Read Online Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy - Free Book Online

complaining, just asking a question. How is it that people always think I’m the one to baby-sit their kids? But I’m resigned to it.’
    Many parleys had a pattern to them. In the past Ferdy had talked first, laying out the argument. Then the leaders of the Fantasia … Maddie, Yves, Bannister, Tane, and others would speak out. Old Goneril would give nagging opinions, criticizing everyone and, following this, other people would offer ideas and opinions. Now Yves led the parley once more. He praised Ferdy (‘He was a Maddigan of Maddigans!’) then said, glancing modestly down at his feet, that Maddie and Tane and Bannister had asked him to take over the work that Ferdy had always done.
    This was what everyone expected. Garland looked at him darkly but did not argue. Yves was the tallest … he had a head full of words … could reason and deal and make announcements . And Yves’s first official announcement was a sad one.
    ‘Bailey!’ he said. ‘Our mapmaster …’ He looked around at them, and suddenly everyone knew why he had called them together. ‘Bailey’s dead!’ he said. ‘Well, we knew it was probable , didn’t we? All the same there’s the shock of it being made so final. Ferdy one day! Bailey the next.’
    Garland did not know what to say … perhaps there was nothing that could be said. She looked around and saw the bowed heads, felt the new wave of grief edging through the Fantasia.
    Maddie began to talk. ‘It’s hard,’ she said, her voice quivering, ‘but we are who we are. We move on.’ Direction, she told them. They must have direction. Back at Milton they had beenpaid with food – they had enough for a few days. But now they must make for Gramth. They must perform and build up their stores so that they would have enough to carry them all the way through to Newton … and enough for any emergencies as well. After all there were always emergencies. Above all they must make for Newton where (with a little bit of luck) they might be able to wheel and deal and trade what they had to trade for that solar converter and even some of the solar cells for which Newton was so famous. If they could bring a converter back to Solis they would win new respect … new stores … money and fame. However, Newton was a long way off. First they must bury Bailey. And then they must … they
must
… get to Gramth.
    People sighed and nodded. The parley was about to close when a voice was raised – old Shell. He was pointing at Timon and Eden.
    ‘And what about them?’ he was asking. ‘What about those ones, what crept in just after our Ferdy was done in? I reckon they stand for bad luck … strangers breaking in on us at a strange time.’
    Yves hesitated, frowning at Shell.
    ‘But don’t forget they stepped in and saved us back there!’ he said. ‘And what a show! I’ve never seen anything like it. Well … have you?’ Shell was silent. Yves went on. ‘Just think! We were all struck down a bit, weren’t we? I think that crowd was going to sling us out. And then the smaller one –’ he nodded in Eden’s direction ‘– his act was amazing.’
    ‘You say he saved us,’ said Shell. ‘But think about what he did? That magic of his – it wasn’t natural magic, was it? I’m not saying we should punish them in any way – but we should think twice about letting them travel on with us.’
    The whole Fantasia began to argue with itself, and only fell silent when Yves shouted.
    ‘They
saved
us back there,’ he repeated. ‘What sort of a Fantasia would we be if we turned away from the wonders?’
    ‘Yves is right!’ cried Maddie. ‘We’ve lost –’ she hesitated, swallowing ‘– we’ve lost two treasures. We need something to balance things out, and that boy is amazing.’
    Garland leaped to her feet.
    ‘How can we trust strangers? How do we know they didn’t run with the Road Rats? How do we know where they came from? We’ve never taken on strangers before. Outside of Solis, how can