Icespell (6 page)

A Race to Save Camelot!

M
ax 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.

“Quack!” said Vortigern, and stopped suddenly. “I think this is the one.”

Max looked at the small side vent that led upwards from the drain. If it was the right one, it would come out just in front of the huge fireplace in the Great Hall, where it was used for draining the excess fat and juices dripping off the huge hogs roasted there when there was an especially large feast. If it was the wrong one, it would quite likely end up in the toilet of some knight’s chamber…

Max swallowed, and started to hop up the sloping tunnel. He turned to Vortigern.

“You’ll have to come too. You’ve got the potion bottle.”

Vortigern scrambled after him, and together they carefully made their way up towards the strange blueish
light coming from the ice at the top of the drain.

“Ow!” Max was brought up short as he hit the wall of ice, blocking any further progress. He peered into the whiteness and tried to make out where they were.

“It is the Great Hall,” he said. “It’s the right shape – too big for a toilet. But I can’t really see anything. We’re going to have to clear some space with one drop of the spell, and then see where we are.”

Together they eased the bottle open, Vortigern clutching the stopper in his beak while Max pulled the bottle with his froggy hands. Once it was open, he tipped it carefully over, and watched one single precious drop roll down the neck and cling to the lip of the bottle. Max took a deep breath and shook the drop onto the ground. At the same time, he said the words of the spell that the Lady had taught him, and gathered all the magic of his own that he could.

The drop of potion fizzed as it hit the ground, and a vast billowing spout of purple smoke wreathed around Max and Vortigern, swirling upwards into the ice, dissolving it as it went. Max concentrated as hard
as he could, unravelling the spell he had cast, pulling it apart bit by bit, willing it to dissolve outwards from the spot where he stood. And it did – he could feel it cracking and crumbling and disappearing into a puff of nothing, further and further… Until it felt like he hit a brick wall. Morgana’s magic was there again, like a locked door, and the reversal stopped dead.

Max looked at Vortigern. The duck grinned.

“Definitely something. My feathers went quite tingly. Let’s go and see.”

They scrambled up out of the drain opening, into the Great Hall, and stared around them. The de-icing had cleared almost half of the vast chamber, and there was now plenty of room for Max to move around in.

Unfortunately, the half that was still encased in ice was the half with King Arthur’s great council table, and the king and all his knights were seated around it, looking like they were in earnest discussion. They were about twenty feet away from the sheer wall of ice that marked the outer edge of Max’s successful reversal.

Only Merlin was not at the table. Merlin, who
looked like he was explaining something rather tricky to the assorted knights, had positioned himself where all the men could see him clearly, at some distance from the table. He was only about five feet away from where Max was standing…

Max turned to Vortigern.

“We’re nearly there. We just need one more go. But this time, I think I’ll be human.”

He closed his eyes, and thought his way back into being a boy, barely noticing the whoosh of stars as he transformed. His mind was fixed on the potion, and the spell, and Merlin, and how little time they had left.

Morgana's Spell

S
ir Lionel was feeling rather confused. It was not easy, being the most senior knight left in the kingdom, and although he had Sir Richard Hogsbottom to help, somehow he didn't feel that Sir Richard was quite as concerned about the situation as he ought to be. There was a certain smugness in his voice and look as he contemplated the iced castle… And now a powerful dragon had arrived, with Sir
Bertram's children, claiming they had a potion to reverse the icespell and seeming quite keen to get on with the job before Lady Morgana got here.

Sir Lionel frowned. He'd known Lady Wilhelmina for a long time. She had always been a good friend to the king. And she'd never been too fond of Lady Morgana. He looked at Snotty, lying on the ground with a pained expression, with the dragon's great claw trapping him firmly. Then he looked at Sir Richard, wringing his hands and looking anxious at the news that some of the reversal spell had survived, and Max had disappeared with it.

“So. Why not just wait for Lady Morgana?” he asked the huge dragon abruptly. She looked down at him with her amber eyes and considered.

“Because she's an evil scheming sorceress, Sir Lionel, as you should very well have realised. And she's behind the whole plot.”

Olivia gasped, and Sir Richard Hogsbottom started to stutter, “Now, now, that's quite slanderous, I can't permit such talk…” but he was silenced by
a gesture from Sir Lionel, who was looking up at Great-Aunt Wilhelmina with an odd expression.

“And will you be telling this to the king, if we manage to set him free?”

“Of course not!” snorted Great-Aunt Wilhelmina. “He knows I dislike Morgana. Had a terrible row with him about her marrying Uriel and moving up to Gore. Right on my doorstep! I nearly burned down the castle, I was so cross… No, he wouldn't believe me. Just call it a grudge. There's no proof – and anyway, he knows she couldn't have done the spell herself, not all the way from Gore. Not possible. So she's completely in the clear.”

“And here she comes,” observed Ferocious, who had just spotted a dark figure on a broomstick coast in towards the gatehouse and land gracefully a few hundred yards away. Olivia clenched her fists.

“Come on Max,” she muttered. “Come on! Get on with it. She's here!”

Max had the potion bottle gripped firmly in his hand,
and was trying to peer down the neck to see if there was still a full drop left. It looked like more than half of the tiny remnants of the spell had been used up already. He looked across at the frozen knights. He could see Sir Bertram, caught just as he was twisting up the ends of his magnificent moustache. Next to him, Lancelot had one eyebrow raised, and at the end of the table Arthur was watching Merlin, his blue eyes troubled and his face stern.

Merlin, Max realised, appeared to be concentrating very hard. And as Max looked, he saw a slight drip form on the end of Merlin's nose. Which meant that the ice near him was starting to melt! Somehow, Merlin was fighting the effects of the spell, even from inside the ice.

“Quack!” said Vortigern, looking up at Max. “Get on with it, Max – we might only have a few seconds left!”

“So pleased to see you, Lady Wilhelmina,” said Morgana, coming up to the dragon with a smile
painted on to her white face. Great-Aunt Wilhelmina snorted, and a faint haze of smoke emerged from her nostrils.

Morgana looked round at them all, and noted Snotty, flat out on the ground, and Sir Richard's anxious expression. She smiled graciously at Olivia, but her eyes were cold.

“And where is dear Max?” she said, in her honeyed voice.

Olivia shivered.

“He's gone to… er… look for—”

“He's gone to save King Arthur!” said Adolphus, proudly. “He's in the castle, with the potion we got from the Lady! It's a rever… um… reverting, er… reversal spell!”

He looked exceedingly pleased with himself for getting the word right, and flapped his wings happily. Ferocious groaned.

Morgana stood up extremely straight. Her face looked like she'd had a bucket of iced water tipped over her. She looked over at the castle, and then
whipped a large green potion bottle out of her robes.

“Just as well I hurried,” she said. “There's no knowing what
Max
might do to the castle if he tries to reverse the spell. Probably turn them all into ants!” She laughed, but her laughter was brittle, and her expression was savage. “No time to lose,” she said, and held up the potion above her head.

Olivia launched herself at Morgana and knocked her flying. The sorceress landed on top of Snotty, who yelled loudly, and her potion bottle went hurtling through the air, coming to rest on the grass twenty yards away. Sir Richard scuttled after it, but before he could pick it up Sir Lionel strode over and put his large foot firmly down on top of it.

“Apologies, my lady,” he said. “So sorry young Olivia tripped and stumbled into you. Let me get you your potion.”

He picked the bottle up deliberately and examined it. Then he slowly started to walk towards them. Morgana had picked herself up rapidly, while Snotty lay groaning and clutching his stomach.
Olivia was sitting up looking slightly dazed and holding her head, but Ferocious had entered the fray and was biting Morgana's ankles, while she kicked out in a most unladylike fashion and tried to drive him off.

“Hand me that potion!” she shrieked at Sir Lionel. Her hair was flying in all directions and her eyes were full of fury.

He bowed.

“Of course, my lady, of course…”

But before Sir Lionel could delay any further, Snotty, who was just next to him, snatched the potion bottle from his hand and threw it to Morgana. She caught it expertly, and with a triumphant smile, she shook the entire contents out onto the grass, raised her hands, and said the words of the spell.

In the Great Hall, the last small droplet of the Lady of the Island's spell dripped out of the potion bottle onto the ground and fizzed slightly, a wisp of purple smoke circling up from it. Max felt a lightening of Morgana's connection spell and closed his eyes and pushed with
all his strength at the ice-wall in front of him, undoing the magic he'd done, tearing it apart as rapidly as he could, pushing as far into the ice as possible. He felt it give, and melt away, but he wasn't sure if he'd reached Merlin and he could already feel the effects of the Lady's magic wearing off. Desperately he willed away the ice around Merlin, thinking hard of the wizard's warm voice and hawk-like eyes. There was a faint crack, and Max opened his eyes.

He'd succeeded in driving the ice-wall back, almost completely freeing Merlin, and it seemed the wizard himself was finishing the job. As Max watched, Merlin put out his arms and pushed the ice away from him, and strode towards Max, frowning.

“Max! What's happened?” He looked round and saw the rest of the hall frozen in solid ice, and then turned back to Max, his hand on his sword. “Flame and thunder! Who's responsible for this?”

“I am,” said Max hurriedly. “But I'll tell you everything later. Right now Morgana is—”

There was an enormous BOOM! that
reverberated through the entire castle. Merlin's eyes widened and he flung up his hand, placing a protection spell over them all. As the icespell was ripped away by Morgana's magic, a shockwave from the reversal seemed to shake everything in the castle. Merlin staggered, as if a great weight were pushing at him. Then it was gone, and Merlin straightened. He looked rather grey, but he appeared to be all right. And all around the hall knights were stirring, as the effects of the icespell wore off and they found themselves suddenly awake and wondering what on earth had just happened.

Olivia and the others watched in awe as the ice mountain cracked from top to bottom then started to shatter into tiny pieces. The fragments sparkled in the sun and then vanished as if they had never existed.

Lady Morgana clapped her hands together and took a deep breath.

“Well, Sir Lionel,” she said, her voice quite restored to its usual warm honeyed tones. “You see – I managed to reverse the spell before Max could do any irreparable damage! I'm afraid we may not find many people
alive
in there, but let's hope
very
hard that one of them is my dear brother…”

She smiled in satisfaction. Olivia felt sick, and she noticed that Sir Lionel was also looking rather pale. But Sir Richard Hogsbottom looked like someone had just handed him a gold chain of office, and Snotty had a smile of triumph.

Suddenly Great-Aunt Wilhelmina let out a roar and a spout of blue-white flame.

“Your luck's in, Morgana!” she boomed. “I can see the king… and Merlin… and Max!”

She was right. Striding across the drawbridge, sword at the ready, was King Arthur, with Merlin by his side and all his knights following. Alongside Merlin was Max, looking exhausted, and waddling next to him was a small but very pleased-looking duck.

“Hurrah! Hurrah!” shouted Adolphus, bouncing up and down, and Ferocious scampered up onto the top of the small dragon's head where he could
get a better view. Olivia felt a huge wave of relief as she watched Max walking towards them, and she joyfully punched Sir Lionel on the arm.

“He did it! Max saved them!”

“Well, technically it was Lady Morgana who de-iced the castle,” observed Sir Lionel with a grin. “But I rather think you're right – I think Max may very well have saved them.” With a slight nod of his head he indicated the place where Lady Morgana had just been standing. When she had seen the figures emerging from the castle, she had crumpled to the ground in a dead faint.