The Ogre of Oglefort Read Online Free Page B

boiling oil. The windows were barred with iron; blackbirds circled the battlements.
    Again the picture changed. They were inside the castle now, in a huge banquet hall, its walls hung with death-dealing instruments and the antlers of slaughtered animals. And then came gasps and cries of “Oooh” from the audience—because what they were seeing was a head.
    But what a head! Swollen and loathsome, with hate-filled eyes, a pockmarked nose . . . a mouth opened to show bloodstained teeth.
    The Norns pointed to the picture with their deformed fingers.
    â€œIt is the Great Ogre,” intoned the First Norn.
    â€œThe flesh-eating Ogre of the North,” pronounced the Second Norn.
    â€œThe dreaded Ogre of Oglefort,” uttered the Third Norn.
    For a moment the camera stayed on the fearful head. Then it pulled back to show the figure who knelt at the monster’s feet: a young girl with long hair streaming down her back, her hands clasped beseechingly. But just as the ogre’s hands came down toward the trembling girl, the screen went dark.
    â€œIt is the Princess Mirella,” said the First Norn in her singsong voice.
    â€œShe must be rescued,” said the Second Norn.
    â€œSaved,” said the Third.
    â€œAnd the ogre must be slain,” said the First Norn.
    â€œKilled,” said the Second Norn.
    â€œPulverized. Absolutely,” said the Third.
    Then all three of them pointed to the audience and with one voice they cried:
    â€œTHIS IS THE TASK!”
    A rustle of despair went through the Unusual Creatures.
    â€œWhat about Mr. Barber’s Holiday Camp?” came a voice from the back.
    The great bed shook as the fearful females rose to their knees.
    â€œTHE TASK IS GIVEN,” screeched all three Norns again. “And any waverers will feel the pull of Hades.”
    They fell back on their pillows. Rattling noises came from their throats. The nurses who had brought them in wheeled the bed to one side of the stage, and Nellie Arbuthnot came back, looking shaken. The parrot in its cage had fainted.
    â€œIf you make your way to the refreshment room, we will prepare the instructions for the . . . er . . . the ogre-slaying,” she said nervously. “You have half an hour.”
    The curtains were pulled together and everyone in the audience trooped out of the room—everyone except the people from Number 26, who had no money.
    â€œThis is terrible,” whispered the Hag to the troll. “I’d never have brought the boy if I’d known what was going to happen.”
    But Ivo did not look frightened. He looked excited.
    Behind the curtains, the nurses came with large syringes to inject the Norns and pills to push down their throats.
    The minutes passed.
    Then a bell rang, the signal that the meeting was going to start again. There was the noise of footsteps of all kinds coming from the refreshment room, but none of them seemed to be coming back into the hall. One could hear the sounds of slithering and limping and shuffling which gradually grew fainter—and then silence. Every one of the Unusual Creatures had made their way down the stairs and out into the street, heading for home.
    The curtains parted. The Norns were a little stronger after their injection; they knelt up in the great bed and raked the room with their baleful eyes.
    What they saw was a Hag and her familiar, a troll, a small wizard—and nobody else.
    The Norns beckoned to a nurse and stuck out their arms, and she gave each of them another injection from her huge syringe—but it made no difference. When the Old Ones peered into the room once more, they still saw only the same four people.
    There was nothing to be done then, and the Norns made the best of it.
    â€œYou are the Chosen Ones,” said the First Norn.
    â€œYou are the ogre-slayers,” quavered the Second.
    â€œThe rescuers,” said the Third.
    â€œBut—” began the