Authors: Kate McMullan

Wheel of Misfortune (4 page)

BOOK: Wheel of Misfortune

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“For ten points,” said Harkbert, “name two eating utensils.”

Delauncy raced to the bell. “Spoon and knife!” he said.

“That’s right!” said Harkbert.

Wiglaf shook his head. Nobody else even had a chance to answer. Suddenly Wiglaf began to understand. Nobody else was supposed to get a turn. That first question had been hard on purpose. Wiglaf bet that KNC had been given the answer. No wonder they were winning!

Chauncy, Launcy, Flauncy, and Delauncy whipped through TABLE MANNERS. They did the same with FANCY DANCE STEPS. And FINE POINTS OF CROQUET. After the lunch break—eel fritters on a bun—KNC gave the right answers to every question in the AMUSING LATIN VERSES category. Otto banged the bonus gong again, and KNC earned 500 bonus points. Their score kept going up and up and up.

The other teams’ scores stayed at nothing.

Late in the afternoon, Wiglaf glanced at Brother Dave. The monk waved. “Go thou DSA!” he called.

But Wiglaf thought he looked worried.

Now the category was FASHION. KNC had answered two questions correctly.

Harkbert said, “For thirty points, name a silver decoration used to fasten a shoe.”

Flauncy rang the bell. “A strap!” he yelled. Sir Verm stood up. “Want to try again, Flaunce?” he asked.

Daisy groaned. “O-nay air-fay!”

“I am sorry,” said Harkbert. “No second chances.”

Otto blew a small horn: TOOT.

Flauncy folded his arms over his chest. “Fooey!” he said.

“The question is now open to the other teams,” said Harkbert.

Yes! thought Wiglaf.
At last!

Erica lunged for the bell.

But Bragwort beat her to it: DING!

“Yes, Bragwort?” said Harkbert.

“A hook!” Bragwort yelled.

Harkbert shook his head. “Wrong.”

Wiglaf groaned silently. This was DSA’s chance to get in the game—and Bragwort had blown it!

Now Spike on the KRU team rang the bell. “A buckle!” he shouted.

“Yes!” said Harkbert. “Thirty points for KRU!”

With that the KRU cheerleaders jumped to their feet. They shouted:

Nonnie nonnie poo poo
We are gonna beat you!

“The next question is yours, KRU,” said Harkbert. “For forty points, what do you call a fashionable ladies’ hairstyle in which three clumps of hair are woven together?”

Moose rang the bell and yelled, “A ponytail!”

“I’m sorry,” said Harkbert. “Wrong answer. The question is open to the other teams.”

Now Wiglaf lunged for the bell.

But Bragwort beat him to it.

“A pageboy!” Bragwort yelled.

Wiglaf’s mouth fell open. He could not believe it! Bragwort had done it again!

“Sorry, DSA,” said Harkbert.

The boy named 170 from DSP rang the bell.

“Braids!” he yelled.

“That’s it, 170!” said Harkbert. “Forty points for DSP.”

The DSP fans yelled:

When it comes to brains,
We’ve really got a lot!
That’s why we shall win,
And that’s why you shall not!

Then DSP went on to answer the fifth FASHION question correctly.

Wiglaf glanced at the scoreboard. It said:

Harkbert said, “That was the last question on
this side
of the wheel. But before we end the first day of the tournament, I shall ask one last question—from the
back side
of the wheel.”

A murmur went up from the crowd. Wiglaf could tell that they expected something exciting to happen.

“Knights!” said Harkbert. “Turn the wheel!”

Otto beat his drum. The knights turned the back side of the wheel face out.

Wiglaf’s eyes lit up as he read the new categories:

WIN A TRIP To CAMELOT
WIN A DATE WITH A PRINCESS
WIN 1,000 POINTS

But he gasped as he read on:

WIN A TRIP To PLAGUE-RAT VILLAGE
WIN A DATE WITH A DRAGON
LOSE 1,000 POINTS

Wiglaf swallowed. Clearly the back of the wheel was risky. But DSA had to take a chance. It was their only hope of winning.

“The drumroll, Otto,” said Harkbert.

Otto began beating his drum again.

“Spin the wheel!” said Harkbert.

The red knight twirled the wheel.

“Is anyone bold enough to play the bonus round?” Harkbert challenged the scholars. “Is anyone brave enough to ring the bell?”

Wiglaf nudged Erica.

“You must ring the bell,” he whispered.

“This is a wheel of misfortune!” Erica whispered back.

“Yes,” Wiglaf agreed. “But it is our only chance! You are the smartest one on our team. You must play!”

“You’re right,” Erica said. She sprang to her feet and started for the bell, but...

DING!

Wiglaf couldn’t believe it!

Bragwort had rung the bell!

Harkbert smiled. “Hurry on up here, lad, while the wheel is still spinning.”

Bragwort bounced eagerly up to the wheel.

Wiglaf watched in horror as the wheel began to slow down. It passed WIN A DATE WITH A PRINCESS. It passed WIN 1,000 POINTS. It kept going slowly, slowly. It passed WIN A TRIP TO PLAGUE-RAT VILLAGE. It squeaked by WIN A DATE WITH A DRAGON and came to a stop on LOSE 1,000 POINTS.

“If you answer your question correctly,” said Harkbert, “your score stays as it is. But if your answer is wrong, your team will lose a thousand points. Are you ready?”

“Ready!” cried Bragwort.

“Finish this rhyme,” said Harkbert. “Thirty days hath September, April, June and—”

Wiglaf gave a sigh of relief. Easy question!

Harkbert looked at Bragwort expectantly.

Otto began beating his drum.

“Ou-yay an-cay o-day it-yay, Agwort-bray!” breathed Daisy.

“Uh...could you repeat the question?” asked Bragwort.

“Certainly,” said Harkbert. “Thirty days hath September, April, June and—”

Bragwort scratched his head. He pressed his lips together. He squeezed his eyes shut. Clearly, he was thinking hard.

TOOT! Otto blew his horn.

“I’m sorry. Time’s up!” said Harkbert.

“Febtober!” Bragwort yelled.

Febtober?
Wiglaf smacked himself on the head. Surely Bragwort must have a minus 1,000 IQ!

Harkbert shook his head. “The answer is ‘November.’ But nice try from the DSA team.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Bragwort. He shrugged to his teammates. “We had no points to lose anyway,” he whispered as he took his place on the bench again.

“Oh, no?” growled Erica. “Take a look at the scoreboard!”

Everyone was looking as the page fixed the final scores for the first day of the tournament:

Bragwort frowned. “Sir Verm!” he called. “What does the score U.O. 1,000 mean?”

“It means, DSA,” said Sir Verm, “that
you owe
one thousand pieces of gold.”

“And that,” said Harkbert, “ends the first day of our tournament. We’ll see everyone back here tomorrow morning!”

Chapter 7

“
O
ooh,
I’m so glad I’m not you, Bragwort,” Angus said as the DSA team left the gym.

“So I missed one,” said Bragwort. “Big deal.”

“But, Bragwort,” Wiglaf said. “Mordred is coming tomorrow. He expects us to have
won
gold for him.”

“He won’t be happy when he finds out that he
owes
gold to KNC,” Erica added.

“It was a hard question,” Bragwort whined.

Just then Brother Dave hurried over to them.

“Eetings-gray, Aisy-day,” he said. He gave the pig a pat. Then he turned to the DSA team. “Be ye not sorrowful, lads. ’Tis only a game, after all.” He shook his head. “Thou knowest I try not to find fault with others, for none of us is perfect. But...” He lowered his voice. “...the categories today did seem to favor a certain team. Fine points of croquet, indeed!”

“And table manners!” Erica rolled her eyes.

Brother Dave nodded. “But thou must not lose heart, lads,” he said. “For thou canst never tell what tomorrow may bring.”

Brother Dave murmured something about going to chapel. He hurried away.

“And I am going to the KNC school store,” Bragwort said. “I shall buy myself a fine red-and-white KNC souvenir tunic.”

Then he rushed off.

“Good. Bragwort is gone,” Erica said to Wiglaf and Angus. “We must figure out how to stop him from ringing the bell tomorrow!”

They ran down to Suite D. Wiglaf lit the torch. He coughed as the room grew smoky.

“I can think of only one way to stop Bragwort,” said Erica.

“What?” asked Wiglaf.

“Tie him up, stuff a sock in his mouth, and lock him in here,” she said.

“But we must have a full team to play,” Angus pointed out.

Erica frowned. “But if he is onstage, how can we stop him from ringing the bell?”

“A spell,” Wiglaf said. “We could summon Zelnoc.”

“Summon quickly, Wiggie,” said Erica. “We haven’t much time.”

Wiglaf closed his eyes. He chanted the wizard’s name backwards three times: “Conlez! Conlez! Conlez!”

When he opened his eyes, he saw smoke. Torch smoke. Red smoke. Blue smoke. Yellow, green, and violet smoke.

“Holy smoke!” cried a voice that Wiglaf recognized as the wizard’s. “Somebody open a window!”

“We can’t!” came Angus’s voice. “This is a dungeon!”

“Oh, jester’s bells,” cried Zelnoc. “Just let me get my wand out of my sleeve....”

Wiglaf blinked. The smoke was vanishing into the tip of the wizard’s wand.

“That’s better,” Zelnoc said at last. He looked around. “Say, do you folks want me to do a little wallpaper spell? Something with a floral pattern would cheer the place up. How long are you in for, anyway?”

“We are just visiting,” Wiglaf told him.

“Good gizzards!” the wizard exclaimed. “You again, Wiglof!”

“Hello, sir,” said Wiglaf.

“Stop!” Zelnoc put his hands over his ears. “I know you want something. You always do. But don’t tell me what it is. You managed to summon me from Zizmor’s new mind-reading seminar. The least you can do is give me a chance to see how I’m doing.”

Zelnoc closed his eyes. He put his fingers to his forehead. He stayed that way for a while. “I’m getting a blank here, Woglip,” he said at last. “You must
think
about what you want. Or I have nothing to read inside your mind.”

Wiglaf thought of Bragwort ringing the bell. Bragwort yelling out answers. Bragwort losing 1,000 points for DSA.

“I’m getting it now,” said Zelnoc. “You have a wart. But...why are you bragging about it?”

“I was thinking of Bragwort, sir,” said Wiglaf. “He is our team captain.”

“What team?” asked Zelnoc.

“The DSA team,” Wiglaf told him. “We are competing in the All-Schools Brain-Power Tournament.”

“Go on,” Zelnoc said.

BOOK: Wheel of Misfortune

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