Page 7 of The Fall I Fell

There, at varying heights of the willow tree in the back field, were three boys. Jacob was sitting in the highest branch he could reach. I knew he wasn’t a ghost! One of his brothers hung out of the window of the treehouse, a plastic cone still pressed to his lips like a trumpet. The smallest boy stood at the roots, waving ferociously.

‘Callum!’ I shouted as I flew down the stairs. ‘They got our note! Come on, let’s go!’

My brother stumbled through the kitchen, dragging on his trainers, not bothering to lace them as he followed me out the door.

‘Make sure you’re back for your dinner!’ I heard Granny call after us.

‘We will!’ Callum replied, still with his mouth full, still wearing his Spider-Man pyjama top.

We raced out the back garden, my anticipation so potent that I could feel my legs wobble under me as I ran.

‘Welcome to Fort Thorogood,’ the trumpeter announced as we arrived. He was an older version of Jacob, though this brother’s dark hair wasn’t so wild, and he had no mud smeared across his cheeks. ‘I am King William. This is Sir Alfred.’ He pointed to the smallest brother in front of us. He had a long stick, almost as tall as him, that he was holding like a spear. Clearly, he’d been tasked to guard the fort, but I reckoned I could beat him in a fight if I had to.

‘Alfred’ folded his arms over his chest with a huff. ‘It’s Alfie,’ he corrected. Then he addressed Callum with wide eyes. ‘Cool shirt.’ Callum’s cheeks flushed red, and the excitement at the prospect of three new boys to play with was evident on his face. I wasn’t too sure yet – was I really going to have to spend the whole summer as the only girl? It didn’t bother me much, I knew I could keep up with them, but I worried that the boys might not think the same and I’d end up side-lined, as I often did with some of Callum’s friends back home.

‘You remembered your shoes today,’ Jacob said gruffly from his branch. He was wearing shorts, his scabby and grazed knees out on full display, and already his shins were splattered with mud.

‘I didn’t forget them yesterday. I just didn’t want to wear them,’ I retorted. The truth was, Granny made sure I was wearing shoes that day, after she’d slathered my foot with cream and given me a new plaster.

Jacob raised his eyebrows in surprise.

‘I see you’ve already met Sir Jacob,’ William called down. ‘Now, I have been informed that we had a couple of intruders here at Fort Thorogood yesterday. They left behind this bit of evidence.’ He held up my note that had been torn from the nail before tossing it from the parapet where it floated down like a falling leaf. ‘You wish to be Knights of my realm, eh, trespassers?’

I folded my arms over my chest in defiance. ‘We weren’t trespassing!’

But my brother wasn’t so confident, and he said at the same time: ‘Um, yes, please!’

William paused for a minute, and looked back into the treehouse like he was consulting someone. After a moment, his head popped back out of the window with a grin. ‘Well, to become my Knights, you must carry out a series of tasks and challenges set to test you.’

‘You take this a bit seriously, don’t you?’ I asked as I saw Callum’s eyes widen again.

‘Look, you wanna play with us or not?’ William said, putting aside his kingly voice.

I shrugged. ‘Depends.’

‘Depends on what?’

I shrugged again, much to William’s annoyance. Jacob almost cracked a smile.

‘I want to play! What’s the first task?’ Callum said, eagerness overtaking his anxiety briefly.

William ducked back inside for a second. When he came out, he said, ‘You must battle one of my knights … to the death!’ He dragged a stick from where it was tucked into his belt and thrust it through the window of the treehouse. He hesitated for a moment and murmured into the treehouse, ‘Are you sure? To the death feels a bit dramatic.’

‘Dramatic?’ A new voice reached us as a girl shoved Will out of the way of the window, a helmet covering her hair as she waved her own ‘sword’ toward us. ‘If you aren’t cut out to be King, William, then I shall have to find someone else.’ She pointed her stick towards Callum, who practically vibrated with excitement. She dropped the act for just a moment to stare down her cousin. ‘You know Auntie Sian will tell you off if you’re not playing with me.’

Will harrumphed and dropped the stick before sliding down the branch to meet us on the ground. ‘You always ruin the fun,’ he grumbled, as though being scolded by his mum, despite the fact that the girl looked like the youngest of all of us here. She followed him down.

‘I’m Lizzie, or Sir Elizabeth. Their cousin and your challenger.’

I shook Lizzie’s outstretched hand.

‘Ava.’ I smiled, excited at the prospect of having at least one other girl to play with. ‘This is my brother, Callum.’ He smiled too and offered a hand, but they both had a little awkward dance as they tried to figure out which hands to shake.

‘Ignore Will,’ she declared. ‘He’s nearly ten and thinks that makes him the boss. But I’m seven, and I actually am the boss. Nice to meet you.’ I liked her already. Will cowered moodily by the trunk. Callum could only stare at her in awe.

‘Come on, we need to do something, Liz. I’m bored,’ Alfie moaned, and a sly smile crossed her face.

‘Well, I didn’t come all the way down here just to make friends. I came … for a duel!’ Lizzie turned to me first but she was met with my wide eyes and shaking head. Without missing a beat, she turned to Callum, her eyebrow raised, ‘You, Sir! Will you have the gall to fight for the crown, or die trying?’