by John Booth
“Lieutenant Carter is out of the country on assignment. I made a request to Military Magic and they informed me he was unavailable. They would not even indicate which continent he was on.”
Tricky nodded as if he was satisfied. It was clear that the Headmaster would be of no use. He would have to get Tom back on his own.
“There will be a hansom cab waiting for you at midday break. Cook has prepared a packed meal for you. It will take you to Ebenezer and will make the return journey starting at four o’clock. That should give you a good two hours to say goodbye to your friend.”
Tricky left the room without saying a word. His head was abuzz with half thought out ideas.
Tom woke early and tried to wash the guilt from his body with copious amounts of cold water. Despite his best efforts, all he managed to do was to get clean.
He was not surprised to find Antonia sitting at the dining table eating her breakfast.
She smiled. “Do you think today will be as educational as yesterday?” she asked innocently.
“What did Tom learn yesterday?” Dougal asked as he entered the room.
“You did show him your big toy, did you not?” Antonia asked. “It is typical of a man to want to have the biggest sausage in the world.”
“I showed him the Hubris if that is what you mean,” Dougal sounded tetchy. “And today he will be one of the crew on her maiden flight.”
Antonia switched looks from amused to eager in the blink of an eye. “Can I come too? I have always wanted to fly.”
Dougal smiled. “And what do you think Military Magic would say if they found out I had risked one half of their best telepath team on an untested vessel?”
“I would never tell them.”
“I’m sorry, Antonia. Perhaps next year, when all the tests are complete.”
Tom wasn’t that sure he wanted to go on the maiden flight. However, he was not going to say no after Antonia had shown such enthusiasm. It would have been unmanly.
“I’m sure my education today will far outweigh anything I learned yesterday,” he said. Looking directly at Antonia he found himself adding. “And certainly it will be much more enjoyable.”
Antonia smiled warmly at Tom, while her hand, below Dougal’s sightline, made a very rude gesture.
Tom smiled sweetly back at her. While she had done things to him and with him that he would never have thought of, and brought him considerable pleasure in the process, he had to end their relationship because his heart was Laura’s.
The cab took Tricky out of the heart of London to a grand mansion set in acres of landscaped gardens. There was even a lake in the distance.
“You have two hours, sir. Don’t be late,” the cabbie said, checking the time with his pocket watch. He got down from the cab to feed his horse.
Tricky nodded and ran to the door. There was a big iron bell pull, which took all his strength to use. Somewhere deep in the house’s interior he heard a bell ringing and a couple of minutes went by as he waited for someone to come to the door.
A fat woman in a white smock answered the door.
“Tricky, err, David Hart to see Ebenezer Sweeting, your ladyship.”
The woman smiled at the use of such an inappropriate title. “You are expected. Young Ebb will be so happy to see you. Follow me.”
She led him up a curved open flight of stairs and along a corridor before ushering him into a room and closing the door behind him.
Lucy sat by the side of the bed with her hands on her lap. She and Ebb looked a little guilty as if they might have been holding hands before the door opened. Exactly five seconds before if Tricky was any judge. Lucy was two years older than Ebb and at 13 was showing signs of becoming a woman. Ebb looked in a bad way, white and thin, as though he hadn’t eaten for days.
“Yes, we were. What of it?” Ebb asked as Tricky opened his mouth.
Tricky closed his mouth again. Conversations were always a little complicated with Ebb.
“Pull up that chair,” Ebb suggested as words formed in Tricky’s mind. Ebb was speaking in unusually precise posh English, which Tricky found perturbing.
“Lucy has trouble following mi words,” Ebb said and grinned.
Tricky nodded and when he opened his mouth this time, Ebb didn’t stop him.
“Well, I am sure I can match you with superior electrocution,” he said solemnly. “Dr Glyn said you was at death’s door and ’ere I find you canoodling with a floozy.”
Lucy put her hands to her hips and Ebb put a hand out, instantly stopping her outburst before it happened.
“’e… he does not mean anything by it. It is his idea of a joke,” Ebb said quickly.
Tricky grinned and Lucy relaxed back in her chair, looking slightly mollified.
“How long they given you then?” Tricky ignored Lucy’s look of outrage. He was Ebb’s mate and he needed to know.
“Two weeks, maybe three. Only Tom can save me and they won’t call him.”
“Dr Glyn said as ’ow ’e was out of the country.”
Lucy gave Tricky a pained look.
“Then I’m a gonner for sure.”
“I wish we could contact him,” Lucy said. “I am sure he would come.”
“That’s strange like.” Tricky wracked his brains trying to remember what Daisy Drew had said to him. It was months ago, at the end of the hearings. “The last thing Daisy said to mi was, ‘Tom will come in time if you needs ’im, but you ’as to contact ’im the quickest way.”
“What’s that mean, telegraph?” Ebb asked.
Lucy performed a pretend slap at Ebb’s face and he lay back on his pillow grinning. “She meant by telepathy. Can Alice send him a message?”
Tricky shook his head. They would be out of range of Alice and yet he had only gone a few miles. “Nah, she must mean like proper telepaths. Thems what can talk across the world.”
“Do you know any?” Lucy asked eagerly.
“Nah, but I knows someone what does.”
Tom stood on the flight deck of the airship looking out of the front windows as the hangar doors slowly opened. He felt like a fool as he was the only person present who didn’t have a job. Not that there were many people on the deck. Dougal stood behind the man who operated the large ship’s wheel; the deck was raised a step behind the man so Dougal didn’t have to strain to look over his head. The wheel turned the propellers from side to side at the rear. The wheel was currently set for straight forward as a red line on the wheel aligned with the one on the deck.
A second man had a speed control that could change the velocity of the propellers from full ahead to full astern in five increments either side. It was currently set in the middle position and the propellers weren’t moving. He also had a control that could tilt the propellers up or down. Apart from being a different color it looked the same as the speed control. There were two lookouts at the side windows checking ‘port’ and ‘starboard’.
There was a lot of room for passengers on the ship. Tom had been given the grand tour and been surprised how big it was. It had bedrooms, a kitchen, storerooms and a large room where people could sit and watch the world go by. If they opened the windows they could even shoot at people on the ground. There were hatches in the floor that led to the two Gatling gun positions, but Dougal didn’t take him down into them. They wouldn’t be manned on this mission, which was to test the maneuverability and stability of the ship.
The men outside the ship loosened the ropes and the floor moved upwards.
“Is this normal?” Tom asked as he tried to keep his feet.
Dougal laughed. “The ship is neutrally balanced, which means it should neither go up nor down unless the propellers or the wind pushes it. But we need to clear the lead shield so we have made it slightly lighter than air. We can always jettison some Elitos later, if we have to.”
Tom nodded as if he understood. The man with the speed control pushed it forward one notch and they began to leave the hanger. As soon as they were clear of the
lead box he pushed the other control forward one notch so they wouldn’t hit the roof. It occurred to Tom that one man could probably pilot this ship, if he was out of his mind.
Once clear of the hanger, the man pulled the attitude control all the way forward, and as they began to rise he increased the speed. They rose dizzyingly fast in the first minute. The ship rolled alarmingly in the breeze.
“Father had postulated that we might need wings on the side to keep the ship stable, but he decided the weight of the engine would be enough to stop us rolling,” Dougal said helpfully. Tom hoped he wasn’t going to lose his lunch.
As their speed increased so did their stability. The ground was moving past at a surprising rate. The man at the speed control moved it to the middle position.
“How fast are we going?”
Dougal looked at a dial set in the roof in front of him. “Our speed relative to the air is 30 knots. That’s the design speed. Our speed relative to the land depends on the speed of the wind.”
“Is 30 knots the same as 30 miles per hour?” Tom asked.
“A little faster. Nautical miles are longer than ordinary ones. It helps when plotting your course at sea.”
Dougal was a veritable mine of useless information.
“Take us round in a circle to come back to the shed in an hour. Tom and I will see what the rest of the ship feels like.” The man at the wheel grunted.
Tom found it difficult to take his eyes off the scene in front of him. He held onto the metal hand rails to follow Dougal off the bridge. To his surprise, the large room was not unoccupied. Antonia sat on one of benches with a wide smile all over her face. Dougal was furious.
“How did you get on board?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I hid in the Gatling gun room, but it was a bit frightening as you can see straight down so I came up here.”
“You disobeyed a direct order and put your talent at risk.”
Antonia grinned, “Not much you can do about it now, is there?”
Dougal could barely control his anger. He turned to one of the tool boxes on the wall, opened it and pulled out a 36 inch wooden ruler. Antonia’s face blanched as he waved it towards her.
“You cannot.”
“Treat you as a child. I most certainly can, young lady. I have no intention of letting you enjoy your ill won journey.”
Tom found Dougal’s rage strangely reminiscent of his father’s. Antonia deserved to be punished for breaking military discipline, but not from a man so angry.
“Dougal, not while you are angry,” he said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
Dougal pulled himself together. “You are quite right, Thomas. I am far too furious to do this to her now.”
Antonia sighed with relief and Tom felt his tensions dissipate. Dougal handed Tom the ruler.
“You do it, Tom. Twenty strokes on her bare bottom and do not spare her or I shall have them done twice over by one of my men on our return. Let me know when you have finished and I shall come and inspect the results.”
Dougal opened the door to the bridge and stepped onto the bridge, closing the door behind him.
The door knocker sounded as Arnold made his way downstairs. He waited at the bottom of the stair hoping that one of the other servants would come and answer it. According to his watch it was seven in the evening and Sir Ernest had not told him he was expecting a guest.
Arnold sighed when it became clear he was going to have to answer the door himself. Drawing the bolts, he pulled open the door to find a scruff of a boy looking up at him.
“What’cha Arnold.”
It took Arnold a few seconds to identify the boy. He had grown unexpectedly fast since their last meeting.
“Tricky? What are you doing here?” the words ‘visiting a respectable house’ Arnold censored from his speech, though he certainly thought them.
“Come t’ see ‘is nibs. If that’s all right with you.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Don’t need one. Me an’ ’is nibs go way back. Go an’ ask ’im.”
Arnold didn’t bother. It dawned on him that he really did know nothing of Trelawney’s affairs as he invited Tricky into the house.
“David, is something wrong?” Trelawney asked as soon they entered the sitting room. Belinda put down her knitting. She rarely left the house for her own apartment before midnight, if she left at all.
“Ebb’s dying. ’e needs Tom.”
Trelawney sighed. “Tom is in America with Lord McBride.” “Dougal McBride,” he added as he saw the look of horror on Tricky’s face. “He is at least five thousand miles away and cannot possible get back in time to save your friend.”
“Daisy said ’e could, if we uses a telepath,” Tricky said defiantly.
Trelawney looked thoughtful. After a few moments contemplation he turned to Arnold. “I know it’s a damned nuisance, but could you go and get me an ounce of tobacco? The tobacconist off Oxford Circus will be open.”
Arnold knew Trelawney had plenty of tobacco. He turned to leave and then turned back again.
“You can trust me, Sir. I would never tell them anything important.”
Belinda came to his rescue. “Perhaps the time to include him in our circle has arrived, Sir Ernest.”
Trelawney agreed, though he didn’t look happy about it. “Stay then, but everything said from now on must not get back to Sir Anthony. Is that understood?”
Arnold nodded.
Trelawney turned to Tricky and spoke clearly and slowly.
“There is a woman called Andrea Wright. She is in her twenties, pretty, very slim with straight blonde hair and blue eyes. You would not fail to spot her in a crowd and you will not fail to find her when she leaves work at six each evening. She works at a building called Mercury House, not far from here. I will tell you exactly where in a moment. Do not attempt to talk to her there, it would not be safe and you would be seen. Follow her to her home and persuade her to pass on your message to her sister.”
“Did you follow all that?” Belinda asked.
Tricky nodded.
“I have told you enough to get me hung for treason,” Trelawney said dryly. “Let us hope that Daisy Drew knows what she is doing.”
“Come on, Ingrid. Surely six schnapps is not your limit? I drank more as a little girl,” Annelise goaded. She appeared very drunk, but Cam was far from fooled. In fact, neither woman had done more than drink the first glass. Cam hoped her sleights of hand were better than Annelise’s or she was in deep trouble.
If Annelise was aware that a patch of wet sawdust on the floor concealed a growing pool of alcohol, she certainly didn’t show it.
“Enough, I surrender,” Cam said, slurring her words and acting unsteady on her feet. “I confess I am a Hungarian spy,” she giggled, “but only to you, Annelise. Only to you.”
The tavern was crowded, but there was a clear area around the two women. Annelise was sometimes known as the Vienna Witch and it wasn’t because she could cast spells. Her delight in butchery was well known in intelligence circles. Despite all efforts at secrecy, the drinkers in the tavern were well aware that there were certain individuals you only approached at your peril.
Annelise smiled, showing gleaming white teeth. “You should carry a knife. Then if a British spy follows you, you can slit his throat.” She made an appropriate motion and grinned wickedly.
Cam made clumsy patting motions down her dress. “Must have forgotten to bring mine. It has been an age since I carried one.”
“Another drink?” Annelise asked. A barman had already refilled their glasses.
“Must pack. Long journey tomorrow,” Cam giggled inanely. “Couple of things I have to take care of in London.”
“Then be on your way.”
Cam made her way unsteadily through the room to the door. There she braced herself and standing a little straighter stepped out into the warm summer night.
Annelise took her drink and sipped at it. A man i
n a dark suit came to stand beside her.
“Did she kill him?”
Annelise shook her head. “I cannot tell. I cannot even tell you if she was drunk. She is a consummate actress, that one.”
“You will still entrust her with this mission? The Brotherhood will be unhappy if we fail.”
Annelise emptied her glass and put it back on the bar. “I will follow her to London and go to the wedding. If she is a double agent, there will be three deaths. I will slit her throat after I have dealt with the happy couple.”
“The Brotherhood will not be able to get you an invitation at such short notice.”
“Get them to give me the names and addresses of single women attending the wedding. I will handle the rest.”
6. Incidents
Grades of Magical Power
Magic skills are broken down by the Empire into five grades. The skills users have are complex and the guide below gives only a flavor of the capabilities involved. The rare skills of Telepathy and Reading are not categorized into grades.
Grade 1
Spellbinding:
Binds can last for up to two weeks.
Healing:
Can cure complex diseases like consumption and cancer.
Farseeing:
Can see events as they happen anywhere in the world.
Precognition:
Can see events several weeks in the future and locate them.
Empathy:
Can spot an assassin in a crowd.
Grade 2
Spellbinding:
Binds can last for up to six days.
Healing:
Can mend a broken bone; heal deep wounds and damage to organs.
Farseeing:
Can see events as they happen within a thousand miles.
Precognition:
Can see events up to a week in the future.
