When he went, we all burst into terrified shouts.
Jess: “How can this be happening!?”
Simon: “I want to go home!”
Graham: “You’re all a bunch of pansies!”
Dawn: “In front of the whole school? You lot better be good!”
Florence: “Is the field muddy?”
Robin: “I hate Sports!”
Jake and Gret: “We love Riptide!”
Ellen: “It sounds scary!”
Joanna: “Oh my god.”
Hunter: “What the hec is Riptide?”
I didn’t say anything but let out a huge long moan. How could they do this to us? Ten minutes later and after much moaning, Partington appeared looking slightly calmer, but still fraught.
“I have a book with the rules, and I managed to find out the location of the Condor’s Riptide Shirts. They all come with your names on.”
Oh god, this was all becoming so real! Surely Partington would turn around in a second and laugh at his brilliant joke? But he didn’t. He began with a big swig of coffee (or something), and he was off, like an information machine gun… “Right, Riptide… is a game… that’s been played here at Hailing Hall since day zed. It’s a simple game yet complicated at first, with twelve players and two substitutions. The aim of the game is to get your flounder, or coloured ball, into the other team’s goal. Yet there is more to it. The main points awarded are for getting your ball into the other team’s bolt-hole, or goal. At the same time, they are trying to do the same with their flounder. So you have to attack and defend simultaneously.”
This picture of a chequered pitch drew itself on the board behind Partington. Twelve dots moved around on the pitch, throwing a blue and a red ball to each other. “When you get your ball in the other team’s bolt hole, you score a point…” this jet of red light shot into the air from the bolt hole. “And light shoots out into the sky. The goal which we call a bolt-hole is a magical stone, looks like a stone fountain, you must get the ball in there.” I was taking notes and trying to keep up furiously with what he was saying. “But… you can also score points by stealing the other teams ball and putting in their own goal.” Everyone was scribbling down notes now.
“There are seven allowed Spells in Riptide, which is more like twenty-three if you include Counter-Spells. These seven Spells are for offence, defence, effecting your ball and changing yourself or the environment. The main two you will want to use are…” Partington counted on his fingers. “Raising an opponent into the air and the Spell for breaking the Spell that raises you into the air. We will cover these shortly. When you raise an opponent into the air, if they are airborne for longer than three seconds, then they are out of the game. If you escape within three seconds, you’re safe. It’s all governed by Magic, so there’s no cheating. When you are eliminated, you will shoot off, back to the game bench.
“Now, the pitch. The Riptide pitch looks chequered, but it’s actually what we call an illusory-habitat, write that down. It means that the pitch will change into a variety of set environments. So it might fill up with large rocks, good for hiding behind, or with long grass, or with trees, or with historical buildings which make for the best entertainment. It could be anything and you won’t know what until you step out there and the whistle goes.”
“The flounders are always red and blue. You can throw them, hide them, do whatever you want with them, as long as you get it to that bolt-hole in time. The games run for twelve minutes and there are five games a match. Extra points are earned for getting the entire opposing team into the air, no matter how many points the other team has, you win that game. But don’t worry about this too much for now.
“Now, the environment has other tricks up its sleeve. Hidden around it are what we call Ornaments. It might be a vase on a fireplace in a Venetian fourteenth century setting, or a locket in a tree stump… these Ornaments have special powers that last the entirety of a game. The powers are too numerous to name, but could include - making you invisible to the opposite team, they make your ball invisible, give you flight, it could be a Spell shield… literally anything you can think of…”
The whole time he was talking, I was trying to think of a way out of this. These thoughts tripled when I found out the whole school would be there to watch! Fancy that, the first game of the season between two teams who have no idea what they were doing. When Partington finished talking all our stomachs were rumbling, so he sent for food, not that we could eat. I just sat nibbling an egg sandwich.
“Sir?” said Graham. “Who will we be playing tomorrow?”
“Oh…” said Partington. “You know, I never looked.”
Suddenly and without warning, Straker appeared at the door without so much as a sound. It scared the absolute bejesus out of me!
“And I thought I was expecting you all at my lessons?” he said, voice aimed at Partington. Straker's eyes drifted to the board. “Oh… I see we have some new opponents tomorrow?”
“What?” said Partington, sounding like he might break down at any moment. “We’re playing… we’re playing you?”
“Oh yes… my form is the Eagles isn’t it? And you are the Condors?” he said with a sneer. “Therefore we are playing tomorrow at noon, good luck to you all. Oh, I nearly forgot,” he said, turning looking vicious. “You have homework, in for tomorrow from today’s class. It will be on your form table at midnight. Anyone who doesn’t do it, will get my dungeon detention.” He sailed out of the room chuckling.
“Git…” muttered Partington under his breath.
We stood facing our partner. Partington had written seven Spells on the board with a flick. They floated up in shaky white chalk.
Pasanthedine
Kadriepop
Goaternut
Sevhurton
Nouchous
Zxanbatters
Returious
Sounded like gobbledegook to me.
“Make the words big in your mouth as you say them.” said Partington. We repeated them over and over, until everyone in the room remembered them without having to look - we all, however, had to wait for Hunter who couldn't remember Zxanbatters - God, it was painful.
But, everyone pulled together and we did it. I think it was the fact that we were against Straker’s form that spurned us on that little bit extra. Once we all remembered the Spells, Partington asked us to put our channellers on and hold our arms out in the correct position, which he demonstrated.
“It doesn’t hurt!” he assured us.
I put my amulet channeller on, which felt big and heavy on my wrist, then raised my right hand at Robin.
“On three say the first Spell,” said Partington. “One, two… THREE!”
The room echoed with - “Pasanthedine!”
As soon as I said it, I felt the channeller grow red hot on my wrist. Then this translucent swirling wind like a tornado expelled from my hand. In fact a whole line of swirling tornadoes flew across the room, hitting our partners square in the chest… but no one moved. Robin just stared back at me through his fingers.
“Ok, try again…” said Partington. “Let’s call that one a practice.”
We all repeated the Spell again, the tornadoes flying across the room. This time, it worked! Simon, went straight up into the air and dangled by his foot like a bag of shopping caught in the wind. Hunter proceeded to do this dance around the classroom until Partington told him off. Robin, who I was spelling didn’t move, he twitched a bit but, disappointingly, that was all. Robin didn’t look confident when it was his go, but as soon as he said the Spell, I felt the tornado flap around my robe, before I was yanked unceremoniously into the air. I felt my face grow red as the blood rushed downwards to my robe covered face.
“Yes! Yes!” called Robin.
“Well done!” said Partington.
This carried on for hours. I kept trying the Spell but nothing would happen, followed by Robin lifting me into the air. He’d done it so many times now even he was getting bored of it.
Finally, with me and Jess, the only two having not mastered the first Spell, it happened.
“Yes!” I cried, as Robin, all nearly 6 foot of him, was yanked up and he floated upside down.
“I see now,” he said. “It is rather unpleasant isn’t it.”
Partington proceeded. “Now you know how to launch each other in the air, it’s now time for the second Spell, getting down again. Expect in a match for this to be used as much as Pasanthedine. You must know your Kadriepop.”
We did the same again, this time launching our partner in the air and watching them flounder around recalling the Spell…
“Kadriepop! Kadriepop!” Robin cried as I bent over laughing with Graham.
“No, no Robin,” said Partington as Florence and Dawn floated back down looking red in the face. “You have to move your arms in the circular motion around your body…”
Eventually Robin got it. I didn’t get it so fast, I now languished in mid air going a little dizzy waving my arms around reciting the Spell over and over. When I did get it, that was it. There was no going back. The atmosphere in the class got better and better with each success. We all applauded one another whenever someone completed another Spell. The other Spells were not as important as the first two, but still played a big part in Riptide.
Goaternut - made you kind of blend into the background like a chameleon, but it weighed you down to walking pace.
Sevhurton - froze a patch of ground making it skiddy.
Nouchous - created a temporary wall of fire.
Zxanbatters - that gave you a magnetic grip of the ball.
Returious - is kind of a complicated Spell, because its a bridge to other more complicated Spells, like growing the grass taller, or cutting through it, or raising the water levels or being able to see through buildings. So you’d have to say ‘Returious - ____’ then the other Spell.
“Ideally…” Partington was saying. “You will want to use all these Spells to become the biggest bad-ass team in all of Hailing Hall! But for now just concentrate on the main two.”
In the afternoon Partington took us to the Riptide pitch. He made us run up and down to see who was fastest. The stands were huge and stretched all around in a hexagonal formation of oak stands and red seats. I imagined it full of people, then regretted it as I immediately felt sick.
When we sprinted to the end of the pitch, I beat everyone! I was always fast as a kid, you have to be if you have lots of evil siblings chasing after you. Robin and Hunter were really slow, as too were Dawn and Ellen, who ran with her hands in her pockets.
We practiced our Spells some more as we ran around. Partington said it was harder to aim at a moving target. It was too, you had to really aim your arm right. I managed to get Simon, who I had been aiming for all afternoon, he was scooped up in the air and hung, robes over his face, whimpering. I smiled. The girls were much better than I thought they would be, that’s not sexist or anything, it’s just my sisters never played any sports, mind you, exercise is not their strong point. Eating cake is though.
Gret, Jess and Joanna were naturals. When Partington got the flounders out, which were blue and red, he chucked them to us. They were both biggish but able to be held in one hand, squishy but hard and made of Hubris leather and it had these tiny sparks all over it.
“Now remember, the Spells we learnt earlier can be applied to the flounder too. So, you can freeze it, disguise it and hide it, put a wall of fire around it, or anything else via Returious… but also you must learn how to throw and catch, kick and control… When the ball is in the air you can use Kadiepop to guide it towards you. When it’s on the ground you can use Pasanthedine to shoot it into the air. But communication is the key.”
We threw the flounder around to each other and ran around attempting Spells on them, all were moderately unsuccessful. Then it started getting dark and cold. In the school were warm orange glows of fire as people retired to their common room for the night, or perhaps had some dinner in the lovely warm chamber. We, carried on all night, running around the pitch with those blue and red founders. How ridiculous we must have looked.
“This is how we will line up tomorrow,” said Partington holding a large sheet of paper with the ink moving around. “Hunter, you’re Guardian, that means you keep back near our bolt-hole at all times and protect it. Robin, far left, Avis far right…” I didn’t know if this was good or not so just nodded. “Jess and Florence down the middle attack, and Jake and Gret centre…”
We had no idea really, I think he put Joanna at the front because she’s kind of wild. Jake and Gret together in the middle because they are pretty tough. Hunter at the back because he’s useless. And me on the right because I’m kinda quick? I don’t know. Literally, I had no idea how tomorrow would pan out.
We all trudged to the Chamber, grabbed a plate of dinner and took it to our dorm room. I saw David Starlight grinning at me, bloody idiot.
We all sat around the fire in silence. I nearly fell asleep with a sandwich in my mouth, thinking about the game tomorrow just made me feel sick. I already had a thumping headache and needed a shower. Then, on the table, this pile of sheets appeared.
“Oh no!” cried Robin. “It’s the bloody homework from Straker!”
I’d forgotten, we all had! The clock chimed for midnight, and we all moaned.
“Let’s just do it as quick as possible, even if it’s rubbish at least we can say we did it.” I said and they all kind of agreed, although I think they would have preferred to go straight to sleep.
The questions Straker had set us were so hard! He’d done it on purpose of course, but what a sneaky guy! My eyes were drooping as I wrote the last sentence. Hunter was already asleep on the sofa, and Graham’s handwriting was barely legible. Just as I was about to get undressed and climb into bed, there was a tiny knock at the door. The other guys were asleep and Robin was nodding off, his ink pot dangerously close to spilling all over him. Tina poked her head round the door, saw me and grinned. My stomach did a strange flip, I rubbed my eyes for fear I was dreaming.
“Fancy joining me?” she said grinning her perfect grin.
I couldn't say no could I? Not to Tina, this brilliant girl that had occupied my thoughts almost entirely for the last three weeks, so I cranked myself out of the seat and tapped Robin. He looked around with big bloodshot eyes, saw Tina at the door and stood instantly like a soldier standing to attention.
At the door she inspected us. “Are you sure you’re ok? You both look knackered!”
“We’re fine…” I said smiling. “Where are we joining you?”
“You’ll see…” me and Robin followed her sleepily along the corridors, I kept stumbling, my legs felt like jelly and Robin nearly walked into a suit of armour. “What’s up with you two?” she said, pulling Robin upright.
“We’ve been playing Riptide all day… shattered…” said Robin.
“Oh, well, if you would prefer to go back to bed that’s fine.”
“No!” me and Robin chorused.
“We want to be here, believe me,” I said. Some part of me had wished that she’d have picked a better day to go off gallivanting round the school at night. But this was Tina.
Robin began peering through his glasses as we went deeper into corridors. “Where are we going?” he said.
“Aha, here we are…” she said, as we stopped outside these large wooden, double doors.
“The Library?” said Robin sounding disappointed that he was missing out on sleep to go to the Library.
“Yes, the Library. It has books and things, first years aren't allowed in without supervision, but… I am sure there is a book in here which has all the information I need about…” She looked around, then leaned in closer. “…my quest. It’s just finding it that’s difficult, so you guys need to help me look.”
“But…” I said. “We’re not allowed in the Library, what if they catch us?”
“What if, what if. Do you want to help me or not?” she said with a stern look.
Me and Robin nodded. Tina put her hand to the lock and whispered something that sounded like Percival. The door swung open silently and we trotted inside. Moonlight lit the dark, dusty room. I say room, it was more of a cathedral in size. As long and far as you could possibly see. In the middle of the room was a small river, with bridges going over all the way along. I’d never seen a Library with a river in it before. Tina clicked the door shut behind us and marched in. The bookcases were so high there were ladders a hundred feet tall, if not bigger. You wouldn’t get me up one of them.
“Oh bums, this is a lot bigger than I thought it would be…” said Tina, marching around.
The hunt was unsuccessful, Tina grew increasingly frustrated as we all searched for this mystery book. Me and Robin were searching blind. We had no idea what we were looking for.
Robin began leafing through one book and said. “Wow, this books got Spells in it. There’s a Spell here that blocks Magic attacks!”
“What?” I said. “Pass me that book.”
Robin chucked it down to me and I read. It said this Spell would block most basic Magic, including Illusions, Hexes and Spells.
Dancidios was the Spell-blocker.
“Robin, Spell me!” I said. “Let’s try it out.”
Robin raised his hands at me. “Pasanthedine!”
The tornado swirled towards me. “Dancidios!” I said. And as it tried to yank my leg up, this giant black paw batted the tornado away, as if it was an annoying gnat.
“Woah!” we both said.
“OI!” called Tina from a long way off. “You didn’t just do what I think you did, did you?” She said, suddenly appearing stony faced. “Because this Library has Anti-Spell alarms after hours…”
“Whoops…” I said.
Tina swore loudly. We didn’t know that did we? She hadn’t told us. “But you Spelled the lock on the door?” I said as she began marching to the river in the middle of the Library.
Avis Blackthorn: Is Not an Evil Wizard! Page 7