Jenna clung to the horse's wiry mane as Simon cantered across the Palace lawns, scattering all the lawn lizards that Billy Pot had only just rounded up.
Jenna loved horses; she had her own horse, which she kept in the stables and rode every day. She was a good horsewoman and a brave one, too. So why did she feel so scared? Was it, she wondered, as Thunder hurtled through the Palace Gate at breakneck speed, because Simon rode the horse so angrily, and roughly, too? Simon wore a pair of sharp spurs on his black boots and they were not just for show. Jenna had already seen him touch the horse's flanks with them twice, and she didn't like the way he pulled so sharply on the reins either.
Simon galloped down the middle of Wizard Way. He looked neither right nor left and paid no attention to anyone who might be crossing the roadas Professor Weasal Van Klampff happened to be doing just at that moment. The Professor, unaware of the fact that Marcia was on her way to see him, had something to tell Marcia, something that needed to be said well away from the remarkably acute hearing of his housekeeper, Una Brakket.
As Professor Van Klampff wandered absentmindedly across Wizard Way, rehearsing in his mind how he was going to explain his suspicions that Una Brakket was up to somethingalthough he was not sure whatthe last thing he expected was to be knocked down by a huge black horse thundering by. But, unfortunately for the Professor, that is exactly what did happen. And when he picked himself up, bruised and shaken but otherwise unharmed, Professor Van Klampff could not remember why he was there at all. Did he perhaps need some more parchment ... a new pen ... a pound of carrots ... two pounds of carrots? The tubby little man with the half-moon glasses and straggly gray beard stood for a while in the middle of Wizard Way, being fussed over by the concerned Beetle and other assistants from neighboring shops and offices, shaking his head and trying to remember why he was there. Some niggling feeling at the back of his brain told him it was important, but it was gone. Weasal Van Klampff shook his head and turned back for home, stopping to buy three pounds of carrots on the way.
Thunder, meanwhile, was cantering headlong down Wizard Way, past the shops, printers and private libraries, where the proud owners were pottering about, setting out the special-offer manuscripts and end-of-line parchments. At the sight of the black horse charging by they stopped and stared for a moment, wondering what the Princess was doing with the dark horseman. What was the hurry?
In no time at all, Thunder reached the Great Arch. Jenna expected Simon to slow down and turn the horse around to go back to the Palace, but instead he yanked hard on the reins, and the horse veered abruptly off to the left and hurtled down Cutpurse Cut. The narrow street was dark and chill after the bright sun of Wizard Way, and it smelled rank. An open drain ran down the middle of the cobbles, and a thick brown sludge was flowing slowly along it.
"Where are we going?" Jenna yelled, scarcely able to hear herself above the clattering of the horse's hooves, which echoed off the ramshackle houses on either side of the alleyway and filled her head with noise. Simon made no reply, so Jenna yelled again, louder this time.
"Where are we going?"
Still Simon said nothing. Suddenly the horse took a left turn, narrowly avoiding an oncoming meat pie and sausage cart, and skidded on the slime that ran beneath its hooves.
"Simon!" protested Jenna. "Where are we going?"
"Shut up!" Jenna thought she heard him say.
"What?"
"You heard. Shut up. You're going where I take you."
Jenna twisted around to look at Simon, shocked at the sudden sound of hatred in his voice. She hoped she had misunderstood what he said, but, when she saw the coldness in his eyes, Jenna knew she had heard right. A sharp chill of foreboding jumped through her.
Suddenly the horse changed direction again. It was almost as though Simon was trying to shake off anyone who might be following them. He yanked on the reins, pulling the horse violently to the right, and Thunder plunged into Squeeze Guts Slip, a dark passage that ran between two high walls. Simon's eyes were two slits of concentration as the horse tore down the narrow passageway, its hooves sending up sparks from the flints beneath them. At the end of the dark passage Jenna could see open daylight, and as they hurtled toward it, Jenna made a decision. She was going to jump.
As Thunder burst into the sunlight, Jenna took a deep breath, and suddenly, unbidden by Simon, the horse skidded to a halt. A small figure in green Apprentice robes had stepped out in front of them and was fixing the horse with a piercing stare. Thunder was being Transfixed.