Zak Turner - A Twist In Time Page 7

  “We don’t know,” answered Zak. “He pushed us through the false wall into the cellar, and we ran straight through the portal. We think one of the men rushed into the cellar right behind us and cast a Libra Mortis at Tallion just as he was going through. We don’t know if it hit him properly, but it certainly hit the portal and made it explode. I think we were the last two through; I don’t see how any could have followed us.”

  “I saw the school, just the portal room,” said Tallion, “but then everything faded to black. Zak saw a huge red explosion sweep past him across the portal room, but then everything went black for him too. We woke up in the infirmary at quarter to six this evening…”

  There was a pause as the seventh years considered the two new first years in front of them, and glanced at each other before the conversation continued.

  “I was down in the Entrance Hall, Tallion,” said David, “and I saw the red flash of the explosion because I was looking up into the portal room at the time. Lots of people suddenly fell down the stairs and it was all a bit chaotic for a few minutes.”

  The boys all just looked at each other for a while, and then David spoke again.

  “Did you know there’d been an attack at the Wizard Council in London too?”

  Tallion frowned. “No, what happened?”

  “Well, according to the special edition of the Centaur that arrived before dinner, quite a few people were injured, but it seems that no-one was killed. The ‘rumour’, which isn’t in the paper, is that the attackers were after your father…”

  Tallion blanched, and Zak felt his own emotions take a tumble, which was enhanced by a huge jolt from Tallion!

  “They were trying to get us both,” said Tallion, instantly joining it all together. “But why? Why us?”

  “Well, that’s what we think too, and that’s the question we were discussing just as you poked your head round the screen.”

  Without being consciously aware that he’d done it, Zak took Tallion’s hand to calm him, feeling his companion’s emotions to be racing more chaotically than ever before! He willed his soul mate to be calm, and tried to send calming emotions across their link, something he’d never really succeeded in doing before.

  Tallion was in a complete panic. His life had almost turned upside down, and both he and his father had only just survived what should have been fatal attacks! The reality of it all was just starting to hit him when suddenly he was totally calm, as though he’d taken one of his mother’s potions! The suddenness of it took his breath away, and then he heard Zak’s voice in his mind.

  Steady Tallion, it’s okay, you’re both okay, slow down Soul Mate, slow down.

  The blond-haired eleven-year-old closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  Thanks Zak. This link between us is the most precious thing in the whole world!

  I’m just beginning to realise that too. It’s going to be essential to keep us sane I’m sure!

  The two young wizards were ignoring everything around them as they spoke together in their minds, looking into each other’s eyes. It was blindingly obvious to the three seventh years what was happening too, although they could scarcely believe it! These two first years seemed to have full telepathy between them! They all exchanged looks, and confirmed they were thinking the same thing.

  “Wow!” said David quietly, “we need to keep that totally secret too!”

  He got nods from Sam and Arcturus, and after a minute he cleared his throat loudly, catching Zak’s attention.

  “Zak, why did you come to find me?”

  “Oh, err, we need to go and see Nurse Salvae,” he replied, holding up his scroll. “We just wanted to tell someone where we were going before we left the tower.”

  “Very sensible, and I’ll come with you. You two are far too valuable to be walking around the school by yourselves!”

  Zak frowned, “What do you mean?”

  “There was an attempt on your lives today Zak! And whoever did it only just missed. They’ll try again, that’s for sure!”

  “What, here in the school?!”

  “Nowhere’s safe, Zak,” said Sam. “Not with Sargas Malchus in the school. Me and Arcturus will go with you. David, you need to stay here to do your prefect stuff.”

  Zak and Tallion exchanged worried looks, but nodded as the two seventh years got up and the group made their way to the door.

  * * *

  Nurse Salvae wanted to have another look at Tallion’s back, but was hesitant about doing it in front of the two seventh years, although she was pleased that they’d escorted the boys to the infirmary. Tallion assured her that they both already knew what had happened.

  “Sam was with us in Kirkstall Abbey when we were attacked,” he finished.

  “Ahh,” said the nurse, understanding in her eyes. “Then you’ll both be aware that you must keep all this completely secret!”

  “Yes nurse,” replied the seventh years together.

  The nurse looked penetratingly at them, and then nodded. Tallion’s back was un-changed, and Zak was horrified to see the damage to his soul mate, but he didn’t let on how bad it was so that Tallion wouldn’t be too worried! He knew that he could show him in the mirror at The Copse the following evening anyway.

  You forgot that I can hear your thoughts Zak!

  Sorry mate, I just didn’t want to worry you. It’s not pretty!

  Zak could feel his friend’s fears and sadness as though it were his own, and took his hand to help reassure him.

  Nurse Salvae, however, wasn’t planning to let Tallion leave school in that condition, and had been in touch with a top consultant at the wizard hospital in Edinburgh. Combining his information with her own hastily acquired knowledge about how a Libra Mortis affected human tissue, she had prepared a special potion which she now applied liberally to Tallion’s back while he lay on his front on the bed.

  As well as smelling like a mixture of mustard and strawberries, and being a luminous purple colour, the potion seemed to wriggle and squeak like a box of mice!

  It was very soothing to start with as it took away the inflammation and itchiness, but after about thirty seconds it started to prickle, and Tallion grimaced as it began to feel like a hundred needles jabbing into his skin! He whimpered quietly as tears squeezed out of his tightly closed eyes, and Zak took his hand once more as he looked worriedly at the nurse.

  “I assume it’s got to the prickling stage then Tallion?” she asked seriously.

  He just nodded, not trusting himself to open his mouth in case he cried out. The pain was intense!

  “Well, I know it’s not very pleasant, but it a rejuvenation salve which is replacing your damaged skin. You probably don’t want the gory details but I’ll tell you anyway. The potion is enchanted with a Morsus spell, and is eating away all the badly damaged skin that it encounters. When it gets through to healthy skin the Morsus will become inactive and the other elements of the potion will take over and regenerate your skin very quickly. The prickling should stop when all the damaged skin has been eaten away.”

  Tallion nodded again, pain etched in his expression as he realised just how much damaged there must have been to his back.

  “Normally I’d cast charms to make skin re-grow, but the area of damage is too great and the damage is too deep this time, so I’ve had to resort to other measures. I couldn’t leave it though because by tomorrow your skin would have been dropping off and would have left you bleeding and raw.”

  Tallion was whimpering in agony, and Zak concentrated very hard on trying to send soothing and healing feelings across the link between them, but he wasn’t sure it was working. Sam and Arcturus kept quiet, but shared a wincing look as the purple potion wriggled and squirmed across Tallion’s back.

  As they watched, patches of purple started to turn red, and then quickly to a light cream colour. As the first red patches appeared, Tallion couldn’t help crying out in pain, and Zak just wanted to hold him to comfort him, but couldn’t because of the potion
on his back. He looked worriedly at Nurse Salvae, almost begging her to do something to stop the pain.

  Then as the final red patches gave way to cream, the pain vanished completely, replaced by a curious stretching sensation. Tallion opened his watering eyes and found Zak looking at him in concern.

  It’s okay Zak, the pain’s gone. At the end though it was excruciating!

  We’ve got to stop living such dangerous lives, my friend, it hurts too much!

  Tell me about it…

  What does it feel like now?

  Really strange, like my skin is all being stretched, and wrapping around me like a blanket! What does it look like?

  I don’t know, we can’t see your skin. The potion was purple to start with, then it went red which is when you were in agony, and now it’s gone a sort of creamy-vanilla colour. But that’s all we can see, just the potion.

  Okay. I hope it’s worked. I don’t want to go through that again!

  Zak continued to hold his soul mate’s hand, still trying to send soothing emotions over the link between them. The widening smile on Tallion’s face seemed to indicate that it was working! A smile was also playing round Nurse Salvae’s mouth and she had a rather satisfied expression on her face. Arcturus noticed, and decided to ask the obvious question.

  “Is that the first time you’ve ever made that potion then, Nurse?”

  Nurse Salvae eyed the curious Moncero warily before she answered.

  “Yes, Arcturus, and as a bit of a potioneer yourself, no doubt you’ve worked out the main ingredients?”

  Arcturus smiled. Potions was his favourite and best subject, and it was nice to be recognised for something that you were good at. He had a shrewd idea what this unique potion had in it, but he’d never thought of combining a Morsus into a potion before. The concept immediately appealed to the more experimental side of his nature; a devouring potion sounded like a cracking idea!

  “Remember, using a Morsus in combination with other spells is restricted, Arcturus, and the Wizard Council will detect it if you do it!”

  Nurse Salvae had spent enough years healing students in Mhonarr Castle to know how their minds worked, and could usually read them like a book.

  * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, Nurse Salvae had cleaned the salve off Tallion’s back, and revealed his new, very fresh looking, baby-like skin. She’d was disappointed to see that the jagged scar, which was about three inches long, was still there, running diagonally down left to right between his shoulder blades, but apart from that everything else appeared to be fine.

  She gave Zak’s back a quick check too, and found that the inflammation had returned. He therefore received a massage with a different salve, which would rejuvenate his skin as well as sooth it. As the boys stood up to leave, she handed them both a small potion vial each.

  “Dreamless sleep potion, combined with an energy restorative. It’ll wear off after about six hours, so you should wake up as normal in the morning. Take it after you’re in bed please because it’s instant acting!”

  The boys nodded, “Yes Nurse, thanks.”

  * * *

  The quartet of Monceros left the infirmary and made their way back through the darkened corridors to their tower. It was after ten pm and the normal curfew was in place during which no-one was allowed out of their house except for emergencies, such as visiting the infirmary. It was one of the first school rules everyone learned, and one of the most commonly broken! There was almost an unspoken competition between the different houses to see who could break the rule undetected!

  It was therefore no surprise to Sam and Arcturus to see the occasional shadow appear to move, and they took little notice. Their expressions and posture changed dramatically though when they came round a corner to find Sargas Malchus standing openly in the middle of the corridor blocking their way!

  The two seventh years drew their wands in a flash and stopped dead, holding their arms out to stop Zak and Tallion going past.

  “What do you want, Sargas?” asked Arcturus coldly.

  “Just to see if it was true that young Middleham had some bodyguards,” he replied in a sickly sweet manner. His dangerous black eyes belied his voice though, and the look on his face was as hard as granite.

  “It is true, and as long as we’re in this school, he will never go anywhere alone.”

  “Who’s the mule? His servant?” sneered Sargas looking disdainfully at Zak.

  Sam reacted in an instant, his wand pointing straight at Sargas face, his face as black as thunder!

  “Don’t you dare insult another wizard like that in front of me Sargas Malchus! Behaviour is far more revealing about a wizard than breeding! And when it comes to bloodlines, there’s a fine line between purebred and inbred, and you’re most certainly the wrong side of it!”

  Sargas was looking disdainfully at Sam as though he was some kind of slimy insect, but he hadn’t drawn his own wand and had both his hands in full view.

  “Going to hex me, Whittle? Go on then, let’s see you risk being expelled,” he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Only one person is going to get expelled from this castle Malchus, and that’ll be you when you go too far with your dangerous games. Now shift out of the way so we can pass before I summon a professor.”

  Sargas sneered again and shook his head in derision, but he stepped aside to let the Monceros pass none-the-less. Like all bullies he had a cowardly streak, and knew that he’d lose if he took on these two seventh years by himself. Little did he realise that Zak and Tallion far outstripped them all in terms of magical ability!

  Sam walked slowly past him, motioning the others to go past too while he kept his wand pointing at Sargas who was now leaning nonchalantly against the wall. He kept facing him, wand drawn, as he walked backwards along the corridor, with Arcturus leading Zak and Tallion. As soon as they were out of sight round the next corner, Arcturus grabbed both first years and pulled them quickly through an apparently solid wall into a hidden passage. Moments later Sam joined them.

  “Devious git!” said Sam angrily. “I knew he’d try something like that. He obviously had his spies out earlier and they saw you two going to the infirmary, and he decided to meet you on the way back!”

  “Well, he can’t get us in here boys,” added Arcturus. “This is a Moncero secret passage, no-one from the other houses can get into it. I’m sure there are plenty of similar secret passages for the other houses too, which is why people who’ve been in the school for a while can sneak about all over the place. Not that many people know about them though.”

  Zak had felt strangely calm during the confrontation with Sargas, but now he was trembling a bit as the adrenalin faded away. Something had stuck in his mind though, and he wanted an answer.

  “Why did he call me a mule?”

  Arcturus winced as he answered. “It’s a gross insult Zak, for someone who’s not wizard born, a first generation wizard like yourself. A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey, not a pure bred, not even a half-breed, a mule is sterile and can’t reproduce. In Malchus view, it’s a beast of burden, a tool, a slave, to be used and abused while it lives. Sorry, but I might as well be blunt, it’s one of the worst insults there is in the wizarding world.”

  Zak once again felt the same sense of inadequacy that he often experienced when he stood back and considered his new situation in life. Why had all this happened to him? This wasn’t his world, and yet it was his world now! He felt Tallion take his hand again and turned to look at his soul mate, with a worried frown on his face.

  “You’re no mule, Zak. You could out-perform Sargas Malchus any day! The fact that you’re in Moncero proves that, and the fact that we’re both still alive after the attack earlier today proves it too! There’s no difference between first generation wizards and twentieth generation wizards, it’s fate that grants a wizard his powers, nothing else.”

  “It’s true Zak,” added Sam putting his hand on Zak’s shoulder. “I saw wha
t you did in Kirkstall this afternoon, and I’ll never forget it till my dying day! No-one has ever deflected a Libra Mortis before; no ‘mule’ could do that! Just ignore him, and all the others who’ll copy him. In some ways it’s a good thing, because it guarantees that they’ll all under-estimate your ability.”

  Zak nodded, he actually felt quite annoyed about it now, but he certainly wasn’t going to let it worry him. Sam was right. He was more powerful than Sargas Malchus, first generation wizard or not!

  “Come on boys, it’s time we were back in our dorms, we’ve all got a full day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  * * *

  Sargas watched the Monceros go round the corner, annoyed that they’d forced him to back down. It didn’t matter to him if Tallion Middleham had bodyguards though, in fact it might even be better. It would give him an opportunity to get rid of them too! He turned on his heel heading back to Taurus Tower. He was on the lookout for a curfew-breaker, so he walked quietly and slowly, keeping in the shadows. He soon spotted a couple of amorous third years hiding in an alcove, clearly enjoying being back together again after the long summer holiday apart.

  He smiled a sneering smile. Instead of one student hunting Tallion Middleham, there would now be two, and whoever got him first would then kill the other before throwing themself from the roof in anguish at what they’d just done!

  He pulled out the second year’s wand which he’d stolen earlier, surreptitiously cast yielding charms onto the couple in the alcove, and ordered them to follow him.

  Within a minute they were in a hidden room and the two third years, one after the other, were bewitched using one of Lesath’s powerful secret charms. They would now kill Tallion Middleham on sight with a Sectum Per curse, and then, after killing their partner in the same manner, would jump from the roof.

  After he’d finished with them, Malchus wiped their memories of the last few minutes, and ordered them to go back to their alcove and continue their intimate evening together.

  As they obediently walked away, he surreptitiously lifted the yielding charms and disappeared back into the shadows. He felt no guilt at all, despite having just condemned three innocent people to death.