by Kris Tualla
Avery was appalled. “You are the thief! Every penny you spent, you stole from my husband!”
“I earned that money!” he bellowed. “Have you ever been around someone with syphilis?”
When she did not answer, he stepped closer. “There is nothing genteel about a man whose cock and brain are rotting, I can assure you of that!”
“You were paid for your services,” she growled.
“Not nearly enough.” Esteban waved his arms around his frame, nearly hitting her. “And then you come prancing in and grab everything out from under me.”
He waggled a finger in her face. “And now, I will take it all back.”
Avery shook her head. “No you will not.”
“Yes I will. And I shall begin by giving you what your ignorant ape of a husband gave me.”
Esteban dropped the spent pistol, pulled his arm back, and punched Avery in the stomach so hard that she could not draw a breath.
§ § §
Lizzy heard the pistol shot and bit the heel of her hand to keep from screaming.
Was Lady Avery dead?
Tears blurred her vision as she backed away from the low wall she had crouched behind. Turning toward the fortress, she stood, lifted the hem of her skirt, and ran up and over Tower Hill in its hulking direction.
Only half an hour ago Lizzy had seen Lady Avery walking with a man with whom the lady should not have been keeping any sort of company, so she followed the pair. She saw the man grab Avery’s arm and she saw the flash of his blade.
The only thing she could do to help was follow and see where he took her friend.
We are friends. In spite of our different stations.
Tears rolled down her cheeks and Lizzy swiped them away.
Please, Higgins. Be on duty.
§ § §
Avery’s world went momentarily black. She felt her arms being pulled behind her back and the rough scratch of rope scraped her wrists. A rag was tied over her mouth leaving barely enough room for her to pull air through her nose.
Esteban jerked her to unsteady feet and then hefted her over his shoulder. Her abused belly collapsed under the pressure of his frame and she was again unable to breathe.
The blackness returned along with a pleasant numbness, which lasted until she was dumped on the rough-planked floor in a smaller room and banged her head.
“Sorry there is no fire. It might get chilly.” Esteban laughed. “But do not worry, no one will disturb your evening.”
He walked to the wooden door and left the room, closing it behind him.
Avery strained to hear any sounds at all beyond the clump of Esteban’s boots on the stairs and the thunk of the front door being forced shut.
At least he hadn’t raped her.
Yet.
Avery managed to sit up and tried to push the cloth off her mouth, but because her hands were tied behind her back she couldn’t reach her shoulder with her cheeks. She looked around the empty room for any detritus that she could use to cut the ropes binding her wrists: a scrap of metal, a shard of wood, the edge of a stone in the fireplace.
Her stomach hurt from Esteban’s assault and a dull ache was forming on the side of her head that hit the floor.
And she was cold. Her fur wrap did not accompany her to this room, apparently. The bastard probably kept it.
Tears stung her eyes.
Do not cry.
Avery would not give that worthless piece of humanity the satisfaction. Instead she scooted across the dusty floor to the cold, sooty fireplace and felt for a sharp rock.
§ § §
“I am looking for Higgins,” Lizzy told the guard on duty.
The Beefeater glared down at her. “Get away.”
“It’s important. It’s about—”
“I said get away!” the guard shouted. “Before I have you clapped in irons!”
“You don’t understand—”
The guard grabbed her arm and began to drag Lizzy back across the moat’s bridge. “I understand what sort of business you do, and we will have none of your type around here!”
He shoved her and she fell to the cobbles, bruising both knees. Lizzy rolled sideways and screamed, “It’s Lady Avery! She’s in danger!”
The Beefeater waved an annoyed hand in her direction and stomped back into his station.
§ § §
Askel stood in front of Jakob, tears streaming down his pale face. “And so I went to buy the paper and ink.”
“Then what?” Jakob asked in Norsk. Askel was far too distraught to attempt telling his tale in English.
“When I returned to the ship, Lady Avery was gone.”
Jakob’s chest tightened. “Gone?”
Askel nodded. “I talked to the captain—I would not leave the ship until they let me—and he said she never asked anyone to send me on that task.”
Skitt.
“What did the man look like?”
“He—he had brown eyes. Dark hair. Almost black. About this tall.” Askel held up his flattened hand. “And he had a hat pulled low on his brow.”
Jakob scuttled his hands through his hair. Though only four on the clock, the winter sun was on its way toward the horizon. Hazy winter clouds combined with the smoke of countless chimneys and hastened the evening’s gloom.
“I have to find her.”
“Yes, sir.” Askel swiped his wet cheek, leaving a dirty smudge. “I am so very sorry, Sir Hansen. I tried to follow your orders, but the sailor convinced me his message was sincere.”
Jakob wanted to grab Askel by the neck and shake the valet until he went limp. He might have if the man had not been so loyal to him for so many years.
“I gave you a task. A simple one, at that,” he growled.
“Ye—yes sir.”
Jakob dragged his fingers through his hair again. “Damn it!”
Askel gripped his hands in front of his chest so tightly his skin turned alternately white and red. “I will help you, sir. Tell me what to do.”
Jakob narrowed his eyes and glared at the valet. “Get my cloak. We are going to the ship.”
§ § §
After the Beefeater banished her, Lizzy hurried to the tavern where she regularly took her customers and asked the proprietor to write a note for her.
“Say the Lady A is in trouble,” she gave the carefully esoteric wordage. “Tell Sir J that I know where she is.”
“Do ye want your name on’t?” the tavern keeper asked.
Lizzy thought about that for a moment. Signing the missive was one way to assure that her audience believed her. “Yes,” she decided. “Put Lizzy.”
Once the note was completed, Lizzy scrawled an X by her name, folded it, and tucked it inside the low décolletage of her dress. “Thank ye, Max. I owe ye a tumble.”
He gave her a kind smile. “I will take it.”
Chapter Eight
Avery rubbed the rope against the rocks of the fireplace hearth without stopping. Her arms burned with the effort, and she felt blood running over her palms.
The room had a small window but it was shuttered. The winter’s early night was falling and she doubted much of the city’s lamplight would be able to squeeze past the roughly hung panels. Though she had never been afraid of the dark, she was finding it hard to keep herself from descending into panic at the moment.
Her tongue was dry and rough against the cloth that cut into the corners of her mouth. She was thirsty. And she needed to relieve her bladder.
Pissing on myself would please Esteban, no doubt.
If she had any saliva, she would spit at the thought of his name.
Avery assumed she would be imprisoned here for at least one night. Esteban would need to make his demands, and then allow time for those demands to be met. Or not met.
An unhelpful sob constricted her chest.
Jakob will do anything to save me.
So would Catherine.
Hopefully those were the exact two people which Esteban approach
ed.
§ § §
Lizzy returned to the Tower and settled herself in a dark spot where she could see who came and went from the guard’s stone enclosure.
“Come on, Higgins,” she whispered. “I need ye this night.”
It was too early for the changing of the Tower’s gate guards, so Lizzy had no choice but to wait and watch.
When she saw the tall blond man with a slight limp pass under the lamp at the arched entrance to the fortress, she jumped up with a little squeal and ran toward the moat bridge.
“Sir Hansen!” she shouted, drawing the Beefeater’s unhappy attention.
He stormed out of his enclosure. “I said stay away, whore!” he bellowed. “Now you’re under arrest!”
“Hold!” Jakob’s deep voice boomed toward her.
The guard looked back to see who had the audacity to challenge him. “Sir Hansen? What business do you have with this strumpet?”
“I cannot say until I speak with her.” Jakob strode past the irate man, his valet hurrying along behind him. “Have you something to say to me, miss?”
He did not use my name.
That was wise. “I have a message for you, Sir, but I weren’t allowed to speak to no one about it.”
Even in the darkening evening Lizzy could see the knight’s face flush with anger. “What is it?”
Lizzy glanced at the angrily huffing Beefeater and handed Lady Avery’s husband the note rather than speak her information aloud. “I thought to give it to Higgins.”
§ § §
The Lady A is in trouble. Tell Sir J that I know where she is.
Lizzy X
“Where?” Jakob growled. He would deal with the ass of a guard later. Right now he needed to find his wife.
“It’s not far,” Lizzy said. “Just over the hill.”
Lizzy lifted her skirts and began to scurry away from the Tower and the angry Beefeater. Jakob’s long legs easily kept pace with the girl. Askel was on his own to keep up.
“Tell me what you can,” he urged.
“I saw her with a man, a rough sod. That didn’t look right.” Lizzy was panting a little but did not slow her haste. “Then I saw a knife, and I knew she was in trouble.”
Jakob felt punched in the chest. “Did he hurt her?”
“I don’t know.” Lizzy shook her head. “He took her in an empty house. And I heard a pistol shot.”
Oh God, no.
Not Avery.
“Did you go into the house?”
“No, I ran to find Higgins so I could tell him to fetch ye.” A hitched sob broke the girl’s narrative. “But that Beefeater chased me away. Threatened to put me in irons.”
They crested the hill now. A row of houses faced the hill at the bottom. “How did you get this note?”
“I asked someone to write it for me.” Lizzy ran the back of her hand under her nose as she stomped down the hill. “Then I went back and waited for anyone who’d help me get it to ye.”
Jakob followed Lizzy down the incline, trying to discern in the gloom which house might be the empty one.
The one with no light inside.
“Is that the house?” Jakob pointed at the most likely residence.
“Yes.” Lizzy looked up at him. “Do you have a torch?”
Damn.
“No.”
Askel produced a thick candle from inside his cloak. “I picked this up this as we were leaving, Sir.”
Jakob stared at the valet. “That was good thinking, Askel. For once today, at the least.”
He grabbed the candle from the contrite Askel and hoisted himself onto another house’s garden wall to light the wick in the streetlamp’s fire. Dropping back onto the cobbled street, Jakob winced a little when the shock of the hard landing thrummed up his injured leg.
“I will go inside first,” he declared, refusing to acknowledge the discomfort.
When Jakob forced the door open and held the candle up the first thing he saw was the man crumpled on the cluttered floor. The second thing he saw was the gaping hole in the back of the man’s head.
“This accounts for the pistol shot, Lizzy” he said softly, silently thanking God that it was not Avery sprawled in front of him. “I recommend you look away.”
“I’ve seen worse,” she murmured at his elbow. “Is Lady Avery still here, do ye think?”
Jakob’s gaze swept through the room, searching for clues as to what else might have occurred here. “We shall soon know.”
§ § §
Avery heard the front door being shoved open. Her head ached, her stomach ached, her tongue was stuck to the cloth tied across her mouth, and her wrists stung painfully with the rope’s abrasion. And her bladder was about to burst.
Even so, she had no desire to face Esteban Gonzales again.
Avery carefully scooted away from the hearth lest whoever just arrived discover that she was nearly free of her constraints. Should she lie on her side? Pretend to be sleeping?
No.
Do not appear to be that vulnerable.
Avery considered scooting next to the room’s door and trying to trip whoever came through it, but quickly realized that doing so would only anger her captor. Better to act submissive now and wear the rest of the way through her bindings once she was alone again.
Boots on the stairs made her heartbeat skip and her resolve settle.
God be with me.
§ § §
Jakob quickly searched the three rooms on the ground floor before climbing the steep steps to the upper floor. There were three rooms up there, but only one had a closed door.
If the latch had not given way he would have smashed the door off its leather hinges. But it offered up no resistance and Jakob pushed the door wide open. He held up his candle.
A muffled cry emanated from his wife, who was sitting on the floor near the fireplace. Her nearly black eyes were wide below a worried brow. By the light of his candle he saw the reflection of tears.
“Avery!” Jakob was by her side in a blink. He dropped to his knees and untied the rag across her face. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head and worked her mouth, her tears now streaming down her cheeks. Her breath came in spasms.
“Who did this to you?” he asked, trying to control his rage. “Can you answer me?”
“Esteban.”
The painfully croaked name made no sense to him at first. “Esteban? Your majordomo?”
Avery sniffed and nodded. Then she wiggled her bound arms.
Jakob set the fat candle on the hearth and turned Avery to the side so he could reach her hands.
“Å min gud,” he murmured when he saw her abraded wrists. “Did he do this to you?”
“No,” Avery rasped. “Trying to get free.”
Jakob untied the remainder of the rope. “You nearly succeeded.”
He helped his wife to her feet. “We shall go home now.”
Avery gripped his arm to help her stand. When they reached the steep steps Jakob suggested that she back down after him so he could catch her if she stumbled.
“Lady Avery!” Lizzy gasped. “Thank the Lord!”
Askel crossed himself and looked like he might cry.
Avery was clearly confused by the presence of Jakob’s unexpected accomplices.
“How…?”
“Lizzy saw you with the man who brought you here and she followed you,” Jakob explained. “Then she came to find me.”
That was the easiest explanation for now; a more in-depth one could follow later if necessary, but only after this matter was settled.
Avery reached for Lizzy’s hand. “Thank you.”
Lizzy looked down at Avery’s wrists. “Oh, my lady,” she moaned.
“We should leave.” Jakob stepped between Avery and the dead man on the floor. “After you, my love.”
Avery moved past him and out of the house. Lizzy followed, then Askel, and lastly Jakob. He pulled the front door shut while a plan began to form in his head.
He turned toward Tower Hill and was startled to see his wife squatting at the bottom with Lizzy standing beside her. Askel stood at a short distance with his back to the women. Jakob hurried to Avery’s side.
“Was has happened?” he demanded.
Avery rose to her feet slowly, looking embarrassed. “I could wait no longer to empty my bladder, I am afraid,” she murmured. “It was use the grass now, or leave a wet trail all the way to the Tower.”
Jakob wanted to laugh his relief that no further harm had befallen his wife, unhelpful as that would have been. Instead he said, “If you are ready to continue, I want to get you home so Emily can tend to your wrists.”
Avery gripped his arm again. “It was by God’s grace that Lizzy saw me, Jakob.”
Jakob gave the girl a tight-lipped smile. “Yes, it was.”
She leaned closer, and whispered. “Do not be too harsh on Askel, husband. He and I were both taken in by a master of deceit. And it was not the first time.”
Jakob laid his hand over hers, gave a reassuring squeeze, and assisted her in the climb up Tower Hill.
No, it was not the first time.
But it will be the last.
Chapter Nine
When the quartet reached the Tower, Lizzy held back. “If it’s all the same to ye, Sir Hansen, I’ll be on my way.”
“Not yet,” he said, looking too determined for her to cross. “Stay here.”
He sent Lady Avery to their home behind the walls with Askel as a very attentive escort. “Have Emily take care of your wounds. I will be home in short order.”
Avery nodded. “Do not dally, husband. I will not feel fully safe until you are with me.”
Once she and Askel were inside the far arch, Jakob turned back to Lizzy. “Come with me.”
Lizzy had never been inside the gate of the Tower of London and she was not truly eager to go inside now. “Please, Sir…”
Hansen shook his head. “I have a point to make. Come along.”