End of the penultimate episode, folks. It's full speed to the wedding for the finale next Sunday.
Episode 9: For The Sword, Chapter 5
Ezekiel Jones, World Class Thief, smiled brightly as Cassandra stepped through the back door. It wasn't a false smile entirely: he truly was happy to see Cassandra well and back with them. There was a watchfulness, though, that tinged the edges of his eyes. He noted Jenkins pocketing the marker they had used to link the door to the castle and murmur something to Colonel Baird at her desk. Baird nodded, but he caught the flicker of her eyes in his direction. No matter. Ezekiel had set a marker of his own in the castle grounds long ago in case of just such an occurrence.
"Don't worry," Cassandra giggled, mistaking his reticence for fear. "I'm not going to turn you into a frog or anything. At least not today."
"Just so you know," he rallied, "I'm allergic to big blue bubbles of magic too."
"Hey, it was only a little bubble!" Cassandra nudged him with her elbow. "Besides: you were going to punch Jacob and we can't have that."
"Thank you," grinned Stone.
"You might have hurt your hand, after all," she added, throwing a sly smirk at her boyfriend.
"Hey," he complained.
"Mate, you get yourself punched by people for fun," Jones reminded him. "I highly doubt that my first ever attempt at punching you would measure up to one of your Christmas bar brawls."
"Yeah, ain't that the truth," growled Stone, walking over to the central desk.
"If we are quite finished, children," interrupted Jenkins peremptorily. "You will see that on the desk before you there is a map of the planet. In it there are a number of coloured flags on pins. Pick a colour, that is the continent, or continents, you will be working on. We are looking for anywhere suitable for a binding ritual to take place, but preferably the site will have some sort of link to the original myth."
"Bags I take Europe!" Ezekiel called out.
"And there was I, thinking you would choose Australia," quipped Jenkins. "Why would you choose Europe? Hmm, I wonder?"
Europe has the highest incidence of rune stones, like the one we found at Threave, and they are undeniably linked to the Norse myths and Ragnarok," Jones argued, pointing at the stone still resting on one end of the central desk. "Besides, it was in Europe that we, well I, first met Wilkins."
"Hmm," Jenkins sounded dubious. He couldn't disagree with any of the young man's logic, but he seriously doubted his motives were that pure. "Well due to the latter part of that little speech, we decided that Flynn would be looking into Europe, and all its rune stones, with Leonardo's help. Him being the Senior Librarian and all, and Leo having some personal acquaintance with the area. Eve is taking North America, as it has the mythology she is most familiar with herself. I haven't chosen yet, but am quite happy to take any of the other four."
"Ladies first," Jacob looked at Cassandra. "South America, Africa, Asia or Australia?"
"I'll take South America," she smiled. "I always was fascinated by Mayans and Aztecs and the rest."
"I'll take Africa," grinned Jacob.
"Complementary shapes," smiled Cassie, meeting his eyes. "The theory of plate tectonics was worked out because of how well they fit together. In fact they go together perfectly."
"Yes, they do," he grinned back at her.
"Sick bag, anyone?" Jones commented loudly.
"You can talk!" Stone and Jenkins chorused.
"Australia or Asia, Mr Jones?" Jenkins asked, folding his arms and leaning back against the desk. "Make a decision."
"Fine, Australia," Jones shrugged. "At least it's the smallest."
"In a way," agreed Jenkins, handing him a book to begin with. "But because of that, you also get Antarctica and the islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Excepting Hawaii, which is part of Colonel Baird's lot, and any of the coastal islands to be lumped with their coastal continent."
"Oh great!" Jones sighed. "And where exactly are you drawing the line between Australia and Asia?"
"Between Sumatra and Malaysia then all the way round the top of Indonesia and Brunei to the Babuyan channel between the Philippines and Taiwan," answered Jenkins promptly. "Happy researching."
"Oh, is that all," muttered Jones, taking the book and heading off upstairs. "No problem. No problem, at all."
The room grew quiet with his departure. At first, the silence was broken by the occasional murmurs of Stone and Cassandra, settling back into their usual research routine at their shared desk. Jenkins had retreated to his own desk, the Colonel to the one she shared with Flynn, and Flynn himself, along with da Vinci, were nowhere to be seen. Slowly, the silence took over as each fell into deeper concentration on their tasks.
XXXX
"Tell me you have something," Flynn sighed, leaning back in the armchair in da Vinci's work room. "If I have to read another argument about the accuracy of the translations of the poetic edda, I might just explode."
"You should be careful," warned Leonardo, wagging a finger at him. "I've come across magical items that would take that statement all too literally."
"Really?" Flynn raised an eyebrow and sat up. "I ought not to be surprised by things like that by now."
"Maybe," sighed da Vinci. "Or maybe you should pray you never see the day when this world stops surprising you. A world without surprises is very dull indeed, take my word for it!"
"There are just so many lists and scrolls and books on so many hundreds, thousands even, of stones," he dropped his head into his hands. "How are we meant to get through them all in one day?"
"Perhaps we should take a leaf out of the boy's book," suggested da Vinci. "I have avoided computers from the days of Countess Lovelace onward, but perhaps this re-emergence into the world demands that I become more familiar with them. Most especially with the feature known as Google."
XXXX
In the studious silence of the office, Cassandra's stomach rumbled. They had worked through the night, or what remained of it in Portland, and most of the day without stopping to eat. Even Jones hadn't sent out for his customary pizza, which Jenkins would never let him eat near the books anyway. She smiled an awkward apology at the other three on the lower level.
"Maybe you should take a break," said Baird. "We all should."
"I'm fine, really," Cassandra replied, shaking her head. "I've at least had some sleep. You must be exhausted."
"I'm trained for it, you're not," she replied. "None of you are. Go, tell Jones to order some take out and we'll all get some rest while we wait on it."
"Take out will have to wait, my love," called Flynn, striding through the doors. "I believe I know where they are headed."
"You found something?" Jenkins hurried over to the central desk where Flynn was looking down at the map, pin in one hand and piece of paper in the other. He looked at the piece of paper. "Is that a computer print out?"
"It is, Jenkins, and a very useful piece of paper it is too," replied Flynn. "It is a printout of the details surrounding and location of the Ledberg Stone."
Jenkins snatched up the piece of paper as Flynn placed the pin in the map. "This is a Wikipedia entry," he cried. "Did you even check this?"
"Of course we did," replied da Vinci. "Checked and cross checked. Why do you think a simple search took us so long."
"Simple..." Jenkins jaw dropped. His eyes narrowed and he fixed them on Leonardo. "Is this your doing? Did you talk him into googling for artefacts?"
"Time was of the essence and I saw no harm in adding another string to our bow," shrugged the maestro, pompous and unrepentant.
"Did I hear that right?" Jones called down from the mezzanine above. "Flynn found the 'right place' by googling?"
"Not another word on the matter," warned Jenkins shaking his finger at the young man as he made his way down the stairs. "Not one."
"Where's the Ledberg Stone," asked Cassandra, joining the growing group at the central desk.
"Here," Flynn pointed at the pin on the map. "Little, tiny village called Ledberg in Sweden. The stone there is carved with runes and pictures that tell the story of Ragnarok. Jenkins!"
"Firing up the door, sir," sighed the Caretaker.
XXXX
"Really this ought to have been finished long ago," muttered the queen. She was standing on podium, her arms outstretched, while the hem of her hooded ceremonial robe was being pinned up and sewn into place. "Everything last minute! The morning of the ceremony really isn't good enough!"
"Yes, my queen," mumbled the kneeling female servant. "It shall be finished soon."
In the village outside, in the crisp morning air of winter, a door opened. It was the door of the village church, and four Librarians, one Guardian and one Caretaker stumbled out.
"It's morning already!" Flynn exclaimed. "The stone should be in a field to the north of the church. Now we don't know if they're here already or not, so let's go quietly."
"Let's split up," decided Eve. She pointed at Cassandra and Stone. "You two go find the stone and make sure it is where it ought to be. Stay with it, but if you hear or see trouble coming hide and call for backup. Cassandra do not try to take them on. Do you hear me? We don't know enough about what you can do yet to try that."
"Hide and call for backup, I got it," she nodded.
"Jones, Jenkins, you two take the buildings to the far side of the road, Flynn and I will take the buildings on this side. Same deal: you spot anything, you hide and call for back up."
"Yeah, yeah," Jones waved her concerns away. "We'll be fine."
Stone and Cassandra headed off around the northern end of the church, walking hand in hand like any other couple out for a stroll. Small, neat rows of headstones marked graves in front of the church, and carried on behind it. A path wound off to the side through a thicket of trees and a hedge. They followed it through to a farm field, empty of whatever usually inhabited it. In it they found the stone, its incised runes and figures picked out in red paint. There was no sign of movement.
"What do you say we take a few snaps and retire to those trees over there," suggested Stone.
XXXX
On the far side of the road, Jenkins and Jones moved stealthily through the sparse population of houses. Each one was dark and still.
"It's like they're all empty," said Jones.
"Maybe they're just not awake yet," suggested Jenkins.
"Nah, somebody's always awake by this time of the day. One house might be quiet, but all of them? It's like a ghost town. You don't think?"
"Unnecessary complications are not the Serpent Brotherhood's style, and a whole village of bodies, even a village this size, would definitely be an unnecessary complication."
XXXX
"I don't like this," murmured Baird, watchful eyes darting about her as they walked through the village. "It's too quiet."
"Probably sent holiday prizes to the villagers not already leaving for the New Year celebrations," whispered Flynn. "That's what I'd do. Gets pretty much everyone out of the way without causing a fuss."
"But if they're planning on killing them all anyway..."
"But they're not," Flynn interrupted. "Not yet, anyway. Raising Loki is just one transformation in a sequence, the rest being spaced out over the course of however long they want Ragnarok to run. They'll want to come back here for the next avatar too."
"Even if they know we know where it is?" Baird frowned.
"Maybe because of it," shrugged Flynn. "Double bluff. Either way, they don't have to come back here, it's just the most likely of a list of possibles."
"So they might not be here at all?" Baird hissed.
"Oh they're here," whispered Flynn.
"How can you be sure?" Baird countered.
"Because I recognise Wilkins' car," he grinned, pointing at the vehicle in question. "It was at the dig in Gamla Uppsala."
Baird grabbed her phone and dialled. "Jones? Anything? Then get over here. We think we've found them. We'll meet you by the bus stop."
They hurried back to the road and didn't have long to wait before the familiar forms of Jones and Jenkins appeared from a side street. The two men jogged across the road to join them and together they retraced the path back to the house where Flynn and Eve had seen the car.
"Well, Thief?" Baird looked at Jones. "What do your spidey senses tell you?"
"From here, all they tell me is there's an alarm on the building, no visible cameras and that's not the owner's car," he replied.
"Okay, I see how you get the other two," Baird began, "but..."
"There's a clear imprint on the part of the drive the owner usually park their car on," explained Jones, pointing to four worn dips in the hard packed soil. "Plus, I was at the dig too, remember."
"Of course," she sighed. "So where do we need to go from here?"
"Not we, me," he whispered. "This is my speciality now. I'll be more effective alone. A building that size, it should take five minutes max to case the exterior. If I'm not back by then, you can storm the front, all guns blazing."
"How about we just sneak round the back and kick the door in, one gun aiming?" Baird offered. "Okay, go, but I want you back before those five minutes are up."
"Scouts honour," saluted Jones, disappearing silently into the shrubbery.
"He was never in the scouts," chorused Flynn and Eve together.
"Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if he was," mused Jenkins. "You learn a lot of useful skills and it would provide an opportunity..."
"To steal new things," finished the three together.
Three and a half minutes later, Jones appeared behind the group. "Miss me?"
"Report," ordered Baird, not amused and more than a little put out that she hadn't heard him.
"Two guys on the door out the back," the thief began. "At least two more inside near the back of the building and another two behind the front door, and Wilkins talking to some dude in a robe."
"What did he look like?" Flynn asked.
"Don't know, he had his hood up," whispered Jones. "All I saw was this big shapeless robe. Even his hands had disappeared up the sleeves. Taller than Wilkins though. Maybe Jenkins' height?"
"So, tall then," murmured the man himself.
"Were they at the back or the front?" Baird asked.
"Back," said Jones. "I think the side window is our best bet. It looks like a bathroom window, and fairly ancient. I can open it no problem."
"Okay, show me," she nodded. "Flynn, Jenkins, be ready by the front door, but keep out of sight. We'll get in, take out those two guards quietly and let you two in there, then we take down Wilkins and grab the spear."
Jenkins and Flynn nodded their agreement and watched as Baird and Jones disappeared into the shrubbery again.
The side window was indeed a bathroom window, and was easy enough for Jones, after a few seconds work, to open. He swung himself in silently then turned to help Baird climb through. There were no guards in the hall outside and they edged their way up to the front door lobby. As they passed an old fashioned coat stand, Jones paused and let Baird take the lead, automatically checking the pockets of the jackets hanging up and the other contents of the stand. He heard one guard go down with only the slightest thud. The second guard was putting up a fight though. Jones grabbed one of the items in the lower part of the coat stand. He sidled into the lobby while the guard's back was toward him and pressed the point of the object into it. Instantly the guard froze.
"Jones?" Baird whispered, her eyes never leaving her target.
"Quietly and without argument, I want you walk forward and open the door," said Jones, keeping his voice low and even. "You will then let the two gentlemen on the other side of the door into the house, then you will walk out of the house and keep walking until you reach the next town. Then you can hand yourself in to the police."
Baird stepped aside, her eyes still on the guard for any sign of foul play. Sure enough, he opened the door, let Jenkins and Flynn pass, then walked out and shut the door behind him.
"Jones what makes you think he's not just going to circle round and warn the guys at the back?" Baird enquired, still staring, incredulous, at the door.
"I think this is one of the times you're going to let him away with playing with the artefacts, dear," replied Flynn. "Our thief has found the spear."
Baird looked round to see Jones holding the shaft of mistletoe.
He shrugged. "It was hiding in plain sight. In the umbrella rack of that old coat stand. Plus," he grinned, dangling a bunch of metallic objects in the air, "if they run, our bad guys won't get far without their car keys."
The sound of an engine contradicted his statement. Baird dragged open the door in time to see the car, complete with hooded figure in the rear between two guards. She fired a few rounds at their tyres, but missed, then the car was round the corner and away.
"Unless of course they're not his car keys," Jones sighed.
"Or one of them can hot-wire a car," added Baird. "It's more than likely, I dare say."
"We got what we came for," Flynn reminded her. "The spear is safe. Call Cassandra and Stone and let's go home."
They piled though the back door with the adrenaline finally starting to wear off. Da Vinci was sitting on the stairs eating pizza. He offered the box to them but they shook their heads.
"I'm too tired to eat," groaned Jones. "Somebody tell me where to put this thing so I can go to bed."
"Not because you are holding a magic spear that allows you to manipulate people," began Jenkins, "but because you did good getting it, I will take that and find a suitable, safe home for it. Colonel Baird, Mr Stone, if you would follow with our friend on the desk, I believe we can put it to bed now too. All in all, a job well done, people."
Flynn watched the three, followed by Da Vinci who headed to his own rooms once out in the corridor, leave the office. He turned to Cassandra.
"How do you feel?" The Senior Librarian asked, leaning back against his desk. "Honestly."
"Honestly," said Cassandra, "I'm not sure. Physically I feel fine, well as fine as I would normally feel after a day like today, but mentally, I'm scared, and a little excited."
"Fear and excitement," he smiled gently. "A popular pair. It will get easier to control. With your gifts, it'll probably take you far less time than it took me. Just be careful with it. Maybe, when Stone is off learning how to fight properly from my fiancée, you and I should take some time to learn how to use magic properly? Just let's keep it away from the artefacts for now. Don't want to risk supercharging you again."
"I think I'd like that," she smiled.