Zak Turner - A Twist In Time (28 page)

“No, he’s staying here for the day too.  One of my estate workers can go and help his dad on the farm later if needed.  Now, you shoot off to your room and freshen up again, and Steven will join you there for breakfast.  I’ll just go through and check on Tallion.”

Sir Philip slipped through the portal into the tower room, and was pleased with what he found.  Tallion was making good progress, and it was clear that he was going to make a full recovery; the only question was when.  He cast a few enchantments over his son, particularly one to check his heart, but everything looked fine.  He would get Nurse Salvae to check him over again at the weekend. 

As twelve hours had now passed, he gave his son yet another rejuvenation potion, and then magically fed him so that he could build up his physical strength too.  He then went back to Tallion’s study leaving the portal open so that time in the tower room remained pegged to the castle, even though it was now twelve hours ahead!

When the boys finished their breakfast, the baronet once again asked them to follow him through the special portal about a minute later, ostensibly to give him time to check on Tallion.  In reality, as before, the delay was to ensure that he would arrive back in Tallion’s room comfortably before them next time they came back through.  When they joined him, he told them to come back through the portal together for lunch but leave Tallion in the room, even if he was awake. 

Sir Philip left the tower room and closed the portal behind him.  He glanced at his watch, aware that once again he only had about a minute before the boys would come through for their lunch!  It was now very important that Tallion stayed in the room until he was fully recovered, when he could return them all to normal time.

The constant toing and froing through time had created a small problem for him though.  When Tallion next came back,
he
would return to normal time just before three o’clock, which was when the baronet last took him into the room, the others though would return at three forty, which was the time they’d just gone back into the room. 

He needed to get them all aligned again as soon as Tallion was awake, but to do that, he would need to bring Tallion back to real time somewhere else, and then catch him up with the others independently, before they all went back into the tower room together for their final overnight stay.

However, despite that little wrinkle in time, his plan was still intact, and it was still Sunday afternoon in real time.  If he could get them all through another twenty four hours to what would be Tuesday morning in
their
time, then he was sure that Tallion would be up and about, and Zak would be able to have a go at reviving the unconscious members of his school football team – still on Sunday afternoon! 

* * *

Bjarne was very busy in Lofthouse Castle library that Sunday afternoon.  He found far more books about the subject of controlling time than he’d expected, and was surprised that he’d never thought about this before.  His mind was spinning and racing in a hundred directions in response to all the possibilities that were before him!  It was clear that time travel, both backwards and forwards, was possible if you had the right incantations and the right charms or talismans.  However, there was no guidance in any book about creating a Time Talisman, and
they
seemed to hold the key! 

Each generation of wizards handed the talismans down to the next, but most of the talismans now seemed to have been lost.  Each documented talisman also had different powers.  Some let you go forwards and some backwards through time.  The books indicated that only one talisman had
all
the time powers imbued in it, but there was no trace of that one at all, through all recorded history. 

There must be one in the room though, and it must be connected to powerful magic so that when you close the door time stops!
theorised the very sharp nine-year-old. 
Father must know about it too, but why does he think it’s dangerous?

The boy let his mind dwell on things that might go wrong, and a number of difficulties with the whole concept soon presented themselves.  He shuffled through the pile of books in front of him, and found one that dealt with the risks of time travel in some detail, so he settled down to read it.

* * *

Lunchtime for Zak and Steven came round instantly, and as they tumbled through the portal together they were falling over themselves to tell Sir Philip that his son was awake and talking, although he was very tired.  Lord Middleham was greatly relieved, and asked the boys to quickly freshen up using Tallion's bathroom so that they could then all go and have lunch together with him. 

It was four o’clock on Sunday afternoon in real time, and one thirty on Monday afternoon in ‘tower time’ as they walked back through the portal, once again giving Sir Philip a minute’s head start.  He surreptitiously closed the portal when they were all through to allow them to have their lunch together without using up any precious minutes of ‘real time’.  They spent an enjoyable hour together eating and re-living the events of Sunday morning before the attack, and enjoying the footballing victory over Broughton Grammar. 

Sir Philip was curious to see the strength of the friendship that Steven and Tallion had built up as a result of the life debt Steven now owed his son, and wondered what fate had in store for them all in the months and years ahead. 

Would Steven turn out to be the third wizard of the group?  That would be curious indeed as the boy couldn’t bring much in the way of magical power to the trio.  Maybe it needed something else?  After all, Zak and Tallion themselves were overwhelmingly powerful!  He decided that he needed to take Steven to meet Findlay MacElver, and get a wand.  They would go next Saturday, if the wandmaker was available.  He was one of the few people who could get away with saying ‘no’ to the baronet when he asked for something.

Zak and Tallion of course followed the baronet’s thoughts, and filed away his musings about Steven’s possible role in their future.  They were pleased that Steven was finally going to get a wand too.  They’d also heard a few thoughts about time which had been a bit confusing, but they dismissed them because they couldn’t understand them.

The baronet took his leave of the boys, asking Steven and Zak to come through the portal for dinner at six p.m., but asking Tallion to stay in the tower until he came to collect him, as he didn’t want him going through the portal alone until he’d checked out his magical energy levels.

* * *

When Steven and Zak appeared in Tallion’s study a minute later, Sir Philip asked them to freshen themselves up using the bathrooms in both rooms, and then wait for him in Tallion’s study.  The baronet had cast yielding charms on both boys earlier, and they immediately nodded and did as he asked.  Sir Philip quickly went into the tower room to his son, and began the tricky task of resynchronising time! 

“Tallion, we need to get you up and about son, but I’m a bit worried about taking you through a portal just yet.  This room has some very special properties, which is why we’ve used it to help you recover quickly, but I need you to leave by the door, over there, and wait for me in the corridor outside.  You’ll recognise where you are as soon as you get there, but please stay put.  I’ll explain later, but things are a bit magically tangled up at the moment because of what happened at the football.”

“No problem, Father,” said the blond-haired wizard with a weak smile.  He was glad to be up and about again, and was now feeling happy about everything, apart from second scar on his chest.  He had very little idea of what day and time it was, other than Steven telling him it was Monday afternoon, and obediently walked out of the door to stand and wait for his father in the corridor.  The yielding charm his father had placed on him left him with no option really! 

It was now three pm on Sunday afternoon in the corridor outside Tai Tuie’s Tomb, and time was ticking along quite normally.

As soon as his son had closed the door, Sir Philip moved quickly to the grandfather clock and carefully opened the long case.  He stopped the pendulum and waved his wand using a non-verbal spell to reveal a hidden cavity behind the weights.  Using another spell, he levitated a small locket on a platinum chain out of the cavity into his waiting left hand.  It glittered and sparkled with a life of its own, almost hypnotising the baronet as he stared at it.  It was a powerful and dangerous object, and only with a struggle and a sigh did he manage to tear his eyes away from it, and put it in his pocket. 

He quickly walked back through the portal into Tallion’s empty study, the other two boys still exactly when he’d left them, in the bathrooms freshening up, and he closed the portal allowing time in the tower room to resynchronise with real time.

It was now ten past four on Sunday afternoon in Tallion’s suite, and everywhere else in the castle, except where Tallion was standing on the ninth floor of the LookOut tower!  Having Tallion just over an hour behind everyone else, and at a point in time when he was actually unconscious somewhere else, was potentially highly dangerous.  If he interacted with anyone or anything when he was now, in the past, then he could inadvertently alter the future! 

However, the chance of anyone climbing up the LookOut tower at three o’clock on Sunday afternoon was remote, so the baronet waited in Tallion’s bedroom until Zak and Steven were both back, and then asked them to stay there until he joined them again for dinner.  The yielding charm once again did its stuff, and the two boys nodded as they sat down to wait.

Sir Philip quickly left the room through the door into the main castle, and as soon as he was in the corridor, he ported to the eighth floor of the LookOut tower.  After checking that he was alone, he took out the Time Talisman, muttered an incantation over it, and went back in time by about an hour.  He then climbed the stairs to the ninth floor and found his son waiting for him outside the door to Tai Tuie’s Tomb.

Tallion looked a little bit surprised as his father appeared up the stairs, because he’d left him just moments before
inside
the room!  The baronet, however, just smiled at his son’s puzzled expression.

“This castle is full of mysteries son, and one day I’ll explain this one to you.  For now though we just need to go back into the room, and then go through the portal to catch up with Zak and Steven.”

Tallion didn’t understand why he’d had to wait out in the corridor, but he knew better than to ask.  He could hear his father’s thoughts, but they didn’t make much sense, as it all seemed to be about keeping track of different times of day!  He dutifully followed his father back through the door into the room.

“Now, I just need to give you another rejuvenation potion, and then you need to hold this talisman with me while I cast an enchantment over us.”

“Okay, Father.”

A few moments later the baronet murmured an incantation as he and his son held the talisman, and it took them both forwards through time to real time.  Tallion didn’t notice as he was still struggling with the after effects of the rejuvenation potion, which seemed to have filled his body with liquid fire that flowed right out to the tips of his fingers and toes!  He did, however, hear the incantation in his father’s thoughts, and filed it away.  Incantations were always useful things to know, and even if you forgot them, there were ways to get them back out of your mind if you needed them.

It was now twenty past four inside the tower room, and because the Time Talisman wasn’t inside the grandfather clock, time was ticking along normally, and was linked to the rest of the castle.  The magic that forced occupants of the room to go back in time when they left couldn’t work without the Time Talisman either. 

“Right,” said the baronet, feeling rather pleased with himself, “time to go and catch up with Zak and Steven.  Off you go through the portal and I’ll be with you in a minute.”

The portal reopened as Tallion disappeared through it, and the young wizard arrived in his own study at twenty past four.  Sir Philip quickly replaced the Time Talisman in the grandfather clock, as he had done many times in the past after he’d taken it to use it elsewhere. 

Now, as soon as he left room, it would once again disconnect with the time in the rest of the castle, all the magic would re-engage, and the clock would reset, waiting for the next person to enter the room.  Tai Tuie’s Tomb would be back in business.

Sir Philip followed his son through the portal, and joined the three boys in Tallion’s study.

It was just after twenty past four on Sunday afternoon, but all three boys thought it was Monday evening.

“Right, Tallion, have a quick freshen up and then we’ll go for dinner.”

Fifteen minutes later, they all trooped back through the portal into the tower room a few seconds behind the baronet, which gave him just long enough to change the time on the clock to make it appear to be Monday evening.  They all enjoyed a very tasty cooked dinner, after which the baronet asked Steven if he wanted to stay with his friends again for that night too.

“Umm, I’m a bit worried about me parents Sir Philip, they might not be too happy, even though they know I’m here at t’ castle.  Will you go and tell ‘em everything’s okay?  I
would
like to stay again if I can…”

“No problem Steven, leave it with me.  Your parents will be fine about it I’m sure.  I’ll check in with
your
parents too Zak, as you’re both supposed to be down at The Copse during the week.”