Revenge of the Brotherhood (Book 3 in the Tom & Laura Series) (26 page)

Tom ran to Bertie and put his hand on him. He heard yells coming from all directions as Bertie groaned. Tom let his talent loose and the world faded from his sight. Bertie was fatally injured with severe damage to his gut. As Tom tried to heal him he did not hear the yells from the newly restored cavalry men. He did not hear the orders for him to step away from the prince. He did not hear the sounds of triggers being cocked around him.

“They are going to the docks,” Lucy said. She gasped. “They are going to sink the coach in the Thames with the Queen and Prince Albert in it.”

Dougal tried to estimate how long it would take them to get to the docks. The vehicle ahead of them was travelling almost as fast as they were and they might not catch up in time.

“They are tying up the Queen and Albert now they are awake.”

“I could knock them unconscious?” Alice suggested.

“A crash at that speed would kill them all, Alice,” Dougal yelled. “We need to slow them down. Anybody have any ideas?”

Laura started scribbling. Down below, the metal plate around the Charger began to peel off.

“I turned it into card,” Laura explained, “while leaving its frame intact.”

The Charger slowed as without the protection of the metal sides, wind buffeted the people inside.

As the metal of his vehicle impossibly peeled away, Ross took a quick glance to the rear and saw the Hubris behind them. His mouth fell open in shock and he nearly crashed the Charger.

“Tony, that thing in the sky behind us, destroy it.”

Tony turned and saw the Hubris. His paper for binds had scattered down the road when the sides of the charger came off, but he always kept spare paper in his jacket. He scribbled a bind.

The Hubris tilted forward on its axis and began to fall. On board, the crew became unconscious except for Laura. She grabbed at a piece of paper and followed it down to the front windows as the ship tilted to point at the ground.

Bertie opened his eyes; saw Tom sitting almost unconscious on his chest and his soldiers about to shoot. He reached up and hugged Tom, pulling him down to the ground. This made it impossible for the soldiers to shoot Tom without shooting the Prince.

“He’s a friend,” Bertie called out. “Don’t shoot him.”

The officer nearest the Prince gave him a peculiar look as the two men embraced in a manner more common for a man and a woman.

“He’s a Healer, you idiots. Put your guns down and help us get to our feet.”

Laura wrote the cleverest bind of her life as she saw the ground rushing towards her. The ship stopped abruptly and began to float upwards.

The Charger had reached the edge of the dock. Tony jumped up in pain as every piece of paper on him burst into flame. He patted at his pockets, trying to put half a dozen fires out at once.

The Queen and Prince Albert sat in the charger tied hand and foot. They looked on in astonishment as the man performed a jig in front of them.

Ross got out of the vehicle and adjusted its steering wheel so it would direct the vehicle forward and into the Thames. The tide was high and it would sink without trace through the water and into the mud of the river.

“You hope for a ransom from my government?” Victoria said sternly. “They will not pay it.”

“Sorry, your Majesty, but my orders are to kill you and make sure your bodies remain missing for some time.” Ross gave the Royal couple a deep bow. “God save the Queen,” he said mockingly, “because nobody else is going to.”

He pushed the lever forward and the Charger started moving towards the edge of the dock. Ross called on his men to follow him and they ran away from the dock, back towards the city streets.

Ross turned his head in time to see the charger plunge from the dock into the dirty waters below. He laughed as they reached the safety of an alley and began to make their way back to the rag and bone yard where the second Charger waited for them.

Tom was barely conscious as Bertie helped him into the coach.

“Do you know where my parents are?”

Tom shook his head. “Others… following them.”

The officer in charge stuck his head into the coach. “We have to get you back to the Palace and safety, your highness. That has to be our priority.”

Bertie nodded glumly. “Very well. Get on with it.”

As the coach began to move, Bertie shook Tom awake again. “I was most distressed to hear about Miss Young. You have my deepest sympathy.”

Tom fought his tiredness to reply. “Safe, following the Queen. Laura is hard to kill.”

Then he slumped over and, despite repeated attempts, the Prince of Wales could not wake him.

“I hope the bastards that did this are finding out what a Class A Spellbinder can do,” Bertie said quietly and he smiled grimly.

Trelawney shook Andrea violently. “What do you mean she’s unconscious? I need to know what is going on.”

“I cannot tell you. The girl, Lucy screamed that they were going to throw the Queen in the river and Miss Young did something to that strange vehicle that ripped its sides off and then everything went blank.”

“We should go after them. We know where the nearest docks are,” Belinda said calmly.

Trelawney grabbed his jacket. “If Kincaid was around we might be able to find out what has happened, but he seems to have disappeared. Let’s go to the docks and see if we can find them.”

“I have arranged for coaches to be waiting outside,” Belinda informed her husband.

Trelawney kissed her, “You think of everything, my dear. I knew there was a reason for marrying you.”

Baxter and Harris were back at the Military Magic Headquarters. Word of the events at the Queen’s coach had already reached them by telegraph.

“Now we put Scenario Blue into operation,” Baxter said and grinned with satisfaction. “Have you prepared the messages?”

Harris felt a great relief. This insane plan might actually work. “These are the orders emptying all the barracks in London of troops and reassigning them to search for the Queen. Everybody will be terrified that Bertie is going to die and endanger the succession, so it is doubtful that anyone will notice that we have also ordered all guards to leave the Tower of London to help with the search. The crown jewels will be unguarded tonight.”

“And they will be in the hands of the Brotherhood by morning,” Baxter said with delight. “On top of that, the one man who might figure it out is dead and I had the enormous pleasure of watching him die. It really does not get any better than this.”

26.
              
Revelations

Tom and Bertie arrived at Buckingham Palace and were rushed to a state room whose windows overlooked the palace gardens. Tom had to be carried to the room as he was still exhausted.

The Royal Healer, a Grade 1 called Gilbert Smyth entered the room and ran to the Prince when he saw the amount of blood on his shirt and trousers. After a quick examination he stood back in astonishment when he discovered that the Prince’s skin was clean and unblemished, if a little pink and new looking.

“Tom has a special healing talent and it must not be discussed beyond this room. I owe him my life again, which is becoming an annoying habit,” Bertie explained.

“And the Queen and Prince Albert?” Smyth asked.

“Will be back soon. Gilbert listen, someone wanted me to be seriously injured, but not yet dead. I would like you to tell everybody that I am in that state.”

“But, your highness?”

“Tell everyone, trust no one. Go now and send in Major Tannis.”

Smyth left and a short time later a middle aged man entered the room, even though he out of uniform he was unmistakably of military bearing and training.

“What is happening? Where are the Queen and Prince Albert?” Tannis spoke rapidly in a clipped tone.

“Kidnapped, I was left gut shot and dying.”

Tannis’s eyebrows rose. “You appear to be in remarkably good condition for a gut shot man, if I may say so, your highness.”

Bertie waved at Tom, who lay slumped on a chaise longe. “Tom is much more than he seems. He was the Healer at Hobsgate last year.”

Tannis nodded; there were rumors about what happened at Hobsgate that he had not believed. Now might be a good time to re-evaluate them.

“I will go and help coordinate the rescue, your highness.”

“No. I have reason to believe my parents rescue is already in hand. I need you to go and find Sir Ernest Trelawney and find out what he knows.
 
And do not reveal to anyone that I am healed. Let whoever did this think their plans are going to schedule.”

“Reports are that Sir Ernest was killed at his wedding.”

“The reports are wrong. Find Trelawney. If anyone knows what is going on, it will be him.”

Major Tannis saluted smartly and left the room.

The Hubris floated upwards to safety. Laura kissed the bind in her hand. It was directed at the Spellbinder who had attacked the ship and should have destroyed all his binds and any paper in his vicinity. The partial binds she had written were scattered across the floor of the bridge and she picked them up, searching for her second invisibility bind. Only one more word was required to make the ship invisible and she scribbled it down.

“Try and kill us now,” she whispered at her Spellbinder enemy. “I dare you.”

“Laura, what has happened?” Dougal asked. He had woken leaning against the chart table. Since it was screwed into the deck it was still in place.

“We were attacked by a Spellbinder,” Daisy answered. “Laura countered it.”

Tricky spun the wheel to direct the Hubris towards the dock. “Never mind that, look over there.”

“The Queen is on that thing,” Edith shouted.

“They are going to drown.” Lucy added, somewhat unnecessarily.

A half a mile away, in bright London sunshine, the remains of the Charger sped towards the lip of the dock.

Laura started scribbling. Lucy increased the airship’s speed to full and everybody watched in horror as the Charger reached the edge of the dock and drove off into the water.

“Laura?” Dougal asked.

Laura bit her lip. “I don’t know. It was a difficult bind. We have to get over the edge and look to see what happened.”

Baum entered the bridge. He had a bloody handkerchief over his nose.

“Antonia is injured. I cannot wake her.”

Laura looked around. “I thought she was on the bridge?”

Baum shrugged. “I think she came back to tell Ebenezer and Jeremiah something. I woke with a broken nose and found her with a head injury.”

The Hubris reached the dock and flew over it to the River Thames beyond. A few yards from the edge of the dock the Charger bobbed on the water. The Queen and Albert could be seen struggling against their bonds.

“The bind will only last a few minutes,” Laura said breathlessly. “It’s not easy to convince the universe that steel is lighter than balsa wood.”

Dougal thought about the problem. He considered it would be easier to pull them back to the dock from the dock rather than bring the airship down to them. “Put us down on dock, Tricky. Franz, get Jeremiah, we have the Queen and Prince Albert to rescue.”

Daisy and Laura followed the men out of the airship and to the edge of the deserted dock. A wooden ramp on rollers led down to a pontoon floating a few feet above water level. The tide was high, but the pontoon was still twelve feet down. The charger had floated further away from the dock in the time since they first saw it.

“I will swim to it with a rope,” Dougal said as he looked around desperately for a rope.

“No need,” Laura told him. She lay on the pontoon so she could use its surface as a pad for her paper. When she finished the bind, the Charger started moving towards them in a slow stately fashion.

The Charger hit the pontoon with a thud. Dougal and Jeremiah jumped aboard to cut the prisoners free. The Queen and Albert said nothing during the rescue, simply helping the men as best they could to cut their bonds. Jeremiah was the last to leave the Charger and as he stepped from it, it sank like a stone.

“Lord McBride, how good to see you,” Queen Victoria said pleasantly. “Perhaps you could introduce me to your companions?”

“It would be my pleasure, your Majesty,” Dougal said and started to make swift introductions. When he introduced Laura, the Queen smiled.

“Bertie will be pleased. He was most upset by reports of your untimely death.”

She spoke to Baum in German after they were introduced, as did the Prince. When Jeremiah was introduced, he touched his hat and said “Ma’am,” in a slow American drawl. The Queen was fascinated.

“My Prime Minister and I have very different views on how the Empire should establish better relations with the United States. I would be delighted if we could talk on it at a later date.”

“Perhaps we should go somewhere safer?” Albert asked. He had drawn his pistol and was looking around nervously.

“There is no need for concern, your highness,” Dougal said. “We have an eleven year old boy manning a Gatling Gun on the dock above, and believe me when I say you could want for no one better in these circumstances.”

Jeremiah laughed. “You can say that again. I’m gonna get that boy to come to the USA if it kills me.”

The Queen frowned, but did not say anything as she and her husband were escorted up the ramp and onto the dock. The dock appeared to be deserted.

“Your Gatling Gun is very well hidden,” Prince Albert remarked.

“Laura, can you tear the bind?”

Laura took a piece of paper from her pocket and ripped it in two. It burst into flames and the Hubris appeared in front of them. Ebb waved at them from the port gun position. Alan stood stiffly at attention.

The Prince turned to Baum and spoke rapidly and excitedly in German. Baum made hand gestures as he replied. Albert turned to his wife.

“You did not tell me you had commissioned the building of a lighter than air craft. You know how much I love such technology.”

The Queen turned to Dougal. “This is what you have been doing in the American Colonies, Lord McBride?”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“I was told you were working on a project to develop the mass production of aluminium. I shall have strong words with Lord Palmerston when I next see him.”

“Would your Majesty like a tour of her airship?” Dougal asked.

Before she could answer, Ebb swung the gun to face the dock entrance where two large coaches and horses raced towards them. Everybody turned. Laura put pen to paper and began to write.

The coaches pulled to a stop some distance from them and Trelawney got out and waved. Laura folded the nearly completed bind that would have rendered everyone in the coaches fast asleep.

Eric Kincaid reached the safety of Mercury House and went to his office to sit and think. When Andrea had vanished during the panic to get out of the church, he had wandered around the streets outside looking for her before giving up.

Alan had been telling him all sorts of impossible things that he did not fully believe. The idea that anyone would kidnap the Queen was preposterous and the nonsense Alan had spouted about a carriage without horses or steam power was insane. He wished Andrea was around to explain to him what was really going on.

Eric went up to Andrea’s apartment and knocked on the door. It occurred to him that she might have taken the opportunity to go and visit her real home rather than this temporary accommodation they had been ordered to use. He had no idea where she lived.

When he returned to his office, Gareth Jones found him.

“I want to know exactly what is going on, Eric. And don’t you dare lie to me.”

“Your Majesty,” Trelawney said. “It is good to see you safe.”

“Next time you invite me to a wedding, I am afraid I shall have to decline. They are a little too exciting for my tastes.”

“Does anybody know where Bertie is?” Prince Albert asked.

Laura looked at Dougal who looked at Daisy. Daisy sighed as she realized she was going to have to answer.

“We dropped off Tom to help the Prince of Wales. We believe the Prince was shot by the people who kidnapped you.”

There was a stunned silence. “Tom is the best Healer in the world, your Majesty,” Dougal said, putting as much reassurance as he could into his voice. Even Tom could not heal the dead.

“We must return to the palace,” Victoria said tersely. “I am sure you will make your coaches available to us.”

“Where is Antonia?” Andrea asked. She had been waiting impatiently behind Trelawney and could stand it no longer. “Why can’t I sense her?”

Laura moved to her and rushed her away from the shocked assembly. It was not the done thing to interrupt the Queen.

“Antonia is injured,” Laura whispered as she led Andrea over to the airship. “She banged her head when the ship was attacked by the Spellbinder.”

As soon as they stepped onto the ship, Alice confronted them. “About flippin’ time you got ’ere. I think she’s dyin’.”

Antonia was in her bunk. The lump on her head was bulging and pulsing, her breathing was shallow and she looked like a ghost. There was no sign of consciousness.

“We have to get her to Tom,” Laura said.

“We can’t wait for that,” Andrea said as she picked up her sister’s limp hand. “You need to use a bind, like you did with that boy. She will be dead before Tom can heal her.”

“You should use the airship, your Majesty,” Trelawney said gravely. “Coaches will be seen by the public and it is vital that those responsible for this do not find out their plans are going awry.”

“What plans, Ernest? Do you have any idea what this is about?”

“It was not a kidnapping; this was a planned double murder. With the two of you missing, Bertie would be the heir presumptive, but with him lying injured the succession would be in doubt. This whole operation was to cause confusion and panic in the government, the police and the armed forces.”

The Queen frowned, “But to what end? Is this the start of a coup?”

“The Brotherhood operates only for profit,” Belinda said. “They are not interested in power as such. Though getting away with killing the Queen would give them status in certain quarters.”

Albert nodded, “So the question becomes, what is it that the Brotherhood plan to steal?”

“Ain’t it obvious?” Jeremiah said and everybody stared at the American. “Why any American could tell you that the most valuable things in England are the Crown Jewels.”