“The magician that hexed Clara, it … it was Prince Kalman,” Neil said, later that evening when he arrived, cold and tired inside Arthur’s Seat on an exhausted broomstick. He was still amazed at his discovery. “I heard the wolf man talking to him … Herr von Grozny,” he whispered, looking from the MacArthur to Lord Rothlan and Lady Ellan, “and Prince Kalman said he was dying …”
There was a long silence. Kitor and Cassia, who had flown beside Neil on his journey north, looked frightened. Both had, at one time, belonged to the prince and he hadn’t treated them with kindness. Amgarad, too, squawked and flapped his wings strongly from his perch on the back of Lord Rothlan’s chair. The prince had never been one of his favourite people, either. He had spent years locked in the body of a monstrous bird as a result of Kalman’s scheming. It was no surprise that he loathed him. Even Arthur, the great dragon, didn’t seem unduly upset at the news of Kalman’s plight. His death would be no great loss to the world of magic. He blew a cloud of smoke down his long nose and then looked apologetic as Archie and Hamish started to cough. The sight of the sparkling smoke, however, reminded the MacArthur of his pipe and, fishing out his favourite briar, he avoided his daughter’s stern gaze and started to fill it with tobacco.
Although the MacArthur had looked thoughtful and glanced at Lord Rothlan when he heard Neil’s words, he hadn’t seemed particularly surprised. It was Archie, Hamish and Jaikie who’d sat up in amazement, every bit as startled as Neil had expected.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Neil said suddenly, looking accusingly at the MacArthur. “You knew that the old man was the prince!”
“Actually, I told him,” Lord Rothlan confessed, with an uneasy smile. “I saw Hughie a few months back when I was visiting the Lords of the North in Morven and … well, he told me that Kalman was ageing fast and that he was afraid he was going to die. Hughie and Kalman always got on together, you know.”
Neil’s eyes dropped. Hughie, whose cottage lay on the slopes of the mountain, was a great guy and he’d never been able to understand how he could like someone as nasty and arrogant as the prince. He shrugged. “The other thing Prince Kalman talked about was Malfior,” he continued, meeting Lord Rothlan’s gaze. “He said it was Malfior’s fault that he was dying.” Jaikie and Hamish looked at one another with raised eyebrows as Neil finished slowly. “He called it Malfior’s Curse.”
Again there was silence and Neil looked round in surprise. There was obviously something going on that he didn’t know about and it didn’t look as though they were going to tell him, either. He flushed, feeling angry and embarrassed. They’d never kept anything from him before and it was more than a bit hurtful. Knowing that they must have a reason, however, he kept his voice level. “What about Prince Casimir?” he asked. “I mean, does he know? Can’t he do anything to help him?”
“Prince Casimir is with the Sultan in Turkey,” the MacArthur said. “He knows nothing of his son’s condition and we haven’t told him.”
“You haven’t told him?” Neil’s voice rose incredulously. “But … but he’s his father! It’s his right to know!”
“It’s like this, Neil,” Lord Rothlan sighed, “before he left Morven, Kalman made Hughie swear that he wouldn’t tell anyone, especially his father, what was happening to him.”
“So Kalman’s going to let himself die rather than go to his own father?” Neil looked incredulous. “That’s just … plain stupid!”
“The truth is, we just don’t know what to do about Kalman,” the MacArthur admitted. “He and his father … well, it’s what you might call a difficult relationship.”
“If he’d ask us for help, we’d give it,” Lady Ellan sighed, “but you know how arrogant he is, Neil — and if we were to offer it, I think he would reject it.”
“He’s too proud for his own good, that’s his trouble,” Neil said in exasperation. “You weren’t in Hughie’s cottage when he told us about going into the Halls of the Giants and the yellow light that shone from Cri’achan Mor’s eyes. Malfior’s Curse, he called it. It took his magic power from him.”
“And left him with something evil …” the MacArthur mused. “But why …”
Lord Rothlan’s eyes sharpened at his words. “That’s a point,” he nodded, “and yet there was no reason for Malfior to single him out, was there? I mean …” he shook his head, his brain sifting through a variety of possibilities.
“Maybe there’s more to this than meets the eye,” the MacArthur said, making a great palaver of lighting his pipe and then drawing deeply until it started to belch out clouds of foul-smelling smoke.
“What I’d really like to know is why you didn’t tell us that the magician was Prince Kalman?” queried Neil. “Why didn’t you?” he repeated, looking serious and more than slightly offended. “Prince Kalman, of all people! He hates us, you know he does. And he could have hexed us or anything. He was inside the school. I thought he was the janitor.”
“But he didn’t hex you, did he?” the MacArthur pointed out. “On the contrary, he made sure that you escaped from von Grozny in the library.”
“Yes, well … but …” Neil stopped and frowned. The MacArthur was right. He had saved them from von Grozny. He looked little short of flabbergasted. The very thought of Prince Kalman saving them from harm was so novel that he couldn’t quite take it in.
“You said that he told the Queen of the Snow Witches to take care of Clara, too,” Lady Ellan said quickly.
“Well, not take care of her exactly,” Neil frowned, trying to remember the shouted words, “but Samantha grabbed her before they all disappeared. Clara and the talisman,” he added.
The MacArthur sighed. “I’ll be honest with you, Neil,” he said, adjusting his cushions until he was comfortable. “The reason we didn’t tell you that Kalman was the old man was that we knew he wanted the talisman himself. As long as he didn’t have it, we knew he would keep you safe from the witches and von Grozny.”
“But he didn’t,” Neil pointed out shortly. “The witches nearly hexed me in the Black Bull and he hexed Clara when she was in the middle of the river. If she hadn’t been wearing the talisman, he’d have taken it.”
“In that case, I think he must be more desperate than we thought,” Lady Ellan said, frowning.
“And when he told the Queen of the Snow Witches to take Clara with her, I don’t think he had her safety in mind!” added an aggrieved Neil.
“Oh, I think he did,” Lord Rothlan objected. “Kalman has a lot of influence with the Snow Witches and very little with the Wind Witches or the Earth Witches. He wouldn’t want Wanda or Maritza to capture Clara; that’s why he deliberately gave her into Samantha’s care. Despite what happened on the stage, she won’t dare harm Clara, you can be sure of that. He’s still a powerful magician.”
As this very thought had been worrying Neil all the way north from the Borders, his spirits rose as he followed Rothlan’s reasoning. “So what’s the next step?” he asked. “How do we get Clara back?”
Again there was a silence and Neil felt his heart sink. Surely they weren’t going to leave Clara with the Snow Witches …
The MacArthur puffed at his pipe, Lady Ellan looked thoughtful and Archie, Hamish and Jaikie eyed one another sideways and said nothing.
“We’ll need Arthur’s help, I think,” Lord Rothlan said, looking up at the dragon. “Are you game for a battle or two, Arthur?”
Everybody cringed as he said this as they knew what Arthur’s answer would be. It was as they’d expected. Arthur, beaming at the thought of action, blew a delighted stream of glittering smoke down his long nose. Enveloped in its clouds, everyone started coughing, spluttering and waving their hands.
“For goodness sake, put your pipe out, father,” Lady Ellan snapped. “Really, between the pair of you, I don’t know which of you is the worst!”
As the smoke faded, Lord Rothlan smiled reassuringly at Neil. “Jarishan is built from solid stone and Arthur very nearly captured it, didn’t he, my dear?” he said, turning to his wife as he spoke. Lady Ellan raised her eyebrows with a smile as she remembered the days when they had been enemies. She nodded and he added. “Samantha’s palace isn’t nearly strong enough to stand up to a dragon and knowing her as I do, I can assure you that she won’t be prepared to see it melt around her ears.”
By this time, everyone was tense with excitement at the thought of an attack on the Snow Witches’ palace.
“We’ll leave at midnight, I think,” the MacArthur looked at Arthur enquiringly. “We can’t afford to waste any time.”
Archie, Hamish and Jaikie rose purposefully to their feet. If they were leaving in a few hours time then there was work to be done.
“You can stay here and keep Neil company, m’dear,” the MacArthur said calmly. “We oughtn’t to be away for long.”
Lord Rothlan paused and looked at his wife with a wry smile.
Lady Ellan got to her feet and gave her father a look that would have sunk a fleet of battleships. “Stay and keep Neil company!” she snapped, her voice rising by more than a couple of octaves. “You must be out of your mind, father.” She looked across at Neil and smiled. “We’re going too, aren’t we, Neil?”
He grinned and nodded appreciatively. Lady Ellan on her high horse was quite something!
“Nothing,” she added, smiling with deceptive sweetness, “would keep me away! After all, I have quite a few old scores to settle with dear Samantha.”