I spoke quietly to Erasmus. “I think we should set Aloysius down and see which way he goes. He could lead us to Tegan.”
“He could, or he could scuttle around in circles, or get set upon by his somewhat larger brethren,” he said, pointing at a particularly fat rat that sat watching us.
“We are running out of options.”
A small voice startled us both.
“I could ’elp you, missus.”
We turned to find Nipper standing behind us.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, bending down to check his splint and bandage. “Indeed, what are you doing out of bed at all, Nipper? You need to rest or you will become ill again.”
“I came to see Stardust.” He grinned. “He smelled of carrots!”
“I told you I’d check on him for you. Oh, Nipper.”
Erasmus put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Strikes me you are a clever fellow if you managed to escape Mrs. Timms’s watchful eye.”
“’Ave you found your friend, missus?” Nipper asked. “The one who was lost?”
“What’s that?” Robin shook his head. “No one said anything about someone lost.”
“I’m sorry, Robin, perhaps we should have told you more…”
“The truth is,” Erasmus put in, “our friend, she is in grave danger, and we need to find her tonight. We believe she is being held captive down here somewhere.”
Nipper tugged at my sleeve. “I can ’elp you, missus. There’s no one knows these tunnels better than me. I’ve lived down ’ere long as I can remember.”
At that moment there came shouts from the far end of the tunnel. A gruff voice was issuing orders and underlining their importance with oaths.
“Antrobus!” Robin turned to us. “We ’as to go. If ’e finds out I’ve brought you down ’ere I’m for it!”
“You go, Robin,” I told him. “We have to continue our search. Don’t worry, I promise we won’t let Mr. Antrobus catch us. Go quickly now, and take Nipper with you.”
“No!” Nipper insisted. “You’ll get lost without me.”
Aloysius, as if sensing a decision needed to be made, hopped out off my shoulder and trotted purposefully away down the tunnel.
“We should follow him!” Erasmus said.
Nipper needed no further prompting and ran after the mouse.
Robin thrust the lamp into my hands. “You’ll need this. Good luck, missus!” he called to me as he hurried back up the tunnel.
We made a curious search party; two adults, a child with his arm in a sling, and an increasingly grubby mouse hastening along the passageway. Aloysius turned right and then left into a much narrower tunnel and I had the sense we were descending even farther, the ceiling lowering, and water puddling upon the rough floor. Our single lamp threw an inadequate pool of light, so that we were frequently stepping in shadows, stumbling and splashing in our eagerness not to lose sight of Aloysius. The heat of the day could not penetrate this far, so that the fetid warmth of the higher tunnels was replaced with a biting coldness now. If Tegan really was being kept down here, she could not have been doing so in any comfort.
Aloysius took a turn down a singularly filthy tunnel and Nipper hesitated.
“What is it?” Erasmus asked him. “Do you know where this passage leads?”
He shook his head. “No one goes down there. It’s full of dead bodies.”
“A catacomb,” I said, reminding Erasmus of the nickname for all the tunnels. “There is nothing to be afraid of, Nipper. The dead won’t hurt you. They are sleeping now.” I took his hand, and we continued. We passed stone slabs set into the wall, which must have been the tombstones of those buried behind them, though I couldn’t make out any inscriptions. Sometimes we found wooden coffins simply stacked one upon another.
Nipper shuddered at the sight of them, and I could feel his fear, but still he pressed on, and I marveled at the bravery a six-year-old could be capable of. At one point he stopped me and asked in a whisper, “Them’s small boxes, missus. Was they for babes?”
Erasmus paused, waiting to see how I would reply. Like me, he knew that these were viscera boxes, into which the vital organs of the deceased were sometimes put when they were buried. I didn’t want to raise Nipper’s levels of anxiety.
“They are for things that were very precious to those who died,” I told him. “To keep them safe.”
We moved on, and were so intent on hurrying forward that we almost walked into two burly men standing at the entrance to the next tunnel. I moved to stand in front of Nipper. I saw Erasmus’s hand drop to the dagger hilt in his belt.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” he said, though even in the low light it was plain to see they were anything but.
The foremost man raised his lamp and studied us.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?”
“Not your usual sewer rats,” his friend observed, pushing his cloth cap a little farther back on his head. Both men were brawny and tall, so that between them they all but blocked the tunnel. I knew at once that they had been put there to guard the entrance, and my heart quickened. If you find guards, you have also found something worth guarding.
Erasmus said calmly, “There appear to be two courses of action available to us. The first is that you tell us how much your master is paying you to bar our way, and we promise to pay you more to allow us to pass.”
The taller of the two men gave a grunt. “Carry large sums of money for your walks in the tunnels, do you?”
“No, but you would have my word…”
The other man took a step forward, so that he was almost nose to nose with Erasmus. “We don’t work for promises,” he said, twitching his hand so that a heavy wooden cosh fell down his sleeve. He caught the handle and gripped the weapon tightly.
“Ah,” said Erasmus. “Regrettably, I see you have chosen the second possible course of action.” He had barely finished this statement before he struck the man in front of him. He moved with such speed and such strength that the guard was taken entirely by surprise and fell to the ground clutching his face. As the second thug lunged forward Erasmus whipped out his knife. His assailant halted, but only to take out his own fearsome blade. As the two danced around one another, the first man got to his feet and decided to direct his fury at me. He raised his cosh, intending to rain blows down upon my head. I heard Nipper shout. As a reflex, I let fly a pulse of magic. Ordinarily it would not have been enough to seriously harm anyone, but at such close quarters it had the effect of not only staying the thug’s hand, but flinging him backward, sending him crashing against the tunnel wall. The scuffle had been overheard, for there came shouts from farther up the tunnel, and the sound of heavy footfalls. In seconds there were more men upon us, four or five, it was hard to say. Figures emerged from the shadows, only to be hidden by the dark seconds later. However many there were, it was clear we were horribly outnumbered, and Erasmus and I would not be able to overpower them. One bearded henchman grabbed hold of Nipper.
“Let him go!” I shouted, but could do nothing to help, as I myself was held fast by an arm around my throat and another twisting my hand painfully behind my back.
Nipper was accustomed to having to defend himself, however, and demonstrated how he came by his name by sinking his sharp little teeth into his assailant’s hand. The man yelped at the pain of the bite and let the boy go.
“Run, Nipper!” I screamed. “Run!”
The child did as he was bid, tearing away into the blackness of the passage with the fleetness of foot only children are gifted with. I summoned a forceful blow and rid myself of my own attacker, but two more immediately strode toward me. I stirred up a miniature whirlwind, which whipped up the dust of ages that lay around us, temporarily blinding everyone.
“Elizabeth!” Erasmus snatched my hand and dragged me away. “Come! We must leave now.”
“But we have to go on…”
“This is not effective. We will be no use to Tegan dead.”
&n
bsp; Together we ran back the way we had come and then dashed up a tiny side tunnel where we stopped, trying to silence our noisy breathing as the guards came searching for us. We were pressed up against each other in the cramped space. There was no light at all. I could not see Erasmus’s face, but I could feel his breath against my cheek.
“Elizabeth,” he whispered, “you have to go after Nipper. Now that we know where Tegan is being kept he may be able to find another way in. Can you manage without a lamp?”
“Yes. I can sense my way without too much trouble. And Nipper is so frightened I should be able to sense him, too. But what will you do?”
He was about to answer when heavy footsteps came close. He put his finger to my lips to warn me to keep silent. With a stealth and a lightness that I was coming to recognize as his habit, Erasmus moved away from me and back toward the main tunnel. Whoever was approaching had a lamp and its unsteady light preceded him. The man walked forward warily, coming to a sharp halt when he found Erasmus standing before him.
“I think you should be on your way,” Erasmus told him.
“Go to hell!” the man yelled, and with that he dropped the lantern, raised a dagger, and threw himself at Erasmus. The thug was hefty and strong but far too slow to cause Erasmus any trouble. By the time the henchman had brought down his blade, Erasmus had sidestepped him and drawn his own knife across his assailant’s throat in one swift, clean movement. The man gasped, dropped his dagger, and clutched at his throat. The lamplight showed dark streams pouring from between his fingers. Erasmus caught him as he sank to the ground, finally lowering him onto the grimy floor.
“I fear it is you who will be making that particular journey,” he said softly. He looked up at me, the other man’s blood staining his jacket, his eyes wild, and I saw, not for the first time, that this was no ordinary man. He might present a bookish face to the world, but a Time Stepper faces danger frequently, and each must learn his own way of surviving it. Erasmus was not a man to cross.
“Elizabeth, go now.”
“What about you?”
“I will find you,” he told me, wiping his knife on his sleeve. “But first, there is work to be done. We could not force our way past such a number of rogues. I will fight these wretches one at a time.”
I watched him take the lamp and set off up the tunnel at a run. I felt a fleeting moment of pity for those he was in pursuit of, but more than that, I experienced a flash of fear that he himself might come to harm. My heart constricted at the thought, but I had not time to dwell on how much Erasmus had come to mean to me. Checking that the passageway was clear, I focused my thoughts on Nipper, and detected a faint but unmistakable trace. Hitching up my skirts, I ran in search of him.
26
The twins burst into my cell in high spirits. The change in their mood was as disturbing as it was unexpected. What did they have to be so chipper about? They were both dressed up to the nines in fancy white summer dresses, all frothy with lace, flowers in their hair, which was half piled up on their heads, and half flowing.
“Here we are!” Lucrecia practically skipped across the room. “A special dress for a special day,” she announced, holding up a new outfit for me. She and her sister were entirely taken up with the loveliness of our clothes, and chatted on about how beautiful the gowns were. All I could think was They are taking me out!
Florencia smiled at me. “Do you like my ribbons? Look, they are periwinkle blue, like the flowers in my hair. I chose these for you.” From her pocket she took two lengths of rose red ribbon and a comb. “I shall do your hair.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Lucrecia would pull so hard your eyes would water!”
Florencia’s rivalry with her sister, and the way she had to put up with being the underdog all the time, was causing a tiny fracture in their bond. It was so small as to be easily missed, but it was all I had to work with. I had to make the most of it.
“Thank you!” I whispered back, and then submitted to her pretty expert hairdressing skills. Her sister, meanwhile, helped me to dress. My own gown was also white, though slightly less fussy. The skirts and petticoats were lacy, but the bodice was more about shape than decoration. Someone had made an accurate guess about my size, though I had been losing weight since being held captive. Lucrecia stood behind me and tugged mercilessly on the corset ties.
“It has to be right,” she puffed. “You have to look your very best.”
“I feel like a bride in this,” I said.
Both girls stopped what they were doing, just for a second, and then continued without commenting on what I had said. I felt my uneasiness increase.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “What is so special about today that we have to get all dressed up?”
Lucrecia stooped to help me into my smart leather boots. “We are going to have a picnic!”
“On the river!” her sister said.
“There will be musicians,” Lucrecia went on. “It will be such a beautiful occasion. We all must look our very best.”
“For Gideon, I’m guessing.” When they didn’t bite I tried again. “He will be there, won’t he? I mean, you wouldn’t waste all this dressing up on just anyone.”
“Of course he will be with us,” said Lucrecia, lacing my boots with such ferocity I was very glad she wasn’t doing my hair. “Everything we do is for him. All for him. Always.”
I studied Florencia’s expression. She was working hard to give nothing away, but clearly all was not happiness and rainbows among the weird little trio. I felt my heart beating hard against the unyielding corset. I would have to time any attempt at an escape very carefully. If I was going to be out in daylight on a riverboat, by the sounds of it, my magic would start to return, assuming Gideon did nothing to subdue it again by using a spell of his own. As soon as I felt I had enough strength I would have to seize my chance. No doubt Gideon would be expecting me to try something. I had to play any advantage I could find, and Florencia might just make the crucial difference.
“You were right about that blue,” I whispered to her. “It really suits you.”
She gave a shy smile. Lucrecia snatched the brush out of her hand.
“That will have to do, or we shall be late. Now,” she said, giving me a seriously haughty look, “I do hope you will behave properly. It won’t do any good at all if you cause a fuss or commotion. Just do as you are told and it will all be much easier.”
“For who?” I asked. “For Gideon, certainly. For you two, possibly. But I doubt it will be good for me, will it? Whatever he has planned, he doesn’t care about what happens to any of us.”
“Hush, now. You don’t know what you are talking about. Gideon rewards loyalty.”
“Perhaps. For as long as it suits him. And anyway, he will never give you what you’re hoping for. He will never love you, Lucrecia.”
“Be quiet! It is not for us to think such things. He will do what he wishes…”
“And what about what you wish for? Because the truth is you are waiting for him to choose you, over everyone else. But why would he? Really, think about it. He wanted Elizabeth and when she rejected him it drove him half mad. He pretended to want me. Whatever he has in store for me, it’s not happily ever after with him! He could have taken you as his bride or his lover any time he wanted, but he hasn’t. Why is that, d’you think? Maybe he prefers someone else, and when the time is right, he’ll just get rid of you without a second thought.”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Lucrecia shrieked, and coiled her hair into a thick rope, which she used to whip me hard across my face.
The pain was intense, and I clutched at my cheek. The skin was not broken, but I could feel an angry welt forming.
“Lucrecia!” Her sister put a restraining hand on her shoulder. “You shouldn’t have done that! Look at her face now. He told us she must be perfect. He will be angry with you.”
“I will tell him she attacked me! That I was forced to defend myself.”
Florencia rep
lied in a small, calm voice, “But that is not what happened, is it?”
There was a moment when the air crackled between the girls. Lucrecia’s hair began to coil and twist like a nest of serpents about to be let loose. She seemed to be weighing her options. At last she marched toward the door, saying, “We have not time for disagreement. Come now, bring her along quickly.”
I felt real excitement as they took me out of my grotty prison. I discovered that on the other side of the door lay a series of tunnels, still giving me no clue as to where we were. We needed a lamp to be able to see and walked for a full fifteen minutes before some chinks of daylight began to appear, falling through high windows set at what must have been street level. Soon after that I could hear noises from outside; shouts from barrow boys, horses’ hooves, carriage wheels, but no cars. Given the style of the clothes and the complete lack of the internal combustion engine I guessed we were in a city somewhere around the middle of the nineteenth century.
The tunnel began to slope upward, and the girls now walked one on either side of me. We reached an exit with a heavy iron gate, which was guarded by a man who appeared to be expecting us. As we approached he unlocked the gate, and I felt long tendrils of the girls’ hair twist itself around my wrists, holding me firmly both by the strength of their ropelike tresses and by the toxic magic that they held. My skin burned a little beneath the contact, and my arms soon ached as if they were holding up great weights. It was an effective system of manacling me.
We stepped onto the pavement and I felt the glorious heat of the sun! I turned my face up to it, already aware of its strength entering my body, but within seconds I was pulled forward and bundled into a waiting covered carriage, with all its windows blacked out by heavy blinds.
“Good morning, Tegan.” Gideon tipped his hat at me. He had chosen to sit opposite me in the carriage, with the twins still flanking me. It was just like him, to let them do the undignified work of restraining me, leaving his hands clean. Not that they ever truly could be. The driver had clearly been instructed to go quickly, and we sped through the streets, with me unable to get even a glimpse of where we were going. Gideon noticed the mark on my face and glared at Lucrecia but said nothing.
The Return of the Witch Page 30