Chapter sixty

The Free Dwarves’ Hideout

 

Captain Jay bowed low.

‘Welcome Ma’am’ he said

Kathleen looked around, genuinely thinking he must he taking to someone else.

‘Me?’ she asked

Jay straightened and just for a second Kathleen saw a hint of exasperation in his eyes. She hurried to correct herself.

‘Obviously it is me…’

Jay’s look turned to contrition.

‘My apologies. It’s just that I had a similar conversation with another witch just a day or two ago’

‘Owen or Celia?’ she asked, her eagerness trumping her sense of time.

 ‘Celia Franklin’ he said, ‘that was her name’

Kathleen had picked something else up in his speech.

‘How can you speak Ethian so well?’

The flash of irritation returned – just a little more intensely.

‘A very similar conversation, indeed…’ he began, but then remembered his manners, ‘… I am Captain Jay of the Ethian secret service. I am an Ethian citizen, proud to have been born in Low Border, in the county of Hinter, and I serve the High Lord as best I can’

‘Ah – right’ said Kathleen, ‘fair enough…’

She waited for a moment, hoping that the awkwardness would subside. Then she cleared her throat.

‘So – is Miss Franklyn still here?’

Captain Jay frowned deeply.

‘She was just over here…’ he pointed to where Celia had been sitting, against the side of a wall, ‘…and then there was some odd swirly thing… And she disappeared’

‘Oh no’ murmured Kathleen, ‘did you see anyone else with her?’

Jay shook his head

‘It all happened very quickly’

Kathleen looked down to where Celia had been sleeping. On the floor lay a thin book. She picked up. It was a copy of Dwarven Magic – A Primer by KJ Fielding. The name rang a bell – one of the bright young scholars at ECU she thought; she wondered if she had perhaps met her at a University event. Anyway, odd book to find here.

‘She was helping me with it…’ The voice came from below her head height, which was an unusual experience for Kathleen.  She looked down – another dwarf, even shorter than Corporal McTavish, was addressing her.  He had an extraordinarily luxuriant handlebar moustache. He put out his hand and she shook it.

‘Bryndon Menzies, at your service, ma’am’

Kathleen assumed that’s what everyone said here. Perhaps they were just very polite.

‘And yours, sir…?’ she ventured

Binky looked baffled.

‘No’ he decided after a while, ‘I’m fairly certain it doesn’t work like that’

Kathleen shook her head.

‘I have no idea what’s going on’ she admitted.

Jay eyed her up and down, assessing.

‘You are witch, are you?’ he said. She nodded, ‘it’s just that you seem rather… different… from your colleague’

Kathleen tilted her head slightly to one side. The assorted dwarves in the Captain’s party were now crowding round her to hear what was going on.

‘That’s true’ she admitted, ‘Celia is immensely powerful and exceptionally competent. I’m… not really in the same league’

The disappointment in the room felt like a rush of frigid air.

‘But we still need help…’ said Archie, from the edge of the crowd.

‘Isn’t that why you’re here?’ asked Binky hopefully.

Kathleen shook her head vigorously.

‘Oh no, I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken, I’m here entirely by accident… due to my poor witchcraft. Actually, not even that this time… it was Owen’s error…’

They stared at her until she quietened.   They could make no sense of her at all.

It was then that she saw the tupaia sniffing around where Celia had been resting. She knelt down and examined her. Boo jumped at her and Kathleen took her in her arms.

‘Boo’ she said, ‘what are you doing here? Why are you not with your mistress?’

‘As I said’ repeated Jay, ‘she disappeared…’

‘That’s odd though’ said Kathleen, ‘Boo usually blinks to wherever Celia is, unless she’s on the trail of someone of comparative power. Now she looks a bit lost’

The dwarves exchanged grim glances.

‘She’s not dead’ insisted Kathleen, but daggers of fear were striking in her stomach.

‘Hopefully not’ said Binky, but without much confidence, ‘she was a fine woman’

 Kathleen cradled the tupaia. She was determined to force her fears out of her mind for a little while at least.

‘What’s happened here?’ she asked, seeking another topic.

Jay stood with head drooping.

‘Mammie’s lot stripped everything….’

‘Who are they?’

‘Our enemies’ shouted out Jock, ‘just like I was telling you’

Kathleen looked round the cellar as if trying to solve a puzzle. Her gaze stopped at an alcove in the wall, with scuff marks on the floor.

‘Did this use to have barrels in it?’ she guessed

‘Yes, it did’ said Binkie, ‘and wine and cider…’

She could smell it now; the stale, evocative smell of slopped beer. It was distant now  and it smelled intensely sad.

Kathleen bristled with indignation.

‘Did this use to be a pub?’

Archie nodded.

‘’Fraid so. Sad really… It was a fine watering hole’

Kathleen felt anger stirring in her chest.

‘What sort of monsters destroy a pub?’

‘Mad buggers with an odd sense of order’ said Archie .

‘She lives in a big city’ explained Jay, ‘with many servants; they organise themselves like an ants’ nest’

‘Well, that’s their business…’ said Kathleen, unsure of exactly what Jay meant, ‘isn’t it?’

‘No’ said the Captain, ‘They want everyone else to be like them; and they certainly don’t approve of pubs’

She walked round the ruined cellar. She could now see where the barrels had once rested, there was the staircase that led up to the bar.  There would have been the sound of laughter above her and the merry meeting of friends. Now it was cold and numb. She thought of Tom and his inn – her oasis of comfort and warmth; if the world succumbed to this sort of thing who knew what might happen to people like him?. A lump came into her throat and, then, full of the rashness that sometimes afflicted her, she said something extremely foolish.

‘I promise to help you in any way that I can…’

 A cheer went round the dwarves and then there was no going back.