Ptolemy's Gate (63 page)
5
Had the boy been there alone, without my prompting presence, would he have acted with such speed against the bodies of his fellow ministers? Despite their deformities, their slack faces and oddly angled limbs, I doubt it. He was a human; always, always humans gravitate to surfaces.
6
These included: bumper cars, roller-skating arenas, “Ride-an-imp” merry-go-rounds, Madame Houri's Mystic Tent of Prophecy, a hall of distorting mirrors, Bumpo the Bear's Grotto of Taxidermy, and the central “One World Exhibition”âa series of pathetic stands displaying the “cultural riches” of each country of the Empire (mainly involving squash, yams, and crudely painted wooden love spoons). The billboards outside proclaimed the palace as the “Tenth Wonder of the World,” which, speaking as someone who had a hand in constructing five of the other nine, I found a little rich.
7
I won't go into this. It was just a little Asian job, a long while back.
Bartimaeus
1
Too right I could. It was as if she'd triggered an internal one-man band, all Klaxons, bells, and pennywhistles, with enthusiastic cymbals strapped between his knees. The noise was
decifening
.
2
That's how it was with Nefertiti and Akhenaton, of course. One moment it was lingering looks and assignations by the crocodile enclosure; next it was tearing up the state religion and moving Egypt's capital 60 miles into the desert. One thing just led to another.
3
Faquarl wasn't a sly old equivocator like Tchue; he prided himself on blunt speaking. Mind you, he
did
have a weakness for boasting. If you believed all his stories, you'd have thought him responsible for most of the world's major landmarks as well as being adviser and confidant to all the notable magicians. This, as I once remarked to Solomon, was a quite ridiculous claim.
4
It was an odd historical fact that the British magicians had no interest in magical flying, being inclined (wisely, it must be said) to trust to mechanical means instead. But other cultures had no qualms about fusing djinn with inanimate objects: the Persians went in for carpets; certain down-at-heel Europeans went by mortar and pestle. Venturesome Chinese magicians even tried their hand at riding
clouds
.
5
N.B. I'm still talking about the face here.
38
1
When shouted from
Nepal
.
That's
how loud it was.
2
Generally those who don't have to do it. Politicians and writers spring to mind.
3
Well, try giving yourself a rude gesture. It just doesn't work, does it?
Jonathan Stroud is the author of the
New York Times
best-selling Bartimaeus books:
The Amulet of Samarkand
,
The Golem's Eye
,
Ptolemy's Gate
, and
The Ring of Solomon
, as well as
The Amulet of Samarkand: A Bartimaeus Graphic Novel
(written with Andrew Donkin). His other books include
Heroes of the Valley
,
The Last Siege
,
The Leap
, and
Buried Fire
. He lives in England with his family. Visit him online at
www.jonathanstroud.com
.
