Golden Mane, Book One of The Adventures of Sarah Coppernick

by SJB Gilmour

  Sarah had seen this uniform in some of the library tomes. Angela now wore the uniform of an Amazon warrior. The jewels in her braids and a small insignia indicated that Angela was no mere soldier. She was a Captain – not a rank easily obtained.

  ‘When the time comes, Sarah,’ Angela told her in a firm tone that seemed more fitting now she was dressed as a soldier, ‘I’ll be teaching you both how to fight.’

  ‘Whoa, cool!’ they breathed together.

  Angela didn’t smile. Instead, her expression was quite stern. ‘Just how dangerous I am depends upon whom I may need to defend you from, Sarah.’

  Sarah gaped at her teacher. She could see that her weapons weren’t new. The sword blade had many nicks that had been honed out, as had the knives. Angela’s armour also showed many scratches and dents – all marks that had not appeared there by friendly wear and tear.

  Then Angela’s usual smile returned. ‘Now, let’s examine your power so we can begin making sorcerers out of you.’

  She clicked her fingers and was once more dressed in her civilian clothes. Then she waved at the board. All the writing about verbs, nouns and adjectives vanished. The little piece of chalk that was still hovering in the air gave a disappointed sigh. She pointed to the chalk. It gave a startled chirp and suddenly duplicated itself into two identical pieces. The two pieces floated in the air, patiently waiting further instructions.

  ‘Now girls, casting spells can be tricky. You need to concentrate completely on the task at hand. It’s quite different from simply reacting to something off the cuff.’ She gave Mel an arch look. ‘One slip of your concentration and all kinds of things can go wrong. Now, I want you to concentrate on your pieces of chalk and command them to move. Melanie, what is the Magaeic word for ‘move’?’

  ‘Agi,’ Mel supplied promptly.

  ‘That’s right. Now when you’ve got your power under control and your minds are clear, command the chalk to agi,’ Angela instructed the girls. ‘You first, Melanie.’

  Mel began to concentrate very hard. Sarah heard a light rushing sound in her ears and just the faintest itch on her nose.

  ‘Agi!’ Mel commanded the chalk. Slowly, the chalk began to drift towards her.

  Sarah looked at her piece of chalk and concentrated very hard. ‘Agi!’ Even with the help of Wolfenvald whispering within her mind, it was harder than anything she’d done before.

  Instantly, the chalk sped towards her like a bullet! Sarah ducked and the chalk shot past her head and shattered against the wall behind her, giving poor Jimbo an awful fright. The firedrake leaped into the air, chattering wildly and rolling his eyes.

  ‘Oops,’ said Sarah. ‘Sorry Jimbo, I didn’t know that was going to happen!’

  ‘Impressive.’ Angela congratulated her.

  Something occurred to Sarah. ‘Miss Harding, I’m confused. You and Uncle Benjamin keep talking about witches and sorcerers. Are there sorceresses?’

  Angela smiled, flashing her very white and very straight teeth. ‘Of course. Anyone with the power of sorcery can be called a witch. Men, women and even children. However, these days it’s more gender-specific. Women can be called witches or sorceresses or even mages. Men are most often called sorcerers, but they can also be called mages, witches or wizards. Of course, Masters of any field are usually referred to as such. A Master botanist for example, is usually referred to as Master, regardless of whether he or she is a man or woman.’

  ‘And you’re a Master necromancer,’ Sarah said. ‘Does that mean we should be calling you ‘Master’?’

  Angela smiled. ‘You can if you wish. Many sorcerers still do but there are quite a few who refuse to. Some time back I had a disagreement with the Sorcerers’ Guild and they stripped me of my qualifications. I still have the power, knowledge and skills. My degree, as it were, has been revoked. The gender issue is usually more of a problem for men, mostly because it was women who were among the first to use sorcery.’

  ‘It was?’ Both girls asked in unison.

  Angela smiled. ‘Of course. Everyone knows that. Next time you’re in the library, get Nathan to find you Cassandra’s Herstory of Witchery. It’s a marvellous tome.’

  ‘Cassandra?’ Sarah asked. ‘Wasn’t she some sort of fortune teller?’

  ‘Soothsayer, dear. Prophet or seer. She was a talented oracle too for a while, however she’s mostly known as a seer. Several thousand years ago, Cassandra was a normal girl living in Troy. One day, the Greek god Apollo took a fancy to her and tried everything to woo her. His timing couldn’t have been worse. Her father was in the middle of a war. Apollo promised her father victory in battle if Cassandra would marry him. Naturally, her father agreed without even consulting his daughter. In return, Apollo gave her the gift of prophesy.’

  Angela wrote the word on the board. ‘Prophesy, with an “s” is a verb,’ she instructed, ‘and prophecy with a “c” is a noun. What my sister does is prophesy and the result, if she tells anyone, is prophecy.’ She turned back to Sarah. ‘There are some within our particular society who give a great deal of importance to these words.’ Her tone indicated that she wasn’t one of them.

  Sarah gave a start. There was that word again. ‘Prophecy!’ She wondered just who or what was predicting what was going to happen in her future.

  Angela smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry too much about prophecies, Sarah,’ she told her gently. ‘Think of prophecies as news channels. There are countless numbers of them, and most of them tell the same story with little to no differences between them. There’s rarely any point paying attention to them.’ She smiled and chuckled to herself. ‘Mortals think prophecies are all-important, but then they’ve only just worked out that their world isn’t flat.’ For some reason, she seemed to think this was quite funny. ‘Anyway,’ Angela continued, ‘Cassandra became sort of an oracle for a while. When she found out why she’d suddenly been given these powers, she refused to go along with the deal and would have nothing to do with Apollo. Apollo was furious. He cursed her so that though she could still see the future, nobody would believe her.’

  Sarah felt much better. If Angela wasn’t worried about prophecies, then she wasn’t going to be either. The story about Cassandra was much more interesting.

  Angela grinned ruefully. ‘Apollo’s curse wore off as soon as he found a new girl to pursue. All sorts of distasteful rumours went around about Cassandra, but they’re mostly the result of jealous mortals.’

  ‘Why?’ Sarah asked.

  Angela shrugged. ‘Well, Cassandra did turn down the attentions of a god. That’s a pretty gutsy thing to do. Unfortunately, it gave her a bit of a reputation. If a god wasn’t good enough for her, then who would be? The local Greek lads all took this as a bit of a challenge and that really annoyed their girlfriends. They couldn’t kill her, of course, because if they had, Apollo might well have jumped up and obliterated them.’

  ‘But she rejected Him!’ Sarah protested. ‘You said He was furious. Why would He care if they hurt her?’

  Angela smiled then. ‘Sarah, Apollo’s been chasing girls for thousands of years. Every now and then one rejects Him. That doesn’t make Him mad. I think He finds it somewhat refreshing. He was angry because Cassandra reneged on a deal. He still loved and desired her, but pride wouldn’t let Him take her back, even if she begged. But,’ she raised one finger in the air, ‘that doesn’t mean He wouldn’t take it very personally if something nasty happened to her.

  ‘Anyway, after the battle of Troy, she went into hiding for a while. All that rot Homer and others carried on with about what happened after the war was spun out of pure cloth. Eventually, Cassandra patched things up with Apollo. She even had some sort of relationship with Him for a while. Sadly, like so many males, His interest in her soon faded. Hormones drive the Greek gods, I’m afraid. The power He gave Cassandra didn’t just allow her to see into the future. She became one of the most powerful witches in the world.’ Angela’s tone changed subtly. ‘She’s fairly well-respected. I know her
quite well.’

  Sarah looked at her teacher curiously. She was sure there was a lot more to this story. ‘What’s she like?’ She asked. Just imagine being married to a god! Despite her teacher’s strange shift in mood, Sarah was impressed.

  ‘Difficult,’ replied Angela shortly. ‘We’ve had our differences about a number of things but there’s no denying her tome’s been very helpful to any number of my students.’

  ‘How many students have you had?’

  Angela smiled and clapped her hands together brightly. ‘No more questions!’ She exclaimed. ‘Just remember that title. Herstory of Witchery.’

  Sarah scribbled a note to do exactly that as soon as she had finished class for the day. For the rest of the afternoon, the girls dutifully went over and over points of grammar and punctuation. Finally, Angela looked at her watch and decided it was time for the girls to finish up for the day. Mel gave an exaggerated sigh of relief and immediately made for the door. Sarah was set to follow when Angela gently put her hand on her shoulder.

  ‘Sarah, there’s something I should tell you before you go,’ her teacher said cautiously.

  Sarah’s eyes went wide. ‘What is it?’ she asked, feeling very nervous.

  ‘The next few months are going to be a little hard for you, I’m afraid,’ Angela began. ‘I’m not certain when exactly, but some time next month, you’re going to have your first period.’

  Sarah grimaced then blushed. She dumped her bag on the floor and sat down at her desk and waited quietly for Angela to continue.

  ‘Tomorrow morning, Mel’s going to get hers.’

  ‘Ugh,’ uttered Sarah before she could help herself, blushing even more.

  ‘Yes, it can be unpleasant at first, especially since you’re not used to it. In time, however, it will become so commonplace you’ll hardly pay attention to it.’

  ‘Will she be okay?’ Sarah asked, full of concern for her friend.

  Angela smiled and leaned forward to put a comforting hand on Sarah’s shoulder. ‘Of course she’ll be fine,’ she promised. ‘You’re the one I’m concerned about.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Sarah, you’re a werewolf. Also, you look like you’re going to be quite a powerful witch as well, but you’re still a girl who’s on the cusp of becoming a woman. That can be quite scary at times.

  ‘When you go to the library, do get out Cassandra’s Herstory of Witchery, and look up Chapter Two. The first spell she ever cast to enable her to see the future is all there in green and white, and it is particularly relevant in this instance,’ she advised. ‘Now go, young lady. I hope Cassandra tells you all you need to know. I’ll tell your Uncle Robert you’ll be a little late.’

  Sarah picked up her bag and headed for the door where she paused and turned back to Angela.

  ‘Don’t worry about Nathan, dear. He doesn’t understand much about this kind of thing. It goes right over his head.’ Angela laughed. ‘You do know how bookwyrms reproduce, don’t you?’

  Sarah shook her head. ‘No?’

  Angela shrugged. ‘Like any other worm. Chop one in half, and you’ve got two!’

  Sarah was still chuckling to herself when she pushed the button for the elevator. The doors opened instantly and she stepped inside, still grinning from ear to ear. She popped a small silver quill into the elevator’s mouth.

  ‘What are you so happy about?’ the elevator demanded rudely when it had swallowed the quill.

  Sarah was a bit taken aback. ‘N… Nothing,’ she stammered, not really sure what else to say. ‘I just heard a joke, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, out with it!’ the elevator demanded, shutting its doors. ‘I could use a joke.’

  Sarah shrugged and told the elevator what Angela had said.

  The elevator was silent for a moment. Then it said gruffly, ‘Not funny. Not even close! Come on, where to now? As if you can’t get there by yourself anyway.’

  Sarah was grateful for the opportunity to get out of the elevator when it opened its doors at the library. She was about to leave when she thought better of it and decided to stand her ground.

  ‘Just why are you being so awful?’ she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

  The elevator gave a startled shudder. ‘You’re a Golden Mane. Don’t tell me you don’t know!’ it replied hotly.

  ‘Look, this all really new to me. I don’t know much about anything!’ Sarah defended herself, feeling her own anger rise. She was confused about all sorts of things and feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.

  The elevator paused for a moment. ‘Maybe you don’t. You are very young after all,’ it said in a nasty manner.

  ‘Don’t be disgusting!’ Sarah replied angrily. She may have been young but she wasn’t so young that she couldn’t recognise when someone or something was being crude.

  ‘Alright,’ the elevator gave in. ‘I’m a very expensive piece of hardware, young lady. For starters, there aren’t that many floors in this building. A dozen or so flights of stairs or even the odd portal won’t hurt you. For centuries druids and mages had to use stone circles like Stonehenge to get around. Only the most powerful sorcerers could do so without their aid.’

  ‘So?’ Sarah demanded.

  ‘I’m not used to being taken advantage of by lazy little adolescent werewolves and witches!’ the elevator replied hotly.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ she argued. ‘The most enchanted thing I’ve ever done was this afternoon when I made a piece of chalk fly!’

  ‘What guff!’ the elevator snapped. ‘What about that storm you summoned in the park? I don’t know how you summoned that storm without blasting yourself to bits, but every enchanted creature in the country felt it. Now get out!’ The elevator gave a mighty shudder and poor Sarah tumbled out feeling very confused and very angry. She straightened herself up, pushed the bulk of her shaggy hair out of her eyes and marched into the library, fuming.

  At the counter was Nathan, the great purple bookwyrm having what looked like a very serious conversation with Maddy the quickling. Maddy was talking in her usual so-fast-you-can’t-understand-a-word manner, while Nathan, who apparently could understand her, kept bobbing his head up and down while a quill floated next to him, scribbling furiously on a scroll.

  By now, Sarah was quite used to seeing glimpses of the mysterious, dark-haired girl as she flashed about Benjamin’s office. Whatever she was doing always seemed to be very serious so Sarah certainly didn’t want to interrupt her. Angela had told her that Maddy was much more than a mere receptionist. She was also one of Uncle Benjamin’s best proofreaders and an excellent researcher.

  ‘Yes, the Molorchai,’ Nathan was saying. ‘Nasty devils, I’m told. Quite fierce. I’m afraid there’s not much information on them, but I’ll see what I can drum up.’ He looked about at the racks of tomes. ‘Of course, Earth’s so far from anywhere. We get so few reports from other worlds that it might take me a while.’

  Sarah waited as patiently as she could, despite her bad mood, while Nathan and Maddy finished their conversation. Even though she couldn’t understand all of it, it did sound interesting.

  ‘Yes, yes,’ Nathan then said, shaking his head sadly. ‘Prince Jahar must have quite a tale for us. Good luck in your search, my dear.’

  Maddy then thanked him again in another chirp. Then, obviously moving as slowly as she could for Sarah’s benefit, she turned and nodded at her quite calmly. Before she flashed away in her usual flurry of blurred movement, Sarah noticed that beneath her long dark hair was a pair of ears that had no lobes at all and were quite pointy at the top.

  When Maddy had disappeared and Nathan had gathered back all the papers that went flying in her wake, he turned to Sarah and nodded at her to come to him.

  ‘Hullo, Miss Sarah!’ he said brightly. Then he seemed a little confused. ‘It is home-time, isn’t it? Don’t tell me Angela has given you a detention!’ He glanced up at a large clock on the wall.

  Sarah had had enough. She s
at down on her school bag and put her head in her hands. ‘Nathan, I don’t get it!’ she wailed. ‘Everything’s going wrong at once!’

  ‘Well it certainly seems to be the day for problems,’ he observed. ‘What’s the matter, Miss Sarah?’

  ‘I’ve got a test coming up, the elevator hates me and Mel…’ she paused, not really knowing if she should tell Nathan about Mel. Fortunately, she didn’t need to.

  ‘Melanie is reaching puberty before you?’ Nathan asked gently.

  Sarah nodded. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘She was in here last week reading Cassandra’s Herstory of Witchery,’ he told her. ‘Every young girl who comes through here reads it when they enter puberty. Personally, I’m glad I’m a worm. Everything’s much simpler.’

  This attempt at humour didn’t help her much. ‘How come it’s all happening now?’ she complained a little bitterly.

  ‘Oh,’ Nathan said lightly, ‘that’s the way of things.’ He slithered out from behind his counter to rest in front of Sarah. ‘Good things almost never happen at once. Only bad things.’ He looked back towards the great stacks of tomes behind him. ‘If only there were was a quick way of straightening it all out once Miss Maddy has been here. You have no idea how much mess that young lady can make in such a short time!’

  Sarah tried to contain a giggle but couldn’t. Before long she and Nathan were laughing away so loudly they didn’t hear the elevator door open to reveal Angela and Robert.

  ‘You go along, Mr Coppernick,’ Angela advised Sarah’s uncle. ‘It’s time the elevator and I had words,’ she added ominously, her glorious eyes flashing with unspoken heat. The elevator groaned loudly as she stepped back inside and let the doors shut behind her.

  ‘I’m glad I’m not that elevator,’ Robert observed thankfully.

  Sarah looked at him with curiosity. ‘Is she really that dangerous?’

  Robert nodded. ‘Oh yeah,’ he said nodding fervently. ‘Trust me, Sarah. Angela’s not the kind of witch to be messed with. She’s powerful, highly trained and can be absolutely deadly if she needs to be.’