The Warlock's Hand: Chapter Two

The end of the school day arrived with the piercing shrill call of the school bell.

'Right, go away!' Miss crank declared to the class.

'Wahey!' Frankie shouted but quickly shut up when he was cast a stern glare from his teacher. He hid himself amongst the flow of pupils filtering out of the class and once into the main corridor grabbed his bag and coat from its peg.



Once out of the building sam and frankie made their way to where the school bus waited for them. The parp of its horn indicated that the driver was in no mood for waiting so they obediently jogged aboard.

'Who's this then?' The driver barked at them as he stuck out an arm to prevent frankie from getting to a seat.

'It's ok' sam replied, 'he's coming back to my house for tea'.

The driver glared at frankie looking him up and down. 'I wasn't informed that I would be having extra passengers. Does he have a bus pass?'

Frankie gulped loudly before sam said, 'he doesn't usually catch the bus. Sorry. Its only this once.' He produced his winning smile as compensation.

The bus driver frowned at him. 'Next time he'll have to pay.'

'Thank you.' Both frankie and sam blurted in unison. 'Now sit down...and wipe that goofy grin off your face'.


Twenty minutes later the bus dropped them off at the corner of sam's street and the two of them walked leisurely the remainder of the way. Once they had arrived at sam's house they were excitedly greeted by barney whom jumped up at them and covered them with slobber. Within half an hour the two of them sat at the dining table in the middle of the kitchen. Megan sat with them, patiently waiting for their tea. Sam's mum stood at the stove gently stirring a pan of homemade soup.
A loud creak caught all of their attentions. The room began to tremble and a small cloud of dust cascaded from the ceiling. An few moments of silence passed before an enormous thud made everyone jump. It sounded like a huge something had just stumbled. More dust clouds descended from the ceiling, this time bringing with it loose bits of plaster.

'It sounds like you've got an elephant up there.' frankie remarked chuckling at the notion. Sam's mother was looking concerned. She turned the stove off and tossed the tea towel from over her shoulder onto the sideboard. 'Right, you three stay here, ok? I'll just be a minute.' With that Sam's mum disappeared up the stairs.


At the top of the stairs she cautiously crept from room to room, quickly glancing around for signs of the disturbance. She found nothing. Barney suddenly appeared at her side as if offering support in the search. Finally after having checked all the bedrooms and even the bathroom she went to the one door she was reluctant to approach. This was the one door she usually kept locked and out of bounds to sam and his sister. The old attic.

She tentatively gave the door knob a quick twist, but the door was locked as it should be. She pondered upon whether it was worth checking when there came another thud from the ceiling. She quickly ran to her bedroom again and this time went straight for her bedside cabinet. She opened the small top drawer and after a quick rummage around the collection of oddments it held, she removed a small bronze key. She ran back to the attic door and pushed the key into its lock and turning it she unlocked it. She swung the door open and flicked the wall switch which lit up the narrow staircase which led up to the attic room.

Sam's mum stormed up the stairs ready to confront whatever it was that had been banging around. She grabbed a tennis racket and braced herself for an ambush. She quickly scanned the attic space pre-empting where a burglar may hide. Stacks of boxes, bits of furniture. Suddenly she heard a creak in the floorboards from behind her. A large dark shadow was cast over her and she slowly turned around to confront the intruder.
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened silently. Before her stood an enormous elephant. He extended his trunk close to her face and took an enormous sniff.

'It is you... Thank goodness'. The elephant said in a deep gruff voice as if it were an everyday occurrence. With that the elephant stood up on its hind legs and raised itself until his head touched the attic ceiling. The elephant was dressed in peculiar military style clothes. Dark blue in colour and garnished with extravagant gold braiding and many tassels. He raised an arm and saluted in a very proper fashion.

'I know it is forbidden to come here, but it is a matter of great importance.'

Sam's mum put down the tennis racket. 'Captain...tell me what's wrong.'

'Its the king your majesty. There has been an incident, your presence is required at the silver palace. The young prince Samuel is in grave danger.'

Sam's mum's look became one of concern. 'We have no time to lose then.'



A few moment later Sam's mum reappeared in the kitchen with a serious look upon her face.

'Are you ok mum?' Sam asked with some concern.

'Er, yes...look son...we need to go.'

Sam's surprise was evident upon his face. 'Go? Where?'

'To the attic.'

Sam and frankie both looked at each other with frowns. Then they both burst out laughing.

'I'm sorry frankie, but you'll have to stay here'. With that barney jumped up at him as if under orders and knocked him over in the larder which promptly locked itself shut.

Sam and megan could hardly believe what had just happened.

'Naughty barney'. Megan said accusingly wagging a finger at the dog.

'Come on we haven't got time to hang around. Oh and grab your coats, both of you'.

'But what's this all about?' Asked sam.

'Its about dad'.

'What? But...I'm pretty sure he's not in the attic'.

'You'd be surprised what we keep in that attic'.