Zak Turner - A Twist In Time Read online

  Zak was picked a different team to Tallion for the seven-a-side matches, so he got chance to watch his friend playing, and was pleased to see that the blond-haired wizard was back in goal, and was still up to the job! He didn’t think he was using magic, but the ball nearly always seemed to be just within reach every time there was a shot on goal, so he wasn’t sure!

  The football fields were next to open land behind the school, away from the road, and hidden from view except from the school itself and the open fields behind. As Zak waited for his team’s second game, he glanced round and saw a few local residents walking their dogs on the path round the back of the playing fields. He smiled, thinking once again how happy he was to be at school here in the dale instead of at Mhonarr Castle. It was a very strange paradox, wanting to live a wizarding life, but feeling very content being away from it all!

  Zak found himself watching a tall man who seemed to be unfamiliar with the path round the fields. The eleven-year-old noticed that he didn’t have a dog either, and seemed to be walking just for his own benefit. He also seemed to be very interested in the seven-a-side matches that were in progress on the football pitch.

  A frown crossed Zak’s face; something didn’t feel quite right, and then suddenly something felt very definitely wrong! The man glanced left and right, as though checking that no-one was watching him, and reached inside his coat.

  Zak instinctively reached down for his wand. He’d guessed right! The man drew out what only Zak or Tallion would have recognised as a wand, and made a sharp movement pointing it at Tallion’s football match!

  Zak reacted instantly. Before the man had even finished casting his spell, Zak’s own wand was out of its sheath and in his hand making the motion for the Revertur spell! Zak started to run towards the man as soon as he’d cast his spell, trying to get in-between him and Tallion!

  A red jet of light blasted out of the wizard’s wand, and hurtled across the pitch towards Tallion.

  “TALLION!” yelled out Zak in desperation, realising that his own spell was never going to intercept the Libra Mortis. Time slowed to a crawl, and it took a lifetime for Tallion to hear Zak’s shout, but his mind heard the single word over their bond long before his ears heard it through the air, even before Zak’s voice had finished speaking!

  He slowly lifted up his eyes and saw the red curse heading towards him, and started to move to the right to try and dodge it. Miraculously the spell flew all the way across the pitch within inches of several other oblivious players without hitting any of them, and it was now closing in on Tallion!

  The wizard who’d cast it though, hadn’t taken account of Tallion's agility, nor did he know about his target’s innate telekinesis. As Tallion dived to the right, the goalposts moved to the left, and at just the right moment Tallion’s left arm was shielded by the moving goalpost and the curse exploded against the white painted steel with a crack like lightning, accompanied by an explosion of light to rival any firework display!

  Tallion had thrown himself to the ground as well as leaping backwards and sideways, and as life speeded back up to normal, he rolled over onto his hands and knees, drawing his wand at the same time.

  Zak saw his friend escape and turned back to look at the wizard who’d cast the spell, and saw that the man was now pointing his wand directly at him! He waved his own wand in the motion for a Firmus spell, and unleashed it at full power, just as another Libra Mortis appeared, heading in his direction this time!

  Zak had only moments to react because he was far too close to the wizard to safely defend himself, and he instinctively unleashed another full power Revertur. The magic seemed to take an age to build inside him, all the time the red light of the Libra Mortis was closing in, but eventually it flowed through him, down his arm and into his wand. Time was once again crawling as the Libra Mortis approached, and Zak tried desperately to use the momentum of his run to dodge the oncoming curse, throwing himself sideways out its path while keeping his wand pointing directly at it.

  The Libra Mortis was less than six feet from him when his blazing white Revertur eventually erupted from his wand, and instantly crashed into the oncoming curse! The resulting explosion was like a small bomb, and for the first time in recorded magical history, another spell completely overpowered a Libra Mortis!

  The veritable wall of magic that Zak had unleashed in desperation simply wrapped itself around the Libra Mortis and shredded it, both spells bursting into a thousand blazing fragments, which visibly showered across the playing field! The momentum of Zak’s spell carried on though, like an enormous pressure wave, heading straight for the disbelieving wizard who’d just tried to kill him.

  The wizard needn’t have worried about the remnants of the Revertur though, because moments after the two spells collided, Zak’s full power Firmus hit him at incredible speed and turned him to stone, and bowling him over backwards in the process.

  * * *

  The explosions of the two Libra Mortis curses, the first against the goalpost, and the second against Zak’s Revertur, caused chaos on the football pitch! The flying goal posts, that appeared to have missed Tallion by millimetres, ended up in a twisted heap, one of them blackened and almost blasted through by the curse!

  Tallion was watching Zak, and saw him thrown backwards and fall to the ground after the second explosion.

  “NOOOO!” he cried out, as he jumped up and ran towards him, determined to defend his friend at any cost if another spell came his way. He’d seen the red light of the Libra Mortis and wasn’t sure if it had hit Zak or not, and he had a terrible gnawing fear inside that the curse had killed his companion! He still had his own wand in his hand as he dashed through the shocked first years, many of whom were cowering on the ground trying to understand what had just happened. He heard the games teacher’s voice calling to them all.

  “EVERYONE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE SCHOOL, QUICKLY!”

  In the confusion, he got to Zak before anyone realised that the second blast had knocked him over. As he dropped to his knees next to his soul mate, he spotted the unknown wizard lying unconscious outside the school fence too.

  “Tallion! Are you alright?” came Barty’s voice right behind him. The wizard had ported across the school playing field right next to the two boys. “For Merlin’s sake, they’re MAD!”

  Zak was now stirring on the ground, and started to sit up looking dazed.

  “Thank heavens!” exclaimed Barty, who’d been as worried as Tallion that Zak had been hit.

  “Wands away boys, quickly please, the danger’s passed and I’ve still got mine handy anyway, but no-one must see yours!”

  The two wizards quickly and reluctantly pushed their wands back into their invisible pouches where they faded from view, just as their sports teacher rushed up to them.

  “What happened boys? What the dickens were those two explosions!” he called out and then he saw Zak sitting on the floor still looking dazed.

  “It looked like some kind of lightning strike, I’ve never seen anything like it!” exclaimed Barty innocently, instantly starting the rumour that would become the final version of the strange events that had overtaken the first year football matches at Netherdale Academy. He winked surreptitiously at Zak and Tallion, and continued to address the sport’s teacher.

  “I was just walking round the path here, and saw the first fork come straight out of the sky and hit the goalposts over there. Missed this lad here by inches!” he added, pointing to Tallion.

  “Then a second bolt came down and hit the ground right here! I felt the hair stand up on me head! This other young lad were right underneath it, I’m not surprised he’s looking a bit shocked, he’s lucky to be alive!”

  The curious blend of truth and fiction made it difficult for both Zak and Tallion to keep straight faces, as did Barty’s pretty useless Yorkshire accent! However, it did the trick for the moment, and the seeds of an innocent explanation were well and truly sown.

  “Well, thanks for coming over to help Mr..?
” said the sports teacher.

  “Fred Grimes, just up ‘ere on holiday. Never thought I’d see such a thing in me whole life!”

  “Thanks Mr Grimes. Will you help me get Zak and Tallion back into the school?”

  “I’m okay, Mr Grimes, thanks for coming to help,” said Zak joining in the subterfuge. “Maybe you want to look at that man over there? Tallion and Mr Gardner can take me back into the school.”

  “If yer sure young man, I think yer right. I’ll maybe need to call an ambulance fer him too!”

  * * *

  Zak’s mind still felt razor sharp, as it had been during the brief battle. He made sure that he needed Mr Gardner’s help to stand and be taken across the field, knowing that it would distract everyone from watching whatever Barty did with the disabled wizard who’d just tried to kill them!

  As they made it into the changing rooms, he appeared to make a remarkable and very sudden recovery! He stretched a few times, and then did a few cool down exercises for good measure.

  “Zak, we need to get you checked over son. If you were just missed by a lightning strike then I want a doctor to look at yer!”

  “Okay Mr Gardner. Shall I get changed, or shall I just stay in my football kit?”

  “Stay in yer kit fer now son, alright?”

  “Okay. Umm, can Tallion stay with me? He’s my best friend, and I’d like someone around that I know, if that’s okay.”

  “Sure no problem, in fact I want him checked over too because that first bolt of lightning hit the goalpost right next to him! I think it’ll be best if you both come up to the medical room in the school and wait there with Matron. I’ll make sure yer uniforms and bags are all brought up to yer.”

  Zak and Tallion obediently followed the sports teacher up to the main school, and waited in the small medical room for one of the local doctors to arrive and check them over. They therefore missed their library period before lunch, although they weren’t exactly bothered!

  Steven and Sam turned up with their school bags on their way to the library, and Steven hung back as Sam went on to the library lesson to explain why Zak and Tallion were missing the class.

  “Mr Gardner said yer were both nearly struck by lightning, but I don’t believe a word of it! I missed the first blast as I were concentratin’ on t’ game, but I saw t’ second un, and it looked very much like magic ter me, and it came from your wand Zak Turner! What the chuff were yer doing?!”

  “SSHHH!” frowned Zak at his friend urgently.

  Steven looked suddenly worried. “Sorry!” he whispered looking round to see if anyone had overheard. Fortunately the matron had gone to the school office.

  “It was magic, and we’re both lucky to be alive and sitting here talking!” retorted Zak, deliberately not understating the situation. As the adrenalin of the confrontation had drained away, he’d ended up very frightened, and his pleasant day, along with his immediate future, had turned to ashes!

  “Are you sure you can absolutely keep a secret Steven, and I mean absolutely, life and death standard.”

  Steven, who was already looking worried, blanched, seeing that his friend was deadly serious and scared.

  “Yeah, course, yeh know I can Zak, and yeh know I’ll do owt t’ help an’ all!”

  “Well, some wizard just tried to kill us while we were playing footy! That’s the second time this week! We escaped on Tuesday afternoon by a bit of good luck, and it looks like we just did the same again today!”

  “What?! Someone just tried ter kill you?! Why?!” squeaked Steven, struggling to keep his voice down, and failing to stop a look of horror cross his face.

  “Yes,” said Tallion, sounding much calmer than Zak, “and if we hadn’t had our wands with us just now, then we’d definitely be dead this time!”

  “Ruddy Nora!” exclaimed the farmer’s son in a hoarse whisper, looking totally stunned.

  “That just about covers it,” replied Zak rather tightly, a worried frown on his face.

  “So what’re yer gonna do?!” whispered Steven urgently.

  “I have no idea! We’ve already got one bodyguard, but somehow this wizard managed to slip past him, even though he was right by the football pitch all the time we were playing! Maybe we’ll just have to get some more! At the moment all I want to do is hide up at the…”

  Zak managed to stop himself as he glanced at Tallion, unsure if it was okay to mention the castle.

  “…up at Tallion’s house. But we can’t stay there for ever…”

  Tallion took hold of Zak’s hand, and the gesture helped to calm his friend, even though he was himself still feeling shaken by what had happened. The frightened young wizard closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

  What are we going to do Tallion? I never thought it would be dangerous coming to school here!

  Me neither, and I don’t know Zak, we need to talk with father and Barty, and we need to involve Steven too. He’s part of this now, and as soon as they find out that he’s magical, they’ll probably kill him just to get at us!

  Thanks for that comforting thought!

  Sorry, but we need to be realistic about this!

  I know, I know, you’re right…

  7. Taking Stock…

  Antares Malchus was pacing his study waiting for news from one of his loyal followers. Niall Donoghue had been one of his original fighters, and his ability to sneak up on people and kill them unawares was extraordinary. He was on a special, covert mission, to finish a task others had failed to complete.

  Pure chance, or as Malchus preferred to believe, mystical intervention, had given one of his spies some priceless information which he’d acted on instantly.

  Several months before, this spy, in a fit of pique at someone else, had allowed Malchus to enter her mind to help her gain revenge on someone. The foolish witch was now totally under his control, although she wasn’t fully aware of it. He only used this most valuable person to gather information, and would never risk her in combat. He also never told her that he was using her, for that would make her vulnerable to his enemies.

  The spy had been walking home the previous evening and had stumbled across the boy who he’d thought was beyond his reach in Mhonarr Castle. Tallion Middleham, the child heir of the anti-purist Philip Middleham, had apparently returned to Netherdale for some reason! The boy, who’d unbelievably escaped his assassins two days before, had been playing some stupid non-magical sport with his mule friend in the field next to the track to Upper Nettleton.

  Using a concealment charm, his spy had moved close enough to listen to their conversation, and had discovered that they were both attending the local school in the dale in preference to going to Mhonarr Castle! Much as he despised Mhonarr, and all it stood for, it was infinitely preferable to attending non-magical school! The Middlehams could, in his eyes, stoop no lower!

  He had to act fast if he was to take advantage of the situation. He considered undertaking the mission himself, but decided that killing two unprotected children was beneath him. However, he wouldn’t risk failure a second time. Fate had granted him a second chance, and he was going to seize it!

  The foolish mule had even spoken about what they were doing the following morning at their school, and revealed that they would be outside playing ‘sport’.

  The gods were smiling on him, and he briefed his prized assassin, Niall Donoghue, and watched with pleasure as the prospect of another kill caused the murderer’s eyes to glint in anticipation. Donoghue loved to deal out death, and Malchus ensured he got to chance indulge his pleasure often in his master’s service.

  Now the evil wizard was pacing to-and-fro, glancing at the clock. According to his spy, Donoghue would have two hours, between nine and eleven, in which to carry out the attack. It was now approaching eleven and he’d heard nothing.

  He went over to his throne-like chair opposite the fireplace, and sat down, his elbows on the chair arms, and his gloved hands steepled in front of his face. It wasn’t pos
sible that Donoghue’s attack had failed; the delay could only mean that he was still awaiting his opportunity to strike. He was totally confident in his servant’s ability.

  And yet…

  A small doubt was growing in his mind. He closed his eyes, and muttered a non-verbal incantation, which required no wand. He wanted to connect with Donoghue’s mind to hear what was happening…

  The eerie calm of Shrone Birrane Castle was shattered by a howl of indignation as Antares Malchus broke the mind-link to his assassin and leapt from his throne in fury!

  “AAARRRGGGHHHHH!” His angry cries reverberated round the building! HOW HAD THIS HAPPENED?!

  His prize assassin had not only failed to kill the Middleham whelp, but had been captured!

  Unstable at the best of times, the livid and irrational tyrant cast a string of blasting curses round the room, destroying everything his eyes fell upon. He finally blasted the large window to smithereens and soared out of it, leaving a sooty black trail behind him.

  * * *

  After a quick examination, the Horton Bridge doctor pronounced Zak and Tallion to be fit and healthy, but suffering from shock.

  “I think you should both go home for the rest of the day if possible, to be in a familiar environment, and visit your own doctors in the morning for a check-up.”

  Dr Simpson didn’t really know what to make of the situation. Both boys were clearly in some emotional distress, but apart from being knocked over by the blasts, they showed none of the other physical signs that were often present in someone who’d narrowly missed being struck by lightning. If someone was close enough to have been sent flying, they would have superficial flash burns, or even short term disruption to their eyesight or hearing. It was a bit of a mystery, but it was the only plausible explanation of the incident as described by the sports teacher.