Elizabeth and Darcy took their leave.
"You know what this means, Darcy?" said Elizabeth.
“Joshua has the same Talent as Mary.”
She threw him an incredulous look. “Do not pretend to misunderstand me, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. The boy has confirmed what Riquer said.”
“Very well,” said Darcy. “I will say it. You were right. We had better tell the others at once.”
He broke into a run. They needed to convey the news as quickly as possible. Then an idea flashed across his mind like a thunderbolt, and he stopped, his blood running cold. “You know what else it means?”
Elizabeth looked at him expectantly. “What does it mean?”
“It means we had it all wrong. The French mages can’t do magic on water. They were above us all the time. They did their magic from the balloons.”
Once Darcy explained what had happened with the boy to the other mages and presented his conclusions, all the arguments stopped.
The more Elizabeth thought about the implications, the more unsettled she felt. They had been looking out to sea all the time. And all the time the French mages were floating above them. No wonder she had felt she was being watched.
“It all makes sense now,” said Miss King. “We had it all wrong. We thought we were dealing with an invasion from the sea. They convinced us that was the case.”
“We expected a surprise,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam, “but I would not have thought of this.”
“Now that we know,” said Lady Catherine, “there is not a moment to be lost. We know the balloons are going to London. We need to make sure to warn them.”
Warn them about what? An invisible enemy coming in from the sky? There had been rumors of a balloon invasion for some time, but no one had thought it would work. Elizabeth had to give it to Napoleon. It was a very clever plan.
"The first thing we must do is send a message to the Admiralty through the towers, so they will know what to expect," said Lord Grayson.
No one seemed to be grasping the difficulty. "That's the trouble," said Elizabeth, the enormity of the problem sinking in. "We cannot see them. They are under a Concealment spell. They could be right above us at this very moment, but until they attack us, we wouldn’t know where they are. Even if we warn the Admiralty, what good would it do? They would not be able to see the balloons, let alone bring them down.”
“Nevertheless, we need to send the message through the signal towers. They need to be warned. Everyone needs to be warned.”
Darcy nodded. “I agree. And then we need to send messages to the different Academies to join us in London.”
“We at least know exactly where the balloons are going. We must safeguard the King and the Prince Regent, or the Kingdom will fall.”
“We need to go in different directions again,” said Darcy, “and travel under tree cover. We have no idea where the balloons are, but if they can see us leaving, they may target us.”
“Let us put our heads together. We need a clear plan,” said Matlock.
They agreed that Darcy and Redmond would head for Carlton House, with Elizabeth joining them as soon as she could. She was the only one in the group that could not ride proficiently, so she would have to go to London by carriage. Their task would be to take the Prince Regent somewhere safer rather than try to protect him against invisible balloons. Lord Grayson and Lord Harcourt would ride to Kew to do the same for the King. Lady Catherine, Miss Bingley and Miss King would go to Whitehouse, where they could work with other mages to set up Wards and Protection. Miss Bingley’s role would be to set up Illusionsand break through the Concealment spells that were hiding the balloons.
Colonel Fitzwilliam left to dispatch his men with messages to all the Academies between the coast and London, and to Founder’s Hall, and to return to the telegraph tower in Deal to pass on the message to the Admiralty.
“If everyone leaves for London, who will guard the coast?” said Redmond.
It was a good question. Nobody had an answer.
While Elizabeth waited for her carriage to be prepared, she went to say goodbye to her father and Lord Matlock.
“Won’t you reconsider this idea of going to London, Elizabeth?” said Mr. Bennet, whimsically. He had been moved to a position next to Matlock so that they could keep each other company. “I cannot read, so I have nothing to do all day.”
Elizabeth’s heart went out to him. He was making light of it, of course, but he was worried for her. “Any other time, I would have been happy to, Papa, but I cannot stay when everyone else is putting themselves in danger while I am sitting here reading to you.”
“How do you think I feel?” said Matlock. “Being strapped to a bed, unable to walk, and unable to perform magic?”
She smiled. “The Rochester Healers are here. They will have you both on your feet in no time. Maybe, if matters in London take a long time to resolve, you might even be able to join us in the fray.”
