A little knowledge 1/5

"Time's up," said the witch in charge of the navigation exam.

The only other person in the room was Jennifer Jane. She got to her feet and handed in her work. The navigation needed for flying a broom was so simple, that very few witches ever had to take the examination. Most of the apprentices seemed to know instinctively where they were.

Jennifer Jane had recently got herself in a terrible muddle and caused a lot of trouble for the other witches until they had been able to find her, so she'd been grounded until she passed her 'Navigation for Apprentices'.

She waited patiently while her work was checked over. It wasn't too long before the Examiner looked up with a smile.

"Not at all bad," she said with a grin, "that's quite a good pass level, off you go now and don't forget your lessons."

Jennifer Jane rushed off to find Abigail and tell her the good news. As she expected at this time of day, she was working in her spell room in the basement.

"Congratulations," said Abigail "and while you're here, I may as well tell you that your protective spell has been extended to work in all the known worlds. You've caused such a lot of worry lately, that we've decided to cover all the eventualities we could think of. So now I suppose you want to fly off somewhere ever so far away, to prove to yourself that you won't get lost!"

"I thought I might go and revisit that village on the south coast, to see how they're getting on without a troll. I think I can get there and back in a day now that I know how to fly direct."

"Providing you don't go through any more doors or get kidnapped, you should be OK. and if you're not sure of anything ask one of us to help. Off you go, enjoy yourself."

Jennifer Jane signed for her broom in the guardroom at the castle gatehouse and walked proudly over the drawbridge. She straddled her broom and rose slowly up in the air until she could see over the tops of the trees. She noted the position of the sun and worked out the direction she needed to fly. Then she found a landmark on the horizon in that direction and whizzed off as quickly as she was able.

It was going to take about an hour and a half, even flying in as nearly a straight line as possible. She felt quite proud of herself, as she finally spotted the village about a mile to her left, after a flight of one hour and twenty minutes. She must have had the wind behind her and would have to remember to allow for it blowing against her on the way home.

Somehow the village looked different as she approached, so she slowed down when she got as far as the river. It was the bridge that had changed. Two tall posts on the village side of the river bank, stood at one end of a wide wooden bridge, rather like a smaller version of the drawbridge at the Witches' Home. Some of the workers in the fields waved to her as she flew on towards the 'Plough' to see the landlord and ask what had happened to the stone bridge that the villagers had been so proud of.

"We made sure we'd never have to put up with a troll again," said the landlord in answer to her questions. "Every night we pull up the bridge so that there's nowhere for a troll to come and live. In the morning we lower it again and we can get directly to the fields without having to use the ford further upstream."

"It sounds as if everything's fine," said Jennifer Jane, taking a sip from the glass of ginger beer that the landlord had given her.

"Well there is a problem actually. The crops are a good bit behind because of all the delays caused by getting rid of Tony. We're not too sure if they'll ripen in time before the winter frosts come. I don't suppose you'd be able to help, being a witch an' all?" He looked at her hopefully.

Jennifer Jane thought for a moment. "I suppose there must be spells for making things grow more quickly," she said at last. "I don't know it, 'cos I'm only an apprentice, but I'm sure I could find something that would do the job for you, in the spell library at the Witches' Home. If I went back straight away I could have a look and if all goes well I might even get back here again before it gets dark."

"You can have bed and breakfast for nothing if you can help us out," replied the landlord.