20 April 1875,
Tuesday
~Evening~
After a relatively quiet dinner, I found a few moments to speak
privately with Lady Katherine and discuss some of my concerns regarding
her servant, Lobsang. I’m afraid I explained thing badly.
She now knows that I consider myself a witch– so she is either
humouring me or has some reason to give me the benefit of the doubt.
I found Sir Cosmo and shared the details of my conversation with
him. Including my persistent feeling that Lobsang is somehow at
the centre of events to come. Seeing the future is normally Mrs
Cuthbert’s domain. However, if I have learned anything these past
five years, it is that no amount of research and study will prepare me
for the decisions that must be made in the field– far away from
reference books and other, more sedate materials. Each
assignments brings me into contact with forces I do not understand,
fortunately I have my friends in the League to go to for advice when I
am out of my depth.
When I returned to the withdrawing room, Lady Cowperthwaite pointed out
that Mr O’Flaherty seemed to have slipped away from us. Mrs
Cuthbert said it looked like he had made for the pub. Lady
Cowperthwaite decided to go for a stroll and ensure that we didn’t lose
our friend to pirates or other predators– though anyone foolish enough
to try to shanghai Mr O’Flaherty would deserve what they got!
Upon reaching the pub, we found that Mr O’Flaherty had gone off to
partake in some ‘sport.’ We presumed that he had been talked in to
participating in a boxing match. Just outside the pub we
encountered Mr Spilett, the journalist. He asked several
impertinent questions of milady, and while she answered several of
them, she also tripped, fell heavily against him and knocked him into a
mud puddle.
The ‘sport’ turned out to be cock-fighting. Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs
Frazer wanted to rescue the birds so Lady Cowperthwaite and I went in
the front as a diversion. We had no particular plan. In the
past, just entering such establishments has caused chaos to break
loose. I’m certain it doesn’t help matters people in such places
invariably try to assault or harass myself or my good lady and my
husband finds it necessary to stop them.
After Mr Salmalin had prevented the door guard from striking either
Lady Cowperthwaite or myself with a rather pathetic blackjack, the
three of us made our way in to the back of the establishment. The
current round of fighting was ending.
I should note that we were, in part, drawn to this location by Mr
O’Flaherty’s loud voice claiming that is was cheating to set such a
large bird on such a small one (though his language, as appropriate to
the setting, was rather more coarse).
Lady Cowperthwaite and I made our way to Mr O’Flaherty and mentioned
our plan of making a diversion. He solved the problem of a lack
of a plan by hitting the owner of the winning bird and yelling ‘Cheat!’
or some such. Lady Cowperthwaite added to the confusion by
offering to place five pounds on ‘Atlas’ versus the crowd. The
bookie offered her odds that Mr O’Flaherty found insulting and several
more punches served to demonstrate his prowess. The odds were
changed to something much more satisfactory. By this point
someone had attacked Lady Cowperthwaite, or she attacked someone, I’m
not entirely certain. I was casting a light spell to make a bit
of a distraction. From that point out I was busy watching
milady’s back. For some reason no one came anywhere near me
during the fight. It was rather disappointing.
Mr Spilett was injured in the fight, and events were progressing to the
point, in the normal course of events, the police would put in an
appearance, so my thoughtful husband made an escape route for us.
Lady Cowperthwaite carried Mr Spilett and I brought up the rear.
Once out in the open air and away from the main building, we checked Mr
Spilett’s injuries. He was unconscious. Mrs Cuthbert tended
to him and we took him back to the Mansion with us. Mr Frazer
remained behind to point out various legal problems with the building
and the event itself. Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Frazer seemed quite
pleased with their evening’s work.
21 April 1875, Wednesday
Most of today was spent packing and loading the boats. We will be
setting out late this evening or early tomorrow morning, so we are now
all aboard our two boats. I did get to go out shopping one
last time. Mrs Wooster mentioned that she had not yet had time to
purchase anything. Or rather, she was grousing about something,
saying she could not spend any money. She seemed very down.
Lady Cowperthwaite ordered her to come with me to protect me while I
went shopping. That at least got her out of the house. On
our way to the door we found that Lord Henry (Emily’s godfather-in-law)
had stopped by, he had learned that we were soon to be taking our leave
and wanted to see Emily once more. He offered his carriage and
his company and was soon purchasing nearly everything Emily took notice
of– even when her thoughts were more along the lines of ‘Why would
anyone ever buy that?’. I did manage to get her a pretty bracelet
of pink beads before Lord Henry spotted it.
Upon our arrival back at the house Emily was rather overwhelmed with
the number of packages that were unloaded from the carriage and
presented to her by Lord Henry. He said he had a lifetime of
birthday presents to make up for. Not long after our return to
the Mansion, Our Henry returned from checking out the Foxglove (and his
new command of Marines) bearing gifts for Emily as well.
There was nothing for it then but to help her pack all of her gifts in
a more efficient manner. When she asked what she would do with
all of the gifts, one of the other ladies suggested that she could
always give ‘her girls’ a Christmas they would never forget.
Emily cheered up at the prospect. I still do not know why she is
concerned about money. Or rather, I suspect it has something to
do with her own Condition. I contented myself with assuring her
that, even if the worst should happen, she has friends who will help
her. She will not be left pennyless and alone once the baby
comes. Never mind that her husband likely makes more in interest
in a week then she could spend in a year!
In addition to our usual company, we are joined aboard the Selene by Lieutenant Turner
and his newly-assigned
batman, Lobsang. Wilhelmina’s new minion MacGyver has also been given
permission to travel with us. On the Foxglove, Wooster has taken
charge of Lieutenant Lochsley and his squad of marines. Mrs
Cuthbert did not seem at all put out to be only one of two women aboard
the Foxglove.
It has been several years since
last saw Lieutenant Lochsley. He is determined to do all in his
power to find Arabis
and her crew.
Mrs Frazer, Lady Cowperthwaite, and I have settled the children and
their caretakers into their nursery aboard the ship. It will not
be long before they have the run of the place.
24 April 1875, Saturday
We had a tremendous storm break over us today. The noise from the
thunder was deafening. I kept to my cabin or the children’s
nursery for most of the day. The tendency toward sickness that
resulted as part of My Condition, seems to be passing off– but as there
was no need to test myself against the storm I decided to exercise care.
27 April 1875, Tuesday
Today was the first excitement we have had since the storm. I was
taking a nap when Octavia came into our cabin. I heard Ravvi
telling her not to wake me. I noticed that Ravvi was changing out
of his footman’s uniform and into the black silk trousers and shirt he
prefers for close work. When I asked him why, he said that Mrs
Frazer had heard gunfire some distance off to the North and Mrs
Cuthbert had seen pirate activity in her scrying glass.
Ravvi suggested I go back to sleep as it would be a while before we
were in range of anything. It was very sweet of him–
however it was very unlikely I would get any sleep knowing we would
soon face pirates!
Face them we did– though it seemed for some time that our greatest
challenge would be to keep the children from joining us in
battle. They would not stay in the nursery with Violet and
Daru. We finally compromised by setting them up in a fort on
deck– the could see out but were shielded from direct fire. I
made the mistake of suggesting that the Ladies draw straws for which
one of us would go with the children to the lifeboat if it became
necessary. Both Lady Cowperthwaite and Mrs Frazer tried to say
that I should be the one to go– given my current Condition. That
rather spurious argument was interrupted by our vessel’s arrival in the
area of the current skirmish.
Three pirate ships of varying sizes, flying the flag “Children of the
Storm Dragon” (Wu Chang’s pirate flag) were attacking a merchant ship
from the American States. The USS Americus was in a bad
way when
we arrived.
Sir Cosmo, George, and Ravvi conducted a hurried discussion as Sir
Cosmo was setting up his Etheric Pulse Cannon at the bow of the
ship. The result of that conversation was that my husband took a
running start, leapt into George’s cupped hands and was propelled
approximately 2500 feet across the water to one of the enemy
ships. As soon as he launched himself, I was on my knees
praying. And I don’t mind confessing that I did not know if I was
praying to my Patron or to my husband’s Patroness. That he just does such things never
ceases to amaze and frighten
me.
Ravvi arrived safely on the enemy ship. In the meantime, Lady
Cowperthwaite, Mrs Frazer, and I were setting up our Long Rifles to
take aim at the pirates. Even with the range on our guns, we
couldn’t be certain of our aim, so we targeted the two vessels my
husband was not in the process of destroying. Mrs Frazer and I
took turns alternating between firing rounds of the rifle and helping
Violet and Daru keep the children contained. Lady Cowperthwaite
had Galen handing her ammunition when she needed to reload. The
other children were to watch and call out if any other ships appeared.
As we drew closer to the pirate ships, Sir Cosmo was able to try the
Pulse Cannon to very good effect. One shot put paid to the top
deck of the ship my husband was on. Fortunately George and Ravvi
were linked, with my husband drawing strength from George. I saw
several bruises appear on George as the battle progressed. The
link seemed to go both ways, as George was able to warn Ravvi just
before Sir Cosmo fired the Cannon.
Miss Wilhelmina rose a great deal in my estimation during this
battle. Indeed, during the voyage out from Port Victoria she has
been quiet, well-mannered, and respectful. During the fight, she
wanted to take one of her Rocket Kites and fly over to one of the
ships. When George told her she could not go, because he had to
stay with us on the Selene
she only put up a token protest and did not insist on having her
way. Instead she equipped MacGyver with a “Gob Gun” (a
contraption based on one of Mr Wonka’s machines). It fires a sort
of hot, sticky candy that hardens very quickly, immobilizing anyone
caught in its goo. It has the great benefit of being non-lethal.
I took the opportunity to work with my shaping elements spell. I
was able to change several cannon into interesting non-functional
shapes. By the time we had reached that stage the battle was
mostly finished, and the pirates had surrendered. In addition to
all that we had done, those aboard the Foxglove had been far from
idle. Mr O’Flaherty had used one of Dr Wilson’s rocket powered
rescue devices to grapple with one of the pirate ships. He had
crossed over the rope hand-over-hand with Lieutenant Lochsley and his
marines following close behind. Sir Spencer had his own Long
Rifle– whilst Flag-Lieutenant Wooster commanded the gunners to
good effect.
Not long after Sir Cosmo fired the Pulse Cannon, two rocket kites took
flight from the ship my husband had been on. They flew toward our
position. The first person to land was a stranger to us.
Lady Cowperthwaite and Mrs Frazer immediately trained their guns upon
him. He asked for sanctuary and claimed that he had been a
prisoner aboard the pirate ship.
The second kite, steered much more gracefully, carried my husband back
to me. Ravvi confirmed that the man who flew over with him had indeed
been a prisoner aboard the pirate ship and that the man had helped him
fight against the pirates. I was very glad to get him back all in
one piece and expressed that opinion.
I did not have long to talk with him as Mrs Cuthbert was needed to help
treat the wounded and I went along to help her. There were many
gravely wounded pirates and a few badly wounded sailors from the Americus. Even with
Wilhelmina doing triage, it was quite a bit of work.
Once the wounded had been seen to, I joined Sir Cosmo and Inspector
MacGreggor in their interrogation of the pirates by translating for the
pirates when necessary. The time and effort I put into learning
Chinese showed its usefulness. Some of the sailors mentioned that
they had taken Captain Will Sparrow captive and were transporting him
to Singapore when they were tempted by the target the Americus presented.
While we were trying to sort out what to do with all of the pirates, an
American warship, the USS
Monterey steamed into the area. After some consultation
they agreed to take the soundest of the pirate ships with the surviving
crew in tow to the nearest port, as well as escort the Americus to safe harbor for
repairs.
It was getting on toward evening when we returned to the Selene. Lady
Cowperthwaite wanted to see to our captive prior to dinner, so I joined
her. Our prisoner claims to be John Smith of Portsmouth, a
merchant seaman who was unlucky enough to be caught by the pirates and
taken captive.
We had several conversations with him over the course of the
evening. Lady Cowperthwaite learned that he had known both her
father and mother. After some coaxing he told Lady Cowperthwaite
what he remembered of her Mother. She had worked as a prostitute
and dancer in Madras a quarter century ago and had seemed to be
genuinely taken with Rip Chigwidgeon. She had worked in a place
with a name that had connotations of Paradise. That is all that
“John Smith” could remember.
Despite my best efforts he managed to catch sight of Lobsang and showed
a great deal of interest in him. Lady Cowperthwaite and I
explained that Lobsang was under our protection and that if our guest
did anything that resulted in harm to Lobsang, it would go very hard
with him. He swore by his god-father (who he claims is the
captain of the mythical Flying Dutchman) that he would not harm the boy.
While Mr Salmalin, Mr O’Flaherty, and Mr Frazer were preparing our
guest for bed, the Ladies consulted with Sir Cosmo and examined some of
“John Smith’s” effects. He had a map that looked as if had been
drawn by a young child, a compass that seemed to point toward what was
important to the holder, a battered leather tricorn decorated with a
yellow star, two very old flintlock pistols, a remarkably plain
cutlass, a pocket watch which ticks irregularly and is missing all but
its second hand, a pair of antique ivory folding glasses with one lens
broken, and two ridiculously tall boots.
I cast the Awaken spell on the compass but it answered all questions
with the query “What do you want?” For the duration of the spell
I was able to ask it to point out certain things and was able to
confirm to my own satisfaction that “John Smith” was actually Captain
Will Sparrow. Inspector MacGreggor made the very sensible suggestion
that I cast a history spell on one of Sparrow’s effects to further
confirm his identity and glean any other information that might be
shown to me.
I used the hat as the focus of my spell. Sparrow has had that hat
a very long time and it showed me several interesting things. It
confirmed that Sparrow had been taken captive. It also gave us
yet another odd connection– Sparrow has a close comrade who is the
spitting image of Lieutenant Turner. It gave me quite a shock to
see his face next to Sparrow’s. While I was in the vision created
by the spell, I suddenly remembered what had struck me odd about
Sparrow’s aura– he is a very lucky man– to the point that one could say
that he is blessed by Lady Luck.
Up to this point we had been planning to hide his artifacts throughout
the ship, to make it more difficult should he decide to escape.
And for a man stuck out at sea with nowhere to go, he certainly seemed
like the type to make an effort to escape even before it was sensible
to try. Given how absurdly lucky he has been in the past it
seemed that we might be borrowing trouble to make escape difficult for
him.
There are people, like our own esteemed Dr Wilson, for whom a challenge
only spurs them on to greater effort– and a challenge embedded in
Danger is the thing that they live for and the time that they do their
best work. I suspect that Captain Sparrow is such a man.
Given that information, and that he had a tool and possible knowledge
of the place we wanted to go, Lady Cowperthwaite met with him once more
and negotiated an agreement. He was somewhat the worse for drink
at that point– Wilhelmina and Mr O’Flaherty having conspired to feed
some alcohol to him. We are to return his effects in the morning–
when he will hopefully be sober enough to be of some use.
In the meantime we have had a conversation with Lieutenant Turner
regarding his doppelganger. He said that he was raised in an
orphanage with no knowledge of family or parents. He and Admiral
Naismith are aware that he bears a strong resemblance to a known
associate of Captain Sparrow. They had discussed plans that might
allow Lieutenant Turner to take the place of that individual should the
opportunity arise. From the vision I had– the two men are
identical in face and build– however, I do not know that it would be
wise for the Lieutenant to attempt the substitution.
The spell that I cast on the hat showed me at least one thing that I do
not feel comfortable sharing with others. That is the problem
with such spells– you do not know in advance what you will see and
sometimes the knowledge is of a such a Personal and Private nature that
it does not do to dwell upon the images seen. In this case I
believe it would be very difficult for Lieutenant Turner to deceive
Will Sparrow for long, because he and the man in my vision had a very
Specific relationship and I doubt our Lieutenant could stand such
scrutiny.
I have not thought of a way to convey this warning without revealing
what I know. However, I may not need to as, Lieutenant
Turner was one of the men who helped secure Sparrow upon his arrival on
board– Mr Frazer being the other. Sparrow has already mentioned
that Mr Frazer seemed familiar to him and has made the connection
between our Mr Frazer and Captain Tiberius. So it seems to me
that Sparrow would be on his guard against imposters of all
sorts. The situation is very vexing and perplexing.
I shall meditate on our situation before retiring for the night.
I also want to confirm, to my own satisfaction, that my husband
is as uninjured as he claimed earlier today. Mr Sparrow called
him an ‘oddly durable man’ when telling us the story of the escape from
the pirate ship. It is, for the most part, true– though
Ravvi does not always realize what the bruises will look like the next
day. I did give myself away when I heard Sparrow’s description of
my husband. Durable indeed!
I hope we have a quiet night and that our prisoner new ally does
not cause us to regret our bargain.
Proceed to Trouble and
vexation
Return to Miss Whitnell's Diary Index
Contents this page copyright 2007 by Kristin Fontaine. All Rights Reserved.