Septimus Heap 3 - Physik (31 page)

“It's okay, Sep,” Jenna whispered. “It's only Snorri and the NightUllr.”

Septimus did not understand a word of what Jenna said, but if a growling panther did not bother Jenna, then he wasn't going to let it bother him either. There were other things to worry about just then, like the harsh voice of the new Steward saying excitedly, “The trail is clear. Our quarry awaits us in the Queen's summer house, men.”

A sharp rattling on the door handle was followed by an exclamation, “ 'Tis locked and barred, my lord Steward.”

“Then batter it down, thou Namby-Pamby Mither of Mischance— batter it down!”

A great crash resounded against the flimsy wooden door and the summer house shook. Sir Hereward brandished his sword at the door and declared, “Fear not, they shall not pass.” Jenna glanced in panic at Septimus—the Steward's search party would not even notice Sir Hereward; he would be Passed Through as if he wasn't there.

“We can escape to the kitchens from here,” said Snorri quickly, “but they will follow. I have an idea. Jenna, give me your cloak, please.” Any other time Jenna would have been reluctant to give up her beautiful cloak, but as another crash sounded against the door and a thin panel splintered behind her, she tore off the cloak and thrust it into Snorri's hands. Jenna could hardly bear to look as Snorri ripped the cloak from end to end, stamped it into the dirt of the summer house floor and then gave it to Ullr, saying, “Take, Ullr.” The panther took Jenna's mangled cloak in his mouth and clamped it between his great white incisors.

“Stay, Ullr. Guard.” Ullr obeyed. The great panther stood by the door, his green eyes flashing as another blow sent a shower of dry timber splintering over his broad muscled back.

“Come,” whispered Snorri, beckoning to Jenna, Septimus, Hugo and Sir Hereward.

“Follow me.”

Snorri disappeared into the gloom but the shine of the moonlight on her white-blond hair made it easy to follow her, and soon they were squeezing down a steep flight of spiral stone steps. As they fled, they heard the summer house door finally collapse under the weight of the blows. Then came Ullr's threatening rumble of a growl, followed by a piercing shriek of terror from the Namby-Pamby Mither of Mischance, who had the mischance to be the first through the door.

“Get thee back inside,” came the Steward's harsh voice.

“No, no, I pray you, sire. Upon my life I dare not.”

“Then, fool, thou art truly cursed, for thou hast no life left to dare upon, unless thee enter and bring out the Princess.”

“No— no, sire, I beg you! ”

“Stand aside, fool. I shall show thee how a man should be—”

At that, a snarl such as no one—not even Snorri—had ever heard from Ullr before filled the narrow stairwell and sent shivers down their spines. A terrified yell pierced the air, and the sound of thudding footsteps could be heard overhead as the Steward's search party ran away, leaving the Steward to show the NightUllr all on his own how a man should be.

The search party arrived back at the Ballroom in disarray, and the few stragglers who had stayed behind to finish their—and their neighbors'—ducklings heard the terrible story of how Princess Esmeralda had been eaten alive by the Black Fiend. No one knew what had become of the new Steward, although they all feared (and hoped—for it greatly improved the story) the worst.

With the NightUllr guarding the summer house and possibly eating the Steward (although no one wanted to think about that), Septimus, Jenna, Hugo and Snorri emerged at the bottom of the flight of spiral steps and bumped straight into someone.

“Nik!” Septimus yelled in amazement.

At the sound of Septimus's voice, Nicko nearly dropped his candle. A flicker of puzzlement briefly clouded his features as he took in the subtle changes that one hundred and sixty-nine days marooned in a foreign Time had wrought upon Septimus, but it soon cleared, for Nicko could see that underneath the matted hair and the skinny, slightly taller frame, it was the same Septimus, and not only that—behind him was Jenna.

“Come quick,” said Snorri, “they may soon send others to defeat Ullr. He will not be able to hold them back forever. We must be gone.” Snorri took the candle from Nicko and strode off purposefully. They followed Snorri and the flickering light from her candle along the thoroughfare of the lower kitchens, which was deserted, apart from three tired serving girls disappearing in the distance. The kitchens were filled with the familiar, and to Jenna and Septimus repulsive, smells of the banquet.

Glancing about them to check for inquisitive servants, they crept on. They were lucky, these were the few quiet hours of the night when no one but the Palace baker was at work in the kitchens—and he was safely far away on the upper floor.

Jenna knew where they were heading. Not far ahead, she could see the recess that hid the UnderCooks' coat cupboard. She squeezed Septimus's hand and said, “We'll be home soon, Sep—isn't that great?”

“But how?” asked Septimus, puzzled.

Behind him Nicko held up the candle and their shadows were thrown across the old coat cupboard. “That's how,” he said. “Don't you recognize it?”

“Recognize what?”

“Where you came in, dillop.”

Septimus shook his head. "But this isn't where I came in. I came into the Alchemists'

Chamber."

Nicko didn't see why Septimus was being so fussy. “Oh, it doesn't matter, Sep. Let's just go back this way, okay? Getting home is what counts.”

Septimus said nothing. He did not see how he could possibly get back home through an old cupboard. At the mention of home, Hugo began to snuffle. Septimus crouched down beside the boy. “What is it, Hugo?” he asked.

Hugo rubbed his tired, sore eyes. “I ... I want to go home,” he mumbled. “See Sally.”

“Sally?”

“My dog. See Sally.”

“All right, Hugo. Don't worry, I'll take you home.”

“Sep!” exclaimed Jenna, horrified. "You can't. You've got to come back with us.

Now. We've got to go before someone catches us."

“But, Jen ... we can't just leave Hugo here on his own.”

Sir Hereward coughed politely. “Princess Jenna. I trust you will allow me to escort the boy back to his household.”

“Oh, Sir Hereward,” said Jenna, “would you?”

The knight bowed. “It will be an honor, Princess Jenna.” The knight extended a rusty-gloved hand to Hugo, who took it and held on tightly to the thin air. “I shall take my leave, fair Princess,” said Sir Hereward, bowing low. “Fare thee well, for I shall not see thee again.”

“Oh, but you will, Sir Hereward. I will see you tonight and tell you all about it.”

Jenna grinned.

“I trust not, Princess, for I think you will not be safe here tonight. I wish you and your brave companions Good Speed and a Safe Homecoming. Come, Hugo.” With that the ghost walked out the door, Hugo trotting beside him.

“ 'Bye, Hugo,” said Septimus.

“Good-bye, Apprentice.” Hugo turned and smiled. “Perchance I shall see thee tomorrow.”

Perchance you will, thought Septimus gloomily.

“Come on, Sep,” said Jenna impatiently, and she pulled him toward the cupboard.

Snorri took a silver whistle from her pocket and put it to her lips. She blew but no sound came out. “It is for Ullr,” she said. “He will come now.”

Jenna opened the door to the coat cupboard. “See,” she explained to Septimus,

“there's a Glass at the back, behind the coats.” She threw back the layers of coarse gray wool to reveal the dusty gold frame of the Glass. “There it is!” she said excitedly to Septimus.

“Where?” asked Septimus, as the padding of Ullr's feet came softly toward the four figures crowded around the cupboard.

“There,” said Jenna, annoyed. Why was Septimus being so awkward?

“It's just an empty frame, Jen,” said Septimus. “Just a stupid old empty frame.” He kicked it angrily. “That's all.”

“No! No, it can't be!” Jenna put her hand up against the Glass, and she saw that Septimus was right. The frame was empty, and of the Glass that had been inside it there was not a trace at all.

“We're all trapped in this horrible place now,” said Septimus grimly.

The Underflow

Nicko untied the dinghy from the Royal Barge, and under the cover of the giant cedar trees, they slipped away from the Palace landing stage. It was a tight squeeze in the small boat.

The NightUllr stood at the prow, his green eyes shining in the dark with Snorri squashed in beside him. In the middle sat Nicko, steadily rowing them upstream, away from the Palace.

Jenna and Septimus huddled together in the stern, shivering in the chill that rose from the water, brushing off the fat, lazy snowflakes that were drifting down from the sky. They were all wrapped up in an assortment of UnderCooks' coats, but the cold air easily found its way through the cheap thin wool—for Palace UnderCooks did not get paid enough to buy decent outerwear.

They were on their way to the Great Chamber of Alchemie and Physik. Septimus knew it was their only chance to return to their own Time and he didn't hold out much hope. He was not in a good mood. “This is not going to be easy,” he told them.

“Only Marcellus has the Keye to the Great Doors of Time.”

“Well, we will just have to lie in wait in the Chamber and ambush him when he comes in,” said Nicko breezily. “It's four against one, not bad odds.”

“You've forgotten the seven scribes,” said Septimus.

“No, you've forgotten those, Sep. You didn't say anything about seven scribes. Oh, well, four against eight then.” Nicko sighed. "Anyway, we've got no choice.

Otherwise we're stuck here forever."

“Do not forget Ullr,” murmured Snorri, “if we arrive before daybreak.”

Nicko upped his pace. He'd rather have a panther on his side than a scraggly orange cat any day. Jenna turned back to look at the Palace, which was rapidly disappearing behind them. The fruitless search of the Palace had been completed, and each room now had a candle burning in it; the long, low yellow stone building was ablaze with light, its wide lawns spread out before it with their fresh snowfall like a crisp white cook's apron. Despite knowing that Queen Etheldredda was somewhere within those walls, Jenna could not help but think that it was a wonderful sight to see the Palace so alive, and she decided that if, by some miracle, she ever returned to her Time, she too would light up every room—in celebration.

Jenna looked up at the windows of Esmeralda's—and her—room. “I am glad Esmeralda got away,” she said.

“So am I,” said Septimus.

Jenna was amazed. “You knew Esmeralda?” she asked.

Septimus nodded. “She only just made it, you know. Marcellus took her through the Queen's way, but they nearly got caught by the Steward. Then—and this is the good part—he threw her cloak into the water just above the Palace on an outgoing tide and made sure one of the footmen fished it out. Everyone thought she had drowned, and Etheldredda was thrilled, seeing as, according to Marcellus, she had been planning to throw Esmerelda into the bottomless whirlpool in Bleak Creek.”

“ Marcellus took her?” asked Jenna.

“Well, he is her brother. Esmeralda came to stay with him and she was really nice to me. No one else spoke to me then because they were jealous that I was the Apprentice and they were still just scribes.”

Jenna remembered the diary. “So the new Apprentice ... was you?”

Septimus nodded. He lifted up his servant's tunic and showed Jenna his black, red, and gold Alchemic robes underneath. “See? Alchemic Apprentice stuff.”

With another pull on the oars, Nicko took them around the next bend, and the Palace was lost from view. They were now approaching a long-forgotten dockyard on the east side of the Castle. The river was deeper here than Nicko was used to in his own Time, the wind was picking up and the current was fast and strong. The little rowboat shot quickly past dozens of tall ships that were moored up for the winter along the shore. The ghostly hum of the wind in the ships' rigging sent even more shivers down the spines of the occupants of the Queen's dinghy, and the long beards of frost that had settled on the complicated traceries of rope and now shone in the moonlight like great silvery cobwebs did nothing to make them feel any warmer.

“Is it much farther, Sep?” Nicko inquired, his breath coming in rapid bursts of warm cloud on the frosty air. He brushed away the snowflakes settling on his eyelashes.

“It can't be far,” said Septimus, peering at the piles of rubble and great towers of scaffolding that were springing up from the riverbank.

“If you've never been down this underground river, how do you know where it is?”

asked Jenna, her teeth chattering.

"The Underflow comes out at the Alchemie Arch, Jen. There's a map on the wall showing where it goes. I've spent hours with nothing to do but stare at that map. And there's a gold Alchemie sign above the arch. A circle with a dot in the middle that's meant to be the Earth going around the sun. Then there are seven stars around that.

Alchemists like sevens—worse luck." Septimus sighed heavily.

“Oh, do cheer up, Sep,” said Jenna. “At least we're all in this together now.”

As Nicko rowed, everyone stared at the wall that rose up from the river, hoping for a sight of the Alchemie sign. But all they could see was stones, scaffolding and half-finished walls that reared up into the cloudy night sky. One by one, Jenna, Nicko and Septimus realized what they were looking at.

“They're building The Ramblings,”Jenna said very quietly.

“I know,” said Nicko. “It's weird.”

“We haven't even been born yet,” said Jenna.

“Or Mum, or Dad. It makes my head go funny.”

Septimus sighed. “Don't even think about it, Nik. It makes you feel like you're going crazy.”

Snorri took no part in the conversation. The Ramblings meant nothing to her and the Castle was as strange to her in this Time as it had been in her own Time. Also Snorri had grown up in a land where many people knew that Time could be long or short, go backward or forward, where Spirits came and went and where all things were possible. She sat quietly and scanned the walls for the Alchemic sign.