Hacharias Zona, the Wizard with a Red Beard, and the Great Witch Belle Oldred

By S P Ireland

This book is the prequel to The Adventures of Princess the Staffy Dog, and it starts with a wonderful witch called Belle Oldred who, along with her friends, learn great powerful magic from the powerful wizard Hacharias Zona. A wizard who happens to have a red beard.
Along the way, Belle will have to make choices with her magic to save her friends whilst always impressing the great Hacharias Zona. Together, they will each lose loved ones so dear to them, as they fight off the evil sorcerer Legamuss, who is seeking the power to delay death. Though will Hacharias reveal this power, or will it be left to Belle to right all that was wronged. Through her legacy, the powerful books that Belle has created, would one day in the far future, help a castle when it comes under attack from a colony of rats.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665593540

S P Ireland

This is my first book that I have had published and I had been inspired to write this fiction book from loving a beautiful Staffordshire Bull Terrier Dog who I owned for 10 years. Her name, which suited her to a tee, was Princess. Whilst working as a nurse I unfortunately became unwell and decided that whilst I was at home I would put my time to good use and I penned my book. I have now developed a love for writing and I have a few more books in the pipeline.

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© 2022 S P IRELAND. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   03/16/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9355-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9354-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

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links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

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of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

For Lydia

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1     The New Students

Chapter 2     The Magic Begins

Chapter 3     The Great Wizard’s Power

Chapter 4     The Pupil’s Progression

Chapter 5     A Fall from a Great Height

Chapter 6     Muffin’s First Words

Chapter 7     The Dragon’s Past

Chapter 8     Muffin Grows Stronger

Chapter 9     The Heart of Stuart

Chapter 10   Theo Castle Rises

Chapter 11   The Past Reveals Itself

Chapter 12   A Visit to See Hacharias

Chapter 13   A Surprise Visitor

Chapter 14   A Call for Help

Chapter 15   The Battle to Save Hacharias

Chapter 16   Delaying Death

Chapter 17   The Grandchildren Arrive

Chapter 18   The Funeral of a Dear Friend

Chapter 19   The Remains of the Castle

Chapter 20   Princess Gets Her New Home

Chapter 21   Dotty’s Evil Begins

Chapter 22   Goodbye, Belle Oldred

Chapter 23   A Hard Truth to Swallow

Chapter 24   The Rise of Bogland

Chapter 25   Princess Sets Off for New Adventures

Acknowledgements

PROLOGUE

So, who else do you know who has had a red beard? Not friends of mine, which is for sure, but then again, they were not powerful wizards like Hacharias Zona was! Nor were they that old. Hacharias Zona was incredibly old, for he lived for 135 years! Yet he still, as one would say, ‘had all his marbles’ - right up until the day the good spirits took him away, far up into the blue sky on a big white cloud.

Hacharias Zona was a truly remarkable wizard, who even had a small, but equally extremely popular school, for fifteen students, who were all gifted and different. One witch I know, Belle Oldred, was a student of the great wizard himself, years ago. She was even able to build a great castle through magic that he had taught her. In the far future, that castle would be under attack from an evil witch and a colony of rats, and it would need the help of a Staffy dog with her magical collar to help defeat the evil. But this is where it all begins!

CHAPTER 1

The New Students

I’m late! I’m extremely late! thought Belle Oldred. I can’t be late on my first day! Belle was usually very punctual. In fact, most times, she was incredibly early for things. But no, not this time! She was extremely late on the day that she had not wanted to be. She had aimed to make a good impression on the very first day of her new school for the talented and gifted, and those who were ‘’incredibly special’’ … and punctual! Why was this the day that she would lose her new school shoes?

‘Where did I put them?’ she asked herself, as she went running down the stairs barefoot with her big pink toes on show. She was already nervous to be starting her new school but was now very flustered because her new shoes were missing. She had a blue uniform, a red bag, blank books, and a pencil. She even had a red apple to give to her lucky teacher … but no shoes!

Time was ticking on, and Belle thought about using a revealing magic spell, but then she heard her mother shout, ‘Whose are these black shoes by my bedside table?’

At last, her shoes had been discovered! What they were doing in her mother’s room, let alone by her dressing table?

Belle had a feeling that her younger brother, Theo, who was seven years old, had obviously been playing with her shoes, and he had then put them by her mother’s bedside table.

‘Oh, thank goodness you have found them, Mummy. Thank you!’ said Belle.

Belle’s mother was a noticeably short lady with brown hair and brown eyes. Her name was Lydia, and she had raised Belle and Theo alone for a few years, because Belle’s father had died of ‘some silly disease that he caught from uncooked meat’ years before.

‘I mean, there’s rare, and there’s rare, but he practically ate the cow alive!’ Lydia had told Belle, but in truth, her father’s life was taken by another man whilst serving him a drink in a local bar, and the man appeared to have had evil inside him. Of course, Lydia would never want Belle or Theo to know the truth—that another human being had taken the life of their beloved father— their early age. Lydia had tried to show her children that this was a kind world, not the one that Lydia had seen when she had lost her loved one.

Belle had never wanted for anything, really—except for her shoes. Lydia was a simple human with no special powers or gifts. She was just Lydia, Belle and Theo’s mother. But of course, that was enough for Belle, and Lydia had had to be mother and father rolled into one. Belle felt very loved, even if she was not the only child, and Lydia knew that her daughter was special.

Lydia first realised that Belle was different when she was only five years old. Lydia had been at the kitchen window, washing some plates and pans, when she heard Belle talking in the garden.

‘Well, Terjean, that’s very nice, but I much prefer eating cake than nuts and raisins. But I am glad you like those nuts,’ said Belle.

Lydia was concerned as to who might be talking to her unattended child and was astonished when she looked out the window and saw only a squirrel. The squirrel seemed confident to sit next to a human being and was not frightened at all. But why and how was the squirrel talking back? That was bizarre. Or was it that little glass of gin that Lydia had had as a little late afternoon treat that made her convince herself she was hearing and seeing things? Although Lydia did have a little glass of gin, she knew she saw the squirrel’s lips moving in conversation with Belle.

‘That was my friend!’ said Belle excitedly as she came in from the garden. ‘Her name is Terjean, and she likes to eat nuts and raisins.’

‘Oh!’ replied Lydia. ‘And was Terjean talking to you?’

‘Yes, of course she can speak!’ Belle replied, as if her mother should know that squirrels could talk. ‘I gave her the gift to talk, and I named her, and now we are friends.’

Lydia asked if Belle gave all animals she met names and the power to talk.

‘Yes, all of them!’ Belle replied without hesitation. ‘Because there is nothing more beautiful in this world than you, Mummy, and hearing animals speak.’

How wonderful, thought Lydia as she poured herself another little glass of gin, thankfully knowing that it wasn’t the gin that had made her witness an animal talking.

Terjean would often return for her nuts and raisins, and to have a little chat with Belle, bringing along with her two other animals who would normally have been too scared to approach humans. But Belle was so kind and loving, so the animals came along. Colin the badger and Alan the fox would come into the garden and speak with Belle. Belle had also named and bestowed the power of speech upon them. It was such a lovely spell to have.

Terjean was a small, reddish-brown squirrel with a long bushy tail and blue eyes, which was a very strange eye colour for a squirrel to have, but it was lovely at the same time. Terjean would hop along when Belle was in the garden, most often to be given her nuts and raisin treats, as well as having a simple chat with her friend. Colin the badger was black and white in colour. He was just your average-coloured badger, only now Colin could talk, even though he was slow with his speech and his movements, which did not matter to Belle. Lydia observed that she took the time to talk with Colin and never interrupted him or rushed him to finish his sentences. He was taking things easier now because he was an older badger. As for Alan, he was still a fast golden-coloured Fox. No one could beat him in a race, and the nasty dogs that chased him in the fields could not catch up with him. Not even the cruel men on their big black horses, always blowing those silly horns, could catch him. He would always outrun them, luckily for him!

Belle was now twelve years old and was excited but nervous to be starting her new school. Her mother was proud of her special daughter. Although she never referred to Belle as a witch, she knew that she was a witch. She was not the witches who had once been burnt at the stake for practising bad magic. No, not Belle. She was a kinder spirit who especially loved animals, and the magic that Belle did was with good intentions.

Theo was not born of magic. He was simply Belle’s cute little brother, and he also had brown hair and blue eyes. He was close to Belle, even if he did play with her new shoes. Theo looked just like Belle’s father, so the pain