Icespell Read online

  Olivia brightened. “Hey – Max! I don’t suppose…?”

  “No, sorry, no way. Merlin would smell the magic a mile off, and I’m in enough trouble for the icespell. But you never know – he might break a leg in training or something…”

  “I wish,” muttered Olivia, thinking of red-haired Mordred flat on his back on a stretcher.

  “Of course, Lady Morgana will be cheering him on, since he’s her nephew,” observed Ferocious. “Be good if you could beat him to a pulp, really.”

  “Quack!” said Vortigern, suddenly emerging noisily from the water. “Yes! One of your great punches straight to the left ear!”

  “Hey, Vortigern!” exclaimed Max, happily. “Where did you come from?”

  “Been catching up with my cousin Guido,” said Vortigern. “Three castle servants in his duckpond already, and she’s only been here one day. Quite a witch, that Morgana le Fay, eh?”

  “She’s an evil old hag,” said Olivia. “But she seems to have a knack of getting away with it.”

  “Maybe not this time,” said Vortigern, bobbing his head. “With this swordspell idea.”

  Max raised his head. “Swordspell? What do you mean?”

  “Quack!” said Vortigern. “I was in the duckpond with Guido, chasing some of the castle goldfish – and who should go past but Morgana, with Sir Richard and that awful Snotty. Thought I’d waddle after them, see what they were up to…”

  He dived under the water again, and came up with a bob of his head, splashing water over everyone.

  “Vortigern!” said Olivia. “What did you hear?”

  “Quack!” said the duck, with a twinkle in his beady eye. “Got any bread?”

  Max laughed. “Of course! But not till after you’ve told us what they said!”

  “Fair enough,” said Vortigern, and waddled closer, lowering his voice. “They said that it would have to be the swordspell now. It was the last chance. The swordspell would do for Arthur good and proper. They only had to wait another three weeks and Morgana would be queen. So. How about the bread?”

  Max threw a piece into the river and turned to the others.

  “What on earth does that mean?”

  “It means,” said Ferocious, “that we’ve got another chance to catch Morgana out. We can show the king that she really is behind all this trickery. We can save the kingdom from her forever!”

  “Yes, yes!” said Adolphus enthusiastically. “We’ll do it! We’ll save them all!”

  Olivia looked thoughtful. “They’re planning something for the Festival of Chivalry. That’s why it’s three weeks’ time. We just have to find out what.”

  They looked at each other solemnly.

  “Right,” said Max. “That’s it. Morgana’s got away with it three times now. This time we’re going to catch her at it. We’re going to find out all about her swordspell plot, and prove to the king that she really is an evil, treacherous witch.”

  “Hurrah for us!” said Adolphus, and gave an extra big bounce, losing his balance. His tail swept sideways as he fell, knocking Olivia flying into Max, and all three of them slipped, flailing, off the grassy bank and splashed into the river.

  “Nice one, Adolphus,” said Ferocious, grinning, as he watched them emerge dripping and staggering from the water. “With your brains, Max’s sense of balance, and Olivia’s tact and ladylike qualities, we’re truly a team to be reckoned with. Morgana won’t know what’s hit her.”

  Max shook the worst of the water off and stretched out again on the grass. It was a lovely afternoon, and the sun would dry them off soon enough. He closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirruping in the trees behind him, the insects droning past, and the rustle of the water in the slight breeze. He had let himself get caught out by Snotty over the icespell, but he was not going to let that happen again. He was going to prove to Merlin that he could be a seriously great wizard. If it took every ounce of his magic, he was going to find out about Morgana’s swordspell and stop her once and for all.

  About the Author

  C. J. Busby lived on boats until she was sixteen, and remembers one terrifying crossing of the English Channel in gale-force winds, when her family’s barge nearly overturned. She spent most of her childhood with her nose in a book, even when walking along the road. Luckily she survived to grow up, but she still carried on reading whenever she could. After studying science at university, she lived in a South Indian fishing village and did research for her PhD. She currently lives in Devon with her three children and borrows their books whenever they let her.

  A TEMPLAR BOOK

  First published in the UK in 2012 by Templar Publishing,

  an imprint of The Templar Company Limited,

  The Granary, North Street, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1DN, UK

  www.templarco.co.uk

  This ebook edition first published in 2012 by Templar Publishing

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2012 by C. J. Busby

  The right of C. J. Busby to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  www.frogspell.co.uk

  Illustrations © 2012 by David Wyatt

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  ISBN (ePub) 978–1–84877–728–6

  ISBN (Mobi) 978–1–84877–729–3