Lords of Retribution (Lords of Avalon series)

by Richards, K. R.

  “Jamison watched them with the spyglass. The scrolls, they were in there, they were looking at ‘em. That’s what the leader wants. They were all working on them earlier.”

  “They’re in the library now. ‘Tis likely them scrolls are still there,” said another voice. The accent was definitely from London.

  “They are just now returning to the room. Men and women,” another man said. “Are we to kill the women too?”

  “The leader said he wants those scrolls at all costs. Sounds like to me he does’na care,” a man with a brogue said.

  “Surprise is in our favor. And no, we don’t aim to kill anyone. We cause havoc. We get in and get the scrolls. When we attack, they will get their women out. It will be their first priority. We let them do that. We get the scrolls and leave. Let’s go! Remember, only kill if it is necessary. I do not think the leader wants any more blood upon his hands,” a different man instructed them.

  She opened her eyes to see horses and riders descending the hill.

  Senny slid into her wrapper. She fastened it while she ran from the room. Her hair streamed behind her. Her feet were bare. She did not care. She needed to warn the others. She made her way quickly down the corridor and hastily descended the stairs.

  She could hear the sound of billiard balls coming from the billiard room in one direction. She heard the laughter of some of the ladies from the drawing room further down the corridor. She headed straight for the library. She pushed open the double doors.

  Trevan noticed her first. “Zenny?”

  Still weak, Senny was breathing hard form her exertion. She was trembling, but forced herself to speak, “They are coming. The Brown Coats! I heard them. They are coming to the library. They were on the hill,” her voice sounded throughout the room. She pointed in the direction where she had seen the riders. “They looked with a spyglass. They know you have the scrolls. They are coming!”

  Senny shook violently as sounds of voices and horses’ hooves pounding into the earth grew louder in her head. The vision came to her, blocking out her real vision. They were near.

  She held on to the vision, knowing it was something she needed to do. She coughed and wheezed from her exertions. Still being congested, her chest felt tight. It was hard to breathe.

  Gabriel rushed to her. He tried to soothe her as best he could. His fingers threaded through her silken hair and wrapped around her head as he held her so he could see her eyes. He whispered soothing words to her, trying to calm her. He tried to coax her from her vision. He knew she was trapped in it, for her eyes had a glazed, unseeing look to them.

  Senny did not let go of the scene playing out before her. It was too important that she stay connected. She heard Gabriel’s voice, but concentrated upon the riders approaching Menadue instead.

  The rest of the gentlemen gathered the ladies and herded them from the library. Harry and Trevan began carefully rolling up the scrolls. Tristan sounded the alarm in the corridor and made his way to the drawing room to gather the rest of the ladies while Julyan went in the other direction to the billiard room and study to alert the other gentlemen. Tremayne sent Diggory to alert the servants and the guard out back, while he went out the front.

  Tristan and Julyan directed the ladies up the stairs. The female staff was sent above stairs to their rooms. Tristan held a rifle in his good hand, and a pistol in the hand of his broken arm. Julyan Trevelyan was also armed.

  Gabriel whisked his trembling and overwhelmed lady into his arms and carried her up the stairs.

  After receiving a kiss to her cheek by Trevan at the foot of the stairs, Wenna walked alongside her Grandfather who was being carried up in his Bath chair by two servants. Arms and ammunition were passed around to all the gentlemen who remained below. A disgruntled Lanyon Penrose was ordered upstairs by Trevan to guard the women.

  “Marrek, please, be careful.”

  Marrek was surprised when Kitty stopped and turned toward him.

  “Kitty, we need to get you upstairs to safety.” He took her elbow and was about mount the staircase. Her hand resting upon his chest stopped him.

  “I know, but Marrek, I am worried for you and I just wanted to tell you…that I – I care about you and I ask you to promise me that you will be careful.”

  Tears welled in her moss-agate colored eyes. She looked very upset, possibly nervous. Marrek saw she trembled slightly.

  “Kitty, I promise you, I will be careful. You must get upstairs, my dear.”

  “I–I could not bear to lose you, Marrek. I could not,” a sob escaped Catherine. “I care for you, Marrek.” This wasn’t about Charlie. This was about Marrek. She cared for him, and the feeling was growing deeper by the day. She wiped a tear from her cheek, rose on her tiptoes and flung her arms around his neck. She kissed him. It was something she had wanted to do for days and hadn’t.

  To say Marrek was surprised when his wife embraced him and kissed him would be an understatement. When he felt her tongue move along the seam of his lips he opened to her. It was their first kiss. He kissed her deeply. It lasted for less than a minute. Reluctantly, he pulled back. Warning bells were going off in his head. Marrek had to get Kitty to safety.

  He smiled down at her several times while he hurried her up the stairs. When they were almost to the door of the parlor where the ladies and elderly gentlemen congregated, he dipped his head and kissed her quickly. He whispered against her ear, “I care for you very much, Kitty. Take care of yourself and our babe, my darling, and I shall take care as well.”

  Kitty smiled, but it faded as he urged her through the door. Gabriel was on his way out. Both he and Marrek barked their orders to the men in the parlour responsible for guarding the ladies. They closed the door behind them. Gabriel bellowed for Tristan to lock it. A click followed.

  A shot sounded from somewhere outside. Both men produced their pistols from their coats. Armed and ready, Gabriel and Marrek descended the stairs in a rush. They ran as they reached the lower floor. They instructed four of their cousins to stand guard at the stairs on their way to the library.

  Senny concentrated on the intruders. She knew she shook and trembled from the intensity of the vision. In truth, it was as if she were there.

  She was vaguely aware of Elowen, Morva and Wenna’s voices around her. She even felt the sting of someone’s palm against her forehead but she refused to let go of the connection she had. She could see nothing but the vision. She could hear Tristan’s voice, though it sounded far off. She felt him near. It seemed he was shouting at her. She couldn’t leave the vision. The men downstairs, Gabriel included, were in danger. All of them were in danger.

  There was something important she had missed, something they needed to know, but try as she might, she couldn’t figure out what it was.

  Until she recognized that one of the riders held a bow. He was on Menadue’s lawn, silhouetted against the light shining from inside the library windows. Then she saw other bows raised. The riders formed a line. She saw the bright flash of a torch and watched as arrows were lit. One by one, the flames grew, illuminating the long line of riders.

  It was difficult for her to do, it took time to push the thoughts and feelings of their attackers away; but she managed to pull herself from the vision. She had to warn them. She stared into Tristan’s blue eyes as he came into focus. He was kneeling in front of her. He had been shaking her.

  “They have bows and arrows with fire. You must tell Trevan and Gabriel, Tristan. They’re outside the library. They know the scrolls are there.”

  Tristan merely nodded. He squeezed Senny’s arm and started for the door calling for Lanyon and Julyan to lock up after him. He pulled Julyan and Lanyon into the corridor with him.

  “The house is stone, but the furnishings and some of the interior walls will burn. The stairs will burn. If the house goes up in flames get the ladies downstairs and out the side door and into the chapel as quickly as you can. You will have to carry Robert in his chair.” Tristan left them.

/>   Tristan hurried down the stairs. He called out warnings to the watch that the intruders were armed with bows and flaming arrows as he made his way to the library. He sent men to warn those on the outside watch.

  The arrows started coming in just as Tristan stepped into the library and shouted the warning. Glass in the large windows broke. The sound of cracking glass was followed by the sprinkling of a multitude of glass falling and shattering. Glass shards bounced upon the floor.

  It was fortunate Harry moved the scrolls and Secretum Domini to a safe place after Senny’s first warning. Several of the members removed their coats and began dousing the fire as the arrows landed upon the rugs and furniture. No men were hit.

  Arrows rained in upon them again. More glass shattered. The fiery arrows were quickly beat out. Tremayne left the library to make the rounds, making certain no fires started anywhere else in the house. He gathered some of his men to spread out and do the same. He even sent three men upstairs to look out for fires.

  Wyldhurst, Trevan, Marrek, Lyon and Owen along with several others began firing out the now broken windows. Harry was one of several reloading and passing the arms back to the shooters. More glass cracked and fell as the growing line of Avalon Society members continued to fire.

  The riders with flaming arrows and torches made easy targets. Many fell to the ground or wheeled their horses about and rode away. The sound of frightened horses screaming, men shouting and gunfire filled the air.

  The outside watch began firing from their positions they took up on the side of the library after making their way around the large house.

  The leader of the attack called out for the men to remain. He ordered them to set the house afire. Many men lay dead and wounded upon the grounds of Menadue. Some of the men turned their horses about and fled.

  The leader was close to the windows. In his exasperation, he didn’t even realize how precarious his situation was.

  When he turned to face the windows, he realized his predicament. His eyes widened.

  Marrek leveled his rifle at him. He fired.

  The man fell from his horse and landed with a thud upon the ground. His horse reared and bolted.

  “It would have been useful to interrogate him,” Trevan sighed and quirked an eyebrow at his cousin.

  “He should not be dead…yet. I aimed for his shoulder,” Marrek shrugged and arched a black brow at Trevan.

  “Jock!” Trevan called to one of his men outside on the grounds. “Get some of your men on their leader. Do not let him get away. Take him to the cellar and lock him up, do the same for any who are alive.” Trevan’s voice rang out over the lawn. “Send a party after the stragglers, we want them alive if at all possible, but we don’t want them to get away and come back and terrorize us another day.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  A few minutes later Tremayne entered the library. “They concentrated on the library, no other windows were broken, and there are no fires anywhere. It appears they were counting on the element of surprise. We owe our thanks, once again, to Zenny for alerting us.”

  “Indeed, we do.” Trevan clapped Gabriel on the back. “You will tell her for us, I know it is uncomfortable for her to be singled out in front of everyone.”

  “I will,” Gabriel nodded. “You are correct, cousin, it does make her uncomfortable.”

  Trevan nodded and turned to the men he had summoned. He instructed them to board up the broken windows. He turned to Marrek.

  “Tomorrow I’ll have the room cleaned. We may have to meet in the drawing room until repairs are made.” Trevan sighed heavily. “We’ll have to order more glass.” He shook his head. “I know we haven’t any wounded inside, I pray we haven’t any outside.”

  About that time, the click of heels against the parquet floor was heard in the corridor along with the swish of silks and satins.

  “I thought we told them to remain upstairs until we sent for them?” Marrek muttered.

  “We did,” Gabriel offered with a grin.

  “They don’t seem to listen well, do they?” Trevan added with a snort of amused laughter.

  “No,” Marrek gave his cousin a mischievous smile, “but I certainly will not be the one to tell them so.”

  Trevan shook his head, “I won’t either.”

  “That makes three of us.” Gabriel nodded.

  Harry approached the trio, “Trevan you should tell the ladies to stay upstairs until we are certain it is safe.”

  “Why me?”

  “You’re the Duke, it’s your home,” Harry posed. He watched as the ladies began filtering into the library.

  “You tell them,” Trevan looked to Harry. He raised a brow at his friend and grinned.

  Harry saw the determined look his Angel wore. It became clearer with each passing day that his wife was something of a ringleader among the Avalon Society member’s wives.

  He sighed heavily. “No, it appears to be safe enough.” Harry shrugged. He added with a whisper, “They do seem quite determined.”

  “They do indeed, especially your little pixie, Harry,” Trevan suggested with a snort of laughter.

  The gentlemen laughed.

  “I know that look all too well,” Harry confessed to them in a low tone before turning and opening his arms to accept his lovely wife’s hug.

  “Oh Harry, we were so worried.” Rowena kissed her husband’s cheek. Then she looked around the room and said, “Look at the mess in here!”

  “Yes, we must get everyone into the drawing room. There is a lot of broken glass in here.” Harry led Rowena toward the door.

  Grace and Libby approached Owen. Grace carried a somber-faced Alice in her arms.

  Though Alice wanted to see her Papa, she was enjoying seeing all of the gentlemen too. Nearly every one of them stopped to speak to her or tousled her dark brown curls as they walked by.

  “Are all the bad men gone, Uncle Twevan?” Alice asked.

  “They are, Alice, every last one. Alice, you are growing like a fern.” Trevan grinned and paused to kiss Alice’s head before he embraced Wenna.

  “Mr. Gabe-rell!” Alice’s face lit up when she saw Gabriel. She held out her arms to him.

  Gabriel gladly took her. He smiled broadly when the three year old wrapped her arms about his neck and gave him a hug. He kissed her little hand and smiled down at her. He listened intently to her recount everything she had heard while upstairs in the parlour with her mother. They had formed a bond the day he and Owen had rescued Alice at the docks several weeks ago. Actually, they had formed it the week before that when Gabriel was able to connect with little Alice by holding her favorite dolly.

  “I don’t yike the booms,” she ended her tale and shook her head of dark curls woefully.

  “There will not be any more booms tonight, sweeting.” Gabriel passed her to her Papa.

  “Papa!” Alice hugged her father’s neck tightly then laid her head upon his shoulder. She yawned.

  “Someone is ready for bed, I think,” Owen looked lovingly upon his daughter.

  “She should be. She did not want to take her nap again today,” Grace said as she arched a meaningful eyebrow at Owen.

  Owen grinned lovingly at his wife. He shrugged.

  “Where is Uncle Micah?” Alice asked as she raised her head to look about.

  “Remember I told you, your Uncle Micah would be gone for a few days, Alice.” Libby smoothed her niece’s hair.

  “Yes, Aunt Wibby.” Alice laid her head on her Papa’s shoulder once again. She yawned loudly this time.

  “Upstairs we go, Alice. It is Papa’s little girl’s bedtime. Libby, we will escort you and Lady Tuesday to your rooms,” Owen offered.

  Libby and Tuesday followed Owen, Grace and Alice from the room.

  “Where is Zenny?” Gabriel asked Wenna.

  “She insisted on returning to her room since she was not dressed. She had no shoes on. Poor Senny, I think it embarrassed her to have a vision in front of so many people,” Wenna told Ga
briel in a whisper.

  “I must go to her.”

  Trevan nodded, “Yes you must make certain she is well.”

  As Marrek stood speaking to Wyldhurst, he felt Catherine’s slender fingers entwine with his. He looked to his wife and smiled. He lightly squeezed her fingers. The genuine, happy smile she gave him caused his heart to skip a beat.

  “Marrek, will you be joining us for the interrogations?” Trevan asked.

  He watched as Catherine hid a yawn behind her hand. “Yes. In ten minutes after I escort my wife to her chamber. In the cellar, cousin?”

  “Yes,” Trevan said.

  “I’ll be there shortly.” Marrek gave him a nod and placed his large hand at the small of his wife’s back. “Come Kitty, you need your rest.”

  He escorted his wife upstairs and into her chamber. Marie, her maid, excused herself and said she would return with some fresh water for her lady to wash with.

  “Get some rest, Kitty. Will you be able to sleep?”

  Catherine nodded. “I hope so, it was all so unnerving. You won’t be gone long, will you?”

  Marrek saw the worry in her eyes. “No. I hope to be back in about a half hour, perhaps a little longer. I will look in on you when I return.”

  She smiled and nodded.

  “I will see you shortly, Kitty,” Marrek turned to leave her at her bedside. Her hand upon his arm stopped him. He looked to her.

  Catherine rose up on her tiptoes and rested her hands upon his hard, muscled chest. She stretched and pressed her lips to his.

  Marrek stood completely still for a moment, his first instinct was to gather her tightly to him and kiss her deeply.

  He could not. He instead allowed his wife to set the pace. He opened to her and kissed her tenderly. When she pulled away, he allowed it and removed his hands from her waist. As his hand brushed against her, he could feel the gentle swell of her belly. He wanted to touch her belly to feel the life inside her, the child who would become his. He didn’t do that either. He knew it was still too soon.