The hand lowered. “No,” his master said, panting hard. “No. I must consider how to deal with you.You have disobeyed me in a hundred ways, and in so doing have risked your own life and that of the people in this house. You have dabbled with works of magic that you cannot hope to comprehend—I see Faust’s Compendium there, and The Mouth of Ptolemy! You have summoned, or attempted to summon, a djinni of at least the fourteenth level, and even tried to bind it with Adelbrand’s Pentacle, a feat that I would balk at. The fact that you undoubtedly failed in no way mitigates your crime. Stupid child! Have you no concept of what such a being might do to you, if you made even the slightest slip? Have all my lessons over the years meant nothing? I should have known you were not to be trusted last year, when your wilful act of violence against the guests of my house nearly ruined my career. I should have disposed of you then, when you were nameless. No one would have given it a second thought! But now that you are named and will be in the next edition of the Almanac, I cannot get rid of you so easily! Questions will be asked, forms will have to be filled, and my judgment will once again be called into doubt. No, I must consider what to do with you, though my hand itches to call up a Reviler on the spot and leave you in its tender care.”
He paused for breath. Nathaniel had slumped back to sit on the edge of his bed, all energy crushed from him.
“Take it from me,” his master said, “that no apprentice of mine disobeys me in the fashion you have done. If I didn’t have to go to the ministry urgently, I would deal with you now. As it is, you are confined to your room until my return. But first"—here he strode across to Nathaniel’s wardrobe and flung wide the door—"we must see that you have no other surprises hidden away.”
For the next ten minutes, Nathaniel could only sit dull-eyed while his master searched the room. The wardrobe and the chest-of-drawers were turned out and rifled, his meager quantity of clothes strewn upon the floor. Several plastic bags of incense were found, a small supply of colored chalk, and one or two sheaves of notes that Nathaniel had made during his extracurricular studies. Only the scrying glass, secure in its hiding place beneath the eaves, remained undiscovered.
Mr. Underwood gathered up the incense, books, chalk and notes. “I shall read through your scrawlings upon my return from the ministry,” he said, “in case I need to question you further about your activities before you receive your punishment. In the meantime, remain here and reflect upon your sins and the ruin of your career.”
Without another word, he swept from the attic and locked the door behind him.
Nathaniel’s heart was a stone plummeting to the bottom of a deep, dark well. He sat motionless on the bed, listening to the rain tapping on the skylight and, far below, his master banging from room to room in his fury. Eventually a distant slam assured him that Mr. Underwood had left the house.
An unknown time later, he was startled out of his misery by the sound of the key turning in the lock. His heart jolted with fear. Surely not his master back already?
But it was Mrs. Underwood who entered, bringing a small bowl of tomato soup on a tray. She placed it on the table and stood regarding him. Nathaniel could not bring himself to look at her.
“Well,” she said, in a level voice,“I hope you’re satisfied with yourself. From what Arthur tells me, you have been very bad indeed.”
If his master’s torrent of anger had merely numbed him, these few words from Mrs. Underwood, laced as they were simply with quiet disappointment, pierced Nathaniel to the marrow. His last vestiges of self-control failed him. He raised his eyes to her, feeling tears prickle against the corners.
“Oh, Nath—John!” He had never heard her so exasperated. “Why couldn’t you be patient? Ms. Lutyens used to say that this was your abiding fault, and she was right! Now you’ve tried to run before you can walk, and I don’t know if your master will ever forgive you.”
“He’ll never forgive me. He said so.” Nathaniel’s voice was faint; he was holding back the tears.
“He’s extremely angry, John, and rightly.”
“He said my—my career was ruined.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t exactly what you deserved.”
“Mrs. Underwood!”
“But perhaps, if you are open and honest with him about what you’ve done, there is a chance that he will listen to you when he returns. A very small chance.”
“He won’t; he’s too angry.”
Mrs. Underwood sat down on the bed beside Nathaniel and put her arm round his shoulder. “You don’t think it’s unheard of, do you, for apprentices to try too much, too soon? It often marks out those with the most talent. Arthur is livid, but he is also impressed, I can tell. I think you should confide fully in him; throw yourself on his mercy. He will like that.”
Nathaniel gave a sniff. “You think so, Mrs. Underwood?” As always, the comfort of her presence and her calm common sense reached past his defenses and soothed his pride. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should tell the truth about everything….
“I will do my best to appease him too,” she went on. “Heaven knows, but you don’t deserve it. Look at the state of this room!”
“I’ll clean it right away, Mrs. Underwood; right away.” He felt a little comforted. Perhaps he would tell his master, own up to his suspicions about Lovelace and the Amulet. Things would be painful, but simpler that way.
“Drink your soup first.” She got up. “Make sure you have everything ready to tell your master when he comes back.”
“Why’s Mr. Underwood gone to the ministry? It’s a Sunday.” Nathaniel was already picking up some of the garments and stuffing them back into the drawers.
“Some emergency, dear. A rogue djinni has been caught in central London.”
A slight shiver ran down Nathaniel’s spine. “A djinni?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details, but apparently it was masquerading as one of Mr. Lovelace’s imps. It broke into Mr. Pinn’s shop and caused no end of damage. But they sent an afrit and caught it soon enough. It’s being interrogated now. Your master thinks the magician that sent the djinni may have some link to these artifact thefts that have been so bothering him—and perhaps to the Resistance too. He wants to be there when they force the information out. But that’s not really your prime concern now—is it, John? You need to be deciding what to say to your master. And scrub this floor till it shines!”
“Yes, Mrs. Underwood.”
“Good boy. I’ll look in for your tray later.”
No sooner had the door been locked than Nathaniel was running to the skylight, throwing it open and reaching under the cold wet tiles for the bronze disc. He drew it in and shut the window against the lancing rain. The disc was cold; it took several minutes of escalating inducements before the imp’s face reluctantly appeared.
“Blimey,” it said. “It’s been a while. Thought you’d forgotten me. You ready to let me out yet?”
“No.” Nathaniel was in no mood to play around. “Bartimaeus. Find him. I want to see where he is and what he’s doing. Now. Or I’ll bury this disc in the earth.”
“Who’s got out the wrong side of bed today? There’s such a thing as asking nicely! Well, I’ll have a go, but I’ve had easier requests in my time, even from you….” Muttering and grimacing with strain, the baby’s face faded out, only to reappear again, faintly, as if from afar. “Bartimaeus, you say? Of Uruk?”
“Yes! How many of them can there be?”
“You’d be surprised, Mr. Touchy. Well, don’t hold your breath. This may take some time.”
The disc went blank. Nathaniel hurled it onto the bed, then thought better of it and stowed it away under the mattress, out of sight. In great agitation, he proceeded to tidy his room, scrubbing the floor till all traces of the pentacles were gone and even the marks of candle grease had been improved. He stowed his clothes away tidily and returned everything to its proper place. Then he drank his soup. It was cold.
Mrs. Underwood returned to reclaim the
tray, and surveyed the room with approval. “Good boy, John,” she said. “Now tidy yourself up, and have a wash while you’re about it. What was that?”
“What, Mrs. Underwood?”
“I thought I heard a voice calling.”
Nathaniel had heard it too. A muffled “Oi!” from under the bed. “I think it was from downstairs,” he said weakly. “Maybe someone at the door?”
“Do you think so? I’d better see, I suppose.” Somewhat uncertainly, she departed, locking the door behind her.
Nathaniel flung the mattress aside. “Well?” he snarled.
The baby’s face had big bags under the eyes and was now somehow unshaven. “Well,” it said, “I’ve done the best I could. Can’t ask for no more than that.”
“Show me!”
“Here you go, then.” The face vanished, to be replaced by a long-distance view across London. A silver strip that had to be the Thames wound across the backdrop between a dark gray mess of warehouses and wharves. Rain fell, half obscuring the scene, but Nathaniel easily made out the focus of the picture: a giant castle, protected by endless loops of high, gray walls. In its center was a tall, squared keep, with the Union Jack flying from its central roof. Black-sided police trucks moved below in the castle yard, together with troops of tiny figures, not all of them human.
Nathaniel knew what he was looking at, but he did not want to accept the truth. “And what’s this got to do with Bartimaeus?” he snapped.
The imp was weary, heavy-voiced. “That’s where he is, as far as I can reckon. I picked up his trail in the middle of London, but it was already faint and cold. It led here, and I can’t get any closer to the Tower of London, as you well know. Far too many watchful eyes. Even from this distance, a few outriding spheres nearly caught me. I’m fair tuckered out, I am. Anything else?” it added, as Nathaniel failed to react. “I need a kip.”
“No, no, that’s all.”
“First sensible thing you’ve said all day.” But the imp did not fade. “If he’s in there, this Bartimaeus is in trouble,” it observed in a rather more cheery manner. “You didn’t send him out there, did you?”
Nathaniel made no reply.
“Oh dear” said the imp. “Then, that being the case, I’d say you was in almost as much bother as him, wouldn’t you? I ’spect he’s probably coughing up your name right now.” It bared its sharp, small teeth in a face-splitting grin, blew a loud raspberry, and vanished.
Nathaniel sat very still, holding the disc in his hands. The daylight in the room gradually faded away.
24
Put a scarab beetle, roughly the size of a matchbox, up against a four-meter-tall, bull-headed leviathan wielding a silver spear, and you don’t expect to see much of a contest, especially when the beetle is imprisoned within a small orb that will incinerate its essence if it touches so much as a stray antenna. True, I did my best to prolong the issue by hovering just off the top of the pillar, in the vague hope that I could dart to one side as the spear crashed down—but to be honest my heart wasn’t really in it. I was about to be squashed by a lummox with the IQ of a flea, and the sooner we got it over with, the better.
So I was a little surprised when the utukku’s shrieking war cry was cut off by a sudden yelled command, just as the spear was about to descend upon my head.
“Baztuk, stop!”
Eagle-beak had spoken; the urgency in his voice was clear. Once it has made its mind up to do something, an utukku finds it hard to change tack: Bull-head stopped the spear’s downward swing with difficulty, but kept it raised high above the orb.
“What now, Xerxes?” he snarled. “Don’t try to rob me of my revenge! Twenty-seven centuries I’ve wanted Bartimaeus in my power—”
“Then you can wait a minute more. He’ll keep. Listen—can you hear something?”
Baztuk cocked his head to one side. Within the orb, I stilled the humming of my wings and listened too. A gentle tapping sound … so low, so subtle, it was impossible to tell from which direction it came.
“That’s nothing. Just workmen outside. Or the humans marching again. They like doing that. Now, shut up, Xerxes.” Baztuk was not inclined to spare the matter another thought. The sinews along his forearms knotted as he readied the spear.
“It’s not workmen. Too near.” The feathers on Xerxes’s crest looked ruffled. He was jumpy. “Leave Bartimaeus alone and come and listen. I want to pinpoint it.”
With a curse, Baztuk stomped away from my column. He and Xerxes ranged around the perimeter of the room, holding their ears close to the stones and muttering to each other to tread more quietly. All the while the little tapping noise continued, soft, irregular, and maddeningly unlocatable.
“Can’t place it.” Baztuk scraped his spear-tip against the wall. “Could come from anywhere. Hold on …! Maybe he’s doing it….” He looked evilly in my direction.
“Not guilty, your honor,” I said.
“Don’t be stupid, Baztuk,” Eagle-beak said. “The orb stops him using magic beyond its barrier. Something else is going on. I think we should raise the alarm.”
“But nothing’s happened.” Bull-head looked panicked. “They’ll punish us. At least let me kill Bartimaeus first,” he pleaded. “I mustn’t lose this chance.”
“I think you should definitely call for help,” I advised. “It’s almost certainly something you can’t handle. A deathwatch beetle, maybe. Or a disorientated woodpecker.”
Baztuk blew spume a meter into the air. “That’s the last straw, Bartimaeus! You die!” He paused. “Mind you, it might be a deathwatch beetle, come to think of it….”
“In a solid stone building?” Xerxes sneered. “I think not.”
“What makes you an expert all of a sudden?”
A new argument broke out. My two captors faced up to each other again, strutting and shoving, roused to blind fury by each other’s stupidity and by the occasional careful prompting from me.
Underneath it all, the tap, tap, tapping went on. I had long since located the source of it as a patch of stone high up along one wall, not too far from the single window. While encouraging the squabble, I kept a constant eye on this area, and was rewarded, after several minutes, by spying a discreet shower of stone-dust come trickling out between two blocks. A moment later, a tiny hole appeared; this was rapidly enlarged as more dust and flakes dropped from it, propelled by something small, sharp and black.
To my annoyance, after walking their way round the room in a flurry of girly slaps and yells, Xerxes and Baztuk had come to rest not far from the mysterious hole. It was only a matter of time before they would notice the spiraling dust-fall, so I decided I had to risk all in a final gambit.
“Hey, you pair of sand-eaters!” I shouted. “The moon shines on the corpses of your fellows! The jackals carry home the severed heads for their pups to play with!”1
As I had expected, Baztuk instantly left off tugging at Xerxes’s side feathers and Xerxes prised his fingers out of Baztuk’s nose. Both of them slowly turned toward me with murder in their eyes. So far, so good. I calculated that I had approximately thirty seconds before whatever was coming through the hole put in an appearance. Should it delay, I was dead—if not by the hands of Baztuk and Xerxes, then by the orb, which had now diminished to the size of a runty grapefruit.
“Baztuk,” Xerxes said politely, “I shall allow you to strike the first blow.”
“That is good of you, Xerxes,” Baztuk replied. “Afterward, you may dice the remains to your heart’s content.”
Both hefted their spears and strode toward me. Behind them, the tapping suddenly ceased, and from the hole in the wall, which had by now grown quite large, a shiny beak poked out, sharp as an anvil. This was followed by a tufted jet-black head, complete with beady eye. The eye flicked rapidly to and fro, taking in the scene, then silently the bird behind it began to squeeze its way through the hole, wriggling forward in a distinctly unbirdlike way.
With a shake and a hop, an enormous black raven pe
rched on the lip of the stone. As its tail feathers cleared the hole, another beak appeared behind it.
By now the utukku had reached my pillar. Baztuk flung back his arm.
I coughed. “Look behind you?”
“That won’t work on me, Bartimaeus!” Baztuk cried. His arm jerked forward, the spear began to plunge. A flash of black shot across its path, seized the spear-shaft in its beak, and flew onward, wrenching it out of the utukku’s hand. Baztuk gave a yelp of astonishment and turned. Xerxes spun around too.
A raven sat on a vacant column, holding the spear neatly in its beak.
Uncertainly, Baztuk stepped toward it.
With deliberate care, the raven bit down on the steel shaft. The spear snapped in two; both halves fell to the ground.
Baztuk stopped dead.
Another raven fluttered down and came to rest on a neighboring pillar. Both sat silently, watching the utukku with unblinking eyes.
Baztuk looked at his companion. “Er, Xerxes …?”
Eagle-beak rattled his tongue warningly. “Raise the alarm, Baztuk,” he said. “I’ll deal with them.” He bent his legs, leaped high into the air. With a sound like ripping cloth, his great, white wings unfolded. They beat once, twice; he soared up, up, almost to the ceiling. The feathers angled, tensed; he spun and dived, head first, wings back, one hand holding the outstretched spear; hurtling down at lightning speed.
Toward a raven, calmly waiting.
A look of doubt came into Xerxes’s eyes. Now he was almost upon the raven, and still it hadn’t moved. Doubt was replaced by sudden fear. His wings jerked out; desperately, he tried to bank, to avoid colliding—
The raven opened its beak wide.
Xerxes screamed.
There was a blur of movement, a snap and a gulp. A few fluttering feathers drifted slowly down upon the stones around the pillar. The raven still sat there, a dreamy look in its eyes. Xerxes was gone.
Baztuk was making for the wall where the portal would appear. He was fumbling in a pouch strapped to his waist. The second raven lazily hopped from one pillar to another, cutting him off. With a cry of woe, Baztuk hurled his spear. It missed the raven, embedding itself to the hilt in the side of the pillar. The raven shook its head sorrowfully and spread its wings. Baztuk wrenched his pouch open and removed a small bronze whistle. He set it to his lips—