Corsair

By Tony Rattigan

Jim Darby is back on his travels again! Now that he’s got his airship company off the ground (ahem) the British Secret Service want him to do another little job for them.

Just pop down to Malta in one of his airships and pick up a certain decoding device for them. Easy you’d think but this one’s been stolen from one of Albion’s rivals so Jim and his crew have to be discreet. Too bad there’s a sexy woman pyrate docked there, who’s an old flame of Jim’s and she’s still smouldering about how they parted. As well as that annoying little matter of another pyrate having put a price on his head of which Jim is unaware, as he flies into danger.

This book’s got it all. Thrills and spills! Excitement and danger! Wiener Schnitzels and cuckoo clocks!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tony Rattigan
• Release date: Dec 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005100537

Tony Rattigan

After 22 years in the Royal Air Force, 5 years in the National Health Service and 10 years at one of the UK's largest charities, Tony decided he'd done enough for Queen and Country and he was about due some 'me' time. Consequently he took early retirement in 2010 to work on his writing. He lives in Oxfordshire UK with his Albatross and a pet monkey. (No, not really. That's just a vain attempt to sound interesting.) Rufus Cobb, Adele Curran and Jim Darby are the lead characters in a series of books – The Londum Series - written by Tony Rattigan. Set in an alternate Victorian Era, they recount the adventures of Rufus Cobb a private detective, his lady friend Adele Curran (who just happens to be a witch) and Jim Darby who is a jewel-thief and conman ... but whose crimes strangely only seem to benefit the poor. Cobb and his friends live in the city of Londum, in the country of Albion, the centre of the British Empire.

Book preview

Corsair

Tony Rattigan

Book Thirteen of The Londum Series

Corsair

Tony Rattigan

Published by Tony Rattigan at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Antony Rattigan

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to the other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Jim Darby is back on his travels again! Now that he’s got his airship company off the ground (ahem) the British Secret Service want him to do another little job for them.

Just pop down to Malta in one of his airships and pick up a certain decoding device for them. Easy you’d think but this one’s been stolen from one of Albion’s rivals so Jim and his crew have to be discreet. Too bad there’s a sexy woman pyrate docked there, who’s an old flame of Jim’s and she’s still smouldering about how they parted. As well as that annoying little matter of another pyrate having put a price on his head of which Jim is unaware, as he flies into danger.

This book’s got it all. Thrills and spills! Excitement and danger! Wiener Schnitzels and cuckoo clocks!

Contents

Prologue

New Beginnings

A Question of Trust

Flying South for the Winter

Sky Pyrates

Sold

Academic Assistance

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

Fort Manoel

Epilogue

Tales from the Back of the Drawer

Prologue

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the happiest of times; it was the saddest of times. It was the longest of times; it was the shortest of times. It was …

…

…

…

I’m sorry – I forgot where I was going with this …

Nevertheless, the world had changed and it was all down to one man, Rufus Cobb.

Everything was different since the Elf War. Albion had stood on the brink of defeat – the Lake District had been laid waste, countless numbers of people had been killed – until it had been saved by Rufus and his companions and the Elves conquered by no less a personage than King Arthur, of Camelot legend. After it was over, Cobb had held the most powerful substance in the Universe, Dark Matter, in his hands and bartered with the Creator of the Universe (who liked to be known as Jeremy) for the return to life of all those killed by the Elves.

The citizens of Albion now knew what had previously only been speculated by Mages and scientists, to be a fact. There were other, alternate dimensions, Universes even, out there, running parallel to their own and some of their occupants were not very nice people.

It was a time to rebuild and rejoice but not everyone was happy. Some of the partners of the revived dead had already gladly moved on, to someone else. Fortunes had been lost due to the destruction caused by the war. And lastly, Albion’s relations with its continental neighbours had reached a new low, as they had remained across the channel instead of coming to Albion’s aid in its time of need. They had watched and waited to see the outcome before they would make a move. Many hoped that the mighty Albion would be humbled by defeat but alas, they were to be disappointed, Albion once again was victorious. And it remembered who its friends had been. (Brexit? Who mentioned Brexit? I never mentioned Brexit!)

But for many it was a chance for a fresh start with a new outlook on life. They gave up their old ways and took up new occupations or simply went off, to find themselves new lives.

And that’s where this story starts – one man’s attempt to find out what really happened that fateful evening – and the best person to ask was the man at the centre of it all, Rufus Cobb.

New Beginnings

Sir Rufus Cobb walked into his back garden. As it was a hot summer’s day and he was at home, he had taken the liberty of removing his jacket and loosening his collar. His wife, Adele, or more accurately Lady Cobb to give her proper title, was basking in the sun in a deckchair, drinking some home-made lemonade that she had whipped up. Their Cantonese butler, Won Lungh, was mowing the lawn. Lucifer, the cat, was out, probably terrorising the neighbourhood dogs.

Cobb poured himself a glass of lemonade and grimaced. ‘Adele, this lemonade is a bit on the warm side. Do you think you could give it one of your looks? That should chill it nicely.’

Adele ignored him. She had rolled up her sleeves, loosened her collar and hitched up her skirt over her knees, and you could see her stockings. ‘I say,’ said Cobb. ‘Don’t you think you’re showing a bit much there? This isn’t the Folies Bergère you know.’

‘Oh piffle,’ she replied. ‘No one can see me unless they deliberately stand on a chair and look out of their bedroom windows.’

‘What about him?’ Cobb nodded in Won Lungh’s direction.

‘Won Lungh has been around since I was a little girl, he helped bring me up. He’s seen me running around in my underwear a thousand times.’

‘Well, if you’re sure,’ he conceded. ‘You haven’t seen today’s paper have you? I want to finish the crossword.’

‘You left it in your office … and writing BANANA in for those clues you can’t answer doesn’t count as doing the crossword.’

‘Hmm,’ he replied and went off to find his paper.

It was where Adele had said and as he left his office the front doorbell rang. He opened it to find the postman standing there. ‘Parcel for Lady Cobb,’ he said brightly.

Cobb took it and gave him a tip. The parcel had a weird smell. He sniffed it suspiciously. Probably herbs for her potions and spells, he thought. I’m not sure that marrying a witch was the most sensible thing to do. He put the parcel on the hall table and went back out to the garden.

‘Who was that at the door?’ asked Adele.

‘It was the police, they want you to cover up. Apparently you’re frightening small children.’

‘You think you’re smart, don’t you?’

‘No, you’re the smart one,’ he replied. ‘I’m just pretty.’

She gave him an evil glare. ‘Don’t make me hurt you,’ she said with a sneer.

‘You think you can take me?’ he challenged her. ‘C’mon then, little bunny. Let’s see what ya got. Take your best shot.’

Adele leapt to her feet and adopted a boxer’s stance. She danced around him, throwing out jabs which he easily blocked until he stepped back into the deckchair which threw him off balance and he dropped his guard. Adele shot out her left fist and caught him on the side of his head.

‘OW! Won Lungh, she punched me in the ear!’ he appealed.

‘Good girl. You keep arm straight like I tell you? Otherwise you hurt wrist.’

‘That’s not fair, you’re on her side,’ Cobb complained. ‘What about …’ he broke off as the doorbell rang.

Won Lungh put on his jacket and said, ‘I answer the door this time.’

‘This isn’t over,’ Adele promised Cobb through gritted teeth.

‘Yeah? Well you punch like a girl.’

‘I am a girl!’

‘Fair point,’ he conceded.

Adele looked at him and said, ‘It’s a good job you’re pretty.’

‘You’ll be sorry when I’m gone.’

‘Are you kidding? I’ll come and dance on your grave.’

‘In that case I’ll make sure I’m buried at sea.’

A few moments later Won Lungh returned carrying a silver tray with a calling card on it. Cobb picked it up and read it.

Captain Richard Somersby

RN Retd.

He stared at it for a moment, distractedly flicking the corner of the card with his thumbnail. ‘Oh … this is awkward,’ he said.

‘Who is it?’ Adele asked. He showed her the card.

‘The last time I saw him he was falling to his death in a burning airship.’

‘Ah, tricky. Do you want Won Lungh to say you’re not at home?’

‘No, I’d better see him. I owe it to him, he saved my bacon once. Yours too come to that. Won Lungh, would you show him into my office and then take in a jug of lemonade and two glasses, please? Tell him I’ll be there shortly.’

Cobb did his tie up and put on his jacket. Dignity at all times, that was the Victorian way.

When Cobb entered the office, Capt. Somersby stood up and offered his hand. ‘Good to see you again, Mr. Cobb … sorry that’s Sir Rufus now, isn’t it?’

‘Yes but we don’t stand on ceremony here, just call me Cobb. I only use Sir Rufus when I’m booking a restaurant table.’ He poured two glasses of lemonade and held one out to Somersby. Cobb went behind his desk and took his chair, inviting Somersby to sit.

‘So what are you up to these days, Cobb? Still private detecting? Caught any murderers or international jewel thieves lately?’

‘You’d be surprised how often that doesn’t happen. So Captain, what brings you to Londum? I see from your card that you’re retired? I’d have thought that after your part in the Elf War you’d have been a cert for promotion. Why leave the navy now?’

Somersby put down his glass and stared out of the window, he seemed slightly embarrassed. ‘Can I be frank with you, Cobb?’

‘Certainly.’

‘Ever since I was, what can I say, brought back to life when the Elf War was over I’ve been feeling a little disillusioned and uncomfortable with life. I need to know what really happened. I asked around but no one will tell me the truth. The government says it was an Act of the Gods and won’t explain any further but that’s too simplistic an answer for me. The navy shut me down when I asked too many questions.

‘I even tracked down the four marines that went with you on that mission. Needless to say they aren’t talking but those types never do. So I accepted that I may never have an answer but it made me realise that I could no longer agree with the locked down, buttoned up military way, where you’re never told anything and forbidden to ask questions. So I quit the navy so I can forge my own way in life. And more importantly carry on asking questions.

‘I died Cobb, I remember the steam engine exploding and the airship breaking in half. I remember falling to the earth … and then the next thing I know I’m lying in a field looking up at the sky.’

‘So why have you come to me?’

‘Because you were on that mission also, you and Jim Darby. I know that the navy guys were also resurrected, so at some point they must have died. You and Jim Darby weren’t though, according to the gossip, so if you survived the mission, you must have seen everything that went on. You must know the answers.’

‘Honestly, it was the navy guys that were the heroes, they saved Albion. That’s why they got the medals and the promotions. We didn’t do anything.’

‘So how come you and Mr. Darby got knighted? With King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur, I hear. That’s a pretty big reward for someone who didn’t do anything.’

‘People need heroes,’ Cobb pointed out. ‘Someone to inspire them to rebuild and go on with their lives, that’s why such a fuss was made of the marines. In my line of work it doesn’t pay to have your name and face splashed all over the papers, nor Jim’s come to that, so we asked to remain anonymous. They insisted on rewarding us anyway, hence the knighthoods.’

‘Oh? What exactly is Mr. Darby’s line of business then?’

‘That’s not important right now. More lemonade?’

Cobb topped up their glasses to give himself time to think. He wanted to put the younger man out of his misery and he hadn’t been bound to secrecy like the military had. ‘Very well, but if I tell you what happened, everything must stay in this room.’

‘You have my word,’ agreed Somersby.

‘Jim Darby and I made it through to the Portal Generator that allowed the Elves to pass between Universes. We were after the mineral or substance whatever it is, that powered it. It’s called Dark Matter and it’s what the Universe