When they’d finished eating, the MacArthur looked at them thoughtfully. “You’ll have to double up on Clara’s magic carpet,” he said, remembering that Neil’s had been used to take Prince Kalman to Morven. “It ought to be able to carry the pair of you quite easily.”
“Do you think anyone at school will have noticed that we’re not around?” Neil asked. It was a thought that had been worrying him as he knew perfectly well that if they were missed, the school would have phoned their parents. And that spelled major trouble!
The MacArthur shook his head. “When you arrived here and told me what happened at the end of the concert — when Samantha took Clara — I put a memory spell on the school. No one will have missed you and, from what you’ve told me, the carpet will be able to take you straight into your bedrooms without anyone noticing.”
Arthur, still excited from his adventure, was blowing fire everywhere, but, seeing that Neil and Clara had finished their meal and that Archie, Hamish and Jaikie had joined the MacArthur, he calmed down and made his way to the dais, where he curled up comfortably beside them. Kitor and Cassia also flew over, settled their feathers and prepared to listen to Neil and Clara’s latest adventure.
“Before you go back to school, Clara, we’d like you to tell us what happened when Samantha took you back to her palace,” the MacArthur said. “Start at the beginning and take your time. Don’t miss anything out.”
Clara drew her cloak around her and began. “Well,” she said, “when the Queen of the Snow Witches hexed us all off the stage and we arrived at her palace, the witches were really nasty to me. And I can understand why,” she added. “They were still suffering from the shock of the daemons’ attack — and so was I,” she admitted, “although I tried to hide it. The queen had taken the talisman, of course, and was wearing it. She was using it to cure her witches. Anyway, she was busy and had no time for me so she told Matilda to put me in a cell in the ice … and the snow worms found me.”
The MacArthur’s face darkened and Arthur, who hadn’t heard that part of her story before, hissed in anger. He wished now that he had melted her palace to the ground!
“I kept them off as best I could but I only had my shoes to bash them with. If I’d had the talisman,” she said reflectively, “I might have been able to use a hex from The Book of Spells but when I thought about it, it didn’t really make much difference, for daemons would’ve been every bit as bad as the snow worms, if not worse.”
Neil glanced at her, feeling more than slighty ashamed of the thoughts that had crossed his mind for he’d been secretly rather glad that Herr von Grozny had taken the talisman. He hadn’t been jealous, exactly, but had felt a bit left out of things when Auntie Muriel had left it to her. Not that he’d grudged her it but still … he was glad that it had gone.
“Anyway,” Clara continued, “it was when one of the snow worms managed to get into the cell that Prince Kalman arrived. Actually, he landed right on top of it. Totally flattened it,” she said, with a half smile. “The rest of the snow worms disappeared and … well, we sort of got talking. I said I was sorry for casting the daemon spell and he asked where I’d got it from. So I told him. And, do you know, Neil, he was there when we escaped from Witches’ Wood? He said we’d left a line of footprints across the field that would have put the witches on our trail.”
Neil looked horrified. “I never thought of that,” he admitted.
“He told me he rubbed them out because he didn’t want the witches to find the talisman. He wanted it for himself so that he could use it to cure himself of Malfior’s spell. And then I said that as Malfior and Cri’achan Mor were both dead, how could it be their spell?”
The MacArthur’s head jerked sharply as she said this and his eyes narrowed shrewdly. So where had the hex come from? His mind started to race.
“Bravo, Clara,” Archie said softly.
“Anyway, we worked out that the spell must have been cast by a magician that had merged with Cri’achan Mor and the only one I could think of that would do such a thing was Lord Jezail. Prince Kalman wouldn’t believe me at first, but you see,” she looked at the MacArthur, “I’d overheard you and Lord Rothlan talking about Lord Jezail when we were in Morven and when I told him that he’d been in Scotland at the time, he got a real shock and … and, well, that was when he sort of fainted.”
The MacArthur nodded. “You’re quite right, Clara,” he admitted. “Lord Jezail was responsible for Malfior.”
Neil frowned thoughtfully. “I’ve just remembered something that might be important,” he said hesitantly.
“Go ahead, Neil,” the MacArthur said, looking at the boy’s serious face.
“It was after Clara disappeared with the witches,” Neil began. “Do you remember me telling you that I went backstage to see if I could find out who the old man was?”
“And it was Prince Kalman,” the MacArthur nodded.
“Well, Herr von Grozny was trying to help him. He was asking him how he had become so ill and old and … and Prince Kalman muttered something about Malfior’s curse. Von Grozny turned as white as a sheet at the mention of Malfior. The prince had his eyes shut and didn’t notice a thing but von Grozny’s face — I can’t describe it. He looked … absolutely devastated.”
A puzzled silence followed this remark.
“Look, I’m not saying you’re wrong, Neil,” Jaikie frowned, “but what you’ve just said doesn’t really add up, you know. Count Vassili is Jezail’s right-hand man. He must have known of Malfior.”
“He might have known of Malfior but he certainly didn’t know about the hex Jezail put on the prince,” Neil stated determinedly.
“I think Neil’s right about that,” Clara nodded, “After all, Herr von Grozny did his best to help Kalman, didn’t he?”
“It still doesn’t hang together,”Jaikie objected. “Prince Casimir and Prince Kalman were close friends of Lord Jezail. After all, they used to stop over in Ashgar on their way to Turkey, didn’t they?”
The MacArthur nodded.
“Surely it’d take a lot more than a quarrel,” Hamish objected. “He must have really hated Kalman to put such a vicious spell on him.”
“I think Lord Jezail is vicious,” Neil interrupted, “and quite frankly I don’t believe for a minute that Prince Casimir stole the Sultan’s Crown. If he did, I bet Lord Jezail hexed him to do it! I mean … it could have been a hex … couldn’t it?” he said, sounding suddenly doubtful.
There was a surprised silence as everyone looked at one another, appalled at the implications of Neil’s words.
“A hex … to make Casimir steal the Sultan’s crown, you mean?” Hamish looked amazed.
“A hex!” the MacArthur said in a completely different tone of voice as though Neil’s words confirmed a long held suspicion. “Do you know, I believe you’re right, Neil! That would explain so many things! I’ve always thought there was something odd about Casimir stealing the crown.”
“And maybe Kalman turning so … so power-hungry,” added Jaikie, sitting up straight in his excitement. This new angle on Lord Jezail opened up all sorts of possibilities! “But why,” he wondered. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“He wants power,” the MacArthur said immediately. “It can’t be anything else. Jezail was always ambitious, you know. And he is a powerful magician in his own right. I rather think he wants to rival the Turkish Sultan. After all, the first thing he chose to steal was his crown.”
“He didn’t have the courage to steal it himself, though,” Archie broke in excitedly. “He must have known that the Sultan would destroy him if he found out he’d taken it.”
“So, as Neil says,” the MacArthur continued, “he hexed Prince Casimir to take it, instead!”
“And take the blame if things went wrong,” Hamish pointed out. “Which they did!”
There was a grim silence as they thought of the Sultan’s punishment; for Prince Casimir had spent many years imprisoned in the desert as a result.
“Do you think Count Vassili knows all this?” Neil asked.
“I doubt it,” the MacArthur shook his head. “Don’t forget it happened years ago, long before he arrived in Jezail’s court. Besides which,” he added, “he’s hardly the type.”
“I agree,” Clara said. “After all, when he took the talisman from the Queen of the Snow Witches he didn’t just buzz off to Ashgar, did he? He came back with a rope to rescue us.”
“Why didn’t he take you out first?” queried Neil.
“Prince Kalman couldn’t have got out on his own if I’d gone first,” she explained. “I don’t know if it was the daemons’ bites or the shock of realizing that it was Lord Jezail who had hexed him, but, as I said, he’d collapsed. I’d already put my firestone round his neck to help him, like Lord Rothlan did with Amgarad when he was ill.”
The MacArthur nodded approvingly.
“Anyway, when Herr von Grozny shouted down to me, I told him he’d have to take the prince first. I don’t really think Kalman knew what he was doing. The rope had a loop at the end for him to put his foot in and I managed to get him to understand that he had to hold on. Then von Grozny hauled him up and the rope came down for me. But when I got out, it was only the snow witch that was there. Herr von Grozny had vanished.” She pursed her lips and frowned slightly. “I think it was because you were attacking the castle,” she mused. “After all, he knew you’d win and he wouldn’t want you to capture him and take the talisman.”
The MacArthur rose to his feet, looking serious. “You’ve done well, Clara,” he said. “I’m sure you’re right about Lord Jezail. And the more I think about it, Neil,” he added, “the more I think you’re right about the hex on Prince Casimir. The Lords of the North will certainly have to be told about all this.”