Zak Turner - A Twist In Time

by Noel Pogson

  It was the team duelling that attracted Sartrina, and after watching the A team take on the B team, she decided that she’d be trying out for the first year teams as soon as they were allowed to duel. It was watching the team duelling try-outs that gave Sartrina her first experience of being on the receiving end of a stunning spell too, just a couple of hours before Zak and Tallion went through the same experience!

  A fifth year cast the spell at a fourth year who tried to rebound it, but his technique wasn’t very well honed, and the spell ricocheted out of the side of the ring straight at the first years. Sartrina had nowhere to go, and it whacked her fair and square in the chest. Just as Zak and Tallion were starting their Spells and Charms class in Lofthouse Castle, Sartrina Whitestone collapsed to the floor in Mhonarr Castle as she experienced the whiteout brought on by the stunning spell!

  Professor Pectus and the prefects descended upon her inert form, making her comfortable until the effects wore off and she regained consciousness. Both the fourth and the fifth year students were very apologetic, but apart from a fading headache, Sartrina was none the worse for the experience. She also attracted a lot more attention from the other first years who asked her to tell them what it felt like, and she duly obliged. Far from putting her off, she felt strangely attracted to the idea of being able to defend herself with spells like that!

  * * *

  Lower Nettleton church clock chimed the half hour at four thirty, and Steven started to feel frustrated. He’d been in the post office courtyard for ten minutes already hoping his friends would come early, and he’d have ridden his bike into the park already if it hadn’t been for the huge wrought iron gates across the entrance. Eventually he decided to ride up and investigate them while he waited, completely unaware that to anyone non-magical it looked as though he was inspecting thin air next to an open farm gate into a field!

  As he reached out his hand to touch the gates, they suddenly swung open of their own accord, and Steven nearly fell off his bike in surprise! He could see the tarmac road that stretched across the fields, and after only a few seconds hesitation, he decided to ride through the gates and into the park. He was barely ten feet down the road when the gates swung closed behind him, and in typical Steven style, rather than feeling trapped like anyone else would have done, he simply grinned.

  “Well, there’s only one direction to go now Steven, you plonker! Ye’ve landed yersel right in it this time!”

  * * *

  Zak and Tallion didn’t have their bicycles at the castle, and they weren’t sure how Sir Philip would react if they went to meet Steven on their brooms. Although the driveway wasn’t as remote as the moor, it was invisible to non-magical eyes, so if they stayed above it then they should be hidden, and the baronet hadn’t specifically forbidden them from flying down the drive…

  Zak, out of deference to his adopted father, would probably have decided not to do it, but Tallion was egging him on, which was quite out of character, or more correctly it was Zak’s natural character coming out in Tallion! The boys had seemingly swapped personality!

  The two wizards were therefore sitting astride their new broomsticks by the two oak trees at the top of the hill when they saw Steven come through the gates. After a quick glance at each other, and deciding to go for it, they shot down the hill towards the unsuspecting farmer’s son at full speed!

  Steven had just turned his attention back towards the road after watching the gates close behind him, when he saw two large objects rapidly approaching him at head height! He didn’t even recognise them as human, let alone as his friends, and he ducked quickly, lost his balance, and crashed to the ground all tangled up in his bicycle!

  “Hi mate!” rang out Zak’s voice above him, as the young farmer started to extricate himself.

  “I see you worked out how to get through the gates then!”

  “ZAK! Ruddy Nora! I thought I were dead or summat fer trespassing, but it’s only you! I should have guessed! Gave me a rotten heart attack yer did, and a load of bruises. Blimey! Is that a broomstick yer sittin’ on?! I don’t believe it! That’s wicked!”

  Steven had gone through a whole string of emotions as quickly as he spoke. Surprise, relief, annoyance, self-pity, realisation, and then wonderment. After a few moments he added jealousy to the list. Sure, he was happy being a farmer, but it did seem as though being a wizard was a lot more fun!

  “Yep! Do you like it? Tallion’s got one too,” Zak replied as Tallion zoomed into view, “and Bjarne.”

  “I just can’t believe it! I mean, I didn’t believe wizards really existed until I saw it all happening before me eyes, but riding broomsticks?! I was sure that had ter be made up!”

  “Very real my friend, just like everything else. Tallion, do you think the brooms will work for Steven? He’s magical so they should be able to sense him?”

  “Yeah, I guess so, and we’re certainly going to get you to try it mate! I assume by the look on your face that you want to?”

  “Too ruddy right I do! I’m not having you two flying in circles above me head if I can do it meself!”

  “Come on then, we need to get up to the castle,” grinned Tallion. “You need to try on a restricted broom first. If you try on one of these you’ll likely kill yourself!”

  Steven had now clambered back onto his bicycle, and was riding up the road towards the oak trees behind Zak and Tallion who were slowly flying ahead of him.

  “Can’t yeh give me an ‘and? This is a steep hill on a bike!”

  “I would if I could,” answered Tallion, “but I don’t know what spell to use to push something.”

  “Dur! You don’t need magic Tallion, you can use your hand like this,” answered Zak. He flew closer to Steven and reached out his right hand to give him a push. It took them about thirty seconds to get it sorted out, but soon the grinning Steven was barely doing anything as Zak pushed him quickly up the hill.

  “I love magic!” he said, copying a line he remembered from one of the Harry Potter films.

  “That makes two of us,” laughed Zak, “and when I’m with you I still can’t believe that I’m a wizard, and you’re almost a wizard too!”

  Tallion was now flying at the other side of Steven and pushing him with his left hand, and they were making very rapid progress up to the castle.

  “Will the gates let him through Tallion?”

  “Hmm, good question,” frowned the blond wizard, “I think it should be okay, but maybe we should go slowly rather than slam him into them too hard!”

  “Gates?” asked Steven.

  “Yeah, gates,” answered Zak as they came over the last hill between the trees, and saw the castle walls looming in front of them. “Those gates.”

  “Blimey! Is your house through there Tal?” exclaimed Steven, his eyes wide with surprise.

  “Yep, and they’re magical gates, so they don’t actually open, they just let you through if you’re allowed in.”

  “Er, how can they let yer through if they don’t open?”

  “Just wait and see. This is magic we’re talking about okay?”

  “Okay, this should be interesting. What do I do?”

  The three wizards were zooming quickly towards the very solid looking gates, and showed no sign of stopping, although they were slowing down a bit.

  “Nothing. I’m pretty sure the gates will let you through because we’re with you, but if they don’t then we’ll all end up in a heap on the floor.”

  Steven was starting to be a bit worried. His two friends were talking nonsense, and were still pushing him quickly towards a pair of huge, very solid looking wooden gates in an enormous and very solid looking castle wall!

  “Er, fellas, umm, I don’t want to doubt you, but… Agghhh!”

  Steven shut his eyes as the trio of wizards approached the gates. He wanted to pull the brakes on to stop the bicycle, but for some reason he couldn’t, so he braced himself for a painful crash. So did Zak, having never flown his broomstick through the gate
s before! They’d gone over the wall on the way out!

  Tallion however, with the confidence born of being the heir of the estate, knew that his gates would always let him through, and continued resolutely onwards. As with the trips through the gates in their cars, there was no crunching accident, no thud as their faces and bodies smacked into the ancient oak timbers, just the same tingling sensation that reminded Zak of the portals that he was now quite used to walking through. Even Tallion had closed his eyes at the last second as they actually went through, but now all three wizards opened them again.

  Zak and Tallion felt the same ‘welcome home’ feeling that they always got at the sight of the castle, even though they’d only been down to the post office and back! Steven however, felt like he’d suddenly arrived in another world, almost another reality, which of course he had!

  The two soul mates stopped pushing him, and let him stop the bicycle and drop it to the ground as he climbed off and stared open mouthed at the lake and the castle and the breath-taking scene before him. They stepped off their broomsticks too, and stood just behind him, sensing his emotions, and hearing his amazed thoughts. It was only the second time that Zak could remember Steven being completely lost for words. The first had been when he met Columbetha Proudfoot in Upper Nettleton a few weeks before! Eventually Tallion spoke into the stillness.

  “Do you like it then?”

  Steven seemed to rush back into reality. “Is it real? It isn’t somehow pretend is it? It looks so fabulous…”

  Zak put his hand on his long-time friend’s shoulder before he answered.

  “Aye, it’s real mate, very real, and very fantastic, and I was as gob-smacked as you are when I first saw it. Welcome to Lofthouse Castle!”

  “Blimey, a real life castle, and you live here Tal?!”

  “Yep, I’ve lived here every day of my life, at least, until this summer. Now Zak lives here half the time too, when we’re not both living at The Copse.”

  Steven barely seemed to have heard, and then a few seconds later he looked at Zak with his familiar mischievous grin and an almost dangerous glint in his eye as he suddenly seemed to remember that his friend was standing next to him.

  “I should kill you Zak Turner, fer keeping this secret from me, you sneaky git! Come on then, show me round. I want ter see everything, and I want ter ride on a broomstick too! I’ve got a lot of catchin’ up ter do wi’ everything you two’ve been hiding from me fer s’ long!”

  Steven climbed back on his bicycle, and started to ride as quickly as he could towards the castle. The two soul mates got back onto their broomsticks, but before they set off after him they had a quick private conversation.

  I think he likes it brother!

  I’m sure he does! Everyone who sees it falls in love with it, Tallion!

  I’m glad we can share it with him, I never used to be bothered about keeping things hidden, but somehow now it’s a bit uncomfortable.

  That’s the Turner influence from my personality, I hadn’t noticed, but I think I’ve become a bit less sensitive about it now. Not sure I like that… I never used to have any secrets from Steven…

  Well, you’ll be able to get back to that now I expect, it will mean he has to keep secrets from his parents though; that’s a bit awkward.

  They’d never believe him anyway Tallion. How could you explain this castle to someone who can’t see it?

  True. Come on then, let’s catch up with him. I expect he’ll want to try out flying first, so we’ll go through to the courtyard and give him one of our old broomsticks to see how he gets on.

  Do you mind if I give him mine? I’d feel really pleased to know it was his now…

  ‘Course not! I’m sure I’ll feel the same way, Soul Mate!

  * * *

  The three eleven-year-olds got a couple of surprises when they arrived in the courtyard.

  The first was meeting a stern faced Sir Philip, who left his two sons, adopted and natural, in no doubt that flying to the post office on broomsticks was not an acceptable thing to do. Steven was still surprised at how Zak always referred to the baronet as ‘father’, and he kept very quiet hoping that he wasn’t going to get into trouble for coming through the gates by himself!

  The baronet turned to him after he’d finished with Zak and Tallion, but instead of the expected dressing down, he welcomed him to the castle, and told him that the gates would now always let him in. He asked the young farmer not to show the gates and the driveway to anyone else though, and not to tell anyone about the castle, including his own family.

  Steven would have done what Sit Philip wanted anyway, and not just because the deal with the fields wasn’t finalised yet! However, having just witnessed Zak and Tallion getting told off doubly convinced him not to risk the same treatment!

  The baronet dismissed the boys who quickly scuttled to the broom cupboard, where they got their second surprise! The cupboard had grown, and next to Zak’s broom was a space for another one, with the name ‘Steven’ carved into the wood above it. Zak’s old broomstick was standing at the end of the cupboard, alongside Tallion’s, and the grinning eleven-year-old grabbed it and presented it to Steven.

  “This is for you mate. It’s yours to keep, forever.”

  Steven’s face once again registered delighted surprise, and he shook his head in disbelief as he inspected the broomstick and ran his hands along its sleek handle and over the footrests.

  “I can’t believe this, I just can’t believe this is happening,” he muttered to himself. He looked up with an almost worried look at his two friends to find them watching him with smiles on their faces.

  “Thanks guys, fer being me friends, and fer everything else… Yer both so cool… And thanks fer t’ broomstick Zak, now yer need to show me how it works though!”

  “With pleasure!” responded Zak. “Come on then, we have some teaching to do!” and with that he grabbed his own broomstick and marched back outside into the courtyard.

  The three wizards spent an hour flying round the courtyard with Steven, who was much more confident than Zak had been when he first flew. His overconfidence made him crash a couple of times though, but it didn’t take him long before he got the hang of it. The magic inside him was obviously enough for the broomstick to read, and soon he was hurtling round the courtyard as fast as the broomstick would go, and taking it right up to the height limit too! A natural, as Sir Philip would say later to him at dinner.

  “A lunatic more like!” Zak would respond, getting a good laugh from all present.

  12. The Letter

  Steven, like Zak a few months earlier, was overwhelmed by the castle. Dinner was an unforgettable experience, and he did his best to eat a bit of everything. He’d already seen quite a lot of magic by now, so plates and dishes appearing and disappearing, and food moving around by itself, and even talking, was fascinating, but not too startling.

  The sudden appearance of Uncle Theodore, though, was a surprise too far, making him cry out in shock and drop his knife and fork with a clatter! He also pushed himself backwards from the table in fright.

  “Ahhh, hello!” exclaimed the friendly ghost, as though popping up through Steven’s dinner plate was normal behaviour. “So you’re the new wizard who’s been zooming around the courtyard this afternoon.”

  Steven swallowed nervously and just nodded in response.

  Totally ignoring the reprimands of several living Middleham’s who were taking him to task for his behaviour, Uncle Theodore pressed on with his conversation.

  “That was quite some flying young man, considering that’s the first time you’ve ever sat on a broomstick! Are you enjoying your dinner?”

  The ghost drifted backwards through the table towards Bjarne, who was sitting opposite Steven, and looked down at the plate he’d just popped up through, poking his ghostly finger into the food as though he was going to try some of it.

  Steven was recovering a bit of his poise, and said in a slightly quavering voice, “Er, aye, well
, I would be if you weren’t in it.”

  “In it? I’m not in it young man, I’m through it. However, at the sprightly age of two hundred and ninety nine years dead, I can barely remember what food tastes like. We ghosts can’t eat, sadly,” said the ghost looking wistfully at Steven’s tasty meal. “Neither can we touch things, well, most of the time, so your braised dragon cutlets are perfectly safe.”

  “Years dead?” asked Steven, who’s attention had been caught by the phrase.

  “The number of years since I died young man! Good heavens, don’t they teach you anything in school these days?!”

  “Aye, but now’t about ghosts,” responded Steven quickly, starting to feel a bit more confident.

  “Well that’s a sorry state of affairs! I could teach you lots about ghosts if you want to know about us. I’m very pleased to meet you, err...?”

  “Steven,” said the farmer’s son, understanding that the ghost was asking him his name. “Steven Robson. What’s your name?”

  “Theodore Delphinius Tomas Middleham, third son of Zavien Bjarne Middleham,” answered Uncle Theodore quickly, obviously delighted to recount his vital statistics yet again.

  “Born at nine minutes past four in the afternoon of the sixteenth of September sixteen hundred and nine, and died at ten minutes past five on the seventeenth of October seventeen hundred and ten.”

  Steven looked a bit puzzled. He had no idea why the ghost was looking so proud of himself and his age. After a few seconds Uncle Theodore’s face sagged, and took on a resigned look as he rolled his eyes.

  “No-one ever works it out! Well, enjoy the rest of your meal young Steven, no doubt we’ll meet again, but probably not at the dinner table,” he said, with a quick look at Sir Philip who was brandishing his wand and looking rather stern. “I don’t fancy being on the wrong end of a banishing spell. Toodle-oo!”