lifted the stone into place and together they all shouted, “Fred!”
The stone stayed. The wall was perfect.
As they stood back to admire it, Great-Aunt Wilhelmina appeared. The Lady was beside her, and when she saw the wall, she clapped her hands.
“Oh thank you, my dears!” she cried. “That wall’s been waiting years for a really good emergency! So nice to see it whole again. Come along up to the house and have some cake, and I’ll show you the spell I’ve made.”
A Spell and a Chase
I t was dark inside Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s cave. Without the dragon, the globe lights dotted around the walls gave out only a faint glow, and the two figures creeping around kept bumping into each other or tripping up.
“Ow, Jerome! Druid’s toenails, keep your clodhopping feet off my toes!” hissed one of the figures.
“Sorry Adrian,” said the other, soundingutterly fed up. Jerome Stodmarsh had often wished he was not Sir Richard Hogsbottom’s ward, but at that precise moment, creeping around the cave of an enormous and powerful dragon who might come back at any moment and decide to eat them, he really, really wished he wasn’t. He even wished he’d taken his chances with Sir Garth the Grumpy, in his tiny hovel of a castle in the dull backwater of Avonmouth, instead. Then he wouldn’t have been dragged on any of these dangerous and unpleasant missions with Adrian, who bossed him around like he was a servant. He could just have got on with the business of learning to be a knight, and spent his spare time with his collection of pet snails. Jerome sighed, and tiptoed after the shadowy figure ahead.
“Here,” hissed Snotty, as Jerome caught up with him. “There’s a small gap in the rock. I think it’s wide enough for both of us to hide inside… and I’ll sprinkle darkness powder just in front, should keep us fairly invisible. It must be nearly sunsetby now – they’ll be here any minute.”
Almost as he spoke, the cave started to get lighter and voices floated in from the entrance.
“…No, no, no, A-dog’s-nose, it’s only at sunset. You can’t see the island at all from this side… Have to know exactly where to fly. Anyway, come along in, it’s late, we should get some sleep.”
A vast green dragon lumbered past them, accompanied by a small bouncy dragon, a girl, a boy, and a duck. A rat was poking his head out of the boy’s tunic, twitching his whiskers and making a chittering sound.
“Has anyone been in here while we’ve been gone?” said the boy. “Ferocious thinks he can smell something, and there’s definitely a sense of… I don’t know what exactly, but it’s definitely familiar…”
Jerome held his breath. Snotty frowned and scattered another small sprinkling of powder in front of them, just as Great-Aunt Wilhelmina raised her head and sniffed.
“No, I can’t smell anything strange,” the dragon rumbled. “There’s a reek of magic, of course, comingoff that potion you’re carrying. It might be that you’re sensing, Max.”
“Maybe,” said Max, doubtfully, but there didn’t seem to be any other explanation.
“So will it de-ice the castle?” asked Olivia. “What did she say when she gave it to you?”
The Lady had taken Max off to one side to give him the potion, and then there’d been barely enough time for everyone to throw themselves on Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s back before they had to fly hard into the setting sun.
Max looked at the small carved crystal bottle in his hand. It seemed to almost glow with magic. There was only a small amount of potion inside, but then the Lady had said that five or six drops would be enough to do it. Her spell only had to disable Morgana’s magic, then Max himself could unravel his own icespell.
“She said it would work,” said Max. “I’ve got some words to say as well, to get it started. But have we got time to sleep? Don’t we need to head offstraight away to get there before Morgana?”
“I can’t fly when it’s
The stone stayed. The wall was perfect.
As they stood back to admire it, Great-Aunt Wilhelmina appeared. The Lady was beside her, and when she saw the wall, she clapped her hands.
“Oh thank you, my dears!” she cried. “That wall’s been waiting years for a really good emergency! So nice to see it whole again. Come along up to the house and have some cake, and I’ll show you the spell I’ve made.”
A Spell and a Chase
I t was dark inside Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s cave. Without the dragon, the globe lights dotted around the walls gave out only a faint glow, and the two figures creeping around kept bumping into each other or tripping up.
“Ow, Jerome! Druid’s toenails, keep your clodhopping feet off my toes!” hissed one of the figures.
“Sorry Adrian,” said the other, soundingutterly fed up. Jerome Stodmarsh had often wished he was not Sir Richard Hogsbottom’s ward, but at that precise moment, creeping around the cave of an enormous and powerful dragon who might come back at any moment and decide to eat them, he really, really wished he wasn’t. He even wished he’d taken his chances with Sir Garth the Grumpy, in his tiny hovel of a castle in the dull backwater of Avonmouth, instead. Then he wouldn’t have been dragged on any of these dangerous and unpleasant missions with Adrian, who bossed him around like he was a servant. He could just have got on with the business of learning to be a knight, and spent his spare time with his collection of pet snails. Jerome sighed, and tiptoed after the shadowy figure ahead.
“Here,” hissed Snotty, as Jerome caught up with him. “There’s a small gap in the rock. I think it’s wide enough for both of us to hide inside… and I’ll sprinkle darkness powder just in front, should keep us fairly invisible. It must be nearly sunsetby now – they’ll be here any minute.”
Almost as he spoke, the cave started to get lighter and voices floated in from the entrance.
“…No, no, no, A-dog’s-nose, it’s only at sunset. You can’t see the island at all from this side… Have to know exactly where to fly. Anyway, come along in, it’s late, we should get some sleep.”
A vast green dragon lumbered past them, accompanied by a small bouncy dragon, a girl, a boy, and a duck. A rat was poking his head out of the boy’s tunic, twitching his whiskers and making a chittering sound.
“Has anyone been in here while we’ve been gone?” said the boy. “Ferocious thinks he can smell something, and there’s definitely a sense of… I don’t know what exactly, but it’s definitely familiar…”
Jerome held his breath. Snotty frowned and scattered another small sprinkling of powder in front of them, just as Great-Aunt Wilhelmina raised her head and sniffed.
“No, I can’t smell anything strange,” the dragon rumbled. “There’s a reek of magic, of course, comingoff that potion you’re carrying. It might be that you’re sensing, Max.”
“Maybe,” said Max, doubtfully, but there didn’t seem to be any other explanation.
“So will it de-ice the castle?” asked Olivia. “What did she say when she gave it to you?”
The Lady had taken Max off to one side to give him the potion, and then there’d been barely enough time for everyone to throw themselves on Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s back before they had to fly hard into the setting sun.
Max looked at the small carved crystal bottle in his hand. It seemed to almost glow with magic. There was only a small amount of potion inside, but then the Lady had said that five or six drops would be enough to do it. Her spell only had to disable Morgana’s magic, then Max himself could unravel his own icespell.
“She said it would work,” said Max. “I’ve got some words to say as well, to get it started. But have we got time to sleep? Don’t we need to head offstraight away to get there before Morgana?”
“I can’t fly when it’s
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