LONDON CALLING

"The player with a letter that is the closest to the beginning of the alphabet plays first," Michael said. "Won't be me, I'm afraid. I've got an F. That's as good as I've got."

"I've got an E," Angus said.

"Well, and I've got an O," Brian laughed. "What have you got, Jessie?"

Edward had come over to see what Ruby was still working at. It was late. He hadn't seen her for quite awhile.

"Are you still working?" he called out as he made his way through his half of the house towards the door that connected both halves. "I bet you don't know what time it is. It's almost ten o' clock. It's fine to stop for one night. Did you even get supper tonight?" He found her in the kitchen. "I realize you're excited about this house, and I know you miss him. Put it down for the night. Come back to the house, get something to eat. And then we'll discuss what you want to tackle tomorrow. I think the others would like to pitch in and help and see what they can help us do over the next few days. So, let's make a game plan. What do you say?"

"Hm...Me, huh? Okay, just a minute." He thought about it and then he laid down a word. "Orange." Michael accio'd paper and a pen, and he wrote down everyone's names and wrote down the score for "Seven points. Next?"

Michael looked at the letters and laid down two letters. He laid a B beside Angus's O, and an X on the other side of the O. "Box. Eleven points. Your turn, Jessie."

"Simone's fixing us all a snack," Edward told Ruby. "She's making some pizza rolls--basically egg rolls stuffed with pizza stuff instead of Asian vegetables. They're actually pretty tasty. Come and get some."

"Web--seven points," Michael charted. "Looks good. Your turn, Brian." Brian looked over his letters and laid down four tiles above the b that Michael had laid.

"Climb," Michael said, "8 points. So, at the end of round one, we're all close in points, so its still anybody's game. You know, Ruby might like port since she likes sweet wines, and port is certainly a sweet, fruity dessert wine."

"She might," Angus said. "Where is that port out of, Michael? It's very good."

"This one is a vintage port out of Portugal," Michael replied, looking at the label.

"I might have to order some for your cellar, Brian," Angus replied. "I think Robert would like it."

"Robert?" Brian frowned. "The heck with Robert. I'd like it in my cellar." They laughed.

"I'll do it as soon as we get back, then," Angus said.

"On a serious note, you know the Romanian mountains better than we do. Is there any hazards we need to know about?"

"The section of mountains we need to go to has had a long history of wizards living there. Muggles are afraid of them because their legends say those wizards are dragon riders. I think there probably still are a few who are dragon riders, but since dragons are so bloody unpredictable, I don't know that there are a lot of riders left. A lot of the wizards in the mountains are alchemists since the mines provide such a rich variety of materials for alchemists to work with. And they tend to be more hermit-like in terms of personality. They can be crusty old buggars and tough negotiators.

"And of course, then there are the vampire communities there. They tend to be even more reclusive, and since the region is known by muggles to have a rich vampire history, there are always muggles going on some sort of a supernatural being hunt to try to prove that vampires exist. that gives the vampires a rather hostile attitude with any strangers.

"And, of course, in the mountains, you always have mountain trolls to contend with--and feral dragons, and bloody nasty graphorns, Erklings--they are partial to the taste of human flesh by the way, hags, poisonous streelers, chimeras, ghouls, banshees, basilisks...are you sorry you asked yet?"

"Yes, actually," Brian scowled. "So is it even safe to camp in the mountains?"

"No. It isn't. It's exceptionally dangerous. If we can find an inn, the better off we'll be. And if we can't find an inn and we have to camp out, we need to sleep in shifts because after dark, we become very enticing food sources."

"I have no intention of being on something's supper menu, so just get that straight right now," Michael said. "This is why you don't like Romania, isn't it?"

"It's certainly part of it. Once you're in the mountains, you're never safe until you're out of it again. You need to have eyes all over your head, and you need to be bloody fast. So, if you can do that, and never need to eat, sleep, or use the loo, then it should be a piece of cake."

"Did Robert know all this when he sent us?" Brian asked.

"Yes. He did. I know he's been there before, and he and Edward talked at length about it."

"And he sent us anyway. Does he think you're ready to do this mission, given your shoulder and your ribs?"

"No. He told me he knows I'm not ready. I just never said anything because if Ru knew, she'd have been frightened out of her mind. And that was completely unacceptable in my book for me to let her live with that sort of fear every moment of every day until we get back."

"Answer me honestly, then," Michael looked at him. "Do you honestly expect to return from this mission?"

"I expect you lot to. Yes," Angus said. "As for myself, not necessarily. I very much hope to, though, but I'm a realist. The odds for me to return are significantly less for me than for you."

"Well, then, hear me well," Michael said in a firm, determined tone. "I don't specialize in extraction for nothing. I'm damned good at what I do, and I have never, never failed a mission. I've never left a man behind, and I'm not about to start now. We came together, and we'll all go back together. And I already know that Brian and Jessie are in full agreement. We've got you covered. We're going to get these damned rocks and go home-all of us. You got that?"

"Yes. Thank you," Angus said.

Edward heard Ruby mention the plants, so he went to the box and looked at the bedding plants she had bought. "You've done well. Those are very healthy looking plants. I can't wait to get them in. If the weather holds, I might plant some of them early in the morning. I've always thought that gardening was best done at first light while its still cool out and the ground is still soft. You did a great job putting in plants, but let's go. Come one. Enough for one day. Nox!" He used wandless magic to turn out the lights in the duplex. He slipped his arm around her shoulder in a fatherly gesture, not wanting her to stay any longer. "Come. It's time to go."

"Well, you've been training with us long enough now that I am not worried about you," Brian told Jessie. "You'll do fine. We have a good team. If we weren't able to handle those obstacles, we wouldn't be here. What's the schedule for tomorrow, Michael?"

"We'll be arriving in Budapest just before supper time tomorrow. The train should pull into the station by about 7 pm. So, my thought is that we should find a hotel, and since Budapest is a major city, we'll have our pick of things that are more contemporary in decor, and some things that are more traditional. I'm sure there will be some bed and breakfasts we could check out if we wanted to go even smaller. My thought is that we should get something that has a good rating with a good in house restaurant, and then get checked in, get dinner ordered and then see what we need to do about securing a car for part of the way the next morning."

"That shouldn't be an issue," Angus said. "We might be able to just hire a driver to take us as far as we can go. Remember some of the mountains are prime tourist attractions for muggle paranormal hunters as well as athletes that are looking for some hiking and climbing opportunities. There will surely be drivers that will take us to some of the smaller villages. We might be able to take a car as far up as we can get towards the more remote places we need to go.

"Then, I would think we could take donkeys for a part of the way. The rest of it, we'll have to go on foot. If we're smart, we'll stop for the night at the last possible inn that we can find before we have to start going on foot. We should stay the night, make sure we have everything we need, and then start on foot early in the morning. That will be the day we do the hiking and probably the climbing. I don't know if we'll find somewhere to spend the night. We'll have to see when we get there. We might be able to negotiate with the miners to stay either in their camp or near it for protection. And then, I would guess, the next day we'll be putting it all in reverse and repelling what we climbed, hiking back down and getting donkeys to take back towards some of the lower altitude villages to rent a car to go back to Budapest. That should take two full days to get back from the mine to Budapest. Two days up, and two days back. Then, after a night in Budapest, we'll board the train for another 36 hours to get back to London."

"I think it's my turn," Angus said. He examined his letters. Then he laid out five letters, using the x in box as the last letter for his word. "Teabox," he spelled. "Seven points. Next? Michael?"

Michael decided to build on the word box. He laid down three letters in front of box to spell "toybox."

"Toybox. 6 points," Michael said. "Brian?"

After some thought, Brian laid down five letters, using the T from Michaels's toybox. "Toffee. Eleven points. Okay, Jessie, it's back to you again."

"He's right, you know. It is getting late, and tomorrow could be a long day when we get into Budapest," Michael said, pouring the last of the wine into their three glasses. "I'll take my wine and go. Thank you both for an enjoyable evening. Shall we call this game a draw?"

"Sure," Brian said. "Goodnight, Michael." Michael went to his room too, and Brian changed their compartment back to its normal size while Angus cleaned up the game and shrank it and put it away. They both changed for bed, and then got into bed. They both had the same idea and read a couple chapters of their books before turning out the lights. They both had the same need, to leave the curtains open so they could see the stars as the train continued down the tracks.

Angus was up first, and he had showered and shaved and gotten dressed before Brian woke. He ordered breakfast for Brian and him. Breakfast on the train was always continental--French croissants, muffins, jams and cream cheese and butter, fruit salad, juice and coffee or tea. Angus had requested a newspaper and a list of the recommended hotels in Budapest. It all came at the same time, just right when Brian was waking.