The Londum Omnibus Volume One (The Londum Series Book 4)

by Tony Rattigan

  ‘Go on,’ said the mayor.

  ‘My friends getting captured in the castle will have everyone roused tonight. The gypsies can’t just stroll in there and take over the castle, even through a secret passage, the castle guard is too strong. What we need is a diversion to split up the guards. This is where your townsfolk come in.

  ‘We have to save my friends first thing tomorrow before anything happens to them, they’ll probably be held in the dungeons until the morning. So at a certain time, say eight o’clock, your townsfolk stage a disturbance at the main gates. This will be unsuccessful but that doesn’t matter. You don’t have to win, just keep the guards occupied. The whole point is to make them think they are winning.

  ‘At the same time, Won Lungh and I will enter the castle by the secret passage. I’ll cause a disturbance inside the castle to add to the confusion and then I’ll go and release my friends. At eight-thirty, Zelda and Charro and the other gypsies will come in through the passage and attack from behind. If the Gods are willing, we’ll win.’

  Zelda and the mayor mulled this over for a few moments and then the mayor said, ‘No, it’s too risky. We can’t do it. I’m sorry Zelda.’

  ‘Well, if you won’t do it for me …’ said Zelda and then turned to one of the women who hadn’t been introduced.

  She took her cue and threw her hood back, ‘Well, will you do it for me then?’

  The mayor dropped his coffee cup into his lap in surprise, fortunately there was only a dribble left in it. He stared in shock, this was turning out to be a night full of surprises. It couldn’t be …

  He took a deep breath and recovered control of his emotions. He looked to Zelda for confirmation and she nodded silently. Rising to his feet he bowed to the woman in the cloak and said, ‘Eight o’clock did you say? We’ll be there.’

  Zelda said, ‘Let’s go over it again shall we? How did you come up with this plan, Adele?’

  ‘Well I didn’t actually; I read it in a book,’ she replied. ‘There was this ancient Cantonese general called Sun-Dae who wrote a book about battle strategies called “How To Win Wars And Influence People”. This particular strategy is named “The Mongoose Tricks The Unwary Cobra” which loosely translates as “Let your enemy think he’s won then run up and kick him in the crotch”.’

  ***

  Mayor Jakob Hunster looked at his fob watch, it read ten minutes to eight o’ clock. If it was going to all kick off at the top of the hour, he better head down to the castle now and make a nuisance of himself.

  After Witch Zelda and the others had left, the mayor had woken his coach driver, who slept above the stables and between the two of them they had put the emergency alert system into operation. Designed to raise all the eligible men to arms if the town of Magdeburg ever came under threat of invasion, it involved each of them going to the house of two men, waking them and giving them instructions to arm themselves and report to the Town Hall. However, before they went to the Town Hall, each of them had to go to the houses of two other men and rouse them. And so on, it cascaded downwards until all men and boys over the age of fifteen had armed themselves and reported to the Magdeburg Defence Force, ready to defend the town.

  It had taken some persuading on the mayor’s part for everyone to agree to take part in the diversion but eventually his political skills had won the day (i.e. he persuaded, blackmailed, bribed or just plain pulled rank on everyone until they gave him their backing.)

  The way to get to the castle from the town was to take the road from one of the corners of the town square. The road led directly to a small square onto which the gates of the castle faced. There was no drawbridge, as there was no moat or long drop between the castle and the town. There were just the castle walls standing apart from the houses and shops that encircled the square.

  As the mayor walked down that road, he eyed the armed men that had hidden themselves behind barrels and carts along the roadside. As he reached the open square, he stopped for a moment to take in the scene. Around the square there were more of his men hidden, armed and ready for action.

  He didn’t look at him but he spoke to a middle-aged man that crouched to his right. The man was Otto Fenderbender, the best shot in the Defence Force. ‘If they shoot me outright, I expect you to kill whoever did it. Otherwise, wait until I give the order before firing.’ The mayor was no coward.

  ‘Don’t worry Jakob, I’ve got you covered,’ Otto reassured him.

  Taking a deep breath, Mayor Jakob Hunster went to face his possible death. He walked across the square until he faced the castle gates. ‘Hello in there,’ he called.

  A puzzled face appeared over the crenellations of the battlements. (Well, look it up if you don’t know what it means.)

  ‘Waddya want?’ said some surly oaf, chewing on a lamb joint for his breakfast.

  Cheek! When Duke Luga and his family took over the country, he had got rid of the castle guard and retinue that were still loyal to Duke Henried and replaced them all with his own men, outsiders. None of the old castle guards would have spoken to the mayor that way.

  ‘I am the town mayor-’

  ‘I know who you are … I asked you waddya want?’

  ‘I understand that you have taken two tourists prisoner, two Albion men.’

  ‘What of it?’ snarled the guard.

  ‘Well I insist you let them go. You can’t just imprison anyone that comes to visit Magdeburg, it’s wrong, it’s inhuman.’

  The man picked a piece of meat out of his teeth. ‘What makes you think you can order their release?’ he challenged the mayor. ‘You don’t have the power. The decision rests with the duke, not some petty official like you.’

  Petty official, eh? thought the mayor. Other guards had joined the first one on the battlements and were grinning down at him.

  ‘I’m going to give you one last chance to recognise the power of the civil authorities otherwise I will be forced to take action. Let them go now or it will be the worse for you,’ threatened the mayor.

  The piece of lamb hit him in the chest and fell to the ground leaving a greasy smear on his jacket. This led to an outbreak of laughter from the guard and his colleagues. A few others chipped in with some tomatoes and pieces of bread. The mayor suffered the onslaught of waste food in silence.

  Mayor Hunster kept his temper as he took out his watch and checked the time, eight o’ clock exactly. Good! He took out his handkerchief and wiped at the smear of grease as he turned and walked back across the square.

  Before he’d reached the safety of the houses, the guard called after him, ‘Run away Mr. Mayor before you get hurt. Duke Luga rules here, remember that and make sure we don’t hear from you again!’

  The mayor halted, turned around and gave the man a stony stare, ‘Oh … you’ll be hearing from me, all right.’ He turned back and continued walking. As he reached the safety of the barrels and bales stacked in front of the houses, he quietly said one word, ‘Otto!’

  Otto took his cue and put a bullet right through the forehead of the oaf who had insulted their mayor. The man’s colleagues stood there in shocked silence as he fell backwards from the battlements into the courtyard. That was their mistake as the volley of shots that rang out took out another three of them, before they had the sense to dive for cover and start returning fire.

  ***

  Cobb and Jim were still awake. It had been a long night; it’s very hard to sleep when you’re chained to a wall with your hands above your head.

  ‘I Spy with my little eye, something beginning with ‘M’,’ said Jim.

  Cobb looked around, smelled the air and said, ‘Smoke!’

  ‘That doesn’t begin with ‘M’.’

  ‘No, I mean I can smell smoke-’ He broke off as the castle came alive with the sound of voices raised in alarm, men running, doors slamming.

  Cobb and Jim looked at each other and then at the cell door as from outside in the corridor came the noise of running steps and then a scuffle, followed by the unmistak
able sound of a body hitting the floor. There was a jangle of keys and then the door swung open slowly.

  Framed in the doorway was Adele, one hand on her hip, the other casually swinging a bunch of keys. She looked at the two men chained to the wall in their underwear, who stared back at her, open-mouthed.

  ‘They told me there was a party down here but if this is their idea of a good time, then I think I’ll pass,’ she said.

  ‘Adele! What the fu-? I mean … what are you doing here?’ said Cobb.

  ‘Thought you might need a hand, so Won Lungh and I came along to watch out for you.’

  Won Lungh peered around the door and waved. Adele handed him the keys, ‘Let them out would you?’

  Won Lungh busied himself unlocking Jim and Cobb, not without looking them up and down and tut-tutting and muttering ‘Amateurs’, first.

  When they were free Adele handed them their clothes, which she had found outside the cell. Even though she had seen both of them in their underwear, for some strange reason they still both turned their backs on her while they dressed.

  ‘How did you get in?’ asked Cobb.

  ‘The same way as you I imagine, up the secret passage. I have a gypsy witch friend who seems to know her way around everywhere.’

  Once Cobb was dressed he went to Adele, kissed her and then picked her up and swung her around. ‘Boy have I missed you. But … what? What are you doing here?’

  ‘You didn’t really think that I was going to let you come out here without coming along to keep an eye on you, did you?’

  ‘I guess not,’ said Cobb.

  ‘Sorry Mr. Cobb, you are too valuable to me to let you risk yourself without me.’

  ‘Are you responsible for all that commotion?’ asked Jim.

  ‘In a way,’ she replied, ‘I set fire to some wall hangings to provide us with a diversion. Hopefully it will keep the castle guards distracted while we make our escape. My gypsy friend also has the local townspeople attacking the front of the castle as a distraction.’

  ‘They’ll never get through those gates,’ said Jim.

  ‘It doesn’t matter, it’s just to occupy the guards so that when a bunch of gypsies come through the same passage that I came through and attack from behind, the guards won’t have a chance.’

  ‘Brilliant,’ said Jim. ‘Whose plan was that?’

  ‘Well, mine actually. It comes from reading history books.’

  By this time they were out in the corridor and Adele was leading them to the stairs out of the dungeon.

  ‘Cobb!’ said Jim. ‘The Seal … it’s in the next cell and we have the keys!’

  ‘Won Lungh, give him the keys,’ ordered Cobb.

  Won Lungh threw him the keys and Jim let himself into the cell. A few moments later he re-appeared carrying the same velvet wrapped bundle that Cobb had retrieved from him back in Londum. He opened it to show them all the Great Seal of Pils-Holstein then wrapped it carefully up again.

  ‘Right,’ he said, ‘let’s get out of here.’

  They rushed up the stairs and crept carefully out into the corridor. They could hear the sound of battle coming from the front of the castle. They headed for the rear, towards the kitchen and the secret entrance.

  They crossed the main hall and Jim opened the door that led to the kitchen. He took one look and slammed it shut again. ‘Quick, there’s guards coming, run for it!’

  The four of them ran back across the hall, there was no point in heading out the main door, that would only put them slap bang in the middle of the guards protecting the castle entrance, they didn’t want to go back down into the dungeon again, that would leave them trapped, so they took their only other option and ran up the stairs.

  They peered over the wooden balustrade as the guards ran past below on their way to reinforce the main gate. Unfortunately several of them stopped in the main hall and took up positions guarding all the entrances to it.

  Cobb looked at Jim who was pointing behind him to a door. It was Luga’s fencing room where they had been taken when they had been first captured.

  ‘I saw another way out of that room,’ Jim whispered, ‘let’s give it a try.’

  Cobb nodded and taking Adele by the arm went to the door and opened it, they went through, quickly followed by Jim and Won Lungh. They were all facing the door as Jim closed it quietly so none of them noticed the occupants until Luga spoke.

  ‘Well, well, well, so the rats are trying to leave the sinking ship, eh?’

  The four of them whirled around to see Duke Luga and his wife Kayla at the window, watching the battle at the main gate. ‘I take it this little disturbance from the townsfolk,’ he waved a hand towards the window where gunshots could quite clearly be heard, ‘is to give you the chance to escape? They won’t win you know.’

  ‘You want to bet?’ said Adele. ‘They’ve got the gypsies behind them; they’ve got you outnumbered.’

  ‘Maybe so but they’re outside and we’re inside, behind nice, thick walls… wait a minute, how did you get in?’ Luga asked Adele. She didn’t answer.

  ‘Well no matter, you won’t be getting out again.’

  All the time Luga had been speaking, Cobb and the others had been slowly edging towards the other side of the room and the door out.

  ‘Stay where you are, you’re not going anywhere!’ snapped Luga.

  Jim grabbed one of Luga’s swords from the rack on the wall and said, ‘And who’s going to stop us?’

  ‘Why me of course,’ replied Luga taking another sword out of the rack.

  ‘Cobb, take the Seal and get out of here,’ said Jim to Cobb. He handed him the velvet wrapped bundle, ‘I’ll keep Luga occupied while you get away.’

  ‘No Jim, you can’t, he’s too dangerous!’

  ‘Just do it!’

  Adele tugged Cobb’s arm and pulled him towards the door, which Won Lungh was opening. Kayla made a dash for the door to stop them but Jim leapt in front of her and drove her back. Cobb reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged away. They went through the door and Won Lungh slammed it behind them.

  ‘Now … I know you could just turn into a werewolf and tear me apart but that wouldn’t be very sporting would it?’ said Jim. ‘And I know you like your fun, so what say we do this the gentlemanly way? You face me with your sword and she doesn’t get involved,’ he nodded towards Kayla. ‘What do you say?’

  Luga smiled the supremely arrogant smile of a man who knows he can’t lose. ‘So, you’re going to die for your friends, eh?’

  ‘No,’ replied Jim, ‘you are. Now then, do we have a deal?’

  ‘Sure, why not? It’s not as if they can get anywhere, my guards will catch them soon enough. Very well, it’s a deal. But if we are going to do this, we will do it by Pils-Holstein rules.’

  ‘And what are they,’ asked Jim.

  ‘The first one that dies … loses.’

  ‘Ah.’

  Without any preliminaries, Luga lunged at Jim. He barely parried it in time; it had taken him by surprise. He had been hoping to carry on with the banter for a bit longer, as the longer he stretched out this fight, the better chance Cobb and the others had of escaping. The guards weren’t even looking for them yet as they were occupied defending the castle, so every second counted.

  Jim swung his sword across Luga’s chest, which he easily blocked and they parried back and forth, testing each other’s abilities.

  Jim hadn’t been lying to Cobb when he said he had been trained by some of the best but he hadn’t handled a sword for ages, whereas Luga practised daily. Every lunge or parry of Jim’s was pretty well placed, they would have pleased his old instructors, but Luga’s were pinpoint accurate, Jim was hard pushed to block them. And the duke was so strong! It must be the werewolf in him, thought Jim.

  Within a few moments Jim could see that he was outclassed. A cold chill ran down his spine as he realised that he could never hope to beat Duke Luga, he was too good, too strong. Jim realised that the only way he was going to survi
ve this sword fight was by losing it.

  ***

  Cobb, Adele and Won Lungh ran down the corridor from Luga’s fencing room. They opened a door and ran into what looked like a guest bedroom, there was a door leading out again on the other side of the room, which they took. This led to another corridor and then another, which led to a set of corridors and pretty soon they were hopelessly lost. They tried every door that they came to. Some were locked; others just led into cupboards or other bedrooms with no other way out.

  ‘What are we going to do? They’ll be after us at any moment,’ asked Adele.

  Cobb looked out of the window; they were at the rear of the castle. ‘We’ve got to find a way down to the ground floor. We’ll just have to keep looking until we find some stairs,’ he replied.

  ***

  Jim Darby and Luga continued their deadly game, the swords flashing in the light from the window and they sparked occasionally as they clashed. Luga’s wife, Kayla, licked her lips as she watched the duel take place before her. Soon it would be over and perhaps she would be allowed to partake of the outsider’s flesh. She would have to wait until her husband had fed; he was the Alpha male of the pack, that was the way. Then his brother would take his turn and then it would be her chance. But there was enough prey roaming around the castle for everyone to dine on fresh meat.

  Her fascination with the fight was interrupted as the door flew open and Rath ran into the room. ‘The townspeople are trying to breach the gate, they’re-,’ he stopped in astonishment as he saw what was taking place.

  ‘Rath … the prisoners have escaped and stolen the Seal, they left through that door. Go after them,’ ordered Luga.

  Rath didn’t argue, he headed for the door, Jim tried to get in his way but Luga increased his attack and drove him towards the corner. As Rath threw open the door and went into the corridor he began to transform.

  As he ran down the corridor he ripped open his shirt and threw it away from him as his torso began to ripple as the muscles and bones began to reform themselves. He had to pause for a moment as his arms and legs grew longer and more muscular. His face grew forward, just as if someone had grabbed his nose and pulled. Finally a mass of shaggy hair grew quickly out, covering his whole body. He roared as his transformation was completed and it echoed down the corridors to where Cobb, Adele and Won Lungh were frantically fleeing.