The Wizard in the Woods

by Louie Stowell

  “That’s only temporary, I promise,” said Ben.

  “What happens next then?” asked Josh. “When the Dragon Masters have got rid of the Wizards’ Council? Are you going to be in charge?”

  “Not at all!” said Ben. He shook his head, smiling to himself. “All wizards should forge their own path, without the Wizards’ Council giving orders. All I’m going to do is make that possible. I want to allow wizards to use their magic to help the world. Just imagine, wizards could cast spells to truly help people. They could cast a spell to … stop anyone who’s about to hurt an animal! Or even just plant tiny seeds of goodness in everyone’s minds, to make them just that little bit kinder to others. Wizards shouldn’t be muzzled any longer. They’re not dogs. They’re not children.”

  “No, but we are,” said Josh. “And we think your plan is a really, really terrible one.”

  “What gives you the right to use magic to control people?” asked Alita. “Don’t you know how dangerous mind magic is?”

  “It’s more dangerous to leave all the power in the world in the hands of a few grasping pensioners. But I don’t think I have any special right to do it. I just happen to be here, and with the will to do it,” said Ben. “But now you know my plan…”

  “…You’re going to have to kill us?” finished Josh grimly.

  “Not at all,” said Ben. “I want Kit to join me. Help me build a new world. One that isn’t stifled by old men and women who think they know best.”

  “I’m not joining you,” said Kit. “Liar. Dragon-kidnapper!”

  “Just think about it,” said Ben. “Let the idea settle. You could be free to use magic however you like.” He turned to his followers. “Let’s leave them. None of them have enough power to free themselves. We need to bring the Dragon Masters to full strength before we can finally overthrow the council.”

  Ben looked up at Kit once more. “Think about what I’ve said. We’ll be back once the Dragon Masters are ready to bring down the council.”

  “Will they … hurt them?” asked Alita. “The council?”

  Ben shrugged. “Frankly, I don’t care. Don’t worry yourselves what happens to tyrants when they’re brought down. Worry about the people they’ve been controlling. Come on,” he said.

  “What if we need the toilet?” asked Josh.

  Ben laughed. He made a criss-cross sign and said, “Hold!”

  Then he and his followers left the children alone in their magical prison.

  As the footsteps on the stone steps faded, they all relaxed a little. Kit sat down, feeling all the pent-up nervous energy leave her body. The magic hummed beneath her. It was a bit like sitting on top of a fridge.

  “I can’t believe Ben is evil,” said Josh sadly. “He seemed so cool.” He sat down too. “I wonder how long this magic will hold us here for.”

  “I don’t know,” said Kit. She grimaced. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe. Can you see why I tried to keep you out now?”

  Alita, who was still standing, suddenly stamped her foot. Kit shuffled back on her bottom in shock, and staggered to her feet.

  “What?” said Kit. “What’s wrong?”

  Alita turned on her with furious eyes. “Don’t you get it?” she said. “You don’t get to decide what we can and can’t do.”

  “I wasn’t!” said Kit. “I was just … trying to protect you!”

  “By taking away our choices?” said Alita. “Just like Ben’s planning on doing.”

  Kit gasped. She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “That’s not fair,” she said. “Ben was only saying we’re alike to be mean! He’s a liar!”

  “Sometimes liars get it right too,” said Alita. She folded her arms.

  “Josh, tell her she’s wrong!” said Kit. “Tell her I was doing it to protect you both!”

  “Much as I like telling people they’re wrong,” said Josh. “She’s not wrong now. You didn’t have any right to stop us coming down here.”

  Kit swallowed. “But … it’s my job as a wizard to protect people.”

  “No it’s not. It’s your job to protect the dragon. Lying to your friends and making decisions for them is nowhere in the job description,” said Alita.

  Kit felt flustered. No one was reacting like they were supposed to. She’d been trying to save the day! Couldn’t they see that? “So am I supposed to just let you get hurt?” she asked.

  “No,” said Josh. “We’re your friends. You’re supposed to trust us.”

  “You’re not in charge, We’re in this together, remember?” said Alita. Her face softened a little. “Kit, you’re a powerful wizard, but you can be an enormous doofus. Now. Let’s work out how to get out of this cage.”

  They argued for a long time about how to get out of the prison. Kit had all kinds of ideas for spells that the others said no to, because they might “explode them all” or “turn them into jelly” or “leave them horribly scarred forever”.

  “For someone who wants to keep her friends safe, you’re pretty free and easy with the flammable magic,” complained Josh.

  “I, erm, want to keep you safe from other people. You’re stuck with the danger I make myself,” Kit muttered. “OK, let me try something less dramatic.”

  She tried a few milder spells, but none of them could get her out of the prison. Ben’s magic was too strong.

  “I mean, we could just try calling for help,” said Kit, running out of ideas. “But I’m guessing down here, underground in a magical prison, no one could hear us. And if they did, it would just be a dog walker in the cemetery, not a wizard.”

  “Wait,” said Alita. “Maybe we CAN get someone to hear us. The broadcast the quiet spell! Make our voices loud enough for someone to hear.”

  “Who, though? Faith and Greg can’t,” said Josh.

  “How about the Wizards’ Council? Or Duncan?” said Alita.

  “I don’t know if I can do the spell powerfully enough for someone to hear me in Wales or Scotland,” said Kit.

  “Who’s nearby?” said Josh.

  “I know someone who’s nearby,” said Alita. “Someone who loves me very much.”

  “Your mum doesn’t know magic,” said Josh.

  “Not my mum,” said Alita. “Someone smaller. And furrier.”

  “DOGON!” said Kit and Josh at once.

  “Well? Shall we?” said Alita.

  So they got ready. Josh suggested they add a second spell to give the first one a specific direction, so their voices could be focused.

  Kit performed the two spells, one after another.

  Then they waited. And waited.

  “I’m glad he cast that spell to stop us needing a wee,” said Josh half an hour later.

  “Is Dogon ever going to come, do you think?”

  Finally there was a scuffling and flapping sound, and Dogon appeared in the chamber beneath them.

  “Dogon! There you are!” said Alita. “Now you can do it, Kit!”

  Kit focused on Dogon, reaching out with her magic beyond the bubble. She could feel the tingle of wild magic, the borrowed magic from Draca that had become a part of Dogon over many years. She felt the spell building, fighting against the bubble around them.

  But it was no good. “The spell’s too strong.” Kit wilted slightly.

  Dogon whimpered and licked at the bubble around them, then spat out its nasty taste on his forked tongue.

  “What are we going to do now?” asked Josh.

  Dogon whimpered again, then, with a flutter, turned and flew away.

  “Dogon! Come back! Don’t give up!” said Alita.

  The children slumped down and felt sorry for themselves.

  “Maybe Faith will wake up and save us?” suggested Josh.

  “Maybe,” said Kit, but she doubted it. Ben had probably cast the spell on her to make sure she’d stay inside Greg’s mind until the Dragon Masters were at full strength.

  Just then there was another noise from the steps. Not Dogon this time. But not a hum
an wizard either. Kit felt a wave of wild magic.

  And there, in the doorway, was the baby dragon, with Dogon bringing up the rear. Dogon gave a little barking roar as though to say, “Did I do well?”

  “GOOD DOGON!” said Kit.

  The baby dragon approached them, looking up at the bubble expectantly.

  “Do you mind?” Kit asked.

  The dragon nodded.

  Then she did the spell again, drawing on the wild magic of the tiny dragon, and this time … the bubble began to melt, and three children found themselves on the floor in a heap.

  “We’re free!” said Josh. “What do we do now?”

  “I don’t know,” said Kit, looking at the baby dragon while Alita bent down to nuzzle and stroke it, hugging Dogon at the same time. “But I know who we can ask. Dogon, can you take the dragon back to the school library?”

  “Welcome back,” said Draca, as the three children appeared in the dragon’s dream. Around them, the world was a dark, wild wood. In between the trees, hairy monsters were dancing and whooping. They didn’t look scary. They looked like they were having a good time. There was also a small boy wearing a wolf costume and a crown, dancing with the monsters. Nearby, Draca was sitting on a throne, drinking some kind of potion.

  “Don’t mind the monsters. It’s a story Faith was reading me, before she went away.”

  “Where has she gone?” asked Kit.

  Draca tapped herself on the forehead. “Into his mind. Into his past.”

  “Greg’s mind?” asked Kit. “So Ben was telling the truth? She’s been sucked into Greg’s memories? How?”

  “An enchanted crown for the queen of the library,” said Draca. The dragon didn’t always give the straightest of answers.

  “Oh! Ben did a spell on the crown before he put it on Faith’s head,” Alita interpreted. “To trap her in Greg’s mind once they were connected by the spell.”

  “Sneaky!” said Josh, in an almost admiring tone.

  “So how can we wake Faith up?” asked Alita.

  “A problem shared is a problem halved. And a power shared is a power doubled. Or, in your case, tripled.”

  “Huh?” said Kit, unsure if she wasn’t understanding some magical reference, or if Draca was just being even more Draca than usual.

  The dragon looked at her. “You’ll have to find out what I mean as the plot moves on. No spoilers.”

  “Draca, has anyone ever told you that talking to you is really annoying sometimes?” said Kit.

  “Many. But, of course, I ate them.” Draca clacked her teeth together.

  Kit was almost certain she was joking.

  “I’m joking,” said Draca, “Just in case you weren’t certain of that.”

  “Phew,” said Kit. “OK, so no spoilers … but how do we get Faith out of Greg’s mind? What can we try?”

  “Should we use a mind magic spell?” asked Josh.

  “Did you come to me for advice or to make suggestions?” asked Draca.

  Josh coughed. “Listening now.”

  Draca breathed an amused puff of smoke from her nostrils. “Then I’ll begin. Faith is wandering in Greg’s story. Mind magic is dangerous, and she’s deep, deep down inside another person’s pages. Most magic risks pushing her deeper in. Except one magic.”

  “What kind? Illusion magic? Scrying magic?” Josh asked, beginning to list the types of magic.

  “Not one of the seven,” said Draca. “A magic that all magic links to. The story. You can free her with a story.”

  “You mean read to her?” asked Kit.

  “Read to her, and then don’t read to her. She’ll come to you to find the end. A wizard draws her power from dragons, and dragons draw their power from words. Words can hook a wizard’s mind like bait if you leave them dangling. Out of his mind, and into a story, then he will have his mind back. And that will lead you to the next piece of the story.”

  Draca stopped suddenly. There was a rustling around her. A pattering of paws.

  “They’re growing stronger. You’d better not dawdle. They’ll be ready soon.”

  “But what do you mean, she’ll come to you to find the end?” asked Kit.

  “I’ve got it,” said Josh. “Let’s go. I don’t want to wait until the rats come in here. Dream rats sound even worse than real ones.”

  “Then you haven’t met the real ones,” said Draca. “Go.”

  “Goodbye, Draca,” said Kit, and blackness fell.

  “So what was she going on about?” asked Kit as they left Draca’s lair to climb up to the book wood.

  “We have to read to Faith … and then stop,” said Josh. “See?”

  Kit didn’t see.

  “We have to leave her on a cliffhanger!” said Josh. “You know, read her something exciting and then leave her in suspense!”

  “Oh, maybe we could read a book she’s already been reading,” suggested Alita. “Then she’ll be really dying to know what happens next.”

  “I still don’t get how that’s going to wake her up out of a magical coma,” said Kit.

  “It was something Draca said,” said Josh. “About where a wizard’s power comes from. I think it’s because she’s a wizard that it will work, because a wizard’s power comes from words and books. Or, I hope it will work.”

  In the room where Faith and Greg slept, Alita found the detective novel that Faith had been reading. She opened it where Faith had left a bookmark and began to read. When it got to a very exciting and suspenseful part, she shut the book with a slap.

  Nothing happened.

  Nothing happened

  Some more nothing happened.

  Kit wasn’t sure how much more nothing happening she could handle without wanting to bite her stubby fingernails clean off.

  Then, suddenly, Faith jumped out of her seat with a tremendous gasp. “What happens next!?” she yelled. “And I need some biscuits!”

  A second later, Greg came to, more groggily. “I had such a funny dream. There were rats. And you were there. And you were there. And you and you and you.”

  “You were in your own memory, Greg,” said Kit. “And Faith was trapped there too.”

  Faith was shaking her head. “Can’t … stop thinking about … slippers,” she muttered. “And…” She swung round. “You voted for WHO in the last election, Greg Daniels?”

  “She had ever such a nice face,” said Greg apologetically. “Biscuit?” He passed her a packet.

  Faith took one, still shaking her head. “That was … something.”

  “You’re both OK!” said Alita.

  “I think so,” said Faith. She looked round at the children, her mouth full of biscuits. “You might need to fill me in on what I’ve missed. It’s all still fuzzy.”

  Kit and the others started to tell her everything that had been happening while she was trapped in Greg’s mind. They were about to get to the part where they discovered Ben was behind it all when Faith and Greg gasped in unison.

  “I know what was missing from the memory,” said Greg.

  “It was him! He was there!” said Faith.

  “Who?” asked Josh.

  Faith looked pained. “I don’t know how to tell you this but … it’s Ben. He was the one in charge of the wizards who brought back the Dragon Masters. The ones who stole the egg. And I think it was him who put me and Greg to sleep so we wouldn’t remember the end of Greg’s memory.”

  Kit and the others exchanged looks. “Yeah, about that,” she said. And told Faith the rest.

  After a moment’s silence, once Kit had finished, Faith made them all some ginger tea. “I can’t believe it,” Faith said. “He was my friend. He was … a good guy, you know? Quirky, but good. He wanted the best for everyone.”

  “I think he still does,” said Alita. “He just thinks he should be the one who decides what’s best.”

  Faith gave a sad smile. “I thought I knew him. But it’s been five years. I suppose he’s changed. I just didn’t know he could change … so much.�
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  Kit didn’t like seeing Faith like this. She looked like she’d been punched in the stomach. But, seeing Kit’s expression, Faith waved it away.

  “I’ll grieve the friend I lost later. Now we need to work out how to beat the villain who I’ve gained.”

  “And his evil wizard lackeys,” added Alita.

  “And don’t forget the evil giant rats from the dawn of time!” said Kit with a flourish.

  “Is anyone else mildly panicking?” asked Josh. “Or is it just me? Which means you’re all super confident we can win, yes? Good? Good. OK. Good.”

  “Well, on the plus side, we have Faith back,” said Kit.

  “And I have you three,” said Faith.

  “And me,” said Greg. “Ooh, my hip. I got really stiff sitting there for so long. Anyone got an aspirin?”

  Without putting up much of a fight, Greg agreed to stay behind and guard the baby dragon.

  “Stay and guard them both, Dogon,” said Alita.

  Dogon nodded and sat at Greg’s feet. Whether that was because he was promising to be a brave guard Dogon, or because Greg had a large packet of biscuits, it wasn’t clear.

  They gathered up a few last spells and some magical objects from the stacks beneath Chatsworth Library and made their way to the cemetery. Josh memorised a couple of new battle spells, and Faith handed him and Alita a number of crystals.

  “These hold stored spells I cast earlier so you can use them to defend yourself. Ideally, you’d have a few years’ more training before you had to use battle magic,” said Faith to Kit. “But remember, we’re only holding them at bay until the council gets here. No heroics.”

  “No risk of that,” said Kit. “I’m utterly terrified.” There was indeed a huge and heart-sucking terror inside her. The Dragon Masters were awake now. They weren’t at full strength yet, but it was only a matter of time. And Ben and his followers were bad enough. “So. Shall we go?” she said. But for the first time, she was desperate to stay inside the safe walls of the library.