The Londum Omnibus Volume One (The Londum Series Book 4)

by Tony Rattigan

  He had fallen asleep in the crook of her arm and she was unwilling to move her arm to disturb him, he needed his rest. So she sat there holding him. She didn’t know what to make of Cobb. Here was a man, who had turned up out of nowhere and she had tried to kill him. And yet he had given her money and offered to try and help. Then later when he thought she was in danger, he had rushed to her rescue and saved her life, at the risk of his own.

  She didn’t know men like this even existed outside the storybooks; she had certainly never met any. The only ones she met were the ones she had known in her University days, or the ones she had met at the school where she taught. They may be bright, intelligent, and witty perhaps but she couldn’t imagine any of them standing up for themselves in a fight, let alone risking their lives to save someone else’s. This man was different. This was a real man.

  On an impulse she kissed him on the forehead and then held him close. After a while she fell asleep too and they slept like that through the day.

  ***

  Cobb slept through that day and all that night, apart from when Adele woke him and gave him some of her herbal broth or applied a fresh poultice. He woke with a start next morning, he’d been having a bad dream about being chased by Soames the butcher, who kept insisting that the Loch Dupp Monster had killed the clowns because they were eating all the sausages! Cobb shuddered and looked around him.

  Adele was sat on the chair, watching him. ‘Good morning,’ she said. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘I’ve felt better. How did I get here? The last thing I remember is having a small tree stuck in my chest and trying to learn to breathe underwater.’

  ‘I dragged you out of the water and did what you suggested … got as far away as fast as I could. Don’t ask me where we are, I got us lost. Hopefully that means that they can’t find us.’

  ‘How long have we been here?’

  ‘Two days.’

  Cobb tried to get up but fell back on the bed. Adele poured some more of her herbal broth and gave it to him to drink. ‘Do you think you could manage some solid food?’

  ‘I’ll certainly give it a try, I’m starving.’

  Adele busied herself fixing Cobb’s food. When it was ready she brought it over to him. He was unable to cut the eggs or eat properly with only one hand so Adele ended up spoon-feeding him.

  After he had eaten, Adele came back, sat on the bed and began applying a fresh poultice and changing his bandage. She had taken the opportunity to go down to the stream and bathe while Cobb had slept. He couldn’t help noticing how fresh she smelt. She was wearing that perfume again. He told her who he was, his past history with Quist and how he had come to accept the job of finding her. ‘So why does your father really want me to find you?’

  ‘Don’t call him my father! He’s not … he killed my father!’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Cobb, shocked.

  ‘I was only a little girl at the time but my mother told me all about it later. My father used to work for Quist, he was one of his lower level lieutenants. Quist decided he wanted my mother, so he arranged for my father to be killed during one of their robberies. Then he made his move and asked my mother to marry him. I don’t think it was just physical attraction, Quist knew my mother was a witch and she could use her powers to help him carry out his crimes. She married him but it was just to protect me. Life’s not a lot of fun for a widow and child when you have no income. Anyway, when she died, he expected me to start helping him but I told him I’d rather die first. That’s why I ran away. If I didn’t then I thought he might hold me prisoner until I agreed, so I waited for the right moment and then I was away!’

  ‘Well you may not have seen the last of him. His Cantonese sidekick, Won Lungh was in Drumnadrochit the night we escaped.’

  ‘Oh, Won Lungh’s a pussycat, he wouldn’t hurt me. He’s looked after me since I was a little girl. I think it’s because he has no close family of his own but since I was small, whenever Quist came to the house, Won Lungh would come with him as his butler. He would play with me, bring me sweets, that sort of thing. He treated me as if I were his own daughter. He worships me and he would never do anything to harm me.’

  ‘Well, if it comes to a choice between you and Quist, you may find that you will be disappointed.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ she said doubtfully.

  Then something occurred to Cobb, he asked her, ‘When we first met, you accused me of coming to kill you and get “it” back. What is “it”?’

  ‘Ah. I’m afraid I have a small confession to make. When I ran away, I stole a diamond from Quist.’

  ‘To sell?’

  ‘No … certainly not. Do you think I’m dishonest? I know that the diamond is important to some scheme that Quist has planned, so I took it.’

  ‘That explains why he is so keen to find you.’

  ‘Do you feel well enough to get up?’ enquired Adele.

  ‘Actually, yes. I don’t know what you put in that poultice but my shoulder feels much better.’

  ‘Good. Put your trousers and your shirt on and I’ll take you down to the stream. You could use a bath.’

  She took him down to the stream and told him to get undressed. Cobb took his shirt off but refused to remove his trousers. ‘Oh come on Mr. Cobb, I’m not some shrinking violet who will faint if I see you in your underpants. This is the 19th century, you know!’

  Cobb gave in reluctantly and sat on a stone trying to cover his … er … embarrassment, while she washed him down. She dried him off with a blanket and he dressed. When they walked back to the cottage, Cobb found that his shoulder was loosening up and he could actually move his arm without too much pain.

  ‘That poultice you put on me really seems to be working,’ he said. ‘My shoulder seems to be getting less painful. It’s a good job for me that you’re a witch.’

  Adele stopped dead. ‘Who said I was a witch?’

  ‘I went to a diviner to try and find out where you were and she said that she couldn’t find you because someone had put a cloaking spell on you. When I asked her who she thought might have done that, she said that it was probably you, as you were a witch. It’s true isn’t it? I saw you light the fire this morning. You didn’t use matches,’ he said pointedly.

  She started walking back towards the cottage again. ‘I’m not really a witch; I’m a scientist, a teacher. Like I said, my mother was a witch and Quist used her and her powers to advance his crooked schemes. I saw the toll that it took on her each time she abused her talent for his ends. She felt that she was betraying the whole Wiccan order, using her Magick for bad. I was determined that I would not let me and my powers be used like that, so I rejected my abilities and refused to learn anything but the most basic of spells. I didn’t want to be put in the position where I could be forced to use my powers to help Quist. If I didn’t know Magick then I couldn’t be made to use it, was the way I thought.

  ‘So I turned away from Magick and studied science. I did have this desire to learn the ways of the Universe, it’s always intrigued me finding out how things tick, but I figured I’d do it with a microscope and a test tube instead of a wand and a cauldron. I went to University and studied anything but Magick! But I guess over time you can’t help picking up a trick or two. Sometimes you just think of something, like “I want these twigs to heat up” and it happens. You don’t always need spells to make things happen you know, you can sometimes do it with your mind. You can’t get away from natural ability, I guess.’

  ‘So you’re saying that you don’t want to be a witch?’ Cobb asked her.

  ‘No, not really. I plan on being a scientist or teaching, like I’ve been doing up ‘til now. Being a witch is the furthest thing from my mind.’

  ‘But you saved my life.’

  ‘That was science not Magick, surgery not Mysticism.’

  Cobb couldn’t help thinking, How did William Shortstraw put it? “Methinks the Lady doth protest too much” … or was it … “Don’t kid a kidder” but
aloud all he said was, ‘Okay then, if that’s the way you feel about it. I think it’s a bit of a shame though, with your mix of Magick and science you could be a formidable person. But … it’s your life.’

  They walked in silence for a moment then Adele piped up. ‘So how did you find me?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘I’ve been puzzling over how you found me and then you just said that you hired a diviner and she couldn’t find me either, so how did you do it? I thought I was being very careful to make sure I couldn’t be followed.’

  ‘Yes, you made a good attempt at it but you lack experience, you made some basic mistakes by relying too much on the train to get away. I know this man in Londum who has people working for him, all over the country. They found you through the railway line. His men spread some money around and spotted when you left the north/south line and went across country. Then they discovered that you joined the train line further up country. It took a few days but they tracked you all the way up to Inverdupp. So I started my search from there. Spotting the sign for Duppie, which led me to Loch Dupp, was just a stroke of luck. I’d have tracked you to there eventually but it just saved me a few days.’

  ‘Damn, and I thought I was being so clever jumping off the train and then back on somewhere else but you still found me.’

  ‘Hey, I’m a detective, it’s what I do.’

  ‘Very impressive,’ she told him.

  ‘That diviner told me something else as well … she told me that you were in trouble. Caught in the middle of a struggle between good and evil and you needed help. Any idea what she meant by that?’

  Adele looked at him. ‘I’m afraid I haven’t a clue what she could have been talking about.’

  ‘So you’re not going to tell me? I can help, you know.’

  ‘I’m sorry Mr. Cobb, I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough to tell you all my secrets. We’ve only just met, after all.’

  ‘Excuse me? Are you telling me that after that bath you just gave me we are still strangers?’ he said. ‘And it’s Cobb by the way.’

  ‘Pardon me?’

  ‘It’s just Cobb. Not Mr. Cobb, not Rufus, just Cobb.’

  ‘Very well then, Cobb. Despite our recent closeness … I’m not sure that opening up to you is the right thing to do.’

  ‘You don’t trust me?’

  ‘I don’t want to put you into danger.’

  ‘Hey, Miss Curran, it wouldn’t be the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last.’

  ‘Adele … you can call me Adele.’

  They both let the subject drop as they had arrived back at the cottage. ‘It’s a nice day, sunny, no wind. Why don’t you put your overcoat on and sit outside for a while? The sun will help your recovery,’ suggested Adele.

  ‘Okay,’ said Cobb taking a chair outside. ‘Will you join me?’

  ‘Not just yet. Our food supplies are getting low so I need to go and stock up the larder.’ She put her coat on and headed off across the moor.

  While Adele was gone, Cobb had a look round the cottage and found the whisky. When she returned he was sitting outside sunning himself, having a drink. She saw that he was watching a flock of geese flying across the sky in a V shaped formation.

  ‘Don’t you wish you could do what birds do?’ she asked him.

  ‘What … make custard?’ he asked, puzzled.

  ‘No silly, fly south for the winter. Just fly away from all your troubles.’

  ‘Oh that, yes, that would be nice.’ He noticed she had a brace of rabbits over her shoulder.

  ‘How did you catch them?’ said Cobb, impressed.

  ‘I hid behind a rock and made a noise like a lettuce. When they came to investigate I jumped them. I see you found the whisky.’

  ‘No seriously, how did you catch them?’

  ‘I “called” them to me, with my mind, like I did with Duppie. When they came I hit them with a rock. Poor things, they never had a chance but we have to eat. Can I borrow your knife?’

  ‘Sure. I’m relieved you caught the rabbits, I thought we’d have to eat the horse,’ said Cobb. Adele cut the throats of the rabbits and then hung them round the back of the cottage to drain.

  Cobb dozed off in the warm sunshine. When he woke up, he wandered into the cottage to find Adele preparing the rabbits. He watched in admiration as she expertly skinned and gutted them. ‘Where on earth did you learn that?’ he asked

  ‘The benefits of a University education.’

  ‘What? Do they teach poaching now?’

  ‘No. They teach biology and anatomy, which includes dissection. We practised on frogs and rabbits. How do you think I knew enough to be able to take that bolt out of your shoulder?’

  ‘Very impressive.’

  Adele put the rabbits in a pot with some water and some herbs she had collected and then put the pot on the fire to cook.

  Cobb and Adele went outside to sit in the sun again. Cobb poured himself another drink.

  ‘Do you always drink this much?’ she asked him.

  ‘Yeah, pretty much.’

  ‘Well … why? Is life so hopeless?’

  ‘I drink to forget …’

  ‘Forget what?’

  ‘I don’t know … I’ve forgotten.’

  ‘Oh well, if you’re going to be like that then,’ she stood up to leave.

  ‘No, no, wait a minute. I’m sorry … please stay.’

  Maybe it was the drink, maybe it was the warm sun making him drowsy, maybe it was because she had saved his life, or maybe it was just because it was Adele, he didn’t know … but he told her. He told her everything. About Esme, how his world had crumbled when he’d lost her, even about the dimension shifting and how he felt responsible for her death. How he had got reckless and been invited to leave the police force, what he did now to get by. How he had just … lost his way.

  ‘Still, you have to laugh though, don’t you?’ Cobb said bitterly as he finished his story.

  He stopped talking, just staring down at his hands. Adele didn’t say anything. She stood up, wiped a tear away from her eye, poured him another drink, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Then she went inside to see how the stew was coming along.

  ***

  The rest of the day passed fairly quietly. They ate the rabbit stew and discussed what they should do. They agreed that next day they would move on, take the horse and cart and head south, find a railway station and head back into Albion.

  They talked until it got dark and it was time for bed. Adele said she couldn’t spend another night sleeping in the chair. Cobb insisted on Adele taking the bed but she said he needed another night’s rest to complete his recovery. They argued for a few minutes then Adele lost her patience.

  ‘Right, that’s it!’ she said, ‘no more arguing, get undressed and get in that bed! We are both adults, after all.’ Cobb did as he was told and got into the bed. There was a rustle of clothing and then Adele joined him.

  They lay there for a few moments, Cobb lying on his good side, Adele lying on her side, back-to-back, rigid, trying not to touch each other. Then Adele thought, this is nonsense, so she rolled over, snuggled up to Cobb and put her arm round his waist. After a moment’s hesitation, Cobb slid his hand down until it was resting on top of Adele’s and then laced his fingers through hers.

  The Plot – Pay Attention!

  Cobb and Adele got up next morning and after going down to the stream to wash, made some breakfast from what remained of the groceries and the rabbits that Adele had caught the day before. They discussed options about which direction they should travel when they left the cottage. They decided that they would be safer not returning to Loch Dupp or Inverdupp, so they would take the cart and push on towards the other end of the loch. There was a town there called Fort Willem that had a rail line. Besides, it was probably nearer to their cottage than Inverdupp was. Adele was agreeing with this plan when she suddenly stopped talking mid sentence.

  Cobb looked up from his plate, into Ade
le’s eyes; she was staring wide eyed, over his shoulder. Cobb spun around and saw Harlequin standing there, arms folded, looking down at them. ‘Getting cosy, are we?’ said Harlequin, with a smirk.

  Cobb jumped out of the chair and dived at Harlequin … and went straight through him, hit the wall and slid to the floor. Cobb picked himself up, shook his head to clear it and took a swing at Harlequin. His hand just passed harmlessly through Harlequin’s body. ‘What the hell are you?’ he said, ‘and who are those little yellow bastards that keep trying to kill me?’

  Harlequin sneered back at him, ‘Wouldn’t you like to know, maggot? I’ll be the last thing you ever see if you touch Adele!’

  ‘Boys, boys, boys,’ said Adele in her best schoolmarm voice, positioning herself between them. ‘You could cut the testosterone in here with a knife! Now settle down, both of you,’ she said glaring at them, ‘I’m not in any danger from him,’ jerking her thumb at Cobb, ‘and you’re not going to do anything stupid,’ pointing her finger at Harlequin. ‘Now Cobb, sit down and have a drink, we need to talk.’

  Cobb did as he was told, grudgingly. Adele sat opposite and Harlequin stood at the head of the table. ‘Right,’ said Adele, to Harlequin, ‘Cobb is not the enemy, he is trying to protect me and I trust him, so I think we should tell him what’s going on … everything.’

  ‘But he works for your father!’

  ‘He was just hired to find me; he’s not going to tell Quist where I am.’

  ‘And you’re sure you trust him?’ said Harlequin.

  ‘Trust me? What about him?’ said Cobb to Adele. ‘Every chance he gets he tries to have me killed!’

  ‘Well somebody has to, for the sake of the gene pool!’ replied Harlequin. ‘Okay, so that was to stop you getting to Adele but despite my best efforts you’re here now, so we might as well make the best of it.’

  Adele said to Cobb, ‘It’s time we came clean and told you what’s going on.