Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac

Collingford.
    Cedric
put down the coffee and beat a hasty retreat. Catweazle had arrived at Kings
Farthing and was looking for Cedric. He peered through the sitting-room window
and his attention was caught by a blue light flashing and flickering from a box
in the corner. He drew Adamcos, and climbed through the window. Here was magic
indeed!
    He was
nearing the strange box when it made a rude noise at him and he jumped back as
a face suddenly appeared in it; a pale and milky face which looked fiercely at
him.
    Catweazle
sank to his knees. It was obviously a demon.
    ‘Stop,
I command thee!’ it said hollowly.
    ‘Gab
gaba agaba,’ muttered Catweazle.
    ‘There
was a long pause,’ said the demon. ‘Nobody dared to move.’ Catweazle almost
stopped breathing.
    ‘You
are in my power — ’
    ‘Mercy!’
said Catweazle.
    ‘Said
the wizard,’
    ‘Mercy
O demon!’
    ‘- and
I shall turn you into stone,’ the demon continued. Catweazle prostrated
himself, hoping to placate it.
    ‘Slowly
the king, the queen and all the courtiers, began to turn to stone,’ said the
demon. Catweazle fizzed in terror and felt his arms and legs.
    ‘And
then, without another word, the wizard vanished,’ it went on.
    Catweazle
realized he was not going to be harmed, and so he sat back on his haunches in
front of the television set and listened intently.
    ‘What
now? How could the spell be broken?’ asked the demon.
    ‘I know
not, O demon,’ said Catweazle humbly.
    ‘And
the evil wizard punished?’
    ‘Where
doth he live?’ asked Catweazle.
    ‘Can
you guess?’
    ‘Nay — tell
me, O demon.’
    ‘Tomorrow
I shall be here again with — ’ The demon stopped abruptly and his face melted
into flashes of lightning.
    ‘Come
back, O demon,’ Catweazle cried. ‘Not on the morrow — tell me now!’ He looked
behind the box but the demon wasn’t there. This annoyed Catweazle. It was rude
of the demon to vanish so abruptly.
    ‘Come
from thy house, O demon,’ said Catweazle, rapping angrily on the television
set. ‘I know thou art in there.’
    With a
burst of static the picture reappeared. Catweazle staggered back as a train
raced towards him. It was the dragon from the mighty cave! Panic-stricken he
rushed from the room and bumped into Cedric who had come to investigate the
noise.
    ‘The
dragon! The dragon!’ moaned Catweazle, clutching him in fear.
    ‘Be
quiet!’ hissed Cedric, hearing Gobling and his parents going towards the main
hall.
    Gobling
was still talking about his sculpture. ‘Stone’s so permanent, you see,’ he
droned on. ‘If I turned you into stone, you’d last for a thousand years.’
    Catweazle
gripped Cedric’s arm. ‘ ’Tis he — ’tis he!’ he whispered frantically.
    ‘Well,
not all of you, perhaps.’ Gobling went on. ‘Just your head. A nice granite head would suit you.’
    ‘Er — yes,’
said Lord Collingford as they went outside.
    Catweazle
turned to Cedric. ‘I will blast him,’ he said fiercely.
    ‘Who?
Gobling?’
    ‘ ’Tis
no goblin — ’tis the wizard!’
    ‘Listen,’
said Cedric, ‘I really think you ought to go back to Duck Halt and lie down for
a bit.’
    But
Catweazle’s blood was up. He was determined to destroy the power of the evil
wizard as the demon had told him, so he hurried after Gobling to the old water
mill, where he had his studio, calling on all the demons of destruction to help
him. Catweazle was appalled to see several human figures standing motionless
under the trees. It took him some time to find the courage to go any closer but
eventually he looked round the half-open door. The wizard was nowhere to be
seen, but the poor stony king, of whom the pale demon had spoken, was standing
in the middle of the chamber. There were also several heads on curious little
tables. Catweazle dared not think what the wizard had done with the bodies.
    He
approached the enchanted king — an unfinished statue of Henry VI — and
addressed it nervously. ‘Fear not, O king!’ he said in a hoarse whisper. ‘A
demon hath sent me to release thee. Schempamporasch!’ he exclaimed and waved
Adamcos at the statue, but the Word of Power was useless.
     
    ‘Breathe again and melt the stone
    Be thou once more flesh and bone.’
     
    said Catweazle trying
another spell.
    Gobling heard the
unearthly chanting and came out from his other workroom, wearing
plaster-covered overalls. ‘What d’you think you’re up to?’ he said angrily.
Catweazle’s knees gave way and he sank