Suzanna let out the breath she was holding. “Aye, I have heard a few of our servants talking about the returning spirit of someone who has long been dead. If the deceased’s past is not closed because of previous sins or regrets, a promise not met or an attachment to one still living at the time of death, the unsettled soul becomes a disturbed entity whose plight is leftover, even in death. It then is terribly transformed, possibly even vindictive. Therefore, their resurrection is a potential for terror, a horror which could threaten the lives of the living.”
Riley cast a horrified look in Gabriel’s direction. “It is a horrid thought to be sure.”
“And I am sure that sort of thinking is what keeps the rest of the folks from entering this place,” Gabriel said, standing and placing the dagger back into his boot. “Fortunately for us, at this point, what they believe happens to be in our favor.”
“And what if it is true?”
Gabriel chuckled lightly. “I have never heard yet of a spirit harming the living.”
Leah raised a defiant chin. “Ye can scoff or credit the tale as it pleases ye, sir. But I speak the truth.”
“And I am not thinking otherwise, Leah,” Gabriel reassured her. “But obviously Father Herman is harmless, or else he would have hurt you.”
“I see your point,” Leah stated.
“I do have to ask. Why is it you are not intimidated by the spirit of this holy man?” Gabriel inquired.
Leah shrugged. “It might be because o’ somethin’ my mum said to me when I was just a little mite. I was fearful o’ the dark, thought the dead would come to get me, snatch me away, and torture me. And Mum said ’twasn’t the dead I ’ad to fear, but the livin’.” Her eyes welled with unshed tears. “She spoke the truth, as ’twas only those still alive that ’ave ’urt me.”
Oliver went to her, placing a hand upon her arm. He then raised it to trace, with the tip of his finger, the scar that marked one side of Leah’s face. “They won’t hurt ye anymore, Miss Leah, because I won’t let them.”
“And that brings us to what point of action we must take to prevent any of us from falling victim to these scoundrels,” Gabriel said.
Oliver turned to look at Gabriel. “What strategy ’ave ye coome up with?”
“Until the others arrive...” he began.
“Others? What others?” Suzanna asked.
“Captain Simon Cavendish, a relative by my sister’s marriage to his brother, is helping us in this matter as well. He is the son-in-law to Lord Morgan Wade. The two of them will go see your father, my lady, and hopefully soon reinforcements should be on the way.”
Suzanne’s smile belied her smug tone. “Oh, you can be sure, Mr. Eagle, my father will send his men. And when they do arrive, there will be hell to pay.”
“I am pleased to hear this, my lady,” Gabriel said. “But we cannot just sit around and wait.”
Riley’s own voice sounded dry to her when she spoke. “What can we do in the meantime?”
Gabriel considered her words a moment. “I am sure, when the time comes for us to rid ourselves of these troublesome gnats and make a move in our defense, we will have only precious moments to act wisely and swiftly.” He turned his attention to Leah. “For us to do this, your help is greatly needed.”
Leah’s brows rose in surprise. “And what, sir, can I do?”
“You have lived amongst them, have you not?”
Leah nodded. “For longer than I would ever ’ave wished.”
“Then we will first begin with their total,” he said.
Leah counted them off on her fingers before she spoke. “With cook dead and a chap dyin’ o’ food poisonin’ last month, I’d say there’s ten o’ them still.”
“We are sorely outnumbered.”
Gabriel nodded, his frown thoughtful. “It would appear that way on the surface, but a warrior with a plan can handle many foes. Especially if those he is up against are not as skilled as he in battle.”
“And just how well of a warrior are you, Mr. Eagle?” Suzanna snickered.
Rage boiled within Riley. For a moment she was prepared to rebuke Suzanna for her cheeky remark. But Gabriel leveled his gaze upon the other woman with a look so deadly it brought them all up short. Lady Wellington’s stunned look strongly indicated no one had ever dared to glare at her in such a fashion. Riley feared the tirade that would follow, but Gabriel’s actions seemed to stifle any further contradictions Suzanna might have.
Returning his attention to Leah, he softened his expression. “Can you tell me about the officers?”
“Aye,” Leah said with a shaky voice, casting her eyes to the floor.
It was evident to Riley the younger woman now feared Gabriel after the silent reprimand he used to deal with Suzanna. In all truth, if she did not know the man better, she might feel the same. He was formidable, big, confident, and skilled. She almost pitied his enemies.
“Look at me, Leah,” Gabriel said, his tone firm yet kind.
Reluctantly, Leah raised her gaze to meet his.
“You have nothing to fear from me, and everything to fear from them,” he said then added, “But I have a feeling you already know this.”
Leah nodded, eyes welling with tears.
An unexpected pang of pity shot through Riley, and she swallowed back her tears on the girl’s behalf.
“Then help me to help you,” he concluded.
Leah took an audible breath. “Amongst the ten, there are only three officers. One is Captain Marshal Langley and the other two are Lieutenants Martin Beck and Addison Gray.” She cleared her throat nervously. “I’d say the captain is the one to be most concerned with. I ’ave seen ’im in action, and ’e’s sneaky. Fights dirty.”
“This Captain Langley is the one who gives the orders, makes the decisions, and handles the deals?” Gabriel probed further.
“Aye, all the men do as ’e tells them, and the clients do business with ’im only,” Leah said. Her lips thinned. “Langley is the one who punishes as well.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And ’e ‘as nay a shred o’ mercy or shame for what ’e inflicts upon others.”
Suzanna’s face turned crimson, fury so visible, it rose off her like the steam from a boiling kettle. “Bloody bastard, dying would be too good for him. I won’t rest until I see him publicly stripped to the bone, beaten, and castrated.”
Riley, aware of the humiliation Suzanna suffered at the hands of Captain Langley, thought the other woman’s words and attitude were most disturbing. Yet she understood and even empathized with such thoughts of revenge. It seems there was more to Lady Wellington than just spoiled stubbornness. For certain she possessed a measure of toughness as well. Riley hated to admit it, but it somewhat impressed her. A fighting mad woman, in this instance, could turn out to be a good cohort.
If Suzanna’s words impressed Gabriel, he didn’t let on, ignoring the outburst and continuing to prod Leah for facts. “Where do the officers sleep at night?”
“In the cold weather, like now, they take their rest on the steamer,” Leah said.
“And what about the other men?” Gabriel continued.
“Some stay on the steamer, and a few lodge in a small hut on shore, beside the crates,” Leah explained.
“Where are the women kept?” Gabriel said.
“All the women are kept in the cave. But there aren’t any ’ere now, except for Miss Riley and Lady Wellington.” Leah bit her bottom lip. “A ship coome by sea a few days ago and took five o’ them away to be sold.”
“Lord ’elp us,” Oliver whispered.
“I’m especially going to need that ’elp when they discover these two gone,” Leah said, indicating Riley and Suzanna. “I’m the one who tends to the women while they’re ’ere, so ’tis only sure to believe they’ll accuse me o’ freein’ them.”
“Where would you be, and what would you be doing at this time if you did not free them and bring them here?” Gabriel asked.
Leah’s cheeks reddened. “Th
at would depend on what condition the men are in after they’ve eaten their evenin’ meal and drank their ale. Tonight all fell asleep after I danced a bit for them. But sometimes they will...they want to...” she stammered, her blush deepening.
“Where do you usually sleep?” Gabriel broke in, sparing her the explanation. He managed to keep his expression impassive, in spite of the fact his hands fisted by his side. Tendons thickened in his wrists, the cartilage pulling taut beneath his flesh as he fought to keep calm, stay in control.
“Sometimes ’ere, with Nellie and Rufus, but most times on the steamer where the captain can keep an eye on me,” Leah said. She glanced at the window. “I should be there now, before ’e discovers I’m not.”
“Then that is where Oliver and I will follow you,” Gabriel concluded.
Leah’s eyes rounded. “Nay, sir, ye cannot. ’Tis way too dangerous.”
“Have you gone daft?”
Gabriel spun around to face Lady Wellington, shooting her another sharp gaze. The muscles in his jaw throbbed as he spoke. “If all does not appear the same, the men will get suspicious, go to the cave, and learn of your escape.”
Suzanna laughed harshly. “And what are we supposed to do while you are gone?”
“Stay put where you are safe, and keep quiet if you think that is possible.” Then Gabriel smirked. “Perhaps you will get to visit with the holy man.”
Riley shuddered.
Suzanna gasped.
“Not to worry, my lady,” Leah called over her shoulder. “Rufus will keep you safe from the rats and mice. ’e’s quite a good hunter.”
Suzanna shrieked and pulled her knees to her chest.
Gabriel and Oliver stifled a smile as they followed Leah up the stairs.
“Gabriel, I beg of you to be careful,” Riley called to him.
He glanced at her over his shoulder. “All will be well if you remember to stay put,” he advised again.
“My foreboding is not for myself, but for you. These men are positively uncivil. They have blood in their eyes and morbid delusions,” she said, remembering the stench of the bloodstained trunk she had been forced into. “Decayed rakes, all of them, and they will stop at nothing.”
A frown indented his brows. “I have, for a long time, been aware of what the Sea Patrol is all about.”
“Then you will take great care in how you proceed,” she noted.
He nodded, his features softening. “You have my word all caution will be used.”
Once the three disappeared, Suzanna curled herself against the wall, looking around the chamber. “I don’t know which is worse, the thought of rats and mice or the dead priest.”
“Perhaps it would be best if we thought of something else,” she suggested.
Suzanna nodded, taking an audible breath before she spoke. “Very well...suppose you tell me how good of a friend Naomi was to you, then.”
She spoke with a hollow tone. “I choose not to talk of her or fall out with you in this fashion again, my lady.”
“Nay, I don’t imagine it being a pleasant memory, living as you did,” Suzanna said. “I would certainly be prickly over such memories. Perhaps it was wrong of me to sit in judgment of you.” She shrugged. “I suppose, just being a mite yourself at the time, you had not a voice in the choices made for your life and later obliged to survive from your own wit.”
She inclined her head politely, knowing full well this was probably the only form of an apology she’d ever receive from Lady Wellington, and swung her legs off the mattress.
“What are you doing?” Suzanna said.
“Seeing if I can put pressure on my leg,” she explained. “It will slow us down if I can’t walk on my own.”
Suzanna smirked. “Oh, I don’t think Mr. Eagle would mind very much if he had to carry you.”
She clamped down on the impatience mounting within her. “Well, I would mind. The last thing I need or want is to be a burden to anyone, especially to...”
“...to the man who finds you fetching?” Suzanna finished for her.
She forced herself to walk around the chamber, in spite of the pain. “He does not find me fetching, and I would thank you not to remark so again.”
“Oh come now, certainly you are aware of his interest in you?” Suzanna cocked her head sideways. “Are you too daft to see it in his eyes, in the way he cared for your knee?”
“All I see is a good person concerned for another,” she speculated. “He is here to help us both.”
“Then perhaps I should rephrase my inquiry,” Suzanna said, her dark eyes gleaming mischievously. “How long have you been interested in him?”
“I beg your pardon, my lady, but that is none of your business,” she politely remarked, in spite of how she really wished to respond, and continued her walk around the chamber.
Chapter Eighteen
A cloak of stars was thrown over what remained of the night, the moon illuminating their way as they walked through a ghostly breath of fog floating above the earth. Mud layered the path, and by the time they came upon the gravestones, Gabriel’s boots were ankle-deep in the mire. It seemed it did nothing other than rain in England, temperatures damp, the atmosphere stale. The gloom settled right to the very core of his bones. What a contrast it was here from his homeland, his Mother country, where even the air tasted different, and one was able to take larger breaths of it, feel the spaciousness of land and sky.
In Arizona, somewhere in between the buzz of the summer insects and the brisk chill of a winter’s night, the weeks of autumn arrived with its splendor of radiant hues of gold and reds. It was a time to nest at sundown and eat a bowl of warm soup or stew by the fire-pit. The longer nights were greeted with warmer blankets made of animal fur. They no longer kept the beast that originally owned it in comfort, but heated the new occupant quite nicely.
I am completely saturated with the atmosphere I have so long lived in. Yet tonight, he welcomed the chill night breeze, thankful for it cooling more than his face. It was almost as though he had been holding his breath all this time and now could finally release it. Riley Flanders invoked disturbing and pleasant changes in him, when first in his arms, then her bare leg assessable to his touch. When she gazed up at him from beneath the dark wings of her long lashes, he was held spellbound.
He shook his head to clear it. This was not the time or place to have his thoughts besotted by a female. In the next hours, he needed to be alert and cautious, or else he would get them all killed. He turned to Leah. “Take us to the men’s camp before you make your way on board.”
“Aye, sir,” Leah agreed, walking close to Oliver. In such a short time, the two had bonded well together.
“What are ye thinkin’ our next plan o’ action must be?” Oliver inquired.
“We would be wise to create a distraction that will move our enemies gaze to the thing that does not matter, so they will forget to notice the thing that does,” he explained.
“That fact being Miss Riley and Lady Wellington are no longer in the cave,” Oliver concluded.
“Exactly,” he said. “Such a strategy will buy us more time.”
Oliver’s tone was a bit shaky. “And how will just the two o’ us accomplish this distraction?”
“I will know that once I have a look at the men’s camp and the men,” he said.
When they came to a fork in the path, Leah pointed to the trail going left. “That is the way to the men’s camp. About twenty feet and to the right you’ll see the clearin’.” Reluctantly, she glanced to the pathway going in the opposite direction. “This is where I will part from ye, as this trail to the right leads to the river.”
“Ye can’t go alone. ’Tis way too dangerous,” Oliver protested.
“’Tis more dangerous to be caught walkin’ with ye by my side.”
“She is right on that matter, Oliver,” he said. “No one knows we are here, and if we are to accomplish this mission, it needs to stay that way.”
Leah placed a hand on
Oliver’s arm. “I walk these grounds alone every night and day. Nothin’ more can ’appen to me that I’ve not already survived. Nothin’ is different from before.”
“But there is a difference, Leah,” Oliver said.
Leah frowned. “What might that be?”
“I know o’ ye now, promised nay a thing more will ’urt ye.” Oliver ran his fingers through his hair. “Blimey, miss, do ye take me for a man who doesn’t keep ’is word?”
“Nay, nay,” she answered quickly. “But neither do I take ye for a fool.” Her mouth softened into a smile. “Ye ’ave coome all this way to save Miss Riley and Lady Wellington, and that’s what ye must do.”
“And now to save ye too,” Oliver said.
“Ye will if ye listen to Mr. Eagle, ’ere,” Leah said, motioning to Gabriel.
“Leah, do you carry in your pocket anymore fire-sticks?” Gabriel asked. Though he was quite capable of conjuring up fire without such an aid, he was not sure a dry piece of bark was to be found and had not the time for an extensive search.
She nodded, handing him a few of the matches. Then she stood on tiptoe and placed a small kiss upon Oliver’s cheek. “God speed,” she said, before running down the path to the steamer.
Oliver stood frozen, eyes wide, his fingers gently touching where Leah’s lips met his cheek.
Gabriel stifled a smile. “She is a spirited little thing, would you not agree?”
“Aye, that she is,” Oliver said, shaking his head to clear it. “I don’t want to even imagine what she’s been through, but still and all I can’t ’elp but wonder about some things. Do ye think...” He paused, his brows knitting together. “Do ye think she’s been rogered by these prigs?”
Born of Proud Blood Page 15