Note: Ok you lucky, lucky people, two chapters in one day really is something for me, it is in no way the norm! Anyway, enjoy. And laugh at my bad use of Sense and Sensibility references.


Inferno

Eleven

"Now Mildred," said Miss Hardbroom as they made their way through the increasingly busy streets of the town to where they had secured their broomsticks. "I believe I owe you an explanation."

Mildred nodded, more concerned with understanding the fortuitous turn of events that brought her teacher to their rescue than with the strange looks that their group was receiving.

"Shortly after you and Miss Bat left the school, there was a slip in the Shield, only momentary, but a slip none-the-less. Since a Shield weakens the further away its caster moves, we came to the conclusion that Agatha had moved away from the school, and that she was following you." Miss Hardbroom paused, pointedly. "We were proved correct."

"Yes, but how did you get out?"

"We thought that if Agatha was no longer watching the school, we could afford to let someone else leave the castle. The wizards used their magic to lift their Shield, but they could only do so for a brief moment. It does take a certain degree of skill to be able to contradict such a powerful spell." Mildred turned her head on one side, wondering if she could perhaps detect a note of pride in her form-mistress's voice. "Nevertheless, a brief moment was more than sufficient for me. I left the school and flew to the town as fast as I could, finding where you had cast your protection spell over your brooms. I left mine with yours and made for the bookshop, arriving not a moment too soon from what I witnessed."

"I must admit," said Della dryly, "of all the ways to go, stabbed in the head with the tools of my trade wasn't one I'd particularly considered. I should really thank you for that." She paused, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth for a few moments before speaking again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Miss Hardbroom replied with a courteous inclination of her head. Mildred fell to thinking. Why had Miss Hardbroom been the one to come to their aid if she was the only one who could lift the Shield satisfactoraly? Why not one of the wizards? She shrugged her shoulders, answering her own question - Miss Hardbroom was the best offensive fighter the school had at that moment. If they had anticipated violence of any kind, then Miss Hardbroom would always be the one to send to help, no matter the circumstances. She sighed and broke her stride so that she was no longer struggling to keep up with her teacher's march and hung back to fall in beside Della.

"How are you?" she asked nervously. So far, Della appeared to be taking everything that had happened to her in her stride; maybe years of living with the Foster's Effect had inured her to strange occurrences, but Mildred could see her pale blue eyes were wide with worry, and the shaky quality to her voice that had presented itself earlier had not subsided.

"At the moment, tolerable," she said. "I think I'm half working on the happy misappreciation that this is all an extremely strange dream and I'll wake up in a couple of minutes." She sighed. "I'm used to strange things happening. I'm used to Davina's little bouts of eccentricity. But some things take a little longer to get used to than others." She stared pointedly at Miss Hardbroom's rigid back, and Mildred gave a small smile. Even she was still getting used to Miss Hardbroom, and they had been in acquaintance for nearly four years. Della began to speak again, this time in a lower voice, her emotions heavily checked.

"I'll probably collapse into a gibbering heap as soon as the adrenaline wears off," she said. "At the moment I think my mind has gone into a little self-defence mode. All I can think about is that I should have covered the cake in foil before I went out, and that I was supposed to have someone coming to value a Brontë manuscript at four o'clock." Della tucked her head down into the collar of her coat and crossed her arms tightly against the chill November air. Mildred shivered and wished that she had not left her cloak with the broomsticks. Luckily, they did not have far to walk before they reached the alley where they had stored their transports, and, once they were all safely within the shadows of the street, Miss Hardbroom came to an abrupt stop.

"I can foresee a certain logistical difficulty in getting back to the castle," she said. The four women looked at the three broomsticks.

"Oh don't worry!" exclaimed Miss Bat. "Della can hop on the back of mine!"

Della did not look particularly appeased by this idea, but after looking Miss Hardbroom up and down a few times, and seeing the state of disrepair that Mildred's own broom was in, it became evident that Miss Bat's broomstick was going to be the safest option by far.

"Will you be able to manage?" Miss Hardbroom asked. "Never having ridden a broomstick before, I mean."

"I'm sure I'll be fine. I've ridden pillion on my brother's moped a few times, and I don't think anything could be more terrifying than that. It's just like riding a bike really, isn't it?"

"No Miss Spinder," said Miss Hardbroom, exasperation colouring her voice, "riding a broomstick is nothing like riding a bicycle."

Della shrugged apologetically at Mildred and watched as the three witches mounted their broomsticks. Miss Bat shuffled a little further forward on her handle and patted the wood next to her, indicating for Della to sit beside her. Gingerly Della perched on the broom, looking for the first time exceedingly nervous about the prospect of flying and very obviously wondering whether such an outwardly flimsy branch could support the weight of two adult women. She locked her arms around Davina's waist and hung on tightly.

"It's not exactly Colonel Brandon taking me off into the sunset on a white steed, but then again, I'm no Marianne Dashwood. Lead on MacDuff!"

"Giddy up!" cried Miss Bat as they rose into the air in unison, increasing in height until they hit the relative safety of the low cloud cover, where they remained flying in silence for several minutes before Della made the mistake of looking down. She cursed loudly and freed one hand, clamping it over her eyes. The movement caused Miss Bat to squeal and veer off course, and Mildred turned back at once to help them.

"What's the matter?" she asked, worried as the chanting teacher struggled to regain control, closing her eyes and inadvertently setting her broom on a crash course with Mildred's. The latter only just managed to duck out of the way in time, holding on to her hat as the others zoomed over her head.

"I hadn't bargained on just how high up we were going to be," muttered Della, moving her hand from her eyes and fixing Mildred with a petrified stare. "I've never suffered from vertigo in my life before, but I mean, you don't even have seatbelts on these things! Forget what I said earlier, this is far more terrifying than being driven around the streets of Liverpool on the back of a moped." Her hold on Miss Bat tightened involuntarily, invoking a gasp from the smaller woman. "Sorry," Della murmured, relaxing her grip by a minute margin.

"What is going on back there?" asked Miss Hardbroom from her position leading the convoy.

"Nothing," Mildred called. There was no reason to cause Della any further embarrassment. "We're nearly there now," she said brightly on observing the thickening clouds that heralded their nearing the constant gloom of Castle Overblow and its environs. "You'll be back on the ground in no time."

Della said nothing, but raised an incredulous eyebrow before shutting her eyes tightly to avoid the temptation to look down again.

After a few more minutes fraught flying, they came into land on the frozen earth outside the gates, Mildred and Miss Bat hovering just above the ground whilst Miss Hardbroom quickly dismounted.

"The Shield can only be lifted by a person who is already under it," she explained. "I shall go in and then lift the Shield from the inside so that you can fly over." She paused in front of the gate, hands on hips, studying it closely before reaching out and brushing the tip of her broom handle against the wood. A shower of sparks erupted, showing that the Shield was most definitely still intact.

"Constance..." Miss Bat began nervously.

"Not now Davina, I'm thinking," Miss Hardbroom muttered.

"But Constance, how are you going to let them know to lift the Shield?" she asked.

"That is precisely what I am thinking about, Davina." She raised her hand, casting fingers at the ready. "Perhaps if I cast an amplification spell then they will be able to hear me in the castle."

She had only uttered the first syllable of the spell when Della gave a polite cough and waved from behind Miss Bat.

"Ah yes," said Miss Hardbroom with a small sigh. "Perhaps a spell would not be the best course of action. But how else can we get a message through an impenetrable magical force-field?"

Mildred slouched on her broom, dejected. The Shield blocked light, people, magic, everything except sound it seemed. And yet, there was something else, something that might just work. Something non-magical, non-human, something perfectly harmless.

"Della," she said eagerly, "do you have any paper in your bag?"

"Of course." Della let go of her hold on Davina completely, nearly ending up on the ground before Mildred reached across to steady her seat, and rummaged in her handbag for a sheet of paper and a pen, which she held out to the student before reclaiming her vice-like grip on her friend. Mildred smoothed out the paper and scrawled a quick message on it before folding it into a rudimentary aeroplane shape and launching it with all her might at the nearest window, never having been so glad that Cackle's had shunned glass in her entire life. It might not work, she reflected, but they had lost nothing by trying.

The paper plane sailed through the window with no evidence of anything obstructing its passing. Moments later, faint and muffled sounds could be heard within the castle, and there was a brief flash of light. Once it had dispersed, Mildred saw that Miss Hardbroom had also gone, disappearing into the ether and into the school.

"Come on," she said, kicking off from the ground and soaring skywards. "She'll lift the shield any minute, we should be ready."

Ignoring Della's muted moans about being so far from the ground once more in such a short space of time, Miss Bat followed her, and they waited, hovering together by the tallest tower for the flash of light that would signal their safe passage.

It came on cue, and both witches angled their brooms downwards in a sharp dive, aiming to cross the boundary as quickly as possible. But it was not quick enough. They felt the Shield drop again, oppressive and heavy, pushing them down and down into a dizzying, out-of-control spiral. Mildred could not hold back a scream as she hurtled towards the courtyard, and her fellow fliers were experiencing the same terror. Miss Bat was repeating a mantra over and over, and Mildred could discern only the words 'we're going to crash, we're going to crash, we're going to crash.' Even in her descent, Mildred could feel a pang of sympathy for Della, whose experiences in the world of witchcraft seemed only to be getting progressively worse as her day went on. Still tumbling towards the ground with no hope of regaining a balanced flight plan, Mildred saw the cause of this terrifying turn of events. Miss Hardbroom was lying on the ground, face down in a dead faint, and Mildred could just discern the tiniest sparks of flame dancing on the tips of her casting fingers...


Note2: To be continued, but I must warn you in advance that chapter twelve is giving me a logistical headache. Please hang on if it doesn't arrive tomorrow, I will have it up ASAP!

*Kimmeth prays that people will still review in spite of the above....*