Lords of Honor (44 page)

Harry nodded
.
“All right, Lyon
.
We’ll tell you later what we wish you to ask your wife
.”
He placed a firm hand on Lyon’s shoulder
.
“
We have to find this Mr. Crow
.
We are fairly certain it is he
who
is orchestrating all of this
.
Menadue was attacked yesterday
.
No one was
injured
.
They are surrounded
.
We are surrounded
.
These people are kidnapping innocent women
.
We have to stop this, and we have to find out why they want a scroll, and which one
s
they
are after
.
For the ransom note left for Owen only mentioned they wanted
the Most Holy and Ancient Scroll
s
.”

Harry added, “W
e have to make certain you don’t tell them anything more
.
So you will understand if we watch you closely
.
Your bags have been checked for any
laudanum
or alcohol
.
You will not be left alone to your own devices
.
You and your wife will be left to your privacy at night
in your room
.
H
owever
,
a gua
r
d shall
remain in the hallway at night,
for
our
protection as well as to see you don’t go astray
.
The laudanum in this house has been locked in a safe, and the alcohol will not be left about the house
.
It shall only be brought when Micah or Libby request it.
”

Lyon nodded
.

“Lyon, you must realize, they would have come after us for the scroll
s
anyway
.
We cannot forget that Davitt knew of
one scroll
when he came into Stonedown Manor that night in Glastonbury
.
You wer
e manipulated
.
Someone else might
have been used as a pawn
in your stead
.
They recognized your weakness and used it to their advantage
.
They even helped you
r
addiction along
.
We do trust you not to allow this to happen again
.”
Micah spoke.

“Wincanton…your life changed because of what I did
.
I am sorry,” Lyon
turned
to Micah.

“I am not sorry, Lyon
.
I am happy
.
So is Libby
.
We are fine
.
I love her
,
Lyon
, a
nd
Libby
loves me
.”
Micah smiled.

“Owen, I apologize
.
You must have been
out of your mind
with worry
when your sister was taken,” Lyon offered to Lord Fitzlewis
.
“I would have been
if
it were
my sister
,
Sarah.”

“I was
.
But, everything turned out surprisingly well, as
both
Harry
and Micah
said
, and q
uite happily for Micah and Libby
.
Now we just need to stop anything else from occurring,
keep
others from being harmed,
and
find these bastards who control this Brown Coa
ted army and we’ll all be fine,” Owen explained.

“I just ask, that no more important secrets be told to me until I defeat these demons for good,” Lyon announced to them all
.

The colleagues agreed
somberly
.

They began to quiz Lyon on his interactions
with Mr. Crow and company
in London.

“Can you
tell us about
this Mr. Crow
’s appearance
, Lyon?”
Harry asked.

“He was
shorter
than me
, I think
.
He did smoke opium, or at least appeared to be, for he
lounged
beside me in
his
Limehouse den
and used a pipe
.
He dressed as a gentleman
.
Truly
, more like a noble
.
He wore a diamond pin in his cravat
.
The diamond was
good-sized
.
His speech was that of a gentleman.”

“
Was he familiar to you
?
What of his looks
?” Owen asked.

“I remember
thinking he
seemed
familiar to me, though I could not place him
.
H
is hair was
dark
.
Dark brown, I think
.
Dark eyes
.
Brown, or
black even
.
His skin was pale
, p
asty
actually
.
Though, I’m certain mine was as well
.
I
wasn’t
eat
ing
much then.”

“
Did he have a
ny scars or marks
?
Was there s
omething he wore
that was distinguishing
?” Micah queried.

“Yes
, a
small, thin
scar
o
n his chin, sort of diagonally crossing his chin
.
And a ring
.
On the hand he used to hold his pipe
, his
right hand
.
It was a
large, signet type ring
.
It reminded me of a Templar cross, but it wasn’t quite that
.
And the colors were brown and white
.
I remembered
thinking
I
never saw the
exact
symbol
on his ring
before
.”
Lyon actually smiled, pleased that he could remember some things.

“What type of cross?” Harry quizzed him.

“It wasn’t Maltese, Celtic or Orthodo
x
.
I
believe it was
a traditional Latin cross with fleur-de-l
is end
caps
.
The ring
was simple and plain
with just a small amount of decoration
.
The cross was white
, t
he shield behind it entirely brown.”

“Very good, Lyon
.”
Micah continued, “Then there is some significance to the color brown.”

“Brown
or
Braun
can
stand for
stability, grounding, convention, order, security, foundation, dependability,” Newt voiced aloud.

“Also the symbolic color for humility, poverty, plainness, as in
the robes of
a monk or priest,”
Owen
spoke up.

“Even opaque, muddy, dirty,” Charlie offered
.
He shrugged, “Keeping the truth hidden
.
Keeping the followers in the dark?”

“
That’s good, Charlie
.
Let’s take some of those words that would have meaning for a group intent on keeping the
S
ecrets of our Lord
, the
Secretum Domini
,
from coming to light,”
Micah sug
gested.

“Order,
Convention,” Harry began
.
“Keeping to the conventional views of Christ
.
The accepted
.
The norm.”

“Foundation
.
Keeping with
Christianity’s traditional foundation,”
Jack
mused aloud.

“Humility, poverty and plainness as in monks and priests might suggest a pious religious order against any deviation from the traditional teachings of Christianity,” Lyon
offered
and
then
shook his head.
“Run by people who
run
opium dens
and
whorehouses
of
the
lowe
st
quality
?
Who
steal women
?
How does that fit in?”

“Keeps people in the darkness
?
Unable to see the Light,” Micah
posed
.
“Fanatical groups go to extreme measures often times to retain their control
.”

“Something to think about,
”
Harry
commented to Micah
.
He turned to
Lyon,
“What of your encounter with Madame Dubois at her prestigious house of pleasures?”

Lyon rolled his eyes
.
“
Once again, I was foxed
.
S
he b
rought me into her private room
.
W
e smoked opium
.
She asked me about Glastonbury
, w
hat we found
there
.
She wanted to know w
hat else we were looking for.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I didn’t want to tell her anything
.
But I was desperate for release, but unable to because of the drugs and alcohol
.
She put something on my skin that
made it – well it helped
.
I
guess I told her
some things right before, well
,
before it was over
.
She w
ould bring me to the edge
and
ask questions before
continuing
.
”
He shook his head
in disgust
.

Lyon exhaled loudly,
“
She aske
d me if we
found
a scroll
.
I told her
we did
.
I might have even
told
her which one
s
.
I told her a lot more
; a
bout
t
he gems, the gold, the cruets
and
the
sapphire
.
Newt pulled me out
and
took me
home, t
hank God
.
I’m sorry.
”

“Did you mention
which members were
in possession of
the scrolls?”

“He did
.
I heard that part,” Newt said
.
“And Lyon, were you aware there was a gent in the room while
you were with Madame Rosier
?
He
sat
behind you
, j
ust watching
.
He
was
dark-headed
and
sported
a
slight
scar on his chin
.
He was dressed in brown too
.
I didn’t notice his hands, so I
did not see a
ring
.
But,
I’ll bet it was
our
Mr. Crow.”

“No, I
don’t remember him, just
the whore
.”
Lyon shook his head
again
,
this time he
exhaled heavily
.