Icespell by C.J. Busby Page B

Lionel strode over and put his large foot firmly down on top of it.
    â€œApologies, my lady,” he said. “So sorry young Olivia tripped and stumbled into you. Let me get you your potion.”
    He picked the bottle up deliberately and examined it. Then he slowly started to walk towards them. Morgana had picked herself up rapidly, while Snotty lay groaning and clutching his stomach.Olivia was sitting up looking slightly dazed and holding her head, but Ferocious had entered the fray and was biting Morgana’s ankles, while she kicked out in a most unladylike fashion and tried to drive him off.
    â€œHand me that potion!” she shrieked at Sir Lionel. Her hair was flying in all directions and her eyes were full of fury.
    He bowed.
    â€œOf course, my lady, of course…”
    But before Sir Lionel could delay any further, Snotty, who was just next to him, snatched the potion bottle from his hand and threw it to Morgana. She caught it expertly, and with a triumphant smile, she shook the entire contents out onto the grass, raised her hands, and said the words of the spell.
    ***
    In the Great Hall, the last small droplet of the Lady of the Island’s spell dripped out of the potion bottle onto the ground and fizzed slightly, a wisp of purple smoke circling up from it. Max felt a lightening of Morgana’s connection spell and closed his eyes and pushed withall his strength at the ice-wall in front of him, undoing the magic he’d done, tearing it apart as rapidly as he could, pushing as far into the ice as possible. He felt it give, and melt away, but he wasn’t sure if he’d reached Merlin and he could already feel the effects of the Lady’s magic wearing off. Desperately he willed away the ice around Merlin, thinking hard of the wizard’s warm voice and hawk-like eyes. There was a faint crack, and Max opened his eyes.
    He’d succeeded in driving the ice-wall back, almost completely freeing Merlin, and it seemed the wizard himself was finishing the job. As Max watched, Merlin put out his arms and pushed the ice away from him, and strode towards Max, frowning.
    â€œMax! What’s happened?” He looked round and saw the rest of the hall frozen in solid ice, and then turned back to Max, his hand on his sword. “Flame and thunder! Who’s responsible for this?”
    â€œI am,” said Max hurriedly. “But I’ll tell you everything later. Right now Morgana is—”
    There was an enormous BOOM! thatreverberated through the entire castle. Merlin’s eyes widened and he flung up his hand, placing a protection spell over them all. As the icespell was ripped away by Morgana’s magic, a shockwave from the reversal seemed to shake everything in the castle. Merlin staggered, as if a great weight were pushing at him. Then it was gone, and Merlin straightened. He looked rather grey, but he appeared to be all right. And all around the hall knights were stirring, as the effects of the icespell wore off and they found themselves suddenly awake and wondering what on earth had just happened.
    ***
    Olivia and the others watched in awe as the ice mountain cracked from top to bottom then started to shatter into tiny pieces. The fragments sparkled in the sun and then vanished as if they had never existed.
    Lady Morgana clapped her hands together and took a deep breath.
    â€œWell, Sir Lionel,” she said, her voice quite restored to its usual warm honeyed tones. “You see – I managed to reverse the spell before Max could do any irreparable damage! I’m afraid we may not find many people alive in there, but let’s hope very hard that one of them is my dear brother…”

    She smiled in satisfaction. Olivia felt sick, and she noticed that Sir Lionel was also looking rather pale. But Sir Richard Hogsbottom looked like someone had just handed him a gold chain of office, and Snotty had a smile of triumph.
    Suddenly Great-Aunt Wilhelmina let out