Frogspell (7 page)

The Spell-Making Competition

Sir Bertram Pendragon was happier than he had been in a long time. Happier even than he’d been when he pushed his worst enemy, Sir Richard Hogsbottom, in the castle duck pond after a particularly heated game of ‘Who Can Spit Furthest’. He couldn’t get enough of the story of how Max and Olivia had between them foiled the plot to kidnap the Cornish prince, especially the bit
where Max felled Sir Richard’s ghastly son Adrian with a knockout punch. The story had been carefully edited, to leave out all mention of magic, frogs, Lady Morgana or the fact that it had taken place so far away. Sir Bertram was rather under the impression that Max and Olivia had come across Snotty guarding the prince in an old cellar somewhere, and that was the way King Arthur wanted it left.

“I am most grateful to Max and Olivia,” he’d said gravely, when Sir Bertram had arrived to collect his children late in the afternoon before. “They have helped us avoid a major embarrassment. But I’m afraid their exploits must stay a secret. There are too many enemies who would like to make something of this. If it were known I had almost failed to keep Cael safe…” He sighed, and his blue eyes clouded over for a second, then he shrugged. “But let’s try not to think of that. The prince is now happily with his mother and none the worse for his adventure. Merlin has made sure that all he remembers is wandering off to play with Max and Olivia. As for
Sir Richard” Arthur grimaced. “He has been sent to a post in the northern marches of the kingdom, out of trouble. He, his son and his ward, Jerome, are leaving this afternoon. And there’s no trace of the unknown witch they say was behind it all.”

“Well, she’s not that far away—” began Olivia, but Arthur stopped her with a look and put his fingers on his lips. He looked so careworn and sad that Olivia wanted to give him a hug, but didn’t quite dare.

“Cael’s been found, and that’s what matters,” said Arthur. “We must just put it behind us, and be more careful in future.” Then he turned to Max and Olivia, and smiled warmly. “My heartfelt thanks to my two newest members of court,” he said, and they each felt a burst of pride and happiness travel from their head to their toes as he looked at them. Max felt he could understand why King Arthur’s knights all adored him so much. But he could see Merlin looking grim, nearby, and remembered his words about the king being too forgiving. Arthur had
accepted Morgana’s well-prepared alibi, firmly backed up by Sir Richard and Snotty. He had decided that Max and Olivia must have been mistaken, and it had been some other mysterious witch behind the plot, who had apparently bespelled Sir Richard and his son into helping her. So Lady Morgana was still at court. Max wondered how much more trouble would come from the king’s stubborn belief in those he loved…

Sir Bertram, however, was as happy as a dragon with a mountain of gold.

“Max, my boy! I’m so proud of you!” he burst out at regular intervals, clapping his son on the shoulder heartily. “I knew you had it in you! Straight upper cut to the chin, was it, eh?”

“Er, not exactly,” said Max, who had tried to explain that it was more of a knockout push than a knockout punch, but Sir Bertram didn’t really care.

“Takes a lot of guts to stand up to a bigger boy,” he’d said, solemnly. “I’m glad to know that you
will stand up for what’s right, and I’m prouder of you and Olivia than you can possibly know. And besides,” he’d added, rubbing his hands with glee, “It’s certainly one in the eye for old Hogsbottom, eh? Ha! He looked like a scarecrow with all the straw taken out of him when he left yesterday. ‘How’s Adrian?’ I said. He looked like he wanted to kill me! Ha, ha! And now he’s going to be stuck up in the northern marches, guarding a swamp. Nothing there but mud and slime and marshes! Serves him right!”

Max had been enjoying the praise and attention all morning. Even more so when he started noticing Olivia pretending to be sick every time Sir Bertram mentioned the knockout punch again – which he did about every five minutes. But his enjoyment was gradually being replaced by nerves as the time for the Novices’ Spell-Making Competition approached.

Despite all the nice things Merlin had said about his rare and unusual magic, if Max couldn’t persuade his father that he should train as a wizard,
he wouldn’t get much of a chance to do anything with it. Punching Snotty Hogsbottom had unfortunately made Sir Bertram even more convinced Max would make a fine knight after all. It had made it even more important for Max to show what a great wizard he could be. He needed something big and impressive. He needed to show Sir Bertram that magic was as good as punches. He still needed to win the Novices’
Spell-making
Competition.

In all the bustle of the morning, Max and Olivia had had no time to get together and practise their act for the competition. It was almost time and Max was hurriedly preparing his robes and spell bottles.

“Olivia?” he called across from the corner of their chambers where he was half buried under a pile of cloaks and saddlebags. “Where’s the antidote bottle?”

“How should I know?” said Olivia. “You had it last. It’s probably in your pouch.”

“No it isn’t,” said Max in frustration. “I’ve got the frogspell bottle, but the other one’s disappeared…”

“That’ll be good then,” said Ferocious. “Turn her into a frog, can’t turn her back. Marvellous. Should definitely win with that one.”

“Actually,” said Max, turning to Ferocious. “I can turn her back. Or rather, you can. I think I must have left the antidote in the forest, but I’ve just had a fabulous idea. I could just make some smoke on stage and then you could use it as cover to sneak out and kiss her back!”

“No way!” shouted Olivia and “Absolutely not!” shouted Ferocious at exactly the same time and with pretty much the same tone of disgust. But after a massive amount of persuasion on Max’s part they eventually agreed. Olivia finally said that being kissed by Ferocious couldn’t possibly be worse than being kissed by Max, and Ferocious decided that he was just about prepared to do it for the right to eat all of Max’s bacon rind for the next year.

The castle green was cleared of stalls and a large stage had been put up in the middle, decked with banners and streamers. Most of the assorted knights, ladies, wizards and witches at the festival were seated in front of the stage, watching a small boy bewitching an arrow to fly around in circles and clapping politely. Lady Griselda and Sir Bertram were sitting near the front. She was trying to look encouraging and he was trying not to look bored. Max and Olivia were waiting nervously by the stage for their turn to be called. Ferocious poked his head out of Max’s pocket and surveyed the scene.

“It won’t work, you know,” he said gloomily. “Something’s bound to go wrong. Turn your sister into a badger most likely, and then we won’t be able to turn her back. Goodness knows what works with badgers.”

“Shut up Ferocious!” whispered Olivia. “Just do your bit and it will be fine.”

Adolphus bounded up beside them.

“Hello! Hello! All set? It’s really exciting! What fun!”

Max didn’t reply. He was actually feeling rather ill. What if it didn’t work? What if the potion had gone off since yesterday? What if Olivia did get stuck as a frog? Or worse, what if she just stayed a girl and the other novices laughed their heads off at Max’s feeble spell? They were all extremely surprised about Snotty Hogsbottom’s sudden disappearance for the wild northern marches. It had left the competition wide open and everyone now felt they might be in with a chance of winning. But no one was expecting the winner to be the person who always came last, Max ‘extremely accident-prone’ Pendragon. He swallowed. No going back now. It was nearly his turn. Just Owain Tregarth to go, one of Snotty’s particular cronies.

The boy on stage, who had successfully turned a blue jug into a purple one with white spots, left to mild applause and the presiding wizard called out, “Owain Tregarth, of Castle Blackroot!”

Owain gave Max and Olivia a black look as he pushed past them and stepped onto the stage. He took a potion bottle out of one pocket and an egg out of the other, sprinkled some of the potion on the egg and stepped back smartly.

There was a WHOOMPH and a cloud of silvery smoke. When it cleared, the egg had grown to the size of a person. It cracked, and out stepped an enormous peacock with a magnificent blue-green tail. The peacock shrieked and strutted about the stage for a minute, then gradually started to shrink. When the bird reached the size of a mouse, Owain stepped forward and captured it in the remains of eggshell, which at once became a normal-sized, whole egg once more. There was a burst of applause and Owain looked around at the audience and smirked. He was pretty sure he had just won the Novices’ Cup.

“Wow!” said Adolphus, as the audience cheered and clapped. “That was brilliant!”

“Whose side are you on?” said Max fiercely.
“That was nothing special! It’s only a growth and reversal spell combined. Just because he happened to have a fancy peacock’s egg doesn’t make it anything new! I’ve done one of those before, anyway!”

“That would be the time you made that egg – er – well – a slightly bigger egg, then, would it?” said Ferocious innocently.

Olivia stamped her foot.

“Stop it, you two! Max’s right! The point is, no novice has ever turned someone into a frog before! That’s got to be a winning spell.”

But even she was worried. Owain’s spell had definitely been impressive. They really needed the frogspell to be perfect.

A Winning Spell

“And now,” announced the presiding wizard, “Max Pendragon, of Castle Perilous!”

The audience clapped politely. Sir Bertram cheered loudly, but Lady Griselda was hiding her face in her hands and peeping through her fingers. Adolphus, meanwhile, was bounding about like a bouncy ball breathing fire into the air.

“I shall be turning my sister into a frog, and
then back into a girl,” announced Max, looking very nervous. He could see his parents just below him and Merlin leaning casually against a tree and watching from the back. Merlin winked. Max turned to Olivia and took the blue glass potion bottle from his pouch. Wearing gloves, he carefully shook a small piece of sticky blue goo out of the bottle and chucked it at Olivia.

Bang!

She disappeared – and in her place was a purple and red frog. The audience gasped, then stamped and cheered. Sir Bertram turned to his astonished wife and grinned widely.

“Well, that’s something, eh? Never knew he could do something like that! Knockout punch and the best spell in the competition by far! Well, well.”

Max sighed with relief. It had worked! Now for the tricky bit. He scattered some smoke powder on the stage and wreaths of purple smoke surrounded Olivia.

“Now!” he hissed at Ferocious, and
Ferocious jumped.

When the smoke cleared, there were two black rats sitting in the middle of the stage, looking extremely surprised.

The audience gasped. People turned to each other and started to mutter. Lady Griselda whimpered, and Sir Bertram looked distinctly worried, but Merlin was looking amused and he gave Max a friendly grin. Max gulped.

“Behold!” he cried, recovering from his horror. “From one frog, to two rats! And now” He scattered smoke powder again and dived into the middle of it. When the smoke cleared this time, he had one arm firmly round his sister, and a bulge in his belt pouch.

“… Back to a person again!” he shouted triumphantly, wiping the sweat from his brow. The audience clapped and cheered and whooped, and Max could see Lady Griselda hugging Sir Bertram in relief.

“What happened?” said Olivia when they
were safely back off stage. “Why didn’t it work?”

“I suppose it must only work properly with a human kiss,” said Max thoughtfully. “Any other animal just turns you into one of them.”

“Well, it proves Mrs Mudfoot must be human, I suppose,” said Olivia. “I always wondered. Anyway – it was brilliant, Max, really – you’re bound to win, the audience loved it!”

They were distracted by a deep booming voice, which suddenly rang out across the castle green.

“And now,” said the voice, “The prize presentation for the Novices’ Spell-Making Cup…”

Max and Olivia pushed nearer to the front and Max crossed his fingers and hoped with all his strength.

“Step forward, our judge: the distinguished enchantress, and sister to the king – Lady Morgana le Fay!”

Max and Olivia looked at each other in horror.

“I didn’t know she was judging!” hissed Max.

“No, neither did I… We’re sunk, Max – she’ll
never give you the prize!”

Lady Morgana, looking serene and glamorous, her long black hair framing her smooth, pale face, glided to the centre of the stage and looked around at her audience.

“Yes, well, an extraordinary display of talent,” she said in her honey voice. “Wonderful spells from all who entered – really wonderful.” She smiled at them all, apparently sincerely, but when her eye passed over Max he felt a shiver down his spine and his toes curled.

“Sadly there can be only one winner. I was very impressed by the growth and reversal spell of the marvellous novice from Castle Blackroot…”

“Here it comes,” whispered Max gloomily to Olivia as the audience cheered. But he was wrong.

“However, I think we all know, even without a deep understanding of magic, that turning a person into a frog is something quite marvellously rare – something that has certainly never been seen in a Novices’ Competition before – and I therefore
award the Novices’ Spell-Making Cup to – Max Pendragon!”

Max was stunned. He looked up at Lady Morgana and she smiled at him, and this time her blue eyes were full of apparent warmth and admiration. He could even see the resemblance to King Arthur in her face as she held out the gold cup that was his prize. Max was completely taken aback by this change and only managed to mutter a few garbled words as the audience cheered and Sir Bertram stamped his feet. He looked across at Olivia who appeared almost as stunned as he was, but her eyes were narrowed as she watched Morgana. His sister clearly didn’t trust her an inch.

Lady Morgana took Max’s hand and raised it up, and then she gestured to the audience for quiet.

“This year, as the judge, I have a special extra prize to award,” she announced sweetly. “Max Pendragon, the worthy winner, shall have a free place at my Summer Spell School at Castle Gore. He may stay as my guest for the whole six weeks
and I shall especially enjoy teaching such a talented young man some of my most interesting potions.” She looked around and smiled as the audience clapped and cheered happily. Only Merlin, at the back, looked thoughtful.

Max was clutching his cup and still feeling slightly stunned when he saw Sir Bertram and Lady Griselda approaching across the grass. They were smiling and Lady Griselda gave Max a hug.

“Max, darling,” she said. “You did brilliantly
to win the competition! It seems you’re destined to be a wizard rather than a knight, after all.”

Max looked questioningly at his father and saw him nodding vigorously.

“Too right!” said Sir Bertram. “Damned marvellous spell, that, marvellous! Had everyone completely on the edge of their seats! Frog – rat – Olivia! Really gave me a bit of a turn there, in the middle. Thought I’d end up with a rat for a daughter, eh, Olivia?!” He laughed heartily, while Max tried to look like he had meant it that way all along. “Point is, Max, Lady Morgana le Fay is a very powerful enchantress and she knows a good spell when she sees one. So even though you do pack a great punch,” he looked wistful for a moment, “it looks like it’s a wizard apprenticeship for you, my boy!”

Olivia whooped and gave Max a big hug. “You did it, Max – you’re going to be a wizard! Now I can be a knight!”

“Ah, well, just a minute, just a minute,” said
Sir Bertram quickly. “First of all, girls can’t be knights. And second of all, there’s something Max has to do before it’s completely decided.”

Max felt his heart sink. He had a terrible feeling he knew what the something was going to be.

“We want to be absolutely sure it’s the right thing, Max,” said Lady Griselda. “That means a bit more than just one good spell. Lady Morgana’s offer is a fantastic opportunity – her Summer Spell School is renowned across the kingdom. If you come back from it with a Merit Certificate, we’ll find someone to take you on as a full apprentice.”

“But you’ll still have to learn to wield a sword,” added Sir Bertram, clapping him on the back. “You never know when it might be useful.”

Max exchanged glances with Olivia and grimaced. Skill with a sword might come in useful quite soon, he thought, as he contemplated six weeks at Castle Gore with a dangerous sorceress who probably wanted him dead.

Max and Olivia threw themselves down on the grass by the moat and stretched out in the late afternoon sunshine. The birds were singing fit to burst, the trout in the moat were lazily snapping at the flies hovering over the surface, and they could smell the festival feast being prepared in the castle yard. It was a glorious day, and Max had just won the Novices’ Cup and a half share of twenty gold coins. He should have been over the moon. But there was the little matter of spending the summer in the company of Lady Morgana, trying his best to stay alive.

“Do you think she’s really that bad?” he said to Olivia, as he chewed thoughtfully on a piece of grass. “She almost seemed nice when she invited me to the Spell School. And the king trusts her.”

Olivia snorted. “You must be joking. She’s just good at putting on an act. She’s about as likely to stop being evil as a pike is to stop eating small frogs.”

Max sighed. He thought so too. In fact, every time he thought about the Spell School, a cold trickle of anxiety ran down the back of his neck.

“No, it’s no good thinking she’ll change,” said Olivia decisively. “She’s up to something, Max, face it. What you need is a few trusty companions with you in Gore. We just have to figure out a way to get me, Adolphus and Ferocious along too.”

Max sat up.

“Really? Would you really all come?”

“Well of course I’m coming,” said Ferocious crossly. “Can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t be there. You know me – always willing to lose a whisker in a good cause. Ready to brave the wickedest enchantress in the world. If she tries anything, I’ll bite her toes off…”

Max considered this. It would be easy to hide Ferocious in his tunic or saddlebags. But Olivia and Adolphus?

“It won’t work,” he sighed, thinking about it.
“Dad will never let you come.”

“Dad,” said Olivia with a very determined expression, “will not be able to do anything about it. I’m coming, Max, whether you like it or not. So get used to it!”

Max looked at his younger sister and thought that, however unlikely it seemed, she might just manage it. He grinned, and suddenly felt a whole lot better.

“And remember,” added Olivia, “we still have the frogspell potion. We can turn ourselves into frogs whenever we want. Hey – we can be rats too, and dragons if we don’t mind being kissed by Adolphus! I really fancy being a dragon!”

“Oh yes!” said Adolphus happily. “Yes, please! Can I be a dragon too? How exciting!”

“You are a dragon, pea-brain,” Ferocious pointed out. “Better not put Adolphus in charge of anything important in these plans, or we’ll all end up in the duck pond.”

Max grinned, and stretched out in the
sunshine, thinking that he’d probably got a fun summer ahead of him after all. He’d manage Gore somehow, and then, when he came back, he’d get proper wizard lessons at last. He wouldn’t ever have to learn to joust! How good was that? And Snotty Hogsbottom had been banished to the outer reaches of the marshy northern borders and was probably covered in mud and slime at that very moment. And all because he had accidentally discovered the frogspell. Really, what could be better?