Episode 8 –The Faerie Uncovered
March 23rd
Lieutenant Day arrived back to his apartment in London to find three soldiers on his doorstep. Rather than run away he went up to them and asked them what they wanted. They said that they had orders to arrest him from some bigwig at the Ministry of War. They took him to a room in Chelsea Barracks where he saw Penelope Windthrop (St Hilda) sat behind the desk. She asked Lieutenant Day what he had done with Bran. Roger replied that he had done nothing as he’d only just arrived back in Britain. St Hilda continued that she knew that Roger had a vendetta against Bran and had always sought ways to get more power. Plus she said that some of her stuff was missing – her Black Book and the Cross of St David. He asked her what happened and she said that she had sent Bran to go and watch a Prussian spy who had arrived at Portsmouth. He was due back yesterday but hadn’t come back and now she found her book and the cross missing. After some banter Lieutenant Day persuaded her that he would go and find Bran and bring back the items. Lieutenant Day decided he needed all the others and went to find Samhain at the Garrick Club.
Samhain relaxing in his club glancing at the morning papers and overheard a couple of the other members talking. One of them asked the other if he was going to join the Society of Camelot. The other said that he was not really interested in that sort of thing as he was a Shakespeare man. The first continued to try and persuade him saying that they were having a rally next week, but his companion remained unimpressed. Samhain went back to his papers and spotted an advert in the classifieds that caught his interest. It said “The faerie will die in two days time at the Royal Horticultural Society Hall.” Just then Lieutenant Day arrived and told Samhain what he had found out. As the Professor had a dislike of Lieutenant Day, he said he would get George to get Annie and they would meet Samhain there at the Chelsea barracks.
George realised that this morning he’d have to do something about the dead demon horse in the stables at Lambeth Palace. He glanced briefly at the list that Archdeacon Abbott had given him of the things he was not to do whilst the Archdeacon was away and casually ticked off the one that said “Do not use my Stationary for your own purposes”. He then wrote out instructions for a knacker’s yard to come and pick up the corpse. Thinking again he decided he’d need to remove the demon wings and clawed hooves before the tradesman came and picked it up. Lieutenant Day just arrived as George returned from his butchery, blood all down his front.
The Professor asked Annie about the boy she had left with them and she told him that he was another of the tattooed heroes. As they were talking the boy Tommy came up to them, eyes red from crying, and said that his dad had told him that he was to get a ring which was a family heirloom when he died. They asked the boy about his mother and he told them that he lived in Wandsworth with her. They decided to take the boy home and Annie almost put her foot in her mouth by saying that the boy had another spirit within him. The Professor stepped in and said that Annie meant the boy was high spirited. The mother was clearly upset and they decided to leave. Just after they got home George arrived to pick up Annie.
The others met Samhain outside Chelsea Barracks and asked the guard to see Lady Penelope Wilton. The guard made them wait 10 minutes before showing them all in. The group asked if they could see the scene of the crime and Penelope said that they could but they may not be able to. She took a key from her breast and took out a book from the case behind her. She unlocked the secret door and went in. Annie and Samhain went to follow but found that they couldn’t, but George and Roger could enter without problems. Penelope told them that she would need to do something. She went to her drawer, took something out and broke it as she mouthed some words. Samhain and Annie could now enter and they found a small room with an open safe in it. Annie asked them all to leave the room and she turned into a Bloodhound, however the scent had faded some time ago and she was forced to change back and come out.
Samhain then concentrated hard on the safe and after tracking back was able to detect Bran (Sir Charles Bamburgh) entering the room, opening the safe and taking the items from it. He then closed the safe and relocked the room.
Samhain decided to see if he could see where the cross was now. He got a vision of a dark box. Then he decided to see if he could see where Bran was now. He got a view of Bran in a coach with another man. This man was dressed in a silver suit with black hair, a moustache and a beard. Samhain checked the sun and determined that the coach was heading north.
They told Penelope what they had learnt and decided to head to King’s Cross to get a train north to York. When the got to the first stop Samhain decided to check out where Bran was now. When he did he got white snow and no proper image. He tried again and got the same thing. To check that his ability was working he tried to see his room in the Garrick, which he did successfully. In the next station he got the same problem and between stations the group discussed going back. Lieutenant Day favoured riding back, but George told him it would take three days. They eventually got to Boston and decided to head back to London.
After they got back Lieutenant Day decided to go change and head to the Royal Horticultural Hall to check it out. Outside was a sign saying closed for redecoration. He broke in through an upper window late at night and scouted around inside the building. He found where the men had been working on the lower levels and an office with the booking diary that showed him that it would be closed for another week. Finding nothing else interesting he decided to leave.
March 24th
The group decided to take it easy the next day and relax in their own fashion.
March 25th
The following day the group decided to head to the Royal Horticultural Hall to see what was happening there. As they got there they saw a small crowd of about 30 placard wielding weirdo’s who were either expecting a freak show or were in love with the idea of faeries. The group headed round to the back entrance and found it open.
Inside they could hear a gruff man threatening to kill a faerie and Lieutenant Day entered the hall. Annie blinked in to the centre of the hall and somehow she miraculously managed to avoid the one of the man’s twin axes that swung at her. Lieutenant Day followed by the others ran in as Annie again managed to avoid the axe swing as she got back off to the other side of the trestle table. Lieutenant Day parried an axe as it was aimed at the faerie’s neck strapped to the table, but he took a second axe in the side. Then the other two got there to help him as the rear doors shut and Christian Cooper’s and a bunch of goons on the balcony threw down some gas bombs. Annie in mid change to a wolf succumbed almost immediately to the gas, but the others pressed the faerie killer back, wounding him several times. The faerie succumbed too, and as she did her gossamer wings could clearly be seen for the first time. Christian shouted down for them not to kill each other as he put a strange looking mask on his neck. Annie started to transform into a wolf as she took in a load of gas and fell unconscious.
George decided to kick away the gas bomb and then untie the faerie. So he left the fight as Christian’s minions started to come down the stairs with their masks firmly attached.
The faerie hater backed off, badly wound and then flew up into the air. George picked up the faerie as Samhain too succumbed to the gas. Lieutenant Day fired a couple of shots of one of the minions killing him before going to get his mask off him. George let the faerie down and attacked the other minion killing him and taking his mask. George picked up the faerie and Roger picked up Annie and Samhain and they made their way from the building. Behind them they noticed a flash of light followed by a cry and a thud. The crowd outside gasped, claiming that George (carrying the obvious faerie) had killed her. George tried to claim he hadn’t but luckily they spotted a Hanson cab nearby and made their way from the scene.
On the way back to Lambeth Palace Annie and Samhain awoke, Annie deciding to stay in Wolf form. They laid the faerie down on the Archdeacon’s bed (George ticking another of the list) and she eventually awoke. She told them that her name was Molwynn and that she had been around earth for many years, moving on after a number of years to a new place to start life again. She told them that the man was Gawain who had held a grudge against faeries ever since he found out that his brother Mordred was a faerie. He had gone over to serve Arthur shortly after he had learnt this of his brother. Molwynn had used glamour to seduce King Lot and had given birth to Mordred. Much later when she had tried to go back to faerie she had found the way back closed and she had had to hide on earth. Being an Actress had been a perfect role for her glamour.
Just then Archdeacon Abbot came back from his trip to York to see a full faerie sprawled on his bed and a wolf next to it. Shortly after he arrived the Count appeared and said to them.
“We’ve got big trouble. Arthur’s supporters have created a big gate in North Wales and Arthur and Guinevere were back!” …….
