Sleigh Duty Read online

  The first time Dashiel’s hooves left the ground he almost panicked. Thoughts of flying off into space nearly had him hyperventilating, even though the others assured him that no matter how hard he tried, he would never even reach the height of a plane.

  Finally, they were as prepared as they could be. Dashiel took his place beside Fred. Yuri and wife were in front of them, the couple taking the lead.

  Everyone went quiet when Santa arrived. He was just as Dashiel had pictured him, though he had never seen him in person. Unlike the couple in front of him, Dashiel’s parents had never been summoned on the same night, so he had never been brought to the North Pole with them.

  As they took off into the sky, Dashiel glanced below and saw how large the toy factory truly was. It was so much more than a single building. There was an entire village, with every house decorated for Christmas.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” he said to Fred.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Fred replied.

  “You’re not scared of heights are you?”

  “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t look down.”

  Dashiel snorted. “I’d rather look down at the ground, than at Yuri’s arse all night.”

  “I heard that,” Yuri replied. “I’ll have you know, my arse is the envy of reindeer the world over.”

  Dashiel couldn’t laugh properly in his reindeer form, but he was starting to feel the Christmas spirit now. Chances were, he would be required to do sleigh duty again in the coming years, but there were those who were only summoned once in their life, and since he didn’t know if he would be called again, he intended to make the most of tonight.

  * * * *

  Stuart sat with his grandparents after Sammy had gone to bed. His brother didn’t want to risk Santa not stopping by because he was still up. Whether he could get to sleep so early was another matter.

  “Are you all right?” his grandfather asked. “What happened with your date?”

  “He had better things to do with his time than hang out with me,” Stuart muttered.

  “Then he’s a fool,” his grandmother said.

  Stuart shrugged and picked up his mug of cocoa. He glanced at the beverage and sighed. No wonder Dashiel had changed his mind. “I guess he wanted more excitement than he’d get from me. He’s young and he wants to be out partying. Why would he settle for me, when he could have any bloke he wants? He didn’t exactly waste any time finding someone who likes to party. He was already with the next mug when he phoned me to cancel.”

  “Are you sure about that?” his grandmother asked. “I mean, you couldn’t have misunderstood, could you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, maybe he was inviting you to join him and whoever he was with.”

  “No, he was definitely cancelling.”

  “And you’re sure he was with another man? I mean, you have been wrong before.”

  His grandfather smothered a snort of laughter. “Well, she has a point. You do tend to jump to conclusions and not bother to check the facts.”

  “That’s not true.” Stuart had a feeling it was, but he wasn’t going to admit it. “And even if it was, this time I’m right. There was someone else with him who was asking him to get off the phone and get naked. I know that’s more information than you want to hear, and it’s a lot more than I planned on sharing with you, but you have to admit that something like that can only be interpreted one way. He just wanted to get laid and figured I wasn’t worth the effort. I’m the boring family man, not some party animal who’s out on the town every night of the week.”

  “You know you can always ask us to watch Sammy if you want to go on a date,” his grandfather reminded him. “It doesn’t have to be Christmas for you to ask us.”

  “Or he could live with us,” his grandmother added. “I know we let Sammy choose, but if you can’t cope, we’d be happy to have him.”

  Stuart shook his head. “This is Sammy’s home. I won’t have his life turned upside down again. I’ll find a bloke eventually. I just thought maybe this one was different. I was wrong, again.”

  His grandfather patted his arm. “If you change your mind, you only have to call us.”

  Stuart nodded, even though he knew he never would. They chatted a while longer, until his grandmother could no longer hide her yawns and they got up to leave.

  After they were gone, Stuart popped his head around his brother’s door. “Are you asleep?” he whispered.

  “Not yet,” Sammy replied. “I want to see if I spot Santa.”

  Stuart chuckled. “I never managed it, but perhaps you’ll be lucky. Goodnight.”

  “Merry Christmas,” Sammy replied as Stuart closed the door. His own Christmas might not be turning out the way he wanted, but he could still make sure that Sammy’s was as wonderful as possible. At least if Sammy didn’t stay up so late he slept through it.

  * * * *

  Europe below them signalled that they were halfway through the night. Dashiel was already feeling the strain of the long shift. They had plenty of stops during their travels, while Santa was popping down chimneys, delivering presents, as well as collecting cookies and carrots. But it was still a bloody long night.

  “Hey look, there’s the Eiffel Tower,” Dashiel said.

  “Fuck off,” Fred replied, in response to Dashiel’s latest attempt to get him to look down. “That joke wore itself out when we passed over the Sydney Opera House.”

  They came in to land, accepted a carrot each from the elf who travelled with Santa, and waited for the old man to finish his latest round of deliveries.

  In front of him, Anika was arguing with Yuri about how many calories were in carrots and how many they had eaten so far that night.

  They were still debating the issue when they took off again, moving north, towards the Channel Islands, and then on to England.

  Dashiel recognised his home town, even from the air. The spire of the church on the central hill, the playing fields to the south and the industrial park to the west. He devoured every detail, knowing he might never get to see the place like this again.

  If he hadn’t been so intent on observing everything, he might have missed the lone child sitting at the bus stop, at a time when no buses were ever going to come along.

  “Hey, look down there!” he called to the others.

  “Give it up already,” Fred whined. “I’m not going to look down.”

  “No, there’s a kid at the bus stop.”

  “Probably a teenager too drunk to realise the time.”

  “No, he’s too young to be a teen. We should check on him.”

  “We’re on a schedule,” Yuri said. “There are always kids on the streets. We’ve seen dozens of them in every city. Our duty is to ensure that Santa delivers all his presents.”

  Dashiel felt a twinge of guilt that he hadn’t noticed any of the other homeless youngsters. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this one child needed their help. He tugged to the right and made his intention to reverse their direction clear.

  “On, Dashiel,” Santa called, pulling the reins to try to keep him on track.

  Dashiel’s mind was made up and he continued to strain against the harness, until the others joined him in bringing them to the ground in a nearby field.

  Santa stepped down from the sleigh and approached Dashiel.

  Since he was unable to speak to humans, even Santa, in his current form, Dashiel tugged out of his harness and shifted back to human. “There’s a child, a young one, at the bus stop over there. I think he’s in trouble.”

  Unlike the reindeer, Santa didn’t argue with him. “Here, borrow my coat and go check on him. We can spare five minutes.”

  “Thank you!” Dashiel covered himself up and ran for the bus stop. It wasn’t his part of town, but he knew enough about the area to recognise where he was.

  The child was sitting on the plastic bench in the bus shelter. He looked cold and miserable.

  “There aren’t an
y buses due until after Christmas,” he said as he sat beside him. “Can I help you get home?”

  The boy shook his head. “I’m going to my grandpa’s house.”

  “Does he know you’re out on your own?”

  “No.”

  “And what do you think he would say if he knew?”

  “He’d let me live with him and Granny. I heard him say so.”

  “What about your parents? Won’t they be worried about you?”

  “I don’t have any parents. I live with my brother.”

  “Why don’t you want to live with him anymore?”

  “I do, but he’ll be happier if I’m not there.”

  Dashiel shook his head. “Why would you think that?”

  “If I’m not there, he can go out and have fun, and maybe he’ll find a special friend to be with.”

  “A ‘special friend’?”

  “Yes, that’s what Mum and Dad used to say when he brought boys home with him.”

  “Ah, I see.” Dashiel saw a lot more than that. In the light of the street lamp he could see a familiar pair of grey eyes, that he had last seen sparkling with mischief at his office Christmas party. “You’re Sammy, aren’t you?”

  Sammy stared at him as he nodded. “How did you know that?”

  A cough from beside him reminded Dashiel that his time was nearly up.

  Sammy looked at Santa with wide eyes, followed by an even wider grin. He glanced at Dashiel, before turning to Santa once more. “Are you him?” he asked, the question a breathless whisper.

  Santa smiled. “Yes, I’m Santa, and this is Dashiel, one of my reindeer.”

  “He’s not a reindeer,” Sammy said.

  Dashiel chuckled. “Not right now, but I will be in a few moments. Now, how far away is your house? We should get you home before your brother realises you’re missing.”

  “I’m not going home.”

  “We can just deliver you there while we’re delivering your presents.”

  Santa shook his head. “I’ve already covered this part of town, which means the adults of every house with children are already under the influence of the sleep dust. So, there’s nothing to stop our young friend from walking right out the door again as soon as we’re gone.”

  “We can’t just leave him out here.”

  “No, we’ll have to take him with us.”

  “We could take him to his grandparents’ house,” Dashiel suggested. “They can sort things out with his brother in the morning.”

  “I’m afraid not. I can only magically access the houses where children live.”

  “We could drop Sammy at their house and he could wake them up to let him in.”

  Santa nodded. “What’s your grandparents’ address, Sammy?”

  “I’m not sure. When we go to visit them it takes a couple of hours to get there.”

  Dashiel cringed. If it took that long, they must live some distance away. He had no idea how Sammy had intended to get to them. He suspected the kid had thought no further than getting to the bus station, and he hadn’t even made it that far.

  “Come on, we need to get going if we’re going to stay on schedule. We’ll sort out getting him home when we’re done. I assume you know him?”

  Dashiel rolled his eyes at the evidence that Santa had clearly been eavesdropping on his conversation with Sammy. “Come on Sammy, you’re going to do what no other kid gets to do, ride in Santa’s sleigh.”

  Santa guffawed. “You’d be surprised how many children manage to find their way into my sleigh. Why do you think I have an elf stay with it?”

  “I thought he was there to keep us in line and feed us carrots?”

  “He’s there to get the sleigh out of sight if we’re in danger of being spotted, but sometimes even having an elf as backup isn’t enough. It’s been a few years since we took one for a ride, though.”

  Sammy’s eyes widened even further as they approached the sleigh.

  “Turn round or close your eyes,” Dashiel said.

  “Why?” Sammy asked.

  “Because I need to give Santa his coat back and I’m not wearing anything underneath it.”

  “Oh.” Sammy turned round and Dashiel quickly passed Santa his coat, shifted back and returned to his place in the line-up.

  They took off to a squeal of delight from Sammy, and yet another cry of muted horror from Fred.

  Dashiel wondered what had caused Sammy to run away from home. He might not know Stuart very well, but he had no doubt he’d be frantic if he knew Sammy wasn’t tucked up in bed.

  They finished the British Isles and headed to Greenland, knowing that once they hit America they would be on the final leg of the journey. Dashiel, like all of the reindeers could tell that Santa had picked up the pace since taking Sammy on board. At this rate they would finish the last time zone not long before it hit midnight.

  Dashiel took in the sights, and he hoped Sammy was also enjoying seeing the world during his unexpected trip.

  Finally, they headed back to the North Pole and the stalls where they could spend the night, before they returned home.

  Dashiel shifted back to human form and dressed quickly. Sammy was still in the sleigh, fast asleep. He checked his watch and cringed. He hoped Stuart was sleeping in.

  As the other reindeer bedded down to sleep, Dashiel knew that he would not be able to rest until he had sorted out things between Sammy and his brother.

  He borrowed Fred’s phone again, but there was no signal at all.

  “Where are we?” Sammy asked as Mrs Claus helped him out of the sleigh.

  “You’re at the North Pole,” Santa replied. “Welcome to my home. Now, how about we get you some breakfast, and you and Dashiel can talk.”

  If Sammy thought it was odd that one of Santa’s reindeer wanted to talk to him, he didn’t comment.

  “I should probably take him straight home,” Dashiel said. “His brother has almost certainly realised he’s missing.”

  Santa patted him on the shoulder. “Surely you know that time moves differently in this realm?”

  “Well, yes, but I make it late morning in England.”

  Santa shook his head. “This place isn’t part of the real world and as long as it’s Christmas Eve somewhere on Earth, time moves slower for me and those under my influence. There’s an hour of Christmas Eve left on Howland and Baker Islands. Time for some breakfast and a chat before you leave.”

  “Can you send Sammy back to right after we picked him up?” Dashiel asked.

  “What I do isn’t time travel. Time has moved on in England, just not as much as you might think. By my calculations you should be home by mid-morning your time.”

  “That long?” Dashiel asked. “We should probably leave right away then.”

  Santa smiled. “Half an hour to eat will only make a difference of mere seconds. Now, come along.”

  Dashiel sat with Sammy at the kitchen table. The place was cosy and quaint, and everything he would have expected from Mrs Claus’ kitchen. “So, why don’t you want to live with your brother anymore?”

  “I do, but he can’t go out to parties unless someone comes to sit with me. If I lived with my grandpa, Stuart could have fun again, instead of looking after me.”

  “I’ll bet Stuart likes looking after you much more than going to parties.”

  “He never gets to go out. He was supposed to go out today—or is it yesterday now?—but his friend changed his mind after I answered the phone.”

  Dashiel sighed and shook his head. “Did Stuart say his friend changed his mind because of you answering the phone?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe your brother’s friend had something come up.”

  “He was getting laid.”

  Dashiel nearly choked on his spoonful of porridge. “Is that what your brother said?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he told you that?”

  Sammy ducked his head. “Not exactly.”

  “Looks like you and Sant
a share the same habit of eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. Your brother could be wrong, you know, and even if his friend did let him down that way, it doesn’t mean your brother would want you to move out.”

  “But if I live with my grandpa, Stuart won’t have to stay home and look after me, instead of going out with his friends.”

  Dashiel smiled. “I can guarantee that if your brother was asked to choose between you and a guy, he would choose you, every single time.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yes. I know it.”

  “How? You don’t know my brother.”

  Dashiel debated whether he should say something, but decided against it. His knowing Stuart wasn’t important. What mattered was Sammy. “Does your brother love you?”

  “Yes, or at least he says he does.”

  “Then he will choose you. Now, how about you finish up your breakfast and I’ll take you home.”

  “In the sleigh?”

  “No, you’ll have to ride on my back.”

  “You can still fly without the sleigh?”

  “Yes, but only for a couple more days. Then the magic will wear off until next year, when eight more reindeer will be chosen to pull the sleigh.”

  “You mean you don’t pull the sleigh every year?”

  “No, there are a lot of us, and Santa made it so that all of us get a chance to fly with him.”

  “Then you aren’t one of the reindeer in the stories?”

  “No, none of us are. They all lived hundreds of years ago. We’re all descended from one of them. Dasher was my great, great… actually I don’t know how many greats grandmother.”

  “I thought Dasher was a boy.”

  “No, she was definitely a girl reindeer.”

  “Can I see the workshop before we go?”

  Dashiel wasn’t sure whether that was allowed, and time was moving on far quicker than he would have liked.

  “You can walk through it on your way out,” Mrs Claus offered.

  Sammy bounced on his seat and quickly finished off his porridge so they could go see the factory.

  When they had finished the lightning tour, Dashiel passed Sammy one of the toy sacks for him to carry his clothes in. “Now, one last thing before we go, you can’t tell anyone about this.”