PathFinder (35 page)

Marcia put her hand on Simon’s arm. “Simon, please. We need to calm down and think this through.”

Simon, however, had no need to think – he knew what he must do. He dropped to his knees and began scrabbling through the stones that had skittered out from the rockfall.

Marcia was afraid that Simon had gone crazy. “Please, Simon, stop,” she said. “We will get to Lucy and William, I promise you. We just need a little time to work out how.”

“
William
doesn’t have any time,” Simon said tersely, stabbing a finger at his timepiece. Then he resumed his frantic clawing through the stones, picking up the larger ones, inspecting them and throwing them away in disgust.

Septimus knew his brother well enough to see that there was some method in what he was doing. He dropped to his knees beside Simon and said gently, “Si, what are you looking for?”

“Lapis,” he muttered. “I need a good, smooth piece big enough to fill my palm.”

Septimus rocked back on his heels. He suddenly realised what Simon was going to do. “Not a
Blind Transport
?” he said.

“Yep,” muttered Simon.

“But that’s
suicide
.”

Simon looked up, and Septimus saw the determination in his brother’s eyes and the power behind it. “Not necessarily,” Simon said. “Not if I
Go Through
with
Like-for-Like
. Not if I find the right piece of lapis.” He swore. “But I can’t find one. I
can’t
.”

Even though Simon was now an Alchemist, his first love had been
Magyk
, and some of his
Magykal
skills would put the everyday Ordinary Wizard in the Wizard Tower to shame. Simon possessed a fair amount of
Darke
skills too – he had once been an assistant to the bones of a
Darke
Wizard.

Septimus knew his brother was deadly serious. His hand went to the
Magykal
lapis lazuli amulet that he, like all Extra­Ordinary Wizards before him, wore around his neck. Known as the Akhu Amulet, it was imbued not only with power from the Wizard Tower, but upon accepting it, Septimus had – as was traditional – transferred most of his own personal
Magyk
into its core. Without the Akhu Amulet, Septimus was scarcely more
Magykal
than Miranda Bott. But despite this, he knew what he must do. Septimus pulled the amulet over his head and held it out to Simon.

“No!” both Marcia and Simon exclaimed together.

“Yes,” Septimus said calmly. “This is ancient Orm lapis. The best
Like-for-Like
you can get. But more important than that, it will protect you. Take it, Simon. Please,
take it
.”

Simon stared at the beautiful teardrop stone bounded by a gold band with the delicate lines of a dragon scribed into it. Never, not even in his most fevered dreams, had it ever crossed his mind that one day his youngest (and once-hated) brother would be holding out the Akhu Amulet to him, begging him to take it.

Marcia said nothing. Septimus was ExtraOrdinary Wizard now. If he wished to risk giving the symbol of his office to Simon, then that was for him to do. She did not think she would have done the same, however.

“Thank you,” Simon murmured. “I will return it, I promise you on my life.”

Septimus pushed the amulet into Simon’s hands and felt an emptiness come over him. Simon clutched the warm lump of lapis in his palms and felt the power of thousands of years of
Magyk
coursing through him. Exhilarated, he raced to the centre of the Heart of the Ways and stood exactly beneath the head of the Great Orm. Looking up at the coils of lapis roof, Simon raised his arms like a diver and began to murmur the
Blind Transport Incantation
.

Septimus lip-read the
Darke
words:
ekat em, Nomis, sipal nihtiw sipal
. There was a flash of what Septimus called
Darke
light, and Simon Heap and the Akhu Amulet were gone, drawn up into the rock above,
Like
joining with
Like
. A sudden downpour of ice-cold water from the very spot that Simon had
Gone Through
drenched them all.

“Umbrella?”
asked Marcia.

“Yes, please,” Septimus said rather faintly.

“Umbrella!”
Marcia commanded. A rounded purple canopy spread over their heads and the water stopped pouring on to them. The Grula-Grula, which now looked not unlike an enormous, upright drowned cat – and just as miserable – shuffled underneath the
Umbrella
apologetically. He smelled of wet and very old dog.

The water hammered down on their purple canopy and Marcia shepherded Septimus out of the deluge and took shelter in the entrance of one of the Ways. Septimus looked shocked and pale. Marcia reached up, took off Septimus’s purple wool beanie, which Sarah had knitted for him and he had taken to wearing – much to Marcia’s disapproval. She wrung out the hat, did a quick
Dry
spell and put it back on Septimus’s head.

“Now, Septimus,” she said. “Give me your dragon ring.”

Septimus looked down at the ring he wore on his right index finger, a beautiful gold dragon with an emerald eye, biting its tail. “Why?” he asked, sounding as though he had little interest in the answer.

Marcia put her arm around his shoulders. “You remember many years ago, when I was prisoner on the
Vengeance
? When I no longer had the amulet and was sick from the loss of my
Magyk
?”

Septimus gave Marcia a small smile. He remembered. He had been only ten years old; a Young Army Expendible known as Boy 412. It felt like another lifetime.

Marcia continued. “Septimus, you gave me this Dragon Ring to help me. And it did. Do you know how?”

Septimus shook his head.

“You had natural
Magyk
even then, and some of it had flowed into the ring. So when you gave me your Dragon Ring, that
Magyk
came to me. So I know this ring can be a conduit for
Magyk
. If you give it to me again, just for a few minutes, I will transfer as much
Magyk
as I can into it. And then, Septimus, when you are up and running, I have a plan to get us out of here and back on the trail of Oraton-Marr.”

“You do?”

“I do. But I need a few quiet minutes to remember my time here as a child. I need to visualise a safe space to
Transport
to. And then we will go together.”

Septimus shook his head. “A
Transport
is a personal spell, Marcia. You can’t take me with you.”

“Quite right,” Marcia said briskly. “So when you’ve got some
Magyk
back you can do a
MindScreen
on me and I will show you the space. I will show you all the information you need to get there. It won’t be easy, I admit, but it is the very least I would expect from my ex-Apprentice. Now hand over that ring.”

Septimus did as he was told. “You know, Marcia,” he said ruefully, “I knew being ExtraOrdinary Wizard was going to be … well, extraordinary. But I never expected to be giving the Akhu Amulet to Simon while I waited in a cavern in a rainstorm with a sodden hearth rug treading on my toes – get
off
, will you?” This last was addressed to the Grula-Grula, which had moved in very close.

Marcia looked down sadly at her shoes, from which the purple python skin was peeling away. “Well, Septimus, if I learned anything when I was ExtraOrdinary Wizard, it was this.”

“What?”

“Expect the unexpected.”

The Orm Tube

Time slowed for Simon
as the
Enchantment
took him up through the lapis lazuli and the echo of an ancient creature deep within. A mineral chill entered his bones, and in his right eye, where he had long ago placed a
Darke
compress over a deep cut, Simon felt a stab of pain and the sensation of stone entering his eye socket. Fear struck deep into him, knowing that his whole body could be turned to lapis. But there was no going back. Like a worm burrowing through rock, Simon laboriously progressed through the palimpsest of the Great Orm.

At the bottom of the Orm Tube, Dan and Tod began to swim slowly upwards, holding the Egg of the Orm. It was heavy and glassy-smooth, and muscles aching, they held it tight, afraid that it would slip from their grasp and tumble to the depths.

Dan risked some quick signs.
Faster. Or someone else will be thrown in.

Suddenly a pressure wave from below sent them rocketing up.

Far below at the bottom of the Orm Tube, Simon emerged through the coldness of stone into the darkness of water. Immediately his once much practised
Darke Art
of Suspension Underwater kicked in and Simon, feeling as though he were still full of rock, forced himself to ascend through the icy chill.

Tod and Dan burst out from the Orm Tube in a spume of dusty blue water, clutching a huge blue egg. A soft sound of wonder ran through the chamber.
“Aaaaoooooh …”

The guard who had apologised to Jonas ran to help Dan and Tod out. “Your good health, sir, miss,” he muttered as he took the heavy egg from their trembling arms and laid it carefully on the lapis floor.

Oraton-Marr stared greedily down at the Egg of the Orm, which lay shining a brilliant blue streaked with gold. “Bring it, bring it! It is mine! I want it
now
!” he screamed down from the balcony.

“No!” Driffa shouted. “The Egg is sacred. It belongs here. With us!”

An angry murmur of agreement began to spread through the Chamber of the Orm.

Spooked by the unrest surrounding them, some of the guards slunk out of the chamber. However, there were still a few eager to be in their Master’s good books. Two of them picked up the Egg of the Orm and staggered away. Tod and Dan watched it go, too exhausted to even protest. Eagerly, Oraton-Marr followed the egg’s shimmering blue progress past the necklace of openings of the Sacred Walk, watching his treasure draw ever closer.

The realisation that the PathFinders were now safe spread through the Chamber of the Orm. An air of celebration began to take hold. Torr leaped up and down, yelling, “Dad! Mum!”

William jumped up too. “Mum! Mum!” he shouted, waving madly.

In the excitement, Lucy could keep quiet no longer. “William! Oh,
William
!” she called out and then clapped her hands over her mouth in horror, realising too late what she had done.

The Lady worked it out at once. “So that brat is yours,” she spat. “I have not forgotten, Madam, that you have reneged on your contract. And his time is now
up
.” She leaned over the balcony, her short, fat finger pointing down at William Heap. “Throw that boy in!” she yelled at the guards below. “
Throw him in!
Yes, him, with the yellow hair!”

All eyes turned to William. Terrified, he skittered away down the rubble and slipped – straight into the arms of a guard. The man lifted his struggling, yelling victim up triumphantly, only to be hurled to the ground by a huge black cat that came flying out of the shadows. William squirmed his way free and hid behind Ullr, who stood with teeth bared, snarling.

Two more guards now approached, one carrying a flaming torch grabbed from the wall. Ullr shrank away – fire was the only thing he feared. While the big cat cowered, growling at the flames, the other guard cornered William and grabbed him. He carried the boy kicking and screaming to the edge of the dark, deep circle of water – and threw him in.

“Noooooooooooo!”
A wild, animal scream came from Lucy Heap.

On the surface of the Orm Tube there was nothing but a few ripples and a smear of rocky dust.

Lucy ran at the Lady and landed a wild punch that knocked her off her feet. The balcony gave an ominous crack as she hit the floor. Drone watched impassively and when Lucy and Driffa turned to run, he stepped politely aside and bowed. He did not like what had happened to William Heap.

Down in the Orm Chamber, Dan and Tod struggled to their feet, intending to dive in after William. But an intense shivering had set in, leaving them weak, and when guards roughly pushed them away, they staggered back helplessly.

“Ullr!” yelled Tod. “Ullr!” There was no response.

In the PathFinder cage, anger was spreading. People at the back were pressing forward and those in the front were daring to venture out. The guards could feel the rage coming through the bars.

“Leg it,” one muttered under his breath.

“Yeah. Before they get us,” growled his neighbour.

They broke ranks and ran – and were followed by several others. On their way up they met Lucy hurtling towards them. They stood back respectfully and allowed her to pass.