‘What is my mother doing up there?’ gasped Niamh. ‘She isn’t famous, is she?’
‘Ms Maladicta stopped for a moment and gave Niamh that appraising look again.
‘Well if your mother hasn’t told you, it’s not really for me to do so, my young witch. Maybe you should ask her yourself ?’ Turning again Ms Maladicta headed up the stairs and turned left as she arrived at the top of the flight of stairs. Niamh hurried on after her and caught up as she stopped outside a door much like the one to Grady’s room. To the left of this room stood another statue, but this one was of an elf-like witch holding an orb in one hand.
‘Can you guess how to do what your brother did downstairs?’ said Ms Maladicta.
‘Well, I imagine I need to put my hand on the orb and cast the spell, but I think doing that might earn me a detention,’ said Niamh.
‘Fast learner, my child,’ said Ms Maladicta, smiling. ‘You should do well here. Pop your hand up, then.’
Niamh did as she was told. Ms Maladicta pulled a wand out from up her sleeve and waved it over the top of Niamh’s hand. Immediately she did so the statue came to life in a similar way to the knight downstairs. As the elf turned its head to Niamh its hair seemed to ripple out from her face as if blown by a gentle breeze, making Niamh feel as if the breath of a spring day had blown over her. It spoke to Niamh in a soft and gentle voice; ‘Welcome Niamh – Princess of the Land of Promise. If you have need of me, just call and I will help where I can.’ The elf resumed its upright pose and faded back to lifelessness.
‘I love this place,’ Niamh said to herself under her breath.
Ms Maladicta smiled to herself before knocking on the door and entering.
Like Grady’s room there was a wall of windows on one side letting in a view of the river, and mountains and grounds outside. The scattering of desks around the room was more haphazard than Grady’s room but Niamh could see the orderly groupings growing out of the unordered-looking mess.
‘Niamh!’ said a familiar voice from the front of the room. Emmy stood up from the group of children she was helping and strode over to the door extending a welcoming hand. ‘I didn’t want to say anything when we first met, but I’m going to be your teacher this year.’
Niamh looked relieved to see a friendly face. She wasn’t at all sure about Ms Maladicta and her intentions – she was even surlier than Mrs Bingley from her old school. Her smile brightened even more as she saw Bree, Emily and Devin bounce over to her.
‘Can I leave this one in your hands then, Ms Pussywillow?’ said Ms Maladicta haughtily.
‘Of course, Ms Maladicta. Thank you for showing her along here.’
Turning on her heels Ms Maladicta gave another haughty glance to Niamh and then – as if to catch Niamh off guard – gave her a sly wink and a fleeting but unmistakeable smile before sweeping out of the classroom door.
‘Devin,’ said Ms Pussywillow, ‘will you show Niamh to her desk please and help her set her things up?’
‘You bet!’ said Devin with a huge grin, nodding her head so hard her ponytail flicked over the top of her head, catching her in the eye. ‘Owwwww!!’ said Devin. ‘I’ve got to remember to stop doing that ...’ she grumbled to herself. Niamh couldn’t stop herself laughing and even Devin couldn’t help smiling at her silliness.
The rest of the morning seemed to pass quickly for Niamh. Her friends showed her how to use her iWand for her school work – it could be used as a pen which would write in whatever colour you liked and you could even use it like a computer – ask it a question and a little hologram-like projection would pop up from the tip looking like a screen with the answers you needed just like the search engines on her computer she used to use.
The biggest disappointment Niamh had with her morning’s work was how normal everything seemed. They might use iWands instead of pens and computers, but they still had paper and workbooks and Niamh was even more mortified to find out she still had to do maths and boring social studies.
‘I thought things might be more interesting here,’ she said to Emmy as the bell rang for morning tea.
‘In what way, Niamh?’ asked Emmy.
‘Well, I thought we’d do exciting witchy and wizarding things like learning spells and potions and all the sort of stuff you read about magical people doing in books.’
‘Most of those things you’ll learn to do along the way, Niamh. I’m sure Murdock has told you that magic is all about learning to use your inner eye to make what you want to happen really happen. There’s a hundred different ways of making something levitate but each witch does it in a different way. Some use Spirit and Air, others use just Spirit, others just Air, some need some Fire in the mix, just a touch of it though, but all of them manage to make the same thing happen.’
Niamh looked a bit disappointed by this news. ‘So I have to keep learning the same things I was learning back home then?’
‘I’m sorry Niamh, but the answer is yes,’ said Emmy gently. ‘Imagine if you couldn’t read properly when you left school or couldn’t write up a potion properly because you hadn’t learned how to spell? And what if you were asked to meet a sorcerer from another land but didn’t know where his country was or anything about them. Do you think your parents would be happy if a princess couldn’t do that?’
Niamh sat with a wistful look on her face. ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right. It just seems a bit dull, really.’
‘Never mind,’ said Emmy kindly. ‘I have a feeling though that you’ll really, really enjoy the break times here at school. And wait till we get to sports! Would you like to try spell casting on the firing range? You get to blow up targets if you’re really good at it!’
Niamh’s eyes lit up at this suggestion. ‘Oh, yes please!’ she said eagerly before a slight frown appeared. ‘But I’m not very good with magic yet,’ said Niamh. ‘Murdock has been helping me but I don’t have much power in my spells. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to blow any up.’
‘We’ll see,’ said Emmy. ‘Right now it’s morning tea time. Why don’t you head out with Devin and Bree and get some fresh air.’
‘Come on, Niamh!’ said Bree. ‘Let’s have some fun!!’
Together the three girls ran out of the room and down the corridor and stairs to the grounds outside. As they sprinted through the doors into the playground Niamh’s eyes widened in delight. They might have spent the morning buried in boring lessons but Emmy was right about break times. There were all sorts of magical games being played. Niamh thought she recognised some of them from her old school. The boys were playing Brandy but instead of trying to brand each other with tennis balls thrown with all the might they could muster, they were using brightly glowing orbs of magical light which they tossed to each other from iWand to iWand and then flung at the escaping targets with a flick of their wrists. The boys that hadn’t already been tagged were using their wands to cast protective spells against the hurtling balls of light. Sometimes the balls would explode harmlessly against the shields with a flash of sparkling light. Other times the target would be hit raising a howl of pain and a welt on the skin where it struck. The damage never seemed to last more than a moment and no one seemed to be trying to get out of the game, so Niamh guessed the pain didn’t last for long. She never could understand boys back home and it looked like they weren’t any different here.
Elsewhere Niamh could see Grady and some of the other children from his class playing Statues. Just like home you had to creep up on the person who was “It”, but unlike the game Niamh knew, if you were seen moving when they turned round you were turned into a statue. There were a few marble-like figures scattered around the ground that had obviously been caught early on. Their friends were trying to unfreeze them by touching them with their wands – a few were still standing stock-still with their wands outstretched but not quite touching the statue friends. Niamh noticed that Grady had obviously not been fast enough and had already been turned to a statue – his fiery red locks now showing hints of gold flec
ks through the light marbled coloured rock into which he had been transformed.
‘This is wicked!’ said Niamh to Bree, who smiled at her friend’s delight.
‘Come on,’ Bree said, racing down the steps. ‘I’ll introduce you to the water horses.’
‘Water horses?’ said Niamh. ‘You mean those funny little fish with the trumpet noses?’
‘Ummmm. No, not quite, Niamh,’ said Devin, giggling. ‘Come on down and you’ll see!’
Together the three girls started running down to the edge of the river. As they raced down they were joined by Emily and all four quickly reached the banks of the slow-running but deep river.
‘I don’t see any water horses,’ said Niamh, looking disappointed.
‘Watch this then,’ said Emily with a glint in her eye. Pursing her lips the little dark-haired girl let out a shrill whistle which echoed across the river. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment or two. Then from upstream Niamh heard a sound like water rushing and around the bend of the river charged three huge horses comprised completely of tumbling walls of water which formed and reformed around the horses as they galloped downstream. Flowing streams of water formed their manes and tails and, even when they pulled up in front of the children and stood there pawing the river with their hooves, the water streamed around them making it look as though they were constantly surrounded by a billowing wind.
Niamh stood staring at them, dumbstruck. The sight of these water beasts was beyond her imaginings.
‘What are they?’ she finally said, turning to Bree.
‘These are the river guardians. They make sure no dark magic is able to get into the school grounds along the river and they look after the health of the river, grazing away the weeds and other things which might clog it up. Cool though, aren’t they?’
Niamh could only nod her head as one of the horses stepped closer to her as if curious. As it did so its companions also locked their gaze on Niamh who suddenly felt very uncomfortable. The biggest of the three horses came even closer until it was standing at the edge of the river with its head arching out over the riverbank, water dripping off its snorting nostrils. It regarded Niamh for a moment, its nostrils twitching as if sniffing out the new arrival. Then, as if coming to a sudden realisation, the beast stepped back, whinnied to its two companions and then bowed to Niamh, putting one foot out ahead of it and lowering his head to the surface of the water. As it did so its two companions did the same till all three of the water horses were bowed in supplication to Niamh.
Looking around Niamh was suddenly aware there was now a large number of students standing close by and further up the hill who were watching the display by the horses. All activity around them had stopped when the horses bowed to Niamh. This was clearly something that no one had seen before. Niamh didn’t know what to say or do, but the silence was suddenly shattered by a chime from all of the iWands the children had in their hands. The chime broke the tension in the air and the horses stood back upright again and towered over the children. With a quick wink of its eye the leader of the three horses suddenly reared up on its hind legs and pawed the air in front of it before it turned and galloped back upstream again, fading into the water as it did so until it had completely disappeared. Its two companions did likewise and in moments no one could tell there had ever been three such magical beasts standing at the water’s edge.
Niamh realised she had stopped breathing and took a big gulp of air in as the horses disappeared. ‘Whoa,’ said Bree, looking shocked. ‘That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen them do.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Niamh
‘Well, the horses don’t usually have much time for us. They come when you call them most of the time but they never pay us much attention. Sometimes one of them might stop and look at us but they act mostly as if we aren’t really that important. They NEVER do what they’ve just done to you.’
Niamh wanted to ask more questions, but before she could their wands chimed again – this time more shrilly than they had before. ‘Come on,’ said Devin. ‘Morning tea is over and we’ll be in trouble if we don’t get back quickly.’
The children raced back to the classroom, but Niamh noticed as they went that there were groups of girls and boys who were stopping and pointing at her as she ran. Clearly the story of the water horses at the riverbank had spread quickly and Niamh had gained a reputation very fast. By the time they made it back to their classroom even Niamh’s teacher had heard.
‘Told you break times were fun round here, Niamh. It looks like you’ve impressed the water herd which is not an easy thing to do.’
Niamh didn’t know what to say so simply smiled and headed back to her desk beside Devin. If this was what the rest of her time at school was going to be like she didn’t know how she was going to handle it. They hadn’t even made it to her first lunchtime and already she had a reputation in the school. Oh why couldn’t those horses have just left me alone, she thought as she opened up her desk and took out her ruler and rubber. She could feel every eye in the classroom on her now as all her classmates realised there was nothing normal about this little girl.
Chapter 16
Battleground Breakthrough
The rest of the day dispelled any notion Niamh and Grady may have had of slipping quietly into school life. While the classwork didn’t cause them any problems, staying out of trouble at lunchtime did. Everywhere they went they found groups of children would gather and stare – pointing and talking amongst themselves about the new arrivals.
‘Don’t worry about them, Niamh,’ said Bree, trying to help. ‘It’s not often that someone from the outside turns up and we’ve never had a princess in the class. Everyone here is a little bit scared of upsetting you. And that thing with the water horses this morning really freaked them out!’
‘Well it’s not my fault,’ said Niamh, pouting a little bit. ‘I didn’t ask them to bow down in front of me!’
‘I know that,’ said Emily, joining in. ‘But not everyone else knows it. Some people probably think you have strange and scary powers as NO one has ever seen the horses do that! Mostly they just go prancing up the stream and spray water on the boat crews as they row along!!’
Grady had fared a little bit better than Niamh, but even he was having a hard time. It seemed as though everyone was better at magic than he was, their powers a little bit stronger (even the first years) and his spells never did exactly what he wanted. Instead of turning people into marble when playing Trees he ended up turning them into rubbery plasticine which meant they promptly collapsed into lumpy piles on the ground. He couldn’t raise a decent shield against the ball in Brandy and found by the end of lunchtime his legs bore a pile of bruises – one on top of the other.
‘I’m useless!’ he shouted at himself as he stomped off towards the classroom at the end of lunch.
‘Yep. You were rubbish!’ said Hugh, looking pleased with himself. He seemed to have taken a particular delight in branding Grady and was enjoying rubbing it in.
Sticking his tongue out at Hugh as his classmate bounded off ahead of him, Grady suddenly felt the stinging in his legs start to subside and be replaced with a warm glow. Looking down he saw a golden nimbus surrounding his lower body.
‘Ignore him,’ said Tulliah breezily. ‘He’s rude to everyone. He doesn’t like you much because his father is really high up in the government, but you’ve just trumped him by having the most important dad round here. There, that should do it!’
The golden glow disappeared as Tulliah lowered her wand. All the welts which had been coming up on Grady’s legs had disappeared and he felt much much better as a result of his friend’s spell.
‘Thank you Tulliah. That was really nice of you.’
‘You’re welcome. But you’re going to have to practise your shields or you’ll end up like this every day. The boys can be a bit nasty if they think someone isn’t very strong at magic.’
‘It’s really stink, though,’ said Grady dejectedly.
‘Everyone is telling Niamh and me that we’re going to be really strong wizards but those first years can do better spells than us.’
‘I’ll help you practise if you like?’ said Tulliah. ‘Maybe you just need some more time? After all, you haven’t really been here very long, have you?’
‘I hope it’s just practise I need,’ said Grady a little dejectedly. ‘Or maybe we really are rubbish.’
‘Don’t be silly!’ said Tulliah. ‘You’ll be fine. Come on! Race you to the class!!’
Tulliah raced on ahead, her long blond ponytail swinging behind her. After a moment Grady took off after her with a smile back on his face. At least he had one friend here who didn’t mind he wasn’t much of a wizard.
As they raced back to class neither Grady nor Niamh saw the set of eyes watching them from the shadows. Jealous and hungry thoughts flashed through the watcher’s mind. Planning and time and you will be mine, went its thoughts as the children bounded towards the terraced steps. Planning and time. And patience ...
At the entrance to the school Niamh pulled up abruptly. ‘What’s wrong?’ said Devin, skidding to a halt in front of Niamh.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Niamh, turning back and scanning the playground. As her eyes swept across the buildings she saw Quinn standing stock-still beside one of the colonnades. He turned and disappeared around the side of the building so quickly that Niamh had to think for a moment about whether she had actually seen him or just imagined it. ‘I think I was being watched by Quinn just then. I’m sure I saw him over there by the corner, but he’s gone now. I could almost feel his eyes on me.’
‘Oh don’t worry about him,’ said Devin. ‘Everyone knows he’s a bit strange, but he’s harmless. And he’s not very good at magic either so if you have any problems with him just let us know and we’ll make his pants disappear in assembly one day.’
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