The Four Realms (19 page)

"I'm just gutted we lost the notebook," he said striding on.
 
Nanny Voodoo could read Old Elvish, or at least better than he could.
 
She would have been able to tell them what the book said.
 
Still, gone it may be, but at least that stopped Mr East getting his hands on it.

Cassidy rifled in her coat pocket.
 
"You mean this?" she said pulling out the notebook.

Darwin gasped.
 
"You saved it?"

He hadn't seen her pick it up, had assumed it had burned alongside all the other books.

"Never let it out my sight.
 
You said it might be important."

Important enough that someone was willing to wipe out an entire race of vampires to get to it
. For a second, he resented the fact that they still had it, that there was a reason for Mr East's colleagues to want to find them.
 
Well, he had now killed Mr East.
 
He guessed revenge was as good a motive as any.

"Shit," he said as it dawned on him.
 
'We're in a fuckload of trouble."

Get out of the city tonight or first thing tomorrow
, he thought to himself.
 
Focus on getting to Nanny Voodoo's
.
 
He put his head down and picked up his pace, trying to put the smell of his heritage burning behind him.

CHAPTER NINETEEN - Escaping Home

As the adrenaline subsided, Maureen found the urge to get back to her cats and cold house grow and grow, until it became almost a panic to get home.

"You've had quite enough adventure for one day," she told herself mockingly, trying to calm her nerves.
 
But in truth the incident had shaken her.
 
Now a sense of adventure had given way to wanting to get home and have a nice cup of tea.

Of course, getting out the Friary was a lot easier than getting back in.
 
Despite the time of night as she reached the plaza she saw a steady trickle of wizards entering and exiting the building.
 
She didn't want to get too close unless one of them recognised her, so she loitered around the dragon statue, waiting for an opportunity.
 
But every time one seemed to open up, the door would open and a wizard would exit.

Oh, why did you do this?
Maureen asked herself.
 
This was a stupid idea, you nearly got yourself killed and now you can't get home.
 
Maybe if she went to Rofen and explained he wouldn't be too cross?
 
She scoffed at her own idea.
 

"Yes, like he's the forgiving sort," she told herself.

No, far better to chance getting back unnoticed, and explain herself if she got caught.
 
She looked around uneasily.
 
That elf was still out there somewhere.

After what seemed like an age, the doorway was no less busy.
 
No option, she thought, but to go for it.
 
Look determined and perhaps people won't question you.
 
She really wished she'd remembered a headscarf, anything to partially hide her face.

Taking a deep breath, she strode across the plaza, watching wizards coming and going.
 
She was half way up the steps when a young wizard came out.
 
He wasn't anyone Maureen recognised thankfully, but he eyed her suspiciously.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm looking for the library," Maureen quickly lied.

The wizard pointed to the other side of the plaza.
 
"The crystal building," he said.

"Oh thank you," Maureen said.
 

He smiled at her.
 
"No problem," he said as he continued down the steps and on his way, not even bothering to turn back to look at her.
 
Typical wizard, so wrapped up in their little worlds, he never even stopped to question why anyone would want the library at this time of night.

Maureen quickly hurried up the rest of the steps and into the building before the question dawned on him.

The hallway on the other side was empty, miraculously, but Maureen knew it wouldn't stay like that for long, so she darted down the passageway to the left, before any more wizards came across her and started questioning what she was doing.

Once in the corridor that lead back to her gateway, she breathed a little easier.
 
Whilst there was still the chance of an encounter, the hard bit was over.
 
Even so, she kept close to the wall so she could flatten herself against it at a moment's notice.

Thoughts now turned back to the encounter with the elf.
 
She was so sure that it had been her lot when that dragon's head was cast.
 
Thank heavens for the ice wall
.
 
But only now did she start to wonder who had cast the ice wall and why hadn't they revealed themselves to her?
 
The whole encounter had given her a devil of a fright and it was the least they could have done to see that she was all right.

And more importantly, why did they not give chase when the elf ran away?
 
She’d seen it vault over Ernest's fence, she'd not seen anything else follow it.
 
A myriad of possibilities floated through her head.
 
So many, in fact, she had to stop thinking about it lest she give herself a headache.

There was the sound of a door opening that brought Maureen’s thoughts back to the present.
 
She pressed herself against the wall and looked ahead to see two wizards pacing up the corridor in front of her.

"You ready for this?" one said.

"Sure, I'll beat you hands down."

"That's what you said last time."

"You can always find another sparring partner."

"With the sickness going around this place?
 
You got to be kidding."

The other wizard laughed.
 
"I know what you mean.
 
Does anyone still do magic round here anymore?"

The first wizard joined in laughing.

A little way ahead of them, the passageway opened into a little grass courtyard.
 
She could see both wizards now, a tall, dark haired one with long drawn-out features, and blonde, foppish-haired man with narrow eyes and a square chin.
 
Both were fairly young, neither had beards, yet they wore the robes of a full wizard.
 
Probably only newly graduated, Maureen thought.

Each man stripped off his robes, revealing a crimson T-shirt, crimson leggings with yellow piping and knee-high black boots.

"I don't want you to hold back," said Blondie, scooping down to pick at the grass.

'All right, if you say so," his lanky opponent responded, jumping up and down to limber up.
 
"But it's gonna hurt."

"Bring it on!"

Lanky's opening move was a lightning bolt, a small electric charge that didn't kill but sapped your opponent's strength.
 
Blondie blocked this with an ice wall, a move that Maureen thought was overkill for such a light attack.
 
Consequently, when Lanky immediately fired off an earthquake, a spell which cracked and churned the earth, like he was sending out some giant mole, Blondie didn't have another defence ready.
 
But they weren't fighting at speed, and so Blondie just jumped and rolled to the side, letting the Earthquake pass.
 
As he rolled onto one knee, Blondie let loose his first offensive move, a spell Maureen knew as creeper.
 
Vines emerged from the ground and entangled round Lanky's legs, trying to drag him down.
 
Maureen watched as another blade of grass turned into dust in Blondie's hand.

Maureen would have released a counter-spell, maybe some sort of fire bolt, to burn the vines away, but Lanky, knowing the spells were very light, choose to try and stay upright and let the fire bolt fly at his opponent instead. The vines pulled him to the ground, affecting his aim.
 
The bolt flew over Blondie's head, just as the vines trapping Lanky crumbled into nothing.

Earthquake, earthquake
, thought Maureen.
 
While he's down
.
 
And Blondie did just that.
 
Trouble was that the spells were so weak, the Earthquake wasn't that wide, and Lanky could easily roll out of the way.
 
If I could do magic, thought Maureen, I'd make the Earthquake a mile wide so no-one could just roll out the way.

As he tumbled Lanky fired off another fire bolt, this one aimed correctly.
 
It had cost him the last of his blades of grass though, Maureen noticed.
 
With no time to jump out its path, Blondie threw up a giant wave that consumed the fire bolt and then crashed into nothing as the spell wore off.
 
He followed this up with a lightning bolt that managed to catch Lanky as he was desperately collecting more blades of grass.

"Oww!" he yelled, and Blondie laughed.

Lanky then pulled off a brilliant move in Maureen's opinion, as he used the distraction to throw a wind blast at Blondie, blowing his blades of grass from his hand.
 
Lanky immediately followed this up with a double lightning bolt that struck Blondie on both arms.
 
Maureen would have personally used a fire bolt, but then that would have done some serious damage.

"OK, OK, I concede," Blondie said.

"Pussy," Lanky replied.
 
"I thought you had me back there."

Both men were dripping sweat.
 
Aside from the physical demands of spell casting, there were the mental demands as well.
 
It took a lot out of you so Ernest had told Maureen on several occasions. Whilst this sparring had lasted a little over a minute, that wasn't unusual.
 
Most wizards got worn out and made a mistake before they ran out of nature to power their spells.
 
So the fact that these two fresh-faced wizards had gone on for so long impressed Maureen.
 
She'd not actually seen magic cast before today, but she knew enough about it to form an opinion, based on things Ernest and his colleagues had told her over the years.

Both men patted each other on the back and shook hands.

"Same time next week?" Lanky asked.

"Only if you promise to let me win this time."

Maureen slunk back into the shadows.
 
The corridor was filled with dark spaces where one could hide, and whilst her heart was beating that they might turn and see her, they walked past without even noticing her hiding behind a pillar.

"Right," she said to herself.
 
"No more distractions.
 
Get yourself home, Maureen."

She got a surprise when she reached the covered walkway before the door that lead to her cellar. There sat on a stone plinth beside the wall, looking bored and forlorn, was Joseph. She looked out over the city and saw that the sky was starting to brighten.
 
Had she been out all night?
 
No wonder, she felt so exhausted.

There was no way she was going to sneak past the troll.
 
She'd just have to trust him not to report her.

"Psst," she whispered, holding a finger to her lips to indicate for him to be silent.
 
He turned and his eyes went wide.

"Maureen, what are you doing here?
 
How did you...?"

"No time," she said hurrying over.
 
"I can't let them catch me."

Joseph laughed.
 
"No-one
ever
comes up here."

"Be that as may, I've had quite an eventful night."
 
She didn't mean to be snappy, but she was so very tired.

Joseph nodded and went and opened the door for her.
 
Beyond, the passageway and her own door.

"Are you all right, Maureen?" he asked.
 
"This is very unlike you."
 
His voice sounded concerned.

That was very true, this was very unlike her.

"I needed to see his house, Joseph," she said turning in the passageway.
 
"They're whitewashing this whole murder, pretending it never happened."

"I'm not sure about that, Maureen."

Poor old Joseph, Maureen thought.
 
She loved him as a dear friend, but sometimes he was very naive.

"I found an elf in his house.
 
She tried to attack me."

"An elf?
 
Are you sure?"

"Yes Joseph, an elf.
 
She was dressed all in red, it was hard not to notice her."

"You have to report this, Maureen," Joseph said worriedly.

"Do I?
 
I don't think I have to do anything."

She realised she was tired and bad-tempered.

"I'm sorry, Joseph," she said.
 
"Today really has taken it out of me for some reason."

"I'm used to it," said Joseph but Maureen couldn't tell if that was a dig or not.
 
She probably deserved it if it was.
 
She could be a grouchy old woman when she wanted to be, and whilst she had no issue being that in front of strangers, she didn't like it when she did it in front of friends.

"I'll tell you about it after I've had some sleep," she said.
 
"I promise."

Joseph's face was still one of concern.
 
He stood there thinking for a moment before nodding.

"Make sure you knock as soon as you get up," he said.
 
"I want to hear everything."

CHAPTER TWENTY - Nanny Voodoo

Darwin and Cassidy fled London by train the morning after the fire.
 
He'd made Cassidy buy the train tickets, worried that the ticket office might take one look at him and decide he was too dirty to travel on the train.
 
But Cassidy said, they'd not even looked at her, and that Darwin was just a worry-wort.