Septimus Heap, Book One_ Magyk - Angie Sage [103]
“Run!” hissed Nicko, looking down from the deck.
Boy 412 pulled Jenna to her feet, but she was still unwilling to go.
“We can’t leave Nicko,” she gasped.
“I’ll be all right, Jen. Just go!” yelled Nicko, oblivious to the Hunter and his pistol.
The Hunter was tempted to shoot the Wizard boy there and then, but his priority was the Queenling, not Wizard scum. So, as Jenna and Boy 412 picked themselves up off the dung heap, clambered over the chicken wire and ran for their lives, the Hunter leaped after them as if his own life too depended on it.
Boy 412 kept hold of Jenna as he headed away from the Hunter, around the back of the cottage and into Aunt Zelda’s fruit bushes. He had the advantage over the Hunter in that he knew the island, but that did not bother the Hunter. He was doing what he did best, tracking a prey and a young and terrified one at that. Easy. After all, where could they run to? It was only a matter of time before he got them.
Boy 412 and Jenna ducked and weaved through the bushes, leaving the Hunter struggling to find his way through the prickly plants, but all too soon Jenna and Boy 412 reached the end of the fruit bushes and reluctantly emerged into the exposed grassy space that led down to the duck pond. At that moment the moon came out from behind the clouds, and the Hunter saw his prey outlined against the backdrop of the marshes.
Boy 412 ran, pulling Jenna along with him, but the Hunter was slowly gaining on them and did not seem to tire, unlike Jenna, who felt she could not run another step. They skirted the duck pond and raced up to the grassy knoll at the end of the island. Horribly close behind them they could hear the footsteps of the Hunter, echoing as he too reached the knoll and sprinted over the hollow ground.
Boy 412 dodged this way and that between the small bushes scattered about, dragging Jenna behind him, aware that the Hunter was almost near enough to reach out and grab her.
And then suddenly the Hunter was near enough. He lunged forward and dived at Jenna’s feet.
“Jenna!” yelled Boy 412, pulling her out of the Hunter’s grasp and jumping with her into a bush.
Jenna crashed into the bush after Boy 412, only to find that suddenly the bush wasn’t there anymore, and she was tumbling headlong into a dark, cold, endless space.
She landed with a jolt on a sandy floor. A moment later there was a thud, and Boy 412 lay sprawled in the darkness beside her.
Jenna sat up, dazed and aching, and rubbed the back of her head where she had hit the ground. Something very strange had happened. She tried to remember what it was. Not their escape from the Hunter, not the fall through the ground, but something even stranger. She shook her head to try to clear the fuzziness in her brain. That was it. She remembered.
Boy 412 had spoken.
35
GONE TO GROUND
You can talk,” said Jenna, rubbing the bump on her head.
“Of course I can talk,” said Boy 412.
“But why haven’t you, then? You haven’t ever said anything. Except for your name. I mean, number.”
“That’s all we were meant to say if we were captured. Rank and number. Nothing else. So that’s what I did.”
“You weren’t captured. You were saved,” Jenna pointed out.
“I know,” said Boy 412. “Well, I know that now. I didn’t then.”
Jenna found it very strange to be actually having a conversation with Boy 412 after all this time. And even stranger to be having it at the bottom of a pit in complete darkness.
“I wish we had a light,” said Jenna. “I keep thinking the Hunter’s going to creep up on us.” She shivered.
Boy 412 reached up inside his hat, drew out his ring and slipped it onto his right index finger. It fitted perfectly. He cupped his other hand around the dragon ring, warming it and willing it to give out its golden glow. The ring responded, and a soft glow spread out from Boy 412’s hands until he could clearly see Jenna looking