Scotland Hard (Book 2 in the Tom & Laura Series) (12 page)

Cam
nodded. “The Brotherhood of Knights is supposed to be devoted to making money. Selling Laura would make them plenty.”

“They could be selling them even while we are standing here like lemons,” Daisy said impatiently. “We have to get to Crouch End as soon as possible.”

“Saunders must have an atlas somewhere,”
Arnold
said enthusiastically. The three companions rushed over to the nearest bookcase and began to search for an atlas of
England
.

13.
      
Auction

The men from the house took no time in binding the three’s hands behind their backs. They also found a reason to push Laura to the ground and ‘accidently’ kick her repeatedly.

“Damage her and Smee will lose money,” Tom shouted and received a punch in the stomach for his trouble. However, his words had some effect and Laura was lifted to her feet with some care. The three found themselves pushed and pulled in equal measure as they made their way to the house, where they found Smee waiting for them waving his riding crop menacingly.

“I have assembled many of the richest people in the world for this little auction. You, young lady,” he said, staring directly into Laura’s eyes, “have discommoded these people by turning them into animals. I dare say that your buyer will have you whipped for the insult, but I must admit it was an impressive demonstration of your power.”

“It was my pleasure,” Laura retorted coldly.

Smee smiled menacingly.

“I must confess I have no idea where you found paper and ink. I gave the servants strict instructions to remove them from the house. When this auction is over, you can rest assured that they shall be soundly punished for their lack of diligence.”

“That’s not fair,” Laura protested. “I tore pages from your library books, made a pen from a goose feather and ink from blackberry juice. It is hardly the servants’ fault that they failed to remove such things from your grounds.”

Lord Smee looked at Laura in triumph. “Thank you, my dear, for telling me how you accomplished the deed. My guests will be most impressed that you were able to create powerful binds using such crude tools.”

Laura stared back at Smee, not conceding an inch.

“And you will not punish the servants?”

“Only the young maids will be punished. It gives Calder such pleasure to whip them that it would be a shame to deny him. Servants must be made to suffer if one wishes to get the best from them.”

“You evil...” Words failed Laura and she struggled to get her hands free. Smee laughed at her, before instructing his servants.

“Hold them.”

Tom, Laura and Alice were grabbed from behind and held so they couldn’t move. Smee strode over to some double doors and opened them dramatically.

A large ballroom was revealed with a stage at its far end. A large number of immaculately dressed men and women sat in chairs facing the stage. As the doors opened, they turned their heads to stare at the captives. A polite ripple of applause started in the back seats. By the time it reached the front, guests were standing up and the odd murmured ‘hear hear’ was heard.

There was a central gap between the rows of chairs creating a wide passageway leading up to the stage. Lord Smee led the procession through the room. Tom heard people whispering about them as he went passed, though they whispered too low for him to make out their words.

When they were up on the stage, the three were arranged along the back wall so they could be shown off to the guests. Lord Smee stood in front of them and clapped his hands to bring his the people in the room to silence. Smee intoned his words grandly in a voice that boomed.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the forty-third auction of magically talented people.”

“You have all been privileged to experience the power of the youngest and most powerful Spellbinder in the world today. I can tell you that she accomplished her binds against us with sheets ripped from the books in my library, using a goose feather from my farmyard as a pen and ink made from blackberries. Yet despite the paucity of her tools, she held us all in animal form for what certainly seemed like an eternity to me.”

There were muffled exclamations from the audience and some nervous laughter. Smee waited until the room was silent before he continued.

“Her sale will be the highlight of tonight’s events. Sadly, two of our lots are still missing. Therefore, we will not be auctioning lot’s one and two on your Program tonight. These were the least of the items on sale, but I do apologize for the inconvenience. As you know, the Brotherhood of Knights takes great pride in its reputation as a supplier of quality merchandise and I promise you this will not happen again.”

Smee smiled down at the audience. Tom noted that some seemed highly annoyed at the news and a few guests got up and started to leave. Smee continued to smile benignly as he waited for those leaving to exit the room and the remaining patrons to settle down once again.

“We will start the auction with Lot Three,” Smee said grandly and he went to a lectern at the side of the stage and picked up a wooden gavel.

“
Lot
three is a thirteen year old female. Not a virgin I might add, if that is of any interest to you. She was selected by our agents when she demonstrated the remarkable ability to transmit messages telepathically into people’s minds. She is capable of doing this over a limited range and only to people she has met. This should reassure those of you worried that she might be calling the authorities down upon us as I speak.”

There was a small ripple of nervous laughter across the hall, but most leaned forward to get a better look as though
Alice
was a work of art.

“Nevertheless, she is a fine specimen of aberrant magical ability that would be a powerful addition to any collection. Bring her forward, Frank.”

The man behind
Alice
pushed her towards the front of the stage. She stumbled and fell onto the boards. With her hands tied behind her back, she was unable to protect her face and fell hard. Frank grunted as he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

“Give the ladies and gentlemen a demonstration of your power,
Alice
,” Smee urged. “Shout into their minds.”

“Shan’t.”
Alice
spat blood from a cut lip towards the audience.

“Give her a little encouragement, Frank,” Smee said mildly. The man took hold of
Alice
’s little finger and bent it back until it broke.

Alice
screamed aloud, but she also screamed in every persons mind in the room. Tom winced, as her mental scream was much louder and more painful than the audible one.

“Enough.” Smee commanded and his servant let
Alice
’s finger go. She continued to sob in pain, but the mental sounds faded to nothing.

“I think that was an adequate demonstration. Now who will start the bidding at one hundred guineas?”

Each of the patrons carried a small booklet, which contained details of those being sold. There appeared to be a convention in the room that a patron would wave their booklet to indicate a bid.

Bidding rose quickly to nearly five thousand guineas, which Tom thought was an incredible amount of money. A top-class butler, for example, might earn fifty pounds in year if he was lucky.

A man sitting on the front row bought
Alice
. He was a highly distinctive individual with red hair and a bushy beard. Lord Smee swung the gavel down with a bang to indicate that the bidding was over.

“Sold to the gentlemen at the front,” Smee said with evident satisfaction. “To preserve the anonymity of our patrons I shall refer to you as Sir M.”

The man nodded his approval of Smee’s discretion.

“Our next item for sale is Lot Four. Lot Four is a male healer. He has been previously assessed as a Grade 3 but recent reports suggest he may well be a Grade 1.”

“However, the interest he may have for those of you interested in owning our young Class A is that the two appear to have formed a close bond. Getting a disobedient Spellbinder to do what you want is so much easier if you have someone they care about under your control. Punishing this one for her failures may well prove more effective than the alternate course of punishing her.”

“Several of you have asked that Lot Four and Five be combined into a single lot. This may well be in your interests, but it is not considered to be in the interests of the Brotherhood. Therefore, having given the matter considerable thought, I have decided to sell them separately.”

Tom was thrust forward to the front of the stage.
Alice
stood to one side in considerable pain from her broken finger.

“Get the boy to heal the girl,” someone suggested from the floor. Smee nodded to the man behind Tom, who undid his bonds.

Tom did not consider the option of not healing
Alice
. He went to her side and turned her gently so he could see her broken finger. It was bent sickeningly out of shape.

“This may hurt for a moment,” Tom told
Alice
in a whisper. He took her finger and bent it back into its proper shape before releasing his healing power, which also healed the cuts and bruises on her face.
Alice
gasped in pain and then sighed in relief as her finger healed.

“Now use your crop on him,” the same voice shouted.

Tom turned his head to see Smee’s riding crop coming down on his back. He gasped in pain as the crop hit him and the force of the blow forced him down to his knees.

“Enough” a voice shouted and Smee stopped as suddenly as he had started. Tom looked back to see Laura struggling futilely to get free of the man holding her, anguish written over her face.

“Aye, you’ve proved your point, right enough,” a Scottish voice remarked gruffly. Tom turned to the front to see that the speaker was the red headed man who had bought
Alice
.

“Who will offer ten thousand guineas?” Smee asked gleefully.

The bidding stopped at thirty five thousand guineas. Again, the winner was the red headed Scotsman. It was clear he intended to buy all three of them.

“And now we come to Lot Five. For the first time in history, a Class A has come up for auction. There are only six other Class A’s in the world, ladies and gentlemen. Your country could stand alongside the existing world superpowers,
Britain
and
Hungary
, if you succeed in buying this girl.”

“I will start the bidding at a quarter of a million pounds and I would point out that this is significantly below our reserve price.”

Laura looked shocked at the value put on her head. Tom nursed the wound on his back as he got to his feet and listened to Smee raising the price as the bidding proceeded briskly. When the price reached two million pounds, only three bidders remained.

These were a tall, dark, beautiful woman in her forties with a continental look about her, a man of Chinese or Japanese extraction with two guards flanking him and the red headed Scottish man, Sir M.

At three million pounds, the red headed man pulled out of the bidding leaving the race between the oriental man and the foreign looking woman.

At three and a half million pounds, the oriental man turned away in disgust and the woman smiled with pleasure at the knowledge of her victory. Laura had been sold to her for an unbelievably large amount of money. More money than Tom believed existed.

“So once again we bring a noteworthy Brotherhood auction to a close,” Lord Smee said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. Tom could see that even Smee was staggered by Laura’s final price.

The patrons started shuffling out of the room, leaving only the man known as Sir M and the woman who bought Laura still present. Smee walked over to the woman, taking and kissing her hand.

“You will pay in your usual manner, in gold?” he asked anxiously.

“I vill also be paying Lord McBride’s bill,” she replied. She had a strong Germanic accent, which led Tom to believe that the Hungarian Empire had bought Laura.

Smee looked shocked. “Lady Shultz, you must be aware it is against the rules for our patrons to operate as a cartel?”

“Vee did not,” the woman snapped. “But my clients have an interest in his plans. Vee expected to vin this auction and vee agreed to loan the Spellbinder to Lord McBride for the period of one month.”

“You might have bid higher on the boy, if the two of you had not colluded,” Smee said angrily. “It is obvious now that you let him win.”

“Do you really believe my clients need the boy to break a girl?” Lady Shultz asked incredulously. “Lord McBride needs qvick results so the boy vill be useful to him and vill preserve the girl from harm. My clients take a longer view and vill own the girl’s soul within a year. After that, she vill serve us faithfully for the rest of her life.”