Septimus Heap 3 - Physik (18 page)

“ What? What can you see?” Jenna whispered.

“I see a barge. It is with a high prow and it is built as they used to build many years ago. I see four ghostly oars on the port and four on the starboard; they move but they make no disturbance on the water. I see a Royal red canopy covering the barge on gilded posts, and I see the Queen who sits beneath it.”

“Does ... the Queen wear a high ruff around her neck and have coiled plaits wound around her ears?” whispered Jenna, who suddenly had a horrible feeling who the Queen was. “Does she look as though she has just smelled something disgusting?”

Snorri turned to Jenna with a smile, the first smile that Jenna had seen on Snorri's face.

"So you, my sister, are a Spirit-Seer too. I have so much longed for a Spirit Sister.

Welcome!" Snorri enveloped Jenna in a hug but, desperate not to be seen by Queen Etheldredda, Jenna wriggled out and fled to Snorri's cabin.

Snorri followed Jenna below. “I am sorry if ... I offended you,” she said.

Jenna was sitting on the steps, white-faced and hugging her knees. “You—you didn't offend me,” she whispered. “I mustn't let the Queen see me. She is the one who made me show my brother the Glass. She's horrible, really horrible.”

“Ah,” whispered Snorri, not at all surprised, remembering the chill that had run through her when she had first seen the Royal Barge. “You stay here, Jenna. I shall go See this Queen. I will tell you what she is doing, for I think she has chosen not to Appear to you for a bad reason. Maybe she has your brother prisoner on board?”

“Sep!” said Jenna. “On a ghost boat. But that would mean that he's a ghost too...”

“No, not always. It is possible to be Taken by a Spirit and still be Living. It happened to my uncle Ernold.” With that, Snorri disappeared up on deck, leaving Jenna to reflect that Snorri's family was somewhat accident-prone when it came to the Spirit side of things.

The Royal Barge was nearing the Alfrun, and Snorri saw that it had once been a beautiful boat. It was a long, narrow barge painted with intricate gold and silver swirls. Ornate gold poles held up a luxuriant red canopy to keep the sun and the rain off the Queen and her courtiers, who would have lolled on the long cushioned seats on the dais at the stern of the barge. But now Queen Etheldredda sat alone, as she had also done for much of her lifetime, for her courtiers had found all manner of excuses to avoid being stuck on the Royal Barge without escape from the Queen.

Belowdecks eight ghostly oarsmen sat on their narrow wooden benches, pulling their insubstantial oars to and fro, to and fro, while the river water remained undisturbed.

As the Royal Barge swung toward the Alfrun, Snorri put the Spirit eyeglass away and busied herself tidying the breakfast things. She had no wish to show the Queen that she was a Spirit-Seer and it was clear to Snorri that if Jenna could not see the Queen, then the ghost had chosen not to Appear. Queen Etheldredda rose from her cushions, walked over to the side of her boat and stared across the water at Snorri.

The Queen sniffed disapprovingly. A servant girl, no doubt. The Queen's stare took in the remains of breakfast, which the servant girl was slowly clearing away—disgracefully slowly. Servants were so lazy in this Time; things would change once she became Queen again. Etheldredda's eyes were drawn back to Snorri herself. There was something odd about the girl, she thought. She didn't like the way the girl's eyes flickered from side to side like a lizard's and avoided looking anywhere. Very devious. No doubt her employer would be waking one night soon to find his entire cargo had been sold under his very nose. It would serve him right.

With a grim smile on her lips, Queen Etheldredda allowed the Royal Barge to drift toward the Alfrun while she perused the rest of the boat, searching for Jenna. The Queen was on her way to the Marram Marshes, but as soon as she had rounded the bend and seen the Alfrun moored alongside the riverbank, she had been overcome by a strong feeling that her errant granddaughter was nearby, which she did not understand, for surely the girl was at the Keeper's Cottage. Those two irritating ExtraOrdinary Wizards had said as much—she had heard them from behind the bedroom door. Queen Etheldredda was a great believer in information gained through eavesdropping; in her lifetime she had perfected it to the point where she never believed what anyone told her to her face unless she had also overheard it for herself.

As the Royal Barge drew alongside the Alfrun, Queen Etheldredda's feeling that Jenna was on board became even stronger, but she could see no sign of her. With a puzzled air, the Queen scrutinized the boat. It appeared to be nothing more than a typical Northern Trader's barge: It flew the official flag of the Hanseatic League and was, despite the slatternly servant girl, neat, shipshape and well maintained. All was peaceful, quiet and as it should be. The ropes were neatly coiled, its sail was expertly furled and— it had a dragon on the deck.

The Boarding Party

The dragon on the deck did not stir despite Queen Etheldredda's piercing stare. Spit Fyre lay snoring. A large bubble of gas floated to the top of his stomach and made a break for freedom with a loud pop. Queen Etheldredda recoiled as if struck, and the Royal Barge drew away from the noxious dragon fumes. Queen Etheldredda leaned over the side, staring at the Alfrun with narrowed eyes. Something, the ghost decided, was going on in that boat and she was going to find out. Delicately, like a heron picking its way through shallow water, the ghost of the Queen stepped from her Royal Barge and, as if walking across the Palace lawns, she sauntered over the surface of the water and stepped aboard the Alfrun.

“She is here!” Snorri gasped in her own language. Jenna, who did not understand what Snorri had said, but understood the tone well enough, dived under a large woolen blanket, dislodging Ullr, who had been sleeping after his previous night on guard. The cat darted out of the cabin and rushed up on deck, his tail a great sausage of indignant fluff. Ullr was not only a Night Creature, but he was also from a long line of Spirit-Seer cats, which are, of course, much more common than Spirit-Seer humans. As he emerged on deck he decided he did not like the look of the visiting ghost at all. He didn't like the look of the two rats up the mast either, but they could wait. They would make a good supper that evening.

At the sight of Queen Etheldredda advancing, Ullr threw himself at the ghost, yowling as only a Spirit-Seer cat can. It was a terrible sound, a mixture of banshee and Brownie with a touch of Marsh Moaner thrown in. Queen Etheldredda gasped at the shock of being Passed Through in such a violent way and collapsed onto the deck, coughing and spluttering, feeling as if she had swallowed a whole cat—fur, claws, screech and all.

Along the riverbank, Wolf Boy heard Ullr's yowl. He came running through the orchards to see what was going on. He arrived at the Alfrun to see the strangest sight: the Trader girl and her cat had gone crazy, totally and utterly crazy. The cat—a nasty, thin orange thing—was hurling himself backward and forward as though running through something over and over again. The girl was waving her arms and yelling something in her own language, which sounded to him like shouts of encouragement. And then suddenly the cat stopped. The girl punched the air in triumph, scooped up the cat and ran to the side of the boat where she gazed down at the river, laughing.

Wolf Boy jumped aboard and rushed down to the cabin. “Jenna? Jenna?” he said in a hoarse whisper.

“Yes?” came the reply from underneath the blanket.

“What are you doing under there?”

“Hiding,” came Jenna's muffled reply. “Shh. She'll see you.”

“It's no good hiding, Jen, she's nuts. Let's get out of here while we can. Quick, before she—oh, bother.”

Snorri's grinning face appeared in the hatchway. “The UnQuiet One has gone,” she announced. “She fell overboard and disappeared underwater. She is back on her barge now with riverweed on her crown.” Suddenly Snorri's smile disappeared. She clambered through the hatchway and sat down at the top of the steps, shaking her head.

Wolf Boy shook his head too. Their escape route was blocked. They should have gone when they had the chance.

“There are things,” muttered Snorri, “that I do not understand.”

“What things?” asked Jenna, extricating herself from the extremely itchy blanket.

“One thing is that the Queen has not been on my boat in her Living Time—so why was she not Returned?”

“What?” asked Wolf Boy. Why did the Snorri girl talk in riddles?

“A ghost may only tread once more where, Living, he has trod before,” Snorri recited.

“That's just a kids' rhyme,” scoffed Wolf Boy.

“It is no kids' rhyme,” retorted Snorri, offended. “It is a Rule of Ghosthood.”

Wolf Boy snorted.

“It is. I know,” Snorri insisted. “All Spirit-Seers know them.”

“Huh,” muttered Wolf Boy.

“Shh, 409,” said Jenna, shooting Wolf Boy a warning glance. Jenna believed Snorri, for Snorri had clearly seen Etheldredda, and she wanted to hear more. “What are the other things you do not understand?” she asked.

“I do not understand why the riverweed stuck to her crown. A Spirit has no substance. It should not be possible.”

Wolf Boy sighed; it was all too weird. Give him the Forest any day, where at least you knew where you stood with most of the inhabitants: potential supper.

“So—so what is she?” asked Jenna in a hushed voice, as though Queen Etheldredda was eavesdropping outside the cabin.

Snorri shrugged. “I do not know. She is Spirit and yet ... she is more than Spirit—”

Thump ... thump ... thump. Someone—or something—was knocking on the hull.

Snorri leaped to her feet. “What is that?” she gasped.

Jenna and Wolf Boy, who were both feeling rather spooked by now, went pale. The sound echoed eerily through the cabin, “ thump ... thump... ”

“Etheldredda's come back,” whispered Jenna.

Bravely, Snorri stuck her head out of the hatchway. “Hello?” she said, in her singsong Northern Trader accent.

“Hello!” replied a cheery voice. “Did you know you've got an escaped dragon on your deck?”

“Escaped? From where?” asked Snorri.

“The Castle. It belongs to my brother. He'll be looking everywhere for it.”

“Your brother?” Snorri hurriedly scrambled up on deck and saw a boy with laughing green eyes tying up his boat to the Alfrun. She looked at his salt-stained seafaring tunic and his tangled, curly hair, which was almost as fair as her own, and she knew she could trust him.

“Yeah. 'Fraid so,” said Nicko. “I'd offer to take him back with me but he's too big for my boat. Bit too big for yours too, if you ask me. Hey—Jen!”

“Nik!” Jenna emerged from the cabin and laughed. “What are you doing here?”

“Been sent out collecting Rupert's blasted paddleboats. Someone broke into his store last night and he figures he's lost loads. But I've only found one so far.” Nicko indicated a small pink paddleboat that he was towing. “Waste of time if you ask me.”

Jenna noticed Snorri's look of confusion. “It's Nicko. He's my brother,” she explained.

“Your brother?” asked Snorri, who felt that the brother tally was stacking up a little too fast. “The one who fell through the Glass?”

“What glass?” asked Nicko.

“Oh,” said Jenna, her feelings of excitement at seeing Nicko draining away, as if she had suddenly sprung a leak. “You don't know about Sep, do you?”

Nicko saw the tears now welling in Jenna's eyes. With a heavy heart, he clambered aboard the Alfrun.

Wolf Boy left Jenna and Nicko together and slipped away. There was someone he wanted to check up on. He found Lucy Gringe where he had left her, sitting on the riverbank under a willow tree.

“You again?” she said, grumpily. “I told you to leave me alone. I don't need the stupid paddleboat anyway.” Lucy sat with her blue cloak wrapped around her, arms hugging her knees, her pink ribbon bootlaces soggy with the wet grass. She was holding a crumpled and much-folded and -unfolded piece of paper, her lips moving slowly as she read the words that she knew inside out and upside down. It was a note from Simon Heap, and she had found it in the hem of her blue cloak that Jenna had returned to her. It was headed simply with the words The Observatory, and it read: My own Lucy, This cloak is for you. I will be back soon and we will be together at the top of the Tower. I shall make you proud of me. Wait for me.

Your only,

Simon But Lucy was tired of waiting, and she now knew that Simon could never return to the Castle, so she had set out to find him. And so far all she had done was fall asleep and wake up to find her boat gone. It was not a good start. Wolf Boy's voice broke into her thoughts.

“I found your boat,” he said, breathless.

“Where?” asked Lucy, hastily folding the precious note and jumping to her feet.

“Nicko's got it.”

“Nicko Heap? Simon's brother?”

“Yeah. Suppose he is. He can't help that though.” Wolf Boy, who had been on the receiving end of one of Simon's StunFlashes, had a poor opinion of Simon Heap.

“What do you mean he can't help that, you rude boy!” Lucy's brown eyes flashed angrily.

“Nothing,” said Wolf Boy, who could see that Lucy was trouble. He was beginning to wish that he hadn't bothered to ask her if she was all right earlier, when he had seen her tearfully searching the riverbank.

“So where is Nicko Heap?” demanded Lucy. "I shall go ask him just what he thinks he's doing stealing my boat. The nerve of it.

Knowing that he probably shouldn't, Wolf Boy waved an arm in the general direction of the Alfrun and watched Lucy stomp off along the riverbank toward the Trader barge. He followed at a safe distance, which, with Lucy Gringe, was a long one.

As Wolf Boy neared the Alfrun he heard the sound of raised voices.

“Give me back my boat!”

“It's Rupert's boat, not yours.”

“Rupert says I can use his boats anytime, so there.”

“Well, I—”

“And I'm using it now, Nicko Heap—got that?”

“But...”

“Excuse me. Get out of my way, will you! ”