The Spellbinder (Tom & Laura Series) (20 page)

The Captain sounded like a preacher speaking at the end of a sermon.

“Let that be a lesson on what will happen if you defy me. Go to your rooms and stay there. Anybody caught trying to leave their room will be shot.” He looked at the servants, “You bring my men food and then stay in your quarters. This doesn’t concern you.”

The teachers milled around uncertain as to what they should do. The Captain looked over at them. “I need you for my plan. We don’t want to have to kill the Prime Minister or Prince Bertie do we? Go to your rooms, stay there and try nothing. I’ll send for you when I need you.”

The Captain walked towards the double doors, one now hanging from a single broken hinge. He carefully stepped over the pooling blood of the dead as though it was water. He turned back to the Headmaster. “And get the servants to clean this mess. We wouldn’t want to leave the place untidy, now would we?”

Chapter 24
   
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Snood leant against the bookshelf in the Headmaster’s study sipping a glass of Port and smoking a cigar. He looked totally relaxed and at peace with the world. This was a considerable deception on his part, as he felt sick to his stomach after what he had just witnessed in the Mess. It was difficult to maintain his composure in the company he had to keep, but it was also essential for his survival.

The Captain was telling the Headmaster a particularly dirty joke that involved a French maiden and a squirrel looking for somewhere to hide his nuts. The Headmaster was laughing dutifully at all the appropriate places. Both men appeared to be delighted with the way things had gone in the Mess. It was an attitude that Snood found chilling.

Snood knew that he was himself an evil man who lacked a conscience in most things. He had come to terms with who he was long ago and was no longer bothered at night by the faces of those he had killed. He performed a service that provided the money to buy the life he wanted and in the course of his work, people sometimes got killed. But he always felt something when he killed. Usually, he felt sick.

He would never have believed before this night that he was an innocent when it came to murder and that there are people whose capacity for evil far exceeded his own. He thought it a terrible misfortune that he was working with two of them. That the Captain had consumed enough whiskey to intoxicate a dozen men didn’t help Snood’s peace of mind one bit. The man was a loose cannon even when sober.

The Captain looked up at him and he realized his thoughts had made him miss the punchline of the Captain’s joke.

“My jokes no longer to your liking, Reynolds? Seems to me that you’ve gotten a mite snooty since they gave you that limey face. Not sure I like the new you.”

Snood jerked away from the wall as if he had been stung. It was imperative that these men did not question his identity. He needed a good excuse.

“I was thinking about what we should do about finding Laura Young. I’m sure your joke was as funny as they always are.”

“All taken care of.” The Captain waved his glass of whisky around in a graceful arc. “If she comes back here or goes to the railway station… Bang, she’s dead.”

The Captain seemed to find his words funny. “Bang and a Class A dies. As simple as that and one of them is dead. Who’d have thought it was that easy?”

The Headmaster looked concerned. “You’ve cleared killing her with the boss?”

“Sure. Nothing gets in the way of the mission. If all goes to plan, well maybe we’ll go look for the girl later.” The Captain collapsed back into his chair with a sigh. “Personally, I hope my men kill her so we don’t have the bother.”

While this answer satisfied the Headmaster, Snood was anxious to know more.

“How can you be sure she will not act against us? You can’t simply dismiss a Class A that easily.”

The Captain opened his eyes and looked shrewdly at him. Snood was suddenly aware that the Captain was not anything like as drunk as he first appeared. A shiver ran up his spine as the man continued to examine his face. However, after a few moments of hard gazing the Captain seemed happy to answer.

“I’ve got snipers on the roof of the tower. If they see anybody making their way to Hobsgate they’ll shoot to kill. Their orders are ‘ladies first’, like proper limey gentlemen. She’ll be dead before she knows it, let alone has the wherewithal to cast a spell. If she goes to the train, I have snipers watching the station. They’ll kill anybody that even vaguely matches her description. Hell, they’ll kill anybody that tries to board the train. They have the latest Spencer sniper rifles and know how to use them. If the plan goes wrong, the snipers will kill Palmerston and the Prince rather than let them escape. Believe me, Reynolds, it’s all taken care of.”

The Captain closed his eyes, a slight smile playing on his lips and promptly fell asleep. Snood looked at the man with distaste and vowed to kill him as soon as he could. The world would be a much better place without the Captain in it.

“And then they shot those young ‘uns with their magic gun. It didn’t so much kill ‘em as cut ‘em to pieces.”
Nan
felt tears forming and strove to stop them from rolling down her cheeks. She knew she had to be strong.

Mick strained and rested his hand on his Aunt’s. It was a struggle as he felt so weak, but then it was a miracle he still lived.

“Is this gun of theirs easy to move?”

Nan
pulled herself together and put her other hand on top of Mick’s. She shook her head. “Takes two to shoot it. More than that to move it, I’d say.”

“And Miss Young is safe?”

“Safe as can be. Fred took ‘em to the hut.”

“Word on the rest of us?”

Nan
suppressed a sob. “No sign of any of ‘em. They may be captive in the cave. But I fear the worst.
 
Below stairs is a shambles an’ no mistake. I’ve got the strongest of us comforting the rest. Yer don’t expect to witness bloody murder when yer just a maid.”

Nan
found it difficult to come to terms with what she had seen.
Why had that bastard killed those young men and women? It made no sense.
She wanted to beat the Captain to death and was quite shocked with herself, her hands clenched and unclenched with the urge for revenge.

Mick tried to sit up, but as soon as his head was more than a foot above his body his head spun and he collapsed back onto the bed.

“Yer can’t do anything, Mick. One sick man against an army? Yer wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“I can’t let them do it,
Nan
. I need a rifle. There’s places I could go with a rifle that’d make a difference when the Prime Minister comes.” Mick sighed as he gave up the struggle to leave his bed. “There’s likely rifles in the cave. Tristan had a good one.”

“Might as well wish for a troop of cavalry while yer at it,”
Nan
said and laughed bitterly. “Do yer think we haven’t tried t’ get down there? A lot of good men went missin’ last night. Their loved ones don’t know whether to grieve or hope. The entrance is guarded and there’s no chance of getting into the tunnel.”

Mick gripped
Nan
’s arm and leaned towards her.

“There’s another way. Before the tunnel, there was a way down the cliffs. I’ll tell yer the secret and then yer go fetch Laura and Tom back. Tell them to take that route to Smugglers Cove and bring back a rifle or two, and me’be find out what’s going on down there.”

Nan
shook her head.

“Why them? There’s men in the village who want to go.”

Mick shook his head which proved to be an unwise thing to do. When he recovered he held his Aunt in a stare.

“Because those two are clever, and Laura’s a powerful Spellbinder. She can do things none of us could think of. And Tom can practically heal the dead. He healed me and I were far gone. Our men might be in sore need of a good Healer. And, in any case, Laura wouldn’t go without Tom, so it has to be the both of ‘em.”

“If Fred gets caught fetchin’ ‘em back, he’s dead. Can yer live with that, Mick?”

“We’re all dead if he doesn’t.” Mick fell back onto his bed and drifted in and out of consciousness as
Nan
shook her head in disapproval.

The dorm room was in chaos with people talking quietly or sobbing in little groups. Cam collapsed when
Leon
was shot and had barely recovered her senses before she witnessed the death of the Spellbinders. Daisy had not been able to get her to speak since. She brought
Cam
back to the dorm and wrapped her in a blanket. Even so the girl shivered uncontrollably. The men build up a big fire in the fireplace. Everyone was suffering from shock and
Cam
seemed to be affected most of all. Her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering and she couldn’t stop crying.

Daisy saw how everybody’s eyes kept flicking to
Cam
. Despite her current distress, she was the one everyone looked to when they needed help. The students needed
Cam
to lead them. She was the outrageous one, the one who set up the pranks and she was the most fearless of them all. Without her leading them, they had no idea what to do.

“
Cam
, you have to take charge,” she whispered.
Cam
raised her head, revealing bloodshot eyes and a look of hopelessness that broke Daisy’s heart.

“Can’t do it…”
Cam
put her head back into her blanket and started sobbing again.

Daisy found anger rising in her breast.
How dare they do this to Camilla? How dare they kill
Leon
? Who in hell did they think they were?

She had been living in terror for months from the dread of bullets she knew were coming. Dangerous dreams woke her at night. All the things that happened this night had plagued her nights. Now it had actually started she was so much less afraid. She hadn’t been losing her mind after all. She had been right.

The Headmaster had been sapping the Precogs confidence for months,
‘Your dreams are rubbish, nothing more than mass hysteria. Say anything to anyone and I will flog you in public.
’ All lies to stop the Precogs from warning anyone. The more she thought about it the more her anger grew.
We were tricked. I was tricked. How dare he?

She stood up and coughed loudly, bringing everyone’s eyes upon her.

“
Leon
’s dead for no reason except to scare us. They killed the Spellbinders because they
feared
them. We will be dead soon if we do nothing. We are supposed to be spies. Are we just going to let it happen?”

It was the longest speech Daisy had ever made. The other students seemed to be examining the floor, not one lifted their head to meet her eyes. Daisy waited a few moments and then tried again.

“They have killed our friends. They are going to kill us. They are going to kill the Prince of Wales. Are we just going to let them?”

“How do you know?” An anonymous voice asked.

“Because I’ve been seeing it for months.”

Bradford Damon stood up with fists clenched. His voice was an octave higher than usual as he shouted at her.

“Then why didn’t you say? This is your fault.”

Daisy strode over to the boy, and without saying a word, she hit him in the face. It was not a slap, but a forceful punch.”
Bradford
fell to the floor and those around him held him down when he tried to get up.

“
They
are the enemy, not me. The Precogs tried to warn you and none of you listened to us.”

“And they are not getting away with it.”

Everybody’s eyes shifted from Daisy. It was
Cam
who had spoken. She had risen to her feet and thrown the blanket to the floor. “That scum can’t kill
Leon
and get away with it. I will see them all hanging from a gibbet. We will save the Prince or die trying.”

They were a few murmurs, but the students’ eyes shifted back to the floor.

Cam
moved her legs slightly apart and put her hands defiantly on her hips.

“Daisy has more guts than all of you put together. Are you going to let us fight alone?”

Tompkins got to his feet and shouted back at her “No! We will all fight and we will win.”

Then everybody was on their feet.

Just beyond the stables, a shadow moved. The two soldiers patrolling the area didn’t see it as it flitted across the grass before flattening against the ground as the men walked by. When they passed it slid into the hollow, where the blackest cloak
Nan
could find fell to the ground and Fred breathed a sigh of relief, gathering his resources for the journey ahead.

An owl hooted and he nearly screamed. It was a long walk through the forest to the hut and it was already two o’clock in the morning. He would need to get there fast, if Laura and Tom were to brave the cliffs while it was still dark. He got ready to run because there was much he had to do and so little time.