The Londum Omnibus Volume Two (The Londum Series Book 12)

by Tony Rattigan

  Unfortunately they didn’t take his advice and a fight broke out.

  Jim quickly dispatched his opponent with a few swift blows to the body, causing him to double over, then a quick knee to the face put paid to him. Cobb however was having more trouble with his sparring partner as they traded blows. He gave him a few good punches to the head but had to take a couple in return. They seemed to be evenly matched until the thought rose in his mind about how they had ruthlessly kidnapped the girl and were holding her hostage, caused his anger to rise and finally get the better of the other man. Cobb punched him once to put him down, then he punched him again to make sure he stayed down. Then he punched him once more, just for the pleasure of it.

  ‘Whoah, easy,’ said Jim. ‘We’ve got to find the girl yet, remember?’

  They searched the rooms on that floor but they were empty. ‘One of them is missing,’ said Cobb. ‘Must be upstairs.’

  Cobb led the way upstairs to the second floor. There was no landing and the door led straight into the room.

  The door was open. Cobb stood in the doorway, concealed behind the door. Jim drew his pistol and peered through the crack between the door and the doorjamb. Bowler Hat was standing by the window, to their left. He had the girl by the scruff of her neck and was pointing a pistol at her head. The girl was too terrified to even cry.

  Cobb whispered to Jim, ‘I’ll distract him. When he’s pointing the gun at me, shoot him.’ He walked into the room with his hands raised.

  Moving slowly across the room to the opposite side, to draw the man’s attention away from the door, he told him, ‘Take it easy now, there’s no need for anyone to get hurt. So far it’s only a kidnapping, no one’s been killed yet.’ He told the girl, ‘It’s okay, Agatha, I’m with the police, I’m here to rescue you.’

  Unfortunately, the man was no fool and steadfastly kept the gun trained on the girl. ‘Stop there,’ he warned Cobb.

  Cobb kept moving across the room and slowly forwards but still the man refused to point the gun anywhere but at the girl. In desperation, Cobb made a feint at the man by lunging forwards. Bowler Hat raised the pistol and pointed it at Cobb, his knuckles whitening as he squeezed the trigger.

  BANG! The noise of the shot filled the room, Cobb and the girl flinched. Cobb swung around and saw Jim, arm raised and smoke coming out of the barrel of his revolver. Bowler Hat, with a hole drilled neatly through his forehead, staggered back into the window, smashing it. Still clutching the girl’s dress he slowly began to topple out of the broken window, dragging the girl with him. She screamed and struggled to get free. Cobb leapt forward and pulled her dress out of the grasping hand.

  The dead kidnapper slid out of the window and fell the three stories to the cobbles. Jim and Cobb walked over to the window, Cobb with some difficulty as the girl was clinging to his leg, and looked down.

  ‘You killed him!’ exclaimed Cobb, shocked.’

  ‘What are you, the narrator? Of course I did. Anyway, it was you that told me to shoot him.’

  ‘Yes but to wound him, not to kill him.’

  ‘Look, it was obvious that he was either going to kill a small girl or my best friend. I wasn’t about to let either happen.’

  Cobb looked at him for a moment and then led the girl out of the room. On their way downstairs they took the time to secure the other kidnappers.

  Outside Jim asked one of the street people to fetch the police. Despite the reluctance that they had shown to Cobb to avoid contacting the police, they obeyed Jim’s request. (One didn’t say no to Jim Darby if one had any sense.)

  Cobb bought the girl a toffee-apple from one of the street stalls. She bit into it eagerly so Cobb supposed they hadn’t fed her much while she was in captivity. ‘Don’t worry now, the police will be here soon and then they’ll take you to meet your parents.’ He took his jacket off and put it around her shoulders.

  The three of them sat on the steps to await the arrival of the police. Jim lit a cigarette.

  ‘You know what you are?’ Cobb asked Jim.

  ‘Ruggedly handsome?’

  ‘No, you’re dangerous. That’s what you are.’

  ‘Can’t I be both?’

  ‘You should have just wounded that man.’

  ‘Who do you think I am, Deadshot Dick? If I’d tried to just wound him I might have missed and you’d be dead now. So let’s pretend that you just thanked me and we’ll leave it at that, shall we?’ said Jim, a bit miffed. ‘Besides, one of these days you might be glad that I’m a bit dangerous.’

  Cobb looked at him doubtfully then conceded his point. ‘All right, you’re right. Thank you for coming to help and for saving my life. Sorry if I sounded ungrateful.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ replied Jim, mollified. ‘Now, see to the girl, the police are here.’ Jim pointed out the two constables bearing down on them.

  The Return

  At the time and date agreed with Lord Felder the inter-dimensional portal crackled into being outside Ambleside. Waiting there were the team of a dozen delegates selected by the prime minister, accompanied by security personnel and local politicians, including Mayor Robbins. The delegates consisted of diplomats, scientists, military types and a couple of industrialists. They were led by the Foreign Office leading light, Lord Barrington. A Lord had been chosen as it was felt it was necessary to have someone of similar rank to Lord Felder, so the Elves would consider him equal to their representative.

  They sat waiting in their carriages as the portal opened before them, awed by what they were witnessing. The glowing semi-circle stabilised and after a few moments Lord Felder rode through followed by his body guards and two others.

  They halted once they were clear of the portal and Lord Barrington stepped down from his coach and with the mayor approached them. Felder dismounted and bowed to the mayor before shaking Barrington’s hand as Mayor Robbins introduced them.

  ‘Thank you for accepting the invitation to visit our dimension,’ said Lord Felder.

  ‘It’s our pleasure,’ replied Lord Barrington. ‘Thank you for the opportunity. I must admit I’m intrigued, I’ve visited foreign countries before as the first representative of His Majesty’s Government but never a foreign world.’

  Felder waved to the two other Elves that had accompanied him besides his guards. ‘I and my bodyguards will of course remain here as surety for the safety of your delegation. Perhaps you would allow me the opportunity to visit your capital and plead my case to your rulers. As I will be here, you will need someone to show you around my world. Allow me to introduce you to Durlan. He will take care of you and your delegates.’

  Durlan bowed to Lord Barrington. ‘It is a great pleasure to meet you Lord Barrington. This is my aide, Fain.’ He indicated the Elf standing quietly behind him. ‘Our people have dreamt of this for a long time, returning to our Home world. It is an almost mythical goal for us. We call it “The Return” and now to think that in my lifetime we may actually achieve it. Amazing.

  ‘We will show you everything in our world and answer any questions you may have. Believe me, anything we can do to expedite your decision, we will be happy to oblige.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you. On behalf of His Majesty’s Government may I say that we are delighted to meet you and hope that our visit will be fruitful for both our races. I must say, you all speak very good Albion.’

  Lord Felder replied, ‘Well, we all spoke Albion, along with Elvish, when we lived amongst you in Briton. However, our strand of the language has altered over time as has yours, so now we speak different versions. Thanks to the portal we were able to view this world and those of us who would be meeting you learned your modern language. It wasn’t too difficult as it comes from the same root as our Albion.’

  ‘Ah I see. That makes things so much easier. Thank you for taking the trouble.’

  Lord Felder bowed.

  ‘Then if you and your men are ready perhaps you would follow me through the portal?’ enquired Durlan. ‘I’m afraid you
will have to go through on foot. Our horses are conditioned to the effects of transiting through the portal, it can be disorientating. Your animals I’m afraid would probably panic and perhaps injure themselves or one of you. We have transport waiting for you on the other side.’

  Mayor Robbins turned to Lord Felder and asked, ‘And if you would please accompany me we’ll see about taking you to Londum.’

  Lord Barrington returned to his colleagues and the Elves remounted their horses. All of Barrington’s team disembarked from their carriages. When Barrington indicated that he and his group were ready, Durlan led the way through the portal.

  Lord Barrington described it later as, ‘Like walking through a waterfall. One moment all is calm, there’s a few frantic seconds of wild chaos as everything swirls around you, then you are out the other side and all is peaceful again.’

  Standing on the other side of the portal, slightly unnerved, Lord Barrington watched as the rest of his party came through. Almost to a man they had the same reaction he did. An expression of shock on their faces and then a nervous laugh of relief as they realised they were alive and unharmed.

  They were in a large, open space, the ground well-trodden. Carriages were waiting for them and at Durlan’s bidding they climbed aboard.

  ‘So that’s how the portal is generated?’ asked Barrington, indicating a building that was built at the far edge of the open space. It was domed like an igloo with a corridor extending out until it reached a heavy, wooden door. Around the upper half of the dome there were windows, providing illumination. From the centre of the roof protruded a dish shaped object with a spike in the centre. Beams of purplish light shone from around the edge of the dish to the spike. From the end of the spike a concentrated beam projected towards the top of the arch which contained the portal. Made of metal or wood, Barrington couldn’t tell, the beam of light hit the centre point of the arch, straight onto what appeared to be a huge gem. This apparently powered the arch to produce the portal.

  ‘That’s right. We keep it apart from the town just in case of accidents. The Livarium generates enormous amounts of power, so we keep it separated, for safety’s sake.’

  Durlan faced the generator building and waved his arm, a moment later the beam from the dish to the gem shut down and the portal closed, leaving the empty arch straddling the road. Beyond lay empty fields where in Barrington’s world the town of Ambleside lay. The arch and its generator were situated at the edge of the Elf town.

  ‘Will we get to see inside that building?’ Barrington asked Durlan.

  ‘In time perhaps. I understand that we undertake to give you all our secrets in exchange for sanctuary. When that is agreed between us you will be welcome to study all our ways and be given access to all our knowledge. Come now, the king awaits us.’

  The carriages pulled away and made their way through the town. There was a single path through the town, just a single, wide stone road from which dirt trails led off to individual houses. The houses were spaced out, scattered randomly around the valley and on the hills, around a small, central lake.

  They were wooden lodges covered with turf for extra insulation. Each house had racks outside where fish and strips of meat were hung to dry. Smoke rose from the chimneys indicating they were occupied but there were not many people visible. They reminded Barrington of pictures he had seen of ancient Viking settlements. The Elves that he could see around were dressed in simple garb. Barrington noticed the difference between their standard of clothing and that of Durlan and his aide. It seemed there was a class divide on this side of the portal as well, he mused.

  The Elves that spotted them stopped and watched with unashamed curiosity as the procession passed. They obviously all knew about the talks between the two races and looked at their human visitors with interest.

  The string of carriages led by Durlan and Fain on horseback, made their way through town and up a rise to an imposing castle, built on a hilltop overlooking the lake. It was the only building so far that Barrington had seen that was built of stone.

  ‘This is the palace of King Erlathan and Queen Valindra,’ Durlan informed them. ‘They await your arrival eagerly. They wish to make a good impression so we shall take you to meet them immediately and there is refreshment awaiting you. Tonight we shall hold a feast in your honour to celebrate your visit.’

  ‘Thank you,’ replied Barrington. ‘We are honoured.’

  The carriages pulled into the large courtyard, there was space for all of them, and the occupants dismounted. Following Durlan, all the humans entered the great hall. It was laid out like the Viking halls that Barrington had seen pictured. Despite the stone walls there were wooden beams everywhere, it seemed the Elves had a love of naturally grown materials. Probably harks back to their affinity for the forests, thought Barrington.

  The intricately carved, upright wooden beams were spaced along the walls and rose to meet in the middle of the ceiling as a great arch. Down the centre of the long room ran a fire pit taking up half its length, with tables along each side. This would be where they sat and ate and drank on long winter nights, Barrington mused. One side had tables the whole length of the pit but on the other, there were only tables at each end until they reached the raised thrones of the king and queen. Instead of being at the far end as a human great hall would be laid out, the thrones were in the middle of the room so they overlooked the tables and the fire pit. It put them nearer the centre of the action than if they were stuck at one end.

  On each side of the throne were a score of Elves who Barrington took to be the nobility. Durlan led the humans forward and the visiting delegates were stretched out in a line in the space between the pit and the thrones as Durlan presented them to his king.

  All the humans bowed deeply as Lord Barrington introduced them one by one and mentioned their areas of expertise, and King Erlathan greeted them warmly.

  ‘Welcome, welcome to our world,’ King Erlathan told them, ‘and I hope I’m not being premature if I call you friends, for it is my dearest wish that your people and mine will soon become fast friends and that we may live together in peace and harmony.

  ‘Of course, I’m sure you have your natural wariness of us as strangers, that is only to be expected, however once we have dined together, Lord Durlan will split you into smaller groups concerning your areas of interest and you will be given free access to anywhere and everywhere except for one place, the trans-dimensional portal generator. I’m sure you understand that is our bargaining chip and until we have reached an agreement, how that works will have to remain a secret. Apart from that we will give you full access to all our medical and scientific knowledge. Now come, be seated and be refreshed.’

  Everyone did as they were bid and sat at the tables as the Elf nobles took up the empty spaces. Erlathan clapped his hands and servants brought out food and wine.

  Lord Barrington and the others began tentative conversations with those Elves within earshot and as they spoke, he studied them, the king and queen and the hall that they sat in. At first appearance they all seemed to be tall and distinguished, clothed in the finest of robes and the hall was a grand place filled with flags and banners. But if you looked closely you saw that their clothing was frayed in places, showing signs of repair. Although spotlessly clean it showed wear from many and repeated washings. The banners in the hall were tatty at the edges and the bright colours had faded over the years. Barrington realised that this show of glamour and opulence was all pretence, put on for his benefit.

  He surmised that in normal life they would probably not wear such grand clothing but rather something closer to what he had seen on the ordinary townsfolk.

  Despite all his training and experience in being impartial until one understood the situation fully, he felt a twinge of pity for them. They did indeed seem to be fading away as Lord Felder had told the humans and this was perhaps their last throw of the dice to survive.

  ***

  After a light lunch they were shown to their acc
ommodation in the castle and then, as the king had said would happen, they were split into smaller groups. The industrialists were taken to be shown the waterworks bringing irrigation from the lake. The soldiers were introduced to the warrior caste, the agriculturists were taken to the farms and so on.

  Later that evening they assembled in the great hall for the great feast that had been arranged to welcome them. The food was plentiful and the mead and beer flowed in great quantities.

  Lord Barrington was deep in conversation with Durlan.

  ‘Tell me,’ he asked him. ‘I’ve noticed that all your soldiers carry those wooden staffs, what is their purpose when you have swords?’

  ‘They all carry those, it’s part of their martial training. Staff-fighting develops quick reflexes and agility. Besides, sometimes the problem doesn’t require a lethal response, that’s when a staff comes in handy to deal with the situation.’

  ‘And the bulge at the end, what’s the purpose of that?’

  Durlan laughed. ‘That’s so you know which end to hit someone with.’

  Lord Barrington was about to question him further when he felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning around he saw King Erlathan. The king indicated to Lord Barrington that he should follow him and led the way out of the great hall and up the winding staircase of one of the castle towers. They stood on the roof of the tower looking over the circular, crenelated wall. Barrington waited politely for the king to speak, as he surveyed the town below. To his surprise he could see the city limits, he had expected it to be much larger than that.

  ‘Take a look, Lord Barrington, tell me what you see.’

  ‘I see your city, Your Majesty.’

  ‘What you see before you are most of the remaining members of the Elf nation. Those dwellings below house practically all of the last survivors of the race. There are a few outlying settlements but their occupant’s only number in the hundreds.’