The Spellbinder (Tom & Laura Series), page 5
As Trelawney sat at his desk a black suited man came into the room and gave him a note. He scanned it and looked bitterly disappointed. Laura and Tom sat down and he addressed them.
“It looks as though this Carmichael youth you identified was indeed the guilty party. He has been found dead in his room. He appears to have stabbed himself to death. No one else was involved.”
Tom felt a quiver of shock run through him. Even though Carmichael had tried to kill him, Tom wasn’t sure he deserved to die in such a manner. And suicide was a serious thing, a defiance of God’s law. Carmichael’s parents would not be allowed to bury him in consecrated ground. In some parts of the country his body would end up buried at a crossroads in an unmarked grave and with a stake through his heart. To Tom, that fate seemed almost worse than dying.
Trelawney smiled warmly at them.
“I would like you both to spend the night here in Lord Magus House. We have suitable guest apartments on the uppermost floor and you will find our facilities are comparable to the finest hotels. Tomorrow we will discuss what might be done to ensure your continued safety.”
“Thank you, sir, but that is hardly necessary,” Laura said in as firm a manner as she dared. She wanted to return to her home and normality as soon as possible. “I’m sure my parents and servants can protect me more that adequately.”
“I insist,” Trelawney said in a voice that brooked no further argument. Conceding defeat, the two young people looked at each other in dismay. Trelawney summoned a servant by pulling on a bell chord and they were led further up the building to their quarters.
Their suites occupied one side of the building, an enormous amount of space. From one set of their windows they could see the Thames in all its glory and from the other they could look down at the pond and fountain in the center of the courtyard. The servant informed them that there were exotic Koi from Japan within its waters and also golden carp from China.
High tea was brought up to the dining room. The food was excellent and Tom felt at the end that he had never eaten so well. Both ate their fill and w exhausted by the time they had finished.
Laura fiddled with her napkin before asking Tom the question that had been bothering her since the moment Trelawney had declared her to be a Class A.
“Tom, do you think they will ever let us go home?”
Tom hesitated before answering. “I doubt they will ever let you out of their sight again. They never tell the public the names of Class A’s in case foreign spies try to get at them through their families. They might have to lock me away in a dungeon so I can never tell a soul who you are.”
Laura laughed. “It is so typical of a man to make it all about himself.”
Tom dropped his eyes to stare at his napkin and Laura laughed again.
“If I am a Class A then they shall have to take account of my wishes, and I do not wish that they should make you rot in a dungeon. I shall insist you stay with me, by my side… if that is to your liking?”
Tom blushed and hoped it couldn’t be seen in the low lighting. “I would like that very much indeed.”
“Then it is settled. We shall stay together through the thick and thin of it. After all, you have saved my life today.”
“And you mine…,” Tom mumbled. They stood up and Laura took Tom’s hands and drew her close to him. He looked away from her face and she realized she would have to be direct, as these ‘New Victorian’ young men from the cities were so reticent.
“We shall seal our new arrangement with a kiss.”
Tom attempted to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head so their lips met. Before he could react she pulled him closer and kissed him passionately. His body stiffened for a moment before he relaxed and put his arms about her.
Laura kept him like that for over a minute, pulling her body close against his to detect if anything else on him had stiffened. She was more than pleased with the result of her investigations.
Tom drew away and took a large gulp of air. “We must go to bed… No I don’t mean … Oh Lord, what must you think of me?”
Laura put a finger to his lips.
“We shall indeed retire for the night to our separate rooms. It would not surprise me to discover that MM3 have listening tubes installed in our rooms and I have no intention of being overheard. But we shall not always retire separately, Thomas Merlin Carter. You can be sure of that.”
Laura turned and left the room, leaving a stunned young man in her wake.
Snood sat in a darkened room. He had been there for hours and was very tired. The only light came from a single electric lamp, which was positioned so its brightness was directed into his face. He could not see his interrogators. MM3 intelligence men liked to keep their faces hidden from suspects so they wouldn’t be recognized if they followed them at a later date.
Arrested immediately after the body of Carmichael was discovered, Snood was convinced this was nothing more than a routine interrogation. They would interview everyone who had associated with a mass murderer. Especially if they suspected Carmichael might have been working for one of the British Empire’s many enemies.
Snood felt relaxed about the whole affair, though stumbling up several flights of stairs with a hood over his head had not been pleasant. The most difficult thing during the interrogation was remembering what he was not supposed to know. He could claim to have deduced that the cloud of ‘poison gas’ was somehow linked to Carmichael’s death, but as he kept telling his interrogators, the official word was that the deaths were caused by a gas leak. What could that possibly have to do with him? It was not his fault the boy had killed himself.
Two men asked him questions, one angry, the other conciliatory. They asked questions in turn. They could see his face though he couldn’t see theirs. That really didn’t seem fair, or at all how the British did things. As he kept telling them, he had rights as a citizen.
In a small room next door, a middle-aged woman and Trelawney sat listening to everything Snood said. A perforated panel between the rooms meant that everything said in either could be heard in the other. Only when the interrogation finished and Snood was removed to a holding cell did they talk. Trelawney opened a blackout curtain on the window, letting in the light of morning.
Through the window, he saw the river Thames curve its way through London. A railway bridge complete with a cast iron pedestrian footpath crossed the river a short distance away. It was a new bridge and sat squat and sullen in the river. Trelawney considered the bridge particularly ugly and it had ruined his view, even though the sight of steam trains crossing over it gave him a thrill. But then, like many an English gentleman, he was a hopeless romantic when it came to steam engines.
“Well?” he asked the woman lounging deep in a comfortable winged leather chair. Trelawney pulled twice on the chain hanging by the wall to summon a servant with refreshments.
The woman took her time before answering. She had some unfinished knitting on her lap. Knitting helped her to concentrate. “None of this will stand up in court, you understand?”
“I know the law, Belinda, but what do you feel?”
“He is lying. I believe he killed the boy and is feeling deeply satisfied with his work.”
Trelawney nodded.
“If he killed Carmichael then the boy was working for him and the bind must have been supplied by Snood. We know the nature of the bind. It was stolen from MM3 and that implies we also have a traitor somewhere in our midst.”
“That may be so,” Belinda said and sighed. “But we have no evidence of it. The law forbids me to do to a British citizen what I have just done and I am planning to forget this conversation ever happened before the morning is out.”
There was a knock at the door and a maid with a trolley carrying tea and biscuits entered the room. They stilled their conversation until the maid had left the room
“I understand your position, and you know I trust my life to your discretion.” Trelawney said as he paced the room.
“What will you do?”
“A leak in MM3 puts more than just my career and honor at stake. It strikes at the heart of the Empire’s one clear advantage over our enemies. This could be simply about money or it may indicate the presence of one of our enemies operating deep in the heart of the Empire. I have to know which it is and I need to know quickly. I will inform Her Majesty of the graveness of the situation at our next meeting.”
“You will hold an investigation?”
“No, the traitors would go to ground if I did that. Then I might never find them. I need bait to set a trap. I think I have two young people who will fit perfectly to the task in hand. Yes, I think they will do fine.”
“You have never stooped to using children before,” Belinda said disapprovingly. “I take it you are referring to our two young survivors?”
“That’s the point, Belinda, they have proved themselves to be survivors, and they will need that and more for the task I have in mind. Oh yes, they will have to be more than that.”
“You are planning to put a Class A at risk, Ernest. If anything happens to her you will be lucky to escape the noose.”
Trelawney hit the mantelpiece with his clenched fist. “All of our Class A’s are in jeopardy if there is a traitor amongst us. She will be safer inside the system than outside it on her own.”
Chapter 8 Setting the Bait
Children of Britain are first tested for magical ability at the age of seven and testing continues once a year until the age of thirteen. Those identified as having any of the seven talents are dispatched to schools to be trained at government expense. There is some resentment among the poor as this almost always means their children being taken away to a boarding school, but this is considered a small price to pay when the future of the Empire is at stake.
A ten year service period follows schooling, normally from the age of seventeen to twenty-seven. Some students are selected for special training at this point and are sent to special academies, which means they do not finish their formal education until the age of twenty-one, or in some cases twenty-four. In these cases their military service period begins at the age they finish training.
It is known that MM3 selects its agents at the age of seventeen and that there must be facilities where these young agents are trained in the arts of espionage. However, no official document exists to this effect, though there are dark rumors that the training process is so rigorous that some students die before graduating.
- from A Short History of Military Magics by Sir Anthony Barrett
Next morning Tom and Laura were present with an immense breakfast of pickled herrings and kipper followed by bacon and eggs, Lincolnshire sausages, and toasted bread. Laura began to wonder if her figure could survive living like this. Tom tucked in without a thought for his waistline, much to Laura’s annoyance.
Once they were finished, they were ushered down to Trelawney’s office by his secretary, a woman who introduced herself as Belinda Mann. Tom thought she looked kindly and she reminded him of his mother.
“Have you been with Mr. Trelawney long?” Laura asked.
Belinda smiled at her. “I’ve been in this post with Sir Ernest for nearly fifteen years, but we first met long before that, when I was a field agent.”
“You were a spy?” Tom asked in surprise.
Belinda nodded, “I served in Vienna when I was a young woman. Sir Ernest was my contact at the British Embassy.”
When they entered the office, they found Trelawney deep in conversation with the short man with the large moustache who had been so hostile to them in the park.
“Those are my orders, James,” Trelawney said firmly.
“I shall record my protest in writing. They are both too young to be sent to Hobsgate and the girl’s final classification is still far from certain.”
Trelawney nodded. “Do what you must, Saunders, but my orders stand. See about that other matter too. I was impressed by the man during his interrogation.”
“Very well,” Saunders said and briskly left the room.
“He always seems to be in a hurry,” Laura said.
Trelawney looked over at them and smiled.
“He’s my Director of Operations, James Saunders. A good man who I’d trust with my life, but we often have arguments on operational matters. It’s the nature of the job.”
Trelawney beckoned them in to sit down where they’d sat the previous day and Belinda closed the office door behind them. He looked at them with great seriousness.
“The man behind Carmichael is Dominican Snood. He tutored Carmichael in the Spellbinding arts at his school.”
Tom was not surprised. He had met the man and taken an instant dislike to him. There was something more than a little creepy about him.
“Behind Snood, there must be a nest of spies or perhaps criminals leading back into this organization. I am telling you this in strictest confidence and you must not breathe a word of it outside my office.” Tom and Laura nodded their understanding.
“We must find the people Snood works for. We must root them out and destroy them. They threaten the security of the Empire and the Royal Family. I have formulated a plan, but it relies on your cooperation. Are you ready and willing to serve your country?”
Laura and Tom looked at one another. An imperceptible nod passed between them. Laura spoke for both of them, “Yes, sir. We are prepared to serve the Queen in any way we can.”
Trelawney relaxed, if they had not been willing agents he could not, in all conscience, have sent them on such a dangerous mission.
“Good. I cannot prove anything against Snood. He has been clever in covering his trail. Nevertheless, his very cleverness will prove his undoing. I plan to promote him.” Trelawney paused while Tom and Laura stared at him in surprise.
“There is a training school for MM3 agents, you two are a couple of years too young for normal entry into the school, but we sometimes make exceptions in special circumstances. I am going to send you there. It is a self-contained facility out in the country. I plan to promote Snood to take up a post as a teacher within it. As an expert in Spellbinding, he will tutor you, Laura.”
“This mission will be dangerous. I want you to find out who he works for and report back to me and no one else. You must find ways to protect yourself, but do not tell anyone in MM3 including me, what those protections are. It might be that even this conversation is overheard.”
Trelawney leant towards them and dropped his voice.
“Snood has some reason to kill you. He has already tried through Carmichael, and I’m sure he killed the boy to cover his tracks. Having heard all this, are you still willing to undertake this mission?”
“Yes sir, we are,” Laura said without even a glance at Tom.
“My secretary will take care of anything else you need and answer any further questions.”
They realized they had been dismissed and left the room to join Belinda in the outer office.
“We were told you could supply us with anything we wanted?” Laura asked Belinda, “Because I have a list.”
As soon as she finished the list Belinda smiled. “Follow me; I think you’ll find we have everything you need.”
A short while later, Laura and Tom found themselves alone in a small oak paneled room. Heavy black curtains covered the windows while a single gas mantle provided the only light. Laura had in front of her the strongest Spellbinder paper the Ministry of War were able to produce, along with a bottle of the best copper based ink and a variety of metal pens.
She also had a set of copper plates within which each bind would be placed. The copper plates could be compressed against the paper, removing air and providing a heat-conducting surface to help preserve the bind. This did not help a lot, the paper would still burn to dust eventually, but it was the best that current technology offered.
Laura made a drawing of Tom again, taking her time and getting it as perfect as she could. She included the same elements as in the previous bind, but this time she attempted to increase his healing power, drawing him confident and powerful. Tom watched and wondered how disappointed she might be if she was ever to compare the real thing with her drawing.
Laura then drew herself, also naked, and tried to encapsulate her own power in the drawing. She knew for a fact that no Spellbinder had ever tried to increase their power, or anyone else’s for that matter, by using a bind. Laura’s opinion was that there had to be a first time for everything, and that this was the ideal time to try out her idea.
When she finished her drawings, she asked Tom to use his power to heal them, for him to run his finger over the lines of the drawing and to try to apply his gift as if he was filling the paper with the power to heal. Neither of them was sure what he accomplished, but they both felt that the bind had altered when he finished.
Laura placed the sheets within the copper and screwed the plates together. She planned to take the drawings to her home and hide them in a place they would never be found. Meanwhile she took extra paper and copper sheets to go with her to the training school where she was sure she would find a use for them.
There was a servant outside the room who informed them that carriages were waiting to take Laura to her home and Tom to his school. They parted on the front steps of Lord Magus House.
“Don’t get into any trouble,” Tom suggested as he gave Laura’s hand a squeeze. He stepped into his carriage without looking back, scared Laura would see how worried he was.
“Men,” Laura said. She sighed as she watched Tom’s carriage until it was out of sight. A polite cough from her driver reminded her that she would soon be facing her parents.
“Laura, how could you do this to your mother?” her father asked with considerable displeasure before Laura’s feet were fully in the house.
“Survive a gas attack?” Laura enquired innocently.
Her father made a sound similar to a bull about to charge. “It was not an attack. The Times was most clear on that part. Do not change the subject. This morning I received a letter from Sir Ernest Trelawney informing me that you would be leaving your school and joining MM3 immediately. How could you do that to your mother?”
