The Price of Magic

by Gavin Neale

  The Price

  of Magic

  Gavin Neale

  Copyright © 2018 Gavin Neale

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Matador

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  Leicestershire. LE8 0RX

  Tel: 0116 279 2299

  Email: books@troubador.co.uk

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  ISBN 978 1789010 879

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

  For Bree, Johnny, Ollie and Evie,

  because sometimes all a writer needs is a little encouragement

  Contents

  Prologue

  1 Start of the Holiday

  2 Homework and Rain

  3 A Plea for Help

  4 Plots and Planning

  5 Watching and Visiting the Dwarves

  6 Gathering Forces

  7 A New Alliance

  8 Two Children, Two Tests

  9 Camping with Dwarves

  10 Scouting in the Land of Fairy

  11 Choosing a Sword

  12 Sights and Sounds of the Forest

  13 Swordsmith and World Walker

  14 Differing Lessons

  15 Council of Peace

  16 Talismans

  17 Preparations for Magic

  18 The Binding

  19 A Trip to the Land of Fairy

  20 Diplomacy

  21 The Ruined’s Camp

  22 We’re Here to Rescue You

  23 The End of Diplomacy

  24 An Escalating Problem

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  That morning, Thomas was up in his bedroom playing on his games console. He still felt sad but the wrestling game helped distract him and, for the last few days, Mum had stopped turning off his console in the mornings.

  ‘I’ve got to go,’ said Mum, standing in the doorway and looking at him strangely.

  ‘Okay,’ said Thomas sullenly, pausing his game as she walked across his room and opened the curtains. He looked at the screen for a moment then reluctantly turned off the console as he knew it was time to go.

  ‘That girl is always practising,’ said his mum, staring out of the window. ‘I wish you were so constructive.’

  ‘Mum,’ whined Thomas. He was equal parts scared, impressed and dismissive of the girl next door. Whenever the weather allowed, Abby was outside swinging around that stupid wooden sword – and she was not beyond hitting him with a stick when they all played at fighting, either.

  Thomas had preferred playing football with Abby’s brother, Chris, but Chris was getting too old to do that much now and Thomas always felt funny when Chris’s dad joined in. Chris was also better than Thomas and was on some football tour of Holland until the weekend. This meant Thomas would be stuck with Abigail and the stupid old women from up the road until Mum finished work for the Easter weekend. The old women were really scary and didn’t let him run around like his mum did. He missed his dad. Before he died, Mum or Dad would make sure one of them was home during the holidays, but Mum said she couldn’t afford that anymore.

  ‘Come on, I’ve got to get to work,’ said Mum, ruffling her son’s hair. ‘I’ll drop you next door before I go.’

  ‘Do you have to?’ asked Thomas.

  ‘Yes,’ she said with a smile. ‘I know you look big but you’re still only nine. It won’t be that bad, they’ll take care of you.’

  ‘Race you,’ said Thomas, pretending it didn’t hurt as he hurtled out of his room towards the stairs. He charged down them, stumbling and rolling down the last few, but jumping up straight away and running to the front door. It was going to be a rubbish holiday but it was better than being at school.

  1

  Start of the Holiday

  Abby’s feet were cold as she stood on the wet grass but she didn’t mind. Soon Thomas would come over and she, Nora and Daphne would have to look after him. That would be okay – although Thomas was really annoying – but you had to make allowances for what he had been through. That’s what Abby’s mum said. Daphne and Nora agreed but they wouldn’t let him do whatever he liked. That made sense to Abby but Thomas got really angry about it.

  Abby was out in the garden before breakfast because that was the only chance she would get to be by herself and practise her kendo. She bowed formally from the waist, drew her bokken, a wooden practice sword, and started to perform the three different sets of movements that made up the first three kata she had been taught. Abby understood that she had to wait until she was old enough before taking her first grading, but her time in the Land of Fairy had unlocked her warrior’s spirit and she had found that kendo came naturally to her.

  Abby paused once she had finished the kata and then started the cycle of three again. She carefully performed each movement over and over, losing count of the number of times she did them until her mum called to her during one of her pauses. ‘Time for breakfast, love. Tom is here.’

  ‘Coming,’ called Abby, before heading back to the house. She shivered as she realised how cold it was outside in the overcast morning.

  ‘You’ll catch your death like that,’ said Mum, though she sounded weary rather than angry. ‘Why don’t you practise in shoes?’

  ‘Because it messes up my footwork,’ said Abby. She passed her mum and headed through the kitchen, ignoring Thomas who was sitting at the table. ‘I’ll be back in a second.’

  Abby rushed up stairs, still carrying her bokken in the correct manner. She put it away carefully before she dried her feet in the bathroom and put on some slipper boots and another jumper. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail but her long fringe was loose, covering her forehead and the scars from an attack by a sabre-tooth tiger ghost four years earlier. She scraped back her hair for a moment and looked at the scars, hating and loving them at the same time. They were the only reminder of that summer four years ago when Abby had discovered that magic was real. Well, sort of. The two old women from down the road were witches and could do magic, and Chris had been able to do magic in the Land of Fairy, but Abby had had to give up hers to save her mother. All she had been left with was a warrior’s soul and the scars that emerged out of her hair line and came down her forehead.

  ‘Come on, Abby,’ called her mum. ‘Your breakfast is getting cold.’

  ‘Coming,’ shouted Abby. She didn’t want to go down and put up with Thomas, but Mum would be cross if Abby delayed any longer.

  ***

  ‘I swear she sounds more like a teenager than Chris does half t
he time,’ said Abby’s mum. She smiled at Daphne, who had arrived with Nora whilst Abby was still upstairs getting changed. Daphne was all smiles as she chatted; grey curls surrounded her face and she was as friendly as Nora was stern. Nora sat at the kitchen table sipping at a cup of tea as she quietly watched Thomas over the rims of her steel reading glasses, occasionally looking down at the paper in front of her.

  ‘They all grow up at different speeds, Claire,’ said Daphne. ‘But girls do seem to get there quicker than boys.’

  Thomas sat sullenly, fiddling with one of his action figures, itching to get out into the garden and run around. He was big for his age, both tall and heavy; he was often told he was going to grow into a rugby player. He had a mass of blond hair and grey eyes that darted round energetically. In fact, Thomas was a bundle of energy that no one had truly worked out how to contain.

  ‘I don’t think the new school is he—’ But Claire didn’t finish what she was going to say as Abby walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the tea and toast that were waiting for her on the kitchen table.

  ‘Good morning, dear,’ said Daphne cheerfully.

  ‘Morning,’ was the only answer she got as Abby set about her breakfast.

  ‘Would you look at that?’ Daphne said and pointed out of the kitchen window. Everyone turned to see the rain that had started to fall steadily. ‘Looks like we’ll be stuck inside for a bit.’

  ‘Awww,’ whined Thomas, slumping in his chair.

  ‘You can play with your dolls in the front room,’ said Abby, with a sly look at her mum.

  ‘They’re not dolls, they’re action figures,’ Thomas said, visibly bristling at Abby’s suggestion.

  ‘Why don’t you go play in the front room, Tom?’ suggested Daphne, her smile unchanging. ‘You’ll have more room in there.’

  ‘Okay!’ Thomas jumped off his seat and shot out the kitchen, half-dragging, half-carrying his bag full of wrestlers, superheroes and army men.

  ‘They’re the same thing,’ muttered Abby, not looking up from her breakfast.

  ‘Indeed they are,’ Nora said, breaking her silence. ‘We’ll talk about that later when he is calmer. It might be a good morning to get your homework plan sorted so you can make the most of your holiday.’

  ‘I see you’ve got everything in hand as usual,’ Claire said to Nora. She finished her tea, placed her mug by the sink then moved towards her daughter. ‘I’ve got to get going. You try to behave.’

  Abby let her mum lean down and kiss the top of her head. She watched as Claire left to go to work.

  ‘Do I really have to do homework?’ asked Abby. It was a rotten way to start the holiday.

  ‘Not all of it,’ replied Nora, watching Abby carefully as she spoke. ‘But if you put a plan together and get started, you’ll have more time to enjoy yourself and there won’t be a panic at the end of the holiday.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ said Abby. She didn’t feel like working at all.

  ‘Why don’t you help me wash up first?’ suggested Daphne. ‘We can work out a plan and you can make a start once we’re finished. I’m sure Nora won’t mind helping with your work either – she can find out nearly anything with a computer these days.’

  ‘It would do Abby more good to work out the answers for herself,’ Nora said sternly. ‘But it won’t hurt for her to learn how to search online properly for things – as long as she can prove that she understands anything she finds on the internet.’

  ‘That sounds like it could work,’ replied Daphne as she headed to the sink. ‘Why don’t you go check on Tom whilst we get on?’

  Nora gave Daphne a curt nod and made her way slowly out of the kitchen. Abby watched Nora leave, knowing that the old woman did not enjoy dealing with Thomas when he was charging around.

  Abby finished her breakfast and joined Daphne by the sink, carrying her dirty things.

  ‘I’ll wash, you dry,’ Daphne said.

  They quickly settled into their familiar roles. In the four years since Abby’s family had moved into this house Daphne and Nora, who lived down the road, had become part of her extended family. This was fairly natural for Abby and her brother, given that Nora and Daphne were able to see the ghosts Abby and Chris had seen, performed magic with them, and helped the children rescue their mum from an evil tree spirit who had kidnapped her. However, over the years things had settled down into a more normal relationship and it was as if Abby and Chris had been given an extra pair of grandparents to go along with their new house.

  Chris still helped Nora in her vegetable garden that was in an impossible place. Abby still didn’t understand how you walked through the gap in the back hedge of Daphne and Nora’s garden and didn’t go into the garden of the house behind but into a large clearing in the middle of a forest. Still, the potatoes and courgettes they grew looked the same as those in the shop and tasted better. To Mum and Dad, Nora and Daphne were a pair of lively old women who somehow managed to control their children. Even though Chris was old enough to be in charge for short periods, everyone preferred them to be about.

  ‘Are you doing okay at school?’ asked Daphne casually, knowing that Claire was worried about Abby but doubting she would get a straight answer.

  Abby shrugged her shoulders before finally replying. ‘I suppose.’

  Daphne couldn’t help but laugh. ‘That’s hardly a ringing endorsement.’

  ‘It’s…’ But the answer was too complicated and Abby didn’t know where to start.

  ‘I’m sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to pry. We didn’t have schools like yours back in my day but I haven’t forgotten how mean children can be.’

  ‘How did you know it was that?’ asked Abby. She stopped drying and suds fell off the plate she was holding and onto the floor.

  Daphne gave a small laugh. ‘Like I said, I haven’t forgotten being a child. And I know you pretty well, young lady. Not all problems can be solved with a sword.’

  ‘I wish,’ Abby said, possibly too enthusiastically. She was thinking about her first two terms at her new school.

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Not really… Don’t worry, I don’t have plans to disembowel the girls in Year Seven.’

  ‘I didn’t think you had, dear. Although I might have to think about what to do with you if you don’t dry that plate rather than letting it drip all over the floor.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Abby said. She looked down at the mess she’d made. She quickly dried the plate and used the wet tea towel to push water around the kitchen floor.

  ‘I think you’ll find this a bit more useful,’ Daphne said and passed her some kitchen roll.

  Abby soon cleaned up the mess. She found a fresh tea towel and they finished the washing up. ‘So what exactly do you mean by a homework plan?’

  ‘Well, you just need to make a list of what work you’ve been set, how long you think it will take and what you need to complete it. Then work out when you’re going to do what, so you don’t waste the end of your holiday in a panic.’

  ‘You sound like Nora,’ Abby replied. She dreaded the thought of starting schoolwork so early in her holiday.

  ‘That’s not always a bad thing.’

  ‘What isn’t always a bad thing, Daphne?’ asked Nora, walking back into the kitchen and frowning as Abby and Daphne started to giggle.

  2

  Homework and Rain

  Abby looked at the calendar on her tablet as she made notes of what work she was going to do on what day. Nora watched approvingly. She was sitting at the kitchen table, which was covered in books and folders so that Abby could make sure she had everything that was required on her list.

  Daphne was in the front room supervising Thomas who had been getting on Nora’s nerves. Not that she’d said anything to Daphne about it, but her old friend had suggested they swap so Nora could help Abby with her homework plan.

 
‘I think we should go for a walk this afternoon,’ Nora said.

  ‘What about the rain?’ asked Abby, as she finished what she was doing.

  ‘What about it? We’ve got waterproofs and boots, we’ll be warm enough.’

  Abby looked up and stared at the old woman. She gathered her courage to ask, ‘Couldn’t you, you know … take us somewhere warmer?’

  ‘I know Tom is young but I think that he would notice that. Magic is not the answer to all of your problems.’

  ‘Aw,’ muttered Abby, thinking how much the boy was making a mess of her holiday.

  ‘You wouldn’t know anything about magic either if you hadn’t stumbled across those spirits four years ago. It is supposed to be a secret. We certainly don’t use it to avoid a bit of weather.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you alter our memories?’ Abby continued staring at Nora, spoiling for an argument.

  ‘You have too much talent for such a spell to hold – or rather Chris does, after that tree spirit took your magic. But I don’t think your brother would forgive us if we meddled with his sister’s mind.’

  ‘But you’re Guardians of the Peace Accords. You protect humans from magical danger, you don’t answer to my brother.’

  ‘True, but I wouldn’t forgive us either. We keep the peace as best we can but neither of you pose a threat to the Accords. Their purpose is to regulate the separation of magical worlds so unless Chris tries to learn magic, or the pair of you start planning to conquer other worlds, we won’t have to step in.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ Abby said, rolling her eyes at the idea.

  ‘Someone with power, magic or otherwise, can use that power well or badly. We always have to weigh the use of magic very carefully. Your brother and you have more potential than you realise, especially since your adventure. Some might consider you a danger and we have had to do some horrible things to keep the peace.’