Chapter fifty-three

Kinspit

 

Bentley opened the door, not hiding the fact that she was delighted to see them

‘Dr Fielding, Mr Hardacre! I see that you have found each other…’

Hardacre frowned momentarily

‘Yes, Miss Bentley – but Dr Fielding will need rest, food and…’

He sniffed the air suspiciously,

‘…A change of clothes’

He looked beyond Bentley towards the study. There was someone behind her.

‘Major Viola’ he said, without a blink, ‘it appears that you will need one too’

Viola smiled sleepily at him. She had been dozing in a chair in John’s study and was still wearing her battered jacket.

‘Laurence…’ she said, but before she could say anything else she was engulfed by Kath, embracing her. Kath had moved so rapidly that for a moment it looked like they might topple over. Bentley smiled and Laurence frowned. They both waited until the embrace was over.

‘I thought you might be dead!’ said Kath

Viola disentangled herself and shook her head. She studied her friend. They both looked gaunt and dishevelled.

‘What has happened to you?’

Hardacre interrupted them.

‘Later; we can discuss it later. For the time being you both need baths and sleep. After that we can review what has happened’

He turned to his assistant.

‘Bentley – could you prepare the rooms and some clean clothes, please. I will make some dinner. On this occasion I will relax timing and sartorial requirements. Come and eat it when you will’

 

***

Several hours later, Viola and Kath were tucking into a lamb stew, resting their bowls on their knees. They had occupied John’s study and commandeered two of john’s dressing gowns; they were both ravenously hungry. Bentley went back and forth with tea and crusty bread. It was some time before they could manage a coherent conversation. 

Viola had to be coaxed. Bit by bit, however, she told Kath the outline of what happened to her in Klethropolis – the destruction of the Prime, the half-remembered chaos that followed and the entry of the new Prime.  At first Viola had been uncertain what to tell, but in the end she divulged as much as she could easily remember – after all, if she couldn’t tell Kath, who could she tell? These were vital secrets but they had to be shared if they were to be understood. Everything was hard to pinpoint though – it felt as if the memories were being forced down the wrong end of a telescope.

Viola looked around the room and realised that something was missing.

‘Where are Tillie and Dom?’ she asked

Kath frowned.  

‘They went back to Gorodnikov; Dom was still very weak’

‘Why did Tillie go back with him?’

‘Because she’s in love with him, why else?’

Viola sighed,

‘I’d forgotten about that. Anyway, we need both of them’

Kath laughed; Viola was taken aback.

‘Why are you laughing?’

‘Because I’ve realised that this is going to go on forever, isn’t it, whatever it is we’re doing. They’ll always be something else to do, some other secret to uncover’

Viola’s face fell; she had taken it for granted that they’d continue the quest for the fire snakes and what they guarded.

‘Yes, of course, we still have to save the Primes, if we can’ murmured Viola, ‘and help the Grey Wanderer, although it’s not clear to me who that is. The new Prime said he worked for him, or something similar, and that he had a plan to save the world from the Archwitches’

Hardacre came in at that moment carrying a pile of ironed clothes in a wicker basket. He immediately began to retreat.

‘Do you know who the Grey Wanderer is, Laurence?’ asked Kath, nodding at him that he should stay,

Hardacre stopped, clearly torn between answering and continuing his withdrawal

‘You know a little of whom he is, I think, Dr Fielding – don’t you remember Rem talking about him?’

‘His god…’ said Kath, ‘…of course. What does he have to do with any of this?’

Viola shrugged.

‘I have no idea’

This exhausted this topic for the time being. Hardacre began to back away again.

 ‘Please stay, Laurence, I would like you to hear what happened. And, also, I wanted to ask you something. After Bea destroyed the Prime she tried to kill me…’

Laurence stood stock still. His manners were now overbalanced by his curiosity.  

‘How did you survive, Major?’

Viola’s tired mind struggled to remember. It was all very hazy. There was a long pause.

‘Someone helped me… A tall woman… Somehow she cast spells from a long way away… And she sent an extraordinary little animal that absorbed magical energy, or did I just dream all of that?’

‘Celia…’ murmured Hardacre, ‘… and that was Boo, her Tupaia’

‘What?’ asked Viola,

‘Celia’s a council member, and Boo – well, she helped me in Monurbis, although she didn’t intend to…’

‘What?’ repeated Viola.

‘It doesn’t matter’ murmured Hardacre, ‘I’ll explain some other time’

Viola smiled grimly. Another memory sparked in her mind, unbidden.

‘There was another name that the new prime mentioned – some sort of leader of a group. “Braith” – that was the name’

Hardacre jerked forward in surprise. It was about the most astonishing thing that Kath and Viola had ever seen him do.

‘Who?’

Viola stared at him.

‘I have no idea. Is that someone you know?’

‘I met her once and she saved my life…’

‘Who is she, then?’ asked Kath

‘She is the leader of the Radical Numerologists… They are tied in with the Primes in some way, through a an elven scholar named Macrocephalos’

‘Intimately tied in it seems. The new prime was sent by them – he said so himself’

It took a few more minutes of explanation for Hardacre to understand this. But he seemed to cotton on very quickly.

‘So…’ said Hardacre, very calmly, ‘the Primes hold this world together, as we suspected, and Bea is destroying the Primes. But it seems that someone else is replacing the Primes or at least the Klethropolis one…’

Viola’s face darkened. A mixture of anger and guilt flared in her mind.

‘And we led Bea to the Prime… We could have doomed the world…’

Hardacre put down his ironing. He stood for a moment with his hands by his sides considering the elf’s statement.

‘No – that isn’t a fair summary Quiena bid us find the Primes – I assume because she feared they were in danger. We could not know what that danger was, and perhaps neither could she…’

‘But nonetheless…’ murmured Viola

Hardacre shook his head, quite sternly.

‘The worst that one could say was that the threat was made more immediate by our investigations, but it is presumably Bea’s intention to destroy all the primes, and she clearly has the wherewithal to locate them. We need to find a better way to protect them…’

‘Wouldn’t it be better just to leave them alone?’ asked Viola

Kath thought about this for a moment.

‘Only assuming that the Numerologists know where they all are…’

Hardacre nodded. He continued Kath’s train of thought onwards.

‘The problem will arise if Bea knows where a Prime is and the Numerologists don’t…’

‘How can we know that?’ Viola asked

Kath laughed.

‘You could try asking Bea’ she said, ‘or…’

‘We could ask Braith’ said Hardacre

‘But where is she?’ asked Viola

Hardacre shrugged, almost imperceptibly.

‘Nobody knows. John asked me to find out but I got caught up in other things. I think that Councillor Williams was given my job’

‘Has she found Braith?’ asked Viola

Hardacre frowned.

‘I doubt it. She is… unpredictable’

Kath spoke with an exaggeratedly soft voice.

‘Sometimes, Laurence, your… organisation… give the impression of being a bit…’

Hardacre nodded and finished her sentence

‘Slapdash, unfocused… uncoordinated… are those the sorts of words that you were seeking, Dr Fielding?’

‘Possibly…’ conceded Kath

Viola, however, had jumped far ahead of them both.

‘We need to go and talk to Councillor Williams’

She thought for a second.

‘With your permission, Laurence…’

Hardacre’s face hardened with barely concealed psychic pain. His interests were severely conflicted. His response was pitched somewhere between a question and a request.

‘We should, perhaps, wait for Mr Ismay… It’s not in my remit to give permission…’

Viola shook her head.

‘We can’t wait – we need to go – we have to talk to the Numerologists as soon as we can. Everything could fall apart at any second. We’ve already wasted too much time’

‘What about Tillie and Dom?’ asked Kath

‘We’ll pick them up later’ said Viola

‘And you’re just assuming that I will come with you?’ asked Kath

‘Yes’ said Viola absentmindedly.

‘It would be nice to be asked’ mumbled Kath, but she showed no other signs of dissent.

‘Where does Councillor Williams live?’ asked Viola

Hardacre was still struggling.

‘In Tribyth – a town to the north west of Eth City… But…’

‘Can you take us there?’

Hardacre’s lips narrowed into a thin line.

‘I still think we should wait…’

‘Well, I’m worried that we can’t. I need to find Braith as soon as possible – if they don’t know where the other Primes are, then we need to tell them, as far as we can’

Hardacre allowed himself a single, deep, sigh. His words were squeezed out of him with the utmost reluctance.

‘I can take you there – there’s a beacon at Councillor Jenkin’s house in Eth City. It’s only half-a-days travel from there. However, you must both have a good night’s sleep’  

Viola smiled. She was so relieved.

‘Thank you so much, Laurence’

Hardacre managed to respond with a curt nod. No answering smile even flirted with his lips.

‘No reason to thank me, ma’am’ he said, ‘I’m just doing my duty’