‘Yes.’ Mr Brown nodded. ‘He picks them to make soup with.’

  ‘Tickly soup!’ laughed Big Rock.

  ‘What’s going on, Dad?’ Ben asked as he came into the shop.

  ‘These folk say they’ve come to say thank you to you,’ said Mr Brown.

  Just then two women came into the shop.

  ‘Ah, Mr Brown,’ said one. ‘You look like you’re busy. We’ll come back later.’

  ‘No, no, ladies,’ said Milo quickly. ‘We’re just leaving.’

  ‘Let’s talk outside,’ Jack whispered to Ben.

  The gang and Ben left the shop, while the two ladies began placing their orders with Mr Brown. ‘We’ll need saucepans,’ Jack heard one of them say. ‘And frying pans.’ Then the other added, ‘And a whisk, Dorothy. And spoons.’

  Ben pulled the door shut and joined the gang on the pavement.

  ‘Thanks for not saying anything to my dad,’ said Ben.

  ‘Big Rock started to,’ said Robin. ‘He started talking about you picking nettles, but luckily your dad thought he meant for soup.’

  ‘I like nettle soup,’ said Ben.

  ‘You still ought to tell him,’ said Milo. ‘He’d be proud of what you did.’

  ‘Yes and no,’ said Ben. ‘He might be proud. But my dad worries a lot, so he might worry that I’d get into trouble with Buster Gutt. Even though Buster Gutt’s left the town and gone far away.’

  ‘Bullies can have that effect,’ said Jack. ‘Even after they’ve gone, some people still remember what they were like and worry they might come back.’

  ‘Buster Gutt won’t come back, not after everyone laughed at him the way they did,’ said Ben. ‘His bullying days are over here in Rampot.’ He grinned. ‘That was brilliant the way you beat him in the ring, Big Rock.’

  ‘He couldn’t have done it without you and Sally,’ said Milo.

  Ben grinned proudly at that. Then he asked, ‘Did I hear right? You gave my dad the money to mend the shop?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Jack. ‘It was the right thing to do.’

  ‘Well, if you ever come back to Rampot, you’ll always have a welcome here,’ said Ben. He smiled. ‘I’ll make some nettle soup for you.’

  Hauled by Robin, with Milo and Jack sitting in the driving seat, the ancient, battered caravan rolled along the valley road away from Rampot, trundling beside the gentle stream.

  Now and then they heard a plop! as a fish leapt to catch a fly, and then disappeared beneath the surface of the water again. The sound of crickets and other small insects in the short grass could still be heard, chattering and buzzing.

  Big Rock, his sight now back to normal, ran round and round the caravan as it moved along, causing Robin to snort angrily, ‘Do you have to keep running round the caravan like that, Big Rock? You’re making me dizzy!’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Big Rock. And he stopped and then started running round the moving caravan in the other direction.

  ‘That’s just the same!’ roared Robin.

  ‘No it not,’ said Big Rock. ‘I go other way to unwind you and you not be dizzy.’

  Above them, Blaze made patterns in the sky as he flew, every now and then changing shape into different flying creatures – a dragon, a butterfly, an eagle – before turning back into a phoenix.

  ‘We did it,’ smiled Milo. ‘We got out of Rampot, and with two gold pieces’ profit. And we helped make a bully look like an idiot.’

  Jack nodded.

  ‘And we did it all without you having to turn into Thud!’ said Milo. He gave Jack a serious look. ‘You’ve got to learn to control it, you know, Jack. This turning into Thud.’

  ‘I will,’ he promised. ‘But right now, I just want to enjoy what we’ve done. With a song.’

  And he began to sing:

  ‘Wrestling Trolls.

  Toot-a-toot!

  Wrestling Trolls.

  Toot-a-toot!’

  And soon Milo, Big Rock, Blaze and even Robin were joining in as they trundled on their way.

  VETO’S REVENGE

  CHAPTER 1

  ‘Masked Avenger! Masked Avenger!’

  The supporting shouts echoed through the Wrestling Hall as Princess Ava, in her Masked Avenger outfit, moved warily around the ring with her eyes locked on her opponent, Grime the Orc.

  ‘Grime! Grime!’ and ‘Orcs for ever!’ shouted Grime’s supporters.

  Big Rock, Jack, Milo and Meenu – Ava’s costume-maker – stood by the ring and yelled their encouragement.

  ‘Come on, Masked Avenger!’ shouted Jack.

  So far the contest was a draw: one pinfall each. A knockout or a pinfall would decide it.

  As was often the case with orcs, Grime had tried every cheating way to beat the Masked Avenger, using her claws and her sharp beak as well as her wrestling skills. And Grime’s wrestling skills were good. But orcs, as Big Rock had often pointed out, didn’t wrestle fair.

  Suddenly, Grime dived for the Masked Avenger, aiming the point of her beak at her. As the Masked Avenger dodged to one side, Grime suddenly changed direction, and brought both her claws down hard in a slashing movement, aiming to rake them down the Masked Avenger’s body. But the Masked Avenger had sensed the orc’s move coming, and her claws just hit empty air as the Avenger rolled away. Grime’s claws thudded into the hard edge of the ring … and stuck.

  The crowd went wild as Grime heaved at her claws, struggling to get them out of the wood. But before Grime could release herself, the Masked Avenger had grabbed the orc and pulled her feet through the ropes so that Grime was hanging upside down, trapped. The Masked Avenger kicked Grime’s claws free from the wood, and then pulled the ropes back into the ring, hauling on them with all her strength, like the string of a bow.

  ‘Shoot!’ yelled the Masked Avenger’s supporters.

  The Masked Avenger drew the ropes back as far as they would go, and then released.

  TWWWANGGGG!

  Like an arrow shot from a bow, Grime was hurled out towards the audience. People yelled and scattered as the orc flew through the air and then crashed down onto the second row.

  Grime leapt up from where she’d landed, but found her claws and beak were caught in the seats. As she struggled to free herself, the referee was counting.

  ‘One. Two. Three. Four … ’

  In desperation, Grime picked up the block of four empty seats that had got caught on one of her claws and began to drag them towards the ring.

  ‘Five. Six. Seven. Eight … ’

  The orc got as far as the ring, but she couldn’t reach up to the ropes and climb back into it with the seats hanging off her.

  ‘Nine. Ten! Out!’ counted the referee, and the crowd erupted in cheers from the Masked Avenger’s supporters and boos from Grime’s.

  The Masked Avenger came down from the ring to join her friends.

  ‘That was spectacular!’ said Meenu.

  ‘Firing her like an arrow,’ chuckled Milo. ‘Brilliant!’

  ‘At one point I thought she was going to get your mask off,’ said Jack.

  ‘Not a chance!’ said the Masked Avenger.

  So far, the Masked Avenger was unbeaten in the ring and had been able to keep her mask on. Only her close friends knew that she was really Princess Ava, teenage ruler of the country of Weevil.

  As the gang trooped to the dressing room, they were watched by the angry figure of Lord Veto.

  ‘That Masked Avenger beat my best female orc!’ he snarled.

  ‘The Masked Avenger’s good, my Lord,’ nodded Warg, his Chief Orc.

  ‘I don’t want her “good”!’ stormed Veto. ‘I want her beaten! Who is she, anyway?’

  ‘No one knows, my Lord,’ said Warg. ‘She says her true identity will only be revealed if she loses in the ring. If that happens, then her victorious opponent can take off her mask.’

  ‘Rubbish!’ snapped Veto. ‘Someone knows who she is. Someone must be around when she takes her mask off after a match.’ And then a sly smile spread across his face. ‘Like me, for example!’

  ‘My Lord?’ asked Warg.

  ‘Hurry up, Warg! We’re going to go round to the window outside the dressing rooms and look in. We’ll soon find out who she is!’

  CHAPTER 2

  Princess Ava, still wearing her Masked Avenger costume, led the others into the dressing room, where they found Robin the horse and Blaze the Phoenix waiting for them.

  ‘Well done! You won!’ said Robin with a smile.

  ‘You saw it?’ asked Princess Ava.

  ‘No,’ said Robin, shaking his head. ‘They wouldn’t allow animals into the audience. It’s blatant discrimination!’ Then he gave a grin. ‘But luckily they didn’t spot a very small mouse.’

  And Blaze transformed himself into a tiny grey mouse, and then back into his normal phoenix shape. ‘I kept Robin aware of what was happening in the ring,’ he said.

  ‘I’d still have preferred to watch it myself,’ grumbled the old horse.

  ‘I’m glad you’re okay after that match with Grime,’ Milo said to Ava. ‘You’ve got another bout coming up in an hour.’

  ‘Me and Masked Avenger against two of Lord Veto’s orcs,’ beamed Big Rock. ‘Be good wrestling!’

  ‘Yes – but you’re asking a bit much of yourself,’ said Milo to Princess Ava, concerned. ‘One match in a day would have been enough, surely.’

  Princess Ava shook her head. ‘I need to raise some money fast,’ she said. ‘Weevil was hit by a big storm a week ago, which did a huge amount of damage. Homes wrecked. Gardens and woods destroyed. It’s going to take money to repair the mess.’

  ‘How much?’ asked Jack.

  ‘About a hundred gold coins,’ said Ava. ‘Maybe more. It could be as much as a hundred and ten gold coins. That’s why I’m wrestling a lot more, to raise money for the work.’

  ‘We beat orcs, I give my winnings,’ said Big Rock.

  ‘No, that wouldn’t be fair,’ said Ava. ‘You need money to get yourself a new costume.’

  ‘I like this costume.’

  ‘But it’s got lots of holes in it!’ said Meenu.

  ‘I like this costume,’ insisted Big Rock stubbornly.

  ‘Whatever we can raise at this tournament, we’ll help you,’ said Milo. ‘That’s what friends are for.’

  Meenu looked at Jack and said, ‘It’s a pity you can’t control when you turn into Thud, Jack. You and Big Rock would make a great Wrestling Troll Tag Team.’

  ‘And how!’ Ava nodded enthusiastically. ‘That would be great!’

  ‘That’s what I’ve told him,’ said Milo.

  ‘Actually,’ Jack smiled, ‘I did it the other day.’

  The others stared at him.

  ‘You did? You were able to make yourself turn into Thud?’ asked Milo, awed.

  ‘Well, only for a bit,’ admitted Jack.

  ‘And without getting angry?’ asked Meenu.

  Jack nodded. ‘I tried to think angry,’ he said.

  ‘Think angry?’ said Big Rock, puzzled.

  ‘I’ve never heard such rubbish!’ snorted Robin.

  ‘No, it makes sense,’ said Ava. ‘If Jack can think himself angry, then it ought to work.’

  ‘Let’s see,’ said Milo.

  ‘Okay,’ said Jack. ‘Watch me.’

  He adopted a stance with his shoulders leaning forward, his fists bunched, and a scowl on his face. Then he let out a growl.

  The others stood and watched and waited … and waited. Jack still looked exactly the same.

  ‘You Thud yet?’ asked Big Rock.

  ‘Nothing’s happening,’ said Milo.

  ‘Give him a chance!’ urged Meenu.

  Jack scowled more, and this time he let out a roar.

  Again, the others waited … and waited … and waited.

  Milo shook his head. ‘No,’ he sighed. ‘You’re still the same Jack. No sign of Thud.’

  Jack stopped scowling, unclenched his fists and looked miserable. ‘I thought I’d done it,’ he said unhappily.

  ‘You did it once, you’ll do it again!’ said Meenu. She turned to Ava. ‘Right, time to get your costume off and take a break before the next match.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Ava. ‘This mask is okay, but it’s nicer when it’s off.’

  And she reached up to untie the straps at the back.

  ‘Wait!’ said Meenu. She went to the window and pulled the curtain shut. ‘There!’ she said. ‘Just in case anyone’s peering in through the windows. Now you can take your mask off.’

  Outside the window and the now-closed curtain, Lord Veto let out a growl.

  ‘Curses!’ he said. ‘Put me down, Warg!’

  The orc bent down and let Lord Veto slide from his shoulders to the ground.

  ‘No luck, my Lord?’

  ‘No, they closed the curtain just as she was about to take her mask off!’

  ‘There is a rumour, sir,’ said Warg, ‘that the Masked Avenger may actually be Princess Ava of Weevil.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’ demanded Lord Veto.

  ‘Well, it’s noticeable that the Masked Avenger only wrestles at tournaments when Princess Ava comes to watch. And no one can remember the Princess being in the audience when the Masked Avenger is actually wrestling.’

  ‘Stuff and nonsense!’ snapped Lord Veto. ‘Poppycock, Warg! First, the Princess is a royal person. Someone like that, a true royal, would never lower herself to appear in public in a wrestling ring! And second: Princess Ava is the most girly girl I’ve ever seen. All curls and frills and things. The exact opposite of what a wrestler is.’

  ‘If you say so, my Lord.’

  ‘I do say so! No, the Masked Avenger is some mystery person, and I intend to find out who.’ Then the sly smile appeared on his face again. ‘But in the meantime, I’ve just learnt something as important. It turns out that that fantastic Wrestling Troll, Thud, is actually my puny former kitchen boy!’ He smiled and punched his fists together with glee. ‘If I could get Thud to join my stable of wrestlers, I could earn an absolute fortune from him! I’d be rich!’

  ‘You’re already rich, my Lord,’ said Warg.

  ‘I’d be even richer!’ snapped Veto.

  Warg looked doubtful.

  ‘I don’t think he’ll join you, my Lord. He doesn’t like you.’

  ‘Oh, but he will,’ smiled Lord Veto.

  CHAPTER 3

  Princess Ava and Meenu walked across the field to where their caravan was parked, not far from the WWT caravan.

  ‘Let me guess,’ said Ava. ‘You saw someone peering in that window.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Meenu. ‘Only I didn’t see who it was.’

  ‘I can tell you,’ said a small sparrow, flying down and landing beside them, before turning into Blaze the Phoenix. ‘It was Lord Veto and his Chief Orc, Warg.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I saw a movement outside the window, so I changed into a mouse and slipped out through a tiny hole in the wall to take a look.’

  ‘I wondered where you’d vanished to!’ said Meenu.

  ‘Lord Veto is determined to find out the true identity of the Masked Avenger,’ said Blaze.

  ‘Oh is he?’ Ava grinned. ‘Well, maybe we can have a bit of fun with that!’

  ‘He also found out that Jack can turn into Thud,’ Blaze added.

  ‘Hmm, that’s not so funny,’ said Ava thoughtfully. ‘We’ll have to be careful. Lord Veto is the sneakiest person there is. There’s no knowing what he might do now he knows that.’

  Jack lifted the lid of the outside compartment at the back of the caravan where Big Rock’s wrestling equipment was kept. Robin complained that it added a lot of weight to the caravan, and he was the one who had to pull it along. But Jack pointed out that without all that equipment, Big Rock wouldn’t be as good a wrestler as he was, so wouldn’t be in demand by wrestling promoters, and they wouldn’t get to go to so many interesting places.

  ‘Good,’ snorted Robin. ‘Maybe I could get some rest. After all, I’m not as young as I used to be!’

  But Jack knew the old horse didn’t mean it. Robin enjoyed the travels with the gang as much as any of them.

  Jack was sorting through the collection of rocks and stones that Big Rock also kept in the compartment, when he heard a voice behind him murmur:

  ‘Why, it’s Jack!’

  Jack spun round and came face to face with Lord Veto. Immediately he growled, ‘Get away from me!’

  Lord Veto stopped and looked apologetic.

  ‘I’m sorry if I startled you,’ he said. ‘I just want to apologise.’

  Jack frowned and looked at Lord Veto suspiciously. ‘What for?’ he asked.

  ‘For everything,’ said Lord Veto. ‘But especially for the way I treated you in the past. I was cruel to you, Jack. Not deliberately … ’

  ‘Yes, you were,’ snapped Jack.

  ‘I know it may have seemed that way at the time, but the truth is … I was thoughtless. Uncaring. Selfish. I realise that now. I was especially wrong to ban you from going to the wrestling tournament the way I did. I hadn’t realised how much wrestling meant to you. But now I do. And I want to make it up to you.’

  Jack looked at Lord Veto warily. He’d never seen Veto like this before.

  Jack had worked in the kitchens at Veto Castle since he was a very small child, until Lord Veto kicked him out just before his tenth birthday. He had no memories of a time before he’d been at Veto Castle. His young life as a kitchen boy had been awful: he’d only had a basket to sleep in, and he’d lived on scraps of food. In all that time he’d never known Lord Veto be anything other than cruel and harsh, and he’d never said ‘sorry’ to anyone.

  What was going on? Jack was sure that Lord Veto was up to some sneaky trick … but what?

  ‘When you say you’d like to make it up to me … ’ said Jack warily. ‘How?’

  ‘I’d like to offer you the job of becoming chief trainer with my team of wrestlers. You will be paid very highly, as well as having the most luxurious apartment at Veto Castle. This is my way of saying “sorry”, Jack. And also because I recognise the great things you’ve done with Big Rock. You are a top-class wrestling trainer!’