The Doomspell

by Cliff McNish

  ‘Morpeth, what’s the matter?’ Rachel asked. ‘Don’t cry. I’m all right now. I feel much better. Why are you so worried? What kind of test is it?’ She felt Morpeth suddenly withdraw his hands. ‘I don’t want to take any test. I’m frightened.’

  Morpeth sat with his head buried in his gnarled old fingers. He breathed deeply, and for a few moments his body became almost unnaturally still. When he looked at Rachel again his eyes had lost their friendly sparkle. He spoke in a different voice, much harsher than before.

  ‘Dragwena is calling. We must hurry.’

  ‘I won’t see that woman,’ Rachel said. ‘She made the owl bite me. Where’s Eric? I want to know what—’

  ‘Shut up!’ Morpeth shouted.

  Rachel stepped back in shock. ‘Morpeth, what’s wrong?’

  ‘Come on,’ he growled, grasping her arm. ‘Fun and games are over, girl-child. It’s time to see how good you really are!’

  7

  Rachel’s

  Trial

  Morpeth trotted along several twisting dark passages, tightly holding Rachel’s wrist, forcing her to run.

  ‘Let go!’ she protested, resisting him. ‘I thought you were my friend.’

  He laughed, dragging her up a vast flight of stone steps ascending the eye-tower. Rachel tried to understand what she had done wrong. Why was Morpeth behaving like this when he had promised to help her?

  He eventually stopped outside a large arched door, flanked by two soldiers wearing short stabbing swords. In the middle of the door stood a snake-head handle, mouth open, as if ready to strike all visitors.

  ‘I’m not going to see Dragwena,’ Rachel told him. ‘Not until I know Eric is safe.’

  ‘Keep your mouth shut!’

  ‘Don’t tell me . . .’ Rachel stepped back. ‘I’m not doing anything else you say! Morpeth, why are you talking like this?’

  He grinned. ‘You’ll soon find out.’

  The door opened itself and Rachel peered inside the huge, dark chamber.

  ‘You’re on your own now,’ said Morpeth. ‘Keep your wits sharp or you won’t come out alive.’

  He shoved her inside and slammed the door.

  Rachel, blinking in the semi-darkness, tried to get her bearings. She was drawn to the far end of the chamber, where a green window, shaped like an eye, gazed down on the Palace buildings. Dragwena stood beside the window, looking outward.

  ‘Come in,’ said the Witch, without turning round. Her voice was warm and inviting.

  Rachel took a few steps towards Dragwena – and gasped. Eric’s sleeping head poked from the blankets of a small bed.

  ‘What have you done?’ Rachel exploded, trying to shake Eric awake. He did not respond. ‘If you’ve hurt him—’

  Dragwena laughed softly.

  ‘I want to go back home!’ Rachel roared. ‘Wake Eric up! Let us go!’

  Dragwena turned, and Rachel saw a box in her hand. It was a plain black object, thin, that rattled. ‘I have a present for you,’ said the Witch.

  ‘I don’t want a present,’ Rachel said stiffly. ‘Tell me what you’ve done to Eric!’

  Then she noticed a hissing sound coming from the box. Instantly, she had a sudden, almost painful desire to tear it open.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked, forgetting Eric. ‘Oh, please let me have it!’

  The Witch smiled and casually tossed the box in the air.

  Rachel caught it, turning the box over and over, frantic to discover its contents.

  ‘How do I get inside? I can’t open it! I can’t open it!’

  ‘Isn’t your magic powerful enough, child?’

  Rachel held the box tightly, tearing at the lid, trying to picture a releasing clasp. There was something wonderful inside. She knew it would disappear if she didn’t hurry. She gnawed the edges wildly.

  Suddenly the lid ripped off. Rachel’s grip had been so tight that the contents were spread over the floor. She looked down. In front of her was the board for a simple game she knew well: snakes and ladders.

  What? she thought, intensely disappointed.

  Then something happened that made Rachel change her mind – one of the snakes slithered to a new position. It twisted until it came to rest in the middle of the board. A second, much larger, snake uncurled until its head sat on the top row. All the other snakes, seven altogether, also jostled to find places. At last they were set, their tongues lazily tasting the air. Four ladders nestled between them. Three were tiny. One large ladder stretched from square three at the bottom diagonally right up to the top, two squares from the end.

  ‘Do you like your present?’ asked Dragwena.

  Rachel smiled uncertainly.

  The Witch knelt beside the board. ‘Let’s play a game. I like games.’

  Two counters marched proudly from behind a chair, where they had come to rest after spilling from the box. A green counter span towards Dragwena. The blue counter jumped into Rachel’s hand.

  ‘You start,’ Dragwena said.

  Rachel nodded, fascinated, unable to take her eyes off the snakes. Her first throw of the game was a three. This placed her on the long ladder. She moved the counter up to sit on square ninety-eight.

  ‘How fortunate,’ said Dragwena. ‘It will be hard to beat you if you play as well as that.’ She took her own turn, threw a one and sighed. ‘I’m rubbish at this,’ she said, using the same words Rachel had spoken in the Breakfast Room, imitating her voice perfectly.

  Rachel glanced warily at Dragwena. She knew this was no ordinary game. Could it be the test Morpeth had warned her about?

  ‘What happens if I win?’ she asked hesitantly.

  ‘What would you like to happen?’

  ‘To go home,’ said Rachel. ‘Both of us. That’s all I want.’

  ‘Throw a two or more,’ said Dragwena. ‘That is all you need. Then you can run back to Mummy and Daddy.’

  ‘You promise.’

  Dragwena imitated a different voice this time – Morpeth’s. ‘Of course! Don’t you trust me, child?’

  Rachel did not answer. Instead she picked up the dice, rubbing it against the soft part of her thumb. ‘What happens if I lose?’

  ‘That depends. It depends on how hungry the snakes are today. Continue to play. If you refuse I’ll punish Eric.’

  Rachel’s heart leapt.

  ‘Are you afraid?’ Dragwena inquired gently, as if asking nothing at all.

  ‘Of course I am! Why are you making me do this?’

  ‘I have my own reasons,’ said Dragwena. ‘You are wasting time.’ Her face transformed into Eric’s. ‘Don’t let her hurt me,’ Eric’s voice pleaded.

  Rachel considered trying to run for the door, then remembered the soldiers waiting outside.

  ‘I won’t need the soldiers if you have to be killed,’ whispered Dragwena.

  Rachel’s hand trembled. She turned away from the Witch, no longer able to meet her gaze, pressing the dice hard against her palm.

  I must throw a two! She concentrated furiously, as Morpeth had taught her, and released the dice. It clattered over the board.

  Two neat dots faced up.

  ‘I won! I won!’ shouted Rachel.

  ‘Nothing is as easy as that,’ Dragwena said.

  She touched Rachel’s forehead. Instantly, she shrank to the size of a fingernail. Dragwena picked her up and placed her in the middle of the board.

  ‘Now we’ll see how strong you are,’ said Dragwena. ‘Watch out. The death-serpents are out to get you!’

  One of the snakes immediately lurched towards Rachel, its head now twice the size of her body. Rachel ran across the board. Another snake turned towards her. She shrieked and jumped over its neck, dashing down the squares, towards the edge. Dragwena’s own snake quickly uncoiled, spreading its thick body around the board like a wall, preventing any escape.

  ‘What can I do?’ screeched Rachel. ‘It’s not fair!’

  ‘If you reach the final square you can still win the game. However,
you might not like what’s waiting for you.’

  Rachel clearly saw what it was: the largest snake squatted on the final square. She would have to enter its mouth.

  ‘Help me!’ Rachel yelled, running up the board to escape a further snake zigzagging towards her.

  ‘You have one chance,’ said Dragwena. ‘You need to use the ladders. Hurry, the snakes are restless!’

  Rachel flew down the board to square three, hoping the ladder would take her up. It did nothing and the snakes continued to slide after her, chasing relentlessly. She stumbled and ran and jumped over their arched backs, but the snakes allowed her no respite. Finally, she no longer had the strength to evade them. The snakes closed in and trapped her in a corner. As they opened their jaws Dragwena, looking almost bored, sighed irritably.

  Rachel stood facing the snakes. Terrified, she still tried to understand what Dragwena had meant about using the ladders. At last a sudden desperate idea struck her.

  She gazed at the snakes and whispered ‘Stop.’

  They halted, their forked tongues pressing against her body.

  Rachel addressed them together: ‘Eat the snake sitting on the last square.’

  Instantly they obeyed. After a fierce struggle the largest snake was smothered and killed. Only two snakes now remained alive on the board.

  Rachel spoke to one of them. ‘Move the ladder to square one hundred.’

  The snake wriggled down the board, placed the ladder between its fangs, and positioned it on the final square.

  Rachel calmly walked up the rungs of the ladder to the last square, put her arms by her side, and looked defiantly at Dragwena.

  And the Witch looked back at her. How she stared at Rachel! She breathed raggedly, glancing at Rachel and the dead snakes.

  Rachel did not wait for Dragwena to regain her composure.

  ‘Attack her!’ she instructed the two snakes still alive.

  They leapt off the board, heading for Dragwena’s throat, but the Witch’s own snake quickly darted forward and swallowed them.

  ‘H-how did you do this?’ the Witch asked, dumfounded. ‘You should not be able to defeat the snakes! No child has ever done it!’ She leapt in the air. ‘You are the one!’ she gasped. ‘After all this time . . .’ She reached down to Rachel and touched her head, bringing her back to normal height. ‘Oh Rachel, Rachel,’ she cried, hugging her. ‘Forgive me. I had to test you. You have no idea how long I have waited for you to arrive.’

  Rachel pushed her away. ‘Go away! Don’t come near me!’

  Dragwena turned triumphantly. ‘You hate me now. But soon you will learn to adore everything that I am. We will rule together on Ithrea, and on your world too.’

  ‘You promised to let us go if I won. You promised!’

  ‘I lied,’ said Dragwena. ‘I have never kept a promise to a child, and I never will.’

  Rachel kicked the Witch hard.

  Dragwena jumped back in surprise. Four sets of teeth momentarily appeared on her face, snapping at Rachel. As soon as Dragwena knew Rachel had seen the teeth she dropped the pretty-lady face entirely. The tattooed eyes which stared at Rachel were expressionless.

  ‘You should not enrage me,’ Dragwena warned her. ‘I could destroy you in a second.’

  Rachel backed away, appalled by the Witch’s true appearance. ‘What do you want with me and Eric? What are you?’

  ‘A Witch,’ Dragwena whispered. ‘And soon you will also be one, Rachel. A very powerful Witch.’

  ‘What? No, I won’t,’ Rachel said. ‘You’re . . . how dare you keep us here, playing these games? I don’t care what it’s all for. I won’t help you.’

  ‘Child,’ replied Dragwena, ‘do you think you have any choice in the matter? From now on you will always be at my side.’

  Rachel felt sick with hatred. ‘Let me leave!’

  ‘In a moment,’ said Dragwena. ‘You are tired. First you should have a rest. After that – we’ll see.’

  Rachel inexplicably yawned. For some reason she did feel tired. She fought it, knowing the Witch was responsible.

  ‘Your lids are drooping,’ said the Witch. ‘You can hardly keep them open.’

  Rachel’s eye-lids fluttered and closed. With a huge effort she managed to open them.

  ‘I’m not tired at all,’ she said, yawning again. ‘I’m wide awake. I don’t want to sleep. I won’t sleep.’

  ‘Get into the bed with Eric,’ the Witch said. ‘I know you want to.’

  Rachel found herself crawling under the sheets, pulling the quilt around her. ‘I’m not tired,’ she said weakly. ‘I won’t do what you ask.’

  ‘Have a long rest,’ said the Witch. She tucked the quilt around Rachel’s shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I promise you will have lovely dreams.’

  Rachel’s face nestled into the pillow. ‘I’m not tired . . . not . . . tired.’

  In a few moments she was asleep.

  While Rachel slept Dragwena reached into her mind and created a dream-sleep, the transforming spell needed to begin changing Rachel from child to Witch. Dragwena had never used such a powerful spell before on Ithrea. Would it work on Rachel? Countless children had come and gone, some gifted like Morpeth, but none had the magical intensity that Rachel displayed. Could she control Rachel? Already she felt Rachel’s power swelling. If she acted quickly she could mould Rachel into anything she needed. Trembling with excitement, Dragwena planted the layers. Slowly, carefully, she chose memories from her past, hatreds and fears and longings, events and feelings that would overpower Rachel’s mind, condition her, prepare her for a new destiny.

  Once the dream-sleep was ready, Dragwena turned to Eric. She sensed a power within him she had never faced before, yet her testing earlier in the day had revealed no magic in the boy – surprising given Rachel’s extraordinary power. Still, he was young and did not have Rachel’s defiance. His personality should be easy to break and reshape. She touched Eric’s temple, probing into the cortex, searching for the control roots of his brain.

  Instantly, the Witch was thrown across the chamber.

  She screamed, every muscle in her hand clenching in spasm.

  An attack!

  Dragwena lay on the floor, pondering, waiting to recover. What could it mean? After a few minutes she activated her own mental defences, returned to the bedside and delicately probed Eric’s thoughts.

  She sensed several layers of protection in Eric’s mind and was bewildered – no human had this gift. This was no ordinary child. She should have realized that and been more careful. Dragwena sat for over an hour, observing Eric closely, knowing he was asleep, that the child had not deliberately thrust out. When she felt ready she once again delved tentatively within his mind, searching his memories for a clue. Nothing – only a child’s simple joys and frustrations. Eric, she realized, was not even aware of his abilities. Could they have been planted? By whom? Dragwena sat back in frustration, wanting to study further. Eric’s tantalizing gift must wait, she thought. I will strip his mind of the secret later. For now Rachel’s power is all I need.

  Carefully, avoiding Eric’s defences, Dragwena planted a spell in the outer layer of his brain. It had been a long time since she had used this particular spell – so weak that it was almost undetectable, so simple that it would be hard to block even if detected.

  The spell was perfect for what she needed.

  8

  The Council

  of Sarren

  The Witch finished her work on Eric, left the eye-tower and met with Morpeth.

  ‘You have instructed Rachel well,’ she announced. ‘Her abilities are great.’

  Morpeth bowed. ‘I did nothing. The child took control from the start.’

  ‘That is obvious,’ said the Witch. ‘Her magic is beyond all except my reach. Take Rachel back to the east wing tonight and prepare a room with her wardrobe closer to my chamber. In the morning bring her to me. You will have no further part in her training.’

  Morpeth nodde
d. ‘Did you test her with the box?’

  ‘Yes. And she conquered it! She defied it!’

  ‘That has never been done!’ marvelled Morpeth.

  ‘Indeed. She will do many things no child has done before.’ Dragwena glanced warily around the corridor. ‘I have placed Rachel in a sleep that will start her transformation into a Witch. Tonight I want you to stay with her, Morpeth. Guard her personally. Do not allow her to be awakened until she is ready. Also, ensure Eric stays in her room tonight. He has no magic, but may prove valuable nonetheless.’

  ‘As you wish. Will Rachel remember anything when she wakes?’

  ‘Nothing important,’ said Dragwena. ‘Her past will vanish when the dream-sleep is over. She will remember nothing about her family, even Eric. Instead, her mind will be prepared for the final training she needs. I will undertake this myself.’

  ‘What should we do with Eric?’

  ‘Kill him,’ said the Witch. ‘Not yet, though. He may still be useful. I will tell you when.’

  Morpeth bowed again and the Witch returned to the eye-tower. Morpeth arranged for two maids to carry the sleeping children back to the east wing and gave them Dragwena’s orders.

  Once he was alone again with Rachel and Eric, Morpeth buried his face between his knees. He sat for a long time, thinking about what should be done.

  I must act tonight to save Rachel, he realized. Tomorrow will be too late.

  Masking his face he left the Palace, treading cautiously across the snow towards the house of Trimak.

  Muranta woke first. ‘Wake up, Trimak, you old booby,’ she said, digging her arm into his ribs. ‘There’s someone banging on the door.’

  ‘Well,’ Trimak muttered sleepily, ‘they can’t be enemies making that racket.’

  He put on a pair of old slippers and padded along the corridor.

  Muranta lit a candle. ‘Who can it be at this hour?’

  Trimak listened to the heavy knocking, counting each rap. Four fast knocks, one slow, three more fast raps – Morpeth, and he was in danger!