PathFinder (3 page)

Septimus brushed down his purple robes and tightened his gold-and-platinum ExtraOrdinary Wizard belt. This was the first time he had met Hotep-Ra in his role as ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and he wanted to look his best.

Jenna put the landing ladder over the side and gave Septimus a hug. “You’ve got the
Questing Stone
?” she asked – as she always did.

“Jen, don’t fuss. Of course I do.”

“Show me,” Jenna insisted, remembering the one terrifying day that Septimus had left the
Questing Stone
in the boat. She had gone racing after him with it and had only just reached him in time.

Septimus put his hand in his pocket and held out an iridescent black stone, round and smooth, with a gold “Q” set into it. This was Septimus’s key to freedom; it allowed him to come out of the House of Foryx safely back into his own Time.

“Good,” said Jenna. “Nervous?”

Septimus gave Jenna a strained smile. “A bit,” he admitted. He swung himself on to the ladder and a few moments later was hurrying off across the marble terrace towards the forbidding grey fortress.

Jenna watched him stride up to a towering door made from great planks of ebony held together with iron bars and rivets. It looked, she thought, like the door to a prison – and it was, in a way. The House of Foryx, built by Hotep-Ra, was the place where All Times Do Meet. Here in the house, Time stood still, like a hub at the centre of a spinning wheel. And although those in the House of Foryx were free to leave whenever they chose, they could not choose the Time which they would step into. Only a person in possession of a completed
Questing Stone
could do this – and Septimus had the only one.

A flurry of snow swept across the terrace, and through it Jenna saw Septimus reach up and tug the bellpull. She saw the door open and the little bat-like doorman step aside to let him pass. Then the door closed and Septimus was gone.

Jenna hated this part of their visit; she was always afraid she would never see Septimus again. To take her mind off things, she set about rigging up a red-and-gold awning over the Dragon Boat. Then when Septimus came out, however hard the snow might fall, however chill the wind might blow, they would sit with Hotep-Ra under the awning and have the lunch that she had brought. This was how it always went, and this, she told herself, was how it would be today.

Going Out

Inside the House of Foryx
,
Septimus pushed open the lobby door – which always opened more easily than he expected it to – and hurtled into the candlelit entrance hall. He stood for a moment to collect his thoughts and breathed in the strange, stagnant air of a place where All Times Do Meet. The entrance hall was wreathed in candle smoke and crowded with people milling around, some plucking up the courage to go out, some disorientated by having just – or so it felt to them – come in, but most of them in a Timeless daze, hardly knowing who or where they were any more.

Septimus could see little through the smoky haze that always hung around this place, but he pushed his way through until he finally spotted the figure of Hotep-Ra. Standing tall in his faded purple robes with their intricate embroideries of Magykal symbols, his white hair held in a thick golden band, Hotep-Ra stood out from the crowd.

T
here are many things that a brand new ExtraOrdinary Wizard will want to ask the very first ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and Septimus was no exception. He spent what felt to him like many hours of House of Foryx Time with Hotep-Ra up in the old Wizard’s rooms. When at last Septimus had asked all his questions, Hotep-Ra said eagerly, “I think it is time for lunch, do you not, Septimus?” Hotep-Ra had become rather fond of the picnics that Jenna made.

The two ExtraOrdinary Wizards threaded their way through the crowds of the hazy entrance hall and went into the lobby. The dragon chair was now occupied by a striking girl dressed in white furs. Septimus noticed she had brilliant blue fingernails and her white-blonde hair was dressed in tiny plaits gathered into a thick ponytail. The girl sprang to her feet and grabbed hold of Septimus’s arm. “Tell me, please,” she said in a heavily accented voice. “You are the man with the
Magyk
stone, aren’t you? You always go out into the Time you came in?”

Septimus clutched the
Questing Stone
tightly in his hand, afraid that the girl might try to grab it. “Yes, I am. And I do.”

The girl looked deep into Septimus’s eyes. He was mesmerised. “Please, oh please, I beg of you,” she said. “Take me Out.”

Hotep-Ra did not like the prospect of his precious lunch with his Dragon Boat and his favourite Queen being disrupted. “Madam, you are in no need of being ‘Taken Out’, as you put it. You are free to leave at any time.”

The girl glared at the old man. “I don’t want
any
Time. I want
his
Time.”

Septimus knew how the girl felt. He, too, had once been terrified of which Time he would step out into, but it was a terror that Hotep-Ra would never understand. “Of course you may Come Out with me,” he said. “It would be a pleasure.” He would have offered her his arm, but she already had it.

Taxi

Jenna was still trying to
put up the awning when she saw Septimus emerge from the House of Foryx with –
who was that?
Jenna frowned. What was Septimus thinking, bringing someone – some new girlfriend, no doubt – to intrude on their precious time together? From the expression on Hotep-Ra’s face she could see that the ancient Wizard was no happier about it than she was.

Their guest introduced herself as the Snow Princess Driffa, the Most High and Bountiful. “But I am known to my friends,” she said, settling down in the Dragon Boat and kicking off her fur boots to reveal long, white feet with bright blue toenails, “as Driffa.” She bestowed a glittering smile on her three companions. “And I hope that you will consider yourselves as my friends.”

“Of course we will,” said Septimus. Jenna and Hotep-Ra smiled icily.

Hotep-Ra thawed a little at the sight of the salmon mousse and elderflower champagne, but he said little – the Snow Princess spoke enough words for them all. She told them how she had gone to the House of Foryx to find an ancestor who had asked her to meet her there. After giving her a frightening message, her great-great- (and then some) grandmother had told Driffa to wait for “a beautiful blond young man in purple who had a
Magyk
stone”. Driffa had waited for what felt like centuries until Septimus had at last appeared.

The Snow Princess put her thin, white hand on Septimus’s and said, “I can never thank you enough for Going Out with me. Never.” Driffa reclined languidly, so that snowflakes fell on to her upturned face. She breathed in deeply. “Ah,” she murmured. “I had forgotten the smell of snow.”

Septimus gazed at Driffa, entranced. Hotep-Ra and Jenna exchanged exasperated glances.

Hotep-Ra did not linger. Jenna was waving him goodbye, watching the dark door of the House of Foryx close upon the old Wizard once more, when she heard Septimus saying, “It would be our pleasure to take you home, Driffa. I have always wanted to see the Eastern SnowPlains.”

Jenna bit back a retort of
Since when?
and gave Septimus one of her Queenly disapproving stares. It had no effect.

The Snow Princess Driffa, the Most High and Bountiful, was not a good passenger. She spent most of the journey lying prone on the deck of the Dragon Boat, groaning loudly. She protested whenever Jenna roused her to ask for directions, and when she looked out to see where they were, she was promptly sick over the side. “All down the lovely gold leaf,” Jenna complained to Septimus. It took two swelteringly hot days and two bitterly cold nights to reach the Eastern SnowPlains. Night was falling when they at last reached the place that the Snow Princess recognised as home – a high snow-covered plain surrounded by mountains, where the air was thin and the wind blew with a low-pitched moan.

“There! I see it. Our Blue Pinnacle!” Driffa called out.

Septimus and Jenna peered out through the snow clouds and glimpsed what looked like a spire of pure lapis lazuli shooting up from the snow. Then the snow closed in and everything became a dull white once more.

Driffa turned to Septimus, her dark blue eyes shining with excitement. “Can you not feel its wonderful
Enchantment
?”

Septimus could feel an
Enchantment
, but he would not have called it wonderful. It felt
Darke
to him. Unwilling to upset the Snow Princess, he used the opaque Wizard-talk that he had recently acquired to get him out of situations he did not entirely understand. “I am sure there is many a wonderful
Enchantment
in this
enchanting
place.”

“Oh,” said Driffa, and she blushed.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Jenna muttered under her breath. Ever since Septimus’s longtime girlfriend Rose had dumped him for a certain scribe named Foxy, Septimus had turned into what Jenna considered to be an outrageous flirt.

The glimpse of the Blue Pinnacle –
Enchanted
or otherwise – was enough to guide the Snow Princess home. As the Dragon Boat dropped down through the clouds they caught a brief glimpse of beautiful snow-covered towers soaring up from the foothills and the welcoming glow of lanterns strung out along delicate walkways, but then a blizzard came howling in and they were lost from view.

There was nowhere for the Dragon Boat to land, but Septimus took her down until she was hovering a few feet above the snow. Jenna threw out the landing ladder and slipped into graceful-Queen mode, something she was extremely good at after seven years’ practice. “Snow Princess Driffa, the Most High and Bountiful,” she said. “It was our pleasure and privilege to return you to your beautiful country. We wish you much happiness among your kin. Farewell.”

Determined to outdo Jenna’s speech, the Snow Princess replied, “Oh, Castle Queen and ExtraOrdinary Wizard, you are truly the most generous of beings and I thank you from the soles of my feet to the top of my head. May your snowfall be soft and your skies be blue. May the Grula-Grula guide you true.”

Septimus was puzzled at the mention of “Grula-Grula”. He wanted to ask the Snow Princess what she meant, but one look at Jenna’s expression told him that his Castle Queen wanted their passenger gone. Obediently, Septimus helped the Snow Princess on to the ladder. She held his hand for as long as possible and then she dropped down into the soft snow below and was gone, her white furs blending into the blizzard.

“I hope she will be all right,” Septimus said.

“People like that usually are,” Jenna observed.

Septimus took the Dragon Boat low across the centre of the SnowPlain to take another look at the intriguing Blue Pinnacle. As they drew near, the clouds briefly parted.

“Crumbs,” said Jenna. “What’s that?”

Beside the Blue Pinnacle was what looked like an ant nest. A huge mound of black spoil lay upon on the snow, and lines of figures were emerging from a great gash in the ground, slowly pushing barrows of dirt and rock.

Septimus frowned. “There is a
Darke Magyk
down there for sure,” he said.

Suddenly a ball of flame shot into the air and headed straight for them. Septimus pushed the tiller across to take evasive action, but there was no need. The Dragon Boat had seen a
ThunderFlash
before and she knew what was coming. She heeled over in a rapid turn and the ball of fire shot past, spinning as it went, the heat melting the ice on the deck.

Two more missiles came after them, but the Dragon Boat was out of reach. The snowstorm closed around them once more and Jenna made her way forward to the prow. She put her arms around the dragon’s ice-cold neck and whispered, “Take us home.”

Waiting

Two nights later the Dragon Boat
flew over the PathFinders’ sandspit once again. This time there was no circle of lights. But down below on the beach in the darkness, someone was there.

It was Tod. She was sitting beside her father’s empty boat, waiting.

At dawn the previous morning, Dan Moon had gone fishing. It had been a fine day and Tod had helped him stow the nets and push his boat,
Vega
, down the beach. She had watched him sail slowly out, and when his red sail disappeared around the headland Tod had wandered off to have breakfast with her friends, the Sarn family. Even though Aunt Mitza had gone out that morning, Tod had no wish to go home, in case she came back unexpectedly.

Many PathFinders had gone fishing that day. Tod returned to the beach in the evening with other villagers, watching the boats come in until the only one not come home was her father’s. Darkness began to fall and the evening breeze blew in, but still there was no sign of Dan. Oskar and Ferdie Sarn joined her, bringing blankets and hot drinks. The long night passed slowly with nothing but an empty sea before them.

In the grey light of early dawn, Tod saw the unmistakable shape of Dan’s boat drifting towards the shore. But one look told her that there was no one on board.
Vega
’s sail hung loose and she meandered along with the waves, rocking back and forth.