The Apprentice Witch

by James Nicol

  She was nearly there. Taking a steadying breath, she began to sketch a repeated pattern of glyphs on to the counter: Briå, ʘru, Briå, ʘru, over and over until the new charm was surrounded by the glyphs for air and light.

  The circle complete, the spell formed a ring of light that glowed against the dark wood. It grew brighter and brighter. Mr Turvy, Salle and Mayor Belcher shielded their eyes, but Arianwyn was able to stare into it and watch the energy tumble and pour into the charm. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Miss Delafield watching closely too. A smile half formed on her lips.

  This was the moment it could all go horribly wrong. She felt the flow of magic around her, surging over her. It was too much, the spell was too strong – again. She panicked.

  What could she do? She racked her brain. The charm quivered and rattled on the counter top. She saw the worried glance from Mr Turvy and the satisfied look from Mayor Belcher. Hurriedly, without really knowing what she was doing she re-sketched the glyphs for the spell, but this time in the air above the locket.

  The combination of the two spell circles seemed to slow the stream of magic just enough and the charm stopped its jittering dance.

  The light began to fade, growing fainter and fainter as the spell set.

  Salle was already clapping loudly and glaring at Mayor Belcher.

  Arianwyn lifted the charm, handing it carefully back across the counter. ‘There we go, Mr Turvy. Good as new!’

  Mr Turvy held it briefly in his hand, gazing at the pictures in the locket, before tucking it safely into his pocket once more.

  ‘Thank you so much, young lady. It was very kind of you to help me.’

  ‘It was my pleasure, Mr Turvy.’

  He headed for the door, but just before he stepped out into Kettle Lane he turned and said loudly, ‘I think you have done a fine job with this witch, Mayor Belcher. I say she’s a real credit to the town!’

  The door closed quietly. The store was silent for a while.

  ‘I think Miss Gribble has proved herself more than adequate. Don’t you, Josiah?’ Miss Delafield asked. Arianwyn glanced at the mayor.

  He mumbled and stared hard at Arianwyn. ‘I think it’s safe to assume you did all that you could to help Mrs Myddleton, and that on this occasion you were unlucky. A little extra care would be advisable in the future.’

  Arianwyn felt a flood of relief. ‘Yes, of course. I won’t let you down again.’

  ‘Be sure you do not. I shall be watching your progress carefully, Miss Gribble.’ And with that the mayor turned on his heels and left the Spellorium.

  ‘Well, what a day! Any more of the hot choc going, young Salle, dear? Could you pop some in my flask?’ Miss Delafield asked. Salle took the flask and scampered upstairs.

  When she was gone, Miss Delafield stood close to Arianwyn and said in a hushed voice, ‘Be cautious, Arianwyn. I have no doubt Mrs Myddleton will be telling her tale of woe to anyone that might listen. And Mayor Belcher has been won over this time, but— Ah, here’s Salle with that hot chocolate. Thank you, dear. You girls have a good evening!’

  Miss Delafield waved a gloved hand as she left the store and Arianwyn closed the door behind her. The silver and green car roared off into the night. Headlamps flashed along the shops and houses on Kettle Lane.

  ‘Looks like you have a fan there!’ Salle beamed.

  ‘Hmm, it’s just as well. I think I might need all the help I can get!’

  ‘You have to come and see what wonders I’ve done upstairs!’ Salle said, jumping on the spot and clasping her hands together. ‘Come on!’

  Arianwyn followed Salle upstairs to the apartment, her apartment.

  Salle had indeed worked miracles. Everywhere was clean and dusted, fresh blankets on the bed and a warm delicious smell coming from the oven. ‘One of Aunt Grace’s pies!’ Salle smiled. ‘And I’ve packed all those old clothes and bits of paper and things away in a suitcase; it’s in the wardrobe if you need it.’

  Arianwyn thought briefly about the photo of the witch and the young girl. Perhaps she should show it to Miss Delafield next time she saw her.

  She felt so tired. She sank slowly into one of the armchairs next to the stove and gave a long, weary and relieved sigh.

  Legends tell us that at the dawn of time great spirits separated darkness from light, forming our realm – the world of spirits, witches and humans – and the void. Those great spirits still guard over their creation to this day. Great spirits are naturally incredibly polite and follow a very intricate set of rules which can be incredibly confusing to the uninitiated.

  THE APPRENTICE WITCH’S HANDBOOK

  Chapter 17

  THE SPIRIT LANTERN

  t was more than a week later, early one morning, when Miss Delafield appeared with a large wooden crate.

  ‘It’s one of those blasted spirit lantern contraptions!’ she puffed. ‘FRAGILE’ was stamped in large red letters across the sides and top of the box.

  ‘Well, let’s have a look at it, shall we?’ Miss Delafield said, reaching into her cavernous satchel and pulling out a crow bar. She set about the crate and within seconds the floor of the store was littered with a drift of wood shavings and the sides of the crate. A small square leather case nestled amongst the curls of wood. A long strap curved around it like a tail.

  ‘Well, there you go, then!’ Miss Delafield beamed. ‘That’s for you and all this cataloguing you’re supposed to be doing!’ She pulled a face. ‘Rotten waste of money and time, if you ask me. Not that anybody ever does.’ She laughed.

  Arianwyn smiled, but she was excited at the prospect of using the lantern to capture better images of the various spirit creatures. The best she had ever seen were some blurry photographs from a normal camera or line drawings in books. She stepped cautiously forwards and lifted the case on to the counter. Pulling it open, she reached in and lifted the spirit lantern free. She had seen one only once before and it had been huge, standing on a vast workbench with three long brass tubes, like telescopes, protruding from the front.

  She held in her hands its double, in miniature. The main body was polished wood; it was a compact rectangular box. And from its front protruded three brass-encased lenses. On its side were several switches and dials. Lifting it to her face, she peered through the viewing aperture at the back. Everything was blurred.

  ‘Can you see anything?’ Miss Delafield asked.

  ‘Not really,’ Arianwyn replied.

  ‘Is it broken?’

  ‘No. I just think I might need to look at the instruction pamphlet first,’ Arianwyn answered.

  ‘Well, best be quick about it then, dear!’ Miss Delafield smiled, handing over the flimsy white pamphlet that she had just plucked from the case. ‘We’re off to the Great Wood to get started on your project! Now!’

  Moments later, even before Arianwyn had pulled the seatbelt across her lap, Miss Delafield had sped down Kettle Lane, shoppers scattering in every direction. They were soon clear of Lull, heading across the meadows and towards the Great Wood.

  ‘I didn’t think there were any roads through the Great Wood any more!’ Arianwyn called over the engine’s roar and the wind rushing through her hair.

  ‘Yes, that’s quite right, dear!’ Miss Delafield shouted back. The car was jolting across the meadow, Arianwyn leaping from her seat at every rut and bump.

  ‘Then how are we going to drive into the wood?’ Arianwyn yelled, gripping the seat and the spirit lantern case tightly, her knuckles white.

  ‘There’s still the odd pathway and track that hasn’t entirely grown over. Watch yourself, dear!’

  Branches whipped over Arianwyn’s head and passed her face as the car rumbled from the grass and under the first thick line of trees and into the Great Wood.

  Birds scattered at the sudden disturbance, and a few startled deer hurried away just in time.

  ‘Won’t this scare away any spirits?’ Arianwyn asked, feeling slightly foolish for even mentioning it to the district supervis
or.

  ‘Nonsense, dear. The spirits all live much deeper in the wood than this. We shan’t disturb anything for a while yet – except for the odd sprite, perhaps! That’s why it’s quicker to drive . . . it’d take hours to reach the—’

  Arianwyn could hear the sound of earth spraying behind them as Miss Delafield slammed her foot hard on the brake. The car screeched to a halt.

  Arianwyn rocked forwards, still clutching the leather case tightly for fear of damaging it. ‘What on earth—’ she started to say, but Miss Delafield’s gloved hand slipped speedily over her mouth.

  ‘Ssssh!’

  With her free hand, she pointed ahead to where the trees parted briefly, forming a small clearing that was filled with rich sunlight and dappled shade. And something else.

  That was when Arianwyn felt the tingle of magic. A spirit creature. She leant further forward in her seat. The shadows and light moved and she heard the snapping of twigs.

  There in the clearing was a stagget, a huge spirit creature that guarded the woodland. It looked like a massive deer; its body almost as big as Miss Delafield’s car, it stood twice as high as a tall man. It had large silver antlers that branched out like trees, spiralling high above its head. It grazed calmly in the clearing.

  ‘Oh, my! What a beauty!’ Miss Delafield breathed. ‘Well, are you going to . . . take its picture? Or whatever it is you do with that thing?’ She gestured to the spirit lantern.

  Arianwyn didn’t dare to move. She had only ever seen a sketch of a stagget; there was one in her handbook but it didn’t do the creature justice. She slowly pulled the case open and let her hand slip inside to grip the lantern. All the while she kept watch on the spirit creature.

  It returned to its clump of grass, ears flicking and twisting, alert. Then its head came gracefully up again and it peered out through the trees straight at Miss Delafield and Arianwyn, its silver eyes shining in the gloom of the wood.

  ‘I’ve never seen one this close to a town before, amazing!’ Miss Delafield sighed. ‘Ready with that yet?’

  Arianwyn was just lifting the lens caps free and was about to get the lantern into position when the stagget became rigid, still as stone, and looked back into the wood. Something had disturbed it.

  A low sound, deep and echoing, vibrated from the earth. Arianwyn looked at Miss Delafield. ‘It’s the call of the stagget!’ Miss Delafield whispered. ‘Oh, we’re very lucky to hear them, dear.’

  The sound stopped as suddenly as it had started, and then the stagget bounded out of the clearing, swallowed suddenly by the shadows of the trees. Miss Delafield smiled and clapped her hands together. ‘Did you get anything?’ she gestured to the lantern.

  Arianwyn shook her head – but then a rumbling sound filled her ears and seconds later a small herd of staggets bounded through the clearing following the trail of the buck. She lifted the lantern free at once, holding the viewer to her right eye. The woods blurred before her but this time there was a brilliant white and gold light that flashed across the scene, just for a second. She pressed the button on the top of the case.

  CLICK!

  The herd disappeared into the blurred woods.

  ‘I got it!’ Arianwyn beamed. ‘I saw the staggets in the spirit lantern. All white and gold! I got the image . . . I think.’

  ‘Excellent! But I wonder what it was that disturbed them. Shall we go on a bit further into the wood?’ Miss Delafield grinned and, without waiting for an answer, she pulled her driving goggles down over her eyes, revved the engine and the car was charging through the trees once more.

  Arianwyn caught occasional glimpses of rushing streams, still pools and more clearings, some small and dark, some vast and meadow-like. Every now and then the trees would open up, revealing great swathes of wintry blue sky high above them. And then they emerged into a vast clearing swaying with wild brown and golden grasses.

  Chapter 18

  THE MOON HARE

  arvellous!’ Miss Delafield grinned, pulling her goggles back over her head and taking a deep breath.

  Arianwyn climbed shakily from the car. It felt good to have solid ground beneath her feet at last. She rested the spirit lantern against the wheel and stepped away to take in the meadow and the woods beyond.

  ‘Shall we have a cup of tea, dear?’ Miss Delafield delved into the boot and extracted a large wicker picnic hamper and a small gas stove. She busied herself setting things up as Arianwyn moved away from the car, taking in more of her surroundings.

  It was so quiet, a silence broken only by the murmuring of the wind and the trees, the occasional call of birds and the sounds of Miss Delafield’s small kettle beginning to bubble away. A shiver curled along Arianwyn’s spine. There was magic nearby. But not just a pocket of magic this time – something else. Something shifting, something moving.

  Another spirit creature.

  Quickly and quietly she moved back to the car and picked up the spirit lantern. Loosening the straps and then freeing it from the case, she quickly popped off the lens caps on the three aperture tubes.

  She lifted the lantern high so that she could gaze through the viewer, and then she turned slowly, letting the lantern sweep across the meadow that opened out before her.

  The familiar blurry image filled her vision as she turned slowly on the spot.

  Nothing.

  Then there was a terrible screaming noise, like a child or animal, or somewhere between the two. Something scared and hurt.

  Miss Delafield had heard it too and glanced up briefly from the kettle, staring at Arianwyn. ‘What on earth . . .’ she breathed.

  Arianwyn was still sweeping the meadow and trees with the spirit lantern, but still nothing appeared. And then, on the far side of the clearing, hidden behind a tangle of bushes and grasses, was the faintest flicker of white light. A spirit creature.

  The gentle sounds of the meadow were disturbed as a large black wood hawk swooped down into the grass before soaring skywards again. It was hunting! The spirit creature still hidden amongst the grasses screamed, its fear and panic flooding across the meadow – it must be injured. Arianwyn felt the tug of magic and without thinking she was running towards it, the lantern abandoned on the grass and Miss Delafield calling from the side of the car, ‘Where are you going, dear?’

  Running as fast as she could, she watched the hawk diving straight down towards the ground again, wings tucked in close to its body as it dropped like a stone. It looked as though it would plough straight through the earth! But just at the last second it spread its wings wide, slowing. Its claws, spikes of acid yellow, flicked open and it dropped into the long grass.

  The terrible cry of pain rang out once more.

  Arianwyn’s feet pounded across the earth and she could hear Miss Delafield close behind, the tea things abandoned. Closer and closer, she could see the wood hawk swooping into the air before falling on the spirit creature curled in the grass. The cry had stopped; now the only sound was the hawk’s triumphant caw.

  ‘No!’ Arianwyn screamed, skidding to a halt a few metres from the hawk. Spots of red marked its yellow claws. After a few seconds, Miss Delafield caught up. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked. But Arianwyn was too focused on the hawk and whatever it was attacking to answer.

  Without thinking about it, Arianwyn called Årdra, and a small bright spell orb crackled in the air just above the palm of her right hand. She threw it straight at the hawk and there was a small explosion of sparks, bright yellow flame and black feathers as the spell found its mark.

  It was the hawk’s turn to scream, but after a second it continued to attack.

  ‘I. Said. No!’ Arianwyn growled. She summoned ʘru, the light glyph.

  A spell formed in the air in front of her, crackling with angry energy. She hurled it skywards and watched as it exploded in a shower of noise and light like a firework but a thousand times brighter.

  The hawk wheeled away, screeching loudly in anger as it caught a breeze and flew off, finally defeated.
>
  Arianwyn started forwards.

  ‘Wait!’ Miss Delafield’s strong hand wrapped quickly around her wrist, holding her back. ‘Be careful. You’ve no idea what it might be, dear!’ Arianwyn nodded but continued to cross the few metres to where the grass was now shaking slightly. Whatever was there was trying to move, to get up, get away!

  Crouching slightly, Arianwyn edged towards the shape in the grass. She saw a flash of white and heard a soft but definite growl.

  Her skin fizzed from the flow of magic that swirled about her. Whatever it was, it was incredibly powerful.

  And then she could see it. Curled against a large pile of stones was a creature so white it looked like a piece of moonlight made whole. It was roughly the size and shape of a hare but its glimmering ears were much, much longer. Around its neck, chest and shoulders it was covered in fine, iridescent, pearl-white scales that shimmered in the dappled light.

  ‘You’re an odd little creature, aren’t you?’ Arianwyn reached out, only to be met with a fearsome growl. Its hackles rose, brilliant white fur along its spine bristled. It lashed out with its front feet.

  She saw a gash on its leg; the hawk had indeed found its mark. She inched closer, extending her hand towards the creature. It sniffed at her and relaxed, then tried to scrabble slowly towards her. Blood gushed from its wound.

  ‘Heavens!’ Miss Delafield sighed, ‘That’s a moon hare, dear. They’re very rare indeed. Very strong. I’ve never seen one before.’

  Arianwyn felt Miss Delafield gazing at her oddly.

  ‘They rarely approach humans . . .’ And as if to prove her point the moon hare reared up at Miss Delafield, snapping its small jaws. She stumbled back a little and the moon hare continued its purring growl.

  ‘We have to help it, though, don’t we?’ Arianwyn asked.

  ‘Yes of course, dear.’ Miss Delafield didn’t sound sure. ‘Well, pick it up and we’d best take it back to the Spellorium and see what we can do there.’

  Cautiously, Arianwyn reached forward and slowly lifted the moon hare into her arms. It didn’t struggle or kick out this time – its growls subsided, it yawned and blinked and then nestled against Arianwyn, closing its grey-blue eyes peacefully.