by Angie Sage
Some ten minutes later, a subdued and soaking group of Senior Apprentices trooped into the Wizard Tower. At the sight of Tod they stopped in their tracks and looked away. They stood dripping onto the floor, which went into a panic and flashed the words: FLOOD! FLOOD! FLOOD! in bright red letters across the expanse of the Great Hall. Tod noticed the Apprentices were nudging one another and heard whispers of “You tell her.” “No, you do it.”
At last Newt Makken was pushed forward. He walked slowly up to Tod, twisting the purple beribboned hem of his sodden cloak in supreme awkwardness. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he muttered.
Tod, still seething with anger at Aunt Mitza, thought that Newt was playing a joke. “What loss?” she snapped.
Newt looked taken aback. “Um . . . your aunt. We did our best to save her. We really did.”
Tod frowned. “What’s happened to her?” she asked warily.
“Well . . .” Newt glanced back to his friends for help but received none. “Um, the Ormlet flew off along Sled Alley, down to the Moat. I suppose your aunt didn’t see the water . . . She was too busy chasing the Ormlet. I think it had taken something from her. And so she, um, she ran straight into the Moat. And she sank. Totally sank. Never came back up.” Newt shook his head. “We jumped in, all of us did, but it’s so deep there and muddy too . . . We couldn’t see anything and there was no way we could dive to the bottom . . .” He looked up and Tod was shocked to see that Newt had tears in his eyes. “Alice, your aunt has drowned. I’m so sorry.”
Stunned, Tod took in the news.
As a final year Apprentice, Newt was not without Magykal skills and knowledge. “As she went in,” he said in a low voice, “I Saw something sitting on her shoulder. It was a Maund. Your aunt didn’t have a chance. No one could swim with one of those weighing her down. And a Maund never lets go, you know. I mean, its claws grow into your skin and fasten around your collarbone and . . .” Newt noticed Tod’s bemused expression and decided he had said quite enough. “You’d best ask the EOW. He’ll tell you. I really am very sorry.”
Tod was shocked and just a little bit guilty at how relieved she felt—Mitza was dead. And there was something almost more important: now she could remember her mother untainted by the specter of the murderous Mitza Draddenmora Draa. Slowly, Tod got to her feet. She gave Newt a distant smile. “Thank you for telling me, Newt,” she said. “I’m so sorry you all got wet.” Then she walked over to the stairs—she had a promise to Rose to make good.
Newt watched her go. “She’s got a cool head, that one,” he said as he rejoined his friends. “Didn’t bat an eyelid.”
MIDSUMMER CIRCLE
It was three in the morning on MidSummer’s Day, the sky scattered with clouds and sprinkled with stars. Tod, Ferdie and Oskar were making their way along the long, winding track that led through the outlying dunes to the old beach on the sandspit. Each carried a flickering lantern and wore their Circle cloak—long and dark and, for the very first time, embellished with a five-pointed star across which was a scattering of dots: a StarChaser.
Behind them came a straggling line of all the twelve- to sixteen-year-olds in Tod’s village, every one carrying a lantern. They walked slowly and quietly, some apart, some together, the older ones savoring their last time at the Circle and the younger ones still a little awed by the occasion.
Tod emerged from the dunes and stopped for a moment. Before her was the wide, pale beach, and beyond lay the darkness of the sea. All she could hear was the gentle swish-swash of the wavelets and the soft padding of feet. She turned around to Ferdie and Oskar; they exchanged their three-fingered sign and then together they stepped onto the beach.
Some hundred yards away on the soft sand unwashed by the sea, Tod could see the circle of rugs waiting for them, just like last year. But this time there was the light from three lanterns rather than one, and as they drew nearer, Tod saw that the most distant light came from a lantern set atop the white marker post that only a few days before they had tied Vega to. The other lanterns were held by two cloaked figures: one standing in the middle of the circle, the other outside the circle, watching. Tod knew the one inside the Circle was her father—Dan always took the Circle. But who was the other?
Ferdie and Oskar provided the answer. “There’s Mum,” they whispered, not entirely pleased. Ignoring their mother’s embarrassing little wave, Ferdie and Oskar took their places on the rugs reserved for first-timers and looked pointedly in the opposite direction. Tod sat next to them, then they put their lanterns on the sand and waited while the circle of rugs filled slowly with cloaked figures.
When the Circle was full, Dan Moon held his lantern high and said quietly, “Douse your lights,” and the Circle blew out their candles. Then, just as Tod remembered from last year, Dan began. “Good morning, PathFinders. Welcome to our new people,” he said, smiling down at Ferdie and Oskar. “Every year we meet in the early hours of MidSummer morning to hear our history and to understand the secrets that made us who we are, and why we PathFinders are a little different. These secrets are kept between us, and when we leave the Circle we do not speak of them to anyone else. Does everyone here understand?”
Everyone in the circle replied, “I understand.”
Dan asked Ferdie and Oskar to stand, and then very formally, he said, “Ferdinanda Sarn, Oskar Sarn, do you promise to faithfully keep the secrets of our PathFinder Circle from all who are not PathFinders and, more important, from all PathFinders who have yet to come of age and join our MidSummer Circle? For all time and in all ways?”
“We promise,” Ferdie and Oskar said together.
“Well said,” Dan told them. “Circle, let us welcome our new brother and sister.”
“Welcome, brother and sister, to the MidSummer Circle,” came the response.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed by the lurking presence of their mother—why was she there?—Ferdie and Oskar quickly sat down.
Dan began to speak once more. “PathFinders,” he said. “Our MidSummer Circle is the time when we tell the secrets of our history when our ancestors went to the stars. But up until now we have not told all. This was wrong. This knowledge belongs to us all. I understand that now, thanks to my daughter, Alice, who was brave enough to use those secrets for the good of us all.” Dan stopped and smiled down at Tod. Now it was Tod’s turn to be embarrassed. She stared resolutely at her feet and wished Dan would talk about something else.
But Dan had not finished yet. “It is also thanks to our first-timers, Ferdie and Oskar Sarn—who believed in what Alice was doing and helped her to do it—that I now understand that the danger lies not in revealing secrets, but in hiding them. Rosie Sarn has always insisted that there should be no secrets among mature PathFinders, and so it is only right that she is the one to reveal them to you. Which is why I now give the Circle over to Rosie Sarn.” With that, Dan stepped out of the Circle and the cloaked figure of Rosie took his place. In her arms she carried a book that Tod knew very well: The Path.
And so the Circle listened, rapt, to Rosie Sarn telling the story of the Orm Eggs, the StarChaser, and the old PathFinder starship and its part in saving the Ancient Ways. At last, Rosie began to draw to a close. “And so it is true that we PathFinders have traveled to the Great Beyond. And it is true that our starship, our PathFinder, lies beneath the sea at the end of an underwater path marked by posts. The first post is over there.” All eyes went to the post, shining white in the light of its lantern. Rosie continued. “And here is more truth. If you walk beneath the waves, as Alice did, one in ten of you will reach our starship, our PathFinder. Those are the ones who have gills. But nine of you will drown trying to discover if you posses the gills.” Rosie stopped to let that sink in. And then she added with a smile, “However, no one now needs to risk this. One of our first-timers, Oskar, has invented a breathing bag that allows anyone to walk beneath the water. You can talk to him about that later.”
Rosie allowed a flurry of excited murmurings and then asked fo
r silence. “However, you need to know that there are dangers within the PathFinder starship. An Ancient Way leads into the starship and many hundreds of years ago a group of young PathFinders was massacred by creatures who Came Through the Way. Alice TodHunter Moon herself was lucky to escape a similar peril. We hope that now that the Ways are Re-Enchanted, the Darke has left them and the starship will be safe. We will set up our first expedition, led by Alice, as soon as we can.”
Rosie glanced at the lightening sky in the east and knew it was time to bring the Circle to a close. She lowered her voice solemnly. “PathFinders, we have seen many worlds, but we have seen none as beautiful as ours. We have seen many suns, but we have seen none as perfect as this . . .” Rosie turned around and pointed out to the sea. On cue, the sun broke the horizon. “This is our sun. This is our Earth. This is where we belong.”
The fingernail tip of orange pushed its way up from the sea, setting the thin line of cloud on the horizon on fire. It was beautiful, but no one was watching. All eyes were on a sky-borne golden boat with the head, tail and wings of a dragon, flying low over the sea toward them. Her iridescent scales shone in the sunlight; her head was high; her tail with the golden barb on its end was low, ready for landing. The already overexcited MidSummer Circle broke ranks and raced down the damp sand to the water’s edge. And then there was the Dragon Boat, sweeping down to land and plowing through the water, sending rainbows of spume high into the air.
The Dragon Boat coasted to a sedate halt some fifty yards out. Using her wings as sails, she moved slowly forward toward the shore until her bow pushed gently into the sand and she beached herself. With her head quizzically on one side, the dragon regarded her audience while one of her passengers—a young man in purple—put a ladder over the side and the other, a young woman in red wearing a simple gold crown, clambered down the ladder and jumped into the shallows. She was closely followed by the young man, and together, hand in hand, they waded to the beach.
Even the oldest members of the Circle, who made a point of being unimpressed by anything, were dumbstruck. The amazed silence was broken by Tod, who ran splashing through the water to greet Septimus and Jenna, only to find herself lost for words at the meeting of her two worlds.
“Hello, Tod,” Septimus said.
“I . . . I can’t believe you’re here,” Tod said.
Septimus grinned. “Well, you did send me a message asking me to come today. And it sounded quite important.” He took out the piece of string. “I think you said, ‘MidSummer Dragon Boat. Please land at Summer Circle. Very Important’?”
“Bing found you!” Tod said. “But you never said?”
Septimus handed Tod her Tracker ball. “I thought it would be a nice surprise,” he said, as Bing settled comfortably back into Tod’s hand.
Encouraged by Tod, the others from the Circle came milling around. As Tod accompanied Septimus and Jenna up the beach to greet Dan and Rosie, the Dragon Boat acquired a circle of admirers, all of whom—except Oskar—had a keen interest in boats. But Oskar was equally fascinated by the Dragon Boat, for here was a reptile to rival the Ormlet. As the rest of the circle admired the seaworthy qualities of the boat, Oskar gazed up at the magnificent green-and-gold head of the dragon. And then, to his delight, the dragon leaned down toward him and, in a mannerism caught from Spit Fyre, she slowly and sedately winked one emerald eye.
TWO WORLDS BECOME ONE
The traditional MidSummer Circle breakfast had two honored guests that morning. As they sat at the long table set amid the dunes, Septimus had something to say. “Tod, Ferdie, Oskar: we can never thank you enough for what you did to save the Ancient Ways. Our Castle and our Wizard Tower are still with us only because of what you did. We can never repay you. Ever.”
“What we have is yours,” Jenna said simply.
“And what we have is yours,” Dan Moon replied graciously.
There was a smattering of applause and then one of the Circle was heard to mutter, “But what do we have?”
“Sand?” someone suggested.
“Fish! We have fish!” came a shout. The cry was taken up and soon the table was chanting, “Fish! Fish! Fish!”
Septimus laughed. “And you have fun,” he said.
“And you have courage,” Jenna said, more seriously.
“And you have us,” Septimus added as he took Jenna’s hand. “Forever.”
Sitting between her friends, surrounded by all the people she truly cared about, Tod felt completely happy. The two worlds she loved—the village and the Castle—had truly become one.
ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS
Queen Marissa and Jo-Jo
Marissa and Jo-Jo’s journey to the Red City was not uneventful. They were caught up in a Wild Way Wind, Jo-Jo was chased by a Kraan, and many of the Ways they tried to Go Through were already UnRaveling. But with the Re-Enchantment their luck changed, and on MidSimmer’s Day Marissa and Jo-Jo arrived at the gates of the Red City. Here, Marissa took the Red Queen’s crown from her cloak pocket, placed it on her head and declared herself to be the Queen’s successor. No one raised the slightest objection.
The Wife of the Captain of the Queen’s Guard
After the Red Queen had left for the Castle, the wife of the Captain of the Queen’s Guard arrived at the Palace to beg for more time for his search. She found the Red Queen gone and the Palace in a panic. A strong woman was urgently needed to run the Palace, and the Captain’s wife fitted the bill perfectly. She took over the administration and even held audiences, but she did not enjoy it. She was a sensible woman and well aware that she lacked the crazy charisma that the Red City demanded of their Queen. So when Marissa, complete with crown and a large following of excited fans, marched into the Palace, the Captain’s wife gave her the Palace keys and wished her the very best of luck. Then she set off to search for her husband. She found him six months later, happily running a seedy bar in the Port of the Singing Sands.
The Red Queen
After Going Through the Hidden arch on the Outside Path, the Red Queen was also caught up in a Wild Way Wind. She became completely disoriented and lost. Without any subjects to terrorize, the Red Queen’s life lost all meaning and she wandered wraithlike through the Ways with no sense of purpose. At some point she died, and after a year and a day, her ghost resumed its wanderings. She became one of the most dreaded ghosts in the Ways, for anyone meeting her would be stricken with a fear that their head was about to fly off.
Oraton-Marr and the Lady
It was some weeks after Marissa moved into the Red City Palace that she discovered that the Lady and Oraton-Marr were still languishing there in a dungeon. Queen Marissa was so enjoying her new life that she felt able to be kind to the Lady. She set her free and even took pity on Oraton-Marr, asking Jo-Jo to find an antidote to the HeadBanger. The best Jo-Jo could come up with—from the top of his new sorcerer’s tower—was a Muffler. Oraton-Marr wore it wrapped around his head like a turban; his headache was almost completely Muffled, along with any ambitions or desires. Oraton-Marr and the Lady spent the rest of their lives tending the Palace gardens and feeding Marissa’s pet sparrows.
The Ormlet
The Ormlet never matured. The Languid Lizard Charms had taken away its ability to go into Stasis and so, much to Oskar’s delight, it remained in its larval winged state. Many others, including Queen Jenna, Barney Pot and assorted Palace visitors, were less delighted.
Mitza Draddenmora Draa
Like all ghosts, Mitza had to remain in the very place she had entered ghosthood for a year and a day. Her ghost floated beneath the Moat, taking delight in frightening unwary hirers of Rupert’s paddleboats. After that Mitza’s movements were limited due to the rules of ghosthood, which state: A ghost may only tread once more where, Living, it has trod before.
Mitza took to hanging around Sled Alley and one day happened to meet the ghost of Jillie Djinn—an ex–Chief Hermetic Scribe of the Manuscriptorium. They struck up a conversation about Maunds and became i
nseparable.
Spit Fyre
Occupied with looking after his perpetual-baby Orm, Spit Fyre was not able to leave the Castle to find a mate. However, one morning late that summer, a young blue dragon—all blue dragons are female—was making her way home to her mountains in the Great Continent Across the Ocean. As she flew over the Palace she saw a handsome young green dragon far below. As she swooped down for a closer look, the green dragon caught sight of her and rose up into the air to meet her. Soon most of the Castle was watching a beautiful dragon dance being performed high above them. The dragons stayed in the sky all day. At dusk they descended together, each having at last found their mate.
Spit Fyre was ecstatic—the only worry at the very back of his dragon mind was the prospect of introducing his new mate to the Ormlet. He hoped it wouldn’t put her off. But once his mate had recovered from the disappointment that the Ormlet was not to be eaten for supper, she accepted the spiky little creature with good grace. She also encouraged Oskar Sarn to babysit as often as he wanted. Soon, Oskar also found himself engaged in egg-sitting duties too. With three dragon eggs to watch, Oskar called in help. And so, once again the Tribe of Three found that eggs of a large reptile became an important part of their life. But this time, all turned out egg-xactly as it should.
THANK YOU
Writing the TodHunter Moon trilogy has been a wonderful way to explore further afield in the world of Septimus Heap, and it would never have happened without so many lovely, talented people involved in making these books.
