As they approached Queen Sychorax’s unbreachable, impregnable, invincible Wall, Xar let out a long crow of triumph.
“I did it!” cried Xar, punching the air.
“You mean, we did it!” Wish corrected him.
“Which way now?” asked the Enchanted Key chattily.
“I’ve never seen an enchanted object that talked before,” said Xar.
“I don’t know what I’m doing!” replied Wish, slightly hysterically. “I don’t mean to bring things to life at all!”
Wish was struggling to keep control of the flying door. It had looked so easy when Xar did it six months ago. But somehow the door, when she was enchanting it, seemed to be going way too fast, and zigzagging out of control all over the place…
A bit like Wish’s emotions.
Wish knew she should be feeling horrified, and anxious. She knew that Warrior princesses really shouldn’t fly on the back of doors in the company of Wizards. She had tried so hard to be a Warrior princess, to concentrate on all the maths-work, and the sword-work, and the letter-work.
But the truth was, in her heart of hearts, she was absolutely fed up to the back teeth with trying to work out whether “i” went before “e” or what happened when you took “x” from “y,” and whether she should be getting Madam Dreadlock’s homework to the schoolroom or the stables because it was every second Thursday.
Of course she was scared and sad that her mother was going to be so disappointed, and so angry.
But part of her was just absolutely thrilled to be back in the adventure of it, soaring high, high, over the battlements… high, higher still to get over Queen Sychorax’s Wall, the wind blowing her hair back. Oh my goodness, they were really going to get over it! Peering over the edge of the door, she could see the little figures of the Warrior sentries, shouting but not shooting up at them, way, way down below…
Her heart beat fast… They were over the Wall! The great forest stretched out for miles and miles like an enormous green carpet in every direction, full of excitement and possibilities of danger.
The peril was instant, for the out-of-control door was sinking fast, and Bodkin pointed to the tiny distant figures of the Magic-hunters, pouring out of the gates of the fort. They had to get as far away as possible if they were not going to be caught very quickly.