Out on the dusty landing Aunt Zelda headed for a flight of narrow steps that would take her down through the turret. She hoped she had not been rude in rushing past Queen Cerys, but there would be time enough later to apologize - right now she had to get to Septimus.
Aunt Zelda reached the foot of the stairs, pushed open the turret door that led to the Palace gardens and set off purposefully across the broad lawns that swept down to the river. Far away to her right she could see a battered striped tent perched precariously beside the river. Inside the tent, Aunt Zelda knew, were two of her favorite ghosts, Alther Mella and Alice Nettles, but she was heading the other way - toward a long line of tall fir trees at the far left-hand edge of the lawns. As Aunt Zelda hurried toward the trees she heard the loud swoosh of a dragon's wing, a noise not unlike the flapping of a hundred striped tents full of ghosts being blown away in a fearsome gale. Above the trees she saw the tip of Spit Fyre's wing as it stretched out, warming up his cold dragon muscles for the long flight ahead. And even though she could not see the rider, Aunt Zelda Knew that it was not Marcia on the dragon - it was Septimus.
"Wait!" she shouted, speeding her pace. "Wait!" But her voice was drowned out as, on the other side of the trees, Spit Fyre brought his wings down and a great rush of air set the fir trees swaying. Puffing and wheezing, Aunt Zelda stopped to catch her breath. It was no good, she thought, she wasn't going to make it. That dragon was going to fly off any minute now, taking Septimus with him.
"You all right, miss?" a small voice somewhere below her elbow inquired anxiously.
"Uh?" gasped Aunt Zelda. She looked around for the owner of the voice and noticed, just behind her, a small boy almost hidden behind a large wheelbarrow.
"Can I help or anything?" the boy asked hopefully. Barney Pot had recently joined the newly formed Castle Cubs and needed to do his good deed for the day. He had at first mistaken Aunt Zelda for a tent like the striped one on the landing stage and was now wondering if she was perhaps trapped inside a tent and had stuck her head out of the top to ask for help.
"Yes...you can," Aunt Zelda said, puffing. She fished deep into her secret pocket and brought out the small gold flask. "Take this...to the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice...Septimus Heap. He's...over there." She flapped her hands in the direction of the waving fir trees. "Dragon. On the...dragon."
The boy's eyes widened farther. "The ExtraOrdinary Apprentice? On the dragon?"
"Yes. Give this to him."
"What - me?"
"Yes, dear. Please."
Aunt Zelda pressed the small gold bottle into the boy's hand. He stared at it. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It felt strangely heavy - much heavier than he thought it should be - and on the top was some weird writing. Barney was learning to write, but it wasn't stuff like that.
"Tell the Apprentice that it is a SafeCharm," said Aunt Zelda. "Tell him that Aunt Zelda sends it to him."
Barney's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. Things like this happened in his favorite book, One Hundred Stories for Bored Boys, but they never happened to him. "Wow..." he breathed.
"Oh and wait - " Aunt Zelda fished something else from her pocket and handed it to Barney. "Give him that too."
Barney took the cabbage sandwich warily. It felt cold and squishy and he thought for a moment it might be a dead mouse, except dead mice didn't have soggy green bits in the middle of them. "What is it?" he asked.
"A cabbage sandwich. Well, go on, dear," urged Aunt Zelda. "The SafeCharm is very important. Hurry now!"
Barney did not need to be told twice - he knew from "The Terrible Tale of Lazy Larry" that it was always important to deliver a SafeCharm as fast as you could. If you didn't, all kinds of awful stuff could happen. He nodded, stuffed the cabbage sandwich deep into his grubby tunic pocket and, clutching the gold bottle, shot off toward the dragon as fast as he could go.
Barney arrived just in time. As he ran onto the dragon field he saw the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice - a big boy with long, curly straw-colored hair and wearing the green Apprentice tunic. Barney could see that the Apprentice was about to climb onto the dragon. Barney's uncle Billy Pot was holding the dragon's head and stroking one of the big spikes on its nose.
Barney didn't like the dragon. It was huge, scary and it smelled weird - like Uncle Billy's Lizard Lodges, only a hundred times worse. And ever since the dragon had very nearly stepped on him, and Uncle Billy had yelled because he had gotten in the way, Barney had kept his distance. But Barney knew that there was no keeping out of the dragon's way now - he was on an important mission. He ran straight up to the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice and said, "Excuse me!"
But the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice took no notice. He slung a weird-smelling fur cloak around his shoulders and said to Uncle Billy, "I'll hold Spit Fyre, Billy. Can you tell Marcia I'm going now?"
Barney saw Uncle Billy glance over to the corner of the field where - oh, wow - the ExtraOrdinary Wizard was standing talking to Mistress Sarah, who was in charge of the Palace and was the Princess's mother even though she wasn't Queen. Barney had never seen the ExtraOrdinary Wizard before, but even from far away she looked just as scary as his friends said she was. She was really tall, with thick dark curly hair, and she was wearing long purple robes that were flapping in the wind. She had quite a loud voice too, because Barney could hear her saying, "Now, Mr. Pot?" to Uncle Billy. But Barney knew he didn't have time to stare at the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. He had to deliver the SafeCharm to the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, who was about to climb onto the dragon. He had to do it now - before it was too late.
"Apprentice!" said Barney as loud as he could. "Excuse me!"
Septimus Heap stopped with his foot in midair and looked down. He saw a small boy staring up at him with big brown eyes. The boy reminded him of someone he had known a long time ago - a very long time ago. Septimus almost said, "What is it, Hugo?" But he stopped himself and just said, "What is it?"
"Please," said the boy - who even sounded like Hugo, "I've got something for you. It's really important and I promised to give it to you."
"Oh?" Septimus squatted down so that the boy didn't have to keep staring up at him.
"What have you got?" he asked.
Barney Pot uncurled his fingers from around the SafeCharm. "This," he said, "it's a SafeCharm. A lady asked me to give it to you."
Septimus drew back as though stung. "No," he said abruptly. "No. No, thank you."
Barney looked amazed. "But it's for you." He pushed the gold bottle toward Septimus.