Of Courage and Honour
"Can I help you?" asked the woman on reception.
"Yes" said Ethel. "We're here to see Amelia Cackle"
"Are you family?"
"In a manner of speaking" Ethel said. "Long story, but suffice to say that we are her family"
"Adopted as children?"
"Yes" said Ethel. The woman wondered why she had said that, but it got them in the right direction anyhow. The receptionist worked at her desk a few moments before looking up at Ethel again – this time, though, much more closely.
"Miss Hallow?" she blinked. "My apologies, Miss… I didn't realise who you were at first. We have been slightly busy over the last few weeks. If you would like to follow me, I will take you and your party to Miss Cackle's room"
"You have given her a room to herself?" Mildred asked.
"It was thought to be the best for her" the woman said. "Doctor Nightshade is attending her at the moment, but I don't know if he is inside the room with Cackle right now" she stopped outside the door that concealed their ill former Headmistress. "I should warn you" the woman cautioned, "That what you find inside might distress you" and then returned back up the corridor. Maud, who was closest to the door, opened it and led the way in – stopping with a loud gasp as Ethel and Enid drove right into her back. Cackle was lying in a bed attached to all sorts of medical devices, covers tucked up to under her chin and with her arms on the top. To the surprise of most there, Ethel groaned and looked away for a couple of moments – taking the time to steel herself to the sight.
"Do you think she is asleep?" asked Ruby.
"I think she is awake" Enid said, examining the readout of the monitors. "But, then again, I've never been sure on these things"
"You can read them?" asked Jadu.
"After a fashion" Enid replied. "You don't spend half your life around Doctors and not pick up a few things. Somebody try calling her name - She might just be resting her eyes…"
"Miss?" Mildred whispered. "Miss Cackle? Its Mildred – Mildred Hubble" and, for several long moments there was no reply, but then the frail old woman's eyes flickered open and locked on Mildred and the others gathered into the room.
"I told her not to bother you" Cackle said in a whisper.
"We would have come already" said Drusilla. "But we didn't know until now"
"I'm glad I could see my favourite students once more" Cackle said, beads of sweat coming from her as she put all her efforts into speaking.
"Rest now Miss…" Maud said. "You need to get your strength back up"
"Oh no…" Cackle said weakly, taking them all in. "Death has been trying to take me for some time now, but I have been holding him back until I could see you lot again. I wouldn't let me him take me, you see? You are the daughters…" she coughed heavily, "… the daughters I never… never… had…" she gasped, jerked upwards and then slammed back onto the bed with a heavy thud. At the exact same time, all of the monitors went crazy and demanded urgent attention.
"Oh my god" said Ruby and Jadu at the same time. Enid, at the sound of the first alarm, turned her head round from where she had been looking at the monitors and summed up the situation.
"Shit! Ethel, get out of the way. Mildred, pass me that trolley of stuff" the woman pushed her way through. "Somebody get the medics here and tell them that Miss Cackle has gone into Cardio Pulmonary distress and is fibulating. Dru! Grab that thing with the handles and turn it on. Flick the dial until the display reads 180" Enid worked quickly. She knew that every moment she worked could be the moment that saved Cackle's life. "I need a dose of Athistamine" she snapped to Mildred.
"Which one?" her friend asked in a slight panic.
"The one that is green coloured in the wrapping" Enid said. "Take it out, pull the cap off and slam it into Miss Cackle's heart"
"WHAT?"
"We need it to go to the heart directly" Enid said. Mildred did as she was told and slammed the needle into the body and then pushed the plunger down. A new tone, this one flat, told Enid that time was up. "Drusilla…?"
"Here" the red head said, "It's there now"
"Right!" she took the paddles off the other woman and told everyone to stand clear – just as the doctors and nurses came running into the room. "Clear!" and zapped her former teacher in an attempt to restart the heart.
"What have you done?" asked one of the doctors quickly.
"I just hit her with a standard charge from the defibrillator" Enid told him clearly. "I also gave her increased fluids and had an injection administered to her heart" and then stepped back and let the professionals handle it – getting herded out as they ran left the room.
"Where did you learn that?" asked Ruby.
"My father is the head Doctor here" said Enid, "Though we haven't spoken for years now. I just remembered what happened when I came to work with him once – I just hope Miss Cackle pulls through"
"Excuse me" one of the nurses came out of the room. "But if you would like to follow me, there is a conference room you might enjoy more instead of sitting in the corridor"
#
"I wonder how long it will be until we know" asked Jadu, filling her cup with more coffee. The time was four in the afternoon
#
At two in the morning, they brought the group the news…
Miss Cackle had died…
#
The first thing was that Hardbroom took over as Acting Headmistress with immediate effect. She then informed the Witches' Guild and Ofwitch of the situation and then summoned the pupils to an assembly before breakfast where she explained everything that had happened. After she had finished, there was not a dry eye in the house as all of the witches there felt a terrible loss from their lives. The group gathered back at the Academy as they had no other place to go to at that moment – commandeering the library for themselves.
"If only there was something that we could do" said Maud.
"We should have been there at the end" Drusilla added.
"She wouldn't have wanted us to see her slip away" Enid noted sadly. "At least they will not do an autopsy on her – she's suffered enough already" she added. Miss Cackle had let it be known that, in the event of her death, an autopsy was strictly forbidden and Hardbroom had already taken steps to ensure this happened.
You're keeping quiet, Ethel" Mildred said, noticing the other young woman with her head bowed and her eyes shut.
"I've been thinking…" she said as she opened them.
"About how mean you were to Miss Cackle at times?" Jadu said.
"Partly" Ethel admitted. "But I was thinking of something else. There might be a way to get her back"
"What are you talking about?" shot off Ruby.
"One time at home, I found a book that dealt with all of the black arts from the days of old. It explained how Witches and Wizards would perform terrible spellcraft on other magicals and non-magicals alike" Ethel explained.
"Your point?" Drusilla demanded.
"My point is that one of chapters went into great lengths about how to raise somebody from the dead"
"I remember something about that from our history classes" Mildred frowned. "Nicko something"
"Necromancy" Ethel nodded as she corrected Mildred. "It involves the use of concentrated and what would be considered rather dark magic"
"What do we have to do?" asked Enid. As far as she was concerned the trouble would be worth it.
"Wait a minute" Maud called. "Does anyone realise that dark magic was banned? There is a reason why it is called dark magic"
"If we can bring Miss Cackle back from the dead" Ruby said, "Then I think that we should try it"
"Look" protested Maud, "I'm not saying that we shouldn't try it… I'm simply saying that this could backfire on us"
"Can it work?" Drusilla asked.
"I don't really know" admitted Ethel, looking out of the window and watching the pupils walking around in the sunshine. "The art was banned for many hundreds of years, and it hasn't been attempted since then. The book I read was made before the ban, and it describes everything that has to happen. The only one of us who could try it is Mildred"
"Me?"
"I know it is surprising, but remember how you brought that Prince Percy guy out from the drawing?" and Mildred nodded at the memory, "Well I thought that perhaps you could do something like that for Miss Cackle. We'll have to try quickly before all the magic in her body dissipates"
"What about her soul?" asked Jadu.
"I don't really know" Ethel said quietly, "But I think we should give it a chance. We all owe Miss Cackle a great deal not to try. If it works, we can say that magic was rebuilding her a bit and that's why she appeared dead"
"That's happened before" Ruby said. "You hear about it sometimes in the papers about people who appear dead but wake up a bit of an age later"
"When?" asked Enid.
"All the time" Ruby replied.
"I was referring to the time Milly should try it" Enid said, shaking her head.
"Midnight" Ethel replied. "It is normally the most powerful time of the day, and is the…" she chuckled weakly, "… the supposed 'Witching Hour' after all" and plans were made to go to the hall at midnight and to resurrect their former Headmistress. She had been brought to the Academy to lie in state before burial near the lake.
# # # # #
That night, acting in secret and without the knowledge of Hardbroom or the other members of staff, the group gathered around the covered form of Cackle who lay on the upright on the small stage.
"I don't want to alarm anybody" Enid said, "But you do know that I can see the dead, right?" and the joke broke the tension somewhat.
"I don't know if I can do this" said Mildred hesitantly. "Its one thing to bring a drawing to life, but to bring a person back to life…"
"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think you were capable of doing it, Hubble Bubble" Ethel sighed. "It may not even work at all, but we have to try"
"Why are you so bothered by it?" asked Jadu.
"Because… Because I have a lot to make up for" Ethel said. "Each of us can find a maggot in our pasts that will happily devour us if we don't make amends. Now, look here, we'd better stand back from here a little bit – we don't want any of our magics to mix up things. This is dangerous and dark magic as it is" and they all stepped back except for Mildred who stepped forward and pulled the white sheet that covered the body of their former Headmistress down to uncover the face – leaving it folded over at the chest. Somebody, and Mildred assumed it was Hardbroom, had dressed Cackle in her full formal robes and cloak.
"Its time" Ruby called out, looking at her watch. Mildred looked back for a moment, gave a quick nod of understanding before turning back to start. She had read the book that she and Ethel had retrieved from her family's home a few hours before, and she concentrated on that.
"If there is ever a time you need to concentrate, Hubble" she said to herself, "You'd better make it now" and closed her eyes and went to work. She gathered all of the magic in the room and channelled it into her own being. Mixing it together, she made it up into the biggest and most powerful she could and sent it towards the still form of Cackle. Attached to the magic was all of the warmth, love and respect for the woman that had taught her so much – adding simply the command 'Live'. The light was so bright that the others had to either look away or otherwise shield their eyes. Ethel pulled out some glasses, did a duplication spell and handed them around. It was magical for a trivial reason, but the trivial reason was outweighed by the need for something quick and easy to shield their sight from permanent damage.
"Is it working?" asked Enid.
"I don't know" Maud replied, "But Milly's standing rather oddly. She's got her arms away from her body and her head hanging low. And…" Maud frowned as she tried to get a better look at her friend. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Drusilla said. Tendrils of golden light were emanating from multiple places on Mildred's body and snaking and twisting their way to the same points on Cackle's dead form. "I thought that's impossible"
"What is?" asked Enid.
"That's magic" Drusilla said. "Pure, simple and unadulterated magic" she whispered in the same tone one would use to describe a visitation of some holy figure. "That's only supposed to happen when you are pure of heart, pure of mind and pure of spirit. Milly is putting everything that is good inside her into this"
"Should we be worried?" Ethel asked.
"I have no idea" and Drusilla would have said more but for the blast of wind that knocked them off their feet – causing many alarms to go off around the castle. These ranged from the fire alarm all the way to 'General Quarters – All Hands Man Your Battlestations'.
"What the hell was that?" Ruby asked as she staggered to her feet.
"Ooh…" with a soft moan, Mildred's head tipped back and she dropped to the floor like a stone.
"MILLY!" Maud and Enid were the first to her side and checked her pulse. It was very weak, and Maud had almost thought that there wasn't one at all.
"Would you mind explaining what is going on here?" Hardbroom appeared out of the air in a long purple robe.
"We would" said Ethel.
"We tried to bring her back" said Enid, looking up from the floor at Hardbroom.
"Necromancy?" Hardbroom whispered. "What do you think you were trying to do?" she hissed.
"What needed to be done. What had to be done" Drusilla said.
"But it didn't work…" Hardbroom regained her calmness – albeit with great difficulty.
"We had to try" protested Jadu.
"I… I'm not so sure…" Ruby was a pale as a ghost and pointing at Cackle's body – the chest was slowly rising up and down.
"I don't believe it" said Hardbroom. She hurried over to give Cackle as good a check as she could and found her to be in good health. "There's no sign of any heart problems that caused this and, if anything, she seems to have regenerated several years"
"Mildred must brought Miss Cackle back to how she remembered her" Jadu said.
"That is power that not even Mistress Broomhead ever had" said Hardbroom. "Not only to bring back the dead but also to make them a little younger… How is she?" she looked back at the still form of Mildred.
"She's very weak" said Enid. "Can we lift her up to someplace for her to rest easier?" and Hardbroom conjured up another table for Mildred to be placed on.
"I hope she wakes up soon…" said Ruby.
"She might just have magical exhaustion" said Ethel. "I have seen it once or twice before in people. Hubble Bubble'll be out like a light for at least five to six hours"
"Miss Hardbroom!" Drusilla hit upon an idea. "Have you got any of that Wide Awake potion left around here?"
"That might cause a shock to her system, Drusilla" Enid shook her head.
"Not to Mildred, but what about to Miss Cackle?" the red head asked. "I bet that she'd be able to take it – at least enough to answer some questions and to get to her own bed"
"I have used all of my current supplies" Hardbroom said, "But I will try to drain the very last of the dregs and see what we can do" and hurried to her quarters to see what could be done.
"Typical Mildred Hubble" Ruby said, shaking her head. "Hasn't anyone bothered to tell her that she doesn't have to show off anymore?"
"That's the last time that I do something like that" a small voice said, coughing as it finished. Mildred opened her eyes and sat up – starting the others by the action.
"We thought you'd died" said Maud.
"I had a bit of a problem getting Cackle back" said Mildred. "I had to fight for her soul"
"But you managed it" Ethel noted.
"Someone on the other side was giving me a problem" Mildred said, shaking her head in an attempt to clear the terrible headache she had. "There was a being of sorts on the other side of what lies beyond, and it resisted my attempts to bring Miss Cackle back with me to the living"
"What happened?" asked Enid. "All we saw was lights, pure magic and then a force that threw us to the floor"
"When I found Cackle's soul, I was blocked from retrieving it. The being said that I was interfering in what was the grand scheme of things and that the innocent would always die before their time" Mildred paused to sip from the water hastily conjured up by Drusilla.
"Then what?" asked Ruby.
"I felt such a rage that my magic built up, raised and pointed one hand at him and declared 'Enough! NO MORE!' and blasted him far away from me" Mildred felt as if she could sleep for an entire year, but wanted to know how Cackle was doing.
"She is doing alright" said Enid. "Her breathing is a little shallow and her pulse is slow… She'll be back to normal after a week of rest. You know that whatever you did to her body has regenerated her heart and other organs? She has gained a few more years on the clock"
"I got a little carried away" said Mildred, helped to her feet and held up until she regained her balance – just as Hardbroom turned up again.
"I can't say I am totally shocked" she said when she saw her former pupil awake. "I am afraid that it has been rather dull without you, Mildred, around these parts I have got this for Miss Cackle, though I suppose one small drop might give you enough strength to return to your home" and Hardbroom gave her a single drop of the remains of her various Wide Awake potions before entrusting the group to get her safely home and to bed. "I suspect that it would be best if this incident was kept between just us. Too many questions would be asked if the truth were to be known. I would suggest a week of rest and relaxation for you, Mildred. I don't have to be Miss Bat to predict that Miss Cackle will want to speak to you… All of you"
"We'd have done it, but Mildred was the one with the most power" Ethel said, but, to her surprise, Hardbroom shook her head.
"That is not what I mean, Ethel. I will say anything else on the subject, but will leave it for Miss Cackle to discuss with you" and the group of girls wondered what was going on with Cackle. Most of them thought that Cackle wanted to inform them of her retirement herself, but Maud was not so sure and thought something else was going to be revealed.