The wind faded instantly. No longer under the influence of Anniolate, the bats hostility melted away and they dispersed gently to rest in nooks and crannies of the courtyard walls,
Sir Clive slumped in his chair breathing heavily. “If that’s what you call a pop concert I do not, repeat do not, ever, ever want to go to another as long as I live”
“There, there” said Miss Wilmcurse gently helping to straighten his bow tie “It’s all over now. There’s no need for you to worry about a thing”
Clive promptly looked delighted. Miss Wilmcurse was taking an interest in him and he smirked pathetically.
Burt Wanderfall appeared briefly from the back of the stage, a bottle of cream sherry in his hand, looking decidedly bedraggled with shirt hanging out of his trousers and an unsightly black smudge down his pink jacket. His hair seemed to have slipped to one side of his head.
“What a wunnerful time I shall have telling this story to all my wunnerful friends” he slurred still trying to smile, and stumbled off to find his chauffeur to drive him home.
Meanwhile, Danial had joined Gordinius helping the audience find their way out. Some of them had lost bags and woollies blown away by the wind and Chips, Lee, Rhino, and Arusco were helping to find the missing things.
Azel had an idea. What about a cup of tea for all those that felt like one? Easy. She scanned the courtyard to make sure there was a space and said. ‘cuppateacuppateacupateanda fairycakeortwo. So may it be done”
There was a soft ‘pouffe’ and a cloud of starry smoke. As the smoke cleared, a small blue and green caravan with a serving hatch appeared in the corner of the courtyard.
“Ello me dears” said the cheery and rather plump lady in the serving hatch “Now then, don’t you worry about a thing. Would anyone like to come and have a nice cuppa tea and a fairy cake or two?”
The cheery lady in the caravan, known as Auntie Gladys, was always available at a moments notice to deal with incidents like this. Nobody knew where she lived or what she did when she wasn’t serving tea and cakes (which she made herself, she said) but whenever QWERT needed her in times of crisis she would be there to answer the call.
Azel caught up with Gordinius who was having a cup of tea with Danial.
“Ah, Gordinius.” she said. “Is my Warpsweeper ready for tomorrow morning as promised? We have to be on our way urgently”
“But of course, maam” he replied as polite as ever. “I managed to solve the clock problem it mentioned”
“Oh good. We’ll see you at seven o’clock in the morning then?”
“Yeah, right” said Gordinius looking pensively down at the ground. That was a bit early for him.
Chapter Five
The mission begins
Gordinius looked a bit pale and wobbly as if suffering from a late night when Azel and Prince Danial arrived at the Warpsweeper service department at seven o’clock. It was a cold, grey morning and the sun had still to rise over the mountains, but at least it was dry for the journey to Lower Chantment.
‘Hey, man’ said Danial ‘you look rough - last night a bit much for you?’
‘Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have gone clubbin’ after all what happened at the concert but with celebratin’ the new contract an’ everything, like y’know sir....’
Gordinius mumbled his words and stumbled over a spanner lying on the floor. Seven o’clock really was definitely too early for him today.
‘Mmm’ said Azel, ‘I’m not surprised. Right now. Let’s load up and be off. Danial , have you brought your luggage and everything?’
‘All here Miss Azel’ replied Danial brightly, following her through the service department roller doors.
‘Wow. Is that something or is that something else!’ exclaimed Danial as he caught his first sight of a Warpsweeper.
Danial ‘s enthusiastic outburst so early in the morning startled Azel and Gordinius, but the Warpsweeper did look impressive quietly hovering just above the polished tiled floor of its parking bay.
‘I never expected it to look as good as this’ said Danial ‘ I mean, all this chrome, pipes and illuminated switches are am-zing. No bristles or anything for sweeping. It doesn’t look anything like a broom, does it?’
‘Harrumph’ retorted the Warpsweeper. A typically bad tempered voice came from an upgraded synthesised speaker housed in a metal ball with mirror finish. ‘And just what did you expect your royal highness? Mind you,’ it added smugly, ‘I’ve been customised by witch Goodwill so my appearance is somewhat superior to others of my class’
It was true that this one did look pretty flash with all its bolt on customised bits and Danial had overlooked the fact that the latest Warpsweeper computers recognised individuals if their names, such as his own, had been programmed in.
‘Oh come now’ interrupted Azel ‘when set in travel mode no Warpsweeper looks like an ordinary broom. That would be most impractical and uncomfortable.’ She patted one of the two contoured racing seats positioned midway along a large central tube of gleaming stainless steel. Its faceted, hyper-thrust engine covered in pipes, fins, and shining bolt heads promised colossal power. At the rear, four polished luggage panniers were formed to fit aerodynamically around the triple exhausts.
‘Of course’ continued Azel, ‘when the Warpsweeper is returned to normal stand-by and hibernate mode it looks exactly like an old fashioned broom. I could use it just like the witches of old if I wanted to. Now then, Gordinius. We’ve no time to stand about talking, what did you find out about the clock problem, please?’
‘Ah yea, Miss Goodwill. I’m afraid your Warpsweeper was incorrect when it diagnosed a clock problem. Like, I mean, well y’know there wasn’t a problem at all really. You see when it registered that it arrived five minutes before it left on it’s test flight it was supposed to, see? It gives time to check out if any thing’s wrong where it’s going before it comes back in to real time. See?’
‘No I don’t see at all’ said Azel perplexed.
‘ Ah, I understand’ said Danial ‘What he means is that if it hadn’t got back five minutes before it left it would be in the future and no one would know.......’
‘For goodness sake’ interrupted Azel ‘is it working OK now, Gordinius?’
‘Perfectly OK, Miss Goodwill. It’s all ready to go’
‘About time’ said the Warpsweeper sourly ‘don’t take any notice of me will you. I’m only hanging about waiting for you to make up your minds where you want to go. You’re supposed to be in a hurry so why you are all wasting time talking when you could be flying?’
‘Harrumph - pathetic anthropoids’ it added disdainfully hovering gently in a superior way exactly half a meter above the floor.
The Warpsweeper had no face but listening to it, Danial could just imagine the expression if it had.
A breathless, hurried jogging noise heralded the arrival of Sir Clive Butterupp.
‘Whew!’ he managed to gasp ‘Thought I was going to miss seeing you off. Overslept. Last night. Took it out of me a bit. Never mind. Here now. Everything ready Azel my dear?’
‘Yes thank you, Clive. It’s good of you to make the effort’ said Azel sarcastically as she climbed on to the Warpsweeper. ‘Come on Danial.’
The Warpsweeper gently bobbed down and up again with the weight of the extra passenger. There was no visible means of support, only magic and advanced computer power suspending it in the air.
‘Sure you’ve stowed all your things, Danial?’ checked Azel.
‘Yes, all packed.You have all the stuff from Miss Wilmcurse?’
‘Yes. Let’s go!’
‘Go where?’ asked the broom moodily.
‘Haven’t I told you?’ said Azel. ‘It’s Lower Chantment’
‘Where?’ said the Warpsweeper with incredulity. ‘Where on earth is that? Never
heard of it. Obviously, it’s nowhere of importance or I would know, wouldn’t I?’
Azel gritted her teeth.
‘Danial ’ she said ‘programme the computer on this thing to take us to Lower Chantment, please’
‘Thing? Thing?’ repeated the Warpsweeper ‘don’t bother about programming me. Of course I know the way. In any case I expect by the time you’ve done this mission it will be well known by everybody so it’s just as well I know where it is now, isn’t it’
Always twenty words for one thought Azel. ‘Just go will you’
‘What time vault do you require” asked the Warpsweeper sounding pleased it had again caught out Azel.
“Time vault?’
“It means when do we want to get to Lower Chantment” said Danial ‘future, past or present. Shall I tell it present time Azel?’
‘Yes, yes - tell it anything you like’ said Azel crossly ‘I want to get cracking now, not in half a day’s time’
‘Present time it is then’ said the Warpsweeper smugly, and gently moved out of the service bay into the daylight for take-off.
‘Good luck’ called out Sir Clive waving his pink silk handkerchief in the air. He was thinking that they would jolly well need all the good luck they could get. QW had told him it was a likely to be highly dangerous mission.
‘Good luck’ he cried again as the Warpsweeper disappeared into the grey, early morning sky.
Part Two
Chapter Six
A journey into the unknown
They had decided to take the short route across the sea and the Warpsweeper swooped low and fast across the green, crinkly waves. A small flotilla of fishing boats was busy as the Warpsweeper zoomed past at eye level in a streak of silvery light. Ssssssshhhhhhummmmm! The noise across the water was unreal. None of the fishermen had never before heard such a sound.
The Skipper of the boat called ‘Nasty Shark’ yelled in alarm ‘Did you see that? What was it?’
‘We ‘don know surr’ said the first mate, an obese, shifty looking man wearing big Wellington boots and dirty striped jumper smelling of fish. ‘It jus come over ‘an went. What do you think it moight be surr?’
‘No idea. I’ll put it in the Captains log as a UFO’ shouted the Skipper, making sure the rest of the crew heard. Then smirking, said aside to the first mate, ‘and we’ll send a message to the Evil Supreme Witch. What we just saw was a Warpsweeper broom carrying two passengers. Anniolate is going to be very pleased with us when I tell her it’s bearing and the direction it was heading’
The first mate nodded and leered at the Skipper, thinking of the reward he would get too if the information proved valuable to Anniolate The Skipper and first mate operated as two of the many spies she had working all over the place.
Azel raced on oblivious to the fact she had been spotted, unaware that this was already a mission fraught with unexpected hazards.
***
Humpy shapes of land emerged faintly on the distant horizon ahead.
‘Is that England?’ asked Danial
‘No’ she replied, ‘not exactly. They’re the Shetland Islands. We have to cross them, on into Scotland, then down the East coast and turn right. That takes us to the witch’s marker concealed under the ruins of Urquhart castle at Loch Ness. After that we’ll soon be in Lower Chantment’
After turning right, Azel touched the ‘increase altitude’ button to lift the Warpsweeper high over Urquhart castle. Unknown to any tourists is the continuous signal beamed from the witch’s marker, an ancient navigation beacon to help travellers find their way between the mystical worlds in another dimension beyond the wilderness of the Arctic.
A voice crackled harshly out of the speaker in the chromed metal ball on the Warpsweeper. ‘I require your attention. I am Controller of the marker, protector of the monster and guardian of the Loch. You must identify yourself and pay forfeit or make promises to be honoured later’
Danial started with alarm. Azel knew about the Controller but hadn’t mentioned it to him. The Controller possessed powers of misdirection and if the marker was crossed without paying forfeit or making a promise - which must be kept at all costs - travellers would be sent crashing into the depths of Loch Ness. The Warpsweeper had now been brought to a halt, held hovering in the beam of the Controllers signal.
‘Its Azel Goodwill here’ said Azel ‘on a mission with crown Prince Danial from the Palace of Crystal Light. We travel to the village of Lower Chantment and my promise is to frustrate the sinister goals of the Evil Supreme Witch Anniolate and her aide Venefica.
There was a long silence as the Controller considered Azel’s promise. The speaker crackled to life again.
‘You may proceed. Venefica passed this way two months ago leaving neither forfeit nor promise, but she will not escape me. Now, be on your way’
With that, the Controller switched off the beam to release the Warpsweeper. He watched it on his monitor as Azel and Danial were whisked swiftly away on the final leg of their journey to Lower Chantment.
Chapter Seven
Goings on in Lower Chantment
Like most villages, the shop in Lower Chantment was a place for gossiping. Eva Brick, the builder’s wife, was just telling Nancy Snow how she had heard the loudest noise she had ever heard coming from behind the church when the shop door bell jangled, and in walked Azel Goodwill and Danial.
Mrs Brick, abruptly stopped talking and turned to look suspiciously at the two strangers.
“Good morning’ said Nancy politely “May I help you?”
“No thank you. We’re just looking’ replied Azel eyeing up the orange flavoured bars of chocolate stacked on the shelf.
The two ladies turned to continue their conversation, pretending to ignore Azel and Danial.
‘ Yes’ Mrs Brick went on, lowering her voice and pushing the back of her hair up under the brim of a fleecy sort of hat, ‘most frightening whooshing noise it were. Blew all the trees about. And it frightened the horses. I was sure something must have crashed out the sky but when I went round the back of the church what did I see? Nothing. Most peculiar. Only an old broom leaning up against the wall.’ She added.
Azel looked at Danial and touched her lips with her forefinger.
‘Ssshh’ she whispered ‘not a word.’
It was clear Mrs Brick had heard them arrive, and that she had seen the Warpsweeper looking like an ordinary old broom because it had been switched into its hibernate and stand-by mode. Before selecting a landing site they had quietly circled the village several times. From the air it looked as though the place was deserted with no one about, so Azel landed the Warpsweeper quickly than usual which had made a great deal of noise. Unfortunately it attracted Mrs Brick’s attention.
‘Well if you ask me,’ Nancy Snow was saying, ‘a lot of things round here have been peculiar lately. It’s since that old woman moved in to that cottage at the end of Back Street. What’s her name now? Mrs Vee? I think that’s what she calls herself doesn’t she?’
Azel’s ears pricked up. Mrs Vee? That must be witch Venefica. Did the villagers of Lower Chantment have any idea of how dangerous she was? What had she been up to? What did Nancy Snow mean when she said things had been peculiar?
‘Excuse me’ said Azel ‘I couldn’t help overhearing what you were saying about Mrs Vee. You see we’re investigating reports of peculiar things from different parts of the country and if you could help us I would be very grateful. What exactly has been happening here?’
Nancy turned away from Mrs Eva Brick who now scrutinised the two strangers more closely, wondering who they really were.
Nancy continued. ‘I think, as do most of the villagers actually, that it’s this Mrs Vee who is upsetting things’
‘What things?’ asked Azel abruptly, impatient at not getting a clear answer to the q
uestion. These country folk seemed to have all the time in the world to chat and gossip. She and Danial needed to move fast.
‘Tell them about the trouble with the Vicar’ interrupted Mrs Brick.
‘Oh yes,’ said Nancy, ‘our vicar, Reverend Ashley White, organised a barbecue in his garden at the vicarage for the local ramblers club. Mrs Vee wasn’t invited, but she went anyway and all the sausages he was cooking grew legs and ran away. None of the ramblers, who are very fit, could catch them - but they had a good try.’
‘Then there was the time she threw bits of black from between her toes all over our Sam’s best white shirt I’d just washed and hung out on me willy-gig.’ said Mrs Brick indignantly. ‘She disappeared in to thin air ‘afore I could catch her’
‘Don’t you mean whirly-gig? Said Nancy
‘And I’ll tell you something else.’ Mrs Brick continued, ignoring Nancy. ‘That estate agent bloke, Grabsome. He is in league with her I’d say. How else did she get to live in that old house when it’s all run down and overgrown, eh? Been empty for years it has, creepy or what. Some say it’s haunted but to see all them bottles and boxes of chemicals and things she’s got there I reckon it’s worse than haunted. That I do.’
‘I don’t like Mr Grabsome either. ’joined in Nancy. ‘Did you know he wants to get me evicted? He says the shop has to be pulled down because Mrs Vee has found some old deeds showing an ancient library of books is buried under the foundations. If he evicts me where would I live? It’s hard enough paying all the bills as it is without the worry of finding another home.’
Danial sharply drew in his breath. The underground library idea sounded like a mean trick to get Nancy out of the way. Maybe Venefica had reason to believe the Great Book of Evil was hidden somewhere under the shop so she’d made friends with Mr Grabsome to use his knowledge as an estate agent.
The arrogant, scrunching noise of a big four wheel drive estate wagon pulling up sharply outside the shop interrupted the conversation. Nancy groaned.
The Secret of the Storm Cloud Page 5
