aid Hobbie slowly opened his eyes. The birds in the trees were singing and the X-Banthas were making rustling sounds as they foraged for tender, juicy leaves. He smiled. It was so quiet, and yet noisy. Not the noise of intelligent beings and speeders soaring along dirt-tracks, but the subtle noise of nature. He half-turned in his bed of straw and moss, intending to wake Charlotte Hood so that they could enjoy the morning sun together...
...But she was not there!
Maid Hobbie leapt out of bed, withdrew a hunting horn from his back pocket and blew it long and loud. In an instant, Little Horn and Lady Mirax, Friar Tycho, Wes Scarlet and Lady Rachel had appeared at the roots of the tree in which Maid Hobbie's and Charlotte Hood's tree house lay.
'What is it?' Little Horn said.
'Charlotte Hood! She's vanished!'
'Perhaps she's just gone for an early-morning walk?' Friar Tycho suggested.
Maid Hobbie shook his head. 'I can feel it...she's gone. Really gone. I'm... beginning to forget her. My memories of her are already fading fast.'
'Surely not?' Wes Scarlet frowned. He looked tired and dazed, and had Lady Rachel under one arm. She was half-asleep, and had a contented smile on her face.
'Sounds to me like you've had a memory purge,' Little Horn said... then, as the others stared, he said; 'It's something controllers of the Alpha-beta forces can do.'
'But you're the only one known in these parts!' Maid Hobbie wailed. 'We need some advice. And fast.'
'Commander Hosho!' Everyone else chorused.
Commander Hosho was a fiercely independent individual who had made his reclusive home on the outskirts of the forest. He had been known to aid the Merry Rogues in the past - but that didn't mean he was their ally. He simply chose whatever side suited him best at that present moment.
'He'll only help us if he'll get paid,' Friar Tycho reminded the others, 'And we don't have any money.'
Everyone turned to Lady Rachel and Wes Scarlet, who had been permitted to keep the money they made from spinning flightsuits into pure gold. 'The royalties from the cheque we paid in haven't come through yet,' Lady Rachel said apologetically. 'It was such a large sum.'
'We'll just have to borrow it then,' Maid Hobbie said. He was just wondering how to go about this, when Lady Rachel gasped, 'Of course! Tarris Vaal!'
'Who's Tarris Vaal?' Everyone asked.
'He was Sir Wedge's greatest opponent - until he lost all his property, that is. He'd loan us the money. He's quite gullible - we just need a good reason.'
'Leave it to me.' Wes Scarlet, ever anxious to improve himself in Lady Rachel's eyes, said.
As Wes Scarlet turned, preparing to go and find Tarris Vaal, he bumped into Nat, the slightly insane co-pilot. She had an insane grin on her face and was hopping insanely along on one foot.
'Hi Nat! Can't stop.'
'B?b?b?but we're having a party down at the local,' Nat sniffed.
'Alcohol!' Wes Scarlet stopped, and turned round to Lady Rachel. She yawned, then said, 'Charlotte can wait. Sorry, but duty calls?'
So the Merry Rogues set off for the Bowblaster and Arrow, hoping to discuss their plans further over some elba-berry beer?
They entered the crowded bar, mostly filled with 'the strangest creatures you've ever seen-a,' and ordered a round of drinks. Just as Wes Scarlet raised his glass to his mouth to drink, a drunken woman snatched the glass from him and downed it herself.
'Hey!'
'Oh, get another.' She was quite young but obviously very drunk. 'you can afford it but I can't.'
'I can't either! We're having to borrow some as it is to pay Commander Hosho to help us find Charlotte Hood. Someone's kidnapped her.'
'Hum. That wouldn't be a certain *hic* certain Darth Stosh and La *hic* Gar would it?' The drunk pirouetted on tiptoe and nearly collapsed in Friar Tycho's arms.
'You know who kidnapped her?' Maid Hobbie grabbed hold of her arm. 'Who are you?'
'Admiral Jenique Loran, at your service. I can help. But I need money.'
'Not more money!' Little Horn groaned.
'Shut up. We help Charlotte,' Maid Hobbie growled. 'Come on, Merry Rogues! We have ourselves a lead?'
Admiral Loran led them out of the bar and took them in a easterly direction, into new depths of the forest that few of the Rogues had ever dared venture into. The narrow path was almost concealed from sight by overhanging brambles and dark evergreens whose lower branches served as obstacles in the party's journey. The party was a little slow moving; mainly due to Jenique's drunken state - but there were a few other hindrances as well. Nat the slightly-insane-co-pilot was getting in everyone's way, trying her hardest to trip up Maid Hobbie and Wes Scarlet, whom she rather fancied. Lady Rachel was hanging on Wes' arm, making movement for him difficult; the same went for Little Horn, who had similar problems with Lady Mirax.
'Are we nearly there yet?' Friar Tycho grumbled, his stomach growling.
'Nearrrrrrly,' Jenique slurred. And as she finished the '-ly,' the Merry Rogues and Co. came upon a clearing in the forest depths; a little circle of green grass kept short by some grazing animal.
'Ooh! A faerie ring!' Nat began to dance round in a circle around the outside of the green grass ring - around the party of Rogues. 'If you wish on a faerie ring?tra la la?tra la la.'
Maid Hobbie shook his head at this performance; then his eyes widened in astonishment as the world around him began to spin and lose clarity. A strong breeze swept him off his feet and propelled him into the other Rogues - then the spinning stopped and he landed in a heap along with the others.
'Wha?at? Where in Sherwield Forest are we?' Maid Hobbie exclaimed. The forest they had been standing in had vanished, and the grass had somehow been replaced with a hard stone floor.
'My head!' Jenique Loran groaned.
'It's your fault!' Wes Scarlet looked accusingly at Nat. 'You cast a spell by singing that wretched song! It was a magic faerie circle, and now you've magicked us here!'
'I have a bad feeling about this,' Little Horn said. 'I'm receiving bad vibes through the Alpha-beta forces!'
'Really? I wonder how you came to THAT conclusion,' Lady Rachel said sarcastically. 'I mean, look at this place. You don't need the forces to be able to tell that whoever lives here isn't friendly.'
At her words the Merry Rogues glanced round at their surroundings. All kinds of metal torturous instruments lined the walls; the floor was streaked with long-dried blood and there was little light.
'Yeowch,' Maid Hobbie said.
'I'm hungry!' Friar Tycho wailed.
Wes Scarlet drew his blastsword and held it in a threatening pose. 'Is anyone out there?' He called. Far away, cavernous rooms mockingly echoed his words.
'Heeeelllp!' Someone cried.
'Ili?' Nat seemed to wake at the sound of that voice. 'Co-pilot, is that you?'
'Nat? Oh, Nat!' The Merry Rogues heard footsteps, and a rather bedraggled woman about Nat's age stepped into view. 'You found me! I've been trying to escape from this labyrinth for ages, but I might as well have been locked in a room for all my success. I'm starving!'
Wes Scarlet glanced worryingly at Lady Rachel. 'Then we're stuck too, for I can't see how the spell can be reversed.'
'Oh, oh!' Jenique put a hand to her head and stomped on the floor in frustration.
Maid Hobbie sighed deeply. 'I don't see what we can do.' He glanced round at his companions. 'We'd better let Ili tell us all she can.'
Meanwhile, several levels above the Merry Rogues, King Rickety sat upon his cardboard throne. He held his nose haughtily in the air as La Gar, French-Druid Sorceress Dominatrix, knelt before him. 'Well?'
'They are in the hidden palace chambers, my lord,' She answered, a wicked glint in her eyes. 'Darth Stosh here, with his force powers, managed to control Jenique's weak mind (with the alcohol's help) so that she led them to the correct spot. And the fools think that harmless Nat was the cause of their predicament!'
Darth Stosh, his double-ended lightsaber lit and poised for action, nodded. 'Alcohol-weakened minds all think alike,' he said calmly, his blue-green eyes meeting the kings with a piercing intensity.
'Good. And how fares the prisoner?'
'She is strong, but she will not stand much longer. She is bait for the fools to bite on,' La Gar said smoothly, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. 'She has been fun to torture, but I lust for more.'
'And you shall get more,' the King promised. 'Prince Ackbar?'
'Here.' The fishy-looking younger brother of the king was looking slightly nervous. He had only meant to earn some money when he and Sheriff Cracken had slipped that tracer in to Charlotte Hood's back pocket that time they had met in the depths of Nottinghill Castle. He hadn't meant for his ambitious brother to torture and break the Merry Rogues.
'Prince Ackbar, take Sheriff Cracken and Darth Stosh with you. I have many plans for you, and you WILL carry them out for me. Now, depart. I need my beauty-sleep.'
So the others left the inner court of the King, and went about their separate tasks?
________________________________________________________________________
'So the fact is, I've been wandering around here for some time?and I haven't seen any way to escape yet!' Iliana concluded. She sniffed, and Nat gave her friend a friendly hug, to cheer her up.
Maid Hobbie shook his head. 'Oh, what shall we do?' He moaned, for the thousandth time.
'You've already said that!' Wes Scarlet snapped. The blood-streaked walls and dim lighting were enough to get on anyone's nerves.
Little did they know that up above them, through La Gar's crystal ball, the King was watching them in their predicament.
'Let some of them escape,' he informed La Gar. 'For sport. You already have enough to torture.'
La Gar reluctantly nodded, and set about searching for herbs with which to produce her magic?
