The Road to Riches

Mortimer Brooke’s ambition is to spend as much time as he can in the village tavern, and do as little work as possible. So when his Aunt Esme, the local witch, offers him the chance to make his fortune he is eager to agree, even though it involves being killed several times over. All that is needed is for Mortimer to be endowed with the nine lives of a cat by means of a spell his aunt has found in her grimoire.
All goes according to plan as Mortimer and his aunt seek out the wealthiest and greediest people in the kingdom and make wagers against Mortimer’s life.
Their ill-gotten gains grow dramatically, until one last gamble with the richest man of all, the king, proves to be their downfall. The pair snatch defeat from the jaws of victory because, unfortunately, the Brookes’ have never been good at ‘mathematicals’.