PALE MOON RIDER
by MARSHA CANHAM
Copyright 2011 © Marsha Canham
Ebook edition published June 2011
ISBN 97809877023-0-2
This book was originally published by Dell. All right reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Marsha Canham.
Behold the wandering moon
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that had been led astray
Through the heaven’s wide pathless way.
—John Milton
PROLOGUE
Coventry, England, 1796
It was a fine night for treachery—dark with a pale moon rising. The silence was profound enough for the shadowy figure seated on horseback to hear the soft slither of the mist curling around the trunks of the trees and the moisture dripping off the sleek surfaces of the leaves overhead. He felt the chill of the night air through the heavy wool of his greatcoat and kept the uppermost of two collars standing high, almost touching the brim of his tricorn. A glitter of wary eyes showed through the narrow gap between the collar and hat; they were the only feature that would have been visible even if the light of a dozen lanterns surrounded him.
“Horses,” came a whisper from the shadows to his right.
Tyrone Hart nodded by way of acknowledgment even though the gesture went unseen. He had already heard the pounding of hooves on the road, the churning of wheels, and the rattle of traces.
The whisper came again, sparked by a hint of excitement. “Double-braced. Big bastard by the sound of it.”
The highwayman’s long, thick lashes momentarily descended as he transferred the reins into one gloved hand. After running the other briefly along his stallion’s neck, he reached beneath the flap of his greatcoat and withdrew a long-snouted pistol. One of a fine pair of flintlock snaphaunces he wore belted to his waist, the weapon was as exquisite as it was deadly. Silver-mounted, with gold inlaid barrels, the walnut stock was carved with grotesques and floral patterns, the designs highlighted by rich foliate work. Similar snarling monsters shaped the locks—one for each of the over-and-under barrels, making each pistol capable of firing two shots before it needed reloading.
Tyrone curled his long, gloved fingers around the curved stock and, through force of habit, raised the gun to his nose; a gentle flaring of the chiseled nostrils verified that both pans were primed with gunpowder. In the past eight months there had been only one instance when either he or Robert Dudley had been caught off guard during the course of a robbery, and even then, it had been more of an annoyance than a threat. A fat, oafish lord, returning from a night of gambling and drinking, had tried to impress his beautiful young companion with his bluster and had made a clumsy attempt to retrieve and discharge his own gun when Tyrone’s back was turned. A calm, accurate shot from one of the snaphaunces had raised a ribbon of blood on the nobleman’s hand and sent him into a dead faint, face-down in a puddle of mud.
Hart spared a glance into the shadows where Dudley’s horse was nickering with impatience. His own black brute, Ares, named after the god of war, stood like a block of granite beneath him, motionless, soundless, unseen in the gloom save for the wary puffs of steamy breath blown into the surrounding mist.
Hart concentrated on the moon-washed ribbon of road again. The coach was intermittently visible through the trees as it approached along the winding track. A single brass riding lamp was mounted on the roof, its glow not only making it easy to track the vehicle’s progress along the road, but also defining the silhouette of the driver seated in the front box.
“A fancy rig, all right,” Dudley whispered. “Two matched geldings, marquetry on the doors … can you see if it has a crest?”
“Not yet.”
“No outriders. No escort. What do you make of it?”
“I make it a curious enough sight to warrant a closer look.”
“Talk at the White Swan tonight was that the governor is getting quite apoplectic over the number of good citizens being waylaid on his roads. I heard he dressed your friend Colonel Roth down in front of the entire regiment and by the time the governor was finished frothing at the mouth, the colonel was so livid, he slashed his fencing partner half to death during a practice session. And that was with dulled blades.”
Tyrone’s dark eyes narrowed. Colonel Bertrand Roth was neither his friend nor a very inventive adversary. He was a pompous braggart who had specifically requested a transfer to Coventry four months ago in order to oversee the capture and hanging of the elusive highwayman known to the local citizenry as Captain Starlight. Since issuing his vow to see Starlight hanging from a gibbet before Christmas, there had been a marked increase in patrols and coaches sent out as decoys full of soldiers. And while Hart did not take the threat lightly, he did not think this particular conveyance was part of any such scheme. For one thing, it was far too grand to be trusted into the hands of Roth’s oafish dragoons. For another, Tyrone possessed an uncanny, and usually reliable, instinct for danger, and the only thing he sensed about the polished, well-appointed coach approaching them now was that the occupant was inviting trouble by being out so late at night on such a deserted stretch of road.
Caution, nevertheless, was the name of the game, and caution had kept him playing—and alive—for the past six years.
“If Roth is behind this, we will know it soon enough.”
He gave the reins a gentle tug, wheeling Ares around. The coach was just drawing abreast of them now, and it would take at least six minutes for such a cumbersome vehicle to navigate the upcoming section of the road where it snaked between two forested hills. A man on horseback could cover the distance in half the time by cutting over the crest and be waiting in position with a pretty ambush on the other side when the big spoked wheels crossed the midpoint. He and Dudley had ridden the route, paced it, timed it half a dozen times by daylight, and he was confident enough to keep Ares to an easy lope. Thin filaments of displaced fog curled in their wake, closing like a curtain behind them. The horses’ hooves made almost no sound as they passed over the spongy earth, and as Tyrone rode, he looked up and noted the moon where it flickered through the tops of the trees. It was full and blue-white, ringed with a gauze-like aura of menace. A good moon for the business they were about.
They reached the ambuscade with plenty of time to spare, and Tyrone, dismounting briefly, dragged a rotted branch out of the shadows. It was no thicker than a man’s wrist and would be nearly invisible from the tall perch of the driver’s box, yet it would feel as if the coach had struck something large enough to have caused potential damage to the wheels or axles. The driver would naturally be obliged to stop and inspect, and when he did, Dudley would be there to assure him there was nothing to keep him from continuing on his journey … once the passengers had been relieved of the burden of any valuables they might be carrying, of course.
It had been Dudley’s idea to switch roles tonight. If it was a trap, he would feel much better having Tyrone’s guns behind him in the shadows. Hart was not completely comfortable with the arrangement. Dudley had suffered a badly broken leg several years back and walked with a heavy limp. On horseback, he was as light and swift as any man, but if there was trouble and he was unhorsed for any reason …
Tyrone pus
hed the thought aside before it was finished. Dudley was well aware of the risks: They both were.
As the sound of harnesses and rolling wheels approached, he swung easily into Ares’ saddle again. He shrugged the collar of his coat higher and adjusted the brim of his tricorn lower and, after looping the reins over the front of his saddle, drew the second snaphaunce from beneath his greatcoat and thumbed both forward hammers into half-cock. Ares responded to the pressure of his master’s knees and stood still as stone, man and beast becoming one with the mist-drenched shadows.
CHAPTER ONE
The horses were maintaining a comfortable canter when they passed over the log. Being unsprung, the body of the coach jumped as high as the wheels when they struck, rocking back and up then lurching violently forward, twice in rapid succession. As expected, the tremendous cracking sound of the rotted wood breaking made the driver draw back on the reins and put his foot to the brake handle. The matched pair pranced to a stop and Dudley waited until the coachman had climbed down from the box—not a quick job, as it turned out, for he took his sweet time and seemed much put out by the inconvenience. He had one gloved hand braced on the front wheel for support and was bent over, squinting at the undercarriage of the coach, when Dudley emerged from the shadows by the side of the road.
“I bid ye good evening’, sar. ’Ad a wee mishap, ’ave ye?”
His greeting, delivered with his best cockney accent, had no effect. The horses were stamping and snorting, and the driver was half covered by the body of the coach, poking at the axle to check for damage.
Dudley leaned forward and lifted the bottom edge of the curtain-mask that now covered most of his face. “Evenin’, sar! ’Avin’ a bit o’ trouble are ye?”
This time the driver’s head came up sharply enough to make contact with the edge of the wood frame.
“Mary and Joseph—” He backed away from the coach, his hands rubbing the top of his head. “There is no need to shout, my good man. I may be old, but I am not deaf!”
Dudley straightened in his saddle and raised his pistol so the driver had no trouble seeing it in the yellow spill of light from the coach lamp. “Not blind either, I trust?”
With fastidious care, the driver tugged the front of his livery to smooth the wrinkles. Tall and thin, he had a face as lined as a prune, bearing an expression that bespoke too many years of serving the nobility to tolerate impudence from a mere brigand.
“I assure you my eyesight is more than adequate.” He glared at the gun, then glared at the masked highwayman with equal disdain. “So this is what you are about, is it? Robbing honest travelers in the dead of night?”
“Aye, that it is,” Dudley admitted candidly, and raised his voice again for the benefit of those inside the coach. “An’ such a fine night, too, I’d like t’ invite all the ’onest folk t’ step down an’ get a ripe lungful o’ fresh, ’eathen air. Lively now, one at a time.”
The pale blur of a face appeared at the window. A moment passed while Dudley’s figure came under harsh scrutiny, then the unmistakable sound of a softly muttered curse.
“Mon Dieu, this cannot be him.”
The strongly accented pronouncement took Dudley briefly by surprise, delivered as it was by a distinctly feminine voice.
“’Appens I might be,” he answered, increasing the gruffness in his voice. “’Appens I might not, dependin’ on ’oo ye were expectin’. Either way, I’ve a gun in my ’and an’ a finger willin’ t’ pull the trigger, so when I say ’stand an’ deliver’ I’d be quick as spit t’ do as yer told!”
The blur remained at the window a few seconds longer than Dudley found comfortable before a second whisper prompted the driver to turn the latch and open the door. He held out a gloved hand to assist a cloaked and hooded figure disembark one wary step at a time, dragging a handful of carefully gathered skirts in her wake. She had her back to the light so that Dudley could see nothing other than the bell shape of her hood and cloak, but there was no mistaking the richness of the silk garment.
“Frenchie, eh? ’Eard tell’ that them o’ ye what escaped sneezin’ in th’ basket brought away ’arf th’ crown jewels stitched in yer ’ems.”
“Sneezing in the basket? Qu’est-ce qu’il dit?”
The question was directed in a low whisper at the driver, but Dudley answered. “’Ad yer ’ead lopped off. Felt the kiss o’ ma-dam gill-o-teen. Like this—” He held up his left hand to display the stub of a pinky finger. “Aye, an’ I truly ’ope you an’ yer friends brung a fine selection o' bobbles with ye tonight.” He chuckled and steadied his aim on the coach door. “Rest o’ ye now: Out ye come, one at a time, ’ands where I can see ’em.”
“There is no one else,” the woman said with an exasperated sigh. “I assure you I am quite alone.”
“Alone? Ye’re travelin’ the Chester ’pike in th’ middle o’ th’ night … alone?”
“I was told … that is, I was led to believe …” She stopped and seemed to reconsider what she had been about to say, and ended up expelling a huff of misted breath instead. “But I can see I was sadly misled. You cannot possibly be the one they call ‘Capitaine d’Etoile.’”
“Eh? Cap’n ’oo?”
“Captain Starlight. I was led to believe he might be out on a night such as this.” She paused and glanced up at the smeared disc of the moon. “I paid an outrageous sum for this information, but I can see now I was merely being played for the fool.”
“I did warn you it would be a waste of time, mad’moiselle,” the driver said, his hands clasped primly behind his back. “But as usual …”
“Yes, yes.” Another puff of breath marked the woman’s disappointment. “You warned me, and I did not listen.”
Dudley raised his gun and scratched his jaw with the snout. “’Old up a minute ’ere. Are ye sayin’ ye paid someone t’ tell ye where t’ go so’s ye could get robbed?”
The driver provided the answer with a righteous sniff. “I advised mad’moiselle most emphatically against it, warning her she was just throwing good coin after bad, for what manner of highwayman advertises where and when he will be stalking a particular road? Indeed, this so-called Captain Starlight certainly would not have been able to elude capture for as long as he has if every unwashed jackanapes raising a tankard knew his business.”
“And so he would not,” came an amused voice from the shadows behind them. “Nonetheless he would be extremely interested to know where this information was purchased and from whom.”
The driver and the woman both whirled around to stare at the shifting layers of mist. Even Dudley was somewhat startled, for he had not expected Tyrone to reveal himself without due provocation. Now he seemed to materialize like a ghostly specter out of the blackness at the rear of the coach, with nothing to lend horse or rider substance save for glints of light reflected off the stallion’s bridle and the gold foliate work on the brace of leveled snaphaunces.
“Capitaine d’Etoile” the woman whispered.
There was a lengthy pause, time enough for the mist to settle around the stallion’s legs again, before Tyrone offered a slight bow. “At your service, mam’selle. Did I hear correctly: You have been looking for me?”
She continued to stare, for so long he was forced to gently prompt her again.
“Oh. Yes, m’sieur. Yes—” She took a halting step forward, her hand pressed over her breast as if to keep her heart in place. “I must speak with you, m’sieur. On a matter of some importance.”
Dudley glanced nervously over both shoulders. “I don’t like it, Cap’n. Don’t like it a-tall.”
His features masked behind the raised collar of his coat, Tyrone surveyed the shadows on either side of the road, searching for any sign of movement. He tuned his hearing to the forest and the hills, trying to catch the accidental nicker of a horse or the snap of a twig beneath a boot, but if it was some ingenious new trap set by the persistent Colonel Roth, his instincts were not detecting it.
His gaze settled o
n the woman again. Foolish and naive were two words that came instantly to his mind, for she obviously had not considered the personal risk involved in her quest. There were few, if any, grown men who would venture out on their own along this deserted stretch of road, and he was curious in spite of the glared warnings Dudley was attempting to convey across the pale circle of lantern light.
Ignoring his partner as well as his own common sense, he uncocked the snaphaunces and tucked them into his belt. One long leg swung over the back of the saddle and he dismounted, the coarse earth of the road crunching loudly under his boots as he came forward.
“What the bloody hell are you doing?” Dudley asked urgently, his accent lapsing in surprise.
“The lady has gone to a good deal of trouble to find me. It would be most ungallant of me to send her away disappointed.”
Dudley lifted the bottom edge of the curtain-mask to hiss, “Are you insane? The woods could be crawling with dragoons!”
“If you see any, shoot the driver first, then come and fetch me.”
Tyrone held out a black-gloved hand, inviting the woman to accompany him to the far side of the road.
“Mam’selle—?”
When she hesitated, clearly not expecting to have to move away from the comparative safety of the coach, he tipped his head the slightest degree to let her see the glitter of his eyes. He had not chosen the fanciful name of Captain Starlight. It had been bestowed upon him by a near hysterical female victim who had sworn there had been nothing mortal between the rim of his tricorn and the top edge of his collar—nothing but a phantom space and a clear view of the starlight beyond. The story, much embellished from one telling to the next, had spread like wildfire, reinforced by the inability of anyone to get close enough to disprove the assumption that they were dealing with an otherworldly being.
“I can promise you, mam’selle, despite what you may have heard, I am quite earthbound. You did say you wanted to talk, did you not?”
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