Physik (Septimus Heap #3) 0

That bolt won't last long, Jen," said Septimus, looking at the flimsy filigree bolt designed to grace the Royal Ladies' Retiring Room door. "We'd better get out of here quick."

Jenna nodded. "I know," she said, "but the Palace is stuffed full of people. Sep, you wouldn't believe it, it's so different. You can't go anywhere without someone seeing you and curtseying to you and - "

"Bet they wouldn't curtsey to me, Jen," said Septimus, smiling for the first time in one hundred and sixty-nine days and suddenly looking like the Septimus Jenna remembered.

"Not with your hair looking like a rat's nest. What have you done to it?"

"Won't comb it. Don't see the point really. And certainly won't let them cut it into that stupid pudding bowl shape. Anyway, it's something to irritate Marcellus with. He's a bit of a fussbudget about things like - what, Hugo?" Hugo was tugging at Septimus's sleeve.

"Harken..." the boy whispered, eyes bloodshot and face still deathly white from his near strangling. Someone was rattling the door handle.

Sir Hereward barred the door with his battered sword and Appeared to Septimus and Hugo, causing the already scared Hugo to leap into the air with fright. "Princess Jenna, I shall protect you and your faithful followers to the end," the knight said gravely.

"Thank you, Sir Hereward," said Jenna. "But we've got to get out of here fast. Sep, you open the window while I make them think we've gone this way." Jenna ran to a small door that led into the Long Walk, opened it and left it swinging. "Come on," she said, pushing the dazed Hugo toward the window. "Out you go, Hugo." The three of them squeezed out the window and dropped down onto the path that ran around the back of the Palace. Very quietly, Jenna closed the window.

Sir Hereward Passed Through the glass and was soon standing next to them. "Whither may I offer thee safe conduct?" inquired the ghost.

"Anywhere away from here," whispered Jenna, "and fast."

"Many use the river for such purposes," Sir Hereward said, pointing to the riverbank, which was lined with an unfamiliar row of cedar trees.

"The river it is," said Jenna.

If anyone from the Ballroom had bothered to look - which no one did, for the guests were all too busy excitedly discussing the happenings of the last few minutes - they would have seen two Palace serving boys and the Princess racing across the long lawns that led down to the river. There were no Spirit-Seers among the guests that night to see the battered old ghost, armor in tatters but his broken sword held high, leading the three at full tilt as if on a battle charge. Protected by a great dark cloud that had drifted in front of the night's full moon and cloaked the lawn in darkness, the battle charge ran as fast as they could.

A sharp frost crackled under their feet and left three sets of dark footprints in the white grass for anyone who wished to see, but they were lucky, for - as yet - no one had thought to look for footprints in the grass. As they reached the river, a search party led by Queen Etheldredda's hasty replacement for the Bumptiouse Barrelle of Larde - a man as short of temper as he was of brains who had had his eye on the Royal Stewardship for many years and could not quite believe his good fortune - was staring at the door and coming to exactly the conclusion that Jenna had wanted them to. The search party threw themselves at the narrow door, each eager to be the first to catch Princess Esmeralda and win favor with the Queen, but the new Steward had the most eagerness - and nastiness. He scratched and kicked his way to the front of the search party and got out the door first. Soon they were rushing after him down the Long Walk, shouting out to anyone to ask if they had "espied the poore deluded Princess." Anxious to oblige the frightening new Steward and his sidekicks, many people gave them completely fictitious directions, and the search party was sent on a wild goose chase.

By now Jenna, Septimus, Hugo and Sir Hereward were standing on the landing stage where the Royal Barge was moored.

"The boat will convey us safely hither," said Sir Hereward. " 'Tis a fair, still night and the water runneth slow."

Septimus looked at the Royal Barge and whistled between his teeth, an irritating habit that he had unknowingly picked up from Marcellus Pye. "Don't you think they might notice us in that?" he said.

"Not that one. Sir Hereward means the dinghy, the little rowboat." Jenna pointed to Sir Hereward, who was now hovering above a small, and equally richly painted, rowboat that was tied up behind the Royal Barge and used for ferrying passengers to and from the barge when it could not get to the shore.

Just then the full moon sailed out from behind a cloud and the frosty lawns were bathed in a brilliant white light; it felt as if someone had switched on a searchlight and pointed it straight at them. Sir Hereward knew only too well the dangers of moonlight, for he had entered ghosthood due to a particularly badly timed appearance of a full moon and a well-aimed arrow. The ghost leaped from the boat with the words "We will be discovered - hie we to the summer house!" Dodging between the shadows of the great cedar trees, Sir Hereward shepherded everyone over to the Palace summer house - the very same octagonal building with the golden roof that Jenna knew from her own Time.

From behind the cover of the summer house, Jenna watched the windows of the Palace light up one by one, as each empty room was invaded by the confused search party and a lit candle left to show that the room had been searched.

Suddenly, with a distant crash, the great windows to the Ballroom were thrown open and the new Steward was out on the terrace. Frustrated with his fruitless tour of the Palace, he had left the search party to their bickering and had returned to the Ladies' Retiring Room for a closer inspection. There he had found the window unlatched and his prey gone in quite a different direction. Outside the Ballroom, his hectoring voice carried through the frosty night air as he instructed his new, handpicked search party of thugs.

"Take thee three each to a party. Forsooth, man, art thou an imbecile? Ay, thou art. Fool, I didst say three. They are but children, surely one each will quell them. Do thee as thou wilt with the serving boys, they matter not, but Esmeralda must be returned to her grieving mama. Now, hie thee to the Great Gates, thee to the stables and thou, fools, take thy great flat feet to the river. Tarry not - begone!

As Jenna, Septimus and Hugo cowered behind the summer house, a yell went up from the large-footed search party. "Behold! 'Tis their imprints upon the frost. I declare, we have them. They are ours!"

The search party, closely followed by the Steward, thundered across the lawns toward them. Frantically, Septimus tried the door of the summer house. It was locked. "I'll break a window, Jen," he said, wrapping his fist in the white serving cloth that had covered the jug of orange sauce.

"No, Sep," hissed Jenna. "They'll hear. Anyway, if you break the window, they'll know we're in here."

"Allow me, young man," said Sir Hereward, still flushed with the earlier success of unlocking Jenna's bedroom door. The knight placed his hand over the lock. They waited anxiously, listening to the search party's arrival at the Royal Barge.

"Please hurry," Jenna whispered urgently.

"My powers are not what they were," said a flustered Sir Hereward. "This lock doth not turn easily."

"Sir Hereward, let me try something," said Jenna. Wishing that she had listened more to the droning of Jillie Djinn, Jenna took the key to the Queen's Room off her belt. With chilled and trembling fingers that were about as much use as a package of frozen sausages, she fumbled and dropped it. It lay on the frosty grass, glinting gold and emerald in the moonlight. Septimus snatched it up, pushed it into the lock and turned it, and the next moment they were all tumbling inside. Septimus locked the door behind them and they stood listening to the hollow thud of footsteps running beneath the cedar trees, and shaking the ground beneath them.

Suddenly Hugo grabbed hold of Septimus's arm - hard.

Two green eyes glinted in the darkness, and a long, low growl began to fill the summer house.

"Ullr?" whispered Jenna into the dark. But then she remembered where she was. How could it be Ullr?

Out of the dark came a voice that Jenna knew. "Kalmm, Ullr. Kalmm," said Snorri, breathless. But Ullr was not calm. The big cat, spooked by the strange smells and sounds of this different Time, had been startled by the shriek of a late-night kitchen maid and had taken off down a warren of passages. Snorri had, to her relief, just caught up with him. Now she held the panther back and stroked his neck where the fur had risen along with his growl.

"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.