'The Witches of Lewthan Mountain'

‘THE WITCHES OF LEWTHAN MOUNTAIN’Reading age: 8-12Always fascinated by magic, eleven year old Charlie Braithwaite buys a book of wizardry from the village hall bring and buy sale. It is an old book, written hundreds of years before he was even born and as soon as he takes the volume home he sets out to discover if the spells it contains really do work. They do, his cat can bark, his dog meow and Charlie is having great fun; but when he has a visit from the book’s author, the wizard – Argetlám, will his life ever be the same again? For someone, in the goblin and witch infested Darklands of the Cumbrian Underworld of England, is watching him from afar. Watching him through evil and envious eyes. That someone is the wicked Witch Queen – Nemetona; the most beautiful of witches but by far the most evil. Nemetona will stop at nothing to get her hands on Charlie’s book of spells and with this in mind, despatches a goblin familiar to the Overland [where humans live] to steal it. Caught by the goblin in the act of reading the forbidden book, Charlie’s cousin, Joanne, is kidnapped and spirited away into the terrifying dimension of the Darklands. Now, Charlie and the wizard must go after her; firstly, to rescue Joanne, secondly, to retrieve the precious book of spells. It is now that Charlie’s adventures really begin, as along with the wizard and his very peculiar friends, they battle goblins, dragons and witches as they continue their quest to find - the lost works of the arch wizard – Argetlám. An ExcerptTHE WITCHES OF LEWTHAN MOUNTAINON THE MOUNTAIN OF LEWTHAN, IN THE PALACE CASTLE OF THE EVIL WITCH QUEEN – NEMETONA.Her head adorned with a solid gold, diamond-encrusted crown and wearing a long, flowing dress and cloak, both of which were made from the finest black-dyed silk, the queen seemed to glide, gracefully, down the Great Hall. Eventually, at the end of the vast, stone-vaulted chamber, she eased herself onto a golden, heavily jewelled throne and through dark, evil eyes, stared down at the trembling goblin who knelt, quaking with fear, at her feet. ‘Well?’ she asked, impatiently. ‘Have you found it?’The terrified goblin shook his head. ‘No Majesty,’ he replied, without daring to look into her eyes. ‘I’ve searched everywhere, ma’am, absolutely everywhere. For nearly a hundred years I’ve wandered across every inch of the Overland. I’ve peered through a million windows, sneaked inside ten thousand homes but___’‘But you’ve still not found my missing book!’ screeched the witch queen.‘No Majesty,’ said the goblin, who by now was shaking so much his teeth were beginning to rattle like an old vintage car.‘Then you’ve failed me!’ she screamed at him. ‘Failed your queen!’‘But Majesty,’ moaned the goblin. ‘Before you called me back to the Mountain of Lewthan I think I was, at long last, getting really, really close.’‘You lie, Fender,’ she spat at him. ‘Your kind will always lie to save your ugly, pathetic hides.’ ‘It’s the truth,’ protested the unhappy goblin. For the first time daring to raise his head and actually look at his sovereign. ‘I think it might be somewhere in the County of Cumbria, in the Overland, Your Majesty.’‘And what makes you think that?’ asked the queen, her temper suddenly beginning to cool a little. ‘Because, at the southern end of the Great Forest of the North, just before I left to report to Your Wickedness, I felt the slightest disturbance of the ether.’‘You did?’ she asked. Her eyes boring into those of the goblin’s.‘Yes Majesty, it was faint, short, but very, very powerful. As though someone, perhaps for the first time in centuries, had at long last opened the book to look inside it.’The witch queen stared down at the hapless goblin. ‘If you’re lying to me, Fender,’ she began, sinisterly. ‘If you’re simply spinning me a goblin’s tale, just to save your worthless skin, then I’ll turn you into a rabbit and have you st