The Witch Watch (23 page)

“Feel the wall!” Simon said as he brushed his fingertips over the red and gold wallpaper. “It’s bumpy!”

“Perhaps later,” Alice said politely. Turning to Gilbert she said, “So now we’re on the way to America, as you wished. What will you do if our Headmaster is not headed the same way?”

“I’m sure he’s here. Did you see the bald fellow with the open shirt on the way to our room?”

“He was hard to miss,” Alice admitted.

“That was Ivar the Scotsman. He and I were guards for Lord Mordaunt together. I’m betting he’s one of the Headmaster’s traveling companions.”

“So our course is correct,” Alice said with satisfaction.

“I hired you as a guard, not a governess,” Headmaster Graves said, his thin, pale lips pulled into a sneer.

“I signed on with that understanding. But then you saddled me with wayward children.” Gilbert said this with the practiced, respectful insolence that he saved for fools of superior rank. He was standing at attention. Headmaster had no rank, but it was easier for Gilbert to understand his place in Ravenstead if he thought of him as an officer.

“You’ve made quite a mess of the stables,” Graves said. “His Lordship won’t be pleased.”

“If you ignore the men, the place is cleaner now than it has been at any time since it was built.”

They were standing in the barracks. Gilbert had finished his renovations. The outside was whitewashed. The roof no longer leaked. The gaps in the walls had been mended. The broken furniture had been repaired or replaced. The stove no longer leaked smoke into the room. The tub now held water, so that the men could, in whatever miraculous circumstances might impart the urge, bathe. Gilbert had spent most of his pay and his off-duty time accomplishing this. The only thing wrong with the room now was the blood on the floor and the bruised men at his feet.

“I never liked you, Maypole. You always thought you were better than everyone else.”

“A soldier is never better than his work. Or worse,” Gilbert replied calmly. The fight had begun when he found one of the men defacing the wall. He tried to make the man clean it off, the man refused, there was a brawl, and some others joined in. Gilbert suspected Ivar had put them up to it.

“Well now, I’ve got three men who can’t work. It wouldn’t do to send them out all beaten up like this,” Graves said, kicking one of the men at his feet. A groan came in answer.

“They had me outnumbered. If they lost then the shame is theirs, not mine.”

“We’ll see what His Lordship thinks of the way you’ve treated his property.”

Gilbert was about to ask if Graves had really intended to call the men “property”, when a new voice surprised him. He spun to see that Barrington Oswald Mordaunt, Viscount of Ravenstead, was standing in the doorway of the barracks. This was the first time he’d been in the same room with his employer.

“I have many enemies. I have reason to believe that some of them may come here with the intent of doing me harm,” said the viscount.

The men on the floor struggled to their feet. The others in the room jumped up and, for the first time in their careers, stood at attention.

“I expect you to protect me. I expect you to fight. I expect you to not be duped by disguises, lies, or tricks,” he continued.

The viscount was not a tall man. Most of his hair was gone. He was clean-shaven. He looked dangerously thin, perhaps even malnourished. His cheekbones stuck out and his dark eyes were set deeply in his head. He walked with an ornamental staff in one hand, as if he was a member of the clergy. He looked very proud and imposing, despite his modest stature.

“You will kill anyone who comes here with intent to harm, or you will die in the attempt,” he concluded.

The men agreed eagerly and quickly. Some bowed, or nodded, or saluted (incorrectly) to show their acceptance. Then the viscount turned and left.

“These men need a day to recover from their injuries,” Graves said once the master was gone. Then he turned to Gilbert. “You’ll take the next four shifts to make up for it.”

“Gladly,” Gilbert said defiantly, but inside he was crushed. The master didn’t seem to care or even notice his efforts. The men were dogs, and the viscount was content to employ dogs, and wanted nothing more. He mistakenly thought that Ravenstead was lacking in discipline, but what it really lacked was honor, and he had no cure for that. He had wasted his time trying to teach shiftless men to live by a standard they couldn’t comprehend, for a man who couldn’t tell the difference.

He wanted to quit now that his project had failed, but if he left without serving his punishment it would make him look like a hypocrite and a coward. The men would never have discipline, but he was going to show them what it looked like before he left.

It would be time for him to sleep soon, but instead he was going to have to guard the manor for the next thirty-two hours.

Once Graves had left, he began polishing his boots.

“I’m no longer tired. Why don’t you take the bed while I work?” Alice suggested.

“I’m not tired either,” Simon responded. “I’ll help you with your work, and when you’re tired you can have the bed.”

Gilbert sighed. This had been going on for over an hour. Both of them were tired, but both of them insisted that they would sleep on the couch and the other person should sleep on the bed.

“Simon, would you do me a favor?” Gilbert said suddenly. “Would you see if there’s anywhere on this ship where you might acquire shoe polish? My shoes are in ruinous shape.”

Simon blinked, “At this hour? Surely everyone else is asleep. Wouldn’t it make more sense to wait until morning?”

“Would you be willing to look anyway? I don’t have anything to do here but listen to the two of you talk about sorcery.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Simon said agreeably. He donned his hat and strode out of the room with a purpose.

“Stick to the upper deck, don’t go below!” Gilbert called after him.

“Thank you!” Alice said once Simon was gone. “He is surprisingly stubborn,” she yawned. She put one of the pillows on the couch and began to make it her bed.

“Actually, I asked him to leave so that I could insist that you let him have the couch.”

Alice looked at him in surprise. “I couldn’t possibly. No, he deserves the bed.”

“Why?”

“You know why!” she said in bewilderment. “After all the boy has been through. He deserves the bed.”

“So you’re saying you want to give him the big, luxurious bed because he’s had a hard life? Because you feel sorry for him?”

“Don’t you?”

“Of course I do, and that’s why you should take the bed yourself. He’s young and naive, but he can tell you feel sorry for him. Making him take the bed will shame him.”

She shook her head. “I’m not trying to shame him, I just want to take care of him.”

“He doesn’t want to be taken care of. He wants to help. He wants to be brave. He wants to be strong.”

“He wants to be like you,” Alice suggested.

“I know. I’ll admit he certainly could have chosen a better role model, but the fact is that he doesn’t want to be a burden.”

‘We could share it,” she suggested. “The thing is enormous.”

“Out of the question,” Gilbert said.

Alice raised an eyebrow. “I did not expect you to be so prudish, of all people. I got the impression you were something of a scoundrel with regards to women.”

“Among other things. I’m not worried about the two of you having an illicit affair while a walking corpse is sitting in the same room. I’m just concerned for Simon. Do you realize he’s probably never spoken with a girl his own age before?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted.

“You’ve spent most of your life around men. You’re comfortable around them. You sleep next to them in the field without a second thought, don’t you?”

“It’s only practical,” she said defensively. “And practicality should come before propriety.”

“I agree. But Simon would be scandalized by the very suggestion. When I was in the military-”

“You say that often,” she pointed out.

“It comes to mind often. Anyway,
when I was in the military
, I spent about ten months in a bad place. In all that time, I never saw a single woman. No girls. No mothers. No grandmothers. Nothing. Ten months of nothing but men. When I went on leave, I... purchased a bit of company for the night.”

“Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say the company was
rented
?”

“As you like,” Gilbert shrugged. “This woman was not very healthy and did not have a comely face. She was ragged. She stank. She was rude and thick.”

“I hope you’re not searching for sympathy.”

“No. You don’t understand. After ten months, that woman was the
sun
. My heart was pounding in my chest just
talking
to her. And that was with a homely woman, after just ten months. Imagine what it must be like for poor Simon, who has been alone for a lifetime, who is faced with a stunningly attractive lady, and who must regard women as a complete mystery.”

“On the point of my allegedly being ‘stunningly attractive’-” Alice began.

“Do not deny it or I will become cross,” Gilbert warned.

“Very well, I will allow the assertion to go unchallenged for the sake of not antagonizing you. I guess your description does explain why he goes red in the face whenever we speak.”

“Imagine how much more intense his anxiety would be if he were in the same bed with you. He would never fall asleep.”

“I would make sure to wear something-”

“You could fall asleep in the clothes you’re wearing now, and it wouldn’t make things any less scandalous for him.”

She stood up from the couch and began moving her things over to the bed, “Very well. He may have the couch.”

“Thank you.”

“He is a remarkable boy,” she said, stifling another yawn. “To have suffered so much and not become hardened or bitter. He is very gentle and kind, even though not a single person in his life ever taught him so.”

“I’ve seen cases where good, decent people ended up with an unaccountably malicious and villainous son,” Gilbert said thoughtfully. “I guess the reverse can sometimes be true as well. Although, I’ll wager it’s rarer.”

“Like finding a rose growing amongst poison ivy.”

“A rose? A few days ago you condemned him as a sorcerer,” Gilbert said.

“And you rightly pointed out that I was one as well. But our job was never to simply go after sorcerers. My father’s belief - and indeed the entire point of the ministry - was to oppose dangerous, harmful sorcerers. But I don’t think anyone can look at Simon and conclude he’s interested in hurting others. I’m sure he’s probably done evil things, but not of his own volition.”

“I imagine the Headmaster takes most of the blame for any evil perpetrated by Simon’s hands, as well as the evil inflicted on him.”

“And yet the boy doesn’t seem inclined to revenge.”

“I can’t say the same. I plan to run the man through as soon as the opportunity presents itself.”

“I do find it curious that both you and Simon have had dealings with the man. How is it that you met him?”