Bravo Victor

By Jemima Pett

Bravo Victor is the sixth in The Princelings of the East series, and stars Victor, keeper of the Inn of the Seventh Happiness, a much-loved character in four of the previous books.

Victor has grown up but, in spite of his ambitions to be a business guru, he’s still running the Inn of the Seventh Happiness more or less single-handed. Always enthusiastic, he has a new project – a velocipede, an early form of bicycle – and he’s looking for a partner to work with. While he’s doing that, he stumbles on some odd information, and seeks advice from King Fred at Castle Marsh. Fred has his own problems, since his brother George has not returned from a flying festival. Victor joins Sundance, a secret agent, to help him unmask a criminal in the Rhinelands and at the same time search for George. What he finds is a web of intrigue, involving numerous versions of a well-known soft drink, two people who profess to own it, and a flying machine that may or may not hold the key to the future. And Victor’s biggest headache comes from meeting an old friend... who is no older than he was when Victor was just a wee lad.

Originally written straight after The Traveller in Black and White, Bravo Victor changed over time from a whodunnit to a gentler mystery, and pulls together some loose ends from books 1 and 4. New inventions are foremost in people’s lives, while unrest in the Realms is in the background, showing itself in subtle ways through changing attitudes and resistance to traditional authority. Business studies students, would-be smugglers, budding inventors and aviation enthusiasts will all enjoy the insights into life the Realms, and it’s never too early to find out about money – as Victor discovered many years ago! And just how many brands of cola are going to appear before the end?

Lovers of the series will enjoy this latest adventure, and newcomers will be pleased to find a chronology of major events in earlier tales relevant to this book as well as a cast of characters. It’s a mystery adventure in a world not quite like ours, suitable for age 12 and upwards.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princelings Publications
• Release date: Aug 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311231550

Jemima Pett

Jemima Pett has been living in a world of her own for many years. Writing stories since she was eight, drawing maps of fantasy islands with train systems and timetables at ten. Unfortunately no-one wanted a fantasy island designer, so she tried a few careers, getting great experiences in business, environmental research and social work. She finally got back to building her own worlds, and wrote about them. Her business background enabled her to become an independent author, responsible for her own publications.Her first series, the Princelings of the East, mystery adventures for advanced readers set in a world of tunnels and castles entirely populated by guinea pigs, is now complete. The tenth and final book, Princelings Revolution, came out in October 2020. Jemima does chapter illustrations for these. She has also edited two volumes of Christmas stories for young readers, the BookElves Anthologies, and her father's memoirs White Water Landings, about the Imperial Airways flying boat service in Africa. She has compiled four collections of flash fiction tales, publishing in the first half of 2021. She is now writing the third in her science fiction series set in the Viridian System, in which the aliens include sentient trees.Jemima lived in a village in Norfolk with her guinea pigs, the first of whom, Fred, George, Victor and Hugo, provided the inspiration for her first stories, The Princelings of the East. She is now living in Hampshire, writing science fiction for grown-ups, hatching plans for a new series, and writing more short stories for anthologies.

Book preview

Bravo Victor

By Jemima Pett

Book 6 in the Princelings of the East series

Bravo Victor

Smashwords edition 1.0

Cover illustration by Danielle English http://kanizo.co.uk

Chapter illustrations by the author http://jemimapett.com

Published by Princelings Publications

Copyright J M Pett 2014

Other books in the series:

The Princelings of the East

The Princelings and the Pirates

The Princelings and the Lost City

The Traveler in Black and White

The Talent Seekers

The right of Jemima Pett to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The names and characters in this story are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Many of the names are inspired by guinea pigs owned by members of the Rodents with Attitude online forum, to whom I am eternally grateful. These may be similar to other fictional characters but no plagiarism is intended.

More information on the Princelings of the East, including maps, interviews and short stories, can be found on the official website

http://princelings.co.uk

Dedication

For Vikki Motley, who brought the real Victor into the world.

Cast of Characters

In the Realms

At the Inn of the Seventh Happiness

Victor, a would-be business guru with responsibility for the inn.

Argon, his father, the innkeeper, but getting frail.

Gandy, their ancient assistant.

Gertrude, a well-meaning market stallholder and general busybody.

Marty, a young person, probably someone’s son, with too much time on his hands.

Van, the official vacuum message system operator, missing...

At Castle Marsh

King Fred, formerly Princeling Fred, king of Castle Marsh and married to...

Queen Kira, formerly a princess of Dimerie, and mother of Jasmine and the twins George Junior and Arthur.

Prince Engineer George, formerly Princeling George, brother of Fred, inventor of the strawberry-juice fuel-cell (now officially branded as the Buckmore Power Cell), and aviation pioneer.

Jupiter, formerly the innkeeper at Castle Buckmore, now resident at Castle Marsh as the tavern keeper. She’s a friend to the ladies of Castle Arbor and willing to look after the Inn of the Seventh Happiness when Victor is away.

Geoffrey, a budding engineer under George’s tutelage.

Haggis, captain of the 25th Rifle Company, which is stationed at Castle Marsh permanently, and mostly occupied with building projects and peace-keeping duties.

At Castle Buckmore

Prince Lupin, king of Castle Buckmore and generally regarded as leader of the Kings’ Council, the governing body of the Realms.

Baden, his steward.

Pippin, engineer, vehicle mechanic and chief pilot to the Prince.

In other parts of the Realms

Sundance, a mysterious secret agent, usually working for the Kings’ Council, at least officially.

Amelia, his companion on this adventure.

King Helier, king of Chateau Dimerie, lord of the vineyard operation at Dimerie-Les-Lands, and father of kings and queens.

King Miles of Castle Fortune, keen flyer, son of King Helier and brother of Queen Kira.

Lord Colman, ruler of Castle Deeping, intent on becoming far more powerful in any way he can manage.

Prince Kevin, formerly heir to Castle Deeping, but probably successfully ousted by Lord Colman, who keeps a close eye on him.

Lord Smallweed, a nasty piece of work, now Lord of Vexstein and of the Vex drinks empire.

Queen Eleanor, Queen of the formerly all female Castle Arbor, attempting to advance the role of women in open society.

Io, innkeeper at Castle Arbor (pronounced eye-oh).

Callisto, talented engineer in wood at Castle Arbor, with a hankering for progress.

Archi and Py, landlords of the Cheeky Parrot at Castle Wash, the Gautorhof Inn at Main, and various other enterprises which shall remain nameless (for now).

In the Rhinelands

Rajah of Nilgiri, an entrepreneur from southern India, also known as Professor Schwarzvogel, a Professor of Natural Philosophy, also known as Blackbird, currently living both at the University of Main and the Castle of Laurel-Eye.

Princess Lili von Ottostein, rumoured to be fabulously wealthy, definitely fabulously beautiful, who is not what she seems.

Robertson, Robin and Alexandre Kurtz, brothers and sister who own and manage the Kurtz Brothers Flying Machine Company BV, based in Kone, and its offshoot developing new flying machines.

Charlie White, an itinerant with some sailing ability, just trying to make a living.

Mariusz of Co-Runner, more correctly known as Lord Mariusz of Castle Hattan; lord of a global cola enterprise, investigating violation of his franchise arrangements and other shady business dealings by the Rajah of Nilgiri aka Blackbird. Known in the Realms as Hugo del Novo, a time-traveller.

Chronology

A reminder of key issues and events in the history of the Princelings of the East series, relevant to Book 6.

Key: [1/2/3/4/5] event in Book 1/2/3/4/5. [S] Short story available on the Princelings website.

C1996: Mariusz meets Rajah of Nilgiri in Co-Runner, and agrees his first franchise deal with him. [S]

C2000: Prince Lupin loans a large sum of gold to Lord Smallweed for the purchase of bottling plant technology from Co-Runner. The money goes missing and a second sum is advanced to secure the technology. [4]

2001: Lord Mariusz of Castle Hattan arrives in the Realms for the first time. He adopts the pseudonym Hugo del Novo and starts to transport Wozna Cola to the Realms down the time tunnel. On a visit to Vexstein he recognises the bottling technology as being sourced from Co-Runner. [4]

2002: A fire at the Inn of the Seventh Happiness causes its closure for a number of months. [4]

2009: Princelings Fred and George leave Castle Marsh for the first time and discover a time tunnel, which must be closed to stop the Great Energy Drain. Confronted with the facts, Mariusz agrees to stop his operations down the time tunnel in return for an agreement that a future export/import route will be found. [1]

2009: Fred, George and Victor meet Sundance for the first time during their escape from the pirates. Fred rescues Kira. [2]

2010: Fred and Prince Hunston discover Castle Arbor, a settlement of and ruled by females.[3] Lord Colman attempts to take over Castle White Horse and Castle Forest [5]

2011: Fred and Kira are married. The strawberry-juice fuel-cell is revealed to the world. [3]

2012: Invention of the grav-sled at Castle Hattan [S]. Birth of Princess Jasmine of Marsh.

2013: Lord Mariusz finds a time tunnel in his courtyard at Castle Hattan and decides to explore. [4]

2014: Mariusz reads the research on Co-Runner’s accounts [4] and starts to investigate the alleged loss of Prince Lupin’s money.

2015-2016: Book 6 – Bravo Victor

2021: In May, Mariusz meets George (who has come through the time tunnel from 2009) in Castle Hattan. Mariusz eventually decides to cease trading through the time tunnel and allow the tunnel to close. In July, a delegation from Vex Breweries arrives to do business across the ocean. [1]

Chapter 1: Vacuums and Vehicles

In which Victor witnesses the pleasures and perils of technology

I finish polishing the glasses, stacking them neatly underneath the bar counter, and look around the Inn of the Seventh Happiness. Two of the overnight guests are lingering over their breakfasts at a table near the window. The early stagecoaches have departed on time, and the market stalls won’t open again until the midday ones arrive, so I can take a few hours off. It is Tuesday. There is no news from Prince Lupin, so I don’t know whether to set up his rooms or not.

I’ve been cleaning off my dad’s old velocipede. It’s an antique, an idea that never caught on. I don’t know why, as they are handy if you want to go a long way, don’t have time to walk, and can’t get a stagecoach. I could finish it today. Show it off to people. It would be a good business interest, if I can find someone to make them. We could form a company and sell them. Many people can’t afford to rent a carriage but still need to travel. We could call it Victor’s Velocipedes.

Why haven’t I heard about Prince Lupin? Tuesdays he usually arrives for a late lunch, then goes on to one of the other castles in the east for general prince business. I realise we haven’t had any messages at all, so I check my guests don’t need anything and I wander out into the sunshine.

The morning air is still crisp, even though it’s June. A suntrap and a frost pocket in one go–that’s Seventh Happiness. It’s a busy hamlet where seven tunnels meet. Surrounded by low cliffs, it’s a little bowl in the middle of a vast plain. I cross the marketplace and open the door of the message exchange. Van the Vacuum Man isn’t there, but his ledger is open on the table. It lists the messages that have arrived or been sent in a pod through the vacuum tube. Two vacuum pods lie in the basket below the little round doors that keep the ends of the tubes airproof. Why hasn’t Van picked them up?

***

So I sorted the new messages, listed them and redirected them properly, saw you’d be here, and came back to sort things out, I explain to Prince Lupin, who is drinking a glass of Dimerie white wine and resting after what sounds like an arduous journey. The prince arrived on the stagecoach, much to everyone’s surprise.

All the messages were accounted for–well, they were all listed with times in and out, I say. Although he made a mistake with one. It was scribbled out.

Hmm, Lupin frowns. And nobody saw him entering or leaving the message exchange today? He looks at the stallholders and other workers who are sitting, standing, or lolling about in the bar area. There are general murmurs and shakes of head. No one has seen anything. The only strangers in town were the two who wanted to go on the Buckmore stage, and since Prince Lupin knew they were expected, they’d gone, along with the other passengers who’d arrived, dined, and left on other stages. There was no sign of Van.

Well, you need someone to look after the vacuum system, he says, after another sip of wine. It’s up to you whom you choose, as long as they are reliable and trustworthy. Baden will be along soon enough. Why don’t you choose someone now and you can all get back to whatever you usually do at this time of day. Baden can fill him or her in on the details.

Who’ll do the vacuum job? asks Gertrude, who runs the fabric stall. It can’t be left. The messages come in and out all day and night.

Why don’t you do it, Gertie, asks her neighbour, since you know all about it? We all laugh. Gertrude knows everything about everything.

She purses her lips. I can’t, not with the stall and a home to run. I could oversee young Marty, though.

We have a discussion before we agree. Marty always hangs round Van, obsessed with the vacuum tube system, and even though he’s very young, he can be trusted to look after it–with Gertrude’s help at the start. After all, I was very young when I started looking after the inn for my dad.

Problem solved, then, Prince Lupin says. Good, good.

People go back to their normal business, although of course we carry on gossiping about Van and his sudden disappearance. We send search parties down the less-used tunnels, and some people search above ground, but there is no trace of him. The only thing we can think is that he departed on the morning stage to Deeping-White Horse, since all the messages received before the stage left were dealt with, and none after.

Gandy, our ancient assistant, totters out of the kitchen with a tray for Prince Lupin. It looks as though it is going to slide from Gandy’s grasp straight into Prince Lupin’s lap, so I rescue it and set it down on the table.

Do you mind me asking, sir, when Baden might be expected?

I don’t know, Lupin sighs. We planned to surprise you with the first long journey of the horseless carriage, but it went wrong in the tunnel and the stage caught us up again, so I hitched a lift.

Horseless carriage?

Lupin grins up at me. Yes, we thought we’d refuel here then run it down to Marsh to surprise young George!

George will be here on Thursday, I reply, still puzzled. He’s flying my dad back from his holiday as a treat.

Good, good, says Lupin, tucking into his lunch. Why do you think Van’s run away?

I pull up a chair from the next table and sit down.

Well, what else could have happened to him? Everything was normal apart from that entry that was scribbled out. It was in the early set of messages listed, the ones before the stage to Dimerie left. The ones above and below it had originated from places like Palatine and Hallam, so it was in the batch from the north. But we don’t know where it was going, or even whether it left.

It must have left, since there were messages later, and Van would have sent it on straight away, wouldn’t he?

I nod. That is the procedure. I helped set it up. The whole vacuum network, I mean–working with Prince Lupin, Pippin, George, and representatives from other castles.

So either someone didn’t want anyone to know that a message from a certain someone to someone else arrived and was sent on, Lupin continues, or Van found out something about something and decided to go and see for himself.

But why scribble it out? It just draws attention to it, really.

I agree, says Lupin, standing up. What’s going on out there now? He pats his lips with his napkin (which I only lay out for royalty) and I follow him over to the door.

A crowd is gathering around the entrance to the Buckmore tunnel. Lupin laughs.

I know what they’re looking at! Come on, Victor, you’ll enjoy this!

We push through the crowd around the tunnel entrance. The people part to let the prince through.