"Do not be hasty, Remington." As if on a secret signal, men appeared around them from cover of the woods, arrows and pistols at the ready.
Rogier stepped over to his daughter and grabbed her roughly by the chin.
"My dear daughter, I am sorry you had to be in the middle of this nasty little business of men, but --" he shrugged, indicating it was really of no importance. "If you run with the likes of the Hellhound, you must expect to get caught in the consequences of his actions."
Darien met the older man's eyes challengingly, undeterred by the small army surrounding them. "Keep your hands off my wife."
Elise suffered her father's glacial stare.
"Wife?" Rogier began to laugh; an eerie sound that made Elise shiver. "Tell me about your marriage, my dear. I've always been interested in your life."
"Go to hell."
"We shall both go there," he promised. "This marriage is an interesting if somewhat irrelevant tid-bit. In time it will not matter. Though, of course, there is the child."
Elise felt afraid, but then told herself he could not touch her daughter.
"There's nothing you can do to change our marriage," she told him.
"I believe you are wrong. If your husband is dead, there is no marriage." Rogier turned to Darien. "Darien Remington, under order of the laws of the State of New York, you are to be held in chains until such time as you are tried before a jury of your peers, at which time when you are found guilty of crimes of murder and thievery by the devil named Hellhound, you will be hanged by the neck until dead."
"No!" Elise leapt toward her father, pummeling him with her fists before he raised a hand and hit her, the force of the blow knocking her dazedly to the ground.
"Lancaster!" Darien roared. "I shall kill you. Leave her alone." He strained against the three men holding him.
"Remington, I thought you had more pride than this." Rogier pulled a cloth from his pocket and wiped his lip where she had split his lip open. "My daughter has just informed you that you are a father, albeit an absent one, and yet you still come to her defense. What amazing human frailty you are saddled with."
"Damn you," Elise spat. "I shall never acknowledge you to be my own blood." Slowly, she regained her feet. Almost without her volition, the words came, "By all that Mandine has taught me, I foresee the brevity of your future, a future embroiled by the evil you have spawned around you." She pointed at him, eyes narrowed as she saw his life come to an end.
The sun turned her hair to molten fire, and Rogier found himself unable to look away.
"You, Rogier Lancaster, shall die by just death on a cold and lifeless morn. Your vileness breeds contempt and fear of those around you. You have written your own sentence."
Elise started laughing, the sound a chilling replica of Mandine's cackle. Rogier, despite the fear he had momentarily experienced, stepped forward and slapped her face.
Abruptly, Elise was silenced, then fell forward into the grass.
#
"You are coming with me, my dear Elise, as you should have done when you arrived here. And," Rogier continued casually, "I look forward to hearing the story of your whereabouts these years past. And there is a grandchild, we must bring it here. Is it a boy or a girl?"
Inside the carriage, Elise merely looked at him.
"I searched for you everywhere, you know. But there was not even a trace. Strange indeed, since women always leave something, a clue somewhere. Money usually makes the clues appear and I certainly spread it around, but to no avail. You bested me," he mused. "It was as if you vanished."
Elise ignored him, but couldn't repress a shiver, knowing that Mandine had for a moment taken over her body in the clearing.
With deep fear she looked out the carriage window at Darien, his hands and feet clamped in irons as he walked on foot.
"Why are you doing this?" she demanded. "He's done nothing to you."
"I can't have him running around the countryside cutting into my profits."
"If your profits are from stealing and murder --"
"I grow weary of your accusations," he snapped. "Accept your fate. You will come with me as you should have when I bid you upon your return. You have foiled me for the last time."
"I know it had to be you who put my name in the pauper's auction. You thought I would come running to you for help. But Rufus and Darien outbid you." She began to laugh. "You couldn't outbid Darien's money. It's killing you that he's wealthier than you -- everything he made was his own honest sweat and labor. You stole every penny which has come into your hands --"
Rogier's face grew mottled, denoting a rage about to explode. Elise knew the signs of old but she didn't care.
"Your men should know the man you are. You're jealous of my husband," she said loudly, "just as you always have been." Her lip curled contemptuously. "I can't believe I am related to you. You'd kick the lowest dog when he was down."
Rogier smirked. "That's right, my dear. Someone has to be the dog so those of us that are more intelligent can rule."
"Darien hasn't killed anyone and you know it," she hissed. "You're setting him up."
The carriage door opened and the conveyance dipped. "But he has killed," remarked a familiar voice in the doorway.
"Beldar." Rogier gave the other man a welcoming smile.
"He attacked an innocent band of hunters on their way home from a hunt," her former kidnapper claimed. "You were there as a witness."
"You and your men kidnapped me," she spat.
The other man laughed. "I see you remember me. I'm honored. However, your recall of the day is amiss. My men and I are honorable traders of cloth and fur. We would never attack or kidnap anyone. We found you wandering the hillside in a confused state of mind. His light colored eyes slid over her and Elise shuddered her disgust.
"Enough. Beldar, I see you arrived safely from your mission," Rogier said.
"Where are you taking us?" Elise demanded.
"I am bringing you home. I must intervene before you ruin what is left of your reputation. I miscalculated twice, once when I forced you from Mandine's cottage, and then at the pauper's auction. It is my responsibility to guide my headstrong daughter. If I leave you to your own devices, I fear you will find nothing but complete social ruin."
"You'll regret this. Mandine knew about you." Elise stared at him. "You'd better high tail it out of here," she hissed. "Mandine will be after you too. She knows what you're up to, she always knows."
Beldar began to back out of the carriage. "I warned you about the witch --"
"Be silent." Rogier grabbed her arm, turned to his henchman. "Beldar, best you get under way." The other man stepped down from the carriage and slammed the door.
Rogier looked at her with an intense anger burning in his eyes. "If you think to get him riled up, you do so at your own risk. There will be hell to pay when my back is turned."
"Threaten all you like," she shrugged, hiding her real fright. "You know the power Mandine possessed, even from the grave. It has not died. You know it."
A twitch began by his right eye, but he didn't deign to reply.
Chapter Thirteen
The journey to Rogier's house was difficult. Elise tried to see if Darien was all right, but they'd tied his hands to a chain and he walked at the back of the carriage out of her sight.
No rest stops were made on the steep, arduous journey up the mountain and the ride was slowed even further by the sudden entombment in thick, impenetrable fog.
As dusk gave way to a dense, smoky night, Elise was returned to the home of her birth. They had traveled halfway up a mountain, only a few miles away from the village where Darien and Rufus lived, but it was like entering another world.
The carriage swayed over the last section of the rutted road and reached the level area that Elise knew meant they were almost there. They passed a thick stand of pines, then she shivered as the first glimpse of the stone walls surrounding the house came into view. The lantern lights gave the house an eerie, otherworldly appeara
nce.
She had not seen this house in twenty-four years; she had hoped never to see it again. The blackened stone reminded her of the turmoil of her childhood. Rogier had made a once simple home into a fortress. An eight foot high stone wall surrounded the house and she had often wondered about her father's purpose in having such a house. In the twenty-first century, little remained of the structure except the odd pieces of stone jutting against the mountain behind it.
Built into a jagged bluestone ledge, it was a house like no other, dark and silent, the windows appearing to be blank eyes staring at nothing . . . seeing everything.
Once inside the cobbled courtyard fronting the house, the horses and carriage halted.
Wielding a long blade, Beldar ordered three men to drag Darien away while her father pulled her out of the carriage toward the house, Beldar behind them. Arms flailing, she fought him every step, then landed on the cold floor, winded, as he shoved her inside the door.
She turned to see Beldar behind her; her father seemed to have already forgotten about her. Beldar gloated over her helplessness, then dared to reach out a hand to touch her hair.
Without a moment's hesitation, she sank her teeth into his hairy hand. He bellowed in outrage, staring in disbelief at the crescent of red droplets between his wrist and small finger. With furious rage he lunged toward her, but halted when her father intervened. "Beldar! Go outside and make sure the prisoner is secure."
He left, but not before Elise saw his grin and the promise of retribution in his eyes. She would have to be very careful, for he was the kind to take pleasure in hurting.
Rogier pulled her up the stairs to her old room and forced her inside. "If you intend to live here without continually guarding your back, I advise you to make a friend of Beldar."
Elise turned away from him, hearing the door close and the key turn in the lock.
#
Elise woke disoriented. She fumbled about, lighting a lamp, then remembered she was a prisoner in her father's house on top of the mountain.
In her uneasy sleep she had dreamed of escape, and returning to her daughter and the life she had built over the last twenty years. What about Darien?
She tried to grasp at the dream images, disturbed by a deep sense of loss.
Rising, she walked to the barred window. As a child she had asked her father why he lived up so high, away from the town. He had laughed at her child's question. It had taken years for her to realize the sense of superiority Rogier experienced when he looked outside and knew that all he saw belonged to him.
The yard below was empty, the old stone tower unchanging as it stood sentinel directly across from her window. She knew that's where they had to have Darien. She had to find a way to help him escape.
Elise pushed open the glass and clenched her hands around the cold bars.
When she was twelve, her father had ordered the bars put on her window. He had caught her slipping out one night to go to the stables. The stable master's son had a champion retriever with puppies. Her father wouldn't allow the puppies in the house or even hear of her playing with them.
Rogier had waited one night as she climbed in her window. He had ordered the oak tree outside her window cut down and the bars appeared the next day. For the next two weeks her defiance had cost her dearly. The tree had been split and piled. It was her duty each day to bring in the firewood for the huge brick ovens where the cook prepared the meals. Because of the oven's size and their huge draft, the wood burned quickly. She had been forced to make four journeys a day to keep the ovens supplied. Had it not been for Mandine's interference, it would have gone on until her father's ire eased, something which sometimes took months.
Elise shook off the memory. Knowing her father's idea of justice, she worried for Darien. Her father's mood swings made her all the more fearful.
She knew there would be no just trial but more likely a trial by her father and his cohorts. They would decide Darien was guilty. As she continued to stare out the window, some of the fog finally began to give way, drifting thickly toward the woods. Amazingly, the moon appeared and began to creep from behind the clouds, then shone on the yard below.
A movement in the courtyard caught her attention. Someone -- a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder, carried a tray of food to the stone tower that stood by itself just inside the stone wall. They had to have him in the tower! Elise looked around her room, then pulled open the drawers of her armoire, startled to see all of her clothes still inside, as if she'd left the room only that morning.
She found several long hairpins and walked back toward the door with purpose. If there was one thing she excelled at, it was getting through a locked door, a skill she had never let her father know about.
#
"Darien," Elise pushed the heavy wood door open, advanced a step into the small dark room. Another step. She wished she had a lamp but it had been too dangerous to carry one.
A hand clamped over her mouth, stifling the scream which her overworked nerves almost gave rise to.
"'Lise, 'tis I. Do not make a sound."
She nodded. Darien pushed the door closed gently, then came and knelt beside her on the stone floor. She reached for him blindly.
"The door was unlocked. I can't believe our luck. When I didn't see you --"
"Are you intent on getting killed?"
She drew away at the exasperation in his voice. There was a movement, then paper rustling. A match flared and a glimmer of light crept up dismal, gray walls. Darien placed the lantern on the floor of the cell.
"How did you get in here?" he demanded.
"I'm not in league with my father, if that's what you're thinking. I am worried about you and what he plans. We have to escape."
"Forgive me. I am taking my anger out on you. It is my own carelessness that has led to these circumstances."
"How can he know you're the Hellhound?"
"I fear he had been watching me more closely than even I anticipated. A few nights past that one named Beldar contrived to trap me. Their band of thieves ransacked a farm house on the outskirts of town. I came upon them, realizing too late they were there to trap the Hellhound."
"Did they see you face to face?"
"I managed to evade them, yet somehow he convinced your father I was the one he sought, though I am certain it did not take much convincing."
Elise shivered and huddled closer to him. "He hates you."
"Hate has sustained him for a number of years. If I stand accused, he can dispose of me and the Hellhound, killing two birds with one stone."
"How can he prove anything against you?"
Darien ran a hand over the dark stubble on his chin. He gave her a rueful smile. "Whether he has evidence or not is not the point. He will employ any means to make me a scapegoat."
"But maybe as far as he knows the Hellhound is still out there, wrecking his plans."
"True. No doubt he thinks if the Hellhound is out there and they make an example of me, the Hellhound will move on from this territory." Darien laughed softly. "Little does he know the real vengeance he will bring upon his head. Be assured my brother will avenge my death."
"Darien, don't talk like that. You're not going to die."
"I know your father's devious methods. I'm sure I will be killed trying to escape."
"Maybe I can get word to Rufus."
"My brother has taken our furs for the winter trapping to the city. They're to be shipped tomorrow. He will not be back in time."
"Maybe I can pick the locks on these chains." She leaned down to look at the chains binding him.
"There is nothing but the sturdy key that will open this." He held up the lock which was covered in rust. "How did you get in here?"
"No one saw me." She kissed him, worry a tight knot in her stomach. "I couldn't stand not knowing if you were okay. He locked me in but I got out."
"How many guards are outside?"
"Three by the house, one by the door on either side, and another alon
g the wall by the gateway."
"Is the gate open?"
Elise nodded yes.
"How did you get past them?"
"They were changing guard and were careless, leaving the posts unprotected for a short time. We can get away the next time they change, in about four hours."
Darien held up the chains.
"We have to try," she said desperately. "I'm sure he's not going to wait for the proper authorities. He'll precipitate matters before they ever arrive."
Darien turned the wick on the lamp up so there was more light. She muffled a cry as she saw the cuts and scratches on his face and the dried blood on his arm. A chain bound him to the floor by his ankle.
"Unless you have a magical spell to release me or blacksmith tools, I fear we are here until a key presents itself. I have tested the strength of this chain and I cannot best it."
"No. I won't let him win." Frantically, she looked around the room.
"Be calm, be calm."
"You don't understand Darien. The women of my ancestry save the men we love. My mother, our daughter -- Darien, you can't die. It's my fault you've been imprisoned. I should not have come back."
"'Lise, no matter the outcome, you have already saved me. There is no blame to lay at your door. Roof and I fully understood the risk involved when all this began."
He dropped a kiss on her forehead, his lips caressing. She just wanted to keep leaning into his warmth.
"Had you not been brave enough to come back, I would have died a bitter man, never understanding the true depth of your love for me. Rufus called me a pig-headed fool when he first met you; he saw what I could not." His arms pulled her to him. "I understand so much more about that long ago night."
"Mandine told me she had seen the blood run from that night."
"And our daughter is a grown woman. She has her own love?"
"Yes Darien. She is strong, and following her own destiny." She touched the locket on her neck. "I tried to show you this once before."
Removing it from her neck, she offered him the locket.
Darien bent closer to the lantern, flicking open the hinged locket to study the picture inside.
Time Travel Romance Collection Page 48