by John Booth
Laura ran to the desk and pulled out a drawer. She gasped with pleasure at what lay within. Daisy came to stand over her.
“He told me those pens had not reached Military Magic yet,” Daisy said as she saw the same make of fountain pen as she bought Laura.
“Look at the paper,” Laura said in awe. “Copper woven into every sheet. |I think I am going to swoon.”
“It is almost as if she knew you were coming,” Daisy mused. “I think I am going to have to have a quick word with my Precog friends.”
She left Laura alone to fondle the paper and fill a couple of pens with ink. It is difficult for ordinary people to understand how Spellbinders feel about the tools of their trade, but it would not be an overstatement to say it is very similar in nature to love.
Cam rose from the stool she sat on and skidded down the slope to examine the target. She wore the dress she had bought for the wedding; though on her feet were highly practical boots. The stool she left behind looked completely incongruous in the middle of a forest. However, it was the same height as the pew Cam would be sitting on and that was all that mattered.
All the shots were within the small square Cam had drawn on the paper. She sighed with relief. Trelawney promised her that the gun he had given her would have the required accuracy. It was a one-off special, with a barrel twice as long as would be considered normal, making it more than a little unwieldy. It fired four shots and was impossible to reload quickly. But as Trelawney had promised, over the range it would be used, it would be deadly accurate.
Cam was beginning to feel nervous and it was a feeling she didn’t like. Too much depended on her and far too much could go wrong.
Harris knocked on the gates of the rag and bone yard and the gate opened just enough for him to sidle his way into the yard. From the inside the yard looked remarkable, instead of the usual piles of discarded junk there were two large vehicles, though it looked as though a team of horses would be required to pull them. They were made of metal, painted black, and had slots for windows. They looked more like railway carriages than anything that could be driven on a London street.
“Will these things actually move?” Harris asked disdainfully. “When I consider how much time and money the brotherhood has invested in these things, we had better see some return on it.”
The man standing next to him looked as unlikely as his vehicles. He had round black goggles over his eyes and black leather gloves on his hands.
“They can hit fifty miles an hour on good roads and forty-five on London cobbles. Range is limited, but we won’t be going far. Nothing can catch us and by the time they find where we have left the vehicle we will be long gone.”
Harris grunted in disbelief, but this part of the plan was not his responsibility. It was MM3’s job to control what the police and Army did in response.
“If you say so.” He handed over a map. “This shows the routes the coaches will use to go to the church and back. How do you plan to get into position?”
“We move the Chargers tonight. When they are in position, a canvas sheet will go over them and a couple of men with cudgels will be left on guard.”
“What if anybody sees you move them?”
“Who is going to believe them?”
Harris conceded mentally that the man had a point, but he gave a non-committal grunt. If it all went wrong, nobody would be able to claim he had supported the idea.
Three other men entered the yard from a large shed at the back.
The man with the goggles introduced them after a fashion.
“We will not use names, but this one is our Grade 1 Spellbinder. He will stop anyone that comes against us and take out the guards. The other two will grab our victims and drag them into the Charger. They will also dispose of them when we reach our destination.”
Harris grimaced at the casual way this man talked of murder, especially when he considered the people in question.
“They must not be found for twenty four hours. You will wait six hours and then make the assault with the second Charger. You know where to go when you have collected the targets?”
The man grimaced, “Of course we do. We are not fools.”
“Fools might try to betray us.”
“No one here is stupid enough to betray the Brotherhood. And that is why you have your men with our families, isn’t it? We will not betray you. There is money enough for everyone in this.”
Harris nodded, but the trouble with employing men like these, was that they were men like these.
He made his way back to the gate wondering why he always had to be the middleman. Baxter never got his hands grubby by talking to these low types. As he opened the gate the man called out to him. “Thank you for the map, Mr. Harris… And God Save the Queen!”
Harris grimaced in distaste. He loathed these people and their sick sense of humor.
The children occupied a bench in the dining room. Ebb and Lucy were holding hands at one end of the table, Alice and Edith occupied the opposite corner. Tricky decided to sit next to Ebb, getting an annoyed look from Alice for his trouble.
“I ’ates this place with all these people.” Tricky waved his hands to indicate the trainee spies, though none of them were actually present.
“At least you got out of being a choirboy at Trelawney’s wedding,” Alice put in.
“I was never gonner sing, that was mi cover.”
“I thinks Tricky’s got the face of an angel,” Ebb said and Lucy laughed.
“We need a plan,” Tricky said, ignoring his own reddened face.
“Alice and I are going to work as a team. I find the villains, Alice knocks them out,” Edith said.
“I’m gonner shoot the gun. I can shoot a flea off a pig’s back,” Ebb said cheerfully.
Ebb poked Lucy and she shook her head so he poked her again.
“I can do what Antonia does.”
Tricky gave her a sharp look, “You ain’t a Telepath.”
“She means the controls, on the ship,” Ebb explained. “Antonia’s been showin’ her.”
“And I can steer it.” Tricky grinned. “We could nick this bloomin’ airship, if we wanted.”
“Why would we want to do that?” Edith asked.
“That ain’t the point. We knows that we could an’ that’s enough.”
Daisy ran into Virtue Williams on her quest to find the Precogs, who seemed to be hiding from her. Virtue held onto her when she tried to step past her.
“Can we talk?”
Daisy wanted to say no, but there was something about the way the girl asked that made that reply impossible. The last time Daisy had seen Virtue the girl had just been raped and knifed by the man pretending to be the Headmaster.
“Somewhere private,” Virtue said and took Daisy by the hand to lead her into a stockroom.
“How are you?” Daisy asked.
Virtue shook her head. “You all went. All the brave ones. You, Camilla, Arnold, Tom, Laura, you just left us.”
Daisy didn’t know what to say. “Cam, Arnold and I were sent after Tom and Laura. We did not get the choice to refuse.”
“It was awful here. They found Amanda Pruit’s body in the woods. Did the Trench tell you that? It had been there for months, rotting.”
Daisy shook her head. Amanda had been a teacher and one of the Captain’s team replaced her without anybody knowing, just like they had done with the Headmaster. They had some special method to make themselves look like other people.
“You should have stayed. We needed you.”
Virtue’s words became sobs and she clung tightly to Daisy. It was some time before she stopped.
“I’m sorry, Virtue. None of us knew that any of you felt like that. We rushed off to save our friends and forgot about the ones we left behind.”
Virtue nodded and pulled herself together with a great effort. “You should go. And don’t come back. This is not your home any more.”
Annelise followed Miss Talbot from Military Magic’s He
adquarters to her small flat in Soho. When Miss Talbot opened the door, Annelise stepped up behind her and slid a stiletto under her ribcage and into her heart. Miss Talbot made a soft moan as she died and Annelise held her upright for long enough to get her into the flat.
Once inside, she dumped the body on the floor and went to look around.
“This will do very well indeed,” she said with some satisfaction. Miss Talbot had a larder stocked with enough cheese and ham to see her through to Saturday. Annelise’s dress for the wedding and her other weapons were in the carpetbag she had brought with her. All in all, a very successful day.
She opened the bedroom door and a cat screeched and ran over to the body. It started licking Miss Talbot’s face. Annelise took her knife and threw it with unerring accuracy, killing the cat.
“Good, the place is perfect now.”
Dougal gathered the crew together after the evening meal.
“I have informed Mrs. Trenchard that we will be staying on the Hubris tonight. We leave at dawn for London.”
“We are going to the wedding?” Laura said excitedly. Then her face fell. “My dress is still in Reading.”
Dougal shook his head. “We will not be attending the wedding, but we will be hovering close by. Sir Ernest has indicated there will be trouble. Apparently Cam and Annelise Shultz will be in attendance and Trelawney has suggested there will be a ruckus of some sort.”
“Wherever Cam is, there you will also find trouble,” Daisy said solemnly. “But the sudden appearance of the Hubris will cause trouble on its own, especially with the Queen in attendance at the church.”
“Which is why I want Laura to make the ship invisible, if she can?”
Laura looked surprised, then after a few moments she nodded. “I can certainly make it difficult to see.”
“That should be enough. Jeremiah, we should get ready for trouble. Have you fixed the starboard gun?”
“I think so. I would sure hate to leave all the shooting to young Ebenezer.”
“Franz, are you certain you want to come?”
“Victoria is my queen too. I will go with you.”
“Tricky, have you children made a decision?”
Tricky stood up to answer. “Bein’ as ’ow ’opeless you lot are without us to ’elp out, we feels we ’as to come along.”
Tom couldn’t help grinning at that. The lad had a point.
“Then we leave at dawn. Everybody go to bed and get some sleep.”
Dougal waited until Tom was almost out of the door. “Especially you, Tom. We cannot have your women wearing you out.”
24. The Wedding
It was three o’clock in the morning of Saturday 10th August 1861, eight hours before the wedding of Sir Ernest Trelawney to Miss Belinda Mann, when the wooden gates of the rag and bone yard opened and a man wearing goggles drove a strange metal vehicle silently onto the street. The only sounds were a low unnatural whine and the crunch of steel wheels on cobbles.
The vehicle continued down the road while two men pushed the gates closed and used a chain and padlock to secure them. The vehicle stayed on backstreets and encountered no one as it made its way to a chosen spot between Buckingham Palace and St Giles’ Church. It parked on a side street and two large men stepped from the shadows with an enormous canvas sheet.
The driver got out and the men worked quickly to cover the vehicle.
“All done, Mr. Ross,” one of them said.
Ross took off his goggles and scowled. “No names in a public place, remember?”
“Sorry, boss.”
A feminine giggle caused all three men to start. A girl in her mid-teens stepped from the shadows; from her clothing it was clear she was a street walker and from her walk she was worse the wear for drink.
“Thought I’d done mi tricks for the night. But I’ve always got room for one more on top. How does that coach work? You got pedals inside it, Mister Ross?”
The two men looked at Ross and he ran a finger across his throat. The girl didn’t see the gesture and moved towards Ross. One of the men grabbed her by the waist and she spun to hold him close.
“One at a time, dearie. I’m still a lady.”
His hands closed around her throat and those were the last words she uttered.
“Dump her somewhere she won’t be found for a while. And make sure that no one gets to look under this canvas.”
Ross strode away, not waiting for an acknowledgement.
Tom woke to a kiss on the lips and he opened his eyes before he opened his mouth.
“Good morning, Laura. If it is morning?”
“I see you have to look to see which one of us is kissing you. That simply will not do, Thomas Merlin Carter.”
“I thought it might be Dougal,” Tom replied straight faced. “And I would not want to offend him.”
“Are you suggesting I need a shave?” Laura ran her fingers over her top lip and was relieved to find it smooth.
“I am suggesting that two can play at teasing. And it is still dark out there. Dougal warned me about your insatiable needs.”
“Dougal has decided that we need to set off a little earlier than planned. He is worried about the strength of the wind and does not want to arrive late. However, it is good that you recognize my needs and I shall expect them to be satisfied in full at a date of my choosing.”
Tom put out his hand as though he needed help to rise from his bunk. Laura stepped back from him laughing.
“You do not catch me that easily. Tonia has told me all about your debauched tricks and, in any case, we do not have the time.”
“Then your lack of satisfaction is your own fault.” Tom shrugged. “I cannot be blamed for it.”
Dougal had raised help from Hobsgate. Mick and three other men released the ropes, allowing the ship to rise into the air. Lucy sat at the attitude controls as Antonia guided her.
“She’s a natural,” Antonia said.
“She’s a short range Precog,” Tom explained. “A bit like Ebb, though Ebb lives exactly five seconds ahead and Lucy sees things that are about to happen for variable times in the future and over a greater range. It gives her an advantage.”
“This is fun,” Lucy said, ignoring the adults. She knew Tom was right, she could sense how the ship would respond to her actions at the controls, but that didn’t matter because the feeling of power it gave her was exhilarating.
Daisy joined Laura in the observation room as the airship engines thrummed at an increased intensity. “How would you defend the airship against Spellbinder attack?”
Laura gave Daisy a hard look. “What a strange question. Have you had a vision?”
Daisy shook her head. Her visions were strongest when she dreamed them and she could not remember. Everything was happening too fast and future events seemed highly fluid. “I am not sure.”
“Only a Class A or Grade 1 would have the power to transform or damage a ship this big, unless they knew exactly how it worked. That is one of the things Snood taught me, that you can do much more if you understand exactly how a thing works.”
“So we are safe?”
“A Grade 1 could damage the ship in a variety of ways, but if they did not know what it was he would probably try to make it heavy. I will think on it when I finish the invisibility bind.”
“Dougal says not to apply that until we reach the outskirts of London. He does not want it to fail during the wedding.”
Laura nodded and frowned as she considered the problems before her.
Arnold fussed around Trelawney with a brush, trying to remove invisible marks from his suit. The bulge in Trelawney’s chest did not help.
“Arnold, stop fussing. This is only a wedding.”
“But this is your wedding, sir. And the Queen, Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales will be there.” Arnold could not quite keep the terror out of his voice. Those three were much more worrying than Annelise Shultz and Camilla attending as assassins. The worst the women could do was kill him, the ro
yal family could shame him for his incompetence.
“Arnold, pass me my gun and then go and sit over there, out of my way.”
Annelise checked her hair and her dress out in the mirror. Miss Talbot had a full length one in her bedroom and Annelise was grateful for her thoughtfulness. Not all her victims showed such consideration.
She took her pistol from the dressing table and put it in her purse. Checking the purse she confirmed the opera glasses were in it. The twin knives in her dress would provide all the other protection she needed.
Camilla thought her dress looked beautiful. When she put Trelawney’s pistol into the pocket she had sewn into the dress, the pistol spoiled its flowing lines, which was annoying. Still it would have to do.
Eric Kincaid knocked on Andrea’s door and she opened it to find him in full dress uniform. Like his brother, he was an Army officer.
“You look fantastic,” he told her.
“I hate last minute invitations,” Andrea complained. “I had no time to buy a dress. This is an old one.”
“Why do you think we were invited? Neither of us knows Sir Ernest or his bride.”
“I expect he had his reasons.”
Andrea picked up her purse. “Damn, where did I put my gun?”
Eric was shocked, “You are going armed?”
“Have you not been talking to your brother? Something terrible is about to happen.”
Belinda allowed her maid to fuss over her and straighten her dress. The girl then handed her the small snub nosed pistol to hide in the special pocket designed for it.
“Do you think that any other women will be going armed to the wedding?” the girl asked timidly.
“I would not be the slightest bit surprised if they all were,” Belinda replied.
As the airship passed over the outer edge of London, much earlier than planned, Laura completed the invisibility bind. Though there was no way she could go out and confirm it, the ship should now look like the sky above it.
