I've just taken a look at the word count on this story and blimey it's huge. Sorry for rambling on so long but this story kind of got away from me. There are about three more parts after this and then…one way or another it will all be over.
"So what does he know?" Amelia wanted to try to pool the information they knew about Haldane and his team.
"Well he knows the layout of the school for a start." Imogen pointed out.
"Ahh but does he know it all?" Amelia questioned. "Does he really know it all?"
"I've seen him wondering around all over the place." Mildred piped up. "He certainly knows his way round the main part of the building."
"Ahh but I doubt that he knows every nook and cranny." Amelia tapped the side of her nose. "I've been in the castle for longer than any of you and I know more about the place than anyone. I think we'll find that there are a few passageways that Mr Harrington knows nothing about."
"So you think you can get us into the school." Imogen summarised. "But what can we do once we get in there? If Haldane has taken all the magic from the staff and students at Pentangles, what can we do against him?"
"Who says we have to fight magic with magic?" Enid's voice broke into the conversation. Fenella was at her shoulder with her arm around the younger girl. "There's more than one way to deal with a situation."
"What are you suggesting?" Amelia leant forward, eagerly listening to what the young girl had to say.
"I'm saying that we should try and distract him from what he's doing rather than launching an all out assault. I helped him carry his kit into the building. I know where he's stored the stuff. If we attack him with cunning rather than a magical bombardment I think we'll stand a better chance of success."
"I like your thinking." Miss Cackle encouraged her young pupil. "Perhaps we should distract Haldane with a show of strength and magic from the outside whilst a select few of us sneak in and deal with the real problem?"
"Exactly." Mildred warmed to the thought. "We've got to do something positive against him."
"I'll take a party of volunteers into the school." Miss Cackle announced and then turned to face Miss Drill. "That is, if you'll take another party to Walkers gate and supervise the distraction?"
Imogen nodded her head in agreement.
"I'd rather come into the school with you but I'll take the girls to the gate and look after them. Do you want me to take Davina with me?"
"If you would." Miss Cackle was grateful for the suggestion. "It just remains to sort out the group that are coming with me."
Immediately there were voices raised as everyone tried to volunteer. Miss Cackle raised a hand to silence the small group.
"This isn't going to be a fun outing." She reminded them. "This is serious. It could also be dangerous."
"I want to come." Mildred reaffirmed her interest.
"So do I." Enid spoke up. She saw the questioning look on Miss Cackle's face. "I helped carry the stuff into the school; I know where he stored it." She was determined that a lack of magic wasn't going to prevent her from helping.
"Well I'm not sure…" Miss Cackle began to voice her doubts but Miss Drill interrupted.
"You know what Enid's like Miss Cackle; she's always up to something. If there's one girl we can rely on to think quickly on her feet then that's Enid."
Miss Cackle looked at the pleading expression on Enid's face and knew that she couldn't turn the girl down.
"So Enid, Mildred and myself. Who else?"
"I suggest we ask Griselda and a couple of the more experienced girls to go with you in case you do find yourselves in the middle of a magic confrontation." Imogen suggested.
"A good idea." Miss Cackle agreed, "But we mustn't pressure anyone into coming."
"Agreed."
"And I think we should send at least one girl off to inform the Grand Wizard what's happened. He may be able to send us some help."
"Who's the fastest on their broom?" Imogen asked.
"Who's got their broom with them?" Miss Cackle suddenly realised the potential problem with her plan.
"I think I saw Beverley Blackthorn with one." Fenella broke into the conversation.
"She's not the most graceful witch ever to mount a broom." Miss Cackle remarked. "But she's a good enough flyer. I'll go and see her now if the rest of you would start asking around for volunteers?"
With the meeting coming to a natural end the small group disbanded and began the search for volunteers.
Constance closed her eyes and tried to conserve what little strength she had remaining. Her eyes felt heavy and she wanted nothing more than to drift off to sleep. The experience was a rare one for her and despite the situation she didn't waste the opportunity to take on board the feelings that accompanied the sensation of tiredness. She racked her brains and tried to recall the last time that she had actually felt tired and in need of sleep.
Over the past few years, sleep had become something that she indulged in less and less frequently. There was so much work to be done; so many potions to develop and sleep had just become an annoying irritation that simply got in the way. The discovery of a wide-awake potion had been her saviour and had allowed her to carry on working into the early hours of most mornings.
She felt her head nod forward as another wave of tiredness washed over her and it was followed by a painful jolt as she forced her eyes to remain open.
She reasoned that if she were the sort of person that was given to public displays of emotion then about now she would be shouting and complaining to the world that things were not fair and that she wanted everything to be back the way that they should be. But, she reminded herself, she wasn't that sort of person and she just had to deal with the situation as best as she could.
Her mind kept playing back something that Haldane had said earlier and the more she tried to think about it, the harder she found it to come up with a time when there hadn't been magic in her life. Every memory she had of childhood seemed to include magic in one form or another; she genuinely couldn't recall a time when it hadn't played an integral part in her life. She had never thought that magic would ever prove to be a weakness but now she was at a loss of what to do without it. She stared at the bands on her wrists. If Haldane had been telling the truth then she would be without magic within a day maybe less. The concept just wasn't believable as far as she was concerned. She'd spent time with Fenella and told her that it was possible to for her to start again and to fight back to regain her witch status but she wasn't sure that she'd find it so easy to follow her own advice. Her magic was that much more ingrained, that much more a part of who she was… Was there anything left when you took away the magic she wondered to herself… Just who was Constance Hardbroom if she wasn't a witch?
Miss Cackle motioned for the girls behind her to keep quiet as they neared a small wooden gate at the back of the castle. She was banking on Haldane and his gang knowing nothing about the small tradesman's entrance.
"I never knew this was here." Griselda whispered to the others and they murmured in agreement. Amelia made a mental note to herself to seal the doorway off once they'd solved the problem with Haldane. The last thing she wanted was to show the girls that there was a way to get out of the school undetected. There was a part of her that regretted giving away the location of the secret exit she used to escape to Cosie's tearooms but, she reminded herself, there were times when everyone had to make sacrifices for the greater good.
She pulled on the handle and the door swung silently open. She peered into the darkness and was relieved to not hear any alarms.
"It seems to be clear." She held the door open and beckoned for the girls to enter. She watched as they crept past her and she questioned herself for the umpteenth time as to whether they were doing the right thing. It had been surprisingly easy to gather enough girls together; almost everyone had volunteered to come with her. Imogen had helped her select the girls and she was certain that they had made the right choice. Griselda had the most experience, Maud, Mildred and Enid were a good team and she knew that she could rely on them to stick together and look after each other. They were the advance party and would be joined by the others once they'd completed their distraction duty.
She slipped in through the door after the last girl had entered and pulled the door shut behind her.
"So we're in." Griselda noted. "What now?"
"We need to get to Haldane's box of tricks and shut it down." Miss Cackle said decisively.
"What about Miss Hardbroom?" Mildred wanted to know. "We need to find her." Maud found that she was in agreement with her friend. This was one of those occasions when she really wished that HB would appear from nowhere and scare the life out of her. Deep down she knew that that was unlikely to happen.
"But how are we going to manage that?" Enid asked. "She could be anywhere down here."
Miss Cackle scratched the side of her head for a moment before looking around at the corridor they were in.
"I think I may have an idea." She told the girls. "Can we get to any of the rooms?"
"Miss?"
"Your rooms." Miss Cackle urged. "Can we reach any of them without being spotted do you think?"
"Mine is probably the closest." Mildred replied: confused as to what it was Miss Cackle was planning.
"Ahh" Miss Cackle paused as though weighing up the situation. "Well never mind we'll just have to rely on Tabby's instincts." She beckoned Mildred towards her. "When the girls outside cause their distraction do you think that you could get to your room and bring Tabby down here?"
Mildred nodded, still not really understanding what was going on.
"Good girl." Amelia encouraged her, debating whether to try to persuade the girl to try one of the other rooms and collect a proper witches cat.
"Miss?" She was snapped out of her thought by the sound of Mildred's voice and she saw the girl staring up at her. Now was not the time to be fussy she told herself.
Miss Cackle opened her mouth to explain why they needed the cat but was shushed by Griselda.
"Sorry Miss." She apologised immediately and pointed towards the door.
Miss Cackle followed the pointing finger and saw the latch on the door being raised. She motioned for the girls to hide themselves and then took refuge herself.
After a few moments the door was pushed slowly open and four figures crept in. They padded silently across the room, heading for the door on the other side.
"Just what do you think you are doing?" Miss Cackle stepped out of the shadows and confronted the small group.
Ruby, Jadu, Ethel and Drusilla jumped as they heard the voice. Drusilla clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent a scream of fright escaping from her lips.
"I thought I told you to go with Miss Drill's group." Miss Cackle told the girls.
"We wanted to help." Ethel spoke up. "He's taken our magic and we want to do something about it."
"And this is what motivated all of you?" Miss Cackle glared at all four girls.
"I couldn't let them come on their own without a little magical protection." Jadu explained. "And we agreed that we couldn't let you take on Haldane alone."
Amelia sighed. She wanted to be angry with the girls for disobeying her but there was a part of her that was impressed with their loyalty and their bravery.
"It's going to be harder to move around the castle with a big group." She warned them. "So we may well have to split into two groups. If that's the case then I want the second group to listen and follow Griselda. Is that clear?"
The girls all nodded in agreement.
There was the sound of a huge crash from somewhere in the building and the small group froze. Mildred raised her head as she heard the sound of running footsteps above.
"That must be Miss Drill and her distraction." Griselda announced and Miss Cackle agreed.
"Now is the time to put our plan into action. Are you ready Mildred?" Miss Cackle enquired. Mildred nodded and received a smile in return from her headmistress. "Now you know what to do?"
"Yes Miss." Mildred ran through the instructions. "I'm to try to get to my room to fetch Tabby but I'm not to take any foolish risks." She smiled at Miss Cackle as she completed the sentence.
"Be careful." Amelia whispered.
"I will be." She assured her teacher. She had one foot on the stairs when she turned back. "Why am I doing this Miss?"
"Because if we are to find Miss Hardbroom, I'm going to need your cat to help me."
Mildred shook her head, not really understanding what was going on but she dutifully headed up the stairs towards her room, hoping that Haldane had not left anyone behind on guard.
She felt her heart pounding as she climbed the stairs. She flexed her fingers and ran through a few quick spells. If she met anyone on her route, she was going to make sure that she was prepared.
She finally reached the top and peered slowly round the corner, checking that the corridor ahead was clear. Satisfied that no-one was there she rounded the corner and dashed into her room.
Tabby looked up at her from the bed where he was slowly and deliberately cleaning his paws.
"No time to pamper yourself today." Mildred told him quickly as she picked him up. He mewed in protest as his daily routine was interrupted but Mildred shushed him.
"You've got work to do." She told him as she clutched him to her chest and headed back out of the room.
She ran down the stairs as fast as she could, trying to make as little noise as possible. She wasn't sure exactly why Miss Cackle wanted Tabby but she was sure that there had to be a very good reason.
As she neared the bottom of the stairs the door across the hallway opened and Miss Cackle poked her head out.
"Come on Mildred." She whispered. "The coast is clear."
Mildred dashed across the hallway and into the dark storeroom where the others were now hiding. She skidded to a halt and then looked down to check that Tabby was ok. He looked up at her, blinking slowly and she was sure that she could see the confusion in his eyes. This wasn't the sort of thing that happened to him every day.
"Bring him here." Miss Cackle beckoned her over and she carried him towards Miss Cackle, wondering exactly what her head teacher intended to do with her cat.
"Try not to look so worried dear." Miss Cackle advised her as she took the cat from Mildred's arms. Mildred watched nervously as her headmistress took hold of Tabby and lifted him up. She looked at him for a moment before bringing him close and whispering in his ear.
"What's she doing?" Mildred heard Maud's voice at her shoulder but found that she had no answer for her. She watched, fascinated, as Miss Cackle continued to whisper in his ear. After a few moments she handed Tabby back to Mildred and addressed the small group.
"Right girls now this is where we must decide who is coming downstairs with me."
There was a general murmuring of discontent from the group.
"Now be sensible." Miss Cackle warned them. "We can't all just go charging down to the basement en masse. We need to keep a group up here in reserve."
"As Tabby's my cat, I'm coming with you." Mildred stepped forward. A moment later Maud and Enid were by her side.
"Well girls if you are sure?"
"We're sure Miss." Maud assured the head.
Amelia frowned as she looked at Enid. The girl had no magic to protect herself with. She wanted to tell her that she couldn't come but then she thought about what that might do to the girl's already fragile confidence.
"Very well." She told the group. "It's decided."
"What about the rest of us?" Griselda spoke up. "We're not just going to sit around here and twiddle our thumbs."
"Griselda Blackwood if you spoke to me like that at any other time then you'd find yourself in detention."
"Sorry Miss Cackle."
"That's better. A life or death situation is no excuse for forgetting your manners." She chastised the student and then turned to face Mildred. "Are you sure that Haldane is the only one who has access to magic?"
Mildred nodded.
"I saw him trying to explain magic to the others and they weren't exactly quick on the up take."
"Right then girls." Miss Cackle turned back to face the rest of the group. "Why don't you see if you can keep the rest of Haldane's little gang entertained. I'm sure there are plenty of tricks that you can come up with to annoy them." She pulled Griselda to one side. "Be careful." She warned. "I want you to try and keep everyone safe. If you think that you need to get out of here then don't hesitate and don't wait for us."
Griselda opened her mouth to object but Amelia indicated that she hadn't finished.
"I don't want anything to happen to the girls, I'm relying on you to keep them safe. Do you understand?"
Griselda nodded.
"I'll look after them." She promised.
"Good girl." Miss Cackle turned to face her small party. "Let's get going."
Haldane swore and tried to stop his team from running to the front of the castle.
"It's just a distraction." He yelled. "Get back to your posts."
"But they could be launching an attack." Franklin protested.
Haldane shook his head.
"I can't imagine that Amelia Cackle would risk her students lives in an all out attack." He paused for thought. "They might be trying to sneak someone into the school though."
"But we've got the front door covered."
"And until you saw fit to abandon your post we had the back door covered as well." Haldane remarked acidly. "Perhaps you'd be better off if you were actually doing the job that I was paying you to do."
Franklin mumbled his apologies and headed back towards the area he'd been told to guard.
Not for the first time that week, Haldane questioned his choice in hired help.
"They appear to have stopped." Murphy piped up from his place at one of the windows. "Do you think they'll try again?"
Haldane shook his head.
"I think that you should organise a search of the rooms on the lower floor. I get the feeling that they've just attempted to sneak someone…." He broke off as a spasm of pain shot through his body.
"Are you alright sir?" Murphy questioned nervously.
Haldane gritted his teeth and pushed up his right sleeve. The golden amulet on his arm was glowing and flashes of purple were jumping from it.
"Should it be doing that?" Murphy questioned and took a pace away from his boss.
"I'm not sure." Haldane confessed and tried to ride out the pain. He balled his right hand into a fist and tried to subdue the shakes that were making his whole arm judder. He wondered briefly if the amulet was reacting to attempts made by Constance Hardbroom to release herself from the bonds. After a few moments the shaking in his arm subsided and the glow faded from the amulet. Haldane let out a breath. "I think I better go and check in on our guest; make sure that she's not trying anything stupid."
"We can show you where Haldane was holding us." Enid pointed out as Miss Cackle led the way down the staircase a lantern held high above her head, attempting to illuminate the gloom so that the others could see where they were going.
"That may be so." Miss Cackle hissed over her shoulder. "But do you know the number of rooms that are down here?"
Enid had to admit that she didn't.
"Not really miss."
"Well that's just as well seeing as the area is off limits." Miss Cackle stopped and addressed the girls. "We are going to have to rely on Tabby's instincts from now on." She told them. "There are numerous rooms down here and if we go blundering from room to room we are more likely to run into Haldane or one of his cronies."
"But what's Tabby going to do?" Mildred wanted to know as she cradled the cat in her arms.
"Put him down." Miss Cackle instructed her. "I think we're probably close enough. I've already told him what I need him to do."
Mildred still had no real idea what was going to happen but she dutifully placed her cat on the ground and watched as he trotted down the stairs before stopping at the bottom and seemingly sniffing the air.
"What the…" Enid's voice dropped away as Tabby turned back towards the group and meowed plaintively.
"Sshh sshh sshhh." Miss Cackle warned him. "Silently if you please." The cat looked at her again for a moment before turning and padding off into the depths of the dungeons.
"Follow that cat." Miss Cackle whispered to the girls and set off after the disappearing tabby.
The girls exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.
"I guess we follow that cat." Maud said finally and shaking their heads in disbelief, the girls followed their headmistress.
The girls trooped after Miss Cackle, ducking into the shadows whenever she did and trying not to question what was going on.
Mildred couldn't believe it when Tabby stopped outside one of the numerous wooden doors and began to meow plaintively.
"Are you sure?" She heard Miss Cackle ask. Her cat appeared to meow again and Miss Cackle was suddenly ordering them all to stand back.
The door swung open amidst a shower of sparkling flames and Mildred called out in fear as Tabby bolted towards the centre of the mini firestorm.
"I thought you said Tabs was a bit of a wimp?" Maud reminded Millie and Mildred could only shrug her shoulders. She was as surprised as Maud at the actions of her cat.
Mildred instinctively followed Tabby into the room, wherever Tabby had gone she wanted to be sure that she could get him back.
"Tabby." She called softly; aware that normally that was enough to cause her cat to come running. There wasn't the familiar sound of paws on stone but after a moment she could make out the loud purring that could only belong to one feline.
"He's by the back wall Miss Cackle."
Amelia shone her lantern towards the back of the room and sure enough, there was Tabby; He was curled up as close as he could get to the prostrate form of Constance Hardbroom.
"Constance!"
Mildred recognised the genuine fear in the voice of her headmistress.
"Tabby?" She called softly. Her cat replied with a low mew but refused to move from where he was. Mildred tried calling again but the cat replied in the same manner.
"Leave him for now." Maud whispered.
"Why won't he come?" Mildred wanted to know. "He knows that I'm his owner."
"Perhaps he realises that someone else needs him more than you do right now."
"What?"
"Sshhh" Miss Cackle hissed at them.
Mildred looked with more than a note of surprise at her headmistress. It was a rare occurrence indeed to see their headmistress so agitated.
"Cats naturally bond with witches." Amelia tried to remind Mildred. "And some witches have a natural affinity with cats."
"But Tabby isn't a normal witches cat." Mildred reminded her.
"Well for some witches that isn't an issue." Miss Cackle informed her. "Some have a better affinity than others."
"Just as well we don't have owls like Pentangles." Enid remarked. "Can you imagine wanting one of those to curl up next to you in time of trouble.
Despite herself, Mildred couldn't help but feel a spark of jealousy. Tabby had been her cat for over a year. She had been the one to feed him and train him and protect him when Winky, Blinky and Nod had tried to pick on him. What was he doing now but sucking up to Miss Hardbroom, the one teacher who had seemed hell bent on getting her kicked out of the school. She looked in Tabby's direction again; her cat was now curled up on Miss Hardbroom's lap. She swore that she'd never heard him purr so loudly before.
"Constance?" Amelia called out softly as she edged closer to the back of the room.
She was perturbed to hear no response from her deputy. She lifted her lantern higher over the figure that was slumped against the back wall. Constance's eyes were closed but her breathing still appeared to be steady.
"Shouldn't we be getting out of here as quickly as we can?" Mildred began to feel more than a little uneasy; she was certain that they shouldn't be hanging around.
"We can't leave Miss Hardbroom here girls." Miss Cackle protested.
The girls had to agree with her but they didn't see how they were going to be able to move HB without help.
What are those things around her wrists?" Enid asked in a hushed voice, as if worried that she might wake Miss Hardbroom.
Miss Cackle shook her head.
"I've never seen anything like them before." She admitted.
"Shouldn't we try and remove them?" Maud asked.
"I suppose we could try." Miss Cackle reasoned.
Mildred bent down to take a closer look at them. They were glowing softly and she swore that she could hear a hum of power coming from them. She reached a hand out towards them but Miss Cackle's voice made her pull up short.
"Be careful." She warned. "They might have some kind of a booby trap on them."
Mildred was careful not to touch the bands but she tried to work out how they snaked around Miss Hardbroom's wrists.
"I can't see how they fasten on." She called back over her shoulder. "There doesn't appear to be a clasp of any kind."
Miss Cackle pulled a face.
"Well if they're magical then they must require magic to remove them." She handed the lantern to Enid and pushed up the sleeves of her robe. "Stand back girls."
"What are you going to do?" Enid wanted to know.
"I'm going to try a little magic of my own." She told them. "I sometimes think that you girls forget what I can do."
"Are you sure it's wise." Mildred couldn't keep the unease from her voice. "I'm not sure what that would happen."
"At this stage the shock that would result from your bumbling interference might well kill her." A booming voice filled the room. The small party turned as one and with sinking hearts realised that Haldane was standing in the doorway.
