Icespell

by C. J. Busby

  “Sorry Adrian,” said the other, sounding utterly fed up. Jerome Stodmarsh had often wished he was not Sir Richard Hogsbottom’s ward, but at that precise moment, creeping around the cave of an enormous and powerful dragon who might come back at any moment and decide to eat them, he really, really wished he wasn’t. He even wished he’d taken his chances with Sir Garth the Grumpy, in his tiny hovel of a castle in the dull backwater of Avonmouth, instead. Then he wouldn’t have been dragged on any of these dangerous and unpleasant missions with Adrian, who bossed him around like he was a servant. He could just have got on with the business of learning to be a knight, and spent his spare time with his collection of pet snails. Jerome sighed, and tiptoed after the shadowy figure ahead.

  “Here,” hissed Snotty, as Jerome caught up with him. “There’s a small gap in the rock. I think it’s wide enough for both of us to hide inside… and I’ll sprinkle darkness powder just in front, should keep us fairly invisible. It must be nearly sunset by now – they’ll be here any minute.”

  Almost as he spoke, the cave started to get lighter and voices floated in from the entrance.

  “…No, no, no, A-dog’s-nose, it’s only at sunset. You can’t see the island at all from this side… Have to know exactly where to fly. Anyway, come along in, it’s late, we should get some sleep.”

  A vast green dragon lumbered past them, accompanied by a small bouncy dragon, a girl, a boy, and a duck. A rat was poking his head out of the boy’s tunic, twitching his whiskers and making a chittering sound.

  “Has anyone been in here while we’ve been gone?” said the boy. “Ferocious thinks he can smell something, and there’s definitely a sense of… I don’t know what exactly, but it’s definitely familiar…”

  Jerome held his breath. Snotty frowned and scattered another small sprinkling of powder in front of them, just as Great-Aunt Wilhelmina raised her head and sniffed.

  “No, I can’t smell anything strange,” the dragon rumbled. “There’s a reek of magic, of course, coming off that potion you’re carrying. It might be that you’re sensing, Max.”

  “Maybe,” said Max, doubtfully, but there didn’t seem to be any other explanation.

  “So will it de-ice the castle?” asked Olivia. “What did she say when she gave it to you?”

  The Lady had taken Max off to one side to give him the potion, and then there’d been barely enough time for everyone to throw themselves on Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s back before they had to fly hard into the setting sun.

  Max looked at the small carved crystal bottle in his hand. It seemed to almost glow with magic. There was only a small amount of potion inside, but then the Lady had said that five or six drops would be enough to do it. Her spell only had to disable Morgana’s magic, then Max himself could unravel his own icespell.

  “She said it would work,” said Max. “I’ve got some words to say as well, to get it started. But have we got time to sleep? Don’t we need to head off straight away to get there before Morgana?”

  “I can’t fly when it’s dark,” boomed Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “I’ve got terrible night vision. Ever since I got caught in a thunderstorm a couple of hundred years ago, took a lightning bolt straight to the head.”

  “Are you coming with us?” asked Olivia, thinking that if it came to a showdown with Morgana, it would be rather wonderful to have Great-Aunt Wilhelmina on their side.

  “Of course!” said the dragon. “Can’t let A-drip-nose be the only representative of the family at such an important moment. Besides, I can fly much faster than any of you. If we leave at first light, I’ll have you there before midday.”

  “That should do it,” said Max, thinking. “Morgana must have set out at twilight two days ago, so she’ll arrive at twilight tomorrow. We should have plenty of time.”

  In the corner, Jerome and Snotty exchanged glances. Snotty eased a small square piece of folded parchment out of his tunic, and passed it to Jerome.

  “I’m going to see if I can get the spell once Max is asleep,” he whispered. “But if I get caught, send this swift to Lady Morgana. She’ll have to do the last few miles by broomstick. She needs to get to Camelot before midday!”

  ***

  Max woke with a start. The far end of the cave was just visible in the pale light of dawn, but the others were still sleeping. Great-Aunt Wilhelmina let out a rattling snore and Max wondered if that was what had woken him. Then he saw a dark shadow flit across the narrow cave entrance and disappear out into the morning.

  Max sat up. He felt around on the blankets. Then he scrambled up and shouted.

  “Hey! Wake up! The potion’s gone! Someone’s been in and they’ve stolen the spell! It’s gone! Quick – we’ve got to get after them!”

  He ran for the cave entrance, barely registering the others as they leaped up to follow him. He sprinted down the narrow passageway and out onto the beach.

  There was no one there.

  He pelted along the sand and up onto the path that ran from the cove to the nearest road. There was no one to be seen, but there in the centre of the muddy path were the prints of at least two horses, and they led off towards the road, looking like whoever was riding them had galloped off in an extreme hurry.

  As Max stood there, Adolphus came galumphing up behind him and the others soon followed. Max turned to Great-Aunt Wilhelmina, who was looking rather cross-eyed after her rapid transition from deep sleep to broad daylight.

  “It’s Snotty Hogsbottom,” he groaned. “I should have known. I thought I’d put him off the trail but he must have found us – and now he’s got the potion.”

  “Well, we must follow him, then, and get it back,” said Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “And since he seems to have disappeared rather rapidly, we’d better do a direction spell, and then fly.”

  “Umm… I’m not sure I can,” said Max.

  “Of course you can, dear boy,” said the great dragon impatiently. “Just try. You have more magic in your fingertips than most people manage to acquire in a lifetime. Get on with it, and then we’ll catch up with this Hoggy Snotbottom, and all will be well.”

  “Snotty Hogsbottom,” said Olivia. “Not Hoggy Snotbottom.”

  “Well, Hotty Bogsnottom, then, or Botty Hotsnoggom or whatever his name is,” said Great-Aunt Wilhelmina crossly. “Let’s just get after him before it’s too late!”

  Max thought about a direction spell. He picked up a pointed stone from the ground and held it on the palm of his hand, and tried to direct the right magic at it.

  The stone whizzed around in circles for a few seconds and then turned into an apple pie.

  Great-Aunt Wilhelmina snorted, but Olivia took the pie happily.

  “Breakfast!” she said, and started to divide it between them.

  “Try again, Max,” said the dragon.

  He picked up another stone, and focused. This time he was almost sure he’d got it right, but then the stone flew up into the air and hit him on the nose, before dissolving into a thousand sparkling pieces of dust.

  “Urrghh,” said Max, trying not to breath any of them in. “Dungballs! Why can’t I get it right? We’ve got to catch up with them. We’ve got to!”

  “Calm down, dear boy,” said Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “I can fly a lot faster than a horse can gallop. We should be able to catch up with them. But we must know where they are going.”

  Max took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He pictured Snotty on his horse, just as he had seen him a couple of days ago. He pictured the crystal potion bottle, humming with the Lady’s magic. He picked up a small stick, placed it in his palm, and let the magic flow into it.

  The stick quivered, and shifted, and pointed south-west.

  “There!” said Olivia. “Come on! Let’s get after him!”

  They scrambled on to Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s back and she rose into the air on her powerful dragon wings. They started to hurtle the way the stick was pointing – away from the sea, as well as in exactly the wrong direction for Camelot.

>   ***

  Snotty Hogsbottom was galloping hard, throwing out misdirection spells behind him every few minutes while keeping a sharp eye on the road ahead. He had sent Jerome off in the opposite direction, with strict instructions to send the swift to Lady Morgana. Meanwhile Snotty wanted to make sure he drew Max and the others as far away from the castle as possible, to give Morgana the best chance of beating them to Camelot.

  He splashed though a small stream, and dived into a copse of trees, then doubled back and planted a misdirection spell just next to a low stone wall. Following the wall took him to another cart track, and then a wider road. As he looked back, he could just see a faint speck in the sky heading in his direction. Snotty put his head down and urged his horse on to an even more furious gallop.

  ***

  “Hotty Botsnoggums! Stay exactly where you are!”

  Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s booming dragon voice rang out across the clearing where Snotty was standing, panting, next to his exhausted horse. Max and Olivia slipped off the dragon’s back and moved out either side of her, slowly approaching Snotty, who was clutching the crystal potion bottle in his right hand. Amazingly, Adolphus had already positioned himself at the other end of the clearing to cut off Snotty’s retreat, although it was probably because Ferocious was perched on his head whispering instructions into his ear.

  “Come on Snotty, hand it over,” said Max, as he approached. “You can’t get away, and if you hand it over now, we won’t tell King Arthur about you.”

  Snotty laughed, scornfully.

  “Won’t tell King Arthur? Big deal! He’s going to be dead, very soon, and if by some miracle he survives, you won’t be telling him anything because otherwise you’d have to tell him exactly who did the spell that iced his entire castle and all his knights!”

  Max stopped still. It was a very good point. What was he going to tell King Arthur, assuming they got him defrosted?

  Snotty saw Max’s hesitation and laughed again.

  “Well, Pendragon, realised just how genius my lady’s plan was now? Even if you do save the castle, which you won’t, you can’t tell anyone about how it happened.”

  “Oh shut up, Hogsbottom, and hand over the potion!” shouted Olivia, as she launched herself at him. Snotty twisted away, and as he did so, he pulled the stopper out of the potion bottle and upturned it. Before Olivia could grab it, all the golden liquid inside had splashed out onto the grass.

  There was an awful silence as everyone looked at each other, Max and Olivia in horror, Snotty with a smile of triumph as he threw down the empty bottle. Then Max hurled himself at Snotty with both fists out and the two boys tumbled to the ground, rolling over and over across the clearing. Snotty nearly landed a punch on Max’s right ear, but Max managed to dodge it, grabbing a fistful of Snotty’s hair.

  “Ow!” yelled Snotty as Max pulled his head sideways, but the next second he’d got Max in a headlock and was squeezing his throat.

  “Urrgh,” gurgled Max as he tried to prise Snotty’s arm away from his neck, and then with a huge effort he wrenched himself around and kneed Snotty in the stomach. But the fight would still have gone against Max if Olivia had not taken a hand. She’d been standing over the struggling boys, trying to get a clear angle on Snotty, and Max’s blow was just what she needed. Snotty’s head went up, and Olivia’s fist connected with his ear.

  Thud!

  For the second time in a few months Snotty Hogsbottom fell back heavily, knocked out cold by a Pendragon.

  “Hurrah! Hurrah! You’ve won!” shouted Adolphus as he bounded up.

  But there was no cheering from anyone else. They were all looking at the empty crystal bottle lying on the ground, and wondering what they were going to do now the potion was gone.

  A Race to Save Camelot!

  Max stared at the potion bottle in despair. Morgana had won. There was nothing they could do. He sat down heavily and put his head on his knees. After a moment, Ferocious scampered over and sniffed all round the neck of the bottle. Then he jumped up on Max’s shoulder and nipped his ear.

  “Max! Look! There’s still a few drops of potion in it!”

  They all looked. Ferocious was right – inside the bottle was the tiniest pool of potion, cupped in the curve of the glass.

  Hardly daring to breathe, Max picked up the bottle and looked closer. There looked to be about two drops of the golden-coloured spell still there. He looked up at Great-Aunt Wilhelmina, who was peering down at the potion.

  “What do you think? Is it enough?”

  “Hmmm. I doubt if it will de-ice the whole castle. But it might be enough to do a small portion of it. If we could get the spell directly to where Merlin is…” She closed her eyes, and thought. After a few moments, she opened them again.

  “Vortigern?”

  “Quack!” said the duck. “Right here, my lady. Anything I can do?”

  “Did you not tell me, once, you used to sneak up one of the castle drains to get to the kitchen?”

  “Quack! Yes. Good route to get a bit of…”

  “Genius!” shouted Max. “Because the kitchen drain also runs under the Great Hall! I know that, because you can sometimes smell the cooking when you’re in there!”

  “Won’t the drains be full of ice?” said Olivia, doubtfully.

  “It’s quite unlikely,” said Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “Ice around the bounds of the castle above the ground is one thing – icing the earth beneath would need much more power.”

  Suddenly everyone started to get excited. It looked like it might still be possible to foil Morgana’s plot. If they could just get to Merlin and free him from the spell, he could finish the job.

  “Come on!” said Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “No time to lose. That dreadful Hoggy Snotbottom has led us miles out of our way. Climb on my back, and we’ll be off.”

  “What about Snotty?” said Olivia. He appeared to still be completely out cold, but she didn’t trust him.

  “I’ll carry him in my claws,” said the dragon. “Then we can make sure he doesn’t get up to any mischief.” She grinned, and flexed her great claws, and Max thought he was rather glad not to be Snotty Hogsbottom at that moment.

  ***

  It was an hour past midday when they glided in to land by the gatehouse in front of Camelot. The ice mountain was glittering in the full sunshine, the castle still just a shadow buried behind its smooth blue-white surface. Max had forgotten just how awesomely large the mountain was. He bit his lip, and hoped the small amount of spell they had was up to the job.

  As they landed, a figure came striding out of the gatehouse waving his sword, followed by a band of soldiers trying their best to look fierce. As the figure got closer, Max realised it was Sir Lionel, calling out in a firm voice:

  “Dragon! Begone! The castle is guarded and we will defend it to the…Oh, I say. It’s Lady Wilhelmina! And…Max! Olivia! Thank goodness you’re safe!”

  The soldiers looked highly relieved when they realised the enormous green dragon was friendly, and put their swords away. Sir Lionel ran over and clapped Max on the shoulder.

  “Good to see you! I was really worried. We had soldiers combing the woods for you and Olivia… As you can see, we’ve been caught out by that traitor sorceress – the whole castle’s been iced. But Lady Morgana’s on her way, thank goodness. In fact, we got a swift just a few hours ago. She’s doing the last bit by broomstick, should be here any minute now.”

  Max and the others looked at each other in horror. Morgana shouldn’t have been due till twilight. They had thought they’d have three or four hours. Now it looked like they had a matter of minutes.

  At that moment, Sir Richard Hogsbottom emerged from the gatehouse, making a great show of strapping on his sword, and calling, “Sorry – bit of trouble with my armour – everything all right here, Lionel?”

  Then he saw Snotty.

  “Adrian! Adrian, my boy! What happened?”

  Snotty had regained consciousness a few hours before, only to
find himself suspended a few hundred feet above the ground, gripped rather painfully in large dragon claws. He had spent the rest of the flight alternately groaning and being sick, and now he was lying on the ground looking like a wet dishcloth. He raised his head feebly.

  “Max and the others found a spell to de-ice the castle. I was helping but… I dropped the bottle accidentally and it all spilled… I’m afraid they weren’t very understanding about it.” He tried to look both sorrowful and nobly ready to forgive them.

  “My dearest boy,” said Sir Richard. “That’s most unkind of them. You don’t look at all well, I must say.”

  Great-Aunt Wilhelmina rolled her eyes.

  “Are you Sir Richard Hogsbottom?” she enquired of the tubby knight. When he nodded, she looked at him sternly, still keeping one clawed foot firmly on Snotty’s stomach. “This boy has made a perfect nuisance of himself, and you need to take better control of him. He nearly destroyed the potion we received from the Lady of the Island. Luckily, there were a few drops left…” At these words, Snotty started, and Sir Richard looked rather green. She grinned. “I believe Max was going to have a try at the spell… Now, where is Max?”

  They looked all round, but Max had gone. And so, Olivia realised, had Vortigern.

  ***

  The main castle drain was surprisingly narrow, half full of water, and extremely smelly. Vortigern was splashing happily up ahead, and Max, trying to ignore the old bits of mouldy food and worse that were floating in the scum, was following him rather more gingerly.

  As soon as he’d heard how close Morgana was, Max knew he had to do something fast. He’d caught Vortigern’s eye, and the pair of them had sneaked off while everyone else was distracted by Sir Richard Hogsbottom. They’d hurried to the drain outlet by the moat and, once there, Max had decided that the quickest and easiest way to get up the drain was as a frog. He’d tied the precious potion bottle round Vortigern’s neck, and had reached for the magic. It had been almost easy, this time, thinking his way into the transformation. And now, he felt surprisingly comfortable as a frog, splashing through the muddy water.