“I am a butler, not a soldier.”
The two men sat staring at the strangers for a moment, attempting to ascertain the correct course of action. A shout from the castle, told them that they had been spotted as the guards came running toward them, drawing their pistols. “I do not believe that they have been hired by the Duke,” Mr. Wheatly gulped from behind him.
A pistol shot rang through the air as a bullet thwacked into a tree near Oliver’s head. “No, I do not believe so.”
Mr. Wheatly whipped the horse into a full-on gallop, careening through the trees in a most dangerous race against death. “I believe it is time to alert the magistrate,” Mr. Wheatly wheezed as he urged the horse to go even faster.
* * *
The Earl stood over the top of Marybeth as he cautioned Lord Enfield to be patient. “Her time will come, Enfield. I promise you will not be disappointed with what I have planned.”
“This had better be worth it, Bredon, or it will be you at the end of my blade next,” Lord Enfield threatened. The murderous light in his eyes had not dimmed one jot since his entry.
Shouts from the men outside drew their attention away from Marybeth and over to the castle’s main entrance. “What has happened?” the Earl demanded to know as one of his men ran up to him.
“We spotted someone watching us in the forest. Some of the other men have gone out after them,” the man explained. The sound of pistols firing punctuated his words.
“See that they do not get away,” the Earl instructed.
“Yes, My Lord,” the man bowed and disappeared from sight.
“I thought you said no one ever comes here,” Lord Enfield pointed out.
“No one but the witch. I have worked diligently to ensure that no one would desire to come here. I have managed to convince the local populace that the castle is haunted,” the Earl answered.
So, he is the one who is responsible for the screaming banshee noises and falling stones, Marybeth realized. She had never heard it herself, but her grandmother had come home one day greatly distressed by it.
She looked at Felix across the room and met his eyes. His eyes were full of pain and anger. They reflected the same agony that she herself felt about the situation they were in. Everything that the Earl had threatened to do to them flashed through her mind, turning her stomach once more. “We will get through this,” Felix mouthed silently to reassure her.
She nodded her head in response watching as Felix looked all around them, searching for a way out of their situation. She did the same but did not see any immediate possibilities. The Earl and Lord Enfield turned back into the room. “Now you are going to lead me to this treasure,” the Earl demanded of Felix as he walked across to him. Lord Enfield grabbed Marybeth up by the hair again and put the knife back to her throat. “I believe I have made it quite clear what will happen if you do not.”
“I have told you repeatedly that, to my knowledge, there is no treasure to be sought. The legend is only that, a fable,” Felix replied in earnest, attempting to get his words of reason through the Earl’s haze of greed.
The Earl struck Felix across the face. “Where is it?!” he screamed in rage, spittle flying from his lips.
“It does not exist!” Felix yelled back. The Earl turned and nodded at Lord Enfield. Lord Enfield responded by pressing the knife to her throat so hard that it drew blood. Marybeth gasped in pain. “Leave her alone!” Felix demanded. He attempted to move toward her and was knocked back down again. “Do not touch her! You are hurting her!”
Lord Enfield laughed. “I have not begun to hurt her.”
“For God’s sake, man! She is your daughter!”
“A mistake I am soon to rectify.”
“I will kill you both for this,” Felix promised their captors.
“You should be careful not to make promises that you cannot keep,” the Earl warned.
“This one I am sure of,” Felix asserted.
Lord Enfield pressed the knife further into Marybeth’s throat. She tried not to cry out, but she could not keep herself from doing so. The pain was too sharp to ignore. “Where is it?” he growled out.
“I cannot give you what I do not have,” Felix answered in clear agony over the pain Marybeth was in.
“Then you will give me what you do have.” The Earl pulled a piece of paper from his vest pocket and unfolded it before him on a flat stone. “You will sign Blackleigh Castle and all of the land surrounding it over to me, including the tunnel.”
“The castle was entrusted to my family by royal decree. It is not mine to redistribute as I wish. Any such document of transfer would need the King’s seal.”
“That can be remedied once you have recommended that I take charge of its care,” the Earl replied as if it were nothing at all to get the King’s approval on such an exchange. A disconcerting light dawned in his eyes. “It is a shame that such would not be possible by simply killing you, but the Prince Regent would gift the property to one of his favorites.”
“I will not sign,” Felix refused.
“You will sign, or she will die in the very same horrific way I described to you.”
“No,” Felix shook his head emphatically.
“As you wish.” The Earl nodded to Lord Enfield.
Lord Enfield nodded in return and threw Marybeth over to one of his men. “See to it,” he instructed, then turned his back and walked out.
Enfield’s henchman grinned and crushed Marybeth to him. She struggled against his hold and he laughed grabbing at her skirts. “No!” she cried out biting down on his arm with all her might. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth gagging her. The man hollered jerking back, ripping the hem of her dress. He reared back and struck her across the face. Marybeth fell back and hit her head on the stone floor. Pain shot through her skull, passing behind her eyes in blinding white.
“Marybeth!” Felix shouted her name, fear and rage tinging his voice.
Blackness played at the edges of her vision, but by some miracle she managed to hang on to consciousness. The man launched himself on top of her and they struggled. He held her down as he prepared to do his worst. An angry, agonizing roar erupted from the far side of the room and they turned to find Felix fighting off his captors with ferocious blind fury. He lashed out much like that of a wounded bear throwing his fists about, knocking the pistols out of his guard’s hands.
The man leapt from atop Marybeth and ran to subdue Felix, but instead found himself being knocked back down. “Guards! Guards!” the Earl called for help from the men outside to bring an end to the chaos. “Enfield!” Still no answer. The Earl moved over to the doorway to see where everyone had gone but found no one there. Alone, without the aid of his men, the Earl leveled the pistol at Felix. “It appears that you are out of time. Farewell, Your Grace.”
“No!” Marybeth cried out and raced toward Felix. The sound of the gun firing was the last thing she heard before the world went black.
* * *
Oliver and Mr. Wheatly raced through the forest, attempting to evade their pursuers. Gunfire echoed behind them as bullets thwacked the trees around them. Oliver began to doubt that they would escape unscathed when out of the forest Lord Alexander and his brothers came thundering out of the trees. They fired back at the men pursuing them, engaged them in a brief battle, and had them subdued in short order.
The brothers tied up the men, and Lord Alexander came to stand beside Oliver and Mr. Wheatly. “What has happened?”
“We encountered these men at Blackleigh Castle. When they saw us, they gave chase,” Oliver answered, relieved to be alive.
“Did you see Marybeth?” Lord Alexander asked, concern for his sister shining in his eyes.
“No, we did not see either Marybeth or the Duke, but we were unable to gain entry into the castle. It is quite possible, given the number of men milling about and their reaction to being discovered, that Marybeth and the Duke could have been taken prisoner inside the ruin walls.”
“How many men remain at the castle?”
“I do not know.”
Lord Alexander walked back over to the men that they had taken prisoner. “How many men remain at the castle?” The men did not answer, staring at him in stony silence. One of the brothers stepped forward and kicked one of the prisoners. Lord Alexander asked his question again. “How many men?”
“A dozen or so. I do not know the exact number,” the one who had been kicked groaned.
“Who do you work for?” Lord Alexander demanded.
Again, he was met with stony silence. Another kick and the man lay on his side whimpering. “The Earl of Bredon… I work for the Earl of Bredon.”
“Has the Earl taken a young healer named Miss Marybeth Wright or the Duke of Arkley?”
The man nodded. “Yes, he has them both.”
“Who else is involved in this? What is the plan? Why were they taken?”
“The Earl seeks the treasure of Blackleigh.”
Lord Alexander exchanged a look with his brothers. “The treasure of Blackleigh Castle.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Lord Alexander looked down at him suspiciously. “You know who I am?”
“Yes, My Lord. I have seen you at Enfield when I delivered messages to your father, Lord Enfield, from the Earl. Your father is with him now at the castle.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Lord Alexander remarked disapprovingly shaking his head. “Are the girl and the Duke still alive?”
“Yes, My Lord. They were when last I saw them.”
Lord Alexander nodded his head then turned to speak with his brothers. “Thomas, David, Ewan, and Jacob come with me. Benjamin and Christopher, you remain here and stand guard over these men. I am certain that the magistrate will have a great many questions for them.” He turned to Oliver and Mr. Wheatly. “Do either of you know the layout of the castle?”
“Yes, I know it very well,” Oliver answered.
“I will need you to come with me, but that contraption is too conspicuous.” He eyed the bandage around Oliver’s head. “Can you ride behind one us? Are you able?”
Oliver was not at all sure that he could with the way his head was feeling after being jostled through the forest at such breakneck speed, but he was not about to admit it. “Yes, I will hold on.”
“Good,” Lord Alexander nodded his head in approval then offered Oliver his hand to climb up behind him on his horse.
Oliver stood and accepted the proffered hand. He mounted behind him and held fast to his jacket. Lord Alexander shook his head. “You will not be able to remain horsed this way.”
Oliver’s head was spinning, and he felt himself tipping over. He had no desire to wrap his arms around the Lord’s middle like a lass. He barely knew the man. “Perhaps I could be tied to the horse instead?”
Lord Alexander growled in his throat, grabbed Oliver’s hands, wrapped them around his middle, then tied them together in front of him. “There, now you will not go anywhere.”
Oliver was too taken aback to argue. Lord Alexander kicked his horse forward leaving Mr. Wheatly to stand gape mouthed as they thundered away. Oliver looked back over his shoulder to see the two remaining brothers standing with a pistol in each hand, their faces as menacing as the devil’s own. I am glad that they are on our side.
They rode through the trees until they came to the edge of the forest. They stopped and took in the scene before them. “I do not see a dozen men,” Oliver remarked peering over Lord Alexander’s shoulder.
“Nor do I.”
“Perhaps they are in the castle.”
“Perhaps, either that or he lied.”
“I would not put it past him, given his allegiance to such a dastardly fiend as the Earl has turned out to be.”
“He and my father have been consumed by the legend of the Blackleigh treasure our entire lives. My brothers and I watched it destroy our grandfather, much as it did the Earl’s father.”
“Are you a part of this?” Oliver did not believe that he was, but one could never be certain.
“I want nothing to do with it. Neither do my brothers. It is a fool’s quest that has brought many a man to folly.”
They stood studying the situation before them. Alexander motioned to his brothers, sending them in different directions around the clearing. The brothers moved out, pistols in hand. Before the men knew what had happened the brothers were upon them, subduing them with relative ease. Men on foot caught unawares seldom fare well against those on horseback with deadly intent.
The brothers approached the castle stealthily so as not to warn those inside. As they came around the side toward the front entrance, they heard a woman scream from within the castle walls followed by the sound of a gunshot. “Marybeth…” Oliver whispered her name his breath catching in his throat. Lord Alexander’s back stiffened, and he kicked his horse into a gallop riding his horse straight through the entranceway. Drawing his knife, he cut the bonds holding Oliver to him and leapt from the horse.
Oliver searched the room and found Marybeth lying in Felix’s arms, a pool of blood surrounding them. Seeing Oliver, Felix’s eyes met his filled with agony. They were too late.
Chapter 32
“He shot her…” Felix felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest. He had removed his jacket and pressed it to the bullet wound in her torso in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood.
“Marybeth!” Oliver cried out sliding down from the horses back.
“Who did this?” Lord Alexander demanded kneeling down beside Marybeth’s prone body. He laid his head down upon her chest.
“It still beats, but barely,” Felix informed him. “The Earl of Bredon is responsible for this.”
“Where is he?” Lord Alexander ground out in anger clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned snow white.
“The tunnel,” Felix answered gesturing with his chin toward the hole in the floor. “I would have pursued him, but I did not want to leave Marybeth alone. She is fading fast.”
“We brought the contraption you made for your mother. It is in the forest. We can take Marybeth back in it. I can take her back in it while you go after that scoundrel.”
Felix looked down into Marybeth’s face and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I do not want to leave her, but Bredon cannot get away with this. He must be stopped.” Felix turned and met Lord Alexander’s gaze. “As must your father,” he informed him.
“Where is he?”
“I do not know. He had the good grace to leave the castle before he had to witness to the violation and death of his own daughter. There is no place in this world for a man such as he to live. Every breath he draws is an insult to God himself,” Felix bit out. His rage knew no bounds as he imagined his hands closing around the neck of the monsters who had harmed the woman he loved.
“There is no place that he can hide where we cannot find him,” Lord Alexander promised, steely determination in his grey eyes.
“And you are willing to commit patricide?” Felix asked doubtfully.
“For Marybeth, yes,” Lord Alexander answered indefatigably. “But first, the Earl.” Lord Alexander stood and moved over to stare into the hole in the floor. “Thomas,” he called for one of his brothers who stepped forward.
“Yes?”
“Tell Ewan to go back to the forest and have Mr. Wheatly return with the contraption to take Marybeth to Arkley Hall. Have David and Jacob take the remaining men from here and meet with Benjamin and Christopher in the forest. Tell them to take all of the captured men into the magistrate. I need you to ride as fast as you possibly can to get the nearest doctor for Marybeth. His Grace and I are going after Bredon. Oliver will stay here with Marybeth until Mr. Wheatly and Ewan return for her.”
Thomas nodded and left the castle to relay Alexander’s orders. Lord Alexander turned back to Felix. “How many men did Bredon have with him?” he noted his eyes running over the unconscious forms of three other men littering the castle floor.
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“None, he is on his own now,” Felix answered.
“Good,” Lord Alexander nodded his head in approval of Felix’s handywork in spite of the situation he had found himself in. “You are good and brave, Your Grace. My sister deserves nothing less than such a man.” His knowing eyes letting Felix know that he knew the truth.
“I love her,” Felix admitted. “I cannot lose her. I will not lose her.”
Oliver walked over and laid his hand on Felix’s shoulder. “I will keep her safe. Upon that you have my word. I will deliver her safely to you at Arkley Hall once you have captured the man who did this to her. I swear it.” Oliver sat down on the floor and slid his arm under Marybeth’s torso. He placed his hand on the jacket just as Felix had done to stem any further loss of blood. Felix stood and hesitantly laid Marybeth into Oliver’s arms.
A Duke Under Her Spell: A Historical Regency Romance Novel Page 24
