The Fellowship of the Band Nerds

Chapter Five

 

Mandy stood up. "The Oboe msut be destroyed!"

Katie, sent from Dorkwood, sniffled. "But it's so pretty!" she protested. "Almost as pretty as me! I suppose if Mandy says so, we should destroy it, though," she sighed resignedly.

"Why not use the oboe?" Jason asked. "It would help my people!"

"We cannot use the Oboe," Elizabeth said.

"But it plays so well in tune!" Jason argued. "It would help all of Gongdor!"

"We cannot use the Oboe!" Jazzrunner said sternly, rising from his chair.

"What would a section leader know about this?" Jason spat.

Katie got up from her seat, too. "This is no mere section leader. He is Dennis, son of Dorkus,"

Jason looked disdainfully at Dennis. "This is Katy's heir?"

"And heir to the podium of Gongdor," Katie added.

Jason said bitterly, "Gongdor has no drum major. Gongdor needs no drum major."

"As I was saying," Mandy spoke up. "The Oboe must be destroyed."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kristen asked. She took up her french horn and struck at the Oboe. Her horn shattered, but the Oboe remained intact. "Oh, damn, and I just got it repaired, too."

"The Oboe cannot be destroyed, Kristen, by any instrument we possess. It was made in the fires of Mount Tune. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Sdrendnab and cast into the chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."

"Are you insane?" Jason exclaimed. "Not with a marching band of ten thousand could you accomplish this!"

"Have you heard nothing Lady Mandy has said?" Katie said. "The Oboe must be destroyed."

"And if we fail? What happens when Mullins takes back what is his?" Jason asked quietly.

"I will be dead before I see the Oboe in the hands of a clarinetist!" Kristen snarled. "Never trust a clarinetist!"

All of the Council began to argue loudly.

"I will take it! I will take it!" Sami yelled above the clamor. "I will take the Oboe to Sdrendnab. Though...I do not know the way..."

"I will help you bear this burden," Elizabeth offered, "so long as it is yours to bear."

"If, by my life or death, I can protect you, I will," Dennis told her, ignoring Megan's sulking in the background. "You have my bari sax."

"And you have my clarinet," Katie added.

"And my french horn!" Kristen announced.

"You carry the fate of us all," Jason muttered. "If this is the will of the Council, then Gongdor will see it done."

"Miss Sami's not going anywhere without me!" Eric ran up.

"No, indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you, even when she is summoned to a secret council and you are not."

"We're coming too!!" Minh-Bao and Melissa ran out. "You'll have to shut us in a tuba case to stop us!"

"Anyway," Melissa added, "you need people who can play in tune on this sort of mission...quest...thing."

"Well, that rules you out, Melissa," Minh-Bao whispered.

"Nine companions," Mandy said slowly. "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Band Nerds."

"Great!" Melissa agreed. "Um...where are we going?"

"Deep into the realm of Sdrendnab," Sami told them. "We must destroy the Oboe."

"I shall come as well," Megan said, stepping forward. Instead of the flute she had carried earlier, she now wore a neckstrap, to which a bass clarinet was attached.

"You can't," Dennis told her. "It is too dangerous."

She tossed her hair over her shoulder defiantly. "Please. If a saxophone can do it, so can I."

He looked at her. "I am not concerned about your ability to handle the danger. I'm worried about what would become of me if something happened to you."

"Awwwww," Minh-Bao and Melissa said together.

"Turn off the Enya music already!" Jason snapped, clamping his hands over his ears.

"But it's so atmospheric," Sami protested.

Jason glared at her.

"Okay, fine. Turn it off, Eric."

Eric took the Lord of the Rings soundtrack out of the CD player, replacing it with the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

"Nooo!" Jason cried. "This is even worse!"

Sami grinned evilly and began singing along. "Never knew I could feel like this, like I'd never seen the sky before."

"Want to vanish inside your kiss; every day I love you more than this," Minh-Bao, Elizabeth, Megan, and Dennis joined in.

"You just had to get them started, didn't you?" Jason accused Eric.

"I was just following Miss Sami's orders."

"Can we just get going already?" Kristen asked impatiently.

"Yeah, hold on." Jason yanked the plug out of the wall, cutting off Ewan McGregor in mid-song.

"Mean," Sami muttered as they left Singendell.