The London Pride Read Online Free

also realised that the 7Ps were a good thing to remember when gaming, to avoid thrashing. So Jo bringing them up now was spot on the money and made him feel good again.
    ‘Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance,’ he grinned, reciting the 7Ps like a comforting spell. ‘Maybe the Fusilier will—’
    The thing dropped straight out of the night sky above them without warning, filling the road with its wings, stopping them like a roadblock.
    It happened so fast that they were all thrown forwards into the front of the chariot, and by the time they had untangled themselves enough to peer over the edge, Will had convinced himself that a large black dragon was waiting to roast them and then tear them to bits.
    It wasn’t a dragon. It was another winged woman, with a stern face and flowing robes and the wingspan of a light aircraft. She was already talking earnestly to the three firemen who were standing in front of her looking up into her eyes.
    One of the strangest things about her was that she had another winged figure held under her arm, like a piece of luggage. With a nasty shock Will recognised the flying helmet of the pilot who had crashed to earth when the Mighty Bast had cursed all the military statues into immobility. He could still hear the terrible metallic crashing KER-DOING the pilot had made as he hit the courtyard flagstones.
    ‘Right,’ she was saying in a clipped and commanding voice like a severe schoolteacher addressing a rather slow group of students. ‘We’re clearing all the casualties out of the museum front yard first, and then working our way back from there. We don’t know what’s going on in the museum but that’s where the danger’s centred. You three cut along there now and see what you can carry.’
    ‘That’s my Victory,’ said Quad, turning to Jo and Will. ‘She’s normally on top of us on the arch.’
    Will could remember how the statue on top of the Wellington Arch normally looked, with the winged angel at the highest point so that it almost looked like she was driving the chariot. Most people didn’t notice the yelling Quad holding the reins beneath her.
    ‘She’s got huge wings,’ said Jo.
    ‘I know,’ said Quad approvingly. ‘Keep the rain off me, they do.’
    ‘I am not your umbrella, young Quad,’ said the Victory, her eyes snapping up and catching Jo and Will. ‘Ah. I had heard there were two regular people still moving. I hadn’t expected them to be so … small.’
    ‘Small?’ said Jo, with just the hint of an edge to her voice.
    Will put a hand on her shoulder. This didn’t seem a good time to be making an enemy of a thirty-foot angel.
    ‘We’re here to help,’ said Jo.
    The Victory raised an eyebrow and cocked her head on one side.
    ‘The soldiers helped us,’ said Will.
    ‘We thought we could handle the little St Georges,’ chimed in Tragedy. ‘Free up some of you bigger ones to deal with the larger soldiers. And they want to see the Fusilier who’s down near the St George’s plinths, see? See if they can talk to him after midnight heals all.’
    As he heard Tragedy explaining, Will felt as though his plan was quite well-joined up. His heart lifted a bit.
    The Victory uncocked her head and lowered the eyebrow.
    ‘Good idea,’ she said. ‘Though we do not yet know if midnight will heal the broken and remove the spell too. We’ve never seen magic like this.’
    Will’s cheerfulness lurched downwards again.
    ‘Now, stay back here and wait,’ said the Victory. ‘We’ll bring them to you. No idea what’s in the museum or when it might come out fighting.’
    ‘It’s a cat,’ said Jo. ‘A cat with earrings. Egyptian. And it has lion-headed women as its soldiers.’
    ‘Does it indeed,’ said the Victory. She nodded to herself. ‘Egyptian cat, eh? Interesting.’
    ‘See?’ said Tragedy. ‘They’ve already been useful.’
    ‘They have,’ said the Victory. ‘Thank you. We shall ponder it. Now, wait back here and