Syren (39 page)

He was about to find out. Beetle was dangerously cold, and he had to get him out of the Ice Tunnel fast. Septimus climbed up the icy rungs on the side of the tunnel, UnSealed the hatch and pushed it open. Immediately in front of him was the now familiar black shine of a moving chamber.

Septimus decided to leave the sled free. He pushed Beetle up to the hatch, pulled him through and Sealed it. Then he propelled Beetle into the moving chamber. He placed his hand on the orange arrow and felt the chamber shift.

Where, he wondered, was it taking them?

U
nlike Septimus, Lucy had been
having a great time—and not a little success. While directing the turtle around Star Island, she had discovered the
Marauder
, complete with Milo’s crew and Jakey Fry, hiding out in the old harbor. Lucy knew an opportunity when she saw one, which was why she was now standing in the well of the CattRokk Lighthouse directing operations. Milo’s crew was reinstating the Light, Miarr was back where he belonged and Lucy Gringe had kept her promise.

Suddenly a narrow black
door under the stairs flew open.

“Hello, Septimus,” said Lucy. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Half an hour later, on the rocks below the lighthouse, a conference was in progress.

Septimus was pacing up and down. “I’m going back down the Ice Tunnel; I don’t see any other way. We
have
to try and stop them.”

Beetle shivered. He was warm now in the sun, but the very word “ice” chilled his bones.

“You don’t stand a chance, 412,” Wolf Boy said. “Remember what they used to say: ‘Ten against One and You Are Done’? Well, it’s true. One against four thousand is crazy.”

“If I go right
now
there will be fewer—maybe four or five hundred.”

“Four hundred or four thousand, it makes no difference. Still outnumbered. ‘Use Your Head or You Are Dead.’”

“Oh, do
stop
it, 409—that stuff gets irritating. I’m going
now
. Every second counts. The longer I leave it the more jinn there will be.”

“No, Sep,” said Beetle. “Don’t.
Please
don’t. They’ll smash you to pieces.”

“I’ll do an UnSeen—they won’t know I’m there.”

“And can the sled do an UnSeen too?”

Septimus did not answer. “I’m off,” he said. “You can’t stop me.” He raced away up the rocks, taking them all by surprise.

Lucy and Wolf Boy jumped up and tore after him.

“
I’m
stopping you,” Lucy said, catching him and grabbing his arm. “You are not going to do anything so
stupid
. What would Simon think if I let his little brother go and get killed?”

Septimus shook her off. “I should think he’d be pleased. The last thing he said to me was—”

“Well, I’m sure he didn’t mean it,” Lucy cut in. “Look, Septimus, you’re clever. Even I know what those purple stripes on your sleeves mean, so—like Wolf Boy said—use your head. Think of something that isn’t going to get you killed. What about your turtle down there?” Lucy pointed at the little harbor far below. “Can’t he help?”

Septimus looked down at the
Marauder
—to which, he now noticed, someone had tied a large and extremely unhappy turtle.

“He changes into things, doesn’t he?” said Lucy excitedly.
“Can’t he change into a bird and fly back to the Castle? He can warn them, and then they can Seal stuff and it will be all right.”

Septimus looked at Lucy with grudging admiration. She had surprised him with her skill in the sick bay, and she was surprising him once again.

“He could,” he admitted. “But the trouble is, I don’t trust him on his own.”

“Then make him be big enough to take you. Make him be a dragon!” Lucy’s eyes were shining with excitement.

Septimus shook his head. “No,” he said slowly. “I’ve got a better idea.”

Back on the rocks above the harbor, under the beady yellow eye of an extremely disgruntled turtle, Septimus outlined his plan. Beetle, Lucy and Wolf Boy listened, impressed.

“So, let me get this straight,” said Beetle. “Jim Knee’s bottle was gold, right?”

Septimus nodded.

“And the jinn tubes in the chest were made of lead?”

“Yep.”

“And that’s important?”

“I think it’s crucial. You see, in Physik and Alchemie I learned a lot about lead and gold. Lead is considered to be the less perfect form of gold. And always,
always
, the thing is: gold trumps lead. Every time.”

“So?” asked Wolf Boy.

“So, in the jinn pecking order, Jim Knee’s the tops. He’s from gold; they’re from lead. He’s
much
more powerful than those warriors are.”

“You’re right!” Beetle said excitedly. “I remember now. Someone gave Jillie Djinn a pamphlet called
Habits and Hierarchy of the Jinn
as a joke—which of course she didn’t understand. I read it one quiet day in the office, and that is
exactly
what it said.”

Septimus grinned. “So Jim Knee can Freeze the warrior jinn. He’ll stop them in their tracks.”

“Brilliant,” said Beetle. “Absolutely brilliant.”

“There,” said Lucy, “see what you can do when you try?”

Wolf Boy was not so sure. “It’s still four thousand to one,” he said. “As soon as he Freezes one of ’em, the other three thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine will be after him.”

“No,” said Beetle, “I don’t think so. I reckon these jinn are basically one organism—look at the way they all move
together. Freeze one and you Freeze the whole bunch.”

“That’s
right
,” said Septimus. “They only needed one Awake, didn’t they? After that they just kept on coming.”

“Trouble is, Sep,” said Beetle, “there’s only one way to find out for sure.”

“Yep,” agreed Septimus. “Now where’s that turtle?”

A sodden Jim Knee sat on the harbor steps spitting out turtle spit and moving his fingers separately, just because he could.

“Jim Knee,” said Septimus, “I command you—”

“You have no need to command, Oh Forceful One,” said Jim Knee, wiggling his toes experimentally. “Your
wish
is my
command
.”

“Good,” said Septimus. “I
wish
you to Freeze the warrior jinn.”

“How many, Oh Vague One?”

“All of them.”

Jim Knee was aghast. “
All?
Every single one?”

“Yes, every single one,” said Septimus. “That is my wish. And my wish is
what
?”

“My command,” Jim Knee replied glumly.

“Right then. Come on. We’ll take you to them.”

Jim Knee looked up at his Master. “I could do with a nap first,” he said.

“Oh, really?” said Septimus.

“Yes, really,” said the jinnee.

Jim Knee did not know what hit him. One minute he was sitting, eyes slowly closing in the heat of the sun, and the next he had been grabbed, hauled to his feet and frogmarched down to the smelly fishing boat he knew too well.

“We’ve got him, Sep,” the dark-haired boy with the viselike grip on his left front flipper—no, his
arm
—was saying.

“And we’re not letting go,” said the boy with the rat’s nest on his head, who had an equally nasty hold on his right arm.

“Good,” said his Master. “Get him on the boat.”

Like all jinn, Jim Knee could hardly bear the physical touch of a human. There was something about the rush of blood beneath the skin, the swiveling of the bones, the tug of the tendons, the constant
ker-chump
of the heartbeat that set him on edge—it was all so
busy
. And the feel of their skin touching his was disgusting. One human grabbing hold of him would have been bad enough, but two was intolerable.

“Order them to unhand me, Oh Great One,” Jim Knee pleaded. “I promise I will do what you wish.”

“
When
will you do it?” asked Septimus, who was rapidly wising up to jinnee behavior.

“Now,” Jim Knee wailed. “Now! I will do it now, now,
now
, Oh Wise and Wonderful One—if only you will
let me go
.”

“Put him on the boat first, and
then
let go of him,” Septimus told Beetle and Wolf Boy.

Jim Knee retreated to the stern. Like a wet dog, he shook himself to get rid of the feel of human touch.

“’Scuse me,” said Jakey Fry, pushing past. “I need to get ter me tiller.” At the touch of Jakey’s elbow, Jim Knee leaped out of the way as though he had been stung.

The
Marauder
drew steadily closer to the
Cerys
, which was now safely at anchor in the bay. Silence fell on the fishing boat. All on board could see the stream of warriors still leaving the ship and, much farther away, pouring up the hill—looking exactly, as Nicko had observed, like ants. Septimus could hardly contain his impatience. The
clud-clump
of the warriors’ marching feet still echoed in his head, and he knew that, with every moment, the jinn drew nearer to the Castle. He thought of Marcia and the Wizards in the Wizard Tower going about their daily routines, Silas and Sarah in the Palace, all oblivious
to the threat drawing ever nearer. Septimus wondered how fast the jinn were traveling—how much time was left before Tertius Fume would be marching into the Castle at the head of his terrifying army?

The answer was not one that Septimus, or anyone on the
Marauder
, would have wanted to hear. Tertius Fume had chosen a personal cohort of five hundred warrior jinn and taken them on ahead. He was heading for the Wizard Tower, which the ghost knew had open access to the tunnels—the Tower itself being considered a Seal. The jinn were traveling fast, faster than any human could run, and at that very moment they were pounding along below the Observatory in the Badlands.

It is a little known fact that it takes an arthritic wolfhound exactly the same time to walk from the Palace Gate to the Wizard Tower as it takes a cohort of jinn to run the Ice Tunnel from the Observatory to the Wizard Tower. That afternoon Sarah and Silas Heap had an appointment with Marcia. As the jinn passed beneath the Observatory, Silas, Sarah and Maxie went out of the Palace Gate.

Half an hour later, the
Marauder
drew up alongside the
Cerys
. Warily Jakey watched a group of ax-handed jinn climbing down the side of the ship.

“How near d’yer want me ter go?” he asked. “Don’t want one a
them
landin’ on me boat.”

“As near as you can—and as fast as you can,” said Septimus.

Jim Knee yawned. “No rush,” he said. “I can’t Freeze them until the last one is Awake.”

“What?”
gasped Septimus.

Sarah, Silas and Maxie walked past the Manuscriptorium.

“As I am sure you know, Oh All-Comprehending One, it is not possible to Freeze an Entity when it is not fully Awake. And, as I am sure you also understand, Oh
Astute
One, these jinn are but one Entity.”

There was a sudden shout from Beetle. “Last one! There’s the last one, Sep. Look!”

It was true. An ax-carrying warrior was mechanically descending, the
clang
of metal on metal marking every step—and above him was an empty ladder.

“
Freeze them
,” said Septimus. “Now!”

Jim Knee shook Septimus off and bowed. “Your wish is my command, Oh Excitable One.”

The last of the jinn stepped off the ladder and dropped into the sea. Dismayed, Septimus watched the warrior sink to the seabed.

“I’ll wait until it comes out,” said Jim Knee.

“You will not,” Septimus told him. “You will go and Freeze one of those on the beach instead.”

“I am sorry to inform you, Oh Misguided One, that a Freeze will only run in one direction. Therefore, if you wish to Freeze all the jinn—something that I would strongly advise, as a semi-Frozen Entity is a dangerous thing—you should Freeze either the very last or the very first one. I would suggest the last one as the safest option.”

“Is he right, Beetle?” asked Septimus.

Beetle looked baffled. “I dunno, Sep. I guess he must know.”

“Okay, Jim Knee. I command you to Freeze the last one
now
. Transform to a turtle.”

Jim Knee remained surprisingly cool at the mention of the dreaded turtle. “As the Wise One undoubtedly knows, I must
hold the Entity I wish to Freeze in
both
hands, in order to pass the Freeze between them. This is not possible with
flippers
,” he said, pronouncing “flippers” with a tone of disgust.

Septimus was floored. What could Jim Knee Transform to? Surely everything under the water had flippers or fins? He watched the silver points of light glancing off the winged helmet of the last jinn, which was moving slowly—
so
slowly, like running in a nightmare—twenty feet below the sea. The tide was rising, and the
Cerys
was now much farther from the shore. How long would it take for the last of the jinn to emerge. And who knew how near they were to the Castle?

At the end of Wizard Way, Sarah, Silas and Maxie reached the Great Arch.

“A crab!” yelled Lucy. “He can be a
crab
!”

Jim Knee gave Lucy a withering stare—a crab was little better than a turtle.

Septimus looked at Lucy in admiration. “Jim Knee,” he said, “I wish you to Transform into a crab!”

“Any particular type of crab?” asked Jim Knee, putting off the evil moment.

“No. Just do it
now
.”

“Very well, Oh Exigent One. Your wish is my command.” There was a flash of yellow light, a dull
pop
, and Jim Knee disappeared.