Icespell Read Online Free PDF

moat to tadpoles or something.”
    “Oh, magic, eh?” said the duck. “Like a bit of magic myself. Got a lot of friends who do magic. Are you any good?” He looked at Max brightly, and Max coloured.
    “Well,” he said. “I’m not too bad. But things do have a habit of going wrong…”
    He bit his lip, and hoped Ferocious was right and he’d only done something minor with the spell.He had an awful feeling it was going to turn out to be much, much worse.
    ***
    The shadows were lengthening as they reached the edge of the woodland. The duck, whose name was Vortigern, had decided to come with them to visit a distant cousin of his who lived in the castle duckpond. He had regaled them all the way with tales of his family and various adventures – it seemed that he was named after an ancient king, who had been saved from ambush by Vortigern’s great-great-great grandfather, and had gratefully made the whole family official Royal Ducks.
    “So really, you ought to call me King Vortigern,” he explained. “Or Your Highness. But I let my friends off.”
    Max had gradually relaxed as they trudged back, and was looking forward to a good dinner and Lancelot’s new song. But as they rounded the corner and the castle came into full view, all thoughts of food disappeared. Max stood rooted to the spot, feelinglike a vast weight had just dropped on top of him.
    There, in the distance, should have been Camelot. But in its place, reaching up higher than even the tallest turret of the castle, was a mountain of ice, sparkling blue-white and sheer, right to the edges of the moat.
    “Druid’s toenails,” breathed Olivia, awed. “What have you done , Max?”
    They all looked at him, wide-eyed.
    “Quack!” said Vortigern. “That’s a corker! Did you do that all by yourself? My cousin’s not going to be happy.”
    “Neither is anyone else,” said Ferocious. “You’ve really done it this time, Max. Better take it off, quick.”
    Max sat down on the ground. He didn’t think his legs would hold him up any more. He felt like he might be sick.
    “You can take it off, Max?” said Olivia, looking anxiously at his pale face.
    Max pulled out the stone from his pocket and looked at it. It was still solid and covered in ice. None of it had melted.

    “The thing is,” he said in a small voice, “I didn’t direct the spell at Camelot. I did it on the stone. There’s some magic that’s linked the stone to the castle, and I’m not sure I can reverse it. And there’s something odd about the spell, too, because the ice should have melted by now and it hasn’t.” He looked at them miserably. “I tried taking the spell off the stone back at the clearing, after Snotty had gone. But I couldn’t. And I’m pretty certain that means I can’t take it off the castle either.”
    They looked at him, appalled. The castle was encased in a mountain of ice, which meant that everyone inside it was also encased in ice – King Arthur, Merlin, Sir Bertram… And Max couldn’t take the spell off.
    “Wonderful,” said Ferocious, who recovered first. “Excellent. Castle and all its inhabitants iced for an unknown amount of time while we figure out how to break the spell. It’s just as well we were all outside the castle when you did it, Max, or we’d really have been in a sticky situation.”
    Olivia gave a shaky laugh. “He’s right, Max. It could have been worse. At least we’re all here together. We’ll find a way to reverse it… But I suppose… the people in the castle… they will be all right, won’t they? When the spell comes off, I mean?” She was trying not to make too much of the question, but Max could see that she had gone rather white. He nodded.
    “I’m pretty sure they will be. Luckily there was an ant on the stone so I made sure there was a bit of the spell that protected anything alive on it while it was iced. That should mean the same thing applied to the castle.”
    “Well then,” said Ferocious. “Nothing to