by John Booth
With more of these children being gathered together in a single school, it is hoped that further insights may be gathered into our understanding of magic and how Newton’s laws can be amended to cover these cases.
- Notes of Dr Glyn Thomas – Headmaster of McBride’s Academy, May 1861
Cam strode as quickly as the clothes she was wearing would allow. This was not particularly fast as there was far too much skirt. She was heading for Steffi, as the locals affectionately called their cathedral, but it was essential she lose the man tailing her before she went in.
Stephansplatz was filled with hawkers, shouting out their wares. Cam ducked behind a stall and checked the gentleman’s pocket watch she kept in her purse. She only had five minutes left before her meeting. There was no chance that her tail could follow her through these crowds. The Singers Door was wide open and she slipped through it and into the cathedral. It was cooler inside than out.
A man in laborer’s clothing nodded his head with satisfaction as he saw Cam enter the cathedral. His orders were to follow her wherever she went and make a note of anyone she talked to. It was just a precaution as nobody suspected her of anything, but she was new to the service and it was always best to take precautions.
He reached the side of the cathedral, using the space behind the market stalls to make his way both unseen and unimpeded. As he approached the Singers Door a gentleman bumped into him. The knife penetrated his heart in less than a second and he didn’t even have time to be surprised before he died.
“Sorry, old chap. Bad luck and all that,” Peter Burton said in English. “That’s it; you just sit down with your back against the wall and have a nice rest.”
Leaving the dead spy neatly seated on the ground, Burton made his way into the cathedral, removing his hat as he entered the building.
Cam sat in a pew at the eastern end of the cathedral staring at the closed double triptych of the Wiener Neustädter Altar. On Sunday it would be open, revealing the reliquary beneath it, but today it was unimpressive as its doors showed only a faded painting of saints. Cam had no idea who any of them were.
She glanced to her right as a man slid along the pews behind her to end up directly behind her. Even though she had recognized him as her controller, she hated the feeling his presence created. This was because she didn’t trust the man.
“You were careless,” Burton whispered in English. He was surprisingly poor at languages for a spy based in Vienna. She had never heard him speak German. “I eliminated your tail. We could not have him listening in to our little conversation, now could we?”
Cam suppressed an involuntary shudder. He talked so calmly of killing, as if it were nothing. Sometimes she wondered what she was doing here. Defending the Empire was one thing, but the casual killing of innocents was not what she signed up for.
“Has Shultz given you a mission yet?”
“Yes, that’s why I set up this meeting. She wants me to travel to London and kill Sir Ernest Trelawney and Belinda Mann during their wedding ceremony.”
Burton took a couple of seconds to consider this.
“Then you have your orders. Go ahead and do it. Try not to get caught afterwards, there’s a good girl.” He stood up to leave and Cam stood and turned on him, her face red with suppressed rage.
“You cannot be serious!”
Burton was amused by her distress.
“You are in deep cover. If you don’t kill a few on our side we will never get to discover their plans when it really matters. Trelawney and Mann are expendable. Not even part of the service anymore.”
Cam wanted to punch him, but she kept her clenched fists at her side. “I want you to consult our superiors. You cannot condemn two people to death just like that.”
Burton laughed. “Of course I can. I just killed a man because you were careless in losing him. Kill them. I dare say you will get a medal for it when you come home. Old spies who know too much are always an embarrassment.”
Burton gave her a mock salute and left the cathedral. Cam sat back on the pew and considered praying for her soul.
Winslow Becket was a fine teacher of mathematics, if by a fine teacher you meant one that obtained results. Becket’s results came at the end of a cane as it left stripes on young naked bottoms, and he was careful to apply his methods at least a couple of times during every single lesson.
He had already reached his target this session and so was feeling quite well disposed to the pupils who had not yet felt his wrath. Even David Hart, the Farseer boy, with the strange talent to only see things that were close. However, today he was sitting some distance from the Short girl and shooing her away as she tried to get his attention with her mind tricks. Becket was well aware of her ability to project thoughts and that would never do.
“Hart, Short come up here right now and prepare yourselves. I think we shall find out what six plus six equals. The class will count them out loud as I deliver them.”
“That was you, Alice,” Tricky said as he tried to rub the pain out of his stinging backside. They had a ten minute break before the last lesson and they both needed it.
“I got the same too. Wouldn’t ’ave ’appened if you weren’t ignoring mi.” Alice was resisting the urge to rub her bottom. She felt it wasn’t ladylike.
“Well, you shouldn’t ’ave, you know, yesterday.”
“It ain’t like you didn’t like it.”
Tricky grinned. She had him there. Maybe he was being foolish.
“You want to bunk off again? I got some cream back home takes the sting right out of a whack,” he offered.
Alice nodded with delight. The two teens hurried down the corridor before they were seen by a teacher.
Trelawney put the folder with the blue stripe on it into his briefcase and sighed. “Hiding things from Arnold is becoming increasingly tedious, my dear.”
Belinda looked up from her knitting to address her betrothed.
“We will tell him when his innocence will no longer betray us. Besides it is not as bad as getting married just so we can gather so many important people in one place without arousing suspicion.”
Trelawney smiled. “Our marriage is something that should have taken place years ago, regardless of our present need.”
“That might be so, but it took a crisis of these proportions to get you to propose.”
“I was scared you might refuse.”
Belinda gave him a significant look and he had the grace to blush.
Trelawney said nothing for a few minutes before he mused further on the subject.
“Or it might just be my talent in play. Daisy has it in much greater quantity than I and it will be good to compare notes with her. Rest assured, if something of such magnitude is about to happen, she will have already put all the pieces in the right places to give us the best chance to succeed.”
Belinda shook her head. “I don’t agree, it doesn’t concern her or Laura and her talent is specific to her friends. At best she will have protected them.”
“They are coming to the wedding so it will concern them. I am not a complete fool, my love.”
Belinda went back to her knitting with a smile playing at the edges of her lips. It was good to be directing events rather than merely reacting to them again. The contents of that folder were explosive and things were finally coming to a head.
Laura had been confined to her room by Captain Trentwood that morning. He had ordered the Officers Mess to provide her with only bread and water for the next week. However, a full breakfast arrived at her room, courtesy of Sergeant Wainwright and his men. Laura was far from happy though. About the only pleasure she got these days was from walking around the barrack grounds and now she could not even do that.
“We have invitations to a wedding,” Daisy said excitedly as she entered the room.
Laura sighed. “Why look? Sir Anthony has shown no willingness to let me travel, regardless of my present situation.”
Daisy beamed at her friend. “That’s th
e whole point. This arrived by telegraph from MM3. Sir Anthony has already authorized it. We are going to Sir Ernest and Belinda’s wedding.”
Laura could not stop the smile from forming on her face. Then she looked bleak. “I have absolutely nothing to wear.”
“Then we shall go shopping. I shall tell Trenchbrain that if you turn up to a wedding in front of Queen Victoria in poor clothing it will reflect badly on the army and thus on him. He cannot afford to risk upsetting his superiors.”
“The Queen will be there? What about the Prince of Wales?”
Laura got on well with Bertie and he had even invited her to visit him in Buckingham Palace when they last met. The events in Scotland had put paid to that, but she still hoped to see him again.
“I don’t know. Prince Albert will certainly attend. It will be the biggest wedding of the year and I cannot imagine why it is being held in St Giles rather than St Paul’s.”
Laura slumped on her bed. “The last time I saw Bertie I was with Tom. You know what the army does with Healers, Daisy. It sticks them on the front lines of the worst battlefields so they can keep the battle going. He could be in the Crimea and the newspapers are full of lists of the dead.”
Daisy shook her head, but said nothing. Laura could not be told where Tom was. It would change how she behaved.
“He might be somewhere else entirely,” Daisy said cheerfully. “You know how Healers get commandeered from the front lines to look after important Generals. He could be having the time of his life.”
Laura sat up and looked at Daisy. “Should I do it? They asked me to go to the Crimea and use my talent to end the war. Doing that might save Tom.”
“They have other Class A’s.”
“All busy elsewhere. The opposition in Parliament has been clamoring for Military Magic to intervene and Lord Palmerston has claimed that all who are available have already been dispatched. And there is also the revolt in Brittany.”
Daisy squatted in front of Laura and took her hands. “If you go they will expect you to kill thousands. Sabotage their weapons so they blow up in their faces, still the enemies hearts, kill their horses, and turn their provisions to dust. If you are up to doing all that, I will support you.”
Laura turned away and buried her head in the mattress. “I cannot do those things. Not even to save Tom’s life. He knows that, Daisy. I told him when Lord McBride threatened to whip him to death in front of my eyes. What am I to do?”
“Something will turn up, Laura. Keep your resolve till then.”
Tom was lost in the mansion. He had spent a busy afternoon curing the minor ailments the troops and engineers had picked up. Healing was a tiring business and he felt exhausted. The next turn brought him to a familiar looking corridor; he sighed with relief and opened the door to his room.
Antonia lay naked on the bed. She shrieked and grabbed at the skirt on her chair as she got to her feet. It didn’t quiet cover her.
“How dare you enter my room without knocking?”
Tom was about to protest it was his room when a second glance showed it looked nothing like the interior of his room.
“I’m sorry. I though this was…”
“…a brothel, no doubt, where every young woman is your willing plaything?” Antonia said scornfully. “I expect a handsome young man like you expects every girl to drop to her knees and meet your perverted needs.”
“What?” Tom had no idea what Antonia was talking about. “I will take my leave with apologies for the intrusion.” He turned back to the door.
“Stop!” The command was imperious. “There must be full restitution.”
“What?”
“You use that word too often. Has nobody told you? Since you have seen me as Eve was before she bit into the apple, it is only right that you offer me the same opportunity.”
Tom resisted the urge to say ‘what?’ yet again. Nevertheless, she could not possibly mean what he thought she meant.
“You want me to…” he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
“Strip, young man. Before you leave this room I expect you to show me your body as it left your mother’s womb. Now get on with it.”
Tom found it hard not to look at Antonia’s near naked body. It was having inevitable results and the last thing he could do right now was get undressed.
“You need to dress. I will leave and we can discuss this later.” Tom was surprised at the coherence of his words. His insides seemed to be filling with butterflies.
“You will disrobe here and now or I will have you brought up on a charge.”
He could get a prison term if she made a formal complaint about his intrusion and they were both well aware of it.
“You win.” Tom knew when he was defeated and began to take off his jacket.
Antonia smiled for a second and then her face became hard. “Take off your boots, then your shirt, vest and trousers. And don’t you dare turn your back on me.”
Tom had to sit to remove his boots. Antonia moved closer and adjusted the skirt that barely covered her body. From his position in the chair he saw the light from the window between her legs and as the skirt lifted he saw wisps of hair.
“Get on with it.”
When he stood, the bulge at his groin was obvious. He hoped she would realize that he couldn’t possibly remove his trousers. It would be obscene. He took off his shirt as slowly as possible. He wore no vest as the local weather was so warm.
“Trousers off now.”
“B-b-but.”
“Now.”
Trying to think of nothing but Queen and country, Tom removed the last items of his clothing. At least he could use his hands.
“Move your hands to your sides. Excellent. My sister compliments you on the length and girth of your manhood.”
“What?”
Antonia laughed. “There you go again. Stand by the bed and put your hands on your hips.” Tom did as instructed, though he felt like a fool, an uncomfortably erect fool.
“I am a telepath, remember? My twin sister Andrea is in constant communication with me and we see through each others eyes, hear through each others ears and even feel the touches the other one makes.”
Antonia had moved behind him and he sensed her hands come close to his buttocks.
“I th-th-thought telepaths only had verbal communication?”
“Most do, but Andrea and I are unusually close. It is difficult at the moment because she is many hours ahead of me. She is currently in her bed… touching.”
Tom heard Antonia’s skirt fall to the floor.
“Turn around, young sir.”
“I am pledged to Laura.” Tom stayed facing the bed.
Antonia’s fingers walked across his groin until they found their target.
“Laura would be Miss X in the hearing reports? We suspected she must be a Class A, though they were careful never to say. Does that feel good, Thomas Merlin Carter?”
“I m-m-must not.” Tom felt his resolve failing as the sensations intensified.
“And have you consummated your relationship with this Laura?”
“N-n-n-no.”
Antonia laughed and withdrew her hands before Tom could explode.
“A girl should never marry an inexperienced man. Now turn around and let me teach you a thing or two. Andrea is getting highly impatient.”
5. Flight
He received his summons from Miss Grange as soon as he arrived at the first class of the day. Alice’s eyes followed him as he walked out of the room, as did most of the rest of the class. Being called to the Headmaster’s office was never good.
Tricky stood outside the Headmaster’s office and knocked firmly. He trembled as a familiar voice barked ‘enter’ and opened the door.
“Ah David, do come in and sit down.” Dr Glyn Thomas was young for a headmaster. In fact, he looked far too young to have a doctorate in the science of magic, but despite his youthful looks he was nearly thirty.
Recruited by Alistair McBr
ide to investigate aberrant magic users he had tested and probed them at Glen Russell until Lord McBride met his death. Glyn was well aware that the children he tested were kidnapped, but the research had been too fascinating to abandon. Instead of the hangman’s noose he expected, he was offered the post of Headmaster at the school Military Magic set up to continue his investigations. He was grateful for the second chance they gave him.
Tricky didn’t sit, choosing instead to stand in front of the Headmaster’s desk. Glyn decided to overlook his blatant disobedience.
“You might wonder why I have summoned you.”
“If it’s about bunking off, well t’aint only me,” Tricky said defensively.
Glyn stopped in surprise. ‘Some of the children were missing lessons?’ He would have to investigate that when time permitted.
“No, it is about young Ebenezer.”
Tricky stopped worrying about his own troubles. Ebb had been away sick for nearly a month and he missed him greatly.
“’e ain’t dead, is ’e?” Tricky felt cold and slumped into the chair behind him. Ebb had been his best friend since the day they met.
Glyn shook his head.
“Not yet, but there is now little hope. He has asked to see you and Lucy Williams before he passes.”
“’as you ’ad a proper ’ealer see ’im?” Tricky demanded. Lucy had left the school weeks before Ebb. Despite Ebb’s apparent infatuation or possibly because of it, Tricky had little time for the Welsh girl.
Glyn was finding the boy’s questions a little irritating.
“Of course we have had Healers see him. He is an important asset and we would not let him die without trying all we could. We took a Grade 1 healer away from Buckingham Palace and he could do nothing.”
“’ave you let Tom see ’im. Tom’s better than all your other ’ealers put t’gether.”
Glyn sighed. He had known the boy would ask that question even though Carter was only a Grade 2 Healer at best. Ebenezer had demanded the same. Why they believed he was special was beyond him.
