Book 6: In the Nick of Time

By Robin Chambers

Book 6 begins on the day that Book 5 ends, with Ado Aragon waiting for news of the encounter between criminal arch-wizard Enzo Potenza, head of the all-powerful Consortium and the ‘Awesome Foursome’ - four children with special powers fighting for a return to democracy and the rule of law in the United Kingdom’s witch-and-wizard world. Ado doesn’t know about the other four in what is actually ‘The Eight Team’. Their guardian angels are visible only to the four children and to the Gods and fairies from whom their magic flows.
Carman, Goddess of the Damned, is breeding hordes of genetically modified predators to accompany her legions of mass murderers and despicable tyrants accumulated since the dawn of human time to wage war against the virtuous. It is a war that will not wait much longer. The Eight Team isn’t ready yet, but it does have powerful allies: Gods, Giants, the Sinn Fein Sidhe, aliens on the far side of the moon, King Arthur and his Army of the Slain in Avalon, and Myrddin himself, of course.
Gordon, Grace, Nick and Miranda vow to find out what has happened to ‘the disappeared’ – the witches and wizards snatched by Consortium soldiers over the last twelve years and taken into slavery in other parts of the country far away from home. Consortium regional bosses decide to gain leverage over the four children by kidnapping their mothers. Gordon realizes the only way to get the Consortium to take them seriously is to play by the gangsters’ own rules...
A great deal happens between 24th August and 9th September 2011. Hold on to your hats – it’s a roller-coaster ride!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robin Chambers
• Release date: Jul 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370312559

Robin Chambers

Once upon a time –a long time ago – I was born in Bootle (Liverpool 20) in the UK. There was a war on. Later, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis but instead was plunged into the maelstrom of inner city education. In the 1970s I wrote some stories for children to see if I could, and Penguin published them. I thought I would write something really good when I retired from teaching...After fourteen years of headship in Hackney I came back up north in 1993 and met my wonderful wife Amy. We looked after my increasingly ill parents full-time until they didn’t need us to do it anymore, by which time the first of our two daughters was ready to go off to University and on to the first rung of the housing ladder. We did the sums and I went back to teaching...In 2008 Amy and I set off for a life by the western shores of the Caribbean. It was only after I survived a murder attempt by three local thugs in November 2010 (skull crushed in two places, seventeen stitches in head wounds) that I realised how easy it is to die without accomplishing a cherished ambition.So we came back to the UK and I set to work on “Myrddin’s Heir”: the epic story I will leave behind. It took three years to write the first four books - now in the Kindle Store at 99p each. Self-publishing means self-marketing, so here I am. Book 5 was published in April 2014 for the same price...This is a story for bright children from 10–110 years of age. It’s longer than The L of the R, longer even than HP &... To finish it I need to live another 15 years. I’d like to finish it, because I know how it ends.

Book preview

Copyright ROBIN CHAMBERS 2015

First printed in the United States of America by BRIGHT CHILDREN PRESS

The background photo for this cover was originally of NG2264 courtesy of SIRTF NASA ESA

Cover Typography by WRITE DREAM REPEAT

Book Interior Design by ROBIN CHAMBERS

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorised electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

I hope you’ll visit https://myrddinsheir.com for further news, views and feedback contact details.

This edition first e-published in 2016 by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

ALSO AVAILABLE

Myrddin’s Heir Book 1: A Wizard of Dreams

Myrddin’s Heir Book 2: Amazing Grace

Myrddin’s Heir Book 3: The Quality of Mercy

Myrddin’s Heir Book 4: Gifts from the Gods

Myrddin’s Heir Book 5: When the Cat’s Away ...

Contents

Copyright

Also Available

Contents

Dedication

Warning

Foreword

Chapter 1: What Are The Odds?

Chapter 2: Debrief And To The Point

Chapter 3: The Hurtle Of Hell

Chapter 4: How To Get Away With What?

Chapter 5: A Court Summons

Chapter 6: Bang To Rights

Chapter 7: Crime And Punishment

Chapter 8: A Glorious Day

Chapter 9: Pausing For Thought

Chapter 10: Possible Lines Of Enquiry

Chapter 11: Fresh Supplies

Chapter 12: Business Is Business

Chapter 13: Spare The Rod And Spoil The Servant

Chapter 14: Memories Can Play Tricks

Chapter 15: All Will Be Revealed

Chapter 16: In The Nick Of Time

Chapter 17: Getting A Special Birthday Underway

Chapter 18: When Sorrows Come ...

Chapter 19: Now You See Them, Now You Don't

Chapter 20: A Motley Crew And What To Do

Chapter 21: The Devil Take The Hindmost

Chapter 22: On Red Alert

Chapter 23: Frozen Moments

Chapter 24: It's A Fair Cop

Chapter 25: I Don't Know What Got Into Me

Chapter 26: Lights, Cameras, Action!

Chapter 27: Two Bulls In A China Shop

Chapter 28: You're Fired!

Chapter 29: People Aren't For Ever

Chapter 30: Bonfire Of The Vanities

Chapter 31: Cometh The Hour ...

Chapter 32: Lady BeDoneByAsYouDid

NOTES

-To Note –

About The Author

For Amy, who makes me happy,

For Linda, who stayed in touch,

And for all children who were or are abused

by anyone, anywhere

WARNING

This book will challenge you

HELPFUL HINT

There are notes at the back

SOUND ADVICE

Love Learning

Respect Difference

Protect Your Planet

Foreword

Before beginning this story, Amy and I spent three years in Belize, where we met and became firm friends with a Taiwanese philosopher and his wife, whose English names were Jason and Christine.

Jason was developing a scheme designed to promote the philosophy he had been working on for 20 years to help make the world a better place. I helped Jason with the wording of his philosophy for the English-speaking world.

My three pieces of sound advice -

Love Learning

Respect Difference

Protect Your Planet

– were distilled during the process he and I underwent in finding the right words for his Three Obligations of Wisdom in English.

The wording in his final version, when it is published, will be a little different to my choice of words above for this series of books, but the key concepts are the same.

I was convinced that the Three Obligations of Wisdom point out a simple way to a better world, and I am happy to help promote Jason’s philosophy.

Robin Chambers

June 2016

Chapter 1

What Are The Odds?

Ado glanced at his watch. One minute to 12 p.m., almost high noon. Enzo’s meeting with ‘The Awesome Foursome’ had been scheduled for ten that morning in his office at Potenza Power Unlimited. What could be taking the time? Shouldn’t he have heard something by now?

Enzo Potenza was the most powerful crime-lord in the British Isles. His office had state-of-the-art devices for dealing with ‘contingencies’. His premises crawled with the toughest guys out there, S.O.W.s to a man. That lead-lined, armour-plated, sound-proofed film studio in the basement of his factory was a copper-bottomed, one-way ticket off the planet for anyone and everyone who got in his way.

He was taking on four innocent twelve-year-olds in a place and at a time of his choosing. Granted the twelve-year-olds in question had magical powers that were off their scale, but it had to be no contest, hadn’t it, a foregone conclusion? You could safely put money on it, if you were a betting man.

Ado Aragon was not a betting man.

The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed through its four-quarter preamble. In the suspended silence before it struck the hour, some sixth sense told him to cross to the antique mirror his wife Randy had recently installed in their living room. Through it, once again, he saw Gordon Bennett and Grace Forrester standing behind him. They looked sad.

He smiled grimly at their reflections without turning around. How did it go? he asked, though he was pretty sure he knew. After all, here they were, and still no word from Enzo.

It was … disappointing, Gordon told him.

We made him an offer. He shouldn’t have refused, Grace added. She seemed close to tears. They were nice kids, both of them. It was a shame they were in his way.

What happened? Ado asked.

Both children closed their eyes briefly, as if trying to shut out some vision of a recent horror. It wouldn’t work, of course. Visions like that are on the inside. Commensurate consequences, Gordon said.

Ado nodded slowly. He’d know the details soon enough. He turned from the mirror and gestured to the sofa. Please sit down, he said. The children seemed grateful to comply. He lowered himself into the armchair facing them. Can I get you something to drink. A glass of lemonade perhaps?

Grace and Gordon shook their heads. We won’t keep you long, Gordon assured him.

But there are some things we thought were clear, and now it seems they’re not, Grace went on. We came because we have to be sure.

And we know you appreciate clarity above all things, Gordon reminded him gently.

Ado felt himself relaxing. It had something to do with their endearing earnestness, their maturity beyond their years. He dimly remembered having the same sensation steal over him the last time they had paid him a visit. When was that? He couldn’t remember. He ought to try. Grace Forrester was a very pretty girl when you took the trouble to look at her properly. Those eyes of hers were extraordinary, with little flecks of blue amid the green.

What things? he asked.

Grace leaned forward. You could dive into those eyes and just float. When we last spoke to you, we asked you to look into your heart and decide whether or not you wanted to work with or against us in our fight for a better world.

You did, yes, he agreed, suddenly remembering it perfectly.

What was your decision?

I decided to wait and see what happened when you went to see Enzo.

What did you think would happen?

Ado smiled dreamily. He saw no reason why he shouldn’t tell the truth. He was sure he was safe, though curiously disconnected from the concerns he might ordinarily have had when facing a young witch and wizard who, despite their tender years, possessed magical powers that were off his chart.

I thought you would make him the kind of offer that you made me. I thought he’d play along while he found a way to get you into that facility in his basement. Then I thought he’d hit you with everything he’d got.

That’s exactly what he did, Gordon confirmed. We gave him every chance to make amends. We agreed to help him turn things around. He seemed so keen. It could have been so different.

I’m curious, Ado admitted. Won’t you tell me what happened?

Gordon shook his head. "No, but we’d really rather no one else had to die. This is your last warning. Cancel Belladonna Bourbon’s school meals initiative at Templemead. Stop trying to spy on us. Do not harm any member of WARD, or anyone else for that matter. Stay within the law. Help Mrs Mortlake right the wrongs of this regime. Oh, and find another school for Astrid."

What’s Astrid got to do with it? Ado asked. He was startled out of his dreamy reverie. How had they got wind of his plan to poison their school dinners next term? They didn’t want much did they, these little champions of the downtrodden? And not content with coming after him, they apparently had it in for his daughter.

You must have known about that so-called team-building initiative on your grounds, Gordon reminded him. It was a front to lure six other year 11’s into a trap so that Todd, Petronilla and Astrid could have fun hurting them. We’ve got it on video. Mrs Mortlake has promised to compensate the victims. Todd, Petra and Astrid are to be expelled. That’s the only reason they’re not facing criminal charges.

Ado had known about the team-building exercise. He’d had to sanction the entry of the team members on to his grounds. He’d been too busy to look into the details, and had actually thought Astrid and her friends were doing something useful for once. The Head of The Thornton Academy, the very reverend Doctor Bartholomew Westbury DD Cantab. sent him a letter sanctioning the whole endeavour and praising the ‘leadership potential shown by three of our star pupils’. He’d always been a crawler.

Ado promised himself he wouldn’t be so careless in future. Randy would have a fit when she found out. He’d also have to cancel his arrangements to get one of her secretarial spies into the Templemead General Office. His cage was being severely rattled.

We’re being a lot more patient with you than you have been with us, Grace said reprovingly. Anyone would think he was a naughty schoolboy on his last warning from his headmistress. He supposed he had been a naughty boy, a very naughty boy, since he’d been Head of Mortlake Security. The thought made him smile.

His young visitors stood up. "I’m sure you’ll want to get an update on the current situation at Potenza Power UNlimited, Gordon said gravely. Such irony in one so young. Ado was now certain Potenza’s personal power had been drastically curtailed. Please let’s put a stop to all of this. We won’t be issuing any more warnings."

NOTES

HIGH NOON; CONTINGENCIES; THE ANTIQUE MIRROR; COMMENSURATE CONSEQUENCES; THOSE EYES OF HERS WERE EXTRAORDINARY; BELLADONNA BOURBON’S SCHOOL MEALS INITIATIVE; WARD; HIS ARRANGEMENTS TO GET ONE OF HER SECRETARIAL SPIES INTO THE TEMPLEMEAD GENERAL OFFICE

Chapter 2

Debrief And To The Point

Edith left Victor and Gordon to clear away the evening meal. She was going to watch a local musical theatre group do their best with Oliver yet again. Done to death it might be, but few shows put bums more reliably on seats than one with two large sets of children doing alternate nights. To recoup what you lose putting on your last artistic triumph of a box-office failure, you ‘ave to pick a pocket or two.

Of course, she’d stay a little while afterwards to tell those who were in it what a tremendous job they’d done.

Fantastic, loved it, really excellent.

Glad you enjoyed it. Not too many cock-ups then? Didn’t notice a single one.

She wouldn’t be home much before 11pm. It gave father and son time for a catch-up.

Gordon relayed what had happened that morning to his grim-faced dad. No child should ever have to face what Gordon and his friends had faced that day, and Victor was fearful of the effect it would have on them. Was anyone else hurt, Son? he asked gently.

Gordon nodded, his lower lip trembling. Dub’s lightning went everywhere while he was dying. The director and his camera crew were fried. We couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Victor wrapped a supporting arm around his shuddering son. It wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault. You didn’t ask for any of this. God knows what terrible things got filmed in that basement. They brought it on themselves.

His police-trained mind told him that Enzo should have been arrested and put on trial. But could anyone have made that happen? Would anyone have made that happen? Sweeney was old-school - very old – and there was no doubt he’d saved the State a lot of time, trouble and money. Who would now take over as ‘capo di tutti capi’? That was the question.

No doubt Enzo’s family would regroup. Was there any chance there’d be a wind of change like the one Cleo Mortlake was whipping up on his patch? He seriously doubted it. Where was Ado Aragon in this hierarchy of villainry? He’d had a hand in the bugging of their houses while they’d been on holiday. There was evidence he was up to his neck in local organised crime.

The van that picked your friend Wayne and his mates up just before they torched that house in Saughall turned out to be a commercial vehicle registered to a well-known security firm in Chester.

Let me guess, Gordon said wearily, "Twenty Fathoms."

His dad grinned. You’re a chip off the old block, son. Got it in one. Gordon slotted the drying-up cloth through the cupboard door handle where it lived when not on active service.

It’s not rocket science, is it Dad?

His dad’s face went grim again. No, it’s not. And I’ll tell you what else isn’t: my guess that this Goddess from Hell of yours will be seriously brassed off when she finds out she’s lost another of her brood.

We’ve never gone after them, Gordon pointed out. They’ve always come after us.

Victor put a comforting arm around his shoulders. I know son, but that cuts no ice. I learned that a while ago in my job. It’s a war, and all that matters in a war is what it takes to win.

Like Victor Bennett, Peter Robinson was deeply worried about his son’s exposure to violence. So Sweeney passed sentence on Enzo and carried it out, he observed quietly.

He had it coming dad! Nick protested, springing to his guardian angel’s defence. He lured us there, lied through his teeth and then locked us in with a demon. We gave him fair warning what would happen if he didn’t mend his ways. He had every chance to do the right thing. Instead, he brought a devil in to take out all four of us. Goodness knows how many other people he’s murdered along the way. Sweeney did the world a favour.

Sweeney took the law into his own hands, son, Peter pointed out. It’s a dangerous precedent, whatever the circumstances.

Sweeney devolved from Nick and stood side by side with him to face his troubled dad. Nuada gave me that weapon for a purpose, he observed. If a God can trust me to use it in your defence, might not your father do the same?

You can trust Sweeney not to get carried away, Dad, Nick pleaded. Nuada gave him that sword for a purpose. The people we’re up against don’t play by the rules. Mortlake killed anybody who got in his way. He imprisoned you and Cath for twelve years. He’d have murdered you both that night and not batted an eyelid. Enzo was the same kind of tyrant.

It occurred to him suddenly that that was why you had to have ‘Special Forces’. The UK has ‘Special Forces’, doesn’t it Dad? That must mean there are times when we need them. Sweeney, Zack, Zoë and Kate, they’re our special forces. Without them, we’d be dead. Dub would have killed us all.

Peter smiled sadly at his son. The time was out of joint all right. He so wished Nick and his friends hadn’t been born to set it right. But they had, and there was no getting away from it.

Grace’s mums took one look at her and wrapped her in their very best family hug. Vivian sat next to her on the sofa and held her hand while Elaine made them all big mugs of hot chocolate. In some situations, only chocolate will do. She added whipped cream, marshmallows and extra sprinkles.

Gratefully, Grace sipped, not minding the tiny dollop of whipped cream on her nose. She gave them the gist of what had happened. When she got to the part about a nine-foot demon throwing lethal bolts of lightning, they shuddered, close to tears. It was clear what would have befallen all four children, had it not been for Zack and that burning spear.

Why do people like Enzo and Mortlake do such terrible things? Grace asked them. She really wanted to know. Gordon had asked his mum that question once. It wasn’t an easy one to answer. Every fibre of Grace’s being was bent on making things better. She was a healer and a carer. It really hurt that so many others weren’t. Maybe it was Nature’s way of finding out what worked, but what a crying waste. Survival of the nicest would have been nicer. Edith had said that once, at the zoo when Gordon was ten.

Vivian shrugged. I don’t know. You could ask your father when you see him next.

Grace’s eyes went hopefully to the antique mirror on their living room wall. She decided, regretfully but responsibly, not to call him at that moment. After all, they’d come through it all in one piece. There really wasn’t anything she needed him for now, except maybe a good hug.

Did his species do hugs? She made up her mind to find out, the next time she saw him.

Miranda let herself into the empty house and went straight up to her bedroom. She was glad her dad and stepmum were both out at work.

Though loving and sympathetic, Robert really didn’t understand what his daughter had become, or what it was she was now into up to her neck. Miranda would spare him the details. He’d only have been riddled with fear for her safety, and frustrated because he couldn’t shield her from the dangers she faced. He didn’t have a magic bone in his body. He hadn’t even known that his late wife was a witch.

When witchcraft was first mentioned, Isadora went into meltdown. Meeting Myrddin in that dell in Wales had turned her into a wreck. The wise old wizard had put his hand on her head and worked his magic. Now, whenever the subject of witchcraft came up, Isadora told all and sundry there was no need to be afraid: Everything is all right; it really is ...

It got a bit wearing, if Miranda was totally honest. It was a lot easier if they kept off the subject when her stepmum was around. Besides, there was really only one person she wanted to share it all with. Thankfully, Myrddin had made that possible. She lay on her bed and closed her eyes. Power on! she whispered to her wand, and filled her mind with images of where she wanted to go when she fell asleep.

NOTES

OLIVER!; WHAT HAD HAPPENED THAT MORNING; CAPO DI TUTTI CAPI; THAT WAS THE QUESTION; UP TO HIS NECK IN LOCAL ORGANISED CRIME; TWENTY FATHOMS; THIS GODDESS FROM HELL OF YOURS; ALL THAT MATTERS IN A WAR IS WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN; THE SHORT TIME THEY’D HAD TO GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER; PRECEDENT; DEVOLVED; THE TIME WAS OUT OF JOINT; DOLLOP; GORDON HAD ASKED HIS MUM THAT QUESTION ONCE; AT THE ZOO WHEN GORDON WAS TEN; THE ANTIQUE MIRROR ON THEIR LIVING ROOM WALL; WHERE SHE WANTED TO GO WHEN SHE FELL ASLEEP

Chapter 3

The Hurtle of Hell

Carman’s hideous howl of anguish morphed into a roar of fulminating fury. It swelled until it filled the hellish space, rebounding off the sulphur-encrusted walls and tearing through the terrible caverns that writhed for miles under frozen wastes near one of the poles.

At such a depth, the mantle is weak. The floor of the cave in which she stood now heaved and spewed a roiling rage of rock through cracks that seemed to shudder at her cry. Unbearable heat seared softened stone above her head, while on every side tormented ‘creatures’ toiled in agony. Here Carman held court whenever she was home, for this was where she kept undead the remains of those she chose to feed her need for suffering.

Standing before her was a man who, moments ago, had had freedom of choice in a factory conveniently close to the M4 corridor. His last transgression had earned him a thrust from Nuada’s sword. It had instantly frozen all his molecules, fatally plunging his body temperature almost to absolute zero. Here and now, however, he burned. Flesh melted in this furnace. Mouth open in a Munch-like scream, Enzo Potenza bore the brunt of her wrath, and would go on doing so for quite some time. He could not die, he was already ‘dead’. Yet somehow, he was sentient still, condemned to perpetuity of pain.

YOU FAILED ME! she screeched, her voice like six inch nails being scraped over squealing steel. That self-regarding moron MORTLAKE failed me too, letting himself be bested by those precocious little FREAKS! She stretched out a hideous hand and another high-pitched scream cut through the roar of the rock. The wracked remains of Octavius Mortlake, suspended from a pulley above the focused fragments of his head, were being dragged waist-deep through a lava flow by a pair of exultant demons, seemingly delighted by his din.

"Now two of my own are gone for good, an aeon of effort wasted, and for what? - a couple of garden-variety, primate psychopaths. Do you know how many of those I have down here? Emperors, kings and generals, mass murderers to a man, the slaughterers of innocents in their millions. They have served me since the dawn of human time."

She raised her arms, threw back her head and from her hideous mouth came forth a sound like a high-speed train. Throughout those calamitous caverns rose a clamour in reply: the agony of the damned and the ecstasy of their torturers, each contained in his or her cocoon of suffering. All virtues – truth and beauty, humility and love, mercy, respect and kindness, selflessness and generosity – were being burned and purged away.

‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ it is said, but in what ways? Those who practise dark magic pay a high price for the privilege, as do those who feel its effects.

Carman left her minions to it. Rising above the swell of seething screams, she drifted through her dreadful underworld where countless other creatures were kept chained. Each cave had been configured to confine a different species, engendered for a war that would not wait: monstrous hybrids genetically engineered to incorporate every strategy known for attack or for defence.

Here was a snarling outrage of gloomhounds, stygwolves and life-biters, like the one that had lain in wait for Grace and Miranda on the Bridge of Leaps. Here too was a scaly tumult of three-headed lizards, identical to the one that had barred their way to that dreadful tower where the luckless Ailill had howled out centuries. These creatures were shackled a safe distance from one another to stop them tearing each other apart.

Some broods were off the scale in terms of size: tyrannosaurian in dimension, each one weighing several tons. Armour-plated, they reared up on hideous hind legs, their roars revealing incisors the size of scimitars, their powerful upper limbs tipped with claws that could rip an elephant to shreds. Others were more dragonlike, with scaly wings that spread in flight by as much as a hundred feet. Volatile liquid dripped from their jaws and sizzled on the rock in spurts of flame.

There were smaller creatures too, nimbler, more manoeuvrable. They could dart in close and overwhelm in numbers, slashing and tearing with claws and teeth as deadly as poisoned daggers. To have tried to take a census would have made