Chapter 4

After gathering their backpacks, the freshmen, Fred, Sam, Peter, and Mia, Headed towards the Band hall. They went straight towards the band director. Fred spoke for them, "Excuse me sir, have you seen Gary Greyson?"

The director looked down on him, "Not in ten minutes, what is going on here?"

"Oh nothing," Fred sang. He realized his mistake and covered his mouth. All around him musical interments stopped playing, and their musicians stared at him. All of a sudden a hand reached from behind, grabbed Fred, and dragged him back to the practice rooms. Facing him was a tough looking senior with a beat-up Bari saxophone case. "Now I can craft rich speech when I need to, but to sing, that is an unusual gift...you have just revealed that Choirlings are abroad."

All of a sudden, Sam, Peter, and Mia stormed in with their little fists clenched. Sam shouted at him, "Step away from him or I'll give you a bloody nose."

The senior turned to him, "You are brave little one."

"Little?!?! Peter! Mia! Be careful! He will bewitch you with his saxophone!"

The senior sat his case on the ground and opened it revealing a very battered Bari sax, "Not very bewitching is it? I am Steve, a band member from SHHS. I am here for the interschool band ensemble. I will guide you to SHHS for the meeting. It looks like Gary isn't going to show up."

Fred looked at him, "Why can't you just give us a ride in your car?"

"It is a bug and you don't want to ride in the back. Let us get going." Steve led them out of TIHS and down a small path.

Washuu was busy. She was building an army. Which entailed training any student who had some muscle to do karate. There were also rumors of Washuu's private troops lead by one of her best friends, Ace. Gary the Grey was horrified when he saw how vast the army was. He knew he had to find a way down from the roof of Terry Ingleburg High School to warn the students of South Hamilton High School about the Pen and the power hungry student with a huge army.

Washuu decided to take a tea break and went upstairs to shove Garry around a little. "I'll give you one last chance to join with me and share my power." Gary suddenly saw a gutter pipe. Before he jumped to safety he declared, "There is only one Lord of the District. And he does not share power." Gary then slid down the pipe to safety, jumped into his convertible, and drove away.

The five travelers were on the road for several hours. Midway through a field they stopped to rest at a large rock. Fred slowly drifted to sleep. He was suddenly awakened when someone stepped on him. He sat up and looked around, "Where is Steve?"

Mia turned around from facing the rock, "He went off to scout around for trouble. It isn't like a monster is going to come out and grab us." She stepped away from the rock now a brilliant shade of tie-dye.

"What have you done!?!? Change it back!"

"Oh lighten up. Sam, Peter, and I had to do something while you slept."

Fred's mind was on stories he learned of the dark times from his father, "We will be spotted!" All of a sudden, a dull roar issued from the back part of the field. The dreaded nine football players drove up on motorcycles. Their captain spoke in words of triumph, "We have found Choirlings! They will never unite at SHHS!" The freshmen put up their feeble fists. Fred, the only one with common sense tried to run. The captain ran him down and tackled him. While holding Fred down, the football player force-fed him a poisoned brownie baked by his girlfriend. Fred collapsed in a heap on the ground. The team then encircled the rest of the small party. A whistle suddenly echoed throughout the field. Steve jumped in between the Choirlings and the Football players, "Penalty! Football team attacking the Choir! Move back 100 yards!" The football team fled from Steve who was wearing a referee uniform.

When the football team was well out of sight, Steve ran towards the unconscious Fred. "He has been poisoned by a Cheerleader's brownie. This is beyond my skill. He needs theatre medicine." For about half an hour Steve carried Fred with the rest of the Choirlings worrying about him walked next to Steve. Steve set Fred down on the ground, and Fred began to gasp for breath. Steve spotted a row of telephone posts nearby, "Sam there might be a medical kit with aspirin in it over there."

"Will that help him recover?"

"No, but it will slow the poison. Come on." Sam and Steve ran for the telephone posts and began searching for the medical kit. Aaron found it and began to rummage through it. Sam saw him and decided to run back to his friends. Sam did not see a dark figure press a blade to Steve's neck. A sultry female voice spoke down to him, "What's this? A band student caught of his guard?"

Sam, Peter and Mia were all bending down over Fred when Steve and a strangely clad senior walked up. When she bent down to observe Fred, Sam recognized the fluid motion. "She is from theatre." Steve immediately bent down and shoved the aspirin down Fred's throat. The theatre student whispered to talk to Steve, "We must get him to my father. I can take him on my bike."

"Amy, I don't want you to get hurt. I'll ride. You walk behind and keep an eye on the freshmen."

"I pedal faster and my bike is too small for you. I'm taking the Choirling and that is final. Once I get to the school my father will protect me." Amy placed Fred in the shopping basket on her bike along with her trumpet case. Amy was the bearer of the Trumpet Short Sword. She was only in theatre because her father, Mr. Elfmen, was the director.

Amy sped down the path on her bike. A sudden rumble from behind warned her that the Football players on their motorcycles were gaining on her. They raced all the way to SHHS. One or two times they nearly grabbed Fred of her bike. Amy finally reached the entrance to the theatre and stopped by the door. The captain shouted at her, "Give up the Choirling, Actress!"

Amy drew the Trumpet Short Sword, "If you want him, come and claim him!" When the team advanced she began to chant, "Father please come to my aid…" All of the sudden, a handsome man ran out of the theatre with a fire hose. He opened a valve and blasted away all of the Football players. Amy smiled at him, "Thanks a lot…dad"

Mr. Elfmen smiled at her, "Just watering the plants. Now, lets get this Choirling inside."

Fred awoke in a hammock a day later, "Where am I?"

"You are backstage of the SHHS theatre. It is 10 a.m. if you have any inclination to know the time," volunteered Gary as he looked up at a wall clock.

"Hello Fred," cried Sam from the other side of the hammock.

"Sam has been worried, he hasn't left you side since you got here."

"Maybe that is because my hand is stuck?" When Fred got a better look he noticed that, indeed, Sam's hand was caught in the webbing of the hammock. Gary started to laugh. "The council will be meeting as soon as you had a decent breakfast."

Fred sat down to breakfast with the rest of the Choirlings and Steve. He suddenly saw someone that he hadn't seen in a long time, his cousin Billy Baggins, "Why hello little cousin. Fancy seeing you here." Fred smiled; those were the most words Billy has ever said in one setting.

The council met in the seats of the auditorium. They leaned close together over the chairs. Mr. Elfmen was calling the council to order. There was only two of the three theatre students were there. One was Orlando; a Junior from TIHS and the other was clumsy Grace, a Sophomore from HSHS. The third theatre student had gone into hiding as soon as she felt the Pen. From the band came Amy and Aaron. The rest of the band representatives came, but their names were lost to the annuals of history. They were the wielders of the Oboe Staff, the French Horn Whip, and the Mallet Numb chucks. Mostly Freshmen came from the choir. Fred, Sam, Peter, and Mia were the youngest. Billy was a Junior. The other two were enigmas to the rest of the group. Gary was there to represent the National Honors Society and he of course was a Senior. Mr. Elfmen was about to call order to the group when the doors to the theatre opened, and a dark figure strolled into the room. Gary looked up, "I don't believe any football players were invited to this council."

The football player gave a scow, "I'm Brad the non-varsity quarterback from this school. I'm a Senior though."

"Why are you here?"

"I had a prophetic dream. It went like this:

Seek for the Sax that was Broken;

In the theatre it dwells;

There shall be counsels taken

Stronger than Stadium-spells.

There shall be shown a token

That Doom is near at hand,

For Ian Sildur's Bane shall waken,

And the Choirling forth shall stand.

So wise Gary. What do you interpret?"

Gary looked thoughtful, "Hmm…information on the Sax that was Broken is not for me to give, but there is a group of Choirlings here. And Ian's bane it's the Pen of course, but none of them have it. It is in the hands of Ms. Fisher." All of the students let out a collective gasp. "And Washuu the White, the president of the NHS has taken over TIHS." He turned to the members form TIHS, "But I bet you already knew that." The students he was addressing shook their heads utterly befuddled.

Brad suddenly stood up, "We must take the Pen from Ms. Fisher, and then use this glorious gift to stop Washuu."

Steve spoke from his chair, "You can not wield it. None of us can."

"And what would a mere band student know of these matters?"

Orlando stood up angrily, "He is Aaron son of Ian. He knows enough football plays to be a coach."

Steve looked up at Orlando, "Sit down Orlando."

Brad looked at him and laughed, "Coach? The JV Team needs no coach."

Orlando snorted as he sat down, "Yeah right. I've seen you play." Steve, whose real name was Aaron Stephen Sildur, shot Orlando a look.

Mr. Elfmen called the meeting back into order. "We must send a group over to find the Pen. I suggest you look at the Old Stadium near the Shannon Lovowitz Center. Even better, you can stop by TIHS and try to stop Washuu somewhat. In fact, make that your main goal, stopping Washuu that is. I'll organize others to charge the stadium." The council went on to decide that two people from each class should go. They hoped to send a boy and a girl from each class.

The choir students were the first to decide. One of them said that they should send a choirling because Freshmen were expendable. They had thought to send Fred and Mia, but Fred refused to leave without Sam. Peter was selected instead.

From the band Aaron and Amy were selected. Many people suspected that Amy had used her dad's authority to get into the band, but the were wrong. Aaron had used his authority. The theatre selection was by far the easiest. There were only two people to begin with, Orlando and Grace. Orlando did not seem the least bit happy about this arrangement. Gary was declared the leader and guide of the group. Brad spoke up, "If you're going to invite him at least let me come along then too." A fog began to fill the room, but nobody noticed. Mr. Elfmen nodded, "Okay then, 8, you shall be the Fellowship of the Pen."

Gary looked thoughtful, "Since we don't have the pen, shouldn't we call it something else?"

Mr. Elfmen glared, his speech ruined, "Fine then. 8, you shall be the Fellowship of Assorted Students Trying to Stop Washuu."

The fog thickened and laser lights turned on. A voice came on over the sound system. "MAKE THAT NI-" A strange student with unruly spiked hair fell from the ceiling. He got up his glasses shattered from the fall. "Man…I ruined the dramatic entrance…I was going to bungee jump from the catwalk you see…" The odd student suddenly stopped and spoke into the clip-on microphone on his coat. "MAKE THAT NINE! I'M VINCENT FROM TECH THEATRE." He was about to swish his long coat back dramatically when Orlando wrested the microphone from him.

Mr. Elfmen stared down at him, "You are not one of my students. What school are you from?"

Vincent looked a little bit sheepish. "I came from Norway. I just moved to this district as a foreign exchange student. I'm a Junior. And I know more about weird stuff like this than any of you combined. I am joining the Fellowship of ASTSW."

Mr. Elfmen cracked a half smile, "Nine then. Any more before I declare it? Good. You shall be the Fellowship of ASTSW."

Later that day the Fellowship was getting ready to move out. Fred and Sam were to go back to TIHS and gather as much information as they could about Washuu before the Fellowship arrived. Fred was packing his bag when Billy threw a pocketknife and a shirt at him. He explained rather half-heartedly, "The knife glows blue when danger is near. And the shirt is a Super Shiny. Wear it under your regular shirt. I knew a Fish like you wouldn't have one yet." Fred and Sam departed early. The others in the council also headed back to class.

Aaron took up his battered Sax case but inside the Sax was made new by Mr. Elfmen. Amy carried out her trumpet case. Orlando and Grace both donned their theatre costumes. Peter and Mia went empty handed. Gary grabbed the torch of NHS, a book, and a case of Gardetto's. Brad placed his helmet on his head and Vincent swung his fog machine over his shoulder. The Fellowship departed from the Theatre and began their journey.