“Liz Devizes,” gasped Pearl, shuddering as she did so.
Ruby nodded sagely. The others at the table let out a low and mournful groan.
“And I have no doubt that where a Devizes lurks, from under the same rock shall creep a Nutter.”
Gentle Reader, it is perhaps necessary for your humble author to furnish a little historical background information at this point... You see, Ruby and Pearl Derwencast are not the only practitioners of witchcraft in the village. There is also a certain Elizabeth Devizes and her motley clan – sworn enemies of Ruby and her family and familiars. The Derwencasts and the Devizes have been locked in a feud for as long as anyone can remember: for Elizabeth Devizes is a follower of the Left-Hand Path, and practises the Craft in its black and evil form. Any time the name of Devizes is mentioned, Ruby will curse, tut, shake her head and mutter... “Ooo, that Madam, she's a bad 'un. She can't be trusted or left to her own Devizes.” This is only partly a joke, for Ruby is more than half-convinced that Liz Devizes is the current incarnation of Abaddon, a demon from the bottomless pit. Liz Devizes has a side-kick, name of Alice Nutter, about whom Ruby is also less than complimentary: “Nutter by name. Nutter by nature”. If something nasty occurs in the region, Ruby will invariably remark that, “sinister devices are foot or I'm a complete nutter”. And generally she is proved correct.
Eddy had been listening to the above discussion with growing personal concern. As soon as he felt he politely could, he interjected:
“Excuse me, dear ladies... I'm sure this is all very entertaining and interesting, what with the colourful historical facts, and the lurid symbolism, and the sinister death cults, and Madams Devizes and Nutter and what have you, but I don't think I'm quite cut out for taking on a whole mob of loonies, no matter what their religious leanings, who want to 'promote a programme of research and reformation of the sciences.' Ambitions like that always lead to trouble and have a nasty habit of ruining one's evening. They start me thinking of military drums and stamping jackboots... You know full well the kind of fruitcakes that get involved in such nonsense: all bad skin, and plastered-down, slicked-black hair, screeching all night at the moon; each of them intent on resurrecting a Wewelsburg master-race. All very Wagnerian. Great costumes, bad attitudes. We've been here before, and it gives me skull-ache. Really. Not my cup of tea at all. I appreciate you considering me a candidate for involvement in your scheme, but, if you don't mind, I think I'd prefer to be popped back in the handbag along with all those delightful dust mites and have nothing whatsoever to do with any of it. Thank you very, very much – but no thanks, ta-ta and goodnight.”
Ruby scowled at the skull and drew herself up for a rousing speech.
“Edward. You cowardly wretch. We have been handed a task. We did not ask for it, but fate has decreed it is ours.”
“Yours, Dearie. Yours! That letter wasn't plopped on my door mat, sweetheart. Oh, no. I'm out.”
Ruby was not to be put off. This was a moment to be seized:
“This task is OUR Agincourt. Our Trafalgar. Our Battle of Britain! And we shall all – and I do mean ALL – play our parts with the utmost gallantry, with all of the valour and bravery that we can muster. We shall prevail. We shall never surrender. We shall fight them in the beeches, in the hedgerows and in our gowns. It matters not that we are mere grains of sand in the desert of existence. We few, we merry few; we band of others! We have been granted the chance to make a difference, to shine forth like a beacon of light and hope, so that all others may look to us in the future for guidance and example, reflect on us and our endeavour in the glow of eternal history, and say, with great admiration mixed with immense awe, that this task, this deed, this venture, this most noble of undertakings. That THIS was their finest hour!”
Ruby closed her rallying speech with a grandiose flurry of her sleeves, placed her hands squarely on the table and swept a look around at her 'troops'.
The troops were not impressive. A pair of witches of a very debatable age, a monkey skull, a cat, a goldfish and a magpie. Not exactly the S.A.S.
Ruby, however, believed that, with the wisdom of Chen and the natural luck that Tobias possessed, if the cause was just and the players true, then they could not fail.
“Rissoles!” spat Eddy, with increasing hysteria. “We're going to muck it up and end up dead. Did you hear me? Dead! Dead! Dead! Beacons of light? More like beacons of ...”
“What's the plan, Rube?” Pearl butted in hastily.
“I shall explain what I believe to be the full nature of the symbolism before us in the fullness of time. Right now, we need to act quickly. Pearl, you and your familiar Magpie Jack will accompany Eddy and I back to Widdowshins, for there is not a moment to lose. We will all need to stick pretty closely together in order to pull this one off. Suffice to say I believe Dave is being taken in by a confidence trick, and we need to find out who else is being used by Devizes and Nutter to further their own, no doubt wicked ends. Now, pack a bag quickly, bring only what you deem necessary, and we shall be off. Magpie Jack, you fly ahead and fill in Chen at my caravan. We shall have a further conference there when we have debriefed Tobias on his findings. Maybe his attempt at espionage will shed a little more light on these shadowy goings on.”
Chapter 5
Doctor Does Little
Tobias was half-asleep on the wall opposite Dave's home, thoroughly bored, contemplating what he fancied for dinner, when he suddenly became aware of someone approaching. A small, thin, pale, balding man, dressed in a neat, black heavy wool three piece suit, wandered up the road, passed Tobias, and crossed the street. The metal studs in the heels of of his shiny, shiny, black Chelsea boots clicking on the cobbles, he walked confidently up to Dave's front door and knocked sharply upon it.
Dave opened the door a fraction. The man showed Dave something from around his neck and Dave swiftly dragged him in, and hastily shut the door behind them, before anybody in the street could see.
Anybody, that is, except Tobias, who had recognised the man instantly.
“Aye, aye. What does the likes of him want with Dave the Banjo boy?”
This must the sort of information Ruby was after. Tobias wasn't sure what use it would be, but he had a cat's sixth sense that it was important.
“Time to get back to base and report in.”
He lazily dropped down off the wall and retraced his route back to the caravan.
“Even if the info I give 'em is duff, I'll still be able to get something to eat,” he consoled himself on his walk home.
**********
Back at the O.C. (Operations Centre), as Ruby was now calling her caravan, it was a hive of activity. Ruby was amassing books on the subject of spells and symbolism on the kitchen table. There were books by Montague Summers and Gerald Gardner, Sir James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough, Jack Tresidder's One Thousand And One Symbols, The Book Of Spells by Arthur Edward Waite, The Hermetic Museum by Alexander Roob, a book on Occultism by W.B. Crow, and many other famous – and infamous – authors being added to the growing pile.
“These.” Ruby explained “Are our armoury and our interpreters. These books will be our first stepping stone on the route to the unmasking of this decidedly foul plot. Let us begin!”
Ruby and Pearl scoured page after page, tome after tome, bookmarking wherever they found a reference or connection to some aspect of the small, sepia brown talisman that had been revealed on the fragment of paper. As Ruby and her sister found and marked the pages, Eddy, Chen and Jack were cross-referencing the various images and symbols; checking dates, style, meaning and origins, accepting some connections and dismissing others; asking themselves pertinent questions, such as: Would the cult who drew this type of urn draw this type of star? If so, when? Were they positive or negative magic symbols? Was it a Greek urn? No. Too plain.
“What's a Greek urn?” asked Tobias, arriving in the middle of the madness.
“Depends what his job is!” Eddy laughed raucously at his own joke.
While he was helping himself to a chicken leg from the fridge, he remembered why he had come back to the caravan (sorry, the O.C.).
“Ere... You'll never guess who I've just seen being bundled into Dave's cottage...?”
Nobody replied, as they were all too wrapped up in their individual quests.
Tobias tried again, considerably louder than before: “I said... You'll never guess who I've just seen being bundled into Dave's cottage!”
He waited a moment, took a bite from the chicken leg and shook his head at the continued lack of response from the front room. “Suit yourselves.”
He carried on feeding himself for another few minutes and then decided to give it one last try. This time he went right over to where they were all working, jumped onto the table amidst the books, and announced, irritably:
“Not that anybody's interested, and I don’t know if it even means anything, but I saw old Doctor Hariman scuttling into Dave's cottage earlier.”
Ruby and the rest immediately stopped working and all eyes turned to Tobias.
“What?” he asked dumbly, half a cold roast chicken drumstick still stuck in his mouth.
“Who?”
“I told you. Doc Hariman.”
“When was this?”
“'Bout half five. I saw him knock on the door. He flashes Dave a necklace or summat, and Dave nearly pulls his arm off dragging him inside. I thought to myself ‘Aye, aye. Looks like Dave needs to see the Doc right quick.’ Then I set off back here.”
“Tobias, it would have been nice for you to have shared this nugget of information a good deal earlier than this!” Ruby snorted, as the others tutted and shook their collective heads in disdain.
“But I... All of you were... Three times I tried...Oh, I give up”
He threw himself from the table and sloped off to sulk on a cushion next to the stove.
But Ruby would not let Tobias off so easily.
“Are you sure it was Doctor Hariman. Thin? Short? Balding? Weasel-faced? Sharp nosed and very, very pale? Thick black suit? Are you sure, Tobias? Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes!”
Ruby's mind was now working overtime. What in Herne's name would Doctor Hariman want with Dave? And how could they find out? Also.... What did Hariman have around his neck? What exactly was his part in all of this, anyway, and where on earth did Devizes and Nutter fit in? Ruby was certain that they were involved somewhere...
The cracking of the coded talisman was growing ever more imperative.
Ruby closed her eyes and concentrated. What was the significance? What was the link? The only connection that they had was the scrap of paper, but what did it mean? The paper, the paper, the paper. What was on the paper? The logo? The letter? The message? Yes! The message!
Ruby's eyes opened wide, alert, intense. She slapped the table top and everybody jumped as she remembered the contents of the note.
“Tobias, it was around half past five this evening that you observed Doctor Hariman disappear into David's house, yes? And he arrived on foot?”
Tobias nodded.
“Excellent, then finish that drumstick, quick as you can, and kindly make with all haste back to his cottage. Wait outside, and follow them wherever they go. I believe that they will not venture far, as David has no motor vehicle and the Doctor arrived by pedestrian means. I have a feeling that they will depart shortly, however, for, if my memory serves me correctly, the wording hastily scribbled on the note (of which we possess but a fraction) mentioned an assignation at eight thirty, between party, or parties unknown... Dave and an 'H' were mentioned... H, I now have the arrogance to presume, is in all probability Hariman. No doubt Tobias will soon be in a position to confirm or deny this supposition. Tobias, please do your best.”
Ruby opened the door, and Tobias leapt softly from the top step, onto the rough pebble path and jauntily padded off to see how far off the mark she was in her assumptions. Magpie Jack, who had been sitting on Pearl's shoulder, whispered something into her ear and flew out of the open door, following Tobias at a discreet distance.
Ruby closed the door and drifted back to the table, her mind clearly still mulling something over.
“Sadly, I fear that poor Tobias's best, even with Jack's able assistance, may not be sufficient to provide us with all of the information we require about the good Doctor's intentions...”
She eased herself back into her seat, and suddenly gave a most amateur-dramatic wince.
“Oh, my! You know, it really is most strange, but I think – yes – I think I suddenly feel an old and recurring back twinge coming on...”
She smiled and winked at Pearl.
Pearl frowned; she disliked it when Ruby was being oblique.
“Yes... I believe I shall have to consult a doctor about it. Maybe I should ask for a home visit? After all... I am elderly and do need to be careful these days, don't I? Yes. I shall ask for a consultation here at the caravan. I shall make a good pot of tea, purchase some really nice biscuits and ask the good Doctor Hariman for the benefits of his wisdom and experience. That is the only right and sensible thing to do. Don't you think so, Pearl?”
Ruby smiled again. She had the beginning of a plan.
“For now we, though, we shall focus our attentions on the contents of this mysterious missive and its sinister symbolism. This calls for more tea, I think, and maybe a slice or two of that Lemon Drizzle cake... Pearl. The teapot, if you please...”
Chapter 6
Doctor On The Go
It was still light and relatively warm when Tobias arrived outside Dave's cottage. Dave (or possibly his house guest) was noisily putting away some pans. Tobias could hear the din from where he was and could see various back-lit shapes moving about behind Dave's thin, cheap, gaudy curtains. Tobias made himself as comfortable as he could, on the same patch of wall that he had vacated not all that long since. He lay down, stretched out, rested his head on his front paws and waited and watched in a half-snoozing, half-alert mode.
Time passed.
Nothing happened.
Tobias struggled increasingly to remain awake.
Until...
The bulb in the street light had just begun to warm up, and was humming softly, the moths already fluttering around its orange sodium glow, when, suddenly, and in sharp contrast, the bulb in Dave's home blinked out. The door swiftly opened, and two figures emerged. Tobias could not make out their garbled conversation from where he was, but he could tell that it was a little heated, to say the least.
Magpie Jack sat on the branch of a tree opposite, watching and waiting, his mind recording everything; ready to report back to Ruby, Pearl and the others as soon as the opportunity arose.
Once the Doctor and Dave were on their way, Tobias silently vacated his spot and crept after them at a safe distance. He did not want them to know that he was following. Hopefully they wouldn't get a bus, or any other form of transportation. If they did, he was really snookered.
Unseen and unheard by them all, Magpie Jack gave ariel pursuit.
At the bottom of the unkempt dusty track where Dave's cottage was situated, the Doctor and Dave turned right and started down the pavement of the main road that led into Widdowshins proper. They passed some old stone cottages, a couple of small, local shops, and the local veterinary surgery (a building Tobias did not care for in the least).
It was one of those warm, still evenings, when the air hangs a little heavy and the whole atmosphere is more than just a little sleepy and lazy. The colours of the stone and brickwork on the houses and cottages seemed more intense than usual in the late summer light. The sun hung low in the sky, making the warm colours even warmer and sleepier. The mood seemed to have transferred itself to Tobias's quarry, for the unlikely pair carried on their way in sedate
and leisurely fashion, as if in no hurry whatsoever. Tobias, for his part, had by now slipped completely into his secret agent role and was sneaking in and out of gateways, bushes and bus shelters with great aplomb like a complete professional.
Presently, Dave and the Doctor came to the cross-roads at the centre of the village. They paused, looked this way and that, totally oblivious to Tobias and Magpie Jack, and crossed. This was essentially the hub of the village. There was a pub, various shops, a supermarket, a library, and a petrol station (I’m sure you know the kind of place I mean). The Doctor and Dave paused by the pub and appeared to be discussing the sign that hung from the corner. The pub's name was 'The Seven Stars'. Tobias strained to hear them. All of his feline senses were on super alert. He could smell and hear what was going on inside the pub – the slightly stale and acrid odour made his delicate and sensitive nose wrinkle with distaste – but for some strange reason, the nature and matter of their discussion eluded him. After a moment or two more, the pair walked on.
It was at that moment that Tobias first noticed a familiar bird shape perched on top of a lamppost across the road from them. He felt a little more comfortable, knowing that he had an ally close at hand if anything should... 'go a little sideways' as Ruby would describe it. He nodded to acknowledge the magpie's presence, then scampered quickly after the two retreating figures.
The Dave Hinchy Code Page 3