“Good luck, Duchess,” she whispered, keeping her voice low in case any members of the Ducal Guard were listening.
Jax gave her a quick, but fierce hug before removing her cloak and tucking it underneath the solitary stone bench. Her riding clothes were not ideal for scaling a leaf and vine-infested stone wall, but she would make do.
With a helpful boost from Giovanna, she grabbed the thick vines and pulled herself up, the muscle memory returning with vigor from the days of her youth. With much more agility than she thought she still possessed, Jax poked her head carefully over the top of the wall. Hendrie stood beneath it, the reins of Mortimer and his own steed in his hands.
“Duchess! Perry and Darian are keeping the southern scouts preoccupied and Charles is distracting the archers, but we have to go now,” he hissed, urging her along.
“All right, all right,” she muttered, quickly using the vegetation to lower herself down the other side. She let go halfway and dropped the rest of the way, hitting the ground with a graceless thud.
“Goodness! Are you all right?” Hendrie asked, helping her to her feet.
Jax brushed off her riding skirts as she regained her breath, giving him an impish smirk. “You said we needed to get moving.”
They took off on horseback, riding away from the fortress, and within a few moments, Perry, Darian, and Charles caught up to them, each clad in their own steely armor, swords at the ready.
“Charles, I didn’t realize a physician would be so well-equipped,” she commented as she appraised his shining breastplate.
His youthful face hardened. “A nobleman is always ready to defend his house, regardless of his chosen path in life.”
Taking the lead, Jax kicked Mortimer into a gallop, plunging into the forests surrounding the castle. She was careful of which paths she chose, for she did not want to run into George and his men. Worrying about her antics was the last thing the Captain of the Ducal Guard needed.
“We’ll take this path to the top of the cliffs. Captain Solomon wouldn’t risk his men going up this road, as it is much too narrow, but our little crew will be fine,” she explained an hour later as they arrived at the base of craggy hills overlooking the Syphir River.
“Lead the way,” Perry directed. She saw his grip tighten on his weapon. He was a trained knight, after all.
Coaxing Mortimer forward, she led the way up the steep path.
“Too bad we don’t have time to enjoy the view,” Darian said with a low whistle as he hopped off his mount, surveying the picturesque scene at the top.
Jax had to admit that the cliffs beautifully showcased the sprawling valley, but she didn’t admire it for long. “Can you see the camp anywhere?” Her eyes snaked along the banks of the serene river.
“I see the Ducal Guard,” Hendrie exclaimed, beckoning them over to his perch on the ledge. “Down to the east.”
Jax followed the trail of his finger and spotted her banner hidden down amongst the dense trees. “They must already be approaching the rebels.” She balled her fists. They were running short on time.
“I see the camp ahead of them. About twelve tents,” Perry reported. “It sounds like Signor Daephanté did not lead us astray.”
“I think we could make it down there fairly quickly.” Darian’s bronze eyes trailed over the ledge. “Might be a little tricky, but I think we can manage to scramble down.”
“It looks like there might be a path ten or so feet below that ledge over there.” Charles pointed to a worn stretch of dirt carved into the cliffside. “We just need to be careful we don’t break any bones dropping down.”
Jax looked at her escorts, worried for their safety now that she saw what they were up against. “Be careful, please.”
Nodding, Perry kissed her, apparently not caring that they were in the company of others. “Hendrie,” he said as he pulled back from her, “I want you to stay here with the Duchess.”
“What?” Hendrie cried, clearly distressed by this request. “No, I’m coming with you!”
Perry gave him a sharp look. “I need you to stay here and…” he paused, as if searching for words that would not diminish Jax’s fighting skills or her pride, “…watch her back.”
Hendrie’s brown eyes darkened in a scowl but he did not protest further.
“Good luck,” Jax whispered as Perry, Darian, and Charles all disappeared down the steep ledge.
Her eyes danced between the Ducal Guard’s stealthy approach and that of her fiancé and friends. Beside her, Hendrie fumed in the tense silence. She didn’t necessarily blame him, for she, too, wanted to be there to help Uma, but she knew that foolhardiness could only go so far. Simply by being here, she had placed the entire security of Saphire at risk. The least she could do was keep a safe distance away.
“They’re striking,” she cried, watching the vanguard of soldiers pick up speed, their lancers aimed at the unsuspecting tents. She tried to locate Perry, Darian, and Charles through the leafy canopy, but they had slipped away from her sight. She prayed to the Virtues that Reinbeck’s men would be too busy dealing with the Ducal Guard to notice Perry and company approach from the west.
Jax watched the scene unfold before her, helplessness gripping her chest. Battle cries echoed through the valley as the tents fell to the ground. She gasped in horror as one even caught fire. “Oh Virtues, please let them be all right,” she pleaded aloud, her hands clawing into the earth beneath her crouching position.
“Jax! Jax, look!” Hendrie grabbed her arm, almost causing her to tumble forward down the cliffside. Unaware of the near mishap, he frantically pointed down to the base of the ledge. “He’s getting away with her!”
Jax’s eyes flashed to two figures scurrying away from the chaos. Even from atop the ledge, she could hear Uma’s shouts of protest as Bastion dragged her away.
Chapter Eighteen
“We can’t let him get away!” Jax cried, jumping to her feet and surveying the rocky ledge beneath them. “Come on, we’ll head them off at the pass.” Without waiting for Hendrie to reply, she threw herself onto Mortimer’s saddle and dashed down the path from which they had come.
Glancing back to make sure Hendrie followed her, she veered off the worn trail, heading around the base of the ridge toward the crude path Bastion and Uma had taken.
She heard Uma’s cries over the sound of her horse’s pounding hoofbeats, pulling the reins to halt him in his tracks before leaping to the ground. “Hendrie, get your sword ready,” she commanded in a quiet hush, gripping the hilt of her own small blade with fierce determination. She had never had to fight a real enemy before, but during her youth she’d been prepared for a moment like this.
“I’ll go first, Duchess,” Hendrie said.
Nodding, Jax crouched behind a tree. Hendrie did the same on the other side of the woodland trail.
“They’re coming!” Jax said with a hiss, horrified to see her ragged and bruised friend bound by chains around her hands and ankles. The grip on her weapon tightened.
“Come on, you stupid twit!” Bastion roared as he yanked his prisoner along, causing her to trip and crash into the dirt.
“Please, free my legs and I will be able to move faster,” Uma whimpered as she struggled to her feet.
“Think I don’t know you’ll try to run away the first chance you get? Not likely, sweetness,” her captor growled as he tugged the chain once more. “Father needs you alive for leverage should this little ambush go south.”
Father? Jax met Hendrie’s confused expression with a frown.
“Please,” Uma begged. “If you let me go, I’m sure the Duchess will repay your deeds.”
“Right. You think she cares about little old you? She’s just as heartless as her father. Did you know she’s still going through with her wedding, even with you missing?” Bastion spat at the ground. “She’s had no trouble moving on without you being there.”
Jax’s heart tightened as she saw Uma’s face crumple. “Surely, the Duchess has her
reasons,” she replied softly.
Bastion snorted, jerking her forward. Now they stood no more than ten feet away from the trees Jax and Hendrie hid behind. “Yeah, her reason being that she doesn’t give a flying fig about you, you filthy little commonblood.”
“Or maybe,” Jax retaliated as she emerged from the shadows of the wood, her sword held out before her, “it’s because she knew you would make a mistake and hang yourself if she gave you enough rope.”
She couldn’t tell who was more stunned to see her standing there, Uma or Bastion.
“Jax, what in all that is good are you doing out here?” Uma cried, a mask of fear on her face.
“I’m surprised to see you so far away from home, Duchess,” Bastion said, swiftly pulling out a threatening dagger from under his tunic with his free hand, “looking so alone.”
Hendrie dashed out from behind his tree, rounding on Bastion so that he was pinned between the points of their swords. “Let her go, you swine and we might let you live.”
“A valet and a Duchess think they can take down a son of the greatest noble house that ever lived?” Bastion threw his head back and laughed with demented malice.
“You’re Reinbeck’s son,” Jax deduced, raising the tip of her sword to be level with his neck.
“The heir to House Reinbeck. Yes, what a glorious legacy you bestowed on my family and me, Duchess.” He waved his dagger around, forcing her and Hendrie to take a step back.
She saw unbridled hatred churning in his dark eyes. “Reinbeck wasn’t married when he was imprisoned. He had no heir.”
“Yes, my common-born mother had me out of wedlock.” His face flushed at the admission. “She was forced to flee after Reinbeck was apprehended for seeking to restore Saphire to its rightful glory by removing your father from the throne.”
Jax’s lips formed a snarl. “My father built Saphire to be the most powerful duchy in the Realm of Virtues.”
“By making compromises and agreements,” Bastion said with disdain. “My father wanted Saphire to grow its influence by force. This nation should not have conceded to anyone.”
Jax marveled at the insanity in the young man’s eyes. Not yet twenty, he was already poisoned by power and corruption. “Why did you do this?” she asked, hoping that the more he talked, the greater the likelihood that she, Uma, and Hendrie would be found by their friends. Seeing Bastion fully unhinged, she did not feel confident that she and Hendrie could overpower him on their own.
“I grew up fleeing from duchy to duchy, all because my mother was terrified Saphire would get wind I was alive and kill me in my father’s name. I knew of the great home your family had robbed me of, of the comfortable lifestyle I could have had—should have had.”
“That was your father’s own doing,” Jax replied. “His treacherous actions sealed your fate.”
“The fate of an unborn child? Why should I have been punished for my father’s crimes?” Bastion bellowed. “No, your family destroyed House Reinbeck. You tried to eradicate us, simply because of one rotten egg.”
Jax felt tears sting her eyes. “That’s not true. My family knew nothing of your existence. Why would we have persecuted a baby?”
Bastion faltered, and she understood this was not the story he’d been brought up to believe.
“Please, release Uma and we can start anew,” Jax said with a shy purr, hoping to lull him into a sense of camaraderie.
But his grip on Uma’s chains only tightened. “No, I will not fall for your tricks, Duchess. Back when news reached me of your father’s death, I began crafting a plan to reclaim Saphire for my father. I could not allow my homeland to be run by someone as young and inexperienced as you. Saphire would no doubt crumble under your rule.”
Her ego fumed, but she let him continue his rant.
“For the past two years, I’ve been gathering loyal supporters to my father’s cause across the realm. Then, when I heard that you’d spat on tradition and appointed your little friend here to a role reserved for nobility, I knew I’d found my target.” Bastion’s maddening grin widened. “For you must care deeply about this girl to do what you did, and since you’ve kept me from my father all these years, I decided to take something precious of yours.”
Jax’s gaze darted to Uma, trying to silently reassure her that everything was going to be all right.
“From there, everything seemed to fall into place. I learned that the lady would be arriving in Sephretta to collect the fabled fireblooms for your wedding. I knew I could get you to welcome a stranger into your home if you believed I could help you track her down.” A faraway look glazed over his face. “All I had to do was get one of my men to knock me on the head in just the right spot. You see, my mother was a healer in her village before she took up with my father, so I know plenty about head wounds.”
“No doubt it was from her that you learned the effects of laceroot,” Jax surmised.
“Ah, yes.” Bastion puffed out his chest. “I didn’t want to rack up too much of a body count, considering the Ducal Guard would soon be in service to my family, after all.”
“You killed two of my guards, assaulted four more, and will be charged with orchestrating a rebellion that my Ducal Guard are crushing as we speak.” Jax used fingers from her free hand to list his offenses. “It can hardly be said that your plan has been a success.”
“It’s not over yet,” he snapped, raising his dagger higher.
“Yes, it is.” Perry stepped from the shadows, Darian, Charles and George flanking him.
Caught off guard by their sudden appearance, Bastion whipped his head in their direction and stumbled on a tree root, his back now facing Jax. Seizing the opportunity, she adjusted her stance and smashed the hilt of her sword right into the fading lump at the base of his skull.
He crumbled to the ground right before her eyes, Uma’s chains slipping away from his grasp.
“Brava, Duchess!” Darian’s enthusiastic applause rang through the woods.
Her gaze went from her shaking hand to her sword and then to Perry and George’s astonished expressions.
“I don’t remember ever teaching you to fight like that,” said the Captain of the Ducal Guard with a glib smile.
She took in the welcome sight of her friends. They all looked tired, dirty, and a bit roughed up, but otherwise intact. “Thank the Virtues you found us.”
“Looks like you had things under control,” Perry commented, his grin spreading across his handsome face.
She breathed a sigh of relief, taking a step back as Hendrie dashed to Uma’s side to untangle her chains. She figured the young couple might appreciate some space for their long-awaited reunion.
But as soon as her arms and legs were freed, Uma flew to the Duchess, her arms nearly crushing the wind from Jax’s lungs. “I knew you would find me,” she happily sobbed, burying her face into her friend’s shoulder.
Jax held her tightly, her own eyes welling with emotion.
ǂ
As they rode back to the castle with an unconscious Bastion bound and gagged, George detailed the results of their attack. “Reinbeck’s son may have only amassed a small following, but they were vicious little bastards. Many of them died in the fight.”
“Did we lose any of our men?” Jax braced herself for the response.
“We have a few serious injuries, but the Virtues were on our side today. I think Master Vyanti will be able to tend to their full recovery,” he answered.
“What about Reinbeck himself?” Jax glanced back at Bastion, slung over the back of a soldier’s horse.
“He knew it was over the moment we arrived,” George said with grim finality. “He said he’d never go back to the dungeons and took off, leaving his supporters to fight the battle for him.”
Jax gasped in fear. “So he’s still at large?”
Perry took over. “Unfortunately for him, he ran right into Darian, Charles, and I. Or should I say, our blades.”
Jax shuddered at the gruesome imagery
. “So ends the Reinbeck Rebellion.”
“We do need to decide what to do with Bastion here.” George looked over his shoulder at the young man’s figure bouncing on the back of the horse.
Jax studied him as well. No longer did he look the innocent boy she’d found by the caravan. “I know his mind was poisoned against my family from birth, but his actions are reprehensible nonetheless. I stand by my decision to have him hanged in Sephretta’s city square.
George nodded at her order. “Consider it done, Duchess.”
“I can’t help but feel this is all my fault,” Uma lamented, her arms wrapped around Hendrie as they rode next to Jax’s horse.
“Not in the slightest, dear one,” Jax said, rushing to dissuade her fears. “Bastion would have found a way to try and hurt me, no matter how long it took. But he sealed his doom when he chose to harm you.” Jax stretched out her arm and squeezed her friend’s hand.
Uma gave her a smile before her eyes narrowed in a mixture of suspicion and fear. “Was he really telling the truth about the wedding still being scheduled for tomorrow?”
Jax gave a noncommittal shrug as her friends shared knowing glances. “He might have been…”
Chapter Nineteen
Jax turned away from the mirror upon hearing the door of her chambers open, and she leaned her head around the dividers that had been set up in the sitting room to allow more space for the horde of women helping her get into her wedding dress. “Uma! You should still be resting.”
Clad in a pale peach ball gown, Uma performed a graceful curtsy. “I’ll sleep when all this is done. For now, I’m too excited.”
“Shouldn’t that be what I’m saying?” Jax teased as one of the six women working on her corset yanked hard at the lacing.
Uma plopped herself into one of the plush armchairs. “Considering last night was the first time in three days that I’ve not had to sleep with tree roots sticking in my back, I slept wonderfully.”
Throne of Threats (Ducal Detective Mysteries Book 5) Page 17
