The Golden Acorn - Catherine Cooper [30]
‘I don’t think I’ve done any more damage. I’m really sorry about the bird table.’
Nora raised her wand and pointed it in the direction of the garden. Green sparks flew out of the patio door.
‘There, that’s sorted the bird table out. We’ll see you on Friday. Learn your words and remember, you need to be perfect for the ritual.’
‘I will. I promise,’ said Jack as he waved goodbye.
Jack looked towards Camelin’s loft. He couldn’t see him but he could still hear him laughing. Learning the words wouldn’t be a problem; wanting to be a raven was. By Saturday morning if he didn’t want to transform with all his heart it wasn’t going to happen.
That night Jack lay awake worrying.
CAMELIN’S TALE
‘I’ve been waiting hours for you,’ Camelin grumbled after Jack let him into the bedroom. ‘I couldn’t get in because the window was shut.’
‘I was told to keep it closed.’
‘Where’ve you been?’
‘Shopping with Grandad; I’ve got school next week and I needed some things.’
‘I came for my lesson but I’m too hungry to think now.’
Jack laughed. He’d anticipated Camelin might need a snack the next time he appeared. He went over to the wardrobe and brought out an old biscuit tin Grandad said he could have and a bag from his rucksack. Camelin’s eyes grew wide as Jack shook the bag over the tin. A packet of biscuits, individually wrapped chocolate cakes and an assortment of chocolate bars tumbled out.
‘Help yourself.’
Jack hoped Camelin wasn’t going to be too greedy.
‘They’ve got to last. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get any more.’
‘Mmmm, they do smell good.’
Camelin stuck his beak into the tin and rummaged around. As his feathers spread out and parted Jack noticed a scar on the back of his head.
‘Help me read this one first before I eat it,’ Camelin mumbled when he eventually surfaced with one of the cakes firmly clasped in his beak.
Jack unwrapped the cake and read the writing on the label.
‘Knowing what’s inside is half the fun,’ Camelin explained. ‘That’s another reason why I’d like to learn to read.’
For the next half hour they made good progress with his letters.
‘Is that a scar on your head?’ Jack asked when they’d finished.
‘Yes, it is.’
‘I’ve got one above my eyebrow. Look!’ Jack said as he bent his head so Camelin could see the thin red line on his forehead. ‘Got it playing football last year at school. How did you get yours?’
For a while Camelin was silent and Jack wondered if he’d asked the wrong question. He was about to apologise when Camelin gave a great sigh.
‘I suppose you’re going to have to know sooner or later. You can’t go back into the past with me until you know everything, so I might as well tell you now.’
Jack was intrigued. Camelin paced up and down the window ledge a few times before he spoke again.
‘I got the scar from a Roman soldier.’
‘A Roman… but there haven’t been any Roman soldiers here for hundreds of years!’
‘That’s true, but it was a Roman soldier who hit me. It was in ad 61 to be precise. The Emperor wanted to be rid of the Druids. There was a fort nearby and the soldier there were ordered to burn the Sacred Groves, kill the Druids and anyone connected to them.’
‘But….’ Jack spluttered.
‘I’d been sent on an important errand by Nora when a soldier caught me.’
‘Nora!’ interrupted Jack. ‘How can you both be that old and why didn’t you fly away?’
‘If you keep interrupting I’m never going to finish. Nora and I are both that old and I couldn’t fly away because I wasn’t a raven; I was a boy.’
Jack was stunned. He’d not considered the possibility that Camelin could ever have been anything other than a raven. He knew Nora was old but according to Camelin they’d both been alive for hundreds of years. How could that be? Why was Camelin still a raven if Nora could perform the transformation ritual? This revelation had thrown up more questions than answers. As Jack tried to make sense of what he’d just been told, Camelin continued with his story.
‘I’d been sent