Zak Turner - A Twist In Time (19 page)

“Do you like it then?”

Steven seemed to rush back into reality.  “Is it real?  It isn’t somehow pretend is it?  It looks so fabulous…”

Zak put his hand on his long-time friend’s shoulder before he answered.

“Aye, it’s real mate, very real, and very fantastic, and I was as gob-smacked as you are when I first saw it.  Welcome to Lofthouse Castle!”

“Blimey, a real life castle, and you
live
here Tal?!”

“Yep, I’ve lived here every day of my life, at least, until this summer.  Now Zak lives here half the time too, when we’re not both living at The Copse.”

Steven barely seemed to have heard, and then a few seconds later he looked at Zak with his familiar mischievous grin and an almost dangerous glint in his eye as he suddenly seemed to remember that his friend was standing next to him.

“I should kill you Zak Turner, fer keeping this secret from me, you sneaky git!  Come on then, show me round.  I want ter see everything, and I want ter ride on a broomstick too!  I’ve got a lot of catchin’ up ter do wi’ everything you two’ve been hiding from me fer s’ long!”

Steven climbed back on his bicycle, and started to ride as quickly as he could towards the castle.  The two soul mates got back onto their broomsticks, but before they set off after him they had a quick private conversation.

I think he likes it brother!

I’m sure he does!  Everyone who sees it falls in love with it, Tallion!

I’m glad we can share it with him, I never used to be bothered about keeping things hidden, but somehow now it’s a bit uncomfortable.

That’s the Turner influence from my personality, I hadn’t noticed, but I think I’ve become a bit
less
sensitive about it now.  Not sure I like that…  I never used to have any secrets from Steven…

Well, you’ll be able to get back to that now I expect, it will mean he has to keep secrets from his parents though; that’s a bit awkward.

They’d never believe him anyway Tallion.  How could you explain this castle to someone who can’t see it?

True.  Come on then, let’s catch up with him.  I expect he’ll want to try out flying first, so we’ll go through to the courtyard and give him one of our old broomsticks to see how he gets on.

Do you mind if I give him mine?  I’d feel really pleased to know it was his now…

‘Course not!  I’m sure I’ll feel the same way, Soul Mate!

* * *

The three eleven-year-olds got a couple of surprises when they arrived in the courtyard. 

The first was meeting a stern faced Sir Philip, who left his two sons, adopted and natural, in no doubt that flying to the post office on broomsticks was not an acceptable thing to do.  Steven was still surprised at how Zak always referred to the baronet as ‘father’, and he kept very quiet hoping that he wasn’t going to get into trouble for coming through the gates by himself!   

The baronet turned to him after he’d finished with Zak and Tallion, but instead of the expected dressing down, he welcomed him to the castle, and told him that the gates would now always let him in.  He asked the young farmer not to show the gates and the driveway to anyone else though, and not to tell anyone about the castle, including his own family. 

Steven would have done what Sit Philip wanted anyway, and not just because the deal with the fields wasn’t finalised yet!  However, having just witnessed Zak and Tallion getting told off
doubly
convinced him not to risk the same treatment!

The baronet dismissed the boys who quickly scuttled to the broom cupboard, where they got their second surprise!  The cupboard had grown, and next to Zak’s broom was a space for another one, with the name ‘Steven’ carved into the wood above it.  Zak’s old broomstick was standing at the end of the cupboard, alongside Tallion’s, and the grinning eleven-year-old grabbed it and presented it to Steven.

“This is for you mate.  It’s yours to keep, forever.”

Steven’s face once again registered delighted surprise, and he shook his head in disbelief as he inspected the broomstick and ran his hands along its sleek handle and over the footrests.

“I can’t believe this, I just can’t believe this is happening,” he muttered to himself.  He looked up with an almost worried look at his two friends to find them watching him with smiles on their faces.

“Thanks guys, fer being me friends, and fer everything else…  Yer both so cool…  And thanks fer t’ broomstick Zak, now yer need to show me how it works though!”

“With pleasure!” responded Zak.  “Come on then, we have some teaching to do!” and with that he grabbed his own broomstick and marched back outside into the courtyard. 

The three wizards spent an hour flying round the courtyard with Steven, who was much more confident than Zak had been when
he
first flew.  His overconfidence made him crash a couple of times though, but it didn’t take him long before he got the hang of it.  The magic inside him was obviously enough for the broomstick to read, and soon he was hurtling round the courtyard as fast as the broomstick would go, and taking it right up to the height limit too!  A natural, as Sir Philip would say later to him at dinner.

“A lunatic more like!” Zak would respond, getting a good laugh from all present.

12.  The Letter

Steven, like Zak a few months earlier, was overwhelmed by the castle.  Dinner was an unforgettable experience, and he did his best to eat a bit of everything.  He’d already seen quite a lot of magic by now, so plates and dishes appearing and disappearing, and food moving around by itself, and even talking, was fascinating, but not too startling. 

The sudden appearance of Uncle Theodore, though, was a surprise too far, making him cry out in shock and drop his knife and fork with a clatter!  He also pushed himself backwards from the table in fright.

“Ahhh, hello!” exclaimed the friendly ghost, as though popping up through Steven’s dinner plate was normal behaviour.  “So
you’re
the new wizard who’s been zooming around the courtyard this afternoon.”

Steven swallowed nervously and just nodded in response. 

Totally ignoring the reprimands of several living Middleham’s who were taking him to task for his behaviour, Uncle Theodore pressed on with his conversation.

“That was quite some flying young man, considering that’s the first time you’ve ever sat on a broomstick!  Are you enjoying your dinner?” 

The ghost drifted backwards through the table towards Bjarne, who was sitting opposite Steven, and looked down at the plate he’d just popped up through, poking his ghostly finger into the food as though he was going to try some of it.

Steven was recovering a bit of his poise, and said in a slightly quavering voice, “Er, aye, well, I would be if you weren’t in it.”

“In it?  I’m not
in
it young man, I’m
through
it.  However, at the sprightly age of two hundred and ninety nine years dead, I can barely remember what food tastes like.  We ghosts can’t eat, sadly,” said the ghost looking wistfully at Steven’s tasty meal.  “Neither can we touch things, well, most of the time, so your braised dragon cutlets are perfectly safe.”

“Years dead?” asked Steven, who’s attention had been caught by the phrase.

“The number of years since I died young man!  Good heavens, don’t they teach you anything in school these days?!”

“Aye, but now’t about ghosts,” responded Steven quickly, starting to feel a bit more confident. 

“Well that’s a sorry state of affairs!  I could teach you lots about ghosts if you want to know about us.  I’m very pleased to meet you, err...?”

“Steven,” said the farmer’s son, understanding that the ghost was asking him his name.  “Steven Robson.  What’s your name?”

“Theodore Delphinius Tomas Middleham, third son of Zavien Bjarne Middleham,” answered Uncle Theodore quickly, obviously delighted to recount his vital statistics yet again. 

“Born at nine minutes past four in the afternoon of the sixteenth of September sixteen hundred and nine, and died at ten minutes past five on the seventeenth of October seventeen hundred and ten.”

Steven looked a bit puzzled.  He had no idea why the ghost was looking so proud of himself and his age.  After a few seconds Uncle Theodore’s face sagged, and took on a resigned look as he rolled his eyes.

“No-one ever works it out!  Well, enjoy the rest of your meal young Steven, no doubt we’ll meet again, but probably not at the dinner table,” he said, with a quick look at Sir Philip who was brandishing his wand and looking rather stern.  “I don’t fancy being on the wrong end of a banishing spell.  Toodle-oo!”

As Steven stared at the place where Uncle Theodore had just faded away, Zak nudged his friend to bring his attention back into the room and the meal.

“He made
me
jump much worse than that the first time I met him.  I was so scared I yelled out and ran off in a panic!  He’s quite harmless though, and very friendly.”

“He’s a total mischief,” intoned Tallion to no-one in particular as he pushed some more roast gurdy into his mouth.  Like the rest of the family, except Zak, he’d been on the receiving end of Uncle Theodore’s pranks more times than he cared to remember!

* * *

After dinner the boys set off to show Steven round the castle.  Steven was curious about where they learned magic, so they decided to show him the schoolrooms first.

“We need to go through some secret passages to get there, feeling adventurous?”

“Aye!  Always!” the grinning farmer’s son answered quickly.

The boys scuttled through the main castle to the picture of Augustus Sapari Middleham, where Tallion walked straight through the wall.  Steven hesitated and his eyes went wide as he looked at Zak in concern.

“Just walk through it, like we did with the gates in the castle wall.  You’ll be fine!”

“Says you!  I ain’t exactly in t’ same league as you two when it comes ter magic!”

The two boys sniggered, and Steven walked purposefully at the wall.  He looked much more confident than he felt, and shut his eyes just before he made contact.  To his great relief, and surprise, he felt the wall wash around him like a mixture of feathers and jelly, and found himself in a passageway lit by flaming torches.  Tallion was standing there grinning.

“What kept you?”

“I were a bit worried about walkin’ in ter t’ wall!  You two do this stuff all t’ time, but it’s a bit new fer me!”

“Come on, down here and through the third door on the left,” said Tallion as Zak joined them in the passage. 

Less than a minute later the boys were standing in the duelling classroom.  Barty had reversed the enchantment that created the ritual circle, and the room was back to normal, with the desks back in the middle and the duelling strip down one side.

“This is where we learn defensive magic, and how to look after ourselves if someone decides to attack us,” explained Zak.

“Fair do’s.  After yesterday’s experience at school I reckon yer gonna need lots o’ training!”

“Blimey, was that only yesterday?” exclaimed Zak.  “It feels like ages ago!”

“What’s this fer?” asked Steven pointing to the duelling strip.

“That’s a duelling strip.  We stand either end of it and cast spells at each other to practise duelling.  Want to see?”

“Aye!  So yer gonna have a wizard fight then?”

“Well, not a real fight.  We’ll just cast spells at each other and practise defending ourselves.”

Zak and Tallion went and stood at each end of the strip and agreed telepathically that Zak would go first, casting at Tallion.  Steven sat on a desk quite close to the middle of the strip, his eyes alight.

“Iactor Dolor!”

“Deflecto!” replied Tallion instantly, with a swift, neat flick of his wand.  The ball that had flown out of Zak’s wand straight at him miraculously changed direction about two feet in front of him, and bounced harmlessly towards the teacher’s desk.

“Iactor Dolor!” retorted Tallion, and a second ball appeared heading back towards Zak.

“Resisto Corpus!” called Zak, and the ball stopped dead in the air and dropped to the ground as though it had hit an invisible wall.

“Iactor Dolor!” commanded Zak, and another ball flew towards Tallion, much faster this time.

“Tardo!” called out Tallion flicking his wand, and allowed himself a smile as the ball slowed to a crawl but carried on towards him, staying miraculously at the same height when the laws of physics should have made it fall to the floor. 

“Exuro!” he commanded, catching Zak by surprise because he’d never seen or used that spell.  The ball burst into flames, still heading slowly for Tallion, and a moment later turned into a shower of ashes.  As the ashes floated down to the floor, they vanished too, and there was no trace of the ball at all.  Steven was watching wide-eyed.

“Iactor Dolor!” called out Tallion again.

“Revertur!” replied Zak very firmly, and the ball rebounded towards Tallion at twice the speed he’d cast it.  Tallion had the advantage of hearing Zak’s thoughts so he knew what was coming.  He instantly cast a Revertur back again, adding more power.  Now the ball was heading back to Zak almost too quickly to see.

“Revertur!” called out Zak again, sending it back again.

“Tardo!  Aduro!  Revertur!!”

Zak now found himself facing an oncoming fireball, which was moving quite smartly!  His response caught even himself by surprise!

“Aqua Vi!”

A jet of water rocketed out of his wand, and hit the flaming fireball full on.  Water ricocheted off in all directions, soaking Steven and half the classroom while Zak held the spell waiting for the flames to go out.  They didn’t, so he quickly changed his spell.

“Revertur!”

Now Tallion had to cope with the approaching fireball, but simply bounced it back.  Zak simply returned the favour, with a bit more power, a grin spreading across his face.

“Revertur!” called out Tallion again, and soon the duelling strip was looking like a very dangerous place indeed, as the blazing ball of fire bounced back and forth between the two eleven-year-old wizards.  Steven was watching open mouthed.

“Exuro!” called out Tallion as the fireball headed towards him, and the flames intensified briefly for a moment before they died out completely, and a sprinkle of ashes fell towards the floor.

“FIRMUS!” he called, deciding to use a real duelling spell against his companion.

“Revertur!  FIRMUS!” responded Zak, rebounding the first spell, and sending a second straight after it.

“Deflecto!  Revertur!  Percussus!”

Zak was surprised!  Percussus was the stunning spell the wizard puppets had thrown at them earlier that day, but Barty had never taught them the spell, nor had Sir Philip.  How did Tallion know the movement for it?  While one part of his mind was thinking
those
thoughts, another part was seemingly working by itself to combat the spells heading towards him.  He decided on a simple defence, rebound them both and add a new one!

“Revertur!  Revertur!  Laxo!”

Tallion was getting good at hearing Zak’s thoughts and reacting to them, but it simply wasn’t enough to have advanced warning of the incoming spells.  Zak had once again misjudged the power he was applying to his spells, or maybe when he was in a combat situation his power increased.  Either way, his original Firmus went streaking back towards Tallion with an awful lot more power in it. 

The blond wizard neatly deflected it, whereupon it smashed into the wall with a crack and a shower of sparks.  The stunning spell came back at him even more powerfully still, and he had no time to cast another defensive spell so just ducked out of the way as it flew past him and crashed into the wall behind him.  As he dodged though, the powerful Laxo tracked his movement, and hit home, very hard!

Fortunately Zak hadn’t poured
everything
he had into the spell this time, so its effect was restricted just to Tallion, but the blond-haired wizard sagged to the ground like a floppy rag doll, dropping his wand, which rolled away towards Steven.

“Sorry!  Sorry, sorry, sorry,” called out Zak moments later, rushing down the duelling strip to his soul mate.  He looked genuinely worried as he dropped to his knees beside him.

Don’t worry Zak, it was nowhere near as powerful as last time.  I also didn’t feel anything as I hit the floor which was something I wanted to work out next time it happened.

Thank goodness.  I was terrified I’d done it again and blasted you at full power.  I don’t know what happens to me when I’m in a duel, things just seem to get out of control!

We both just need to practise, that’s all.  Father and Barty have both said that controlling our power levels is one of the hardest things to do.

Yeah, we need to get Barty to show us how to bring the ritual circle to life so that we can use the duelling puppets more.  I heard the incantation he used but we need the wand movement.  Talking of which, where did you get the wand movement for the Percussus spell!

Umm, I don’t know!  It just sort of came out.  I didn’t really plan to use it either, but it just seemed like a good one to throw at you.

You mean no-one ever taught you it?

Nope. 

The boys were silent for a moment, their minds independently and yet jointly running through possibilities and options.  Eventually Tallion thought aloud again.

I think I must have seen the wizard puppets cast it, and copied the movement I saw them use.  They’re the only people who I’ve ever seen casting it.

Blimey Tallion!  How could you possibly pick up that wand movement?!  You would need mega eyesight to do that!

Maybe I have?  Maybe when father named me Tallion I picked up some other eagle attributes too?  Eagles have phenomenal eyesight you know!

This needs thinking about.  That might mean that you’ve subconsciously filed away
loads
of wand movements that you’ve seen other wizards use!  If we could ever work out a way to match up your memories of the wand movements with the spells that were spoken…

…or thought, remember we can hear thoughts now too…

Yeah, but if we somehow get those wand movements out of your head we’ll have loads of new spells at our command!