The Spellbinder (Tom & Laura Series) (5 page)

Snood left the dorm room quietly, checking no one was about as he opened the door.
Carmichael
’s body knelt on the floor. His chest slumped over his folded legs, looking almost as though he was praying for his mortal soul.

Birds were singing outside the dorm window as
London
experienced a glorious red sunset.

Chapter 7
         
Military Magic

After retiring from the army, Lord Magus’s interest in the strange brought him to the discovery of
Newton
’s papers on magic, thought long destroyed by
Newton
’s vicar after his death.

These defined magic into seven skills and gave instruction on how to discover and train the gifted. For
Newton
, it had been nothing but an intellectual exercise. To a retired colonel familiar with the arts of warfare, the papers provided a set of instructions on how to build a more effective Army.

When he brought his squad of old women, scruffy men and children to the Ministry of War they would have laughed in his face but for his impressive war record. After his squad saw action things were never to be the same again. Lord Magus ended the witch trials and burnings across the Empire now the value of the resource was understood. He moved magic into the world of science by establishing it as the cornerstone of the Empire’s increasingly sophisticated war machine.

Initially, Lord Magus’s squad was under Army control, but after much debate and acrimony a separate branch of the War Department was created. The Military Magic Department (MMD) manages the detection, education, recruitment, training and deployment of the magically talented to the Army and Royal Navy. It also took on the role of military intelligence as it related to use of magic and the safety of its charges. Its intelligence branch MM3 is feared and respected in equal measure, both abroad and at home.

- from A Short History of Military Magics by Sir Anthony Barrett

Tom and Laura entered the impressive building that was MM3 headquarters, though all it stated on the doors was Ministry of War – Lord Magus House. The building was finished in the finest Portland Stone. Just like the
British
Museum
, itself a new building and the best that money could buy.

Tom felt the power of the Empire reflected in the stone around him. He knew how much stock the Queen placed in her military magicians.

A few years ago,
Prince Albert
had come close to death from consumption before a Healer restored him to health. From that day forth the Military Magic Department held a special place in Queen
Victoria
’s heart. They also provided the means to fulfill the Queen’s desire to make her Empire supreme and to take up her position in history as
Britain
’s greatest ruler.

Prince Albert
, in particular, was keen to develop magic to reach its full potential. He was renowned as an innovator, delighting in scientific discoveries, while his devotion to his Queen and Empire were the stuff of legend. He pushed the Empire to the forefront of science and technology despite itself.

The Queen’s smiling face beamed down at them from a massive picture as they followed Trelawney into the bowels of the building. They came to an inner courtyard with a garden and a fountain that took Laura’s breath away. They were led across the courtyard and up several flights of ornate stairs to an office overlooking both the River Thames and the Houses of Parliament.

They saw the steam trains looking almost like toys as they crossed the mud brown river. As the light of day faded the lanterns on both sides of the
Thames
lit up and their light reflected across the river. Trelawney clicked a switch and lit the office in the glow of the newfangled electric lighting spreading rapidly through the richer parts of
London
.

Tom found electric lighting slightly threatening. Older buildings like those in his school still use dependable oil and gas lighting. Tom could easily refill and light a traditional lamp, but what did you do if your electricity failed?

As Trelawney sat at his desk a black suited man came into the room and gave him a note. He scanned it and looked bitterly disappointed. Laura and Tom sat down and he addressed them.

“It looks as though this
Carmichael
youth you identified was indeed the guilty party. He has been found dead in his room. He appears to have stabbed himself to death. No one else was involved.”

Tom felt a quiver of shock run through him. Even though
Carmichael
had tried to kill him, Tom wasn’t sure he deserved to die in such a manner. And suicide was a serious thing, a defiance of God’s law.
Carmichael
’s parents would not be allowed to bury him in consecrated ground. In some parts of the country his body would end up buried at a crossroads in an unmarked grave and with a stake through his heart. To Tom, that fate seemed almost worse than dying.

Trelawney smiled warmly at them.

“I would like you both to spend the night here in Lord Magus House. We have suitable guest apartments on the uppermost floor and you will find our facilities are comparable to the finest hotels. Tomorrow we will discuss what might be done to ensure your continued safety.”

“Thank you, sir, but that is hardly necessary,” Laura said in as firm a manner as she dared. She wanted to return to her home and normality as soon as possible. “I’m sure my parents and servants can protect me more that adequately.”

“I insist,” Trelawney said in a voice that brooked no further argument. Conceding defeat, the two young people looked at each other in dismay. Trelawney summoned a servant by pulling on a bell chord and they were led further up the building to their quarters.

Their suites occupied one side of the building, an enormous amount of space. From one set of their windows they could see the
Thames
in all its glory and from the other they could look down at the pond and fountain in the center of the courtyard. The servant informed them that there were exotic Koi from
Japan
within its waters and also golden carp from
China
.

High tea was brought up to the dining room. The food was excellent and Tom felt at the end that he had never eaten so well. Both ate their fill and w exhausted by the time they had finished.

Laura fiddled with her napkin before asking Tom the question that had been bothering her since the moment Trelawney had declared her to be a Class A.

“Tom, do you think they will ever let us go home?”

Tom hesitated before answering. “I doubt they will ever let you out of their sight again. They never tell the public the names of Class A’s in case foreign spies try to get at them through their families. They might have to lock me away in a dungeon so I can never tell a soul who you are.”

Laura laughed. “It is so typical of a man to make it all about himself.”

Tom dropped his eyes to stare at his napkin and Laura laughed again.

“If I am a Class A then they shall have to take account of my wishes, and I do not wish that they should make you rot in a dungeon.
 
I shall insist you stay with me, by my side… if that is to your liking?”

Tom blushed and hoped it couldn’t be seen in the low lighting. “I would like that very much indeed.”

“Then it is settled. We shall stay together through the thick and thin of it.
 
After all, you have saved my life today.”

“And you mine…,” Tom mumbled. They stood up and Laura took Tom’s hands and drew her close to him. He looked away from her face and she realized she would have to be direct, as these ‘New Victorian’ young men from the cities were so reticent.

“We shall seal our new arrangement with a kiss.”

Tom attempted to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head so their lips met. Before he could react she pulled him closer and kissed him passionately. His body stiffened for a moment before he relaxed and put his arms about her.

Laura kept him like that for over a minute, pulling her body close against his to detect if anything else on him had stiffened. She was more than pleased with the result of her investigations.

Tom drew away and took a large gulp of air. “We must go to bed… No I don’t mean … Oh Lord, what must you think of me?”

Laura put a finger to his lips.

“We shall indeed retire for the night to our separate rooms. It would not surprise me to discover that MM3 have listening tubes installed in our rooms and I have no intention of being overheard. But we shall not always retire separately, Thomas Merlin Carter. You can be sure of that.”

Laura turned and left the room, leaving a stunned young man in her wake.

Snood sat in a darkened room. He had been there for hours and was very tired. The only light came from a single electric lamp, which was positioned so its brightness was directed into his face. He could not see his interrogators. MM3 intelligence men liked to keep their faces hidden from suspects so they wouldn’t be recognized if they followed them at a later date.

Arrested immediately after the body of
Carmichael
was discovered, Snood was convinced this was nothing more than a routine interrogation. They would interview everyone who had associated with a mass murderer. Especially if they suspected Carmichael might have been working for one of the
British Empire
’s many enemies.

Snood felt relaxed about the whole affair, though stumbling up several flights of stairs with a hood over his head had not been pleasant. The most difficult thing during the interrogation was remembering what he was not supposed to know. He could claim to have deduced that the cloud of ‘poison gas’ was somehow linked to
Carmichael
’s death, but as he kept telling his interrogators, the official word was that the deaths were caused by a gas leak. What could that possibly have to do with him? It was not his fault the boy had killed himself.

Two men asked him questions, one angry, the other conciliatory. They asked questions in turn. They could see his face though he couldn’t see theirs. That really didn’t seem fair, or at all how the British did things.
 
As he kept telling them, he had rights as a citizen.

In a small room next door, a middle-aged woman and Trelawney sat listening to everything Snood said. A perforated panel between the rooms meant that everything said in either could be heard in the other. Only when the interrogation finished and Snood was removed to a holding cell did they talk. Trelawney opened a blackout curtain on the window, letting in the light of morning.

Through the window, he saw the river Thames curve its way through
London
. A railway bridge complete with a cast iron pedestrian footpath crossed the river a short distance away. It was a new bridge and sat squat and sullen in the river. Trelawney considered the bridge particularly ugly and it had ruined his view, even though the sight of steam trains crossing over it gave him a thrill. But then, like many an English gentleman, he was a hopeless romantic when it came to steam engines.

“Well?” he asked the woman lounging deep in a comfortable winged leather chair. Trelawney pulled twice on the chain hanging by the wall to summon a servant with refreshments.

The woman took her time before answering. She had some unfinished knitting on her lap. Knitting helped her to concentrate. “None of this will stand up in court, you understand?”

“I know the law, Belinda, but what do you feel?”

“He is lying. I believe he killed the boy and is feeling deeply satisfied with his work.”

Trelawney nodded.

“If he killed
Carmichael
then the boy was working for him and the bind must have been supplied by Snood. We know the nature of the bind. It was stolen from MM3 and that implies we also have a traitor somewhere in our midst.”

“That may be so,” Belinda said and sighed. “But we have no evidence of it. The law forbids me to do to a British citizen what I have just done and I am planning to forget this conversation ever happened before the morning is out.”

There was a knock at the door and a maid with a trolley carrying tea and biscuits entered the room. They stilled their conversation until the maid had left the room

“I understand your position, and you know I trust my life to your discretion.” Trelawney said as he paced the room.

“What will you do?”

“A leak in MM3 puts more than just my career and honor at stake. It strikes at the heart of the Empire’s one clear advantage over our enemies. This could be simply about money or it may indicate the presence of one of our enemies operating deep in the heart of the Empire. I have to know which it is and I need to know quickly. I will inform Her Majesty of the graveness of the situation at our next meeting.”