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Chapter 6 North Gate

  Down at tbe North Gate, Silas Heap was playing a game of Counter-Feet with Gringe the Gatekeeper. Silas and Gringe had recently made up a long-standing feud. When Simon Heap, Silas's eldest son, had tried to run off with and marry Gringe's only daughter, Lucy, both Silas and Gringe had been horrified. Gringe had shut Lucy up in the gatehouse attic to stop her from running away again. It was not until Silas came to see him some time later with the news that Simon had gone off into the Marram Marshes in the middle of the nightand had not been seen sincethat Gringe had at last let Lucy out of the attic. For Gringe knew as well as anyone that the chances of surviving in the Marram Marshes at night were slim.

  Silas and Gringe found they had a lot in common. There was Lucy and Simon for a startand then there was Counter-Feet. Both Silas and Gringe had fond memories of playing Counter-Feet as boys. Counter-Feet was now a very rare board game, although it had once been commonplace in the Castle, and the Premier Counter-Feet league final used to be the highlight of the year.

  At first sight the game appeared to be a simple board game played with Counters. The Counter-Feet board consisted of two castles pided by a river down the center. Each player had a set of Counters of various shapes and sizes in their own team strip, and the aim of the game was to get as many of your own Counters over the river and into the opposing player's castle. But there was a twist in the game: the Counters had minds of their ownand, more importantly, feet of their own. This was why the game was so popular, but unfortunately this was also the reason for the game's rarity. The Charms that created the Counters had been lost in The Great Fire three hundred years ago. And since then, most sets of Counter-Feet had gradually become incomplete as over the years their Counters had up and left in search of adventure or just in search of a more interesting box of Counter-Feet. And while no one ever objected to opening his or her box and finding that a whole new colony of Counters had taken up residence, it was a different matter when you discovered that all your Counters had got bored with you and left. So three hundred years later, most Counters had disappeared: flushed down drains, trodden into the ground or simply having a good time in small, undiscovered Counter colonies under the floorboards.

  Most Wizards, including Silas, played the Magyk version of Counter-Feet, where the castles and the river on the board were realalthough smaller, of course. Ever since he was a boy, Gringe had always wanted to play with a Magyk set of Counter-Feet. When Silas had mentioned to Gringe that he actually had a complete and sealed Magyk Counter-Feet set somewhere in the attic with all his books, Gringe had miraculously overcome his long-standing dislike of the Heap family and suggested that they might, perhaps, have a game or two together sometime. It had soon become a regular occurrence which both looked forward to.

  Earlier that morning, Silas had left the Palace and taken the shortcut to the North Gate, carrying with him his precious box of Counter-Feet. Silas had walked slowly, for beside him loped a large, unkempt wolfhound with creaky joints. Maxie was no longer the young dog he had been, but he still went everywhere with his master. As an Ordinary Wizard, Silas Heap wore a deep-blue tunic fastened with a silver belt. Like all the Heaps he had fair, curly hair, although his was now beginning to acquire a dusting of gray, but his green eyes were still bright. As he walked through the sunny, early-morning streets, he hummed a contented tune to himself, for unlike Sarah Heap, Silas did not worry about anything for very long and reckoned that things eventually turned out for the best.

  Silas and Gringe had sat down companionably outside the gatehouse and set up the Counter-Feet board, while casting expert eyes over the Counters and trying to work out what their characters might be that day. Counters were fickle, and you never knew how they might turn out from one game to the next. Some Counters were easily persuaded to go where vou wanted them to; others were not. Some would appear to do as you asked and then betray you at the last minute. Some would fall asleep just when you needed them to do something important, and others would run madly around the board creating havoc. The trick was to quickly understand both your Counters and your opponent's Counters, then use your knowledge to get across the board and into the opposing castle. Every game was different: some contests were chaos, some were aggressive and the best were hilariously funny. Which is why, as Septimus Appeared at the North Gate, the first thing he heard was Gringe's loud guffaw.

  "Ha, you didn't expect 'im to do a double duck, Silas, did you now? He's a right one that little fat one is. I thought 'e'd do summat like that. I think that puts my Spare back on the board, don't you?" Gringe, a stocky, somewhat argumentative man in a leather jerkin, leaned over and took a large round Counter out of a tub by the side of the board. The Counter kicked its short, fat legs with excitement and ran onto the board.

  "Hey," protested Gringe, dismayed, as the Counter jumped straight into the river and disappeared into the depths of the water, "yer not supposed to go in there you little b well, well, ain't this your little lad, Silas? Where did 'e come from then? I dunno, you 'Eaps get just about everywhere, you do. "

  "I'm not falling for that one, Gringe. " Silas chuckled, intent on trying to persuade one of his Counters, the Tunneler, to squeeze into the tunnel that led under Gringe's castle. "I know what you're up to, Gringe. As soon as I take my eyes off the board, your Kicker will have kicked my Tunneler into the river. I wasn't born yesterday, you know. "

  "But it's your little Apprentice lad, Silas. I think 'e's up to some Magyk. "

  Septimus's Transport was taking some time to wear off. He still looked a bit misty. Underneath the table, Maxie whined and the hairs on the back of his neck rose.

  "Good try, Gringe," said Silas, trying to get his Pusher to shove the Tunneler under the castle without much success.

  "No, 'e is 'ere. Hello, lad. Come to see your dad, have you?"

  At last Silas took his eyes off the game and looked up. "Oh, hello, Septimus," he said, surprised. "Well, well, are you doing Transports already? He's a clever one, my youngest. Apprentice to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, you know," Silas told Gringe, not for the first time.

  "Really? You don't say?" muttered Gringe, who had his arm up to his elbow trying to retrieve his Counter from the river. He had forgotten that Silas's game was the deluxe version that came with mini crocodiles.

  "Ouch!" yelped Gringe.

  "Dad, Dad!" yelled Septimus. "It's Jenna! Simon took Jenna. They're coming this way. Get Gringe to raise the drawbridge.

  Quick!"

  "What?"

  Silas could see Septimus's lips moving but he could hear nothing. Septimus was not quite there yet.

  "Raise the drawbridge, Dad!" Septimus's voice came back on the last word.

  "Yes, what is it? No need to shout, Septimus. "

  The clatter of horse's hooves sounded behind them and Septimus knew it was too late. He jumped out in front of the horse in a last, desperate attempt to stop them, but Silas grabbed hold of him and pulled him back.

  "Careful! You'll get yourself trampled. "

  Simon's horse thundered by. Jenna shouted something to Septimus and Silas, but her words were lost in the thudding of the horse's hooves and the rush of the wind as the huge black horse sped past.

  Septimus, Silas and Gringe watched the horse with its two riders go pounding over the drawbridge. When they reached the dirt track on the other side, Simon pulled the horse sharply to the right, and, with its hooves slipping on the dry dirt as it turned, the horse sped off toward the North Road. The North Road, as Septimus knew from his map studies in the Young Army, led along the river, over the One Way Bridge and after a day's fast riding would take them into the Border Country, or Badlands, as it was often called in the Castle.

  "Disgusting!" exclaimed Silas, staring after the horse. "That was a case of reckless riding if ever I saw one. Showing off to his girlfriend, that's all it was. Young men should not be allowed fast horses if you ask me. With them it's always speed, speed, sreed, with no thought of
anyone else"

  "Dad!" shouted Septimus, desperately trying to get a word in. "Dadthat was Simon!"

  "Simon?" Silas looked confused. "What do you mean? Our Simon?"

  "It's Simon and he's taken Jenna!"

  "Taken her where? Why? What is going on? Why doesn't anybody ever tell me anything?" Silas sat down again, aware that the day was beginning to go wrong and not sure exactly why.

  "I'm trying to tell you," said Septimus, exasperated. "That was Simon and he's " But Septimus was interrupted again. Lucy Gringe, a pretty girl with deep-brown eyes and light brown hair tied into two long plaits that hung to her waist, had appeared at the gatehouse door. She wore a simple, long, white summer tunic, which she had embroidered herself with an odd assortment of flowers, and on her feet was a pair of heavy brown boots laced up with pink ribbon. Lucy was well known for her unusual approach to clothes.

  "Simon?" asked Lucy, looking pale under her freckles. "Did you say that was Simon?"

  "Lucy, I will not have you mention that name here," growled Gringe, staring at the Counter-Feet board and wondering how such an enjoyable morning could suddenly turn into such a nightmare. But, he told himself sternly, he should have known better. Wasn't that always the way with the Heaps? They were nothing but trouble.

  "Yes, it was Simon, and he has taken Jenna away," said Septimus flatly, the urgency gone from his voice as he realized that it was too late now to do anything about it.

  "But," murmured Silas, "I don't understand. . . "

  Lucy Gringe understood. She understood only too well. "Why?" she screamed. "Why didn't he take me?"

  The Greenhouse

  He was riding like, a madman, Sarah," puffed Silas, who had found Sarah with her friend, Sally Mullin, potting herbs in the Palace greenhouse at the bottom of the kitchen garden. "He would have trampled Septimus into the ground if I hadn't pulled the lad clearand Jenna was screaming her head off. It was awful. "

  "No!" Sarah gasped. "I don't believe it. "

  "Jenna wasn't screaming, Dad," said Septimus, trying not to upset Sarah any more than she was already. "Jenna wouldn't scream. She just shouted something, that's all. "

  "What?" asked Sarah. "What did she shout?"

  "I don't know," said Septimus glumly. "I couldn't hear. The horse was making so much noise. "

  "Maybe she was saying she'd be back soon. Maybe Simon just took her out for a jaunt along the river," said Sarah, trying hard to convince herself and not doing a very good job of it.

  Sally, who was living at the Palace while her Tea and Ale House was being rebuilt, put a consoling hand on Sarah's arm. "You mustn't worry yourself, Sarah," she said. "He's just a headstrong young man showing off his fast horse to his sister. They all do it. He'll be back soon. "

  Sarah gave Sally a grateful glance, but, deep down, Sarah had a very bad feeling about Simon. Something had happened to him; something had changed him from her Simon intowhat?

  Silas was still trying to catch his breath. He and Septimus had run all the way from the North Gate, leaving Maxie asleep under the Counter-Feet table and Gringe dragging Lucy up to the gatehouse tower to stop her from running off in pursuit of Simon.

  Alther Mella floated anxiously above the potting bench. He had spent the previous night down at the Hole in the Wall Tavern, a favorite haunt for ghosts, and had not left as early that morning as he should have. Alther was annoyed with himself. If he'd been there, maybe he could have stopped Simon, although Alther wasn't quite sure how. But at least he could have tried.

  Sarah pushed a stray wisp of straw-colored hair back behind her ear as she fiddled distractedly with some parsley seedlings. "I'm sure Simon wouldn't take Jenna away against her will," she insisted, stabbing at the soil with her trowel.

  "Of course he wouldn't," said Sally soothingly.

  "But that's just what he has done," Septimus insisted. "Jenna didn't want to go with him. I Transfixed the horse and he wouldn't let her get off. He got really angry. "

  "Well, he did seem very proud of his horse," said Sarah. "Maybe he was just upset about you Transfixing it. I'm sure he will be back soon with Jenna. "

  "He's kidnapped her, Mum," said Septimus, almost angry now. He could not understand why Sarah kept making excuses for Simon. But Septimus was still not entirely used to how mothers behaved.

  Alther Mella floated dismally through a discarded pile of flowerpots. "It's my fault, Sarah," said Alther. "I blame myself. If I had allowed proper guards at the Palace Gate instead of those useless Ancients, this would never have happened. "

  "You mustn't blame yourself," said Sarah, giving the old ghost a wan smile. "Even a guard would have let Simon in. He is a Heap after all. "

  "But they wouldn't have let him out, would they?" said Septimus pointedly. "Not if Jenna had told them she didn't want to go. "

  "Septimus, you shouldn't speak to Alther like that," scolded Sarah. "You should be more respectful to an ExtraOrdinary Wizard, especially the one whom your tutor was Apprenticed to. "

  "Ah, Sarah. " Alther sighed. "The boy is right. "

  Alther floated off the potting bench and hovered beside Septimus. Compared with the Ancients in the Palace, Alther looked positively substantial. His purple ExtraOrdinary robes, although a little faded, looked almost real, even down to the bullet hole and dark brown bloodstains just below his heart. The ghost's long white hair was scraped back into its usual ponytail, and his green eyes had a bright glint in them as he regarded Marcia's Apprentice.

  "So," said Alther to Septimus, "what do you propose we do now?"

  "Me? What do I think we should do?"

  "Yes. As the Apprentice of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, I thought you might like to stand in for Marcia. "

  "We go after Jenna. And get her back. That's what we have to do. "

  Sarah dropped the trowel she had been poking the seedlings with. It landed with a clang in the middle of Alther's foot. The ghost stepped back hastily. "Septimus," declared Sarah, "you are not going anywhere. It's bad enough with Jo Jo, Sam, Edd and Erik all running wild in the Forest, getting up to goodness knows what and refusing to even come and see their mother. Then there's Nicko, who's gone off with that Rupert Gringe boy testing some boat or other, and not come back yet, even though he promised he'd be home last week to take Jenna down to Aunt Zelda'sanything could have happened to him, I'm just so worriedand now Simon and Jenna are gone. . . " At this Sarah suddenly broke into loud sobs.

  Silas put his arms around Sarah. "There, there, love, you mustn't worry. Everything will be all right," he murmured soothingly.

  "I'll go and bring you a nice cup of tea and a big slab of barley cake," said Sally, "and everything will feel much better, just you see. " And she bustled off to the Palace kitchens.

  But Sarah would not be comforted. "Simon and Jenna, gone," she wailed. "Why? Why would Simon do such a thing? Why would he take Jenna away?"

  Alther put a ghostly arm around Septimus's shoulders. "Come on, lad," he said. "Let's leave your parents alone for a while. You can take me to see Marcia. "

  Septimus and Alther made their way out of the Palace and took the Snake Slipway, which led down to the Castle Moat. The Castle was surrounded by water. Most of the water consisted of the river, as the Castle was built on the inside of a wide river bend, but some of the water was in the form of a moat, which had been dug when the Castle walls were built. The Moat was wide and deep and was full of river water, for both ends of the Moat ran into the river itself. It was a popular place for fishing and, in the summer, for swimming. A large wooden pier had recently been built out into the middle of the Moat for the Castle children to swim from, and the enterprising Rupert Gringe had just started renting out his new invention, the small Rupert paddleboats, to those who fancied messing about on the water for an hour or two. This had been extremely popular with everyone in the Castle, except for two people: Weasal Van Klampff and his housekeeper, Una Brakket, who had the misfortune to live beside the
new pier and above the boathouse where the Ruperts were stored.

  Septimus knew the way to Professor Van Klampff's house far too well for his liking. Almost since his first days as Apprentice, Marcia had sent him over every Saturday morning to knock on the Professor's door and collect one of the many and complex pieces of the ShadowSafe. But even if the Professor had a piece readywhich was a rare eventand actually gave it to Septimus, Una Brakket would waylay him at the door and demand it back. She did not, she would tell Septimus, trust a boy with such a valuable object. Marcia herself must come and collect it. A long-distance battle had ensued between Marcia and Una, with Septimus batted to and fro like a shuttlecock. Every Saturday morning, Septimus would wait outside Professor Van Klampff's house for as long as he could stand being laughed at and shouted at by a group of boys from the Young Army Resettlement Home, who always hung around the pier, daring each other to jump into the water.

  Eventually, to Septimus's relief, Alther had advised Marcia to give in and collect the components herself. Una Brakket may have a point, Alther advised; the ShadowSafe was indeed a complex and highly Magykal device, and it was not fair to make Septimus responsible for it. Just to irritate Una, Marcia had taken to occasionally arriving unannounced in the early hours of the morning.

  Half an hour ago, the boys on the pier had watched the ExtraOrdinary Wizard stride down the Snake Slipway and give a vicious tug on the bellpull that hung beside Weasal Van Klampff's thick wooden door. Marcia had waited impatiently on the Slipway. She tapped her purple python shoes irritably on the stone cobbles while she heard mutterings and scufflings inside the house, until Una Brakketwho knew by the long, insistent ringing of the bell that it was Marciaopened the door. Eventually.

  And now Septimus was back at the dreaded front door once again. Alther was no protection, as the ghost could choose to whom he would Appear, and quite understandably he chose not to Appear to a bunch of mocking boys. But Septimus, in his bright green tunic and shiny silver Apprentice belt, had no such choice. Sure enough the chorus of catcalls soon started:

  "Too stuck-up to talk to us then, are ya?""Greeny-guts, greeny-guts!""Hey, caterpillar-boy! Whatcha doin' back here again?"

  And so on. Septimus longed to turn the lot of them into caterpillars, but it was against the Magyk codeand the boys knew that.

  "Here we are," Septimus told Alther, as he reached up and save the bellpull a hefty tug. Far, far away, unheard by either Alther or Septimus, a small bell rangmuch to the annoyance of the housekeeper. Septimus knew they were in for a wait; he turned to the ghost who was hovering behind him, staring up at the house. "Do you think you'll be able to come inside?" Septimus asked Alther, hoping that he would be able to.

  "Hmm . . . I'm not sure," replied Alther. "It looks familiar. I remember going to a party down by the Moat. It was quite a party toowe all ended up in the water. I think it was in this house, but . . . well, I'll soon find out when we go inside. "

  Septimus nodded. He knew that, as a ghost, Alther could only go to places that he had been during his life. Alther had pretty much traveled all the roads and alleyways in the Castle, and, as ExtraOrdinary Wizard, he had been in most of the official buildings. But people's houses were another matterAlther had been a popular young man in his day but even he had not managed to be invited to every single house in the Castle.

  The door was suddenly thrown open.

  "Oh, it's you again," said Una Brakket, who was a tall,spiky-looking woman with extremely short black hair.

  "I need to see the ExtraOrdinary Wizard," said Septimus. "Please. "

  "She's busy," snapped Una.

  "It's very urgent," Septimus insisted. "It's a matter of life or death. "

  The housekeeper shot Septimus a suspicious look. She stood at the door for a moment, weighing the two almost equally unpleasant prospects of having Septimus in the house or having the ExtraOrdinary Wizard angry with her for not letting Septimus in.

  "All right then. Come in. " The housekeeper held the door open and Septimus entered, closely followed by Alther. But, as Alther crossed the threshold of the house, there was a sudden violent rush of air, and the ghost was hurled straight out the door and Returned to the street.

  "Bother," muttered Alther as he picked himself up off the cobbles. "I remember now. The party was at the house next door. "

  "It's very windy out there all of a sudden," said Una, puzzled. She slammed the door crossly, leaving Alther floating outside; then she turned to Septimus, who was standing in the gloomy hallway, wishing he was still outside in the sun with Alther.

  "You had better come down to the Laboratory," she said.