The Last Stand: The Deleted Scenes
Six
(From Chapter Fifteen)
Algernon waited inside the broom cupboard impatiently for Gareth to return. He just hoped that they weren't going to be too late and that Gareth would be forgiven for leaving his important conference so early and unexpectedly. These people were usually sympathetic to such plights weren't they?
"Ok," said Gareth, squeezing into the cupboard beside Algernon. "I'm here, let's go."
Algernon waved his staff and tried to make them disappear, but nothing happened. The air shimmered around them slightly, showing that the magic was attempting to work but could not, for whatever reason. Algernon furrowed his brow, something very amiss was going on. He could not think of anything in the immediate vicinity that might be blocking his transportation, so that meant the disturbance was at his proposed destination, somewhere within the castle. Algernon's blood ran cold as he tried again with the same result.
"What's wrong?" Gareth asked, his voice even more worried now than it had been when Algernon had first relayed his news.
"There's something wrong at the castle," Algernon murmured, and he tapped the base of his staff on the ground to see if he could establish a magical connection with which to contact Egbert, a rudimentary wizarding phone. The gem on the top of the staff wobbled precariously with the action.
"Oh crumbs," Algernon muttered, "now the staff's broken…"
It was at that point that the broom cupboard doors opened and Algernon blinked at the sudden light. He turned to find himself face to face with the Chairman of the Shakespearean Staging Conference and his young secretary, who was looking slightly disturbed and holding out Gareth's battered briefcase, which he accepted gratefully.
"Having fun, Jones?" asked the Chairman, raising an eyebrow.
"Erm, I, erm… I'll explain everything when I get back," Gareth finished weakly.
XXX
His eyebrow still at a level higher than previously thought possible, the Chairman closed the cupboard doors again, deciding to give Jones a minute to come up with a suitable excuse before dragging him bodily back to the conference room. As he took a step back to await Jones' reappearance from the cupboard, he heard the following exchange…
"I think I know what the problem might be Gareth! If you could just grab hold of the shaft, I'll wiggle the top bit around…"
I am gutterbound and I don't care!