Icespell by C.J. Busby

sharing their beach with two strangely coloured birds of prey, and looked like they might get nasty at any minute. He closed his eyes and thought hard about being human again.
    Crack!
    The branch they were sitting on snapped under their combined weight and the two of them, fully human, were deposited on the ground with a thud.
    â€œOuch!” said Max, rubbing his shoulder. “I didn’t think it would work, or I’d have got down from the branch before I changed back.”
    â€œWell, great magic, Max, but next time warn me,” said Olivia feelingly, as she tried to stand up. “I think I might have broken several small bones and bruised the rest of them.”
    â€œEnough complaining,” said Ferocious unsympathetically. “We’re on a mission. We need to find a dragon. Lead on, Your Royal Duckness!”
    ***
    Great-Aunt Wilhelmina’s cave stretched far back into the cliff, so far that you could hardly hear the distant boom and crash of the sea. A small, narrow split between two immense rock faces widened into a passageway, and that in turn opened out into an immense cavern. It should have been quite dark, but itshone with a greenish white glow that came from the same eerie spheres of light that Max remembered from the last time he’d met the dragon, deep in a mountain in the misty lakeland of Gore.
    Great-Aunt Wilhelmina lay stretched out on the flat sandy floor of the cave, her huge head turned towards them, her amber eyes watching them approach.
    â€œWell, well. If it isn’t my dear nephew, A- drip-nose , and his companions… And Your Royal Highness. What a pleasure,” she rumbled, in her deep voice.
    â€œGreetings, Lady Wilhelmina,” quacked Vortigern. “Got any – well – er…”
    â€œI do indeed have bread,” said the dragon with a wide grin, and pushed a small, low table towards them, on which was piled bread, meat, fruit, pastries and flagons of hot, spiced apple. “I had a feeling I might be having some guests…”
    Adolphus bounded forward joyfully and got stuck into a large platter of roasted caterpillars. The rest of the feast looked delicious, and Max suddenly realised how fantastically hungry he was. He bowed tothe great dragon, and thanked her for her hospitality.
    â€œThink nothing of it, young Pendragon,” she boomed. “Always glad to see another magic user… How did you get on with that cauldron I gave you?”
    In between mouthfuls of pastry and swigs of apple juice, Max and Olivia told her the story of their adventures in Gore, how Olivia had been sent to the Otherworld by Morgana, and how they’d been able to use the cauldron to rescue her and bring King Arthur and his companions back safely. Vortigern, who had not heard the story before, got quite excited, and kept interrupting. When they described Olivia’s masterful cauldron throw, which had knocked out the Silent Sentinel and saved Arthur’s life, he whooped and turned three somersaults.
    But all too soon the feast was finished and the story over. Great-Aunt Wilhelmina turned her golden eyes on Max and looked at him with a quizzical expression.
    â€œSo, young Pendragon, what brings you here? I had a feeling in my bones I would see you again, butI didn’t think it would be quite so soon.”
    Max swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure where to begin. As he hesitated, Adolphus bounced over and thumped the floor of the cave enthusiastically with his tail.
    â€œWe need you to breathe fire. It was all my idea. Vortigern asked for a plan – and I came up with one! Me! We need someone to breathe lots and lots of fire and melt the ice.” He looked up at Great-Aunt Wilhelmina expectantly, and breathed a little fire of his own, as if to show her just what he meant.
    â€œIce?” she rumbled. “You need me to melt some ice ? Is that all ?” She sounded extremely offended at the idea that she was wanted simply as