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The Camelot Kids cast of characters #3: Caradoc

The Camelot Kids cast of characters #3: Caradoc

Welcome to the latest peek at a character from The Camelot Kids. If you missed the Maille Rose peek, check it out.

Caradoc may look like something out of a nightmare, but… well, who am I kidding, he IS something out of a nightmare!

But the troll is complex. He’s one puzzle after another. When we first meet him, he’s as mean as he is ugly. But as Simon gets to know him, he spots a pleasing trait or two.

In the following scene, Maille Rose, Simon and Caradoc are searching New Camelot for some missing gold. They suspect two mischievous faeries have teamed up and hidden the gold in the town’s granary. Their suspicions are correct.

But they’ve forgotten one important thing. It’s Friday. And Rule #2 in the “Care of Faeries Handbook” clearly states:

Don’t let a faerie meet a faerie on Fridays.

Enjoy this excerpt from The Camelot Kids!

Caradoc from The Camelot KidsCaradoc slipped in the key and opened the door. Torches on the wall lit up slowly as they entered. Simon found himself in a huge cave, packed with grain.

“This feeds the whole city year round,” Maille explained. “Let’s hope that floating rodent didn’t do anything to our food supply. Okay, start looking.” Maille walked into the grain piles and started sifting through with her hands. Caradoc and Simon looked at each other. Maille glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

“For the gold! It probably hid the stash in here somewhere. The vents in the roof are meant to aerate the grain, but I bet they make it really easy to smell gold from a long ways away, too.”

“We have to find the gold under all of this?” Simon asked.

“Unless you have a better idea,” she answered, readying herself for a new argument with Simon.

“Can’t you use, like, I don’t know, a spell or something?” Simon plead.

“A grain-moving spell? Oh, sure! That’s magic 101!”

“Fabulous!” Caradoc smiled and clapped his hands together.

“She’s being sarcastic, Caradoc,” Simon said. He started digging.

“Wait a minute,” Maille muttered. Her eyes darted around the cave. She smirked. “I could try something. Stand back, guys. Way, way back. This might get ugly.” Simon and the troll stood behind her. “If anyone else is in here with us, you’d better show yourself now or you’ll be getting much smaller in about ten seconds!” This made Simon and Caradoc back up a little more.

Maille didn’t move for a moment. Then she started to breathe heavily, pulled out her bat-wand and uttered the ugliest words Simon had ever heard.

“GRUFKEK HORX!”

A red haze shot out from her wand and covered the mounds of grain. Slowly, the piles began to peel away. As more grain moved, the cavern filled with an excruciatingly loud sound, like a billion locusts swarming down on them. The top two feet of grain slid across the room and rested against the far wall. Finally, the grain settled and the sound died down.

Maille was winded. She sat and put her head between her legs.

“What was that?” Simon asked, stunned.

“The Peeler. It’s meant to skin dead animals. Figured I’d give it a shot.”

“Splendid!” Caradoc shouted. They glanced up to see if the spell had yielded anything.

Indeed, across the cave was a single point of golden light flickering in the torchlight. But before they could take a step, two færies swept down from the shadows, blocking their way.

“Outta the way, ya varmints!” Caradoc roared. When the faeries just hovered there, getting uglier by the second, Caradoc’s angry face turned into Caradoc’s really worried face. “What day is it?” Caradoc asked, quietly.

“Friday,” Maille and Simon said together.Caradoc from The Camelot Kids

“Uh-oh,” all three muttered.

And right in front of their eyes the two færies bleated something and went at each other with a viciousness that would have done cats proud. The two disappeared into the grain with a thud. Then there was silence.

Caradoc and Maille started to back away. “Where are you going?” Simon said. “They took each other out! The coast is clear.”

“Simon! Back away!” Caradoc hollered.

Out of the grain emerged a much larger færie. More specifically, it was the two færies melded together. It had four eyes and four wings, though they were quickly becoming one big, revolting monstrosity. The four eyes became two and the creature shrieked in pain, swelling, mutating with every second that passed.

The party of three were almost backed up to the door when a roar of anger filled the cave. The faerie was only around five feet tall, but equally wide. Its gigantic fangs made Caradoc squeak in fright.

Then it came for them.

Maille reached for her wand but Simon knew she’d be too slow to match its speed. At a full sprint, he grabbed the bat from her hand, twirled on his feet and swung with all his might.

TOK!

The færie flew back as fast as it had sprung forward and hit the far wall hard. It lay still. Within seconds it had transformed into two pixies again. They were sprawled over each other, out cold.

“Home run!” Maille yelled, arms raised. Caradoc started running for the door again. “Caradoc, where are you going?”

“You told us to run home!” Maille and Simon laughed.

“It’s a baseball term,” Maille said, twirling her bat.

Caradoc tried to chuckle but he didn’t think it was funny.

“You grab my bat again and I turn you into a booger,” Maille said to Simon, with a wink.

The troll slowly approached the shiny object jutting out of the grain. He felt the edges of a large golden box and heaved it up as if it were cardboard. Opening it revealed a messy pile of golden leaves.

 

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The Camelot Kids cast of characters #2: Maille Rose

The Camelot Kids cast of characters #2: Maille Rose

Maille Rose’s wand is a baseball bat. That probably gives you a pretty good idea of what kind of person she is. She’s quick to jump into a scrap, especially if someone she likes is in danger. But she’s also known for being the only reasonable person in the room — at least that’s what Maille Rose would tell you ;-)

Maille’s past is a mystery for now, but I can tell you that a lot of what makes her so powerful has to do with that crack in her bat. You’ll get a close look at it soon. It’s a violent gash, from a violent time.

Maille Rose and Simon have an awkward introduction to each other. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 6 of The Camelot Kids!
Maille-Pose-Side-HoodThe flight to Glasgow was dull, until someone showed up on the wing.

They’d been in the air for several hours. Simon couldn’t sleep, so he stared out into the night sky. The moon’s glow blanketed the huge jet engine outside row seventeen’s window. In the distance, dim lights flickered into view in the black sheet of night. He guessed it was Glasgow.

The cabin lights popped on when Simon saw movement near the wing’s tip. He squinted and pressed his nose against the window to get a better view.

Was that a person out there?

He glanced around. The passengers were either asleep or getting ready for landing.

A bolt of lightning killed the moonlight. In that moment Simon saw, clear as day, a figure perched on the wing in a long, wind-whipped robe, arms stretched in the air.

The plane shook violently. Shrieks filled the cabin. They fell a few hundred feet in an instant. The pilot pulled out of the dive but the climb was about as scary, especially when another lightning bolt shot past them.

After a moment, the pilot’s voice reassured them, “Sorry for that one, folks. Looks like we dodged a bullet or two there. I’ll have you on the ground before you know it.”Maille Rose pose

By the time they landed, there was nervous laughter, but everyone was ready to run for the exit.

Simon waited for the plane to empty out before he grabbed his bag. He followed the flight staff and searched for someone who might be his ride. Most people were hugging their families or trying to find the baggage claim.

There was only one person standing in the middle of the crowd as if she were waiting for someone. She was a pretty girl, early teens, with red hair and a black cape fastened at the neck with a shiny silver clasp.

She stared right at him.

As people crossed his view, Simon realized she was coming closer. Before he could blink she was standing right in front of him, with a very serious look on her face. The expression conflicted with her hair, which looked as if… as if she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. And were those bugs squashed to her forehead?

“Simon?” He nodded his head. “I’m Maille Rose. I’m here to take you to your uncle’s.”

“Hello,” he said as politely as he could.

Maille’s eyes darted about nervously. Her hair whipped around like branches on a tree, swaying with every movement of her head.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, as he noticed a bug crawling toward her ear. “Oh, um, hey, I think you have some bugs on…”

“No. Of course not. Nothing’s wrong.” She grabbed his hand and led him away. “Do you have much luggage?”

“None. I don’t own much.”

“Oh, too bad. That you don’t own much, that is.” Her grip on his wrist was strong. Too strong. She broke into a jog.

“Uh, why are we running?” he asked. But Maille didn’t answer. She peeked over her shoulder.

“Okay. What’s going on here? Who are you?” Simon stopped short. Maille moved close to him and leaned into his ear to whisper.

“Listen to me, Simon. You’re in danger. We need to get you out of here.”

“Who’s we? What do you mean danger?”

But Maille, if that was her name, saw something that made her eyes go wide.

“Oh, look at that,” she said with a smile, then ducked below the elbows of a gaggle of chattering businessmen and disappeared. Simon couldn’t spot her anywhere. He was going to call out her name when he felt a large hand settle on his shoulder.

“Mr. Sharp?” Simon turned and saw the biggest man he’d ever laid his eyes on. The guy looked like a boxer, with shoulders as wide as a door. He was dressed in old-fashioned chauffeur garb, hat and all. It fit so badly that it was more like a costume than a uniform. Simon made a gesture with his hand that was a cross between a wave hello and erasing a chalk-board. The man smiled and took his carry-on.

“I’m Hector,” he said with a distinct Scottish accent. “I’ll be taking you to yer uncle’s.”

“Then who was…” He stopped himself.

“Sorry?”

“Nothing. Thanks.” Simon stayed a few paces back as Hector carved a path through the crowd. The driver’s stride was long enough to take four steps at a time up a flight of stairs. Simon stole a few glances around on the off chance he’d spot Maille, but no luck. Maybe he’d dreamed her up. Like he’d dreamed that someone was standing on the wing of a plane going 400 miles per hour.

Jet lag. Yeah. Jet lag.

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