said Nessa. “The fair is setting up by the quarry, eh?” She grabbed onto her bike. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go get your bike and get over there!”17
Chapter Three
ROGUE AVENGER
It was early afternoon by the time Demelza, Nessa and Captain Honkers crested the hill that led down to the quarry and nearby fields.
“Whoa!” gasped Demelza. She squeezed the brakes on her bike and stared down to where the lorries had formed a huge semicircle in a field in the shadow of the tor. An army of people were unloading machinery and huge panels painted with rockets, sports cars, cartoon characters and film stars.
“Look, Nessa!” Demelza bounced on her seat.
“They’ve got a ferris wheel, and a Helter 20Skelter! Ooh! What’s the Matterhorn? And Stratorockets? Plummeting Paratroopers? A Meteorite Cage. Aaaaaargh, I want to go on ALL of them!”
“Chill your boots!” said Nessa, “We will. Careful on The Meteorite though. A kid at my old school went on that one after eating three hotdogs, an ice-cream and a bag of candy floss, and then got really sick on the ride. It span so fast that the puke hit everyone on it. Every. Single. Person. Right in the face. Then they started puking too. The puke began flying out of the ride and hitting people walking by, then they started puking. The fairground had to be closed for two days and you could still smell the puke when it reopened.”
“Coooool!” said Demelza, eyes wide. “Come on, let’s go see if they need any help setting up.”
Captain Honkers had already flown ahead and was flapping from lorry to lorry watching the hustle and bustle, while keeping an eye out for any tasty treats that might happen to drop from the interesting snack stands that were being set up.
“It even smeeells exciting,” said Demelza, sniffing the air to take in the scent of axle grease, crushed grass, canvas and whatever was cooking in the tents being set up behind the lorries.21
“Oh, man! what’s that?” said Nessa. A strange device, like two giant gramophone horns joined together by the narrow ends, sat in the fair’s campground. The wide mouth at one end lay flat on the ground, and the other pointed at the tents.
Honk?
Demelza took her head out of the horn.
“Oh, no. Get out of there, Honkers!” she ran after the goose as he waddled into a tent. There was a yell, a clatter of pots and pans and a lot of honking.
“Naughty Honkers!” Demelza waved her finger at him as he flapped back out, chased by a boy around Nessa’s age. He was tall and wiry with a twisted afro held back from his freckled face with a fabric band. He wore a silver feather earring in one ear, knee-length bleach-washed jeans, a studded belt and a vest with a tiger on it.
“Rad vest,” said Nessa with a nod.
“Sorry about Honkers,” Demelza picked the goose up under her arm. “He’s just excited. It’s the first time he’s seen a fair. Me too, actually.”
“No harm done,” said the boy, “Though he made me drop a sack of spuds all over the floor when he came honking up behind me, and he didn’t half give Ellie a fright.”
“Is Ellie your sister?” asked Demelza.22
“Nope,” said the boy as the biggest goose Demelza had ever seen burst out of the tent, stretched herself tall, flapped her wings and honked angrily. Captain Honkers tucked his head into Demelza’s armpit in terror.
“Chill, Ellie,” said the boy. “That’s enough. He’s learnt his lesson.” He stroked her neck with the back of his fingers. The goose kept her eyes fixed on Captain Honkers. “This is Aurelian. Ellie for short. She doesn’t stand for any nonsense.”
“Hear that, Honkers?” said Demelza sternly. “Behave yourself.”
“I’d better get back to the tatties,” said Jack. “Dad wants me to peel the lot and chop them into chips for when we open tomorrow.”
23“We’ll give you a hand,” said Nessa with a shrug. Peeling potatoes wasn’t exactly how Demelza had imagined helping out (she thought she’d have been better at assembling the ferris wheel), but the boy was wearing a tiger vest and looked as though he might have some cool stories to tell.
An hour later they were sitting ankle deep in potato peel. Ellie was settled in a large dog basket casting stern glances at Captain Honkers whenever he started snooping around the tent for snacks. Jack was talking about all the places the fair had visited recently. He tilted his head to one side and squinted at Nessa.
