The Spellbinder (Tom & Laura Series), page 14
They were in the biggest cave Snood had ever seen. The tunnel came out at the top of a winding set of steps cut into the rock. At the bottom was a natural harbor; there was even a little sand visible at the far end. Someone had turned the cave into a dock by building a long wooden quay.
The timbers looked as though they had been in place since the dawn of time, though there were signs of repair. The quay was designed so a boat could dock at low or high tide. The end of it was just contained by the cave, finishing at its jagged mouth.
A fishing boat was entering the harbor. Two men waited on the quay ready to grab ropes thrown by men on the boat. The dock was long enough to accommodate another two such boats at the same time.
The cave was lit by two large flaming lamps, set so they could not be directly seen from the sea, though the reflected light at the cave entrance must have been visible for miles in the dark. Snood was wide-eyed with amazement as he watched the men on the quay tie off the boat and go to extinguish the lamps. When they doused them, only the dim light from the lanterns on the boat and one on the quay remained.
Snood stood up to go and greet them, but the Headmaster pulled him back and shook his head. When he got back into position he saw the men below staring towards the mouth of the cave. A black shadow slid across the water into the cave. It looked freakishly rectangular. A small tower in the center of the shadow glided towards the dock.
Then, without a word of warning, all hell broke loose.
Snood watched with a growing sense of horror, though in the pale light from the lanterns, only occasional glimpses of what was happening below him were possible. It seemed the black shadow was an underwater vessel with only a few inches of it above water. Crew stood on the deck, forward of the tower, and opened fire with a weapon from hell.
All Snood could tell was that there was impossibly rapid gunfire from the deck and screaming smugglers on the dock. He saw parts of the deck of the fishing boat ripped apart as the unnatural weapon continued to fire. Two of the smugglers managed to escape its onslaught, hiding behind a box on the dock where they were clearly visible from where he stood. They had several rifles and one of the men was loading for the other, who took aim and fired before taking a newly loaded weapon from his companion.
The smuggler with the rifle was an excellent shot. Screams came from the deck of the black vessel and the demon weapon stopped its incessant beat of death. The cave echoed with screams and moans from the wounded. It looked as though this battle had reached an impasse.
The Headmaster stood up, carefully aiming his pistol. He discharged one barrel and then the other and the two smugglers behind the box fell dead.
Moments later, renewed fire from the black ship killed those who still screamed on the dock. Then there was a silence. The Headmaster cupped his hands to his mouth and made three bird calls. Men shouted on the black ship as crew jumped to the dock and made fast their vessel.
The Headmaster made his way down the stone steps and Snood followed. The black boat’s crew hung lanterns on the dock so they could see. The crew wore black uniforms and moved purposely. Navy men of some kind, Snood was sure. Two crew from the black boat lay on the dock, wounded, and from their cries, in some pain.
A man wearing a white flat cap climbed onto the dock from the black boat. Snood recognized him as the Captain of the vessel from the way his men moved around him. He strode over to his injured crew and looked at their wounds. Then he casually took a revolving pistol from a holster hung low from his belt and shot them.
“Get rid of the bodies,” the Captain shouted in an accent Snood didn’t instantly recognize.
Men picked up the bodies of the smugglers and crew and unceremoniously dragged them to the edge of the dock. There was the sound of a shot from the fishing boat and Snood was certain another smuggler had just been found. A rowing boat at the back of the fishing boat was pulled across to the dock and bodies began to be piled into it.
“Take them out of the cave and ditch them,” the Captain ordered. He turned towards Snood and the Headmaster.
“Good shooting, Turner. That saved us a mite of trouble.”
Snood finally recognized the Captain’s accent as American. He had met one of two of them in London.
“Please use our cover names, Captain,” the Headmaster said severely.
“As you wish, it makes no never-mind to me. We’ll hole up for the night in the cave and unload the ‘Pride’. You make sure that little Class A doesn’t do anything we might regret. You sure you can do that Glen…, Snood.”
“Of course.” Snood knew a confident answer was required and always aimed to please when he was outnumbered.
“Good accent, Glen. I’d almost believe you were a Limey if I didn’t know better.”
The Captain stood with his hands on his hips staring at them and they got the message. The trip back to the cellar was fast and uneventful. They went out to find the body of the man the Headmaster had shot, but though there was plenty of blood on the grass, he couldn’t be found. The Headmaster muttered a curse that a sailor would have been proud of.
“No matter, he will not have gone far. I am sure his wounds will kill him by morning. Snood, you are to tutor Miss Young in the afternoon and then tie her up; keeping her away from anything that might be used to form a bind. Do not damage her in any way. Is that understood?”
“Yes sir, tie her up and don’t let her bind anything.”
“Good. Best get back and get some sleep then. We shall have a busy day tomorrow.”
Chapter 20 Choices
Cam, Tom, and Laura had arranged to go down to the Mess together for breakfast. They had talked long into the night before finally retiring to bed. Tom yawned as he struggled to wake up and get dressed. When he knocked on Laura’s door she was ready to go and looked fully refreshed.
“How does she manage to look like that on four hours sleep?” he asked himself in a whisper as Laura dragged him to Cam’s room.
Tom didn’t ask about Leon when Cam opened her bedroom door. She invited them in while she finished getting dressed, and there was no sign the man had ever been in the room.
Hobsgate was a military academy and there was no question that all forms of sexual liaisons between students were completely against the rules and possibly the law. But that they took place was hardly much of a surprise. With its students aged between nineteen and twenty two it was amazing how discrete they were. Before last night, Tom had seen nothing to suggest that anything was going on in the school.
Cam and Laura hugged each other tightly and Cam smiled at Tom.
“I’ll think of some way to get Snood for you, just you wait and see,” Cam whispered in Laura’s ear.
“Don’t you dare, Camilla. I can look after myself.”
Cam voice rose in excitement. “I still can’t believe there are traitors in MM3.”
Tom shushed Cam and looked around the room as though there might be spies hiding under Cam’s bed. It occurred to him that there might very well be a man under Cam’s bed for all he knew.
“I can keep a secret,” Cam replied defensively before adding ‘I think’ under her breath. “And I can’t wait to become friends with Mick.”
“Laura needs to walk with a limp and act injured so Snood doesn’t get suspicious,” Tom reminded them. It was something they had agreed was necessary last night. It would reinforce the illusion of a bruised bottom.
“I know just the way to do it,” Cam said and reached for her sewing kit. “Tricks of the stage, I picked up during the summer.”
Cam proceeded to lift Laura’s skirts and put a few pins through her drawers. The pins tightened up one side of her underwear making it uncomfortable for her to walk while the ends of the pins meant that sitting down would contain more than an element of risk.
“You’ll find limping and wincing comes completely natural now I’ve done that,” Cam said as she dropped Laura’s skirt back into place.
Laura tried a couple of steps and suppressed a scream as one of the pins pricked in a very delicate place. Tom had to put a hand over his mouth to stop from laughing out loud.
“We’ll be late for breakfast if we don’t get a move on,” he pointed out. The bell calling them to the Mess had rung some time before.
Cam sniffed, “Isn’t that typical of a man? They might be late for a wedding or a war, but never for a meal.” Despite her words she hurried to the door and strode down the corridor with Laura and Tom having to run to catch up. Laura ended up a long way behind the others as running turned out to be highly inadvisable after Cam’s pinwork.
Breakfast was its usual bedlam. Leon sat at a table across the room with his back to them. Tom wasn’t sure if that was just him acting to cover up his relationship with Cam or whether he was genuinely upset. Whichever way it was it didn’t seem to bother Cam in the slightest and she never looked in his direction.
They only had one lesson that morning and then the rest of the morning was free. Cam wanted to be introduced to Mick as soon as possible, so they resolved to try and find him as soon as the strategy lesson finished.
Snood saw Tom and Laura enter the Mess. He moved back from where he stood to make sure they didn’t see them. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Laura walking almost normally. The Carter boy must have attempted to heal her and didn’t finish the job. He felt a warm wash of gratitude to the boy, only slightly tempered by his hatred of him.
The events of the night had changed Snood. He killed individuals for money, but what he had seen the previous night was wholesale indiscriminate slaughter, and the people responsible for it scared him. They killed their own side when they became inconvenient. He remembered the looks on the sailors’ faces as their captain shot them. They had known they were going to die even as they knew their wounds were not serious enough on their own to kill them.
These people with their American accents and strange boats were not the slightest bit British. Snood didn’t think of himself as a patriot, but the Brotherhood was British to its core. It didn’t do things it felt would seriously threaten the Empire. The purpose of the Brotherhood was to provide its members with the money they needed to enjoy the many delights the Empire offered. They might be criminals, but they knew they were were upper class British criminals.
Most of all, he found that he wanted to spite the Captain and his men for being foreign and for trying to kill him on the train. The Captain was frightened of Laura and it would be to Snood’s advantage if he kept him that way. Snood was damned if he was going to give them Laura for ‘the American cause’. She was worth a fortune if delivered to the Brotherhood at the right time and place. No, he was going to help Laura escape these foreigners. To do that he had to make sure she listened to him, and more importantly, believed what he said.
Back at the friend’s breakfast table, a serving maid walked up to Cam and handed her a note.
“What that?” Laura asked.
Cam scanned the note and sighed.
“I’ve received an important letter. I have to go up to the office to collect it.”
Cam looked worried at the news and Laura and Tom knew why. An important letter usually meant bad news.
“I will see you later. I have to go.” Cam stood up with her fists clenched tightly together and walked out of the room.
Snood watched the interchange and when Cam walked away he saw an opportunity to talk to Laura while she was off her guard. He walked imperiously up to her table
“Miss Young, I want to see you in my study… now,” he said curtly and then walked away without waiting for a reply. Laura jumped as he spoke and was instantly terrified again. She looked at Tom in horror.
“What shall I do?”
Tom made a quick decision.
“Go. I shall come with you and wait outside his door. If I hear anything untoward…,” Tom paused, ‘what would he do?’ “I shall come in and distract him, perhaps threaten him. I’ll think of something, you’ll see.”
“Thank you, darling Thomas.” Laura leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “We had better hurry though. I don’t want to give Snood any excuse to beat me again.”
Snood paced his study waiting for Laura to arrive. ‘Drat it all, where was the girl?’ There was a knock at the door and Laura entered, her eyes focused on the floor.
“I see you have recovered somewhat” ‘Damn, why did he always start these conversations with her so badly?’ Snood cursed his inability to talk to the girl without it coming out all wrong.
“Would you like to see your handiwork, sir,” Laura said meekly and before he could stop her she had dropped her drawers and lifted her skirts to display her bottom. It looked awful to Snood. She must be in dreadful pain.
“No. Sort your clothing out. I have something important to tell you,” ‘Damn, damn what was he saying now?’ “Miss Young, listen carefully. You are in great danger.”
This was not what Laura was expecting to hear and she wondered what Snood was up to.
“You must leave Hobsgate today, tell no one. Well, you may tell Carter if he chooses to go with you. The Headmaster ordered me to hogtie you this afternoon so you could not use binds against them.”
Laura’s face must have showed her astonishment and Snood tried to place more emphasis on his words. ‘She must understand.’
“This is not a joke. Something bad will happen to you if you stay at Hobsgate. Trust no members of the teaching staff. You must leave today.”
“Why shouldn’t I go to the Headmaster and tell him what you have just said?”
Laura felt confused. She hated this man, and he nearly killed her yesterday. Now he wanted to save her from unknown enemies? It made no sense.
“Because then the Headmaster will hurt you and kill me,” Snood let his exasperation show in his voice. “You are a Class A. There are many people who want you and fear you. You have no idea.”
“I don’t understand.”
Snood towered over her, shaking with rage and fear. “If you go to the Headmaster I will tell him you are trying to make me look bad. He will send you back to me and I will beat you to death. Do you understand? You have no choice. You must leave.”
He looked at her with eyes that suggested he was close to madness, and he seemed to have covered all the options as far as Laura could tell. If she didn’t run, she would face the cane from him again and this time he would kill her.
“I will leave. Tom will come with me.”
“Good. Attend the first lesson. Then leave this place, take nothing, just go.” Snood knew she needed to get far away from here and that would take hours. “I will try and give you the extra time you’ll need.”
Strangely, Laura found that she believed him. She could see the relief in his eyes once she accepted she had to leave. Could the Headmaster of Hobsgate really be an enemy of the state? It seemed so unlikely.
Laura turned and walked out of the study. Tom was waiting anxiously outside and she nearly walked into him.
“What happened?”
Laura pulled Tom down the corridor without stopping to explain. They had only minutes to get to the first lesson.
“I’ll tell you later. After the lesson.”
Cam got to the door to the classroom at the same time as them. She seemed extremely excited.
“Got news” she told them as they ran to their places for Mrs. Trenchard’s class.
Chapter 21 Shot
Cam kept looking round at Laura and Tom during the lesson, and it was clear she was bursting to tell them her news. On any other day Mrs. Trenchard would have used the cane on her for such gross inattention to her lessons, but the Trench seemed similarly distracted and kept having to stop to go back to her notes to see what she should be writing on the board.
When the Headmaster entered the room and coughed politely, the Trench was so startled she jumped and dropped her chalk.
The Headmaster took the Trench into the far corner and there was a whispered conversation that everyone in the class strained to hear. Laura was nearest to them, but apart from the word ‘plans’ she could make out nothing. When the Headmaster left he looked visibly annoyed.
The Trench turned to address the class. “I know how fast rumors spread in any military establishment, so I expect some of you already know what that was all about.” She paused for breath, giving Laura time to glance at Cam who looked disappointed. Apparently the Trench was going to beat her to the punch with her news.
“Hobsgate has hosted a visit from the Prime Minister for the past two years every October. You all know how keen he is on the value of Military Magic to strengthen and build the Empire. This year the Prime Minister has revised his schedule and will arrive on Saturday morning.”
Conversations started up throughout the room. It was unusual for anyone to see the Prime Minister in the flesh, as Lord Palmerston was a busy man, not to mention very old.
The Trench coughed to get their attention again.
“He is not coming alone. The Prince of Wales will be coming with him, as will Sir Ernest Trelawney, the Director of MM3.”
The conversations started up again, this time much louder. No one ever got to see Trelawney even though they all worked for him, and to get to see him and the Prince of Wales was extraordinary.
“Be quiet. All of you,” the Trench yelled and the noise in the room reduced to the odd whisper.
“I cannot tell you how important it is to this academy that this visit goes well. Military Magic has served Her Majesty well and we must be perfect hosts to her son. Is that understood?” A murmur of agreement ran through the room. Bertie would be King one day, the students had sworn an oath to die for the Queen and all of them meant it.
It seemed that Plato’s views on war would have to wait another day, because the Trench told them she had something to attend to. She instructed the class to work quietly until she returned and left the room.
