by John Booth
“Can I perform the healing now?”
Antonia/Andrea rolled over and smiled wickedly at him. “One more time, for the road?”
“If that bind breaks when I am exhausted, Antonia could die.”
The woman whispered angrily with herself.
“If we must, we must,” she said in a forlorn voice.
Tom stood and quickly pulled on enough clothing to satisfy decency.
“Where will Antonia be when we break the bind?”
The woman shrugged and tore the bind. Tom dropped to his knees as the girl on the bed grew an enormous bump on the head and her breathing became shallow. When he touched her he realized how close to death she was. There was massive pressure on her brain from a bleed inside her skull and her skull was fractured.
As he fought to save her life, he felt Andrea’s hand drop onto his shoulder. Strength flowed through it into him. He hoped it would be enough.
Major Tannis knocked smartly on Sir Ernest Trelawney’s door. It opened a crack and he heard the distinctive sound of a pistol cocking.
“Name and reason for visit,” a female voice asked. Despite the feminine tones, Tannis recognized cold steel in it.
“Major Tannis from the Prince of Wales. Here to enquire about the plan of action at the request of the Prince.”
He heard the pistol being un-cocked and the door opened fully.
“Camilla Burns, agent of Trelawney’s hoping for a quiet life.”
Tannis entered the house.
“You have picked the wrong employer if that is your ambition,” Tannis said dryly.
“Do you think I have not noticed?”
Tom stepped into the crowded observation room and took a seat next to Laura. He looked pale and exhausted and Laura put a hand on his thigh. He flinched as it was sore.
“What happened to Antonia?”
Tom leaned over and kissed Laura passionately. “Never allow those women to get me alone while they are in that state. I doubt I shall survive it a second time.”
Antonia and Andrea entered the room. If not for their different clothes they would have been indistinguishable. Both had broad smiles on their faces.
“It seems as if I know you all intimately already through my sister, But it is good to meet you in person,” Andrea said.
“Are you fully recovered?” Dougal asked the twins.
“I am feeling wonderful,” Antonia answered.
“Then now that we are all together, I can brief you on Sir Ernest’s plan.”
Trelawney placed a map of London on the dining table which it more than covered. Twenty people Trelawney trusted gathered around to stare at it.
“It took an American to explain it to me. We believe that the real target of the Brotherhood is the royal collection known collectively as the crown jewels. Baxter has ordered all the troops stationed in the Tower of London to take part in the search for the Queen. However, I gather the commanding officer left three men to guard the Tower. Under normal circumstances, given the portcullis, the thickness of the doors, the Tower fortifications and the vault, this ought to be sufficient.”
“How will they break in?” Cam asked. “If enough of them scaled the walls, they could take the guards and let themselves out.”
“We have no idea.” Trelawney admitted. “They used a new kind of vehicle to kidnap the Queen and there is evidence they have a Grade 1 Spellbinder among their number.”
“Then we need a Spellbinder of similar power of our own or they will get away.”
Trelawney ignored the question about the Spellbinder. He doubted very much they would need one if they let the Brotherhood make the first moves.
“The Queen has given permission for us to let them take the jewels.”
There were murmurs of astonishment.
“Provided we ensure their safe return,” Trelawney added dryly.
“You are taking a risk with our careers, Sir Ernest,” Jones pointed out. “The safest thing would be to stop the thieves at the Tower.”
Trelawney sighed. “We need to catch the Brotherhood receiving the jewels. Be certain that the people doing the stealing will know very few of the Brotherhood and will not betray them. The Brotherhood will have taken their families as surety.”
“And what is to say they will take the jewels to the Brotherhood? It would be safer for the Brotherhood to stay clear and to share the profits from their sale,” Major Tannis asked.
“The Brotherhood has shown only one consistent characteristic,” Belinda said and everyone turned to her, waiting to hear more.
“My wife is right. However sensible it would be for them to stay in the background they will split the jewels soon after they are taken. Their greed will betray them. They would never trust a third party to handle the sale of the jewels, being certain they would be robbed.”
“It is what any one of them would do, given the chance,” Belinda added.
“What is our plan then?” Cam asked.
Tom felt at peace with the world as he asked Antonia to take them high into the air. It was a beautiful clear night and the Hubris was invisible, Laura having cast a fresh bind. He turned the ship east and followed the river towards the Tower of London.
“Don’t the ’ouses of Parliament look pretty,” Alice said as they saw them approach on their right. All its windows shone with gaslight.
“Be better without the people in ’em. At least that’s what mi Dad says,” Tricky commented. “Present company excluded,” he added, looking at Dougal.
Dougal laughed. “You and Ebenezer should go to the United States together. You would do well there.”
Laura entered the bridge. “I have a few binds ready to use. The biggest danger we face is their Spellbinder.”
“Provided he does not see us we should be safe,” Dougal said, but Laura disagreed.
“If he suspects we are here, he will attack us again.”
Tony readied the binds he might have to use. Of the four men sitting in the shed, he was the only one beginning to regret having taken the job.
“I always knew that papers printed lies,” Ross said. He threw down his copy of The Times in disgust. “According to them, the Prince is fully recovered and the Queen and Albert are back at the Palace. Their ‘special palace informant’ has told them.”
“Unless the Queen has learned to breathe water, I think they have it wrong,” Ernie said. “Biggest problem I’ve got is that there will be no one to kill at the Tower.”
“The biggest problem we have is the Spellbinder,” Tony said angrily. “We should call the job off.”
“What Spellbinder?” Ross asked.
“The one in that thing floating in the air. The one that made all my paper burst into flames.”
“You made that thing crash. I saw it coming down.”
Tony picked up the paper and threw it in Ross’s face. “Show me the story saying where it crashed.”
“Your binds always burst into flames,” Ross countered.
“These weren’t binds; they were blank pieces of paper. I don’t know of anybody who can do that.”
Even Brains found that funny. “You sets paper on fire all the time.”
“The Spellbinder did not know who I was,” Tony explained patiently. “To locate me and set my spare paper on fire took real power.”
Ross banged his fist on the table.
“We are not cancelling the job. We leave in three hours. If this imaginary Spellbinder bothers you, write some binds to stop him.”
The Hubris hovered high above the Tower of London, the massive walled castle looking much like a toy at the height they were at. A height chosen as the highest at which Edith’s talent fully operated.
“The soldiers are making themselves a brew,” she reported wearily. It had been hours since they arrived and the most exciting thing that had happened was that one of the soldiers had walked round the wall and checked that the gates were locked.
“I could knock ’em out?” Alice asked hopefully.
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“They are on our side, Alice.” Laura pointed out.
“Eric says that Trelawney and his men are in position and waiting for us to report.”
“Tell him that when we have something to report, we will report it,” Tom said. He had left Tricky and Lucy in charge of the bridge while he came back for a cup of tea.
Brains pulled the gates open and Ross drove the Charger out onto the road. Brains closed the gates, but left them unlocked for their visitors. He got in the Charger and it made its way to the Tower, its electric motor making almost no sound.
As they approached the Middle Tower, Tony got out two binds. He used the light from his lamp to check them.
“These binds will open the first two gates. Drive us through as soon as I finish them.”
“Why don’t you just turn the gates to water?” Brains asked.
“That takes far too much power,” Ross explained as Tony shook his head.
Tony completed the binds and the Charger went though the Middle Tower and Byward Tower gates. Ross drove the Charger around the Outer Ward to end up at Martin Tower where the jewels were stored. There was no entrance from this side, but that was why they had a Grade 1 Spellbinder with them.
Tony got out and looked up at the sky. He could see nothing but stars.
“Get on with it,” Ross urged. They had seen no one so far, but that did not mean there was nobody there. The Tower of London was big.
“In a second, give me time.” Tony took out a prepared bind and stared at the stone tower as he finished the bind. The stone wall flowed and reformed, creating a ramp down to the vault below. “We have five minutes at most,” Tony reminded them.
“The gates have been breached,” Edith said excitedly. “One of the guards is going to check the vault.”
“When he reaches the vault, use your power to look inside. A Spellbinder would not use the front door,” Laura said. She poised a pen over the final character of a special bind and hoped she would not have to use it.
The Charger could not possibly hold all the treasure in the vault. The men knew exactly where to find the things they wanted and they jumped into action, using the powerful electric light mounted on the Charger’s roof to illuminate the vault.
“Three minutes,” Tony called out. The plan called for them to leave at four minutes, regardless of what they had loaded. However, the Charger was almost full. The men had practiced this maneuver many times.
“Four and let’s go.”
Brains and Ernie were already back and only Ross was still moving a box. Tony watched the seconds pass on his pocket watch and worried that his bind would fail at any second.
At four minutes and forty seven seconds, the Charger accelerated out of the room and down the ramp. The wall began to reform as the vehicle slewed to a stop.
“They were in the vault. The wall closed as I watched,” Edith said excitedly.
“Find out what they are using for transport,” Dougal urged.
“It’s another of those metal coaches. Like the one they took the Queen in.”
“Follow it and do not lose it.”
As the Charger travelled back to the Middle Tower gate and safety, Tony sought out the bind he was looking for. The Charger ran over and killed a soldier who foolishly tried to stop them with a rifle. They were out in the streets of London when Tony completed his bind.
The Hubris jerked and began to fall. Laura finished her bind as the lights failed.
Tony cursed as the bind he was holding burst into flames.
Ross laughed as the man stamped out the paper on the floor.
“I thought you were always careful with those things?”
“It’s the Spellbinder. I cast a bind to disable that flying thing.”
“So where is it?” Ross asked skeptically.
He pulled the Charger to a stop and both men got out of the vehicle to look. The sky was clear and there were only stars.
“I tell you the Spellbinder is up there somewhere,” Tony said desperately. Ross shook his head.
“Leave us if you want. Perhaps the Brotherhood will spare your family.”
Tony shook his head. When he got into the Charger he started to think about binds, but he could think of nothing that would help.
“What just happened?” Dougal asked. The ship was back on an even keel, but all had been chaos for a few seconds.
“Spellbinder attack. I fought it off, but he now knows we are somewhere close.”
“More to the left,” Edith said and Tom turned the airship.
Alan looked at a map and called out to his brother. “They are going down Lloyd’s Alley, I think.”
“Alan, tell Trelawney their Spellbinder might be on to us,” Dougal ordered.
“He says not to worry. They have nowhere else to go.”
The chase went on across London and the Hubris had to use full power to avoid loosing the Charger.
“They have stopped in some kind of yard,” Edith yelled.
Alan sighed with relief. “Trelawney knows. He worked out where they were going minutes ago. He say’s thank you and that we can go home now.”
“Bloomin’ cheek,” Tricky said. “We do all the work and he gets the credit.”
“Well, I, for one, do not choose to go home,” Dougal said. “Take us down, Tom. Andrea, go and tell Ebb and Jeremiah what is going on and stay with them.”
The rag and bone yard was dark and silent. However, someone unseen closed the gates behind the Charger. Ross turned the light on the roof on and the yard was illuminated in bright electric light. There was no sign of anybody. The four men got out of the Charger.
“We have the goods,” Ross called out. “It all went to plan.”
Four shots split the night, sounding together almost as one. Tony tried to finish the bind in his hand, but his hands failed him as a bullet stopped his heart. Ross was killed instantly. Brains and Ernie fell to the floor and writhed until two more bullets stopped their motions.
Baxter stepped out from behind an old door he had used for cover. His gun smoked in his hand. “That was tremendous fun. We must do it more often.”
Men appeared from out of the shadows and joined him. Several carried guns.
“It was a shame about the Spellbinder. Grade 1’s are almost impossible to find,” Harris said.
“No loose ends,” Baxter chided. “We eliminated their families tonight.”
One of the men stepped forward and punched Baxter in the stomach. “You talk too much.”
Baxter bent and retched onto the cobbles. He made no attempt to fight back against the man who had punched him.
Most of the other men unloaded the boxes from the Charger, while a few began pouring paraffin over the things in the yard. When the boxes were stacked up by the gate, they poured paraffin over the Charger.
The man who had punched Baxter stepped in front of the boxes. “Our transport should be ready and waiting. Open the gates.”
On the other side of the gate a dozen coaches lined the street. There was no sign of their drivers. Trelawney and his men stepped from behind the coaches with their weapons raised. Cam and Belinda stepped out holding shotguns.
“You are surrounded and outnumbered,” Trelawney shouted out. “Surrender now and nobody will get hurt.”
Baxter pulled out his gun and fired at Trelawney and then everybody dived for cover as bullets flew in all directions.
“They made a right pig’s ear of that,” Tricky said with disgust.
Antonia looked at Dougal. “Andrea tells me your gunners would like to join in.”
“Why not?” Dougal said. “Give them my permission.”
The Hubris was less than thirty feet above the yard. Ebb and Jeremiah fired at the men, ripping through the flimsy things they hid behind. Almost before it had started, it was over. The members of the Brotherhood lay dead on the ground. Flames started to flicker in a corner of the yard, and within a few seconds most of the yard was on fire.
Tom took the Hubris
up and away to avoid the flames.
Alan looked at Dougal. “Mr. Trelawney is most annoyed. He asks who gave you permission to shoot. He wanted to interrogate those men.”
Dougal grinned.
“Tell him I have no idea what he is talking about as we are well on our way back to the Palace.”
Alan repeated the message to his brother.
Everybody looked eagerly at Alan, awaiting Trelawney’s reply.
Alan looked confused.
“Mr. Trelawney’s reply contains some words I cannot possibly repeat in front of the ladies.”
“Yes, you can, Alan. I doubt anything Trelawney says can possibly shock any of us,” Antonia said.
So Alan repeated the message out loud and it turned out she was wrong.
The End
Tom and Laura will return in The Confucian Affair
