Septimus Heap, Book One_ Magyk - Angie Sage [43]
In fact, Silas was just pleased that he had ended up with any canoes at all.
Soon Jenna, Nicko and Boy 412 were sitting in what Nicko had named the Muriel One canoe, and Silas and Marcia were squashed together in the Muriel Two. Silas insisted on sitting in the front because, “I know the way, Marcia. It makes sense.”
Marcia snorted dubiously, but she was far too tired to fuss.
“Go on, Maxie,” Silas told the wolfhound. “Go and sit with Nicko.”
But Maxie had other ideas. Maxie’s purpose in life was to stay by his master, and stay by his master he would. He bounded onto Silas’s lap, and the canoe tilted dangerously.
“Can’t you control that animal?” demanded Marcia, who was dismayed to find herself horribly close to the water again.
“Of course I can. He does exactly what I tell him, don’t you, Maxie?”
Nicko made a spluttering sound.
“Go sit at the back, Maxie,” Silas told the wolfhound sternly. Looking crestfallen, Maxie bounded over Marcia to the back of the canoe and settled himself down behind her.
“He’s not sitting behind me,” said Marcia.
“Well he can’t sit by me. I have to concentrate on where we’re going,” Silas told her.
“And it’s high time you were going too,” said Alther, hovering anxiously. “Before the snow really sets in. I just wish I could come with you.”
Alther floated up and watched them set off, paddling along the Deppen Ditch, which was now slowly filling as the tide came back in and would take them deep into the Marram Marshes. Jenna, Nicko and Boy 412’s canoe led the way, with Silas, Marcia and Maxie following them.
Maxie sat bolt upright behind Marcia and breathed excited dog breath onto the back of her neck. He sniffed the new, damp marshland smells and listened to the scrabbling sounds made by assorted small animals as they scuttled out of the way of the canoes. Every now and then his excitement overwhelmed him, and he dribbled happily into Marcia’s hair.
Soon Jenna reached a narrow channel running off the Ditch. She stopped.
“Do we go down here, Dad?” she called back to Silas.
Silas looked confused. He didn’t remember this bit at all. Just as he was wondering whether to say yes or no, his thoughts were interrupted by a piercing shriek from Jenna.
A slimy mud-brown hand with webbed fingers and broad black claws had reached out of the water and grabbed the end of her canoe.
16
THE BOGGART
The slimy brown hand fumbled along the side of the canoe, making its way toward Jenna. Then it grabbed hold of her paddle. Jenna wrested the paddle away and was about to hit the slimy brown thing with it—hard—when a voice said, “Oi. No need fer that.”
A seallike creature covered in slippery brown fur pulled itself up so that its head was just out of the water. Two bright black-button eyes stared at Jenna, who had her paddle still poised in midair.
“Wish you’d put that down. Could hurt someone. So where you bin, then?” the creature asked grumpily in a deep, gurgling voice with a broad marshland drawl. “I bin waitin’ for hours. Freezin’ in here. How’d you like it? Stuck in a ditch. Just waitin’.”
All Jenna could manage in reply was a small squeak; her voice seemed to have stopped working.
“What is it, Jen?” asked Nicko, who was sitting behind Boy 412, just to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid, and couldn’t see the creature.
“Th—this…” Jenna pointed at the creature, who looked offended.
“What you mean this?” he asked. “You mean me? You mean Boggart?”
“Boggart? No. I didn’t say that,” muttered Jenna.
“Well I did. Boggart. That’s me. I’m Boggart. Boggart, the Boggart. Good name, innit?”
“Lovely,” said Jenna politely.
“What’s going on?” asked Silas, catching up with them. “Stoppit, Maxie. Stoppit I say!”
Maxie had caught sight of the Boggart and was barking frantically. The Boggart took one look at Maxie and disappeared back under the water. Since the notorious Boggart Hunts many years ago in which Maxie’s ancestors had taken part so effectively, the Marram Marsh Boggart had become a rare creature. With a long memory.
The Boggart reappeared at a safe distance. “You’re not bringin