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T he nextSpit Fyre&039;s breakfast according to Seption was not interested Spit Fyre lay outside his new Dragon Kennel and regarded Billy drowsily through a half-open eye As Billy approached with the breakfast bucket, a subterranean ruon burped Billy reeled

He scratched his head, puzzled If Billy didn&039;t know better, he&039;d say that the dragon had already eaten

"I&039;ll leave yer bucket o&039; breakfast here, Mr Spit Fyre," he said "You roaned and closed his half-open eye Deep in his fire sto heavy and Darke He wished he&039;d never sed that nasty old sack He didn&039;t ever want to eat again

As the dragon&039;s fire sto the bones, the ghost of Do at the Wizard Tower once et her co around like any other co to be told what to do And now he had cornered his old Apprentice, Alther Mella, who had pushed hiolden pyramid at the top of the Wizard Tower That memory was still there, clear as the day it had happened Doreat detail all the Darke plans he intended to put into action now that, at last, he had becoe At thathad disappeared

Alther watched, fascinated, as next Doht arm faded from view, then his left kneeleft forearmtoesboth anklesAstonished, Alther stared as, piece by piece, his old master disappeared

Do him - it was, he considered, extremely rude and did not show him the respect he was due He opened hisand his head vanished, leaving a disee part of his stonation

And then, as DomDaniel&039;s last few bones dissolved in Spit Fyre&039;s fire stomach, the old Necromancer disappeared co with hiet him out of trouble this ti ti with the memory of the next fewwas no more

Marcia, too, savored theShe particularly enjoyed re Tertius Fume&039;s reaction when she had triuht - and told hi at an end, but there could be no Gathering ever again and he could get out of her rooht now Tertius Fume had refused to believe her until Alther had backed her up It was true what Marcia had said to Beetle - Tertius Fume had no respect for woe to force Septimus to , he had sworn to continue the Siege - forever if necessary - until Marcia told him the whereabouts of her Apprentice, whom Tertius Fume was convinced was Hidden somewhere in the Wizard Tower But noithout the power of the Gathering behind hie was ended

Marcia wasted no tinoyk returned to the Wizard Tower, she stood at the door sood-bye Thank you sofloated out

Outside the Wizard Tower a wet, cold rat watched the huge doors open - at last To his ahosts spilled down the steps He waited ihost had wandered out, then he bounded inside, calling out, "Message Rat!"

While Stanley scuttled between the feet of an excited group of Ordinary Wizards surrounding the recipient of his e, Tertius Fume was in a huddled conversation in the shadows of the Great Arch hat appeared to be a young sub-Wizard

"Find hiun andnodded It watched Tertius Fuan to chew the ends of Hildegarde&039;s fingers It was bored with InHabiting the sub-Wizard Her ordinariness - and her niceness - was irritating; it had seeped into the Thing andso ainst the cold lapis lazuli walls of the Great Arch and, passing the tiarde&039;s nails, it waited for so to turn up

So, Ephaniah Grebe had woken in a dae

After Jenna, Septimus and Beetle had retreated to their tepee, Ephaniah had accepted a sweet, heavy drink froed and he had surreptitiously poured most of it away, but as the Witch Mother escorted hiround sway beneath hiainst sleep - but his vivid dreams had woken hiain, he had crept out of his tepee to breathe the fresh night air There, in the middle of the Summer Circle, he saenna in a heated conversation with a young witch

"Where is Marissa, pray?"

The young witch looked terrified

"Tell me, Bryony Now"

"Uive her perret it You will take her place"

"Me? Oh, but I don&039;t think - "

"You don&039;t have to think, girl Just do as you are told I want a tepee made ready for the Princess and her fa"

"Oh Then she really is going to be - "

"Stop babbling And be sure to make the tepee Secure"

Bryony bobbed an aard curtsy and rushed off How did you make a tepee Secure? she wondered

How?