“Bleedin’ ‘ell! What the blazes is going on ‘ere, you dirty buggers?” The caretaker exclaimed with alarm. Cavendish’s patience snapped and he thundered towards the newcomer looking like he wanted to knock the man’s block off, but Cavell was way ahead. What occurred next happened so quickly that the acolytes were taken aback.
“Now!” Cavell roared. I grabbed Euan’s arm and dragged him to the wall as the apple was dashed into the cleaner’s pail. I had no idea what chemical was in that pail but the apple exploded with a blinding lilac flame and sent out a vast bilious cloud of choking smoke that had the ghastly scent of rotten eggs to it. Cavendish jumped backward taking other men down with him like skittles. An eerie silence fell. I dragged Euan to his feet, but he had been tied with a broom to keep his legs apart and he could barely walk. I thrust my arm around his naked waist and he hooked his arm over my shoulder. The room had filled with smoke rapidly and the candles spluttered out. Keeping to the wall I staggered holding Euan but quickly I became disorientated. A long-fingered hand grabbed my wrist and led me to the doorway and out into the darkened smoke-free hall.
Calls of “Fire, Fire” were echoing down the corridors. The only illumination in the hall was moonlight streaming through the windows, so it appeared that Sebastian had someone to help him cut the electricity supply, and raise the alarm. Sebastian’s gaze fell upon the naked burden I was dragging and a look of displeasure passed in his eyes—there and gone in a flash.
“I’ll take him,” he said in a cold voice, then tossed Euan over his shoulder like a bag of flour. Sebastian did not lead us to the tradesman’s entrance, but to the door that led down to the tunnel.
“Go, now!“ Sebastian urged. “Your clothing is at the bottom of the stairs. I have nothing for him, so he will have to wear the robe.” He said decisively.
The cut stone steps were icy and damp beneath my bare feet, but I saw that the oak door was open and several lit lanterns were at the bottom of the steps. I hurried down, and after closing and locking the door behind us, Sebastian and Euan followed. I grabbed for my shoes, which I put on without socks. Then I thrust my bare legs into trousers and removed the robe. Euan was shivering with the cold, and so while Sebastian held him to stand; I immediately threaded the warm robe over his head and his arms into the sleeves. I put my socks on his feet and then quickly shrugged into the rest of my garments.
“We will hold him together,” I said as I passed a lantern to Sebastian and picked up the other for myself.
“I’m guessing you know the way now!”
“Indeed. I discovered all of the houses on Adam Street are connected to a smugglers tunnel. I’ve checked that number 11 is still vacant. We will wait there until the furor dies down.”
I nodded, and off we set.
Duplicity
As we traveled from The Strand to Bloomsbury the silence was palpable. In the cab, Euan sat beside me, and as soon as the horses set off he leaned over, laid his head on my shoulder, and reached to hold my hand. Wearing nothing but the red chorister’s robe he was shaking with terror and the wicked chill of the night. On any other occasion before the events at Dunecht Hall I would have been elated by such a gesture, but now my guts roiled like a ship on a turbulent sea. I was torn and did not want his fingers anywhere near my flesh. I had not yet forgiven him for manipulating my affections and attempting to make me a party to art fraud.
Sebastian’s aim tonight had been to sow seeds of discord among the members of Fratres Seminis—make them fear and doubt, and in-turn remove me from their circle. He had successfully removed me from the clutches of the Brothers before the initiation could be completed, and with his attack, made them fear for the safety of their secrets. However, the extraction had not gone completely to plan. Euan was a complication neither of us expected or needed.
Sebastian sat opposite us, his aloof, frosty gaze unable to disguise his displeasure at the scene before him. He was still wearing the caretaker disguise of the walrus mustache, spectacles, and flat cap. We exchanged intense eye contact that could not mask his fury. I wished I could reassure my companion that Euan was simply a tactile man who sought comfort from a friend after a torturous ordeal. But I dared not say a word in Euan’s company. I did not trust him, I did not want to make him aware of Cavell’s disguise—or alert him to my blossoming intimacy with my new friend.
Euan’s head snuggled into my nape and he let out a sigh, the tremors finally subsiding. I glanced down and as we passed a bright street light I saw he stared blindly head—unaware that the man he sought, the Dandy Rogue himself, sat there in front of his eyes. Euan was also ignorant of the fact that the new possessor of the Staff of Asklepios was holding his hand for brotherly comfort.
I wanted to know exactly how Euan had become entangled in this sordid business, and as Euan had pleaded with the Brothers, saying he had paid for the binding, I was certain he knew full-well what the peculiar red book was all about.
When our Clarence
