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‘hallucination’ away
from the farm forever. There were certain questions he wanted to ask Carrot, he
thought to himself as he shouldered the axe and made his way back to the farm.
    Carrot continued to search. He felt worried about the old man.
‘Catweazle,’ he called. ‘It’s me. Where are you?’ But there was no reply.
    Carrot didn’t give up easily. The wood was large, but he knew it well
and presently he found himself near the Forestry Estate which joined his
father’s property. Years ago, during the war, there had been an army camp here.
Now the only thing left was an old water tower covered in rusty barbed-wire and
with a big ‘Danger. W.D. Property’ notice on the scaffolding.
    ‘Well, that’s that,’ thought Carrot. ‘He’s gone.’
    He was about to turn for home when Catweazle’s head appeared at the top
of the water tower.
    ‘Here, boy,’ he called down. Carrot looked up in astonishment. The old
man waved a skinny arm at him.
    ‘How did you get up there?’ called Carrot.
    ‘I climbed,’ said Catweazle.
    ‘You can’t live in that!’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘It’s full of water.’
    ‘Nay, boy,’ the old man
shook his head, ‘ ’tis empty.’ ‘Are you sure?’ said Carrot.
    ‘Come and see,’ beckoned Catweazle.
    ‘But it belongs to the army - ’
    ‘I see no soldiers,’ replied Catweazle, looking round.
    ‘ ’Tis my castle now.’
    ‘But Dad says it isn’t safe,’ said Carrot, remembering his father saying
he was never to climb it.

    ‘No arrow could pierce it,’ said Catweazle, confidently banging at the
rusty steel tank. ‘Come up.’
    Carrot could see that Catweazle had managed to pull the barbed-wire away
from the iron ladder, and setting his feet on the rungs he began to climb. The
ladder creaked as he climbed and Catweazle held out his arm to help him as he
reached the top.
    ‘Thanks,’ said Carrot.
    ‘Follow me,’ said Catweazle and descended the inspection hole.
    Carrot followed. It was like going into a submarine. As his eyes got
used to the dim light inside the tank, Carrot could see that he was in a steel
box with small girder-like struts at angles to the walls. It was indeed empty
except for dead leaves that had blown in through the open inspection hole.
Light filtered in through cracks between the steel plates and the whole place
was festooned with thick cobwebs.
    ‘Welcome,’ said Catweazle, his voice echoing impressively round the
tank.
    ‘This is super!’ said Carrot, wishing he’d found it first.
    ‘Saburac, one of the Spirits of the Brazen Vessel, led me here,’ said
Catweazle.
    ‘Oh, did he?’
    ‘In his honour, I have named it Castle Saburac, for ’tis a magic place.’
    ‘Castle Saburac,’ said Carrot relishing the strange word. ‘It’s
terrific!’
    Catweazle came closer to him. In the half light, he looked very
mysterious. ‘But wonder upon wonders! Another lives here!’ he said.
    Carrot looked round uneasily. ‘Another what?’ he said.
    ‘My Spirits have brought him,’ said Catweazle happily. ‘Now my magic is
assured. We will work together, he and I. And thou, boy!’ Catweazle held out
his hand. In it was a large greeny-brown toad.
    ‘See!’ said Catweazle with triumph and pride. ‘ ’Tis my familiar,
Touchwood!’

THE CURSE OF RAPKYN
     
    One morning at breakfast Mr Bennet looked up from a rude
letter from his bank manager, to find Carrot trying to feed a tortoise with a
slice of banana.
    ‘What on earth’s that thing doing on the table?’ he asked.
    Carrot, who had been hiding the tortoise behind the tea-cosy, quickly
put it on the floor.
    ‘I was only getting it used to me,’ he said, ‘Sam brought him for me.
His name’s Beelzebub. He’s my familiar.’
    ‘Your what?’ said his father.
    ‘My familiar,’ said Carrot. ‘Witches and wizards had them. They were
sort of pets. I read all about them in this book.’
    ‘Magic through the Ages’ read Mr Bennet. ‘So
that’s the latest craze is