Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 08] - Sanguinet's Crown

by Patricia Veryan

  Redmond had started for Claude, and Guy staggered to catch his arm. "Hurry!" he panted. "My… carriage, it waits for me. We can—"

  "In just… one minute," grated Redmond.

  "No!" Guy struggled to hold him.

  Redmond ripped out a string of profanities and wrenched away. "He may be your brother, but he's a stinking bastard and not fit to live! I've—"

  "There is no time for your vengeance! We must get Charity away. The whole staff will be after us in a second only!"

  Dazed by this swift chain of events, Charity experienced a jolting sense of excitement. It had sounded—it had really sounded as though Guy could help them escape! Certainly, he himself would have to leave now, for Claude would never forgive him. She ran to tug desperately at Redmond's other arm. "Please, please, Mr. Redmond! If Guy will help us, we may still have a chance! Please, for England, we must try!"

  Diccon's voice echoed in Mitchell's ears: "You don't give a groat for England…"

  The blaze of madness died from his eyes. For a moment, he still stared down at her. Then, drawing quickly away from her touch, he muttered, "Yes. Of course." He strode to open the rear door and peer outside.

  Guy meanwhile had hurried to drop to one knee beside his brother's motionless form. He touched Claude's wrist and, reassured, stood, then bent again to slip a large ruby ring from the lax hand.

  Redmond called, "The coast is clear now…"

  "My regrets," said Guy, taking Charity's hand, "but we have not the time to pause for wraps."

  She smiled, undaunted. Watching her, a twinkle came into his eyes. He asked gravely, "Do you really mean to keep the spear?"

  Charity had quite forgotten she clutched the weapon and, with a rather shaken laugh, dropped it.

  They went outside. This level of the castle was encircled by a drivepath that curved up to join the main approach road. A brisk breeze was blowing, ice on its breath, but Charity was too nervous to notice such a trifle. Hope was reborn in her breast as she followed Guy along the drive, but she trembled with the fear that, just as this miraculous chance was offered, it might be snatched away.

  A closed barouche was before them, the coachman having providentially walked his horses a little way while waiting. A groom jumped down and opened the door, then let down the steps.

  Guy handed Charity into the luxurious vehicle and she sank into a corner, praying, "Please God, let them not come…"

  Redmond climbed in, sat in the other corner, and looked out the window. Guy entered and pulled the rug over Charity's knees before sitting beside her.

  The barouche lurched; the horses' hooves clattered on the cobblestones.

  They were moving!

  A great tide of thankfulness welled up in Charity's heart. To her horror, she burst into tears.

  PART II

  The Race

  Chapter 13

  The Captain came into the luxurious saloon as the yacht began to make its way along the channel towards the open sea. "One might think," he grumbled, "one might think, I say, that Monseigneur would have allowed us the small time of preparation!"

  Charity turned from the porthole and Guy ushered her to a chair. "When my brother says 'at once,' I do not argue, mon capitaine. But if you tell me this cannot be done, I shall be happy to convey your message to him."

  "I do not say it cannot be done," answered the Captain, turning his very round and very red face from its preoccupation with the channel and directing a hard stare from Guy to Charity to Mitchell. "I only say it is odd."

  "Odd?" Guy's brows lifted. "I brought you a message yesterday, sir, that you were to provision and prepare La Hautemant for Monseigneur's imminent departure. You have, I presume, done this?"

  ''I have, of course,'' replied the Captain, his snowy whiskers bristling. "But it was my understanding that Monseigneur was to board us. Not''—his gaze turned pointedly from Charity's unlikely garments to Redmond's bruised face— "others."

  ''My brother appears to feel he has the right to change his plans,'' Guy said cuttingly. " He desires that his betrothed be conveyed to England with the utmost speed, so as to await him there."

  Captain Godoy was relatively new to the service of Claude Sanguinet, a fortunate happenstance, since the former captain of La Hautemant had known Charity well and been aware of the circumstances of her flight from Brittany. Nonetheless, Guy's nonchalant announcement of a betrothal he had never heard of caused the fat little Belgian to direct another hard stare at this girl he judged to be somewhat less than a diamond of the first water. Guy took up Charity's left hand, on the third finger of which glittered the great ruby he had appropriated from his brother. "You are not, I am assured, doubting my word?"

  The Captain knew that ring. He was fond of rubies and had in fact admired the peerless stone. "I must return to the bridge, monsieur," he said with an immediate and considerable lessening of his annoyed demeanour. "It shall be as you say. Once we are clear of the channel, we— Yes, Monsieur Esmon?"

  A thin young man, resplendent in his officer's uniform, came in and said in a high-pitched falsetto, "A boat is putting out from the shore, sir. We are signalled to wait."

  Godoy strode to the porthole again.

  Charity gave a gasp. Redmond stood, his mouth becoming a thin, hard line. Guy rasped angrily, "No! My brother distinctly ordered that—"

  "These are Monseigneur's men, monsieur," the Captain interpolated, peering shoreward. "We shall wait."

  And so they waited, nerves stretched tight and eyes straining to the small craft that came rapidly over the choppy grey water, her six oarsmen rowing hard and the one passenger hunched over in the stern. A man of small stature.

  Frozen with despair, Charity thought, "It is Claude. He has won, after all."

  Redmond, his keen eyes fastened to the distant figure, his body tensed for desperate action, let out his pent-up breath in a faint hiss and said, "Your fiance is all consideration, ma'am. He sends your little pet along."

  With a leap of the heart, Charity cried, "What? You mean it is not—"

  "Alas, I fear Monseigneur could not himself come," Guy interjected swiftly. "You will see him very soon, Miss Strand. I think you know the messenger…?"

  Watching the boat come alongside, Charity said, "Oh, it is Lion! With Little Patches. How very kind in Monseigneur!''

  Captain Godoy grunted and gave it as his opinion that he did not like cats on board La Hautemant. "They bring bad luck!"

  "Nonsense," said Charity, her heartbeat subsiding to a gallop. "You should be glad to have one on board, to keep down the rats."

  "So you are to keep down the rats, are you, petite chatte?" Guy stroked the kitten who purred ecstatically on his lap. Laughing, he added, "A very small rat would make short work of this one, I think."

  They were gathered in the comfortable parlour of the private suite to which they had repaired as soon as the yacht was well out to sea. Guy was occupying a deep chair, Charity sat beside Lion on a small sofa, and Redmond leaned against the bulkhead, arms folded, his eyes turning often to the porthole beside him, searching the dusk for any sign of a pursuing vessel.

  "How glad I am that you brought her, Lion," said Charity. "But however did you manage it?"

  His eyes alight with excitement, the boy said,"It was pure luck, missus. That there old fusty-faced maid of yours done it. I went up to see if you might like to go for a ride, and that maid was so busy jaw-me-deading that Little Patches went hopping off. Straight for the basement steps she goes like a flash, and I runs arter her."

  "I wonder why she kept going down there?" murmured Charity.

  "Rats, probably," offered Redmond, without turning from his vigil.

  Charity laughed.

  Lion went on, "Lucky I follered her. She ran to the first open door, which was the war room. Strike me silly if ever I see anything like that! People lying about all over the floor, moaning and groaning something terrible."

  "You must have been very close behind us if they were not up and abou
t," observed Guy.

  "Well, I think I was, sir. But that Shotten cove was trying to get up, so I thought I'd best slow him down.'' He grinned broadly and said with relish, "I tore up his neckcloth and tied him up with it, and I gagged him with his own stocking, and if that don't stifle him, nothing will!"

  Charity clapped her hands. Guy said, "Excellent rascal!" and Redmond slanted an amused smile at the boy.

  ''Oh, I served them up very fine,'' boasted Lion."Did you see that big net hanging on the wall? Monsieur Gerard told me Parnell Sanguinet fetched it back from India, and that he'd used it once to catch a tiger. Well, I trussed Monseigneur and his men up very tight, and then rolled them one by one into the net, and I tied it to the handle of the inside door."

  "And the door opens into the corridor," said Charity, watching Lion in awe.

  ''That will make it something difficult to open,'' Guy said. "I salute you, my young friend. But—how if my brother's people simply go around to the outer door?"

  "I locked it on me way out," said Lion, "and dropped the key in the channel. I rode as fast as I could go, with the kitten in me pocket, and when I see the yacht coming, I told some sailors Monseigneur had sent me with a urgent writing for the Captain. They didn't believe me at first, but then they see the yacht and they didn't dare take no chance but what I was telling the truth. So they rowed us out. Me and Little Patches."

  "How clever you have been!" Charity clasped his hand impulsively.

  Lion blushed scarlet and looked down in embarrassment.

  ''And now,'' said Guy, " we must decide what we do. How you say, Redmond? It is to Birkenhead for us? Or do you think Gerard will sail around Land's End to Portsmouth or Brighton?"

  Redmond went to sit on a chest apart from the group. "Has Claude another ship that could come up with us before we reached Birkenhead?"

  Guy frowned. "Had he Se Rallumer… even so, is not impossible."

  "I cannot feature his failing to give chase, and at sea we will be very visible, and powerless if he signals Godoy. I think our best chance is to make straight for the Scottish coast. Devenish, I believe, has a cousin dwelling there who has already encountered Claude and who will certainly help us."

  "Major Tyndale!" exclaimed Charity. "Of course! And his wife's grandfather is a general who must have great influence with the authorities!'' Elated, she turned to Guy, and surprised a look of sadness. With her usual warmheartedness, she crossed to sink to her knees beside his chair. "Guy, mon pauvre ami. How difficult this must be for you. We owe you our lives, but when we reach England you must do no more. We shall ask no more of you, shall we, Mr. Redmond?"

  Redmond evaded, "Do you mean to return to France, Sanguinet?"

  "Who shall say? As for tomorrow, Scotland it shall be." He stood and with a forced smile asked, "For where must I tell our captain to steer?"

  Redmond hesitated. "The castle is in Ayrshire, but do you know whereabouts, ma'am?"

  "Good heavens!" exclaimed Charity, dismayed. "I've not the least notion.''

  Lion said, "I knows. It's Castle Tyndale, near a village called Drumdownie. Sticks up like a bloomin' great lighthouse it does, on the very edge of the cliffs. Can't miss it."

  The following morning, however, it seemed that they would very easily miss the castle. Charity had retired to her stateroom soon after dinner and gone to bed after offering up some very grateful prayers. She awoke to grey skies and pouring rain, conditions that prevailed all that day. La Hautemant sailed on steadfastly, her bow slicing waves that grew ever higher. By nightfall they were running before the wind with shortened sail, but in the wee hours the seas became less violent, and at dawn the winds died. They prowled the Scottish coast at a snail's pace, bedevilled by mists that drifted fitfully, threatening to thicken into fog.

  Charity went on deck wrapped in one of the greatcoats that had been hung in the wardrobe of Guy's cabin. The air was clammy, and visibility had shrunk to less than a mile. Shivering, she peered at the dark line of hills that was the coast of Scotland.

  "You are up early, little one," said Guy, joining her at the rail.

  She turned to him with a smile. "Shall we land today, do you think?"

  "If our gallant captain can find your friend's castle."

  For a little while they both watched the coast, then Charity observed, "It looks very mountainous in places, Guy. Do we sail northward?"

  "I think the mists deceive us, and yes, we have had to go south around Kintyre and the Island of Arran, but now we are off Ayrshire. When the sun she come up, you shall see better.''

  Charity laughed. "The sun! What an optimist! Is Lion awake?"

  "Oui. And on the bridge, advising the Capitaine how to sail his ship. Redmond is there also."

  They glanced at each other.

  "He was not really afraid, you know," Guy said quietly. "It was just the clever pose to make my brother's men relax their guard the little piece."

  "Yes. And it worked!"

  A pause, and now although both stared at the coastline, neither saw it.

  "Charity," Guy said hesitantly, "has he spoken to you since we came aboard?"

  "A few words only. But I don't believe he has once looked directly at me."

  He sighed. "He avoids my eyes also."

  "My sister once told me—" Charity began.

  "Look!" Lion was shouting from the bridge and pointing eastwards in great excitement. "There it is! There's Castle Tyndale!"

  Wreathed with tendrils of mist, the great castle rose at the brink of the cliffs. It presented a very different picture to that of Tor Keep, for although massive, it soared high and gracefully. Constructed of grey stone with large Gothic windows, three tall conical towers and crenellated battlements, it looked majestic, and Charity murmured, "Oh, how very beautiful it is. Like a castle from a fairy tale."

  Lion, who had run down to join them, said with a derisive snort, "That ain't what Mr. Devenish thought of it, Miss Charity. Monsieur Claude pulled all manner of tricks on him and Major Tyndale, 'cause Monsieur was using the castle for hisself and tried to drive 'em out. Mr. Garvey said Devenish was so scared he like to died o' fright!"

  Appalled by the awareness that Redmond had also joined them and was standing close by, she said, "We all have an Achilles' heel, Lion. Something that may cause the very bravest person to weaken, even if only briefly.''

  "Oh yus," the boy scoffed. "But a real man wouldn't never let it beat him. He'd be brave and stand buff, no matter what, he would!"

  "That would depend on how deep was his fear. Or how sensitive his nature. We are all so different, you know. And surely, the important thing is not that a man never be afraid, for such a one must be a fool, but that, however afraid, he goes on and does his best. That, I think, is true heroism, Lion."

  Unconvinced, Lion grunted.

  Guy glanced around, saw Redmond standing there, his face expressionless, and was dismayed.

  "Your Captain says there's a cove below the castle, Guy,'' said Redmond. "He will drop anchor there, and have us taken ashore. Then he means to return to Tordarroch. He asks that we prepare to land."

  Dogs began to bay frantically as Charity, holding Guy's arm, followed Lion and Redmond along the winding path that led up the cliffs to Castle Tyndale. She heard a door slam and thought with relief that someone was here, even if the Tyndales were from home. Panting, she paused at the top of the path, looking back to the cove far below, but La Hautemant was already disappearing into the southern mists.

  A howl of excitement rang out. "Mitch! By God! It's my brother! And he's got Miss Strand!"

  Charity's heart leapt with joy. "They're here!" she cried wildly. "Oh, thank God!"

  She began to run, and heard whoops and shouts, distant at first, but coming closer as they rounded the side of the great structure. She had a brief impression of broad lawns and fine old trees and flowerbeds, but then the wide steps at the front of the castle were suddenly full of men.

  Redmond drawled, "Our reinforcements have arrived, c
ertainly."

  Guy drew back, but Charity saw her brother leap down the steps and she gave a shriek and ran joyously to meet him. With an answering shout, Justin Strand galloped to grab and hug her so hard she thought her ribs would crack. "You're safe!" he cried emotionally, swinging her around. "Now— thank God! Thank God!"

  She kissed him wholeheartedly, saw the glint of thankful tears in his blue eyes, and then was torn from his arms, swung higher and soundly kissed by her brother-in-law, Leith's deep voice ringing with gladness. Again, she was wrenched away, and Alain Devenish was adding his own salutes to her radiant face.

  Everyone was shouting at once. An exuberant Sir Harry Redmond pounded his quiet brother on the back, and the little clerical gentleman, Reverend Langridge, wrung and wrung at Mitchell's hand, while beaming upon them all.

  Charity was grateful to see Tristram go and grip Guy Sanguinet's hand and say something to him that brought a smile to Guy's face. Devenish turned to Lion, who looked scared and ill-at-ease.

  "Look!" shouted Devenish, laughingly, holding Little Patches aloft. "Another prisoner rescued!"

  There was a sudden silence. "Jupiter!" gasped Leith, staring at the kitten. "She was with you, Charity? But—"

  "H-hey!" shouted Jeremy Bolster, running from the castle, pulling on his jacket and minus one boot. He came up with the happy crowd, halted, and threw out his arms. Charity ran into them gladly, was hugged once more, and a shy kiss planted on her cheek.

  The air rang with questions, laughter, and badinage. And Charity stood there, weeping happy tears, her heart too full for words while these dear friends and loved ones she had feared never to see again closed in around her.

  A tall, fair-haired man she had never met came out onto the steps and stood watching. Over the uproar, Leith shouted, "It's my sister, Tyndale. Mitchell Redmond found her for us!"

  Strand asked anxiously, "My dearest girl, you are all right? They didn't harm you?"

  "They frightened me very badly, Justin. And made me horribly drugged. But, oh, I am home! Thanks to Mr. Redmond, and Guy—and Lion!"