Druid Knights 02: Knight of Rapture

by Ruth A. Casie

  He searched through the findings. It included the research commissioned by Lady Emily. He read through copies of the county and church records searching for any mention of the family name or reference to family members.

  Again nothing between 1570 and 1670.

  He needed to find milestone events—births, christenings, deaths, marriages…

  Skylar and Robert. Of course. George said his niece married Stuart’s nephew. If he couldn’t find evidence of his line, perhaps he could through Stuart’s. He picked up the phone and dialed Cora.

  “Cora. I need to confirm Skylar and Robert’s marriage. I can’t find any records at the manor. I hope you have something there among Stuart’s papers.”

  “Of course I’ll help you if I can.” He could hear the click of her high heels as she crossed the marble floor. “What’s the urgency?”

  “The document should give—”

  “—her lineage, of course, and name the manor. Brilliant. Give me a minute. I’m in the library.”

  “Arik.” George knocked on the library door. Arik waved him in.

  “Cora, George just came in. Let me put you on speaker.” He turned to George. “I think we can substantiate the manor using Skylar and Robert’s marriage papers. Where would we find them?”

  “Stuart’s journals are in the bookcase next to the fireplace, in chronological order.”

  “I’m in the library,” Cora said. “We should look after 1610.”

  “No, look for 1606,” directed Arik with a firm voice.

  “But that’s the year you left. You would have known if Skylar was getting married,” Cora said.

  “I have my reasons,” was all he would offer.

  “Wait a minute while I get the book.” He heard some shuffling. Couldn’t the woman move any faster? He calmed himself; they’d waited this long and a few more minutes wouldn’t change anything.

  “Here it is.” He caught the sound of shuffling papers.

  “Oh.” Cora sniffled. “I’ll…I’ll read it to you. ‘April 15. This day did not bode well for my Logan. Bran has gathered his forces and threatens Fayne Manor. Logan brought Aubrey and Skylar here for Father’s safekeeping several days ago.’”

  “This must be Holly’s writing,” Arik said.

  “‘Father and Mother have taken them to London for their protection. Word has been sent for them to make haste and return. I’m certain Father will bring much-needed troops. Logan and Robert will not let me deplete the garrison here.

  “‘A new priest arrived for his monthly visit before they left. Skylar begged Logan to let her and Robert marry before Robert returned to the manor. The sweet man can deny her nothing. He is so much like Arik. He granted her wish. They were married before Father left for London. Although the priest was ill prepared with the appropriate papers, Logan made sure he wrote everything out. The good priest said he would make everything right when he returned to the church in Avebury.’”

  Arik slapped the desk. “That’s where we go, Avebury.”

  “You knew about Bran’s attack on the manor.” He wasn’t surprised at George’s concern. The two worlds were as real to George and Cora as they were to him and Rebeka.

  “I wasn’t certain but I had my suspicions.” He was confident he had the information he needed. “Cora, read through the journals there and see if you can find more about what’s happened.”

  “Yes, Avebury is where we’ll find Skylar and Robert’s documents. I’ll go with you.” A low, incessant buzz distracted George. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “George Hughes here. Yes, Detective…What…Yes…Thank you.” He ended the call.

  “You’re not going to believe this. Those thugs who beat Bill and set fire to the mill, they identified who hired them. Louise Richards. Scotland Yard is getting a warrant for her arrest.”

  Arik froze. “Louise called Rebeka and asked her to come to the Avebury annex.” He pushed her speed-dial number on his phone. He glanced at the time. “She should be there by now.” He tapped his fingers on the desk while the call went through.

  “Hello, you’ve reached Dr. Rebeka Tyler. I can’t come to the phone right now—”

  He dialed again. Someone picked up but no one answered.

  “I’m on with Scotland Yard,” George said. “They’ll meet us there. But they’re not close.”

  “Cora, you stay where you are. If Rebeka calls, contact me at once. George and I are on our way to Avebury.”

  “I will. Be careful,” she said. The call ended.

  Rebeka reached into her backpack. The blue light on her cell phone pulsed, announcing an incoming call. She fumbled to send it to voice mail. The blinking stopped. She took out the envelope and gave it to Louise and set her backpack on the chair.

  Louise glanced at the photo and the news article.

  “I can bring this to the Board for their review. It does appear promising,” Louise said, lifting her head.

  “We missed you at the wedding.”

  “Under the circumstances I decided it best to remain home. Besides, I informed the Trust of my intentions and I was busy making plans. I’m certain you understand.” Louise’s lips twisted into a cynical smile.

  There was a defiant tone in Louise’s voice. “Of course. Will I be meeting your replacement?” She shot a look around the room.

  “No, not today. Since today is my last day I thought we would have one more go at it before I left.” She picked up her quarterstaff. “For old time’s sake, as you Americans like to say. Besides, wouldn’t you like to know which of us is the best?”

  Rebeka tilted her head to the side and wrinkled her brows. Louise’s low, guttural voice had the menacing quality of a tiger ready to strike. “I didn’t know that was important.”

  “The question grew on me. You have your staff. You always have your staff. Are you ready?”

  “Here? Now?” The center of the large room was empty but still.

  “It may not be the manor ballroom or the lake but it will do.” Louise twirled her staff and took aim at Rebeka’s right hand.

  Rebeka spun out of the way and stepped on the edge of her staff, sending it flying into her hand. She completed the spin and faced Louise.

  “Yes, here. I’ve always wanted to beat you soundly. I never believed it quite appropriate at the manor. See, I do care, Rebeka. I don’t need others to see you defeated. It’s enough that you and I know.” Louise advanced, poking Rebeka with her staff.

  Rebeka stepped back, trying to figure out a way to put an end to this. But the woman was serious and pressed on maneuvering toward the center of the room, every so often landing a glancing blow.

  “Arik said you were phenomenal with the staff. He told me, several times, that he believed you were special but I don’t see it.” There was no talking Louise out of this match. She realized that the woman had been building up to this moment for some time.

  Louise stopped when they reached the center of the room. Louise would use the next few seconds to prepare. So did Rebeka. She heard and saw nothing. She perceived and felt everything. She was focused, ready and totally committed.

  Louise stepped forward with her opening gambit. She brought the point of her staff down and aimed at Rebeka’s legs. Rebeka blocked the low attack. She stepped forward and swung her staff up, tapping Louise hard on her chest with the tip of her staff.

  She hoped that would give the woman incentive to stop.

  “Ah, the aggressor. Now it’s getting interesting.” Louise’s eyes glowed with delight.

  Rebeka stepped back, anticipating the counterattack, and blocked Louise’s strike.

  Louise came at her again. Again Rebeka pulled away, avoiding Louise’s thrust. Holding her staff in the sweet spot where the balance was just right, she directed her staff under Louise’s and again targeted the woman’s chest.

  “Come, these are basic strikes. You can do better than this.” Louise knocked Rebeka’s staff away.

  She let the momentum caused by Louise’s deflecting s
trike bring her staff around full circle. With a small correction, she redirected the staff and struck Louise on her left side.

  Louise recovered and came at her, the smile on her face replaced with a glowing mask of rage.

  Rebeka stepped forward and narrowed the space between them. She brought the middle of her staff underneath Louise’s. The tip of her staff caught Louise in her soft, fleshy armpit. Taking advantage of the closeness of their hands, Rebeka covered Louise’s wrist and staff with her hand, immobilizing her. Rebeka twisted to the side and, using her staff as a lever, raised Louise up and over. She fell hard on her back.

  Rebeka gave Louise her hand to help her up but Louise pushed it away and got to her feet.

  “All I need to do is wait. Soon enough you’ll fade away. You shouldn’t have come back. You should have stayed where you were.”

  “Why, Louise?” Fade? What was she talking about?

  “Why? I saw an opportunity to get what I wanted. Lady Emily had done the research. I put the plan together. George Hughes isn’t the only brilliant schemer. When he found you I was certain it was all a swindle. I even had the Trust check the financial records. Two can play his game. I needed the manor to fail and you to be gone to keep people from suspecting anything. A few changes to the documents and the new heir is found. Just like George found you, someone would find me.”

  “Your plan won’t work now. You can walk away and no one would be the wiser.”

  “It’s gone much too far for that.” She raised her staff.

  Rebeka was ready for her. She kept her eyes on Louise’s face and waited for the small tell that would announce Louise’s change from her pattern. They blocked and lunged across the room. The small flare of Louise’s nostrils alerted her. She was ready.

  Louise’s strike came at her midsection. She stepped to the side, deflected the staff and struck Louise’s neck with a well-placed thrust. “Enough, Louise,” she demanded.

  Louise fell back onto the desk. She rolled to the side, sending everything but the lamp shattering onto the floor.

  Louise recovered and with quick strikes maneuvered Rebeka against the wall. It would be difficult for her to defend herself in this spot.

  Rebeka took a defensive position, holding her staff vertically in front of her and moving it from side to side, blocking Louise’s strikes that rained down on her.

  Louise grabbed the drapes and, with a firm tug, pulled them off the wall. Rebeka pushed herself forward. The drapery rod crashed to the floor behind her. The heavy rope ties that held them in place pulled free and flew against the adjacent wall.

  The distraction was enough to allow Rebeka to plant her staff on the floor and vault over Louise, away from the wall and the heap of material.

  Louise lunged at her with the point of her staff. Rebeka turned to the side, out of her line of attack, and fired off blow after blow, forcing Louise to step back.

  With Louise off balance for the moment, Rebeka had only seconds to respond. She set her foot behind her and coiled like a spring. She tucked her staff under her arm and unwound, striking Louise full across her back and shoulders and sending her to the floor.

  Louise spun and fell hard on her back, losing her staff. She clawed her way backward and scurried away from Rebeka amid the smashed glass from her desk all over the floor. She struggled to her feet holding a large shard of broken glass in her bloody hand.

  Rebeka brought her staff up and over, snapping the point down hard on Louise’s thumb. The crack of the staff and the sound of breaking bone were a second ahead of Louise’s scream as she dropped the makeshift weapon.

  Rebeka used the momentum of the staff to bring it full circle. She stepped forward and struck Louise on the side of the head. She pulled her staff back, then, putting her entire body behind her effort, stepped forward and thrust her staff into Louise’s chest, throwing her against the sideboard.

  “Louise, enough,” she demanded and stepped back.

  Louise grabbed the bottle of soda and squeezed the soft plastic, spraying the soda into Rebeka’s face.

  Rebeka stepped back to avoid the spray. She bumped into the desk and sent the already unsteady lamp flying to the floor, plunging the room into darkness. Her staff clattered to floor.

  It was anyone’s guess where it had gone.

  She needed to get away from the desk before Louise trapped her there. Remembering there was nothing left on the desktop, she slid onto it and off the other side. She stood on the drapery, careful not to trip. She crouched low and crept toward the wall. The wall would give her some sense of where she was.

  The sound of Louise’s staff hitting the desk full force broke the silence.

  “Dammit, Rebeka. Where are you? Why don’t you let me get this over with? Make it easier on yourself.”

  The debris on the floor announced Louise’s location as she crossed the room. A loud thump and the crash of falling books were close by.

  “Shit.”

  Rebeka, squatting with her back against the wall, reviewed her options and discarded them as quickly as they came to mind. There was one that appeared more possible than the others. She needed to get to the door halfway around the room. She’d hug the wall and to cover any sound she might make she synchronized her movements with Louise’s.

  It was slow going on her hands and knees but she was close to the adjacent wall—one, maybe two, more moves. The door was within her grasp. Her hand touched something and she froze. Her fingers explored it. Relief rushed through her. It was the thick rope that had held back the drapes. She ran her hand along the rope. It was knotted at intervals. She looped it around her waist and waited for Louise to move again. Her hand in front of her like a blind man, she move forward and touched the adjacent wall. The sound of Louise’s soft curses and the staff whipping through the air told her Louise had changed direction and was closing in. She stood and flattened herself against the wall. She didn’t move a muscle. She focused on the sounds.

  Louise wasn’t even attempting to be quiet now. She kicked obstacles aside and swept the room with her staff, smashing anything that got in her way. Her hard breathing got closer. Louise’s staff hit the wall a few feet from her, cracking the plaster board.

  “Damn.”

  Louise slammed her back against the wall. “Blind man’s bluff is not my favorite game. You’ll find out how much I like it when I tag you.”

  Louise was inches to her right. She sensed Louise push herself away from the wall and sidestepped in front of her. Again Louise swung her staff.

  Rebeka had no idea where her staff was. She needed a weapon. She removed the rope from her waist and hefted it in her hand. The heavy cotton braid had weight. She would have to make a move soon.

  The slight movement in the air signaled Louise’s overhead attack. Rebeka stepped away from the wall for a better position.

  She held the rope taut in front of her as if it were as solid as her staff. Her hands between two knots, the final knot dangled at the end, about eight inches below her hand.

  Rebeka blocked the strike.

  A surprised gasp echoed in the room. Louise hesitated.

  Rebeka snapped her wrist. The tail end of the rope whipped around and caught Louise in the face.

  Louise let out a scream and dropped her staff.

  “Rebeka,” someone shouted from the other side of the door as it was thrown open.

  The sound of feet running across the hall reached her ears. Louise clutched at her face. Rebeka looped the rope around Louise’s hands. “It’s over, Louise.”

  Blaring light poured in and Arik stood silhouetted in the doorway. For a moment everything stopped. Even in the darkness she felt his eyes on her, his silent assessment that she was all right and his rage that he had not been at her side. Her champion, her knight. The moment passed. George came up behind Arik and they rushed into the room with Detective Chief Inspector Bardsley and his men close behind.

  Louise tugged at the rope, trying to raise her hands to her eyes. Rebeka didn�
��t give her an inch.

  Someone found the switch to the overhead light and clicked it on.

  Rebeka squinted, trying to accustom her eyes to the light. Arik stood in front of her solid and safe.

  The room looked like the aftereffects of a drunken teenage brawl. Papers were everywhere, mountains of drapes were piled next to the desk, and the floor was littered with broken glass, books and other debris.

  Someone righted a chair then put Louise in it. The rope was still looped around her wrists.

  The detective relieved her of Louise. “I have so much to tell you.” She picked up her staff.

  “You already have,” Arik said.

  She gave him a quizzical stare.

  He grabbed her backpack from where it landed undisturbed, took out her cell phone and handed it to her.

  She glanced at it and smiled. “I got a call and sent it to voice mail.”

  George came up to them. “No, you answered it and left the connection open,” he said. “We overheard everything. I made certain it was recorded.”

  “Louise Richards, I have a warrant for your arrest,” the detective chief inspector said.

  “Arrest?” She glanced at Arik.

  “The men who beat Bill and set fire to the mill were paid by Louise,” he said.

  George picked through documents he found undisturbed against the wall.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Hughes, but we will need this all as evidence,” the detective chief inspector said.

  “Of course. I will represent Dr. Tyler in the case. Please make certain your office provides me with a complete accounting of the evidence.” George put the papers back.

  “Dr. Tyler, would you happen to know how Ms. Richards cut her hand?” the detective asked.

  “She picked up a shard of broken glass and attacked me,” Rebeka answered.

  “The evidence is adding up. Accomplice to arson and battery is one thing but attempted murder takes this to a different level. Do you have anything to say, Ms. Richards?”