The Amulet Of Samarkand by Stroud Jonathan

Author:Stroud, Jonathan [Stroud, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Fantasy, Young Adult, Humor, Adventure, Children
ISBN: 9781423111467
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 2010-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

24

Bartimaeus

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….

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