PathFinder (21 page)

“Stop Freezer!”
Septimus’s command echoed around the Hub. He dropped his hands to his side, the light from his palms faded and the crystal wave – which was now heading around the Hub for a second circuit – stopped.

“Goodness, Septimus – that was a bit dramatic,” Marcia said, raising her voice above the background crackle of settling ice.

“But necessary,” Septimus replied.

“Oh, yes. Totally,” Marcia said hurriedly, not wanting Septimus to think she was criticising. A
Freezer
was a rapid-reflex spell – indiscriminate but very effective, it was the kind of spell that was looked down upon by purists. But Marcia was no purist. She knew that when more than one danger must be disabled at once, such a spell was an essential tool. However, like all quick fixes, a
Freezer
has disadvantages – it
Freezes
every living thing in its path and can be dangerous to those who are
Frozen
.

The fizzing and snapping of ice crystals was fading now to a few isolated pops. Tod, Septimus and Marcia stood knee-deep in frozen snow, staring at the bizarre tableau surrounding them.

Tod had once owned a snow globe – a transparent dome filled with fluid in which there was a snowy scene. When she shook the globe, white flakes had swirled up through the fluid to create a snowstorm, which then slowly subsided. Right now Tod felt as though she were inside a big, bizarre snow globe. Captivated, she watched the snow gently subside around the
Frozen
shape of a huge white horse rearing up, its hooves pawing the air and its rider leaning back, trying to stay seated. The rider was striking – a girl not so many years older than she, dressed in a white fur jacket and thick white woollen pantaloons. What struck Tod was her pure white hair, which was braided into scores of thin plaits tied into a horse’s tail that hung down her back, all interlaced with blue ribbons that shimmered with ice. The girl’s blue eyes were wide open in terror as she stared sightlessly through the film of ice that had
Frozen
her and her horse.

Marcia left Septimus working out how to
DeFrost
the horse and rider and waded through the snow to Way XI, where the useless
Seal
was hanging from the archway like a mist of shredded paper. She gathered the remnants of the
Seal
in her hands, held them close to her face and caught echoes of a wild, untutored
Magyk
and some powerful emotions – fear and anger. Marcia replaced the
Seal
, and this time she added more than a touch of
Darke Magyk
. One of the advantages to no longer being ExtraOrdinary Wizard was that Marcia could now use the
Darke
without compromising the pure
Magyk
of the Wizard Tower.

On her way back to join Septimus and Tod, Marcia aimed a precise, pointy kick at the third Garmin.

Tod watched the Garmin shatter into a thousand shards of ice and she suddenly remembered something. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh! The Drummins! They were here. That’s what I heard first – the Drummins shouting. Then the horse neighing. Oh no … are they
Frozen
too?”

Marcia stopped dead. “Yes,” she said. “They will be.”

Anxiously, Marcia surveyed the snow. “I think there’s one here,” she said, kneeling beside a Drummin-shaped bump. Gingerly she broke through the ice crust on top of the snow and had soon revealed a plaited Drummin beard, ice-hard and glistening white.

“Is it easy to melt things?” Tod asked in a whisper, afraid that any loud sound might make the Drummin fall into a thousand shards of ice, just as the Garmin had.

“Ah, you mean
DeFrost
,” Septimus said. “Well, it is relatively easy to do a
DeFrost
, but it is not so easy to do a safe one.
DeFrosting
can be very dangerous for the
Frozen
. However, it is possible to make it safer by using the person’s name. Who is this one, Marcia?”

Very gently brushing the snow off the Drummin, Marcia revealed a pair of gingery eyebrows. “It’s Fabius,” she said. “Hmm … this is tricky, Septimus. He’s
Frozen
mid-stride … standing on only one leg. Horribly easy to knock him over.”

Septimus squatted down beside Marcia. He placed both hands on Fabius to steady him and whispered, “Fabius Drummin.
DeFrost
.”

Tod saw a warm, reddish glow emanating from Septimus’s hands. She could feel the
Magykal
heat in the air as a thin stream of orangey-red mist wrapped itself around Fabius. There was a faint, crackling whisper, like ice on a frozen pond when the sun begins to shine upon it, then Fabius groaned and fell over into the snow. Tod waited for the awful sound of Fabius splintering.

“You can open your eyes, Tod,” Septimus said with a smile in his voice. “See the puddle of water beneath him? He’s
DeFrosted
.”

Fabius Drummin groaned and began to shiver. “I’ll take him upstairs to the Fire Pit,” Tod offered.

“Good thinking,” said Septimus, eyeing a nearby Drummin-shaped mound. “And with any luck, there’ll be another one in a minute.”

Three
DeFrosted
Drummins were sitting by their kitchen fire wrapped in blankets when Tod hurried back down to the Hub to watch the
DeFrosting
of the horse and rider. She found Septimus and Marcia silently sizing up the problem. Tod could tell that this was going to be tough. Septimus must
DeFrost
both at once, because not only was the horse very delicately balanced on its back legs but the rider looked as though she were about to fall off. And once they were
DeFrosted
Septimus would have to jump out of the way
fast
.

Tod waded through the slush and joined the two Wizards, who were looking thoughtfully up at their project. Suddenly Septimus said, “It’s
her
. It must be.”

“It’s
who
?” asked Marcia.

“The Snow Princess that Jenna and I took all the way home in the Dragon Boat in the summer. The one that Jen still moans about whenever I see her.”

Marcia had heard about this from her new stepdaughter. “Oh,
that
Snow Princess,” she said with a smile. “How bizarre.”

“Yes, it is.” Septimus frowned up at the rider, trying to make out her features beneath their glaze of ice.

“You are sure it is her?” Marcia asked. “Because if we use the wrong name …”

“I know, I know,” Septimus said snappily. “It’s even more dangerous with the wrong name. I am ninety-nine per cent sure.” He turned to Marcia. “It’s a risk worth taking.”

“It’s your call, Septimus,” said Marcia.

“Yes. I know. I shall use her name. It
is
her. There’s something about the expression – kind of annoyed, but charming even so … We’ll do this together?”

Marcia nodded.

Septimus placed his hands on the horse’s raised hooves. Marcia placed hers on the rider’s back to stop her from falling off. Fascinated, Tod watched the two Wizards unfocus their eyes and go somewhere deep inside themselves. In complete synchronisation, she saw them take a long, deep breath in and then slowly let it out. She saw a glow from their hands spread across the ice, melting it as it went, revealing the damp fur of the rider’s jacket, the horn of the horse’s hooves. The melt travelled fast, the ice crackled and began to fall, then suddenly the white-haired girl tumbled from the horse and landed with a
splat
in the slush below. In a moment she was on her feet. She spun around, saw Marcia staring at her in surprise and snatched a short, shimmering blue stick from a holster on her belt.

Septimus could do nothing – he was still deep in
Magyk
,
DeFrosting
the horse.

“Haii, Magus! Haii, haii!”
the girl yelled, advancing on Marcia, stabbing the stick forward like a dagger. Marcia retreated but the stick jabbed her in the shoulder. There was a
hissssss
, a smell of burning wool and she went staggering backwards. Marcia was unwilling to use
Magyk
on someone so recently
DeFrosted
. Hands up, Marcia backed away.
“Denna!”
she said soothingly.
“Denna, Driffa.
Denna
.”

Surprised to hear her own name and language spoken, the girl stopped and stared at Marcia. Taking advantage of the lull, Tod waded in and grabbed the stick. To her shock it was red-hot. She threw it down, sending it sizzling into the watery slush. Princess Driffa was not pleased. She snatched up her stick, and yelling,
“Haii! Haii!”
, she advanced this time on Tod, stabbing the red-tipped stick at her face. Tod ducked and hurled herself at Driffa’s white boots. It was a fine tackle. At the precise moment that Princess Driffa crashed face first into a pile of slush, Septimus finished
DeFrosting
her horse. A wild neigh filled the Hub, two great hooves thudded down to the ground and everyone was covered in gritty, ice-cold water.

A sudden exclamation came from the foot of the stairs. “What the –?” Milo Banda gazed at the inexplicable scene in front of him. “Marcia,” he protested. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.”

Snow Princess Driffa, the Most High and Bountiful

Up in the big hall
of the Keep, in front of the blazing fire, Princess Driffa sat wrapped in blankets. She was shivering uncontrollably – a delayed effect of the
Freezer
. Her translucent white skin had a blue tinge to it and her bright blue eyes were the only natural colour she had. Her blue ribbons laced through her white braided hair hung limp and wet, and her sparkling blue fingernails peeped out from the blankets as she clutched them to her.

Driffa’s presence took Marcia right back to being a child. As the daughter of travelling Wizards, Marcia had spent a few years in the Eastern SnowPlains as guests of three princesses who had looked remarkably similar.

Tod looked admiringly at Driffa. She had never seen anyone quite so blue and white before. And now that she knew that Driffa had spent two whole days on the Dragon Boat, she was impressed. She handed Driffa a mug of hot chocolate. “I’m sorry I knocked you over,” she said.

Princess Driffa said nothing. She had not got over the affront to her dignity. She sniffed the hot chocolate suspiciously.

“Drink it,” said Septimus. “It will warm you up.”

Driffa gave Septimus a wan smile and took a sip of the chocolate. It tasted good. The hot drink did its work and soon Driffa’s shivering had subsided.

Remembering the formality of the Eastern SnowPlains, Marcia said, “Welcome, Snow Princess of the Eastern Plains. I am Marcia Overstrand, and you are an honoured guest in my house. May you be so for many days yet to come.”

Princess Driffa understood formality. She inclined her head in a brief nod and said, “I, Snow Princess Driffa, the Most High and Bountiful, thank you, O wise Sorcerer.” Then she looked at Septimus, who had not, Marcia noticed, taken his eyes off Driffa. “ExtraOrdinary Wizard Septimus Heap. I thank you for freeing my horse from its foul
Enchantment
.”

Feeling a little awkward, Septimus bowed his head in acknowledgement. Clearly Driffa did not realise that it was
his
foul
Enchantment
that had
Frozen
her horse – and he wasn’t about to tell her, either.

Haughtily, Driffa handed her empty cup to Tod. Then she turned to Marcia and said, “I pray you, send the servant boy away. There are important matters I wish to discuss.”

Marcia looked puzzled. She didn’t have a servant boy. But Tod understood.

“I am not a boy,” she told Driffa indignantly. “And I am not a servant, either.”

“Ah.” Marcia felt bad. She realised she should have introduced Tod properly. She hurried to make amends. “Snow Princess Driffa, the Most High and Bountiful, may I present to you Alice TodHunter Moon. She, too, is an honoured guest in my house.”

Driffa inclined her head very slightly in Tod’s direction and looked away again. Tod thought she was extremely rude. She sat hugging her knees, feeling chilled and alone. A longing to be home, where she needed no introduction to anyone, came over her. Tod picked up her own mug of hot chocolate and stared into it stonily. She was not going to cry.
She was not
.

While Tod retreated into her own head, the Snow Princess – her thin white hands with their shimmering blue nails fluttering like bird wings – began to speak. At first Tod paid little attention, but as the story unfolded, she found herself listening with increasing interest.

“I, Driffa, am the daughter of the High Emperor of the Great Eastern SnowPlains. We live in the low hills that surround the largest of the SnowPlains. Our people trade and work the precious blue stone, which we take from our
Enchanted
Blue Pinnacle.”