Free Fair Wind to Widdershins by Allan Frewin Jones Page B

sworn he heard a spiteful croak close to his ear.
    “You’ll be sorry!” it rasped. “You’ll get yours, matey! Just you see!”
    And then, while Trundle was still recovering from all the shocks that had hit him so far, the clock began to strike.
    Gloiiiing!
    Gloiiiiing!
    GLOOOOIIIINNNGG!
    And at that moment, he saw the ivy being pushed outward as hidden doors opened on either side of the clockface and a procession of huge, rusty old iron statues began to emerge. Trundle gave a yelp as the figures approached him. That explained the iron rail! It was for these huge statues to run along.
    The statues were of badgers dressed in full armor. As they rumbled toward him, their bodies began to move mechanically, twisting and turning, swinging swords and axes, beating at one another as though in some slow-motion battle.
    Their joints screeched and crunched as they came closer to where Trundle was standing. He had no time to climb out of the way. Taking a deep breath, he flung himself at the first of the badger knights and threw both arms around the great rusty leg.
    But even as he hung there, something caught his eye.
    The leading figure had a crown around its helmet.
    An iron crown.
    It wasn’t a knight at all—it was a king!
    “Oh, good heavens!” he gasped. “I’ve found the Iron Crown!”
    A new sense of excitement took over, and he clambered up the badger king’s body until he was perched on the high shoulders. He reached for the crown, noticing that it was the only part of the massive figure that was not coated in rust.

    He wrestled it free of the king’s head.
    “Look!” he shouted down, waving the crown. “I have it! I have it!”
    But then the badger king rotated on his axis, his upper body clanking forward as if bowing, and suddenly Trundle found himself hanging upside down, his feet clinging around the king’s neck and the crown dangling from his fingers.

A horrible vision flashed in front of Trundle’s eyes as he swung upside down from the badger king’s neck. He saw himself being carried into the dark and noisy workings of the clock. He saw himself caught up in the cogwheels and levers and hammers. He saw himself being mashed to a pulp and spat out as hedgehog meatballs!
    But a moment later, the whole promenade of iron knights came to a juddering, screeching halt. The mechanism had jammed. The badger king jerked and shuddered, almost shaking Trundle loose.
    Esmeralda’s frantic voice came up to him. “Throw down the crown!” she hollered. “Free your hands!”
    He twisted his head and saw the three of them down there, waving and yelling. “A-a-all ri-i-ight. Ma-a-ake sure you ca-a-a-atch it!” he called down, his voice shaken to pieces by the jarring vibrations of the iron king.
    “I will!” hollered Esmeralda.
    Trundle let go of the crown. Esmeralda stood beneath it, her arms stretched up. But at the last second she dived to one side. The crown struck the paving stones with a mighty cloiiiing and went bouncing across the courtyard.
    Trundle was appalled! He was convinced that he saw something break off the crown as it bowled through the tall grass and weeds with Jack in close pursuit. What was Esmeralda thinking? Why hadn’t she caught it?
    He was so annoyed with her that he swung down from the iron king’s neck, clambered down his body, and made a swift descent of the ivy-clad tower without once thinking of how dangerous it was.
    “You loon!” he shouted at Esmeralda. “Why did you jump out of the way?”
    “The sun got in my eyes!” retorted Esmeralda. “I couldn’t see properly! You should have waited till I was ready!”
    Trundle stared at her. “I should have hung there by my toes till you were ready ?” he exclaimed. “Are you out of your mind?”
    “Not too much harm done,” called Jack, running toward them with the slightly dented crown in one hand and something circular in the other.
    Trundle looked at the round object. It was the orb, broken off the top of the