The North Pole Versus Jeho: Part Two; Mrs Santa And Jeho

“It all started a long time ago,” Santa began. “The North Pole has been around ever since Christmas has been around. But the town of Jeho has not. They’ve only been around for the past two hundred years. They’d never heard of Christmas before, and when they arrived here, we all made them welcome and got them jobs here, making toys for Christmas. But it didn’t last. Their leader, Jeho, heard about the reason the toys get made, and he didn’t like it at all. Said it made children gluttonous and greedy. He turned his town against us, they all quit working here, and now, the only time they ever set foot here, is once a year, at Christmas, to talk us out of making toys, and celebrating Christmas!!!”
I heard little gasps. I looked around me. The really little elves had gathered round, and were listening to Santa’s story.
“Is it okay for them to be hearing this?” I asked Santa.
“Hey, we’re a hundred years old, Human!!!” The one stood next to me shouted.
“Leopold, quiet!!!” The elf stood next to him said. “That’s the Chosen One!!!”
Leopold scowled, and left.
The elf who had told him off, said. “Sorry about him, he’s not really a hundred, he’s only eight. He just says that to make himself seem older.”
I smiled at her, and turned back to Santa. “They’re not here to talk this year, are they?” I asked. “The town of Jeho, I mean?”
Santa shook his head, his big beard going from side to side. “No. They’ve gotten so fed up with trying to talk that they’ve decided the only way to stop us is by declaring war.”
“So, what about me? How did you know about me?”
“Well, you already know about the prophecy, don’t you? Well, it states about the war, and Christmas getting cancelled if the North Pole loses. It states that a Human Child from the South will arrive to help us. That Human Child will share three of my names with me, and will arrive via the Bauble Door.”
“So, how did you know about me?” I asked
Santa laughed. A booming, jolly laugh that made me want to laugh as well.
“I’m Santa, right? I know every child’s name in the world. You are the only child in the whole world to have three of my names. Nicky. Chris. And your last name, which is backwards for Santa. So I worked out you were the Chosen One.”
“So, the freezer in the corner shop? How did you know I’d be going to the shop for milk?”
Santa shrugged. “The bauble’s got absolutely nothing at all with me. Maybe it was a bauble that Mrs Perkins had misplaced, and you just happened to pick it up.”
I was really confused. Santa had worked out I was the Chosen One. So how come the bauble was nothing to do with him?
“You must be hungry,” Santa suddenly said. “It must be getting quite close to dinner time. Would you like to meet my wife, and have something to eat?”
He turned, and strode off. I had to run to keep up with him. I followed him into another room, which was as beautifully decorated as the elves’ workshop. But there were no elves in here. There were large pots and pans everywhere. And a large, golden cooker in the middle of the room, from which came the smell of roast turkey. I realised I was hungry.
A large woman was stood at the cooker, tending to the turkey she was cooking.
“Darling,” Santa said to her. “Would you like to meet Nicky?”
The woman turned. She looked a little like Santa, except she had no beard of course, and even though she was large, she was slightly smaller than Santa. There was something familiar about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
As soon as she saw me, her face cracked in a wide grin. “Nicky!!! I’m so pleased you made it. I did get a little worried for a while, you know, I thought I may have miscounted, and you’d go to the wrong freezer…”
“You!!!” I exclaimed. “It was your bauble!!!” And then I recognised her voice. “Mrs Perkins? You’re Mrs Santa?”
Mrs Perkins/Santa nodded, smiling. “Yes. I’ve been looking out for you all these years, Nicky. Waiting for the tip off from Santa to put the bauble in the freezer for you to find.”
I was astounded. “So, how did you know?”
“Well, unlike my dear old husband, I can see into the future,” Mrs Santa explained. “I’ve been pretending to be married to Mr Perkins all this time, waiting for the right time.”
“So, are you back here for good then? What’s going to happen to you back home?”
“Well, I‘ve died, like unofficially. When you go back home, after all this kafuffle has finished, Mr Perkins will tell you his poor, loving wife has died of a heart attack.” Mrs Santa sighed. “Poor chap. He was nice…”
She snapped out of her thoughts, and clapped her hands. “So, young Nicky. You like roast turkey?”
I nodded.
“Good. Then we’ll eat.”
At that moment, the door crashed open, and someone came running in. It was Sam.
“It’s… Jeho,” he said. He stood for a few minutes, trying to get his breath back. Then he carried on: “Jeho is here to see you, Santa. He’s at the top at the moment. He wants to see the Chosen One as well.”
Santa suddenly looked angry, I got scared. “Right,” he said, turning to Mrs Santa. “Get the turkey ready. I shall go to the top with Nicky, and get rid of him quickly.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Sam asked.
Santa shook his head. “No, it’ll be all right, Sam.”
I went with Santa to the igloo elevator, and we made our way to the top, and stepped outside the igloo. I looked around for another human like myself, but all I could see was a squat ugly creature, with long pointy green ears, and a green face glaring at us as we exited the igloo. Then I understood, Jeho and his town were goblins.
“Hello, Jeho,” Santa said, all the jolly gone from his voice.
Jeho stared at me. An ugly grin appeared on his face. “Ah, so you’re the Chosen One!!!” He jeered. “I didn’t think you’d be a girl!!!”
“Girls can fight just as well as boys!!!” I exclaimed.
“Sure they can. I just hope Santa is prepared to lose this war. We’ve got some of the largest giants in the land to help us win.”
“Well, I’m going to train our elves in karate,” I answered. It was a pretty poor answer, but what else could I say?
Jeho giggled. “Elves versus giants?” he said. “Hmm. I wonder who’ll win?”
“What do you want, Jeho?” Santa asked, angrily.
“No need to take that tone with me. I wonder if you have an elf named Leopold in your workshop?”
My heart skipped a beat, as I heard footsteps from behind me. I turned, it was the elf from earlier who had told me he was a hundred years old.
“Do you know what you have to do?” Jeho asked him.
Leopold nodded as he started to pull of his face. It wasn’t his face but a mask. I couldn’t so anything but just stare at him in shock. Underneath was a green face, with pointy green ears, just as ugly as Jeho. Now I knew why he was a really small elf.
He reached into his pocket and, before I realized what was happening and could push Santa out of the way, Leopold had thrown a large net over Santa and myself.
I struggled to get free, but the net just made an even tighter knot that I couldn’t loosen.
Jeho started cackling. “Let’s get them back to Jeho,” he said. “Without Santa and the Chosen One, the North Pole will be helpless!!!”