He lifted up the flying V and shuffled round (forcing me tograb the metal struts closest to me and move round as well) so thatwe faced to the side of the airship; ‘starboard’ I believe would bethe ship term.
With aquick glance down into the engine room and then at myself he burstinto a run towards the edge of the skylight making me follow suitor we’d bring ourselves crashing down. Before our feet left theedge of the skylight and met the canvas of the sausage-shapedballoon he jumped.
I cried out as my feet once again dangled in open air. Justas I felt we were going to fall back to land on the canvas balloonthe world exploded behind us.
Nine
The loudest noise I’d ever heard deafened me and combinedwith a giant hand which thrust us into the air making the crafttumble around like a leaf in a hurricane. I think I screamed butcouldn’t hear anything. Then a wave of heat and shrapnel pelted us.As if things couldn’t get worse, startled birds flew into ourhaphazard path and deposited noxious loads upon us in theirfright.
SirPercival struggled to control the flying V by means of ropesattached to flaps on the canvas above us and just as I thought he’dgot the hang of it the aether exploded.
I was upside down at the time and facing backwards. Thebizarre sight of a purple fireball entirely too close for comfortheading down towards my feet filled my vision. Then the shockwavehit and things went even more strange. And I think I was sick.Either that or I failed to see a really large bird do itsunmentionables on me.
While Iwas I still in some sort of daze London’s skyline steadied itselfand the flying V swept above houses and surprised onlookers. I hadno idea where Sir Percival was aiming for, or even if he was aimingfor anything at all.
Iglanced behind us and saw the purple fireball rising into thesky.
Thatlooked like curtains for the Liaison.
Something whipped at my ankles and I looked down to see wewere now flying above treetops. Ahead was a wide area of grass. SirPercival next to me wore his determined look. This was it then.We’d made it off the Russian state airship (destroying it in theprocess) and were going to come to ground in a park, with probableserious injuries to contend with. Unbidden, thoughts of Katherinecame to mind, and I felt rather glad that she hadn’t had to gothrough all of this. What would she have made of it all? Would Ihave been able to save her from the vampires? And would my umbrellahave coped with three of us hanging from it?
Theground came closer and closer. Pedestrians screamed and ran out ofour way.
“Get ready to run,” Sir Percival said in a determinedvoice.
Whetherit was directed at me or a group of lollygagging strollers I wasn’tsure.
He pulled at the flaps to try and stall our speed. The frontof the flying V lifted up like a bird coming in to land, then hisfeet touched down and he grunted with the strain of preventing usfrom disastrously crashing to the grass. My feet then felt terrafirma and I knew what he had just felt. My legs did their best notto collapse but were unable to cope with the speed and mass, andthe flying V tipped forwards and impaled itself into theturf.
Severely shaken I mentally examined my body for anyexcruciating pain, but found nothing but strainedmuscles.
We’ddone enough to crash safely.
Even though I was upside down I took a deep breath to calm mythundering heart and was unutterably glad to be on the groundagain. If I was able to extricate myself I’d kneel on the grass andkiss it like a long-lost friend, similar to what I hear the Pontiffsometimes does on his overseas trips. As it was I heard severalobservers of our escapade hurry over to us ready to find out whaton earth we were up to, and realised my dress was in a ratherunladylike mess. Quickly I released my grips from the metal strutsand fumbled at the harness – I had no wish for strangers to have anunobstructed view of my underthings.
But, Iwas alive and that was all that mattered. Oh, and judging by theterse mutterings coming from beside me, Sir Percival was aswell.
Ten
We decided the best thing to do was to put the aether deviceinto safe keeping and find out what happened to the Liaison. Tothis end we took the flying V apart with some tools Sir Percivalpurloined from the airship for this very purpose. Remarkably, evenwith partly wiped-off bird droppings (and other stains) on us, we managed topersuade a steam cab to take the flying V, the well-covered lumpydevice, and us, to a rather non-descript house on MagpieStreet.
While the cabbie waited we headed inside to accost thereceptionist, Mr Twocock. As ever his dark hair was perfectlycombed and his dark wool suit and white shirt immaculatelytailored. He sat behind a large walnut desk with buff foldersawaiting his attention, an array of fountain pens awaiting his use,and a hat stand with a black bowler and a grey coat hanging fromit. On the wall to his side were several bell pulls that summonedother staff members. When I’d been interviewed for the post of SirPercival’s assistant he used one to summon a grey, dusty old manwho’d asked me the most impertinent questions.
Thegreen-wallpapered room had a couple
