The Londum Omnibus Volume Two (The Londum Series Book 12)

by Tony Rattigan

  ‘What about our “colourful friend?” ’ asked Field Marshal Harcourt. ‘What if he finds out about our plan?’

  King Victor replied, ‘Probably best we don’t mention it to him. He would probably approve it if it means defeating the Elves but we can’t be sure he won’t think this is a step too far, so we’ll keep him out of the circle. Now I’d like to be on my own for a while.’ He waved them out of the room and went and then poured himself a drink.

  ***

  Jim’s carriage took him to The Golden Gryphon where he explained to Lenny Poole the landlord, that he would be going out of town for a few days and if he didn’t return Lenny was to let his solicitor know. Then they had dropped him at home.

  Cobb went to see Thornton who got the shock of his life when a carriage and a detachment of Household Cavalry pulled up outside his book shop. He came to the door and opened it for Cobb.

  ‘What’s with “The Charge of the Light Brigade” out there?’ he asked, referring to Cobb’s mounted escort. ‘Since when do you merit armed bodyguards? Is there something I should know?’ He locked the shop door and turned the sign to “Closed”. Leading him through to the sitting room at the rear of the shop, he fixed them both a drink.

  ‘Well, I’ve been told not to say anything but I know you can keep a secret. Jim Darby and I are going to the Elf world to destroy their portal generator so they can’t use it to come to Albion anymore.’

  ‘Good Gods. Wait a minute, it’s not just the two of you, I hope?’

  ‘No, they’re sending some marines with us, for protection.’

  ‘How are you going to get there? Do your little party trick I suppose?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Well I never. It’d be marvellous if you can pull that off, it could end the war. Once they see that can’t get any more backup, they’ll soon capitulate and sue for peace. What does Adele think about all this?’

  ‘She’s none too happy about me risking my neck again but she sees the necessity of it. Actually I’m not sure where she is at the moment. We were all up at the palace-’

  ‘The palace?’ interrupted Thornton.

  ‘Yes, the palace. King Victor is running this war personally and is managing it all from Buck House.’

  ‘Makes sense I suppose. Go on with your story.’

  ‘So I left the palace to bring Jim into the plan and in the meantime Adele went off with the queen of the witches to go somewhere.’

  ‘Oh, I see. Queen of the witches? You are moving in exalted circles these days, aren’t you? Still, you’ll get to see her before you go won’t you? When is that by the way?’

  ‘Tomorrow, so it might be a bit tight. This is my last night so as she isn’t around I came here. I wanted to say goodbye. You know … just in case.’

  Thornton didn’t insult Cobb’s intelligence by pretending that everything would work out fine and no one would come to any harm. They had both put their lives on the line many times and had both known people who, when the dice had been rolled, had come up losers. Instead he just nodded.

  ‘Did you go and see that man I suggested, about an engagement ring?’ Thornton asked.

  ‘Yes I did thanks. He did me a very good deal on a one-carat sparkler. Adele seemed to like it, she said yes when I proposed.’

  ‘Splendid, splendid. Congratulations to you. I couldn’t be happier for you both, you make a wonderful couple.’

  ‘Thanks. Well, I’d better be going, get things ready for tomorrow. I’ve arranged with the neighbours to feed the cat in case Adele is away for a while. You might want to pop in and see if he’s okay. There’s a cat flap so there shouldn’t be any mess unless he brings home trophies from the hunt. Apart from that, cheerio. It’s been grand knowing you.’

  ‘You too, you were a welcome addition to my family.’

  Thornton walked him to the front door and they shook hands. ‘Good luck Cobb and may the Gods protect you.’

  ‘Thanks, you too.’

  Cobb left the shop and climbed aboard his coach. The soldier leading the detail gave the order and they moved off, taking Cobb home.

  “Hurry Up and Wait!”

  Cobb woke up as the dawn light broke through the curtains. He sat up in bed and looked down at Adele. She had come home late last night, very excited about being asked to be the scientific advisor to the queen of the witches and what that had led to.

  After leaving the palace, Eloise and Adele (followed by Won Lungh) and accompanied by her entourage had climbed into carriages and headed across Londum to the Headquarters of the Council of Witches. There she had taken Adele into her inner sanctum where she had requested her personal crystal be brought to her. There was a ‘scrying room’ where communications were normally conducted but she wanted to arrange for Morgan le Fay to be brought to the palace, personally.

  (The rest of the world used telegraph networks to communicate over long distances and around the world. Albion’s network was especially impressive as it carried Londum’s instructions throughout their empire, which covered a quarter of the globe. Telegraph messages however, had to be relayed from telegraph office to telegraph office all along the path to the destination. Witches preferred to use crystal balls to speak to each other as they could carry pictures as well as sound and could make contact directly. While most witches had their own ball, large concentrations of witches such as the Council headquarters had a ‘scrying room’ which was permanently manned by junior witches, who constantly monitored a bank of crystal balls used for incoming and outgoing scrying sessions.)

  Eloise had contacted the Abbey where Morgan le Fay was being cared for and ordered her to be made ready for the trip to the palace, in the morning. Then she had sent Adele home by carriage with instructions to be ready for the morning and then withdrawn to her personal quarters.

  Cobb looked at Adele’s sleeping form, (my, she was beautiful) and once again thanked the Gods for being allowed a second chance at happiness. After his wife, Esme, had died he thought that his life was over and had sunk into a spiral of drinking and self-destructive acts. However, life is full of surprises and one day he met Adele, after being hired to find her, and once again found love. Which just goes to prove you never know what’s around the corner.

  Adele opened one eye and said, ‘Are you watching me while I sleep? That’s creepy.’

  ‘I was just trying to decide whether to shave your eyebrows off or draw a moustache on you,’ he replied.

  ‘Touch me and I’ll shave your bits off!’ she warned him, making a grab under the covers.

  ‘Heh, heh, take it easy! I have to go out and save the world later.’

  She grimaced and her shoulders sagged. ‘Yes you do have to, don’t you? Isn’t there any way you could get out of it?’

  ‘You could try writing me a sick note telling ‘em I’ve got a cold or something, but I really don’t think that would work, do you?’

  ‘No, I suppose not.’

  ‘Don’t worry Adele, I’ll be fine. I’ve got Jim looking out for me now, so I feel a lot happier about going.’

  ‘Still, just in case something happens ... we’d better make sure we say goodbye properly.’ She lay back in the bed and pulled him down on top of her.

  ***

  Shortly after eight, a coach picked up Cobb. Followed by his armed, mounted guard he directed them towards Jim’s place where they collected him and then it took them both to the palace. Upon their arrival there, they were met by a footman and taken up to the War Room where Field Marshal Harcourt met them.

  ‘Good morning, gentlemen. I’m afraid the operation is off for today. There’s been a bit of a technical hitch and it’s necessary to delay the mission until tomorrow. We want everything to be in order before we set off, you know.’

  ‘What sort of technical hitch?’ asked Jim.

  ‘Oh, something to do with one of the airships I believe. Don’t know all the details I’m afraid, it’s the navy’s business. Everything should be fine by tomorrow though. Wh
y don’t you hang around for a bit in case we need to go over anything with you? Help yourself to some breakfast.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Jim. ‘Thanks.’

  After the Field Marshal left, Cobb turned to Jim and said, ‘I’m a copper and I know when someone’s lying to me.’

  ‘I’m a crook and so do I. What do you think’s going on that they don’t want us to know?’

  ‘Dunno. I don’t think it’s a defective airship, they’re only meant to be a distraction, so I can’t imagine that one more or less would make that much difference. No, there’s something else going on.’

  ‘Well, we’ll just have to wait to find out. Nothing ever changes, the military top brass always treats the underlings like mushrooms.’

  ‘Mushrooms?’ asked Cobb.

  ‘Kept in the dark and fed on shit,’ Jim explained.

  Cobb laughed. ‘Ah, I see. Well I guess we’re stuck here for no reason at all, considering we’re not going until tomorrow.’

  Jim shrugged. ‘The military way ... “Hurry Up and Wait!”. They badger you to get ready, ages before you’re due to leave, and then they keep you waiting around until it’s actually time to go. They could just do it all at a calm pace leading gradually up to the departure time, but no, it’s always “Hurry Up and Wait!” ’

  ‘Never mind,’ replied Cobb. ‘Let’s go and get something to eat. I skipped breakfast this morning, I was a little ... busy,’ he said with a smile.

  ***

  The hustle and bustle went on around them but just seemed to avoid them. Occasionally they would help themselves to the breakfast buffet that had been laid out on one of the side tables, but basically they were just killing time until someone came up with the detailed plan and informed them of their movement instructions. So when the prime minister approached them and asked them to follow him, they were only too happy to oblige, to break the monotony.

  Lord Parmesan led them out of the War Room and down the corridor into a small office. He went around to stand behind the desk but he didn’t sit down nor did he invite them to. He placed the folder he had under his arm on the desk and opened it, facing them.

  ‘I thought the name “Jim Darby” rang a bell, so I got someone to dig into the files. It turns out that the king issued a Royal Pardon to a person named Jim Darby, some time back. That was you I take it?’

  ‘Indeed it was,’ admitted Jim. ‘And thank you very much, it was much appreciated. Got me out of a lot of trouble I can tell you.’

  ‘What did you do to earn a Royal Pardon?’ asked Cobb, intrigued.

  ‘Cobb, allow me to tell you one day about my crazy adventures.’

  ‘The thing is,’ interrupted the prime minister, ‘we can’t allow a person of your calibre ... a criminal, to go on such an important mission.’

  ‘Er, excuse me,’ said Jim, indignantly, ‘but you might want to check your facts and find out exactly why I was given a Royal Pardon before you start insulting people. I was actually serving the interests of this country at the time and I stopped a world war into the bargain. So one might conclude that I’m exactly the sort of person that you want on this mission.’

  ‘Nevertheless-’

  ‘Nevertheless,’ Cobb overrode him, ‘the king wants me to go and Jim to accompany me. If he doesn’t go, then I don’t go and that would make the king very unhappy, don’t you think?’

  ‘I don’t like your manner,’ snapped the prime minister.

  ‘Yeah, I keep getting complaints about it but it seems to be getting worse.’

  The prime minister stared at him for a moment, trying to contain his anger but eventually he realised that the king would have his hide if he caused Cobb and Jim to back out of the mission. ‘And do you trust him?’

  ‘With my life.’

  ‘Very well then but don’t mess up or you’ll have me to answer to.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Prime Minister,’ said Jim. ‘If we mess up we’ll be dead.’

  The prime minister said nothing, just picked up his folder and walked out.

  ***

  Cobb and Jim were just finishing their lunch when the doors of the War Room opened and there was a kerfuffle as a group of people walked in. Cobb could see Queen Eloise and her entourage, Adele and Won Lungh were with them also but in the middle of the group was someone who Cobb couldn’t make out through the throng.

  Adele smiled at Cobb and surreptitiously waved him over. He nudged Jim and they put down their plates and casually strolled over and joined the group. ‘You’ve got to see this,’ Adele urged them.

  Queen Eloise and the others approached the king who was at his position at the head of the table surrounded by the rest of the ‘inner circle’. He stood up and came around the table to face them.

  Queen Eloise curtsied and said, ‘Your Majesty, allow me to present Morgan le Fay.’ She stepped aside and the small group behind her split down the centre and Morgan le Fay was rolled forward to meet him.

  She was in a bath chair. It was made of wicker and longer than normal to accommodate a third wheel at the front, from which a long pole with a cross bar was connected, so the occupant could steer the device.

  As it came to a stop before him, he looked down at the lady occupying the bath chair. She was old ... really old. This was the sort of woman that the phrase ‘wizened old crone’ was invented for. Her hands and her face were wrinkled beyond belief and her white hair just sparsely covered her scalp, which was visible and also wrinkled. She looked up at him with her rheumy eyes but didn’t speak.

  King Victor finally broke the silence. ‘So you’re Morgan le Fay? Amazing, I would never have believed it if someone had told me about this ... but to see you with my own eyes! Incredible ... welcome to Buck House.’

  Morgan le Fay just stared at him.

  ‘Can she understand me?’ the king asked.

  ‘Oh, she can understand you all right, sir,’ replied Eloise. ‘She just doesn’t always deign to answer.’

  He tried again. ‘Hello ... I’m King Victor. We’re at the palace. CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME?’

  ‘Of course I can understand you,’ croaked Morgan. ‘I’m old, not senile. And I’m not deaf either, there’s no need to shout.’ Her voice was thin and reedy but strong enough to be heard clearly. Despite the damage that time had wrought on her physical body, it had obviously not been so hard on her mind.

  ‘Oh right, okay, fine. Sorry about the shouting, thought you might be a bit deaf.’

  ‘What do you want with me?’

  ‘So you were really there when King Arthur was alive?’

  The prime minister stepped forward. ‘But that was in the sixth century, that’s thirteen hundred years ago.’

  Morgan le Fay looked at Eloise and asked her, ‘Has this fool brought me here to give me a maths lesson?’

  ‘No but-,’ interjected the prime minister before the king interrupted him. ‘Stand aside Prime Minister, leave it to me.’

  Duly humbled the prime minister stepped back into the crowd.

  ‘Now then,’ said the king. ‘We have a bad situation and the country is in danger. We need to resurrect King Arthur to help us. I am told that you may know how to do that.’

  ‘I might do ... I might not.’

  ‘Well, what can you tell us? Do you know where he is buried, for example?’

  ‘Of course I do, I was there when he was buried. He’s in Avalon.’

  ‘Well that’s not much use to us,’ said the king, exasperated.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because it’s not in Albion, is it? The legend says he sailed away to Avalon, wherever that might be.’

  Morgan locked eyes with Queen Eloise and shook her head. ‘Kings, they never listen. Think they know it all. It was called Avalon in my day but nowadays you know it as Glastonbury.’

  ‘But it can’t be. He sailed away to his final resting place in Avalon, Glastonbury is inland, it’s surrounded by dry land!’

  ‘It is now,’ she conceded. ‘But thirteen hundred years ago
,’ she looked pointedly at the prime minister, ‘it was surrounded by a lake ... which made it an island.’

  ‘So all that speculation over the years about Arthur being buried at Glastonbury was true. This is marvellous. If we took you there do you think you could point out his grave?’

  ‘Certainly, that is one of the things I shall never forget. He’s buried in Glastonbury Abbey.’

  ‘Splendid, splendid. Now for the important bit ... do you know how to raise Arthur from the dead?’

  ‘Yes, I know the spells that must be cast, the incantations that must be spoken but I cannot do it alone. Even in my heyday it would have been a stretch for me to summon the amount of Magick that will be needed to carry this out. I will need the help of my sister witches.’

  Victor looked at Eloise, who replied, ‘Of course, anything we can do to help, Your Majesty.’

  ‘Excellent, we shall go to Glastonbury then. I’ll have my Royal train made ready. It’s been on standby since this whole crisis began, so it should only take an hour or so to be ready to go. We can travel there overnight.’ He waved his ADC over and gave him instructions to have the train prepared and to have the route to Glastonbury cleared. He also told him to add another sleeping carriage and a couple of extra carriages as they would be taking a detachment of troops with them. The colonel nodded and left to make the arrangements.

  ‘Right everyone, listen up,’ said the king. ‘Prime Minister, I want you to stay here and look after things. Admiral Collins, also stay here and maintain progress on the operation, as it’s a naval affair. Then take the team up to Kendal where we will meet you. Field Marshal Harcourt, I’d like you to remain here and take command of our forces while Admiral Collins is in the field. We shall be taking soldiers with us to Glastonbury. Please arrange for a detachment of men to accompany us, but I’d also like you to arrange for the local regiment to meet us there, we may need their men to assist us. Get them to seal off the Abbey and prepare for an excavation if necessary.’