The Broomstick Army

Stories for Another Day

When you are used to living in peace and safety, danger and peril are more terrifying than if you have met with difficulties and hardships all your life. This was the case for the people who lived in Rustum’s town, when the Dark Army came.

To begin with, it was only a disturbing rumour. A passing traveller from three towns over claimed he had seen the Dark Army marching up from the south, from the sixth kingdom. No-one believed him, of course – why would the sixth kingdom be sending its army to this quiet, sleepy little town? But when the mayor from the neighbouring town sent a warning that a great dust-cloud as if from hundreds of horses had been seen on the south road, people began collecting up their most precious things and getting ready to leave while there was still time.

Before anyone had a chance to start off, they suddenly saw, coming over the southern mountains, hundreds and hundreds of soldiers swarming like ants over a jar of sugar. Then the townspeople turned to each other in panic, not knowing what to do.

Rustum was only a boy, but he had seen and done more things than many adults will ever see or do in their lives, so when he said, “The castle! We must go to the king’s castle and shelter inside,” everyone listened, whether it was because they trusted him or because they were desperately frightened and couldn’t think of anything else to do. “It is the safest place,” Rustum said. “The king’s soldiers will be there to protect us.”

The king, of course, had many castles in many towns across the kingdom, and it just so happened that he had come to stay at the castle on the edge of Rustum’s town that very week, in time for the annual apricot harvest.

The townspeople gathered all the food and water they could carry, and with their children and their animals, they hurried to the castle. When the very last of them were safely inside the castle walls, Rustum had the men shut the gates and put the bars across. Everyone breathed a great sigh of relief, thinking that now they were safe – but they were wrong.

The king came down from his chambers to see what all the noise was, and as soon as he saw Rustum he said, “Oh, it’s only you again.” He looked anxiously over Rustum’s shoulder.

Rustum said, breathlessly, “The Dark Army is pouring over the mountains. We only just made it here in time.”

The king paled. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping you were someone else,” he said. “My own army, actually.”

“Your army?” Rustum asked, surprised. “What do you mean? Aren’t they here?” When he thought about it, apart from the noises of the townspeople and their cows and their chickens and their goats and their crying babies, the castle was eerily quiet. “Where are the soldiers?”

The king fidgeted a bit, then he said, “We heard rumours that the Dark Army was invading from the south, but I thought it was a trick, so I sent our army to the north.”

“The north?” Rustum gasped. “Your soldiers aren’t here?”

“Not one,” the king said unhappily.

“The castle is undefended?” Rustum said in shock.

“Completely,” the king said miserably.

They both heard the noise of shouting, the neighing of horses, and the clanking of swords and spears at the same time. They hurried up to the battlements running along the top of the wall that surrounded the castle, and both of them stared at the scene below in horror. The plain was covered with hundreds and hundreds of fully-armed men in black armour, on horseback. If the king was pale before, now his face was as white as paper. “What are we going to do?” he whimpered.

“How long before the army returns?” Rustum said.

The king counted on his fingers. “A day and a night at the very least,” he said. “We could not possibly hope to see them until tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

Rustum looked at the huge army mustering its forces below them. “If the Dark Army breaks into the castle, they will be waiting when your own army returns, and they’ll destroy them.”

“That will be the end of all of us,” moaned the king.

Rustum frowned fiercely. “We have to keep them out of the castle until our army gets here,” he said.

The king groaned, “Impossible!”

Rustum pointed to where the soldiers in black were dragging heavy pieces of equipment towards the castle walls. “See? They’re setting up their cannons. That will take them a few hours. They won’t be ready to attack until nightfall.”

“We can’t possibly hold out against them until morning!” the king said. “Cannon! Swords, spears, muskets! And we have nothing to defend ourselves with, except a few chickens and goats!” He threw his hands in the air.

Rustum wasn’t so ready to give up hope. “Let’s see what we do have, before we lose hope.” He searched the whole castle, through the empty armoury and the deserted barracks, even the kitchens and the laundries. Then he called everyone together in the courtyard.

He told them, “The king’s army is on its way, but it won’t be here until some time tomorrow. It’s up to us to defend the castle and our lives until help comes.”

The people began to shout, “With our bare hands? We are farmers and shopkeepers, not soldiers!”

Some of them began to weep, “We’re all going to die, trapped like rats in this castle! Why did you bring us here?”

Rustum shouted at them, “Come! We are courageous, determined people. Do you want to surrender, and hand over our king and our country to be ruled by the Dark Army and their king?”

“Never!” they shouted back. “Just tell us what we should do!”

“We’re going to make the Dark Army think that the castle is full of soldiers,” Rustum said. “There are rusty helmets and broken weapons in heaps in the armoury. We’re going to polish them and set them on broomsticks on the battlements. In the dark, with only lamps to light them, the Dark Army will think they are soldiers. Gather every broom and rake you can find, and let’s get to work!”

One of the maidservants stepped forward and said, “We have our mops and our buckets, too.”

“Of course!” Rustum said. “Polish the buckets too, and put them on the mop handles. But hurry! We have until nightfall before the Dark Army attacks!”

Everyone ran to their work. The tailors and dressmakers dyed and sewed sheets and curtains to make cloaks to cover the broomsticks. The children drew fierce faces and cut them out of paper to pin under the helmets. The cooks tied their kitchen knives onto sticks to look like spears and swords, and the carpenters shaped pieces of wood and painted them to look like muskets.

As soon as night fell, they set up their make-believe soldiers along the battlements in rows, with lamplight glinting off buckets and pots and pans that had been polished until they shone like steel. Then they waited to see what would happen.

In minutes they heard the Dark Army loading up their cannon and urging their horses up to the castle walls to attack. Then there was the sound of grumbling voices. “Where did all these troops come from? The castle was supposed to be empty!”

Their captains shouted, “Load the cannon! We will blast them from the battlements!”

When he heard this, Rustum whispered sharply, “Get down, everyone, behind the battlements!”

The soldiers of the Dark Army loaded cannonballs and gunpowder into their cannons and fired. In a barrage of roars and flashes, Rustum’s broomstick army collapsed.

“Set them up again!” Rustum whispered, passing the word along to the people hiding behind the battlements. Quickly the helmets and buckets were replaced on their mop-handles and broomsticks, and lifted back into place.

Below, the soldiers of the Dark Army fell back, full of fear. “What sorcery is this?” they cried. “Are they ghosts, that rise up again after we kill them?”

“It must be a trick! Fire again!” the captains shouted, and the cannons boomed.

Again, with a huge, metallic clatter, the mops and buckets and helmets collapsed in heaps. Again Rustum gave the order for them to be set up against the battlements, while the people started a rumbling chant that soon became a roaring war-cry.

The soldiers below, terrified, dropped their weapons and fled in all directions as fast as their feet and their horses would carry them. As soon as they were out of sight, Rustum and the others opened the gates and dragged the cannon inside, along with as many weapons as they could carry. Then they raised a triumphant shout.

In the morning when the king’s army returned, they found the castle in the midst of a celebration, and the Dark Army nowhere to be seen. The king had the cannons melted down and cast into iron bollards in the shape of soldiers wearing helmets. He had them set in a row in front of the castle, to remind everyone of the battle that had never been fought, and they have stood there from that day to this.