Icespell (7 page)

The Swordspell

I
t was dark by the time the castle got back to any semblance of normality. Arthur had rushed around checking the defences while getting reports from Sir Lionel and Sir Richard on all that had happened while he had been trapped in the ice. Lady Morgana had been revived and taken to the chambers she usually occupied in Camelot, and her retinue had arrived from Gore. It seemed she would now be staying until the
Festival of Chivalry in three weeks’ time.

“She wore herself out with that reversal spell, Merlin,” said Arthur as they finally sat down to supper. “As well as hardly sleeping, so she could get down here from Gore as quickly as she did. We owe her our lives.” He looked solemnly at the wizard. “I know you have had your doubts about Morgana, but really, this time there’s proof. She couldn’t have had anything to do with it – and she broke the icespell to save us. What more do you want?”

Merlin grimaced. “My lord, it is indeed clear that Lady Morgana cannot have cast the icespell herself. It is impossible to cast a spell so powerful from such a great distance. We shall obviously have to keep looking for this other sorceress, and hope we find her soon.” He sighed. “However, I must urge you to treat Lady Morgana with some caution – I have been talking to Sir Lionel, and—”

King Arthur held up his hand for silence, and looked sternly at Merlin, his blue eyes bright. “I won’t talk about it, Merlin, I’m sorry. I had Sir Lionel
approach me, too, but what he said didn’t amount to any kind of proof of anything, and I won’t have it repeated.” He suddenly looked weary, and rubbed his face with his hands. “She is my
sister
,” he said, in a low voice, “and I trust her. There’s the beginning and the end of it all.”

“So, it looks like she’s got away with it again,” said Lancelot the next morning, as they all strolled across the grass to see Great-Aunt Wilhelmina off. “The king is overjoyed that events have finally put paid to any hint of suspicion of Morgana, and won’t hear another word against her. And we have no proof, unfortunately.”

“Yes, very unfortunately,” said Merlin, looking at Max sternly. “If you hadn’t allowed yourself to get tricked into a most unwise display of power, we might not have—”

“Oh now, Merlin, enough of that!” boomed Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “Leave the poor boy alone, or I might have to recount the tale of the time you brought a certain king’s new castle down round his
ears when you were just a slip of a lad!”

Max looked up at Great-Aunt Wilhelmina in surprise, and she winked at him with one golden eye.

“Seem to recall you had to invent some gobbledegook about dragons being responsible,” she said, looking very hard at Merlin, while the corner of her mouth twitched.

Merlin coloured, and coughed.

“Well, yes, er… you’re right, of course, Lady Wilhelmina. We all make mistakes when young. Perhaps best not to dwell on these things…”

Lancelot laughed. “You brought a whole castle down? I’m not sure I’ve heard about that one. I should write a song about it!”

Merlin looked a bit uncomfortable, but then grinned. “Well, yes. Actually it was rather spectacular. No one inside, of course, it had only just been built. Anyway – that’s a story for another day…” He turned to Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “We’re extremely grateful to you, my lady. And please – send my love and thanks to the Lady of the Island when you next see her.”

“Will do, Merlin, will do,” the dragon rumbled. “Well now – good luck to all of you! I’m sure you’ll sort Morgana out eventually. She can’t get away with it forever. Be good, A-doll’s-house! And find some way to get even with that dreadful Botty Hogsnottom!”

And with a few more final farewells to them all, she launched herself into the air and was soon just a flash of green heading rapidly west.

Merlin and Lancelot had duties in the castle, but the rest of them decided to head down to the river for the afternoon. Max and Olivia had made a point, the day before, of seeking out Fred the kitchen boy and making him a present of a rather nice new skinning knife Max had been given for Christmas. He was surprised, but very grateful, and had sneaked them a whole sack of fresh pastries from the buttery that morning to say thank you.

“You know,” said Max, as they stretched out by the pool in the sunshine and picked at the last pastry crumbs, “I thought I’d get a lot worse telling off from
Merlin. Three cheers for Great-Aunt Wilhelmina, eh? Still, I’m going to keep my head down for a bit. I’m quite looking forward to the Festival of Chivalry – for once I’m the one that can sit back and watch, and you’ll be the one everyone will be looking at!”

Olivia made a face. “Looking at me make a total fool of myself, you mean.”

“No! You’re very good. Honest. I think you might even win. If someone turns Mordred into a caterpillar before the contest…”

Olivia brightened. “Hey – Max! I don’t suppose…?”

“No, sorry, no way. Merlin would smell the magic a mile off, and I’m in enough trouble for the icespell. But you never know – he might break a leg in training or something…”

“I wish,” muttered Olivia, thinking of
red-haired
Mordred flat on his back on a stretcher.

“Of course, Lady Morgana will be cheering him on, since he’s her nephew,” observed Ferocious. “Be good if you could beat him to a pulp, really.”

“Quack!” said Vortigern, suddenly emerging noisily from the water. “Yes! One of your great punches straight to the left ear!”

“Hey, Vortigern!” exclaimed Max, happily. “Where did you come from?”

“Been catching up with my cousin Guido,” said Vortigern. “Three castle servants in his duckpond already, and she’s only been here one day. Quite a witch, that Morgana le Fay, eh?”

“She’s an evil old hag,” said Olivia. “But she seems to have a knack of getting away with it.”

“Maybe not this time,” said Vortigern, bobbing his head. “With this swordspell idea.”

Max raised his head. “Swordspell? What do you mean?”

“Quack!” said Vortigern. “I was in the duckpond with Guido, chasing some of the castle goldfish – and who should go past but Morgana, with Sir Richard and that awful Snotty. Thought I’d waddle after them, see what they were up to…”

He dived under the water again, and came up
with a bob of his head, splashing water over everyone.

“Vortigern!” said Olivia. “What did you hear?”

“Quack!” said the duck, with a twinkle in his beady eye. “Got any bread?”

Max laughed. “Of course! But not till
after
you’ve told us what they said!”

“Fair enough,” said Vortigern, and waddled closer, lowering his voice. “They said that it would have to be the swordspell now. It was the last chance. The swordspell would do for Arthur good and proper. They only had to wait another three weeks and Morgana would be queen. So. How about the bread?”

Max threw a piece into the river and turned to the others.

“What on earth does that mean?”

“It means,” said Ferocious, “that we’ve got another chance to catch Morgana out. We can show the king that she really is behind all this trickery. We can save the kingdom from her forever!”

“Yes, yes!” said Adolphus enthusiastically. “We’ll do it! We’ll save them all!”

Olivia looked thoughtful. “They’re planning something for the Festival of Chivalry. That’s why it’s three weeks’ time. We just have to find out what.”

They looked at each other solemnly.

“Right,” said Max. “That’s it. Morgana’s got away with it three times now. This time we’re going to catch her at it. We’re going to find out all about her swordspell plot, and prove to the king that she really is an evil, treacherous witch.”

“Hurrah for us!” said Adolphus, and gave an extra big bounce, losing his balance. His tail swept sideways as he fell, knocking Olivia flying into Max, and all three of them slipped, flailing, off the grassy bank and splashed into the river.

“Nice one, Adolphus,” said Ferocious, grinning, as he watched them emerge dripping and staggering from the water. “With your brains, Max’s sense of balance, and Olivia’s tact and ladylike qualities, we’re truly a team to be reckoned with. Morgana won’t know what’s hit her.”

Max shook the worst of the water off and
stretched out again on the grass. It was a lovely afternoon, and the sun would dry them off soon enough. He closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirruping in the trees behind him, the insects droning past, and the rustle of the water in the slight breeze. He had let himself get caught out by Snotty over the icespell, but he was not going to let that happen again. He was going to prove to Merlin that he could be a seriously great wizard. If it took every ounce of his magic, he was going to find out about Morgana’s swordspell and stop her once and for all.

C. J. Busby lived on boats until she was sixteen, and remembers one terrifying crossing of the English Channel in gale-force winds, when her family’s barge nearly overturned. She spent most of her childhood with her nose in a book, even when walking along the road. Luckily she survived to grow up, but she still carried on reading whenever she could. After studying science at university, she lived in a South Indian fishing village and did research for her PhD. She currently lives in Devon with her three children and borrows their books whenever they let her.