Michael Pryor - Word of Honour

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

About the Author

Word of Honour

THE THIRD VOLUME OF

The Laws of Magic

MICHAEL

PROYOR

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Laws of Magic 3: Word of Honour

ePub ISBN 9781864714777

Kindle ISBN 9781864717365

A Random House book

Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

www.randomhouse.com.au

First published by Random House Australia in 2008

This edition first published in 2010

Copyright Michael Pryor 2008

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices.

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Author: Pryor, Michael

Title:Word of honour / Michael Pryor

ISBN: 978 1 86471 864 5 (pbk.)

Series: Pryor, Michael. Laws of magic; 3

Target audience: For secondary school age

Dewey number: A823.3

Cover illustration by Jeremy Reston

Cover design by www.blacksheep-uk.com

Internal design by Mathematics

For Agnes Nieuwenhuizen

One

AUBREY FITZWILLIAM WAS BUTTERING TOAST WHEN his father strode into the dining room. 'Ah, Aubrey. Good. I need you to help me elude the Special Services.'

Aubrey's knife hovered over the butter dish. He glanced at George, who was enjoying a large serve of bacon and eggs. His friend managed to shrug while folding half a rasher into his mouth.

'Your bodyguards?'

'What's the point of being Prime Minister if I can't nip off whenever I feel like it?' Sir Darius took a slice of Aubrey's toast. 'So I need your skills, quick smart.'

George snorted. 'These would be the skills of leaving Maidstone undetected, would they?'

'Exactly, George. Skills Aubrey has honed over the years, despite the best efforts of his parents.'

'He's got you there, old man,' George said.

Aubrey chose his words carefully. 'Without admitting that I have these alleged skills, why do you need to leave so abruptly?'

'Something has come up. I've found it tends to, when one is in charge of the country.' This time it was Sir Darius's turn to choose his words carefully. 'I need to visit Clear Haven, post-haste.'

Aubrey's curiosity already doing a series of warm-up exercises threw itself into an advanced callisthenic routine to make sure he paid attention to it.

He'd always wanted to visit Albion's northern naval base. While the fleet spent most of its time at Imworth in the south, Clear Haven was where much of the heavy development work was done. The best military magicians along with eminent civilian consultants worked at Clear Haven to produce the most effective magical weapons. The work done at Clear Haven was one of the reasons that Albion still ruled the waves, despite Holmland's efforts.

'I may be able to get you out of here unnoticed,' Aubrey said, 'but you'd have to take George and me with you.'

'Capital. I was going to ask you anyway.' Sir Darius finished the slice of toast and took another. 'Now, what do we do?'

THE LANDING HAD A FINE VIEW OF THE TELEPHONE, RIGHT next to the front door. Aubrey watched as the more senior of the two bodyguards tall, dark hair, military moustache nodded and spoke into the mouthpiece.

'Yes, sir. Right away.'

He hung up, frowning a little, and sketched a salute to Sir Darius, who was waiting near the foot of the stairs. 'Sorry, sir, but Crowley and I have to head straight back to Lattimer Hall.'

The younger Special Services operative raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

'That's quite all right, Sutcliffe,' Sir Darius said. 'I've always felt that Captain Tallis's precautions were a little overdone, two able-bodied men guarding me in my own home.'

'Tricky times, these, sir. Holmlanders and whatnot about. Can't be too careful.' Sutcliffe shifted uneasily and eyed the front door.

'You don't look happy, Sutcliffe,' Sir Darius said. 'There's no need to be concerned.'

'I know, sir. Captain Tallis said that replacements were on their way, but we shouldn't leave before they get here. That's not procedure.'

'I understand.' Sir Darius guided the two men to the door. 'But, as you say, these are tricky times. We must be flexible.'

Sir Darius stood with his back to the door once it had closed after them. He smoothed his moustache for a moment, then glanced up the stairs at Aubrey. 'Remarkable. How did you do it? Magic?'

Aubrey waited for George, who was hurrying down from upstairs. 'The magic can only achieve so much. It was George. He does a better Captain Tallis than I do.'

Aubrey didn't want to tell his father that the less magic he did at the moment, the better. His condition had been particularly unstable and magic made things worse.

'I see,' his father said. 'You've been practising imitating Captain Tallis, have you?'

'As research,' Aubrey said quickly. 'An exercise. The Law of Similarities means that it's easier to work up a spell to alter George's voice into Captain Tallis's than mine. He has a deeper timbre, and I believe Tallis spent some time in the country in his youth.'

'Country lads, both of us,' George beamed. 'Must ask him about pigs, one day.'

'I'd like to discuss this further,' Sir Darius said, 'but we must be off. I don't want to lose the opportunity.'

'One thing,' Aubrey said. 'How are you going to deal with the upshot of this little deception? Won't Tallis be furious?'

'It doesn't take much to make Tallis furious, but I take your point.' Sir Darius thought for a moment. 'This is a test,' he declared. 'A test of the capabilities of the Special Services. And it seems their methods need tightening up.'