Wolfspell

by Anna Ciddor

  Oddo’s head cleared and he looked round in a panic for the needfire. It lay just out of reach, a fading spark in a stump of blackened branch.

  ‘No!’ cried Oddo.

  He threw himself across the ground and picked it up, blowing frantically to get some life out of the feeble glow.

  ‘Move back! Move back!’ ordered the Thingmen, pushing at the crowd to clear his way.

  Oddo tried to rise to his feet, but to his dismay his injured leg wouldn’t take his weight. He lay on his front staring helplessly down the hill. The bonfire he’d lit this morning was only a pile of embers, while the water of the river glowed red in the light of the setting sun. Painfully, he began to crawl down the slope. He struggled to hold up the torch so it wouldn’t scrape along the ground, but the stump had burnt so low, the flame was scorching his fingers. In a moment he’d be forced to drop it, and then his fight would be over.

  ‘I’ve failed!’ he thought. ‘Grimmr will get our land!’

  He glanced at the crowd waiting on the riverbank. He saw Thora gazing at him, willing him not to give up. He seemed to hear her voice whispering in his ear.

  ‘Go on, Oddo!’ it urged. ‘You made a wolfspell. You can do anything!’

  Suddenly, a last desperate idea exploded in his mind. Before he could speak, Hairydog seemed to sense what he wanted and streaked across the paddock for the house. She burst back into view, a bow and arrow clenched between her jaws and thrust them at Oddo. He dropped the needfire to the ground, grabbed the arrow and held it to the flame.

  ‘Come on,’ he urged. ‘Come on!’

  The dry wood of the arrow burst into a blaze and Oddo gave a whoop of triumph. Elation lent him a moment of strength. He rose to his knees and fitted the flaming arrow to the bow. Then his heart turned over. With fire roaring along the shaft, how was he going to judge the shot? And he only had one chance to get it right! With churning belly, he drew back the string, squinted along his arm, and fired.

  The crowd fell silent, all heads turning in unison as the flare of light arced through the air. There was a gasp as it dropped towards the dying fire, and then a roar as it landed right in the middle, with a spurt of flame.

  ‘I did it!’ cried Oddo.‘I did it! I got the needfire back before the sun set and before the bonfire died!’

  But in front of the flames . . . Oddo blinked in disbelief. There seemed to be a little man no bigger than a bird beckoning in agitation. And Grimmr, his face contorted with rage, was stabbing his hand in Oddo’s direction.

  ‘Oh no,’ Oddo realised in panic, ‘I’ve got to get there too!’ He cast a glance behind him. The last red was fading from the sky. ‘I’m coming!’ he yelled.

  He threw himself on the ground and began to roll, faster and faster, down the slope. In no time at all he crashed to a halt – just in front of the bonfire.

  His father was leaning over him, with the biggest, proudest grin Oddo had ever seen spreading across his face. Then Bolverk straightened up and turned to Grimmr.

  ‘Did I hear you claim,’ Bolverk demanded, ‘that Oddo couldn’t even fire an arrow?’

  Grimmr snorted in reply, but Oddo didn’t hear. His eyes were fixed upon a tiny man, clad in cobwebs and moss, who winked at him and waved his hand before he darted out of sight behind the flames.

  The Futhark

  To read or write words written in runes, you have to go by the sound they make. These are the rune sounds:

  Can you work out why the alphabet is called the Futhark?

  Writing your name in runes will give you some magic powers, but the Futhark doesn’t match the English alphabet exactly. Some English words can’t be written in runes.

  Want to send a message to the author?

  Or discover some of the secrets behind the making of Wolfspell and the other Viking Magic books?

  Then visit www.viking-magic.com