Back to Medieval Times!

Chapter 1 ‘I don’t know what led me to that book and that picture but I know I was led. Everything is so clear in my memory it seems like it happened yesterday.’ ‘OK,’ I said. ‘Take it slowly. Start from the beginning.’ ‘We knew, didn’t we, that something had happened to us at that fair when we were eleven.’ I nodded for him to continue. ‘Do you remember how excited we were when the following year the fair came back to town?’ ‘Vaguely,’ I said. ‘Don’t forget it was ten years ago.’ ‘Well, anyway, we were and again we borrowed some money from our parents and rushed down to the pier to see what we could find there. We wandered around amidst all the noise and the lights for ages but couldn’t find anything that we really wanted to do and finally we walked down to the end of the pier where it was quiet and looked at the sea below for a while. Then we turned back and I said to you, ‘We have to find something to use our money on. Otherwise it will be wasted.’ You agreed and then, as we were walking back, we saw what looked like a mirage. It was shimmering in the hot sun and, as we got closer, we could see it was the carousel you described in your adventure. It was set off to the side of the rest of the fair and there seemed to be no one going in or coming out. The noise of the fair got louder but then as we came up to the carousel itself, we seemed to pass through a kind of shimmering curtain and inside there was no sound at all. We couldn’t even hear the beautiful horses spinning round and going madly up and down. Then we saw the old clown you described with his long orange fake hair and painted face. I noticed the colour of his eyes, a kind of strange, luminescent purple, and whispered to you, ‘Do you think he’s an alien?’ but you just said, ‘Ssh! He might hear you and then we might not be allowed in.’ We both so desperately wanted to ride this amazing carousel with its gorgeous animals and weird guardian that I immediately shut up, sorry that I had spoken. But the clown gave no sign of having heard me and said simply, ‘You two back again for another go, are you?’ ‘Yes, please, sir,’ you exclaimed. I wondered what he meant by ‘again’ but decided not to spoil our chances by asking. Then he said, ‘Choose your horses,’ and he pulled a lever and the carousel came shuddering to a rapid halt. So we walked around looking at the horses and finally chose two side by side, a magnificent white animal called Shadowfax for you and another with an extraordinarily black glossy coat and a white star on his forehead for me, called Bucephalus. They all had names around their necks so they could be identified easily. But, before we climbed on, you called out to the old clown, ‘Don’t we have to pay you before we ride?’ ‘No. Don’t worry about that. Pay me when you get off if you’ve had a good time,’ the clown shouted back. So we climbed on our horses and the clown set the carousel in motion. We still hadn’t seen anyone else inside its bubble of silence. Then we started spinning, going faster and faster. I remember we felt quite safe even though the machine seemed to be going dangerously fast now. I had to close my eyes because the wind was stinging them but, before I did, I remember looking across at you and you were grinning with exhilaration. Then there was a huge bang as if we’d gone through the sound barrier, and the next time I opened my eyes we had landed on soft ground.