Zak Turner - A Twist In Time (7 page)

I agree.  Having fought next to Sam in the Abbey, I already feel like he’s a special friend!

The three seventh years were watching Zak and Tallion to see how they would react, but the response they got wasn’t quite what they were expecting.  It was Tallion who spoke next.

“Sam, after you were knocked out in the cloister, the seventh year girl managed to get all the other first years through the portal to safety.  There was another seventh year boy though who fought with us against the two men and caused a diversion so we could all run for the portal and escape into the school.”

“Ross Burns, from Leo.  I haven’t seen him since we got to school, but we were quite late and came in through Raby portal.  What happened to him?”

Zak and Tallion both suspected deep down that Ross was dead, but no-one had actually told them, so they still had a hope which they were unwilling to squash.

“We don’t know,” answered Zak.  “He pushed us through the false wall into the cellar, and we ran straight through the portal.  We think one of the men rushed into the cellar right behind us and cast a Libra Mortis at Tallion just as he was going through.  We don’t know if it hit him properly, but it certainly hit the portal and made it explode.  I think we were the last two through; I don’t see how any could have followed us.” 

“I saw the school, just the portal room,” said Tallion, “but then everything faded to black.  Zak saw a huge red explosion sweep past him across the portal room, but then everything went black for him too.  We woke up in the infirmary at quarter to six this evening…”

There was a pause as the seventh years considered the two new first years in front of them, and glanced at each other before the conversation continued.

“I was down in the Entrance Hall, Tallion,” said David, “and I saw the red flash of the explosion because I was looking up into the portal room at the time.  Lots of people suddenly fell down the stairs and it was all a bit chaotic for a few minutes.”

The boys all just looked at each other for a while, and then David spoke again.

“Did you know there’d been an attack at the Wizard Council in London too?”

Tallion frowned.  “No, what happened?”

“Well, according to the special edition of the Centaur that arrived before dinner, quite a few people were injured, but it seems that no-one was killed.  The ‘rumour’, which isn’t in the paper, is that the attackers were after your father…”

Tallion blanched, and Zak felt his own emotions take a tumble, which was enhanced by a huge jolt from Tallion!

“They were trying to get us both,” said Tallion, instantly joining it all together.  “But why?  Why us?”

“Well, that’s what we think too, and that’s the question we were discussing just as you poked your head round the screen.”

Without being consciously aware that he’d done it, Zak took Tallion’s hand to calm him, feeling his companion’s emotions to be racing more chaotically than ever before!  He willed his soul mate to be calm, and tried to send calming emotions across their link, something he’d never really succeeded in doing before.

Tallion was in a complete panic.  His life had almost turned upside down, and both he and his father had only just survived what should have been fatal attacks!  The reality of it all was just starting to hit him when suddenly he was totally calm, as though he’d taken one of his mother’s potions!  The suddenness of it took his breath away, and then he heard Zak’s voice in his mind.

Steady Tallion, it’s okay, you’re both okay, slow down Soul Mate, slow down.

The blond-haired eleven-year-old closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Thanks Zak.  This link between us is the most precious thing in the whole world!

I’m just beginning to realise that too.  It’s going to be essential to keep us sane I’m sure!

The two young wizards were ignoring everything around them as they spoke together in their minds, looking into each other’s eyes.  It was blindingly obvious to the three seventh years what was happening too, although they could scarcely believe it!  These two first years seemed to have full telepathy between them!  They all exchanged looks, and confirmed they were thinking the same thing.

“Wow!” said David quietly, “we need to keep
that
totally secret too!”

He got nods from Sam and Arcturus, and after a minute he cleared his throat loudly, catching Zak’s attention.

“Zak, why did you come to find me?”

“Oh, err, we need to go and see Nurse Salvae,” he replied, holding up his scroll.  “We just wanted to tell someone where we were going before we left the tower.”

“Very sensible, and I’ll come with you.  You two are far too valuable to be walking around the school by yourselves!”

Zak frowned, “What do you mean?”

“There was an attempt on your lives today Zak!  And whoever did it only just missed.  They’ll try again, that’s for sure!”

“What, here in the school?!”

“Nowhere’s safe, Zak,” said Sam.  “Not with Sargas Malchus in the school.  Me and Arcturus will go with you.  David, you need to stay here to do your prefect stuff.”

Zak and Tallion exchanged worried looks, but nodded as the two seventh years got up and the group made their way to the door.

* * *

Nurse Salvae wanted to have another look at Tallion’s back, but was hesitant about doing it in front of the two seventh years, although she was pleased that they’d escorted the boys to the infirmary.  Tallion assured her that they both already knew what had happened.

“Sam was with us in Kirkstall Abbey when we were attacked,” he finished.

“Ahh,” said the nurse, understanding in her eyes.  “Then you’ll both be aware that you must keep all this completely secret!”

“Yes nurse,” replied the seventh years together.

The nurse looked penetratingly at them, and then nodded.  Tallion’s back was un-changed, and Zak was horrified to see the damage to his soul mate, but he didn’t let on how bad it was so that Tallion wouldn’t be too worried!  He knew that he could show him in the mirror at The Copse the following evening anyway.

You forgot that I can hear your thoughts Zak!

Sorry mate, I just didn’t want to worry you.  It’s not pretty!

Zak could feel his friend’s fears and sadness as though it were his own, and took his hand to help reassure him.

Nurse Salvae, however, wasn’t planning to let Tallion leave school in that condition, and had been in touch with a top consultant at the wizard hospital in Edinburgh.  Combining his information with her own hastily acquired knowledge about how a Libra Mortis affected human tissue, she had prepared a special potion which she now applied liberally to Tallion’s back while he lay on his front on the bed.

As well as smelling like a mixture of mustard and strawberries, and being a luminous purple colour, the potion seemed to wriggle and squeak like a box of mice!

It was very soothing to start with as it took away the inflammation and itchiness, but after about thirty seconds it started to prickle, and Tallion grimaced as it began to feel like a hundred needles jabbing into his skin!  He whimpered quietly as tears squeezed out of his tightly closed eyes, and Zak took his hand once more as he looked worriedly at the nurse.

“I assume it’s got to the prickling stage then Tallion?” she asked seriously.

He just nodded, not trusting himself to open his mouth in case he cried out.  The pain was intense!

“Well, I know it’s not very pleasant, but it a rejuvenation salve which is replacing your damaged skin.  You probably don’t want the gory details but I’ll tell you anyway.  The potion is enchanted with a Morsus spell, and is eating away all the badly damaged skin that it encounters.  When it gets through to healthy skin the Morsus will become inactive and the other elements of the potion will take over and regenerate your skin very quickly.  The prickling should stop when all the damaged skin has been eaten away.”

Tallion nodded again, pain etched in his expression as he realised just how much damaged there must have been to his back.

“Normally I’d cast charms to make skin re-grow, but the area of damage is too great and the damage is too deep this time, so I’ve had to resort to other measures.  I couldn’t leave it though because by tomorrow your skin would have been dropping off and would have left you bleeding and raw.”

Tallion was whimpering in agony, and Zak concentrated very hard on trying to send soothing and healing feelings across the link between them, but he wasn’t sure it was working.  Sam and Arcturus kept quiet, but shared a wincing look as the purple potion wriggled and squirmed across Tallion’s back.

As they watched, patches of purple started to turn red, and then quickly to a light cream colour.  As the first red patches appeared, Tallion couldn’t help crying out in pain, and Zak just wanted to hold him to comfort him, but couldn’t because of the potion on his back.  He looked worriedly at Nurse Salvae, almost begging her to do something to stop the pain.

Then as the final red patches gave way to cream, the pain vanished completely, replaced by a curious stretching sensation.  Tallion opened his watering eyes and found Zak looking at him in concern.

It’s okay Zak, the pain’s gone.  At the end though it was excruciating!

We’ve got to stop living such dangerous lives, my friend, it hurts too much!

Tell me about it…

What does it feel like now?

Really strange, like my skin is all being stretched, and wrapping around me like a blanket!  What does it look like?

I don’t know, we can’t see your skin.  The potion was purple to start with, then it went red which is when you were in agony, and now it’s gone a sort of creamy-vanilla colour.  But that’s all we can see, just the potion.

Okay.  I hope it’s worked.  I don’t want to go through that again!

Zak continued to hold his soul mate’s hand, still trying to send soothing emotions over the link between them.  The widening smile on Tallion’s face seemed to indicate that it was working!  A smile was also playing round Nurse Salvae’s mouth and she had a rather satisfied expression on her face.  Arcturus noticed, and decided to ask the obvious question.

“Is that the first time you’ve ever made that potion then, Nurse?”

Nurse Salvae eyed the curious Moncero warily before she answered. 

“Yes, Arcturus, and as a bit of a potioneer yourself, no doubt you’ve worked out the main ingredients?”

Arcturus smiled.  Potions
was
his favourite and best subject, and it was nice to be recognised for something that you were good at.  He had a shrewd idea what this unique potion had in it, but he’d never thought of combining a Morsus into a potion before.  The concept immediately appealed to the more experimental side of his nature; a devouring potion sounded like a cracking idea!

“Remember, using a Morsus in combination with other spells is restricted, Arcturus, and the Wizard Council will detect it if you do it!” 

Nurse Salvae had spent enough years healing students in Mhonarr Castle to know how their minds worked, and could usually read them like a book.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Nurse Salvae had cleaned the salve off Tallion’s back, and revealed his new, very fresh looking, baby-like skin.  She’d was disappointed to see that the jagged scar, which was about three inches long, was still there, running diagonally down left to right between his shoulder blades, but apart from that everything else appeared to be fine.

She gave Zak’s back a quick check too, and found that the inflammation had returned.  He therefore received a massage with a different salve, which would rejuvenate his skin as well as sooth it.  As the boys stood up to leave, she handed them both a small potion vial each.

“Dreamless sleep potion, combined with an energy restorative.  It’ll wear off after about six hours, so you should wake up as normal in the morning.  Take it
after
you’re in bed please because it’s instant acting!”

The boys nodded, “Yes Nurse, thanks.”

* * *

The quartet of Monceros left the infirmary and made their way back through the darkened corridors to their tower.  It was after ten pm and the normal curfew was in place during which no-one was allowed out of their house except for emergencies, such as visiting the infirmary.  It was one of the first school rules everyone learned, and one of the most commonly broken!  There was almost an unspoken competition between the different houses to see who could break the rule undetected!

It was therefore no surprise to Sam and Arcturus to see the occasional shadow appear to move, and they took little notice.  Their expressions and posture changed dramatically though when they came round a corner to find Sargas Malchus standing openly in the middle of the corridor blocking their way! 

The two seventh years drew their wands in a flash and stopped dead, holding their arms out to stop Zak and Tallion going past.

“What do you want, Sargas?” asked Arcturus coldly.

“Just to see if it was true that young Middleham had some bodyguards,” he replied in a sickly sweet manner.  His dangerous black eyes belied his voice though, and the look on his face was as hard as granite.