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Chapter Twenty-One
the river that keeps its name
Bartimaeus
Talismans are tricky. You never know what to expect from them because you rarely ever meet the person who made them (1). On the other hand, amulets are more predictable. Even when their properties and potency are unclear, their functions are not—an amulet protects those who wear or wield it. The Amulet of Samarkand is a classic example of that.
(1) And you don't want to, as that'll usually mean you're getting sucked into one. I met a djinni once who truly believed his master's tale about needing him to inspect the inside of a golden lamp. The rest, as they say, is misconstrued history.
Talismans, however, they usually are more specifically tailored to a magician's needs. Gladstone's Staff held and demanded tremendous power. Nathaniel got close at seventeen. If he kept going, he would have been able to use it by himself soon. (2) That just goes to show how fickle talismans can be—you don't know if they'll work for you until you try.
(2) But he doesn't need to know that. Imagine how much bigger his head would get. It would bring this entire cave down.
What was standing before us was a legendary artefact. Rumours had spread about it like wildfire, igniting greed and bloody competition in the hearts of many. So, naturally, it'd inspired fear in many spirits. And I'd believed it to be a mere legend because of that—a weapon so powerful, which made even the mightiest spirits recoil in fear, and yet unseen surely could only be a lie to keep enemies at bay and spirits under control.
There was also the matter of the legend itself, which sounded like patriotic hogwash if you asked me—a round table, twelve noble knights, a 'chosen one' king with the astonishing power to pull a sword from a rock and a powerful magician sidekick making things happen. How could any of that possibly be real?
But as I lived and itched in that bat guise, it was real.
The aura emanating from the sword was so overbearing I'd only missed it so far because of my constant indisposition from being in the presence of iron or silver or both. It was taking everything in my power not to faint. There had to be massive amounts of metal somewhere, and yet I couldn't see a single piece besides the sword.
Exhausted from flying over Nathaniel and Kitty's heads, I considered both and decided to land on Nathaniel's shoulder. Kitty looked like she might topple any second and I didn't think she'd have the decency to catch me. And because the day was full of surprises, Nathaniel wasn't alarmed by my actions at all.
"I take it you can't fly us over the lake, then?" he asked as his eyes roamed the cave.
I hummed in response, appreciating how he got straight into business mode; I was beyond ready to get out of here. If for any reason we chanced upon the bones of Merlin or Arthur down here and they started jiggling, I would blast the entire ceiling upon them, consequences be damned. I'd filled my quota of sentient skeletons for the next millennia.
"We'll have to risk the lake," Nathaniel said. "Maybe that was the whole point."
"Oh, was the whole point to cross the eerie lake, yes? The luminescent lake that's between us and the valuable artefact? The lake that could be hiding anything hostile? We'll have to cross it, will we?"
"You don't have to come," Nathaniel said testily. "You don't have anything binding you here."
"As if I'd let you have the satisfaction of summoning me later to call me a coward!"
"Careful, Bartimaeus. You're sounding like you care," Kitty said with a nasty grin plastered to her face.
"We need to focus," Nathaniel cut in before I could reply.
Easy for him to say. His head wasn't swimming. Probably. Swimming is weird. You just flap about pretending to be a fish envisioning you have the grace of merfolk. Wait, what were we talking about again?
"Think about it," Nathaniel was saying. I didn't know what he meant, but I tried to think about it. There might have been some smoke leaking from my bat ears. "Any spirit would be incapacitated by the metal and you've told me before that flying takes a lot of energy. So if a magician entered the cave accompanied by spirits, they wouldn't be able to fly.
"Naturally, that still leaves the option of using an artefact that can carry you over the lake, but that'd mean you'd have previous knowledge of this cave, and we couldn't leave the way we came and we haven't found another exit yet, so that is unlikely. Not to mention that the sword shouldn't really be here in that case, should it?"
"Unless it's a fake," I reminded him, and then giggled to myself. "Wouldn't that be hilarious—"
Kitty looked at me like I was insane. So rude. She was insane.
"Never mind. I don't think it is, either way. Too powerful, too bright, would burn my eyebrows off if I had them and all that. But what are you suggesting?"
"Just that I don't see another way out and we can't stay here forever."
Then, slowly and hesitating every step of the way, Nathaniel used his stalactite to touch the water. Nothing happened. Everyone's shoulders sagged in relief. "Right. I don't see any signs of a spirit even though there certainly is one. I had to silence my Nexus. It wouldn't stop blaring. Do you see anything?"
I went through the seven planes of muddy images for the hundredth time, not finding anything out of the ordinary. If magic was being cast or activated, I couldn't see it. Which didn't mean anything because I could barely manage to keep things from swirling. But I could feel the magic there, lurking, dormant, creepily rubbing its metaphorical hands together like the moustached villain from one of those old crime novels. (3)
(3) What? Those medical books are counterproductive. They make me want to hurt myself.
"Just because the lake passed the stalactite-poke test doesn't mean it will pass the no-killing test. And no, I don't see anything relevant, but it is there. Not to mention that there are copious amounts of iron or silver that I can't seem to locate."
"Those titles need work," Kitty commented. "But I agree—we need to keep moving. Staying here isn't an option." She pronounced such wisdom while leaning on the stalactite I'd cut for her, almost using it as a crutch, and touching her nose with a huge grimace. I hopped over to her shoulder to bat (4) her hand away.
(4) Pun not intended.
"Unless you've suddenly learned how to snap it back into place, I'd advise you to keep your paws off your conk."
"Fine," she said, shooshing me away. I landed on Nathaniel's head, nearly sliding off in the process. "Are we going in or what?"
"I'm not carrying you," I warned. "You've already puked once."
"Cheers," she groaned.
"I should go in alone. You're both—"
"Zip it, Mandrake," I told him, pulling on a strand of hair with my paw both to shut him up and to get upright. "We ought to respect our elders, and our elder said we are going."
"Come closer and say that again," Kitty grumbled and straightened with yet another grimace.
"No, thank you. This nest is quite comfortable. It even comes with snacks." I produced a piece of glasswort that Nathaniel's hair had definitely caught during his swim in the Thames and threw it at Kitty for no good reason. She dodged.
"Are you two even listening to me—"
"Onwards, noble steed!" I cried, pointing a majestic wing forward. When Nathaniel predictably didn't move (5), I gave his hair another yank. "I know you have accumulated water in your brain, but you're the noble steed, so do your job."
(5) It's become quite hard to find noble steeds these days. Everyone wants to be the noble knight instead—all the glory, none of the work.
"Bartimaeus—"
"Come on, John," said Kitty, catching up to us and heading warily towards the lake. "The sooner we get out, the sooner he shuts up."
"I can't hear you from atop my nest."
The water remained still as Kitty and Nathaniel gingerly entered the lake (6). They snailed on, always checking the water for any hidden traps. For a while, the sound of them splashing around harmonised with the constant water drops from the stalactites. Nathaniel's breathing was even and right to my bat ears. We were all beginning to relax.
(6) All I could think was how I'd already dried Nathaniel once. What do you have to do to keep these humans dry? And did I mention that they didn't bother removing their shoes? I'm being mocked over here. Mocked, I say.
And then Nathaniel abruptly stopped.
"What is it?" I asked, peering down at the water.
"I wonder…"
Without elaborating further, Nathaniel bent down to pull something out of the sand. The closer it got, the colder it felt. I took flight with difficulty, wanting to put as much distance as possible between myself and the object in his hands.
"It's a broken sword," said Mr Captain Obvious.
"I found something too," called Kitty, who was also removing a round, battered, rusty piece of metal from the water. She examined it in her hand, turning it around for clues. "This could've been a shield, you reckon?"
"So this is why you're indisposed," breathed Nathaniel, looking up at the bat as it narrowly circled his head. He threw the iron shard with as much force as he could muster, which wasn't much.
He then stretched out his hand, beckoning me over. "It's alright now. You can come back."
I huffed and proceeded ahead, convinced now that Kitty wouldn't fall on her face and crush us both. The water was up to her waists. No, that wasn't right—Kitty only had one waist. From my advantage point, Kitty seemed to be halfway to the centre, with Nathaniel close behind. I was closing in on Kitty—soon I'd have another nest to rest.
So, naturally, the water rose in a revolving column and tried to punch me out of the air. My reflexes have always been impeccable, so I dodged in time, wobbling in the air as I tried another angle. Kitty and Nathaniel halted immediately.
"Oh, come on!"
"Bartimaeus, over here!" Nathaniel called, pushing forward against the inertia of the water and lifting his hand for me to land.
Mind spinning and vision blurring, I cut a semi-circle in the air to evade an uppercut from another water tentacle. "Still think this was the whole point?" the bat screeched.
More and more tentacles were rising from the lake in pursuit. They zigged and zagged like snakes after their prey, easily following me around and under stalactites, insistently targeting me. Worse still, they were closing in and I couldn't go faster, I couldn't think. The lake had to be full of metal.
A hand grabbed me out of the air just before the closest tentacle exploded into a million particles. I was pulled under, and emerged just as quickly, safe in Nathaniel's hands. Kitty was still holding the stalactite like a bat (7) as the tentacle's droplets rained on us heavily, putting an end to whatever shared hope we had that we wouldn't leave this cave drenched.
(7) A baseball bat. Of course she wasn't holding it as a me bat. How does one even go about holding an animal bat to hit something?
"Sure, target the spirit, why don't you?" I grumbled as I shook myself from head to wing to toe and nearly toppled over back into the water. It was absolutely pointless—my essence was as displeased as it'd been two seconds ago.
"I'm not sure it's you exactly," said Nathaniel, diving out of the way of a jet of water. "Maybe we really weren't supposed to fly."
"Here!" Kitty shouted over the roaring water, hefting another rusty circular shield and chucking it at Nathaniel. He grabbed it before it sunk too far into the water and lifted it just in time to block another errant water snake. The reverberation shook my essence.
"Talk about water pollution," I mumbled, feeling beyond dizzy now.
"They're endless!" Nathaniel yelled to Kitty, trying to position himself back-to-back with her. It was unclear whether he meant the water tentacles or the small forge underwater. But, then again, everything was unclear. And very blurry.
"We need to get to the platform! The water seems to be avoiding it!" she shouted back.
"Can you move?"
I couldn't. I'd flopped miserably onto Nathaniel's hair from the sheer pressure. Each piece of metal weighed on me, crashing against my consciousness. I could barely see Kitty's head or hear the sloshing of water as she and Nathaniel tried to retreat to the small island. I didn't suppose the spirit toying with the water would let them get that far, and they were in too deep to run.
Kitty and Nathaniel would be defenceless if I didn't get my wits about me, but I was drifting and drifting…
"Bartimaeus, can you hear me? Bartimaeus! Kitty—"
"I'm moving!" There was much sloshing and splashing.
"Bartimaeus, hang on. We're almost there. Do you hear me? Hang on."
Nathaniel
Nathaniel had heard the expression 'tunnel vision' applied in the medical field; he didn't know it could be a symptom of caring.
Yet here he was, frantically evading water tentacles, numb to the pain of the cuts from the protruding swords in the lake and suddenly very glad for Bartimaeus's training sessions. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do. Even if they turned back around, getting out wasn't an option, and who knew what would happen to Bartimaeus then?
But who knew what'd happen to Bartimaeus now? Could Kitty even say a proper dismissal? And what would happen if she couldn't?
He had to get him out. There had to be a way out. Nathaniel didn't care about the sword—the guardian could keep it, it could remain buried forever, it could be blasted to smithereens. Maybe that would avoid another war too.
Adjusting the shield to get a firmer grasp, Nathaniel scooped up Bartimaeus in one hand and moved him to an inner pocket, where he would hopefully be drier and have some additional protection.
He'd barely managed to do this when another jet forced him back. Nathaniel collided with Kitty, who fell forward into the water. Then another tentacle hit him between his shoulder blades, propelling him forward, and making him cut his palm on a sword in an attempt to right himself. Nathaniel cursed, throwing his weight back to regain his balance.
Then he heard a shriek.
"Kitty—"
She was being hoisted by a large tentacle, hovering too high for him to reach.
"Let. Me. Go!" she demanded.
The tentacle whirled her around, earning some more screaming.
Nathaniel rushed towards the platform as best he could, dodging and blocking more water tentacles on the way. "Let her go!" he shouted, again and again, but his cries fell on deaf ears.
"I swear to God!" Kitty was yelling. "If you don't put me down this instant, I will end you! There won't be a drop left after I'm through with you! Let go, you foul, little—I WILL PEE IN YOUR ESSENCE!"
The tentacle swung her particularly hard and fast after that last comment. There was more yelling and cursing. Breathless and shivering, Nathaniel scrambled to get to the island, cutting himself a few more times for good measure.
Like he'd predicted, the water didn't rise to meet him. The sword must be something else to repudiate a high-level elemental like that—there was at least a five-meter radius between the sword and the lake's edge.
"Hey!" he cried again, fighting to stay upright. "We just want to leave, so let's negotiate!"
The water ignored him, tauntingly swinging Kitty just out of his reach. Kitty shouted some more obscenities at it.
But Nathaniel wouldn't be silenced. "We didn't come for your treasure. Do you hear me? You can keep the sword—we don't want it. We don't want the sword!"
The water tentacle halted the whirling motions, much to Kitty's and Nathaniel's relief. Nathaniel was opening his mouth to reiterate when the tentacle swung Kitty at him. She crashed into him, the impact throwing them both onto the ground in a heap. Nathaniel watched helplessly as his shield slid back into the water.
Groaning and clutching their stomachs, Nathaniel and Kitty rolled off each other. Nathaniel's ribcage was screaming at him and it was with much difficulty that he rasped out, "Are you okay?" to Kitty.
"Just dandy," she retorted in an equally strained voice, wobbling to her feet to glare at the tentacles around the island. They were still swirling and snapping around ominously but remained unwilling to cross the edge.
"Some way to wake up from a kip," a hoarse voice mumbled.
"Bartimaeus!" Nathaniel breathed, pulling him out from his inner pocket and holding him in both hands. The small bat was blinking and squinting up at the ceiling.
"Why are there three of you? I can barely handle one."
Nathaniel let out a teary chuckle despite himself, too relieved to get annoyed.
"John…" Kitty whispered.
Nathaniel looked up in time to see the water tentacles combining into thicker tornados that reached the cave's ceiling. Kitty tugged on his wrist, pulling him closer to the table as the tornados grew and grew. This was when Nathaniel noticed that the table was hovering over the ground.
But he didn't have time to process that information. Soon there was a single wall of water circling the island, cutting them off from the rest of the cave. And then the water bubbled and parted slightly, revealing an oval-shaped human face entirely made of water. A thin neck followed, then long hair waving upwards with the rest of the water, and a simple dress that was so long the sleeves and rim covered the limbs. Nathaniel examined the feminine figure in front of him, noticing how the dress never seemed to end but rather reunite with the rest of the water.
"So you don't want the sword," said an airy voice. It reverberated within their water hub. "That won't do at all."
Nathaniel and Kitty shared a confused look. Pressing his disbelief and trepidation to the back of his mind, Nathaniel asked, "You want us to take the sword?
"My very freedom depends on it. Do you know how very boring and painful it is to remain in a cave for this many centuries?" The elemental let out a high-pitched laughter that made them flinch. "But where are my manners! Merlin would have flicked my essence already, that old git."
The figure dropped into a mock-curtesy. "I am Nimue, guardian of this cave and all its rubbish, and I congratulate you on making it this far, oh brave, er, young humans and djinni. Suppose I can't be picky. Anyway. Please go on, step into the circle and challenge the almighty Excalibur!"
Nathaniel and Kitty were stunned into silence, but not for long. "Hold on a moment. Weren't you attacking us so that we didn't take the sword? You literally had me hanging upside down a minute ago!"
"Indeed. Didn't you hear the part where I said I was bored? It has been many centuries spent with nothing to do and learning languages gets a little old after your 26th. Humans really seem to enjoy coming to this bridge for some reason, and they just will not shut up. So much petty nonsense makes its way to this cave."
"So you attacked because—What? Okay, that's it. Let me at her!"
And she lunged. Nathaniel had to slip both arms around Kitty to keep her still, violently jostling Bartimaeus in the process. When Nathaniel was satisfied she wouldn't try anything again, he returned his attention to Nimue to say, "What I want to know is why we couldn't lift the Seal before and now we were randomly absorbed inside the cave. It couldn't have been the Amulet, and Bartimaeus didn't cast anything."
"I let you in," Nimue said simply.
"You let us in?" Nathaniel echoed. "But—"
"Surely you didn't think I would've stood idly by while you three rested up in the chamber otherwise? I thought it was obvious that I was tasked with protecting the sword."
"It is," said Nathaniel, a little more petulantly than intended. "So why are you telling us to take the sword?"
"Because I was also tasked with seeing that the sword fell into the right hands."
"I have a headache," Kitty groaned, massaging her temples.
Nathaniel could sympathise. "That makes no sense. How would you even decide that someone's worthy?"
"Oh, it is quite clever, actually," Nimue said bitterly, merging into the water wall again and reappearing to Nathaniel's left. He followed her movements warily. "Trust Merlin to guarantee I'd spend eternity here." She let out a frosty laugh, chilling Nathaniel's blood.
"And why would that happen?"
"Have you met your species? Humans are greedy and selfish, and I have hated every single one that got close enough to the entrance. Always whining and looking for more power, more prestige, bah!" At their stunned silence, Nimue snorted and dissolved again, returning to her initial spot. "Those who looked wanted the sword for their own selfish reasons, but surprisingly not you three. Or not completely. You faced off against that abomination and then—" Nimue turned to Nathaniel, training her eyes on him like he was a puzzle she couldn't solve. "You jumped into the river after that djinni. And then later, you two kept him safe from my attacks."
Nathaniel swallowed, unable to find the words for a reply and hoping his face wasn't betraying him.
"Oh, I see." Nimue dissolved into the wall of water again, laughter bubbling all around them. "My, how scandalous. And bound to end in blood and tears too. I'm almost sad to miss that quality entertainment."
Nathaniel blushed. "What are you implying—"
"No matter, it's certainly not my problem and I'm done listening to human woes." She popped back up to Nathaniel's right. "Where was I? Oh yes—Insufferable Merlin. Well, he couldn't just let me go back home after I rejected his advances, could he? No, he played a cruel joke on me as retribution. He knew full well how I hated humans, hated him. And so he made it so that I got to decide who was worthy to enter this cave and set me free. I tried to find a way around it many times, but Merlin was nothing if not a resourceful piranha. And how could I ever attain freedom if a worthy soul didn't find me? No, Merlin wanted me to remain here forever."
"Were the swords and shields his idea too?" Nathaniel asked softly, not entirely wanting to know.
"Naturally. Legends started spreading, some saying Arthur had pulled the sword from a stone, others saying that a water spirit had appeared and given him the sword. All rubbish, of course, though it gave Merlin plenty of ideas to work with." Nimue made a broad gesture encompassing the entire cave. "Spirits can't make swords appear out of thin air, and we certainly cannot work with silver or iron, though we can certainly be trapped by and into them, as well Merlin knew. No, this sword was stolen, but the truth is often inconvenient, isn't it?"
Nathaniel was about to ask from whom it'd been stolen, but Nimue wasn't done.
"Somehow all of these rumours translated into a ritual, where people threw all sorts of metal scraps into the river for good luck. When Arthur died, Merlin created this cave to hide the sword, making sure to sink all that metal into the lake as a parting gift to me."
"That's all very tragic, but you said there was a simple solution to this. We take the sword, and you're set free, is that right?" Kitty cut in, glancing at Bartimaeus and then giving Nathaniel an urgent look. Nathaniel caught her meaning.
"That's right. Now go on." She waved them off. "Get the sword so we can all return home and be done with this nonsense."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Kitty said, climbing onto the table.
Nathaniel hesitated. He didn't want Bartimaeus to get too close to the sword for fear of what it would do to his essence, but he didn't see another way out and Bartimaeus was running out of time. Plus, he would absolutely not leave him anywhere Nimue could snatch him.
So, with a sigh, Nathaniel followed Kitty.
Now that he was this close to the mythical round table, Nathaniel didn't know what to make of it. He'd expected a proper wooden table surrounded by grand, ornamented chairs. Instead, the table was a large granite platform hovering over the ground, with bits of rock and dust suspended just below it. Runes and inscriptions in Latin and Old English covered the entire surface, while spider cracks ran along the side. But the most interesting bit was the absence of seats. In their places were twelve shields, each with an emblem—coats of arms. The closest sported a Greek cross. To the right were two double-tipped keys facing away from each other. The designs were surprisingly precise.
And then there was the sword.
"Wow, it's…"
"Rusty," Kitty finished for him. "And thinner than I imagined. Also, is that moss on the rock around the sword?"
"Looks like it."
Nathaniel approached the sword warily, finding it much as Kitty had described. It was buried deep into the centre of the table, and only the hilt showed some promise—varnished wood and gilt bronze in an hourglass shape.
"Can't believe we're letting a lunatic and an inanimate object decide if we're worthy of being let out of this stupid cave," Kitty grumbled. Then, with a determined look on her face, she grabbed the sword and gave it a good yank.
The sword moved an inch.
"Do that again!" Nathaniel urged, coming closer. Nimue too was stretching as far into the island as she could to watch.
Kitty pulled with both hands, straining and growling, but this time the sword remained stubbornly still. "Blasted thing," Kitty said, giving it a last tug and throwing her hands in the air when nothing happened. "You try."
Nathaniel got in position, heart hammering in his chest. He wasn't sure which outcome he preferred, so he focused on leaving the cave, took a deep breath and pulled.
The sword moved before stopping again.
"This is ridiculous!" Kitty exclaimed. "What aren't you telling us, Nimue?"
"It's not my fault you are unworthy. I am very invested in your success, you know."
"What about the writing on the table—" Nathaniel began before a muffled voice cut in.
"Can't ever trust puny humans with these kinds of things." Nathaniel felt tiny paws move inside his coat and soon enough a head popped out. The bat blinked slowly up at him. "Good, your twins have disappeared."
And then Bartimaeus was sliding down Nathaniel's hand and tugging on a finger. "Come on, I can't change now. Too woozy," he drawled.
Nathaniel adjusted his hand so that Bartimaeus could stand on it. To his amusement, Bartimaeus put each of his wings around the pommel and pulled. And to Nathaniel's greater amusement, the sword moved again.
"I'm beginning to think it doesn't matter who pulls it, just that it has to be multiple people," Kitty said, voice laden with frustration. Then she turned to glare at Nimue. "If we all try at the same time and still fail, would that be enough for you?"
"We'll see."
"Right." Nathaniel grabbed the hilt, careful to keep Bartimaeus level with it as well. Kitty huffed in annoyance but placed her hand over Nathaniel's. "I suppose we started this together, might as well finish it together."
"If you could just hurry along, we'd make it home before you two turned thirty, eh?"
"On three," said Kitty. Nathaniel nodded his acknowledgement, spreading his legs wide and preparing to throw his weight back.
"One… Two… Three."
The sword slid out like it'd been buried in soft butter and they all fell on their backs with a chorus of groans. Nathaniel's annoyance at being in this same position for the hundredth time that day was only outweighed by the wonder of having Excalibur in his grip. They'd really done it! They'd pulled out the sword and now they could—
"What is happening?" Nimue hissed. The water around them halted and restarted at irregular intervals. Her tone made Nathaniel carefully get to his knees, mind racing for something to say. "Why isn't my essence being pulled home? Why am I still here!"
Then the wall of water began to whirl furiously, shaking the entire cave. A stalactite lodged itself a few centimetres short of Kitty's face. Nathaniel's heart nearly stopped beating. Then he yelped and rolled away as another pierced the place he'd been a millisecond ago.
But he'd moved right into the path of another stalactite. An image flashed before his eyes—Kitty, holding her stalactite like a bat. Nathaniel gripped the sword in both hands and swung up, surprisingly smashing the stone to pieces. He jumped out of the way of the debris, but not before being caught on the shoulder.
"Under the table, under the table!" Kitty shouted once she'd recovered from the shock, pulling on Nathaniel's coat and nearly sending him reeling.
"Bartimaeus—"
"I have him!"
Kitty dragged him under the table, where Nathaniel's shoulder was free to throb away while they both panted and looked at each other with wide, terrified eyes. Then his gaze fell on Bartimaeus, who was grimacing and pressing his bat ears to his head.
Nathaniel took stock of their surroundings, but there was nothing useful against a raging spirit or an earthquake. The one thing that could be useful was the sword, but he knew next to nothing about it and the one being who probably did wouldn't tell him.
He looked at Kitty again, remembering how she'd slapped him when he'd been on the verge of giving up a few months ago. Before everything had changed. He'd walked to his death then, secure in the knowledge that he'd be the only casualty, that even Bartimaeus would make it out if he did things right. That was what he did—he fixed things.
He didn't have the same luxury now. Kitty was there with him, Bartimaeus was too disoriented.
"You have that crazy look on your face," Kitty said warily. "Please don't be stupid."
Nathaniel ignored her and slid out from underneath the table, using the sword as a support.
Kitty cursed. "I said please! Get back here, you idiot!"
"Nimue! I have a proposition for you!" he yelled.
At first, the water kept whirling and the cave kept quaking. Then, with an angry snap, everything stilled. It caught him so off-guard that Nathaniel fell and scraped his knees. He clenched his jaw shut as they burned.
"I'm going to find a way to free you from this cave. That's what you want, right?"
Still Nimue said nothing. The water seemed to tremble with contained rage.
"I will do that. But you have to let us go first."
As expected, the outrage was immediate. The cave shook more violently than ever. Nathaniel couldn't keep himself upright.
"Listen to me!" Nathaniel shouted. "I'm no help to you if I'm dead. And I need your help to understand how this sword works. So let me help you. I just need time to figure it out, one year would suffice—"
"Oh, you need time, do you? And one year no less!" Nimue roared. Nathaniel couldn't pinpoint her voice. "What's one more year when you've been trapped this long! Isn't that right? Isn't that what you're thinking?"
"No, I'm—"
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? I'm not letting you walk away with the sword and my freedom. One month would be too late." Then her voice dropped and quietened, which did nothing to lessen the dread building in the pit of his stomach. "How long do you think it'll take me to figure out what 'Kitty' stands for, hm?"
Kitty gasped behind him.
Nathaniel stopped, feeling the ice crystalise in his veins. Why hadn't they thought of that? Oh God, Bartimaeus was always calling him Nat… Had he done so in the cave? Nathaniel would constantly correct Bartimaeus before, but now he'd let the familiarity settle in. How could he have been so complacent?
No. He needed to think. He'd jumped at the opportunity for a negotiation for a reason. They both had something to lose and something to gain from this. He just needed Nimue to understand that.
"Six months. And I'll give you something in return to guarantee that I'll keep my word, a gesture of good faith. What would you like?"
Nimue's face popped up again, staring at him dead in the eye. "I want… the Amulet."
"Absolutely not!" came Kitty's indignant cry from underneath the table.
"Why, if you have no more need for it?"
"Because you've just confirmed that it isn't truly broken. Plus, I made a promise to free it myself, so the answer's no."
Nathaniel hadn't known about that. He wished Kitty had told him beforehand. Now Nimue looked murderous and he had no contingency plan.
"Fine. I guess it won't matter now. The sword's yours, and there is no more need for me to hide this cave. Shall I just let your friends in? They've been pacing outside for quite a while."
The implications weighed heavily on Nathaniel's mind. He thought of Piper, who ought to have returned already. She'd be outside, worried sick, and there was no way for her to prepare or for them to warn her. And then she would come in blind, find them dead and then get murdered.
Nathaniel looked at Kitty, injured and exhausted, holding Bartimaeus with one hand and the Amulet with another. He looked at Bartimaeus, hanging on the precipice of unconsciousness, and his mind was made.
There was no other choice, nothing else he could offer Nimue to show her he meant what he'd said. It was his last trump card, and if it meant saving them, Nathaniel would play it.
"Nimue," Nathaniel said clearly, in spite of his mounting anxiety clawing at his chest. What was he doing, what was he doing? "You can have my name."
Piper
"…get the spirits into position around the foundation. Shields at the ready, please. I want two ambulances right here—be sure to cover them with the Shields too. And give the paramedics some room to work. I need you four to back up a little; you're in their way and we don't know what we're facing. Carl, did you contact the hospital yet? Are the NDAs ready for the staff to sign? Fantastic. Marcus, I need an escort team ready to shadow the ambulances. Those of you without an assigned task, get out of the splash zone. There are only two people going to the hospital tonight."
Piper stopped to catch her breath, the flurry of movement dizzying her a little.
She had barely landed when she got the news, and after failing to sleep on the plane, she was running on fumes. To make matters worse, London was delivering one of its famed downpours, so she had to project her voice even more than she was used to. A police officer was following her around with an umbrella, but it was pointless. She'd had to move around to talk to the different teams so much and the rain was so bad that the umbrella hadn't stood a chance to begin with.
Piper was completely and utterly drenched.
Amare and Ezekiel were both still examining the hole in the bridge. Piper had remembered Nathaniel talking about it and immediately sent them there to search for clues to no avail. Maybe Nathaniel and Kitty really had been washed away by the Thames like Commander Adgate thought…
Dispirited, Piper turned her gaze away from the bridge, taking note for the hundredth time of the splashed blood and silver substance on the cobblestones, the pavement, the nearby buildings and lampposts. The human-sized hole on the river wall also didn't look promising. Worst of all was the wide scorch mark that a team of specialists were now circling.
She felt her mood sinking the longer she stared.
"Rebecca," called a familiar voice just in time for her to turn around and see Mr Button wheeling his chair towards her.
"Mr Button! Did you manage—"
"Pinn can't help us," he panted and proceeded to dab at his wet face and forehead with a handkerchief. The officer carrying Mr Button's umbrella looked as disgruntled as Piper's own attaché. "Pinn says he currently doesn't have an amulet potent enough for absorbing a Seal of this magnitude."
"I should have figured, what with him not wanting to investigate himself," Piper grumbled and then remembered herself. "Thank you, Mr Button."
He nodded in acknowledgement. "I take it you weren't able to convince the other ministers that opening the treasure room for this is the right thing to do."
Piper shook her head. "Not all. Ronald Kingston was more than happy to—you know how he idolizes John. But most of the commoner members' letters denied the request."
"That's unfortunate."
"But not unexpected. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have—"
The ground shook.
Piper caught the wall before almost falling into the Thames. "Positions—"
A wide jet exploded from the river, lifting over five metres tall. Before re-joining the river, the water spat out something black that looked oddly like a bedsheet…
The foreign object landed with a wet thud on the ground. For a moment, no one moved.
The fabric twitched, resulting in a few nervous yelps and jumps. Something shiny fell out. Something golden and emerald.
"Hold your fire!" Piper yelled, marching towards the heap on the floor despite the protests from her team.
A second twitch, followed by a third. Piper knelt down. It was just as she thought—a black, impossibly dry velvety fabric that shimmered where she touched it. A Hermetic Mantle. So that was how they'd passed through the rock and the water. Perhaps she had underestimated Bartimaeus after all.
Piper found a corner of the mantle and gave it a good yank, successfully uncovering the contents inside. The mantle disappeared.
There were gasps from the small crowd that had gathered around them.
Panting and smashed together in an uncomfortable hug were Kitty and Nathaniel… and a tiny bat sandwiched between them. All three were in the process of groaning and grimacing. Kitty's nose looked broken. In Nathaniel's hand was a shabby sword.
Piper fell to her knees, a soundless laugh rocking her body as the frenzy restarted and various people called for blankets and water. Nathaniel and Kitty struggled to sit up. Bartimaeus tried and flopped right back down with his wings sprawled. He dissolved into giggles.
Piper took a deep breath. Losing her calm in front of half the police force would not help with her reputation. So she pulled them both in for a hug instead, deciding that she was more relieved than angry and that she could properly yell at them later.
Nathaniel awkwardly patted her back with his free hand, not saying anything.
Kitty, on the other hand, had the gall to laugh at her. "We missed you too."
Piper rolled her eyes and squeezed harder. "You two are the absolute worst and I hate you."
Bartimaeus had managed to roll over. He blinked and oohed and aahed at the sky. "I don't mean to alarm, but there is a ball of cheese in the sky and a million fireflies trying to eat it."