by Karl Fish
St Paul’s Cathedral, perched high on the hill at Ludgate, was always the first protocol and looked down upon the city above all others. Thompson pressed forward towards St Paul’s.
Belle Soames sat patiently for the children to respond. The full bank of desks was now flashing back at her. If Thompson was right, Draper had total control over London.
‘Miss Soames?’ came the young girl’s voice through distant interference. ‘I have a question for you.’
‘This is Belle Soames. Please, go ahead.’
‘How well do you know my uncle?’ Aggie asked.
Belle Soames was just about to answer when she paused.
‘I’m sorry, could you repeat that?’ Belle began to well up.
‘How well do you know Professor Gideon Belchambers?’ Agatha replied.
‘That’s not what you actually said,’ Belle replied, beginning to sniffle.
‘Agatha, that’s quite enough now,’ Sister Harvey suggested.
‘You said uncle. Did you say uncle?’ Belle questioned.
Agatha was looking at Harvey and Parker, who she knew knew so much more than they were letting on. Both of them were discouraging her from saying anything else.
‘That’s right,’ Aggie continued defiantly.
Belle erupted into a flood of tears. Her sobbing could be heard back through the exchange.
‘Miss Soames, are you ok, why are you crying?’ Aggie asked.
‘Because if you are telling me the truth, I attended your memorial when I was no older than I suspect you are now.’ She continued to cry.
Aggie turned in disbelief. ‘What is she talking about?’ she demanded of the Sister and her sister.
They refused to divulge any more.
‘Miss Soames, I do not understand what is going on and people here are refusing to tell me. So, I ask this last question of you, did you ever know my uncle by the name of Gideon Belchambers?’
The lengthy pause was almost too much to bear. Belle gathered herself and replied.
‘No, I did not. Not back then. His name is … well, was … as I knew him, Halcombe Stubbs-Moffatt.’
This was not quite how she had intended being informed of the answer she was seeking. Aggie stared at Sister Jane Harvey who, in turn, looked to her sister, Nelly Parker, as they both bowed their heads knowingly.
‘Why didn’t you just tell me?’ Aggie angrily asked them. ‘And my mother, did you know her too?’ Aggie questioned via the receiver.
‘I did. Your mother was named Charlotte,’ Belle confirmed.
*****
Louds unceremoniously dumped Gem’s body to the side of the sarcophagus and hauled Gideon’s concussed body onto it.
‘Damn you, Jennifer! Damn you, Sabine!’ he screamed out. ‘I will execute your father for this!’ Louds shouted out. Restraining Gideon upon the altar, Louds walked behind Professor Malcolm.
‘You may kill him now. Kill, Kill,’ Louds repeated over and over again
Meredith Malcolm raised his arm, with the blade secured in his hand, above his head and pointed it towards Gideon’s heart.
‘Now!’ Louds screamed, sending the Professor’s arm downward. In the darkness, Louds felt a gust of wings flash by him, hurtling towards the Professor. The large magpie landed on his arm, trying to pull the ceremonial blade and its shiny rewards from his clasp. The knife was bound so tightly that rather than release it, the Professor spun off-balance, crashing towards the sarcophagus, and knocking himself unconscious as he did so.
Louds shot Gideon’s weapon at The Lady who scrambled back through the trapdoor and into the room above. ‘Why have you stopped?’ Louds cried out. ‘Why?’ he called out as the silence of the Institute suddenly overwhelmed him.
*****
The screams of children, far greater than they had been, broke the tension in the room and across the exchange. Eric dashed out to peep through the blinds. Children were now being marched, accompanied by two adults either side, with a willing army of adults to help with the task if they struggled.
‘Heellppp!’ screamed Elizabeth who had been forced from the Poacher by Millicent McGregor and the barfly Doctor Beckworth, then dragged kicking and reeling down the Steep. ‘Eric, Aggie, Gemima!’ she hollered. ‘Ruunn … if you can hear me! Run!’ It was only a minute of struggling before she too succumbed to the Ethereum and the power of the Illuminant as she wilfully paced down the street with the two adults.
‘Aggie, they’ve got Lizzy,’ Eric shouted. ‘But where’s Gem?’
‘What’s happening?’ Belle spoke down the exchange.
‘Our town has been taken over. Adults are rounding up the children. It’s some sort of magic. It’s as if they’re possessed!’ Eric shouted.
‘The same is happening in London,’ Belle confirmed.
‘Haha!’ Dove laughed beneath her gag.
Nelly reintroduced her to the poison again and left her to convulse on the floor.
‘Ignore that. Please, continue,’ Aggie said.
‘Can you see illuminations? Do you have any army recruitment posters in your streets? Are there images of eyes, and are they violet or purple-blue?’ Belle quizzed them.
‘The ‘ole town is purple. Even the buntin’. it’s burning throughout the streets. It’s alight. The ole place is alight. There’s smoke everywhere and that’s purple too,’ Eric confirmed.
‘Anything else? Can you hear anything for example?’ Belle continued.
‘Violins,’ Aggie and Eric replied together.
‘Good, good, and with them, orders, over and over giving repetitive instructions.’
‘How did you know that?’ Eric replied.
‘Now, listen to me. We are experiencing exactly the same thing. It could be all over the country, heaven knows. But put out the light. That seems to influence everyone. That’s my best guess,’ Belle offered.
‘No chance. The whole of our street is ablaze. It would take everyone in Ambledown, and all the adults are rounding up the children,’ Eric explained.
‘Then, stop the music. Stop the orders. Can you get to them?’
‘I think they’re in two separate places,’ Eric said.
‘Wilson controls the public address,’ Nelly confirmed. ‘We can get to him, I’m sure.’
‘Eric, you go with Sister Harvey and Nelly. They can use you as a decoy. I’ll mind Dove,’ Aggie insisted. ‘It’s all I can think of. Go, now.’
*****
Passing Trafalgar Square, the enormity of his task played out in front of him. Thompson did not stop but slowed to avoid the thousands of people who now lined the streets. Buses were deserted and strewn across roads, as too was the occasional automobile. People wandered aimlessly. The sheer volume of those who would otherwise have sought refuge underground lined the streets.
Those who had succumbed were quickly followed by loved ones trying to help. The removal of the gas masks proved their undoing. As he stared upon Nelson’s Column, a dazzling beam shone down from upon it as violet light illuminated the streets. The citizens were mere fodder should the Luftwaffe initiate a strike.
St Paul’s, he thought. All he could do was continue onwards to St Paul’s.
*****
‘Follow that gunshot, Archie,’ Noone insisted as they guided Sir Wallace James out the way they’d come.
The swaying army stood motionless and subdued. Luna barked and dashed off ahead as they passed hordes of men in momentary suspension.
‘Pop?’ Noone called out as he saw the hulking man trampled on the floor.
His hound bent at his face and licked his wounds. If she’d had the strength, the wolfhound would have dragged him to safety.
Archie knelt down. ‘I can still feel some breath. I think he’s still alive,’ he confirmed.
The Braggan leader was battered and broken on the floor. His lifetime of jewellery had been crushed and broken like many of his bones.
‘We can’t lift him. We’ll need help. Archie, continue towards that gunshot.’
> ‘Most people run from gunfire, Nathaniel. Has anyone told you that?’
Noone cocked his weapon as Archie moved onwards. Luna the wolfhound barked once more and led the charge in front of them.
‘The dog’s right. There’s a very strong breeze coming this way.’
‘Carefully does it now, Archie,’ Noone advised him as they accompanied Sir Wallace between them.
*****
Sister Harvey and Nelly Parker restrained Eric by the wrists.
‘Alright, alright, I’m not the enemy,’ Eric moaned. ‘Loosen your grip.’
‘Need to be convincing, young man,’ Harvey replied, in slight enjoyment.
‘The moment we leave, we’re heading for the Sheriff’s. Do you know where it is?’ Nelly asked Eric.
Eric’s face was a picture of amusement. He had spent plenty of time under the watchful eye of Wilson Bott.
‘Eric, to be convincing, we really shouldn’t be wearing masks. We’ll retain ours but you must take a deep breath until we replace yours when we arrive. Got it?’
‘’Course I ’ave,’ he replied
The three of them burst out of the schoolhouse. Eric took a gigantic breath from inside just before passing over the threshold. Pausing to observe the men and women they knew so well being subdued in front of them, they then continued with their plan. Eric had dashed that route hundreds of times but now, on one breath, it seemed like a mountain to climb. Quicker and quicker, he encouraged his makeshift, elderly, captors.
Standing guard outside of the Sheriff’s were Messrs Closet and Cleave. They looked both imposing and macabre, though nothing more than puppet sentries. Sister Harvey did not break stride. As the men swayed in front of them she belted Mr Closet, the funeral director, as hard as she could around the face, sending him tumbling down the incline of the Steep. Closet, stout of frame and rotund, was unceremoniously tripped and rolled like the barrel he was, even further.
Eric beckoned them inward as his cheeks turned purple and his chest struggled with its final oxygen.
Once inside they secured the door behind them and watched on as poor old Wilson was subdued on the floor.
‘There, next to the microphone!’ Eric shouted, ripping the tape machine spool from its continuous revolution.
Outside, the violins stopped. The residents of Ambledown also stopped swaying and all that could be heard now were Jennifer James’ orders.
‘Bring me your children. OBEY!’
As it dawned on her the music was no longer playing, Jennifer James knew she had one last ace up her sleeve.
‘You, step forward,’ she directed to the girl. ‘Tell me your name,’ she ordered.
‘Elizabeth Peabody!’ she called out, emphasised through Jennifer’s loud hailer.
‘And how would you like to die?’
*****
‘Ow, bloody hell!’ Archie called out as he tripped over the torso beneath him. ‘Didn’t see that lying there.’ He chuckled.
Nathaniel looked down at the contorted body of the orderly below them. ‘Archie, are you able to get Sir Wallace out of here? I need to find Gideon and then figure out how we move Pop.’
The continued barking of Luna grabbed Nathaniel’s attention as he moved cautiously back into the passageways.
‘What is it, girl?’ Noone asked, entering the impressive laboratory.
Luna was standing astride the open trapdoor, barking down into the darkness below, the dark hole, almost unrecognisable to a human eye, reflected back the ceremonial staff of the Scarlet Scarab.
A flap of wings from the corner and Nathaniel spied The Lady surreptitiously moving in the darkness.
‘What can you see?’ Noone asked them, staring into the darkness of the chamber.
‘Curse the gods,’ came the voice Nathaniel had dreaded hearing. ‘And some people call me grotesque,’ it echoed and laughed.
‘Salazar!’ Noone replied.
Chapter 57
The three P’s
Sir Christopher Wren’s most impressive architectural triumph drew before him. The baroque monolithic dome that was well-positioned upon Ludgate Hill and imposed itself over London, now shrouded in brilliant violet as light emitted from the ginormous lantern beneath the famous ball and crucifix that protected the city for centuries.
It was amazing at how the three Ps: Parliament, Palace and Paul’s had remained unscathed. But now the master plan of Draper’s deception played out in front of them. It had been a long time coming and born many years earlier in a much hotter country many miles away.
Ensuring his gas mask was secure, Thompson armed himself with two pistols then took to the steps outside. He recognised the two men standing guard at the entrance. Rifles loosely carried to their sides. They were the protectors of the Protocols. Only a day before had Smith and Jones rounded them up and ensured their scrutiny before Colonel Malling had insisted he was wrong.
The two men swayed as the violins played louder. Thompson couldn’t see how they could harm him, how they would know how to target him but he approached them with caution.
‘Fire!’ came a man’s voice from within the cathedral. The two men raised their rifles and shot through the air. Their bullets fizzed far from Thompson, clipping stone pillars and indiscriminately wounded a subdued civilian.
‘No!’ Thompson cried out before the words came again.
‘Fire!’
The men reloaded and took aim again. It was obvious they were not in control of their minds or bodies as the bullets were far from hitting him but laden with murderous intent nevertheless.
Sprinting towards them he disarmed the men swiftly. Taking the rifle from one, he peered through its sight to the upper floors.
‘Fire!’ came the shout once more. Thompson caught a glimpse of shadow from above and fired in return. It sparked against a railing as footsteps echoed into the darkness.
On entering the cathedral, he felt its eerie calmness, so at odds with the outside world surrounding it. You could almost hear a pin drop. Keeping aim through the rifle sight, he sought an opportunity to bring down his prey as he studied the upper galleries for sight or sound of his former superior.
‘This is Tuchhandler. Over. Commence the attack. Commence the attack,’ echoed the familiar voice.
*****
‘Lizzy!’ Eric cried out, dashing to leave via the Sheriff’s door.
‘Think, Eric! Think!’ Sister Harvey cried out as the two elderly ladies tried to restrain him.
‘She’s gonna kill her. She’s gonna kill her.’ He burst into tears while his flailing arms resisted them.
‘She’s not. She needs her to bargain with. If you go out there, she’ll have two of you and one of you will be disposable,’ Nelly tried to reason with him.
‘Put on your mask. We need to come up with another plan, and quickly,’ Sister Harvey ordered him.
Just down the Steep, hidden in the governess’s office, Aggie waited anxiously for her friend to return.
‘What’s happening?’ Belle Soames spoke softly down her microphone, the flashing lights reflecting from her pale skin.
‘They’ve stopped the music. I think they’ve stopped the music,’ Aggie enthused.
‘That’s great. Has it worked?’ Belle continued to question.
‘I’ll be right back.’ Aggie crept to the school doorway.
The music had indeed stopped. The inhabitants of Ambledown were motionless. An opaque film covered their eyes.
‘Elizabeth Peabody,’ Aggie heard announced from outside.
‘How would you like her to die?’ Jennifer James repeated.
Elizabeth swayed motionless and silent in her grasp.
‘Very clever, children,’ said Jennifer James and laughed, acknowledging the death of the symphony and its suggestive monologue. ‘But if you do not come to me now, I will begin executing the children one by one.’
Aggie desperately looked up the Steep towards the Sheriff’s office. Sister Harvey, Nelly, and Eric were yet to reappea
r.
‘Five … Four … Three … Two … One!’ Jennifer counted out. ‘So be it.’
She cocked her pistol and held it to Elizabeth Peabody’s temple. The crisp click sounded out clearly.
‘Five … Four … Three ... Two ... One ...’
‘No! STOP!’ came the child’s voice from the middle of the Steep.
*****
‘Seems we are at an impasse,’ Louds called up to Noone. ‘What can you offer me for your friend’s life?’ He laughed.
‘I can’t see that you have my friend,’ Noone replied.
‘Where are my manners?’ Louds replied. ‘I’ll switch the lights on.’
A spark from two flints being scuffed together chinked in the darkened chamber. Then, slowly around the circumference of the black stone sarcophagus, flames began to bob and weave. Slowly, they rallied to form the perfect eye of RA around the ceremonial altar. The orange and amber danced, momentarily hypnotising Nathaniel Noone who collapsed backwards sweating and breathless. Visions of whirling mean and ceremonial beast masks danced through his mind.
‘Oh, I forgot. Do the flames still haunt you, Nathaniel? Remind you of when you once had a face?’ Louds giggled aloud.
‘I could ask you the same thing,’ Noone replied, shielding his eyes from the direct flame-light.
The Scarlet Scarab gently throbbed as flame-light influenced her revival.
‘Do you see her,’ Louds directed towards the ceremonial staff and increasing presence from the crystallised stone. ‘The prophecies are true.’
Noone scoured the room as Louds continued talking. As far as he could ascertain, there was no other way out apart from the stairwell. Not that he trusted the man he once knew.