No Other Story Read Free

hard on him?”
    Just because Penny was the owner of a genius-level IQ doesn’t mean she wasn’t wrong from time to time. This was one of those times. She sighed and placed her hand on Teddy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Teddy. I’m sorry I lost my patience with you. But the sooner we find out where we are, the sooner we can find Mom.”
    â€œI know,” said Teddy. “It’s okay.”
    Just then, a commotion rose up from the front of the ranks. There was much yelling, and the men quite suddenly stopped marching. This allowed Ethan and the professor to catch up to the others.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” asked Mr. Cheeseman. “Did you find out where they’re headed?”
    â€œThe drummer told us they’re on their way to fight the Romans,” said Chip.
    â€œRomans?” echoed the professor. He stroked his bristly white mustache and his face took on a look of consternation.
    The men on horseback barked out orders as the soldiers quickly formed two very long lines, one in front of theother. They removed their rifles from their shoulders and began loading them with lead balls and powder.
    Pinky growled, low and steadily.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” asked Teddy in his most panicky voice.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Penny, becoming anxious herself. “I can’t see anything.”
    â€œVikings,” said Cheeks with a sigh of disgust. “Can you believe it?”
    â€œNo, as a matter of fact, I can’t believe it,” said Penny. “In fact, if you told me the sky was blue, I’d get a second opinion.” But when she and the others looked beyond the soldiers to the horizon up ahead, they realized that Cheeks was right. Amassed along the crest of a nearby hill was a group of men, perhaps two hundred in number, dressed in animal skins and wearing helmets adorned with goat and steer horns. Like an angry mob, the unruly men assaulted the air with a wave of obscenities shouted in their ancient Viking dialect. They waved their swords, axes, and large, circular shields, and, though you should never judge a book by its cover, if these men were books, you can bet they could stink up a library real good. (Or a liberry, for that matter.)
    â€œWell,” said Gravy-Face Roy. “Maybe it’s Viking Independence Day too.”
    â€œI don’t like the looks of this,” said Mr. Cheeseman, who, like Professor Boxley, was beginning to suspect the worst.
    â€œTell me about it,” said Cheeks. “Looks like they got usoutnumbered, two to one. It ain’t gonna be pretty, that’s for sure.”
    Of the two lines of soldiers, the line in front dropped to one knee on command from one of the horsemen, who drew his sword from its scabbard and thrust it skyward. The soldiers in the second line remained standing.
    â€œReady!” shouted the horseman, his sword gleaming in the sun- and moonlight. The soldiers in both lines placed the butts of their rifles against their shoulders.
    â€œAim!” In unison, they closed one eye and brought the other close to their gun sights. Though Ethan and his children had never before found themselves in the middle of a battle, they had all seen enough movies to know what came next. There was no such thing as “Ready! Aim! Dance!” or “Ready! Aim! Knit a sweater!” In battle there was only one thing that came next, and it definitely did seem as though a battle was about to break out. If it was merely a historical reenactment, it was not a very historically accurate one.
    The Vikings let out a collective yell that raised the hair on the back of Teddy’s neck and the cotton on the back of Gravy-Face Roy’s. They took off running toward the soldiers, maniacally and without fear or reason. Teddy clung to his father’s leg. Penny found Chip’s hand and clenched it tightly. Pinky growled again and wedged herself between Ethan’s ankles.
    Then,