Fyre (54 page)

“So it
is
him.” Marcellus got to his feet and wobbled.

“Marcellus, sit down,” said Marcia sternly. “You ought to be in the Sick Bay.”

“Huh!” said Marcellus. “Excuse me, Marcia, Princess, there is something I have to do.” He gave an old-fashioned bow and headed off unsteadily.

The ghost of Julius Pike watched Marcellus approaching with dismay. The Alchemist—hair plastered to his head, a livid bruise spreading around his right eye, his robes tattered and torn—looked as though he had been in a fight and was wanting another.

Marcellus stepped in front of the ghost. “Julius.”

“Marcellus,” said Julius, sounding somewhat unenthusiastic. “Um, how are you?”

Marcellus smiled. “Alive,” he said tersely.

A group of nearby Wizards who were cleaning up gasped at Marcellus’s rudeness. It was extremely bad manners to draw attention to one’s Living status when talking to a ghost. However, right then, manners were the last thing on Marcellus’s mind.

“Julius, you
snake
. It has taken me nearly five hundred years to figure this out, but now at last I know what caused the Great Alchemie Disaster.”

“Jolly good,” said Julius somewhat impatiently.

“Indeed, I know not only
what
caused it, but
who
—you!”

“Me?”
Julius sounded shocked.

“Yes,
you
, you lying toad. You arrogant old f—”

“Marcellus!” Marcia had hurried over to intervene. “I realize you have had a severe blow to the head, but I must ask you to abide by the Wizard Tower code of conduct. ExtraOrdinary Wizard ghosts are our guests and are to be treated with courtesy and respect.”

“I am sorry, Marcia,” said Marcellus, seething. “But I must have my say. I have waited long enough.”

“You may have your say, Marcellus, but you may not insult our guest.”

“Thank you, ExtraOrdinary,” said Julius. “I must be off now.”

“Not so fast, Julius!” said Marcellus. “Perhaps you will do me the courtesy of hearing what I have to say.”

“It is late, Marcellus. Some other time. Excuse me.”

“I will
not
excuse you. And neither would Marcia if she knew the truth about what you did.”

“Marcellus, what is this about?” asked Marcia.

Marcellus spoke slowly, all the while looking Julius Pike in the eye. “
This
is about how a man—who for years I counted as my best friend and my confidant—how he destroyed my life’s work, and the work of all the Alchemists who went before me. And, as if that were not enough for him, how he then deliberately destroyed my reputation.”

“How so, Marcellus?” asked Marcia.

“How so? I will tell you how so. This”—Marcellus made a huge effort to control himself—“
person
here, in order to impress some tin-pot Wizard from I-don’t-know-where, not only invaded my Chamber of
Fyre
—
yes, Marcia, as you have already guessed, it does exist and I apologize for keeping it from you
—he then deceitfully, deviously and recklessly threw the most dangerous thing possible into the
Fyre
Cauldron—the Two-Faced Ring!”

Marcia looked confused. “What is wrong with that? Surely, that is what
we
are going to do after the
Committal
.”

Julius Pike sensed an ally. “Quite, ExtraOrdinary. This is purely a fuss about protocol. I admit I did not ask your permission, Marcellus, for which I apologize. But this has nothing to do with the Great Alchemie Disaster, which happened
weeks
later.”

“Julius, it had
everything
to do with it. If you want to
DeNature
something in the
Fyre
you don’t just chuck it in like an old candy wrapper. The
Fyre
Cauldron is not a dustbin.
DeNaturing
by
Fyre
is a delicate task. You must keep the object suspended in the very center of the
Fyre
for many days and whatever you do,
you must not let it touch the side of the Cauldron
.”

Julius Pike began to
Disappear
. This did not go down well with Marcia.

“Mr. Pike. Pray do us the courtesy of remaining visible.”

“Thank you, Marcia,” said Marcellus. “So, Julius, when you threw the Two-Faced Ring into the
Fyre
it sank down through the
Fyre
rods and sat on the bottom of the Cauldron where, over the next three weeks, it
Migrated
. And the moment it made the hole, the Cauldron cracked, the water rushed out and the
Fyre
rods began to heat up, which they do when they lose water suddenly. My Drummins contained the
Fyre
by dousing it with our special cannel coal, as they are doing at this very moment—do not interrupt, Julius; this is the Alchemie Way and it
works
. But you, Julius, would not trust us to do our job. You would not listen to me when I explained. You panicked. You shut off our water. You shut off our air and just to make sure, you forced me to ice up our beautiful cooling system that kept the whole Castle warm in the winter. It was
you
, Julius, who caused the Great Alchemie Disaster.”

“Rubbish!” spluttered the ghost.

“Julius, it is the truth. I know this because after you
Sealed
my
Fyre
Chamber, my Drummins found the Two-Faced Ring on the ground. They knew what it was and they threw it into the drainage system to get rid of it. But they could not tell me, because by then you had dragged me away, and had left my faithful Drummins—more loyal to me than
you
ever were—to die.”

“Drummins?” asked Marcia.

“False creations,” said Julius Pike. “Alchemical abominations.”

“They are living, breathing, sentient beings, however they may have been created,” retorted Marcellus. “But leaving the Drummins to die was not enough for you. You had to make sure that Alchemie died too.”

“For the good of the Castle, Marcellus,” Julius protested. “Which Alchemie had so very nearly destroyed.”

“No, Julius. Which
you
had so very nearly destroyed, by your deceit. And it did not stop there, did it? You falsified records, you obliterated ancient knowledge and you instilled a deep suspicion of Alchemie into all Wizards, so much so that to this day all new Wizards swear to ‘abjure all things Alchemical,’ do they not? And yet in the past, Wizards and Alchemists did great things together. They worked as one. And in order to finally rid ourselves of this ring, we shall have to do so again. There is no other way.”

Marcellus became aware that a large crowd of Ordinary Wizards had gathered and were listening in shocked silence. When they realized that he had finally finished all he had to say, a few began to clap in approval. The ripple spread and soon the Great Hall was ringing with the sound of applause.

Rose and Septimus were spinning down through the floors on Emergency setting when they heard the sound of the ovation rising to meet them.

“They know you’ve done it, Septimus,” said Rose. They jumped off the stairs to find it was not they who were the center of attention but Marcia and Marcellus, arm in arm.

“Crumbs,” Rose whispered to Septimus. “It looks like they’re going to get married or something.”

“No
way
!” said Septimus.

Marcia caught sight of Septimus. She saw the horrified expression on his face and her heart sank. “It didn’t work, did it?”

“Yes, it did. Perfectly. I’ve got the
Committal
here.”

A huge smile spread across Marcia’s weary features and her green eyes sparkled for the first time in days. “Septimus, that is wonderful. I should have known it would be you who would finally
DeCypher
the top of the Pyramid. Congratulations! I think I can safely say that you have passed your
DeCyphering
module with distinction. And then some.”

Septimus looked at Marcia and Marcellus, who were still arm in arm. “So, um . . . do I need to congratulate
you
?” he asked.

“You can if you like,” said Marcia. “From today we have a new partnership!”

“Oh.”

“Septimus, I am surprised you are not more excited. A partnership between Alchemie and
Magyk
is what you have wanted for a long time. No more secrets.”

“So you’re going to move in together?”

Marcia looked at Septimus uncomprehendingly for some seconds. Then a flash of understanding, swiftly followed by dismay, crossed her face and she dropped Marcellus’s arm like a hot potato. “Goodness, no! Oh, horrors. Perish the thought. This is a
business
relationship.”

Erk Erk Erk . . . Erk Erk Erk . . . !

The Stranger Chamber
Alarm
chose that moment to save Marcia from any more embarrassment. With almost a feeling of relief, Marcia raced over and threw open the blue door. Inside she met a very agitated ghost.

“He pulled the lever!” yelled Alther. “Stupid,
stupid
boy!”

Marcia stared at the gaping hole in the floor where the Stranger Chair should have been. A damp and not very pleasant smell drifted up from it.

“Which setting?” she asked anxiously.

“Moat. It’s on Moat.”

Marcia felt relieved. At least it was possible to get people out of the Moat. “Idiot!” she said.

“I know. Marcia, I am
so
sorry. I took my eye off him for
one
second. That was all, I promise you—”

“Oh, Alther, I didn’t mean
you
were the idiot. I meant Merrin.
You’ve
been wonderful. Don’t worry, we’ll get some Wizards down to the Moat right away. Merrin must come straight back here. I do
not
want those Ring Wizards being drawn out into the Castle.”

As Marcia hurried off, something occurred to her. “Alther, who was sitting on the Chair?”

“Oh, Nursie, of course.”

“So how come Merrin’s gone too?”

“He jumped in after her. He actually seemed very upset; I don’t think he meant to do it.” Alther shook his head. “He’s a funny lad. You can’t help but feel sorry for him.”

Marcia nodded. “You know, Alther, I think this is the first time that Merrin has cared about anyone but himself. Maybe there’s hope for him yet.”

“Maybe. I’ll take some Wizards down to the Moat, pronto.”

“Thank you, Alther.”

“Oh, anytime. Well, no,
not
anytime. Actually, to be frank,
never again
.”

Marcia smiled ruefully. “Indeed, Alther. Never again.”

47

F
YRE

T
he little pyramid
Keye
was
on the map table, sitting on the footprint of the Wizard Tower—which it fitted perfectly. Watched by Milo, Marcia, Septimus and Marcellus, Jenna was sitting at Marcia’s command table writing the complete
Committal
into
The Queen Rules
in her most careful handwriting.

“Septimus, would you fetch Julius, please,” said Marcia. “I would like him to check this before we go.”

Septimus found Julius with some difficulty—the ghost had become very nearly transparent. But as requested, and with great care, Julius checked through the
Committal
. “Yes . . . yes, I believe it to be correct. Hathor, see there, is the
Keystone
,” he said, his long finger pointing to a bird symbol in a square.

“Thank you, Julius,” said Marcia. “We do value your knowledge.”

“You are very welcome,” the ghost replied somewhat stiffly.

“Julius,” Marcia continued.

“Yes?”

“Do you not have something to say to Marcellus?”

“Oh!” Julius made an odd, ghostly coughing sound. “Marcellus. I am. Um. Sorry. I . . . I apologize.”

“It is those who lost their lives in the disaster to whom you should apologize,” said Marcellus.

“Yes. I . . . I realize that.”

“Not to mention all succeeding ExtraOrdinary Wizards who were denied essential knowledge of the Castle. And access to the skills of Alchemie for nearly five hundred years.”

“Yes . . . well.”

“And to my Drummins, whom you knowingly left to die.”

“Apologize to
Drummins
?” Julius was aghast.

“I leave it you to consider your actions, Julius. I can say no more.” With that Marcellus turned on his heel and walked away.

Jenna watched Marcellus go with a good deal of sympathy. She closed
The Queen Rules
and got to her feet. “Okay,” she said. “I’m ready to do the
Committal
.”

“Not on your own,” said Milo. “I am coming with you.”

“Jenna will not be going alone,” said Marcia. “You can be sure of that, Milo.” She got to her feet. “Excuse me a moment.”

Marcia quickly returned with Marcellus. “Our Castle Alchemist has a suggestion,” she said.

Marcellus smiled happily. He knew what it meant for Marcia to freely use his old title. “It is extremely dangerous approaching from the
Fyre
hatch,” he said, “as Simon here will attest.” Simon nodded. “I suggest we go to the
Fyre
Chamber through the Covert Way.”