Sage, Angie - Septimus Heap Book 06 - Darke by Sage Angie

Author:Sage, Angie [Sage, Angie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Bott’s Bridge

R ose was late. Things were somewhat chaotic at

the Wizard Tower and she had had to fil in at the sick

bay until the duty Wizard had eventual y turned up from

t he Call Out. But now, excited by the prospect of

being part of the amazing piece of Magyk that was

the Safety Curtain, Rose raced down Wizard Way,

trying not to be any later for Bertie Bott than she

possibly could.

* * *

In front of the dazzling Safety Curtain, Bertie Bott

stood resolutely guarding the fusion point, unaware

that only a few feet behind him, on the other side of

the shimmering purple wal , twenty-five Things were

patrol ing to and fro, silently looking for the join.

Bertie’s stomach was grumbling. He was having

cruel visions of supper: sausages and mashed

potatoes dripping with gravy, treacle tart and custard

and possibly even a smal square of chocolate fudge,

if he could manage it. Bertie sighed inwardly. He was

sure he could. As Bertie wondered whether he would

prefer peas or a double helping of mash with his

sausages, his stomach emitted the loudest rumble

yet. A mere arm’s length behind him, the strangler

Thing stopped and listened hard.

Bertie was getting extremely cold. Even his finest

pre-loved, fur-lined cloak was not keeping out the chil

of the Longest Night. Bertie took it off to shake the fur

out and thicken it up for a while—a trick he knew from

the cloak business—but as he shook it, the edge of

the cloak touched the Safety Curtain. Bertie never

knew what hit him.

Lightning fast, the Thing punched a hole through

the fusion point, grabbed Bertie’s cloak with one hand

and pul ed hard. Bertie toppled backwards into the

Safety Curtain. In a moment the strangler Thing had

its hands around Bertie’s throat and was pul ing him in

so that he lay across the Safety Curtain like a smal ,

humpbacked

bridge—later

immortalized

in

Apprentice textbooks as Bott’s Bridge.

On either side of Bertie the Magykal purple light

stil shone like a luminous wal , but now there was a

dark gap, like a broken tooth in a smile. As Bertie

Bott lay face-up on the snow-dusted grass, a Darke

tide of Things began to flow across him. (Many years

later, when the Safety Curtain was Raised by one

who wished he had not missed his only chance to see

it done, this scene was the first to be replayed.)

Rose arrived at the two torches that flanked the

Palace Gate. She stopped for a moment to catch her

breath and then pushed open the gate, on which a

large notice had been stuck that tersely read: PARTY

CANCELLED. Gudrun the Great—the faded old ghost on

guard at the Palace Gate—smiled at Rose, but Rose,

almost blinded by the startling bril iance of the Safety

Curtain, did not see her.

“Take care, Apprentice,” whispered Gudrun. “Take

care.” But al Rose heard was the whispering of the

wind blowing in off the river.

As Rose approached the Safety Curtain she

began to feel uneasy. Rose was a sensitive

Apprentice who was aware—some said far too

aware—of the Darke. And Rose had a talent that she

did not yet know she possessed but was soon to

discover: she could See Things. Looking out for

Bertie Bott, Rose walked slowly across the

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