by Jess Schira
From Moonlight to Mayhem
Chapter Twelve
“This is the place the stable lad described.”
Saika and Sebastian halted their horses next to a hedge and stared at the location.
The place wasn’t what Saika had pictured. When he’d explained how he thought her family was being kept on a farm, Saika imagined a pretty, well maintained place like the ones they’d passed. Somewhere with a pretty cottage, a big barn, and some chickens in the yard.
This was as far from her mental image as it was possible to get.
There wasn’t a house. The only building was an old barn that was so dilapidated, it seemed like one good wind gust would send it tumbling.
The gypsy wagon parked in front of the barn was only marginally less battered.
Saika stared at the wagon and her fingers tightened on the rein. If Sebastian was correct and her family had been transported from London to this place in that, it would have been a cramped, miserable, and terrifying experience. Just one more thing the people who had done this would have to answer for.
“Come on,” Sebastian said in a low tone. He signaled his horse to walk on and Saika’s did the same.
“Why are we leaving,” Saika demanded. “If it’s true and my family is there, it’s time I free them. It’s the reason we made the trip.”
“I’m aware.”
“So I’ll ask again, why are we leaving?”
“Staying and attacking them would be a bad tactical move. There’s no way for us to sneak up on the barn or wagon in broad daylight. If they have pistols, which I assume they do, we’d be shot long before we found her family.”
Saika ground her teeth together. Riding away from the farm went against every instinct she had, yet Sebastian had a point.
“Any guards will think they’re safe. It’s unlikely they’ll be paying attention to anything.”
“You’re likely correct, but we can’t be sure. I think it’s better to proceed with caution.” Sebastian looked over his shoulder at her. “Rushing in will put your family in greater danger.”
Saika concentrated on taking one breath after another and maintaining the outwardly calm façade. She hated the fact that Sebastian’s words made sense. “So how do you propose I handle the situation?”
Sebastian turned his mount off the road and guided it towards a large stand of trees that grew closely together. He dismounted and secured his horse.
“I suggest we wait here until the sun sets. It’s a good spot. From here we can see just enough of the farm to tell whether or not anyone comes and goes. We might even be lucky enough to learn how many people are guarding your family.”
Saika slid off the chestnut. The idea of waiting didn’t sit well with her, she’d rather take action, but she couldn’t think of a good argument.
“What happens after sunset?”
“Since it’s still several hours away, we have plenty of time to decide.
“This isn’t smart.” Sebastian glared at Saika. His expression was so incredulous, she had to resist the temptation to reach up and feel if she’d sprouted a second head.
“You have not come up with a better idea.” She kept her tone steady and her gaze locked on his. “I still don’t understand why you’re so opposed to this plan.”
Sebastian dragged a hand through his thick blond hair. Fascinated, Saika watched each strand fall back into place. Jealousy arrowed through her. If she’d done the same thing, her own hair would have become hopelessly snarled and disheveled. It was just another thing that set them apart from one another. Sebastian still looked perfect with nary a wrinkle in his clothing while she was covered in a fine layer of dust from the road and sticky with sweat. She didn’t want to think about the state of her clothing. Was remaining perfectly groomed in all manner of situation a requirement all members of high society must meet, she wondered.
“Going alone is the definition of reckless.” Sebastian’s words dragged Saika’s thoughts back on course.
“Very well.” She folded her hands demurely across her lap and looked at him through lowered lashes. “How do you propose we proceed?”
“We should stick together. It’s the most sensible option.”
His words combined with his smug tone nearly made Saika roll her eyes. “And you’ve based this assumption on what, your extensive experience you gained during the previous times you’ve sneaked up on a barn with the intention of gathering information that will help you determine the best way to free hostages from their captors?”
Sebastian refused to back down. “How much firsthand experience do you have?”
“None,” Saika admitted. A small smile softened her mouth. “Unless you count the times I spied on my oldest brother while he was visiting a young house maid he was friendly with, though I suppose the circumstances aren’t the same.”
“No, they’re not. What makes you think it makes sense for you to walk to the barn by yourself?”
“What I lack in firsthand experience, I make up for with training and the stories my grandfather told me. I might be short on experience, but I’m long on knowledge.”
Saika ran a hand along the side of her skirt and felt the knife inside of her pocket before she reached for her sword. Despite her sore muscles and the exhaustion weighing her down, she felt better than she had in days. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she didn’t feel she was being split in two by an impossible decision. “There are many cases when it’s best to work in pairs, but given the circumstances, this isn’t one of them.”
Sebastian crossed his hands over his chest and glared at her. “Why not?”
“You’d do more harm than good. My grandfather spent hours working with me, teaching me how to use the shadows so I could approach a building or person without them sensing my approach. To them, I’ll be nothing more than a shadow.”
“And you’re confident the lessons took?”
“Now seems as good a time to find out how sharp my skills are as any other. My grandfather once told me a soldier could only be considered half trained until they had been through a conflict. Until then, they were only going through the motions. Now, if you don’t have any more frivolous argument to make, I would like to get started.”
Unable to think of anything, Sebastian ground his teeth together and watched Saika turn and make her way towards the dilapidated barn.
He hated everything about it. Of all the ill-thought out plans people all over the world had come up with throughout time, he was confident, this was the dumbest. It was foolhardy for her to rush into the situation without taking him along for support.
One the other hand, he couldn’t argue with her logic. Common sense dictated going in pairs, but tactical sense meant her going by herself was the smart move, and sometimes common sense simply had to give way. Besides, even if he went with her, if they got into trouble, he’d be next to useless. He possessed a basic working knowledge of how guns and swords worked, but before last night in the Tower, he’d never been in a position to use them in a battle situation, and things hadn’t gone according to plan in the cell. He’d meant to injure the man, not kill him.
Sebastian leaned against the tree trunk. The unspoken laws of society might imply that as a gentleman he should behave in a certain manner which included making sure the he never knowingly put a woman in danger, and if danger did somehow manage to find her, he should leap to her defense. He understood how things were supposed to work. His problem stemmed from the lack of societal laws addressing his current predicament. He wasn’t familiar with any rules, spoken or otherwise, that addressed how a gentleman should when the woman he was with was armed to the teeth and had the ability to carve his heart from his chest.
********
Though the air near the ground was just strong enough to rattle the tree branches, high above Saika’s head, clouds scurried across the sky and darted in front of the moon, creating fleeting shadows Saika used as cover while she closed the distance between herself and th
e run down barn.
She crouched besides the building and peered through a gap. The man in the Tower had been serious when he said the Basingstoke Canal. Saika had yet to lay eyes on the structure, but she could smell and hear the river nearby.
Three men sat near the north side of the barn around a listing table absorbed in a card game. Between the pile of wine bottles littering the floor and the sluggish movement of the men, it didn’t seem likely they planned on leaving the barn anytime soon.
Some of the tension drained from Saika’s slim body. She couldn’t afford to become careless, but in their inebriated state, it wasn’t likely the men would look up and notice her, and even if they did, she was fast enough to run out of pistol range before they could stop her.
Still, she needed to be cautious.
Saika adjusted her position so she could see more of the barn’s interior.
It had been a long time since the barn had been used. The inside had been stripped bare, or everything, including stalls. The half a dozen horses Saika saw were tied to beams rather than properly stalled, and the hay piled before them looked several years old. More hay littered the floor while thick spider webs, heavy with dust, hung in drooping curtains from the low ceiling.
A trap door, towards the middle of the barn, nearly obscured by a tangled pile of harnesses, bridles, and saddles caught Saika’s eyes. If her family really was being kept there, it seemed likely to assume the trap door led to them.
There was only one way to find out.
Saika dropped to all fours and stayed within the barn’s shadow as she crawled to a gap in the wall that was just large enough for her to squeeze through. She crouched closer to the floor and started to crawl at a creeping pace towards the trapdoor. Every few seconds she’d pause to check the men and make sure they hadn’t noticed her and to pull at her skirts which kept getting caught beneath her knees. She wished there had been time to don the old pair of breeches she wore when she trained at home. Polite society might be appalled by a girl wearing men’s breeches, but she found them much easier to move in.
The dimness inside the barn and the inattention of the men made getting to the trapdoor easier than expected. Saika flattened herself on the floor on the opposite side of the pile of horse tack and hoped the jumble of leather helped obscure her while she worked to free the pins holding the door in place.
Reaching the door was easier than opening it. Saika bit her lip to prevent herself from grunting as she struggled to move the heavy weight. It would have been difficult for her to accomplish if she’d been sitting or crouching beside it. Her prone position made it nearly impossible.
Her muscles shook and protested. Beads of sweat beaded on her nose and dripped from her brow to sting her eyes. Splinters dug into her fingertips.
Just as the door started to move, she nearly lost her grip on it, but she tightened her fingers and stayed stubborn, shifting the door one slow, terrifying inch at a time.
The space beneath the barn floor was so dark and cavernous, it seemed to go on forever, extending to the center of the earth. Still, she sensed movement below her. Someone shifting close and looking up.
“Hello?” Saika’s kept her voice soft.
“Saika?” The person she’d sensed shuffled directly beneath the opening and stared up at her. “Is it really you or have I finally gone well and truly mad?
“Nobu?” Saika swallowed a sob. She’d recognize her older brother’s voice anywhere. “Thank God! I thought you were dead.”
Saika shifted her position which allowed a small amount of light to stream into the hole. Nobu was little more than a shadow in darkness, but Saika didn’t care. After the past few days, she was just happy to see him at all. Still, he didn’t look good. He’d always been fit and vibrant. Their father referred to them as opposite sides of the same coin. Saika was serious and driven, while Nobu smiled, was always ready to tell a joke, and seemed to float through life. Sometimes, Saika thought there had been a mistake and their souls had entered the wrong body. Nobu would not have chaffed at the societal rules governing women the way she did. He would have accepted them as the way things were and adapted his personality to conform. Sometimes Saika wondered if she wouldn’t be happier if she could learn to do the same.
Looking down at him now, Saika found it hard to believe the dim figure below her was her brother. His face was gaunt, all hollows and sharp points, his familiar smile gone. He’d lost weight and his posture and the way he swayed to and fro indicated he was weak.
Saika’s heart twisted even as fury started to burn within her. If Nobu was this bad, what did it mean for the rest of her family? The men who’d done this to them would pay.
“Oh, Nobu. What has happened to you?”
“Me?” Nobu sounded surprised. “What has happened to you? We’ve been told nothing. We don’t know what’s happening to us and we didn’t have a clue what had happened to you. We thought you were dead.”
Saika focused on a single word. “We? Everyone is with you?”
“The entire family,” Nobu confirmed. He glanced into the darkness, and lifted hand, silencing someone. Saika guessed it was her stepmother, who was a sweet woman, but who never shied away from expressing her opinions. “Saika, I hope you have a plan. I fear you won’t get much help from us. We’re in bad shape. Even now, speaking to you, I feel my strength beginning to wane.”
Saika bit her lip. Her mind spun. She'd been so focused about whether or not her family would be alive when she found them, it never occurred to her to think about the condition they might be in. Once she freed them, would they have the strength needed to travel? And if they did, were would they go? London wasn’t an option. She doubted anywhere in England would be safe for her family.
Saika took a deep breath and shoved the questions from her mind. She’d deal with them later. For the moment, she needed to stay focused on her task.
She lifted her head just enough to look over the tangled pile of leather at the men beyond. Since she’d entered the barn, the wine they’d consumed had caught up with them and now they were slumped over the table. She prayed they’d stay that way.
“I’m going to get you out of there. I have a friend. He’s waiting for my return. When you get out of this pit, you’re going to crawl through a hole in the barn wall, that’s how I entered. Please be quiet. Head west until you find Sebastian Harper.”
Nobu nodded his understanding.
While he relayed her instructions to the rest of the family, Saika set to work carefully untangling some leather straps and tied them into a knot. All she needed to do was tie one end to something sturdy, and with a lot of help, her family would be able to climb up it and escape their prison.
“This shouldn’t take long,” she told Nobu.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you.” The voice came from behind Saika.
Her mind and body shifted into battle mode. She sprang into a standing position and spun to face the latest threat.
From Moonlight to Mayhem
Chapter Thirteen
“Saika, be careful.” Nobu murmured.
Saika kept her eyes locked on the man’s and leapt to her feet. She shifted away from the trap door and wrapped her right hand around her katana’s tsuka and applied pressure, tipping the katana downward at a ninety degree angle before she tugged and the blade slid free of the protective covering. She adjusted her grip, sliding her hand towards the yaiba and brought her left hand around to grasp the swords pommel. In a single fluid motion, she swung the sword, the sharp edge swung towards the man’s neck.
He jumped backwards and ducked out of the way a split second before Saika would have removed his head from his shoulders.
Saika lips pulled back in a snarl and she advanced at him.
An unholy light lit the man’s eyes. He lifted the pistol he held, pointing the barrel at Saika. She swiped at it with her sword, effortlessly knocking it from his grip. She barely noticed it arc through the air and crash into a nearby l
antern, tipping it onto its side beside a large, dust covered spider web.
The loss of the pistol didn’t bother the man, he simply drew the knife he’d strapped to his back and brandished the large heavy blade in front of him.
Saika’s fingers tightened on her katana’s tsuka and her eyes narrowed. Unlike the men she’d spied on who were so inebriated they failed to notice her crawling across the floor, this man was sober and fully cognizant of his surroundings. Even worse he looked powerful, well balanced, and not unskilled. And he was quick, she’d barely noticed him grab his knife. The knife he held worried her. It was heavy, with a long strong blade, and the handle was long enough for him to use a two handed grip which would make it difficult to knock the knife from his hand like she had his pistol.
Her best chance at surviving and saving her family was to use her much longer yaiba to keep him from slicing her with his knife and hope he tired faster than her.
She refused to think of what would happen if one of the men slumped over the table came to their senses and decided to assist her assailant.
Her grip tightened on her sword and she thrust the blade forward and pictured the sharp pointed tip piercing the hollow space just above her assailant’s collarbone. She winced when he parried her movement. The force of his parry sent vibrations of energy up and down the length of her arms.
Saika lifted the katana, swinging downward hoping to catch him unprepared, but he stepped backwards, evading the sharp edge. Determined not to lose whatever advantage she had or let him get even a moments rest, Saika followed his movements. She jabbed, thrust, and swiped.
Her mind and body merged felt merged with the katana, making each movement fluid. Her awareness of her surroundings dimmed. The only thing that mattered was surviving.
Her opponent wasn’t as good as her grandfather had been. The realization rattled around in the back of Saika’s mind while she thrust and parried at the older man’s shorter yaiba, but his determination, size, and persistence more than made up for his lack of technical skill.
