Magic Ballerina 1-6

(#ulink_897f51cc-82cf-5b23-ac98-f4ff822a3e17)

Sugar pulled a silver wand out of a pocket in her tutu and waved it in the air. Purple sparks flew out and swirled round them in a haze. Delphie felt herself pirouetting round three times in the air before she landed on her feet and the sparkles cleared.

Delphie gasped. They were no longer on the stage but standing in a wood with fallen branches and leaves beneath their feet. The air smelt horrid – of rotten fruit and old food.

“That’s King Rat’s castle,” whispered Sugar pointing through the trees. Delphie could see a dark shape looming ahead of them, its stone turrets silhouetted against the sky.

Two mice, a bit taller than Delphie, were guarding the big wooden door that led into the castle. They were standing on their back legs and had swords slung through leather belts. Their eyes were beady and their snouts were long.

“What’s that horrid smell?” Delphie whispered back.

“King Rat gets his mice to bring great piles of rubbish here so he can rummage around in it and eat it to his heart’s content. He loves it.”

Sugar waved her wand. There was a tinkle of music and two sugar-coated plums appeared in her hand. “These should help take the smell away. Put one in your pocket.” She handed one to Delphie.

Delphie breathed in a wave of sweetness – icing sugar, candyfloss, fresh plums and peaches. “That’s much better!” She slipped the sugarplum into her pocket and looked around. “How are we going to get into the castle to rescue the Nutcracker?”

“I don’t know,” said Sugar. “I can use my magic to travel around Enchantia, but I can’t use it to get inside King Rat’s castle. His powers are much stronger than mine.”

Delphie crept forward to the edge of the trees. How were they going to get in?

Suddenly both mice sniffed the air.

“Sugarplums!” said the mouse on the left who was tall and thin with very pointed teeth. “I smell sugarplums!”

“Me too,” said the other mouse, who was smaller and fatter with tiny eyes.

They scented the air. “It smells like they’re this way!” said the thin mouse, starting to walk away from the castle and towards the trees where Delphie and Sugar were hiding.

“They’re coming over here!” Delphie whispered in alarm.

Sugar looked dismayed. “I forgot that all of King Rat’s mice love sugarplums! I’d better magic us away!”

But Delphie had noticed something. With the mice walking away from the castle, the door was unguarded. An idea popped into her mind. If they could just get the mice into the trees and properly away from the door…

“Wait!” she hissed as Sugar lifted her wand. “This could be our chance to get into the castle! Can you get me some more sugarplums – and fast!”

“It’s too dangerous!” said Sugar as the mice approached the trees.

“Please!” Delphie begged.

Sugar hesitated and then pointed her wand at the ground. With a faint tinkle, a pile of sugarplums appeared.

Delphie picked up as many as she could. “Quick! Let’s make a trail leading away from the castle!”

Sugar grabbed the remaining plums and they hurried through the trees. They placed one of the plums near the entrance to the wood and then another and then another, all leading down the hill away from the castle. Delphie glanced round. Already she could hear the mice crashing through the woods! Sugar put the last plum where the wood ended in a steep bank that led into a shallow but fast-flowing stream.

Delphie suddenly had an idea of how to get the mice really out of the way. “If only we had some string.”

“How about some ballet ribbon!” Sugar waved her wand and a big roll of pink ribbon appeared in her hand. “What do you want it for?”

“To hopefully get two mice very wet!” grinned Delphie.

She raced to the bank and tied one end of the ribbon round a tree on the left side and the other end round a tree on the right side. Then she smiled and grabbed Sugar’s hand. “Come on! They mustn’t see us.”

She pulled Sugar back to the edge of the woods where there was a big bramble bush to hide behind, just as the smaller mouse burst into sight.

“I found the sugarplum!” he exclaimed, snatching it up.

The tall one appeared just behind him. “There’s another!” he cried, pouncing on the pale fruit. “And look! There’s more of them!”

Peeping out from behind the bush, Delphie and Sugar watched as the mice began to run down the hill, scooping up the sweet plums and squabbling over them.

“I saw that one first!”

“I want it!”

“No! I want it!”

The two mice were so busy jostling and pushing each other that they didn’t see the ribbon stretched across the path until they both tripped over it.

“Whoa!” shouted the mice grabbing hold of each other as they crashed to the ground. Over and over they tumbled down the bank until with two very loud splashes they fell, still shouting, into the stream.

Sugar gasped, looking half-shocked and half-delighted. “Oh, Delphie! You’ve made them so wet!”

Delphie grinned. “Maybe that’ll teach them not to be so greedy in future. Come on! Let’s get inside the castle while they’re busy drying off.”

They raced towards the entrance. The wooden door had a huge metal handle in the shape of a rat’s head. Delphie turned it and the door opened. On the other side there was an enormous empty hall with a stone fireplace. Above it there was a framed picture of a black rat with a crown on his head and a red cloak.

On the far side of the room were two towers of boxes, piled almost up to the ceiling with the words GLUE printed on the sides of them.

“Look!” Sugar pointed to a table just in front of the boxes. Standing on top of it was a small painted wooden figure. He looked like a soldier wearing a red jacket with brass buttons, black trousers and boots and a sword in his belt.

“It’s the Nutcracker!” Delphie said, running over and picking the figure up.

But then she heard a noise. It sounded like footsteps marching towards the door on the left.

“Get back in the hall!” came a voice outside the door. “You know King Rat said the Nutcracker wasn’t to be left on his own! Call yourself a soldier! Coming to me with poppycock stories about smelling sugarplums through the windows!”

“But I did, Sarge. I really did. I…”

“GET BACK IN THERE!”

“Quick!” Delphie gasped to Sugar. “There’s someone coming! We’ve got to hide!”

(#ulink_80772f16-f36e-5e17-831e-57f3c2eb3475)

Delphie ran over and turned the handle of a door at the side of the hall. It opened into a small room which seemed to be used for keeping firewood. “In here!” she gasped.