Page 9 (1/2)

Septi behind Marcia and Alther as they walked and floated down Wizard Way back to the Tower He was listening intently to their conversation

"If I were you, Marcia," Alther was saying, "I&039;d do a quick Search of the Farotten that far yet He&039;ll still be riding through them on his way to the Border Country, and I&039;d bet my lifewell, I&039;d betYou could Travel across the Faro myself but I wouldn&039;t be much use Never did like farms much when I was alive Too many smells and unpredictable ani If I went out there I&039;d just spend allReturned takes the stuffing out of me I still feel quite winded"

To Septimus&039;s dismay, Marcia was not convinced

"Look, Alther," she said, as she kept up a fast pace along Wizard Way, leaving Septi the Castle if the Princess is no longer within the walls You knohat happened last tioneDoain? But no one needs to go after Jenna; she&039;ll be back soon I really don&039;t think there&039;s anything to worry about; all we know for sure is that Jenna has gone off riding with her brother"

"Adoptive brother," interrupted Alther

"All right, if you want to be picky about it, her adoptive brother, although Jenna is as much a Heap as any of the boys, Alther She sees them as her brothers and they see her as their sister"

"Except for Simon," said Alther

"You don&039;t know that," objected Marcia

"I do"

"Oh, don&039;t be so aard, Alther How can you possibly know that? Anyway, as I was saying, Jenna has gone off riding with her adoptive brother, and all we know is that he didn&039;t want her to get off the horse when Septi what his little brother tells hi, really He&039;s jealous of Septi to do what Septimus tells him to,now is he?"

"Marcia, Septimus believes that Jenna has been kidnapped," said Alther solemnly

"Look, Alther, Septimus is not quite himself today He was bitten by one of those Darke spiders thisand you kno paranoid that can ot bitten by one when you were Fu a health hazard above the pie shop in The Ras?"

"You mean the mad mouse-woman?"

"Yes, her Well, you spent the rest of the day thinking that I was trying to push you out of the "

"Did I really?"

"Yes, you did You Locked yourself in your study and Barred the s It wore off by the evening, and I&039; Septimus will be fine, Jenna will be back from a nice ride with her brother and we&039;ll all wonder what the fuss was about"

Septirily, he slipped away He realized that he was going to have to do so himself, without Marcia&039;s help There was someone he wanted to see

Marcia and Alther continued on their way, unaware that Septione

"and Si

"So you tell me, Alther But there&039;s no proof of that, is there? He is a Heap after all I know they&039;re a strange lot, and some of them are definitely two sandwiches short of a picnic, but they are an honest family After all, they are an ancient Wizard tribe"

"Not all Wizards are good Wizards, Marcia, as you know to your cost," said Alther "I&039;d veryfor the last year or so, and why he&039;s turned up here all of a sudden, just before MidSummer Day I still think it was Simon who betrayed you in the Marram Marshes"

"Nonsense Why would he do that? It was that irritating Message Rat You can never trust a rat, Alther, especially one that likes the sound of his own voice And while we are on the subject of irritating, I really don&039;t think much of your recommendation Old Weasal Van KlaivesThe ShadowSafe is taking ages and every ti to put it together I still haven&039;t et the last bit to fit properly"

"Those Safes are cos, Marcia Anyway, there&039;s no alternative Weasal&039;s faenerations They invented the Aam and no one else knows the formula His father, Otto, rid me of a particularly nasty Spectre and it took him two years to sort it out It takes time, Marciayou have to be patient"

"Perhaps," snapped Marcia "Or perhaps I should just get so simple from the Manuscriptorium"

"No," said Alther, very definitely "A ShadowSafe is the only thing that will get rid of a Shadow permanently, and that is not suitable work for the Manuscriptoriu about that Chief Hermetic Scribe that bothers me"

"Really, Alther, you are in a suspicious frame of mind today Anyone would think that the spider had bitten you as well"

Alther could see he was going to get nowhere with Marcia; he knew very well how stubborn she could be at times They had had many battles in the past, when he was the ExtraOrdinary Wizard and she was his Apprentice, and even then he had not alon Now that he was a ghost he had no chance at all It was Marcia as now the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and if she thought she knew best, which of course she always did, then Alther was going to have to put up with it

"I&039;ll be off then, Marcia," said Alther a little sulkily, and then, noticing that Septione?"

"I told you, Alther, it&039;s his day off I ione to see his mother," said Marcia briskly "Now, if you&039;ll excuse me, I have work to do I&039;ll see you later, Alther"

"Possibly," Alther replied grumpily He watched Marcia stride off into the Great Arch with her purple robes flowing behind her and,just visible as she entered the shade of the Arch, a di stronger If he squinted and looked sideways he could al Marcia step for step as she strode through the Arch The sooner the ShadowSafe was finished, the better

Alther rose up into the air and flew as fast as he could down Wizard Way to try and shake off the feeling of foreboding that had taken hold of hiykal Manuscriptorium and Spell Checkers Incorporated he was too preoccupied to notice Septih the door

Inside the Manuscriptorium, Septimus stood still for a loom He was in the small front office where custoht old, unstable spells to be checked out and ordered copies of formulas, conjurations, incantations and even the odd poem

To Septih to the small door at the back and peered around The Manuscriptoriu of nibs on paper and a few hs and sneezes as the suered on Hard at work in the glooh desk lit by its own la and illu work

"Beetle?" said Septimus in a loud whisper "Beetle, are you there?"