Free Superior Saturday by Garth Nix Page A

and wriggle like a worm?’
    Arthur shook his head. That would be too undignified for Dame Primus.
    As they watched, she took a step forward, and as she did so, she blurred and diminished, as if she’d walked into a hole in the ground. Then a smaller version of herself walked ahead, leaving a second smaller version behind, so that there were two seven-foot-tall Dame Primuses standing in a line, instead of one eight-foot-plus version. They looked identical and were dressed exactly the same, but one had the clock-sword of the First Key and the trident of the Third Key, and the other had the gauntlets of the Second Key and the baton of the Fourth.
    The two embodiments of the Will turned to each other and curtsied.
    ‘Dame Quarto,’ said the one who had the sword and the gauntlets.
    ‘Dame Septum,’ said the one who had the trident and the baton.
    ‘Hmmph,’ whispered Scamandros. ‘Self—aggrandisement. They’ve added one and three, and two and five. Trying to make the sum of the whole greater, I suppose.’
    Quarto and Septum turned and curtsied to Arthur.
    ‘Lord Arthur,’ they chorused.
    ‘Hello,’ said Arthur. ‘Thank you for splitting. I guess we’d all better get on with it.’
    ‘Indeed,’ said Dame Quarto.
    ‘We had,’ added Dame Septum. She raised her hand and dramatically announced, ‘I shall attend to the Middle House!’
    ‘And I to the mountains!’ declared Dame Quarto, and both strode from the room.
    ‘And I to ... sorting out Superior Saturday,’ said Arthur. Somehow it didn’t sound the same. He raised the mirror and concentrated on looking through it and out of the reflection in the silver jug in the stern cabin of the Rattus Navis IV. He would soon find himself wher ever the ship might be upon the strange waters of the Border Sea.
     
     

 

     
     

Chapter Seven
     

 

     
     

     
    It was much harder going through the doorway with two people hanging on, and for a fearful moment Arthur thought all three of them would be thrown back, and not to the safety of the Citadel, but somewhere else not of his choosing. The ground swayed unsteadily beneath his feet, the light dazzled his eyes, and Suzy and Scamandros felt like enormous lead weights dragging his arms back and down. But he kept pushing forward, his total concentration on reaching his goal. He could half-see the table and chairs in the big cabin on the Rattus Navis IV . Even though it looked just a step away, it was almost impossible to reach.
    Then, with a Herculean effort that left Arthur sweating and gasping, they fell out onto the tilted-over floor of the ship and slid across the floorboards into the starboard hull. Then, as the ship rolled back the other way and pitched forward, they slid diagonally across to the port side, smacked into the table, and sent the silver jug clanging onto the deck.
    As they got up and grabbed hold of whatever they could to stay upright, the door burst open and a Newnith soldier gaped in the doorway.
    ‘Boarders!’ he shouted as he drew a sparking dagger from the sheath at his belt. ‘The enemy!’
    Scamandros reached into his sleeve and came out with a tiny cocktail fork with a pickled onion on it, which he didn’t expect and hurriedly replaced.
    Suzy drew her savage-sword at the same time, but the Newnith was quicker and had his sea legs. He rushed at Arthur, who instinctively raised his arm to protect himself, even though an arm would be no real protection from a long dagger that was spewing out white-hot sparks.
    But it was his right arm, and in his right hand Arthur held the Fifth Key. Before the Newnith could fully complete his downward cut at the boy, there was a brilliant flash of light, a sudden, strange chemical stench, a stifled scream, and then just a pair of smoking boots on the deck where the Newnith had been.
    Arthur felt a surge of annoyance.
    How dare these pathetic creatures attack me? he thought. How dare they! I shall walk among them and wreak havoc ...
    Arthur shook his