by Angie Sage
Chapter 10 The Queens Robing Room
Over at the Palace, in Sarah Heap's small sitting room, Septimus was beginning to stir. His head felt fuzzy as he opened his eyes, wondering where he was. A dull grayish light filtered through Sarah's flowery curtains and Septimus could feel the dampness from the river in the air. It was not the kind of morning that made him want to get up.
Jenna yawned, still sleepy. She pulled her crocheted blanket up over her head and wished the day would go away. A strange feeling of foreboding was weighing her down, although she could not remember why. "Morning, Sep," she said. "How are you?"
"Wherrr. . . " Septimus mumbled blearily. "Where am I?"
"Um . . . Mum's sitting room," Jenna mumbled sleepily.
"Oh, yes, I remember . . . Queen Etheldredda - "
Jenna was wide awake all of a sudden, remembering what her sense of foreboding had been about. She wished she hadn't.
Suddenly Septimus remembered something else: his Prediction Practical. He sat up, his straw-colored curls standing on end, a look of panic in his bright green eyes. "I gotta go, Jen, or I'll be late. I knew I was going to mess this up. "
"Mess what up?"
"My Prediction Practical. I knew it. "
"Well, then, that's all right, isn't it?" Jenna sat up and grinned. "I guess you've passed. "
"Don't think it works like that, Jen," said Septimus gloomily. "Not with Marcia, anyway. I'd better go. "
"Look, Sep," said Jenna. "You can't go back yet. You have to come see something first. I promised. "
"Promised? What do you mean, promised?"
Jenna did not reply. Slowly, she stood up and carefully folded the crocheted blanket. Septimus saw a dark and anxious look in her eyes and decided not to push things any further. "Well, don't worry," he said, reluctantly crawling out of his makeshift bed, "I'll come see whatever it is first and then I'll go back. If I run fast I might just make it. "
"Thanks, Sep," said Jenna.
As Jenna and Septimus closed the door of Sarah Heap's sitting room behind them, the ghost of Queen Etheldredda descended through the ceiling with a look of satisfaction on her sharp features. She settled herself down on the sofa, picked up the small book that Sarah had left on the table and, with fascinated distaste, began to read True love Never Lies.
Septimus and Jenna made their way along the Long Walk, the wide passageway that ran the length of the Palace like a backbone. It was deserted in the dim light of the morning, for the Palace servants were quietly employed elsewhere getting things ready for the day, and the various Ancients who haunted the Long Walk at night had fallen asleep in the early-morning light. Some were propped up in doorways, others were contentedly snoring in some of the moth-eaten chairs that were scattered along the Walk for the benefit of those who found the distance too far to travel in one trip.
A threadbare red carpet that covered the old stone flags ran like a broad path in front of Jenna and Septimus. The Long Walk always felt to Jenna as though it went on forever, although now it was more interesting than it had been, since her father, Milo Banda, had brought back all kinds of strange and bizarre treasures from the Far Countries and set them up in its empty niches and alcoves. In fact, Milo had been so pleased with what he had called "brightening up the place" that he had soon set off on another voyage to bring back even more treasures.
When they passed by what Jenna thought of as a particularly weird section - the area where Milo had displayed some shrunken heads from the Cannibal Islands of the South Seas - Septimus lingered, fascinated.
"Come on, Sep," Jenna chided. "Don't stop here, this is a really creepy part. "
"It's not the heads that are creepy, Jen. It's that picture. Isn't that old Etheldredda?"
It was an imposing, full-length painting. Queen Etheldredda's sharp features gazed down at Jenna and Septimus with her usual expression, accurately caught by the artist. The Queen was posed haughtily against a backdrop of the Palace.
Jenna shivered. "Dad found it in a Sealed room in the attic," she whispered as though the portrait was listening to them. "He took it out 'cause he said it was frightening his new Counter Colony. I'm going to ask him to put it back. "
"The sooner, the better," said Septimus. "Before it scares the shrunken heads. "
A few minutes later, Septimus and Jenna were outside the Queen's Room on the top floor of the turret at the end of the Palace. A tall golden door with beautiful emerald-green patterns glinted in the dusty shafts of the early-morning sunshine. Jenna unclipped a large emerald and gold key from the leather belt that she wore over her gold sash. Carefully, she placed the key in the keyhole that was in the middle of the door.
Septimus stood back and watched Jenna put the key into what appeared to him to be a completely blank and rather cracked wall. This did not surprise Septimus, for he knew he could not see the door to the Queen's Room. Only those who were descended from the Queen could see it.
"I'll wait for you here, Jen," Septimus said.
"No, you won't, Sep. You're coming with me. "
"But - " Septimus protested. Jenna said nothing; she turned the key and leaped to one side as the door came crashing down like a drawbridge. Then she grabbed hold of Septimus's hand and pulled him toward what looked to him like an extremely solid and very hard wall.
Septimus resisted. "Jen, you know I can't go in there. "
"Yes, you can, Sep. I can bring you in. Now keep hold of my hand and follow me. " Jenna pulled Septimus forward. He saw her disappear through the wall until only her hand, stretched out behind her and clasping his, remained visible. It was one of the strangest things that Septimus had ever seen, and instinctively he held back, unwilling to be dragged through a wall, even by Jenna. But an impatient tug pulled him so that his nose was right up against the wall - no, it was in the wall. Another insistent tug followed and suddenly Septimus found himself in the Queen's Room.
At first Septimus could see little, for there were no windows and the Room was lit only by a small coal fire. But once his eyes became used to the dimness, Septimus was surprised. The Room was much smaller than he had expected; in fact, it was rather cramped. It was furnished simply, with just one comfortable chair and a worn rug laid in front of the fire. The only thing of interest that caught Septimus's eye was an old cupboard set into the curve of the wall on which was written in familiar gold letters: UNSTABLE POTIONS AND PARTIKULAR POISONS. It was identical to the cupboard that Aunt Zelda had in her cottage in the Marram Marshes, and it gave Septimus a sudden longing for one of Aunt Zelda's cabbage sandwiches.
What neither Septimus nor Jenna could see was the occupant of the fireside chair - the ghost of a young woman. Turning to look at her visitors, the young woman gazed at Jenna with a rapt expression. Around her long, dark hair, the ghost wore a gold circlet, identical to the one that Jenna wore. She had the red and gold robes of a Queen, which were heavily bloodstained over her heart. Having looked her fill at Jenna, the Queen turned her gaze toward Septimus, taking in his green Apprentice tunic and cloak, his brilliant green eyes and, in particular, his ExtraOrdinary Apprentice silver belt. Seemingly satisfied that Septimus was a suitable companion for her daughter, the young woman relaxed back into her chair.
"Feels funny in here," Septimus whispered, looking at the apparently empty chair.
"I know," Jenna replied in a hushed voice. Remembering what Etheldredda had said, she looked around the room, half hoping to see the ghost of her mother. She thought there was a faint glimmer of something in the armchair, but when she looked again there was nothing. And yet . . . Jenna shook the thoughts of her mother out of her head.
"Come on," she told Septimus.
"Come on where, Jen?"
"Into Aunt Zelda's cupboard. " Jenna opened the door to the cupboard and waited for Septimus.
"Oh, great, are you taking me to see Aunt Zelda?"
"Stop asking questions, Sep," said Jenna a little sharply. Septimus looked surprised, but
he followed her into the cupboard and Jenna closed the door behind them. The young woman in the chair smiled, happy to think that her daughter was going through the Queen's Way to see the Keeper in the Marram Marshes. She would, thought Jenna's mother, make a good Queen. When the Time was Right.
But, unknown to her mother, Jenna was not going to the Marram Marshes. As soon as she had closed the door behind Septimus, Jenna whispered, "We're not going to see Aunt Zelda. "
"Oh. " Septimus sounded disappointed. And then he said, "Why are you whispering?"
"Shhh. I don't know. Now there's a trapdoor here somewhere. Can you see it, Sep?"
"Don't you know where we're going either?" he asked.
"No. Look, can you shine your ring down here? I expect it's in the same place as Aunt Zelda's trapdoor. "
"You're being very mysterious, Jen," said Septimus, shining his Dragon Ring so that the glow lit up the floor. Sure enough, the trapdoor in the Queen's Unstable Potions and Partikular Poisons cupboard was indeed in the same place as it was in Aunt Zelda's. Jenna lifted a carefully concealed thick gold ring (Aunt Zelda's was only brass) and pulled. The trapdoor lifted easily and silently, and Jenna and Septimus peered warily into the hole.
"What now?" whispered Septimus.
"We've got to go down," Jenna replied.
"Where to?" asked Septimus, beginning to feel uneasy.
"To the Robing Room. It's the room below. Shall I go first?"
"No," said Septimus, "let me go first. Just in case . . . and, well, I've got the light from my ring. " Septimus lowered himself through the trapdoor, and instead of the rickety old wooden ladder that led down from Aunt Zelda's trapdoor, he found a flight of fine silver steps with open filigree treads and a polished mahogany banister on either side. Climbing down backward, for the steps were steep like a ship's ladder, Septimus called up to Jenna, "It's okay, Jen. I think. "
Jenna's boots appeared through the trapdoor, and Septimus went down the steps and waited at the bottom. As Jenna jumped from the last silver step and her feet touched the fine marble floor, two large candles at the foot of the steps burst into flame.
"Wow," said Septimus, impressed. "It's a bit nicer than upstairs, Jen. "
The Queen's Robing Room was more than nice - it was opulent. It was larger than the upstairs room, for the turret widened on the lower floor. Its walls were lined with a burnished gold leaf that, although it had dulled over the centuries, glowed deep and rich in the candlelight. On the wall facing the silver steps was an old looking glass in an ornate gold frame, but it seemed to be of little use, for much of the reflective silvering was gone after years of dampness. The glass was dark and showed only a blurred reflection of the candlelight.
All along the walls were solid silver hooks, each one a different, intricately cast shape. One was shaped like a swan's neck, another like a snake; another was cast from intertwined initials of some long-dead Queen and her soul mate. Some hooks were empty and some had robes or cloaks hanging from them, reflecting the different styles popular through the previous centuries, but all in the traditional red and gold that the Queens of the Castle had always worn. What amazed Jenna - although Septimus did not notice - was that not one of the robes had any dust upon them. All looked as new and fresh as if they had just been made by the Palace seamstress.
Enthralled, for she loved rich cloth, Jenna wandered around the room, running her fingers over the robes and exclaiming, "These are so soft, Sep . . . oh, feel this one, the silk is so fine . . . and look at this fur trim, that's even better than Marcia's winter cloak, isn't it?" Jenna had lifted a fine woolen cloak from a silver hook embedded with emeralds and twisted into the shape of a J. She slipped it over her shoulders; it was a beautiful cloak, soft and flowing, edged with a dark red fur trim. It fit her perfectly. Unwilling to put it back on its lonely hook, Jenna fastened the gold clasp and wrapped the cloak around her. It reminded her of Lucy Gringe's blue cloak that Jenna had worn not so long ago, and had recently given to a very surprised Lucy.
"Look, it fits me perfectly. It's as if it were made for me. And see, Nicko's present is just right. " Jenna had fastened the cloak with her gold pin, also in the shape of a J, which Nicko had bought from a merchant in the Port and given to her for her last birthday.
"Very nice, Jen," said Septimus, who did not find clothes the least bit interesting and thought the Robing Room a little oppressive. "Look, hadn't you better show me whatever it was you wanted to?"
Jenna came back to earth with a jolt. For a few moments she had forgotten all about the wretched Queen Etheldredda. She pointed at the dark looking glass. "That's it, Sep. Now you have to look in it. That's what I promised. "
Septimus looked wary. "Promised who?"
"Queen Etheldredda," Jenna whispered miserably. "Last night. She was waiting for me outside the door. "
"Oh," Septimus muttered, "I see. But weird things can happen with looking glasses, Jen. Especially old ones. I don't think I should do this. "
"Please, Sep," Jenna pleaded. "Please look in it. Please. "
"Why?" Septimus saw a look of panic on Jenna's face. "Jen - what's the matter?"
"Because if you don't, she'll. . . "
"She'll what?"
Jenna looked white. "She'll Reverse the Reclaime. At midnight. You'll drown at midnight tonight. "
