Lords of Honor (67 page)

Charlie entered
the room brandishing a wide grin
.
He held up a deck of cards
.
“Interested
in a little game, gentlemen
?”

“Yes.” Lyon and Micah
answered
simultaneous
ly
.
T
hey
began
play
ing a game of
cards after bringing two chairs and a small round table over
to Micah’s side of the bed
.
Micah sat up in
his
bed.
They purposely refrained from talking about their
upcoming
trip to London or anything that happened the night before in front of the ladies.

“Libby, your bath is being
prepared
in Micah’s room
.
I’ll help you when it’s ready,
”
Sophia told her.

Libby smiled
brightly
.
“Heavenly
, a
bath
!
”

“I want a bath,” Micah said
.
And he wanted
to take one
with his wife.

“Sorry, Micah
, o
ne of your wounds hasn’t healed completely
.
No bath until
you are better
.”
Sophia paused
to pat her patient’s shoulder
on her way back to the dressing room
.

Micah
scowled at
her
back
.

“It was three weeks before I could bathe after Glastonbury
; i
t d
rove me insane
.
At least you’ve got you
r wife who can help wash you
.
M
y mother
served as my
nursemaid
!
”
Lyon grimaced.

“Until this morning Libby has not been up much
.
Your wife and Harry’s wife have been my nursemaids
.
They
helped me
take care of my personal hygiene
before I was able to on my own
, save for one area,” Micah said.

“
Yes, and b
efore
Micah
was able
,
it was
good old Charlie cleaning up his-“ Charlie stopped
and
chuckled
when he remembered ladies were
present.
The gentlemen
joined in his laughter
.

“Thank you, Charlie
.
Perhaps I’ll have the chance to reciprocate some day
.”
Micah
grinned
.

“Hope not
.
I never want to be laid up like the two of you have been!”

“If we don’t rid ourselves of these Brown Coats once and for all there may be
more wounded
.”
Micah stretched
. He
winced
as h
e brought a hand to his bandaged side
.
“This makes the third time I’ve been shot by
B
rown
C
oats
.
I’m damn tired of it,” Micah complained.

“Three
?
I only remember two
.”
Lyon
raised his brow
.

“
My arm was
grazed
that day at the Abbey, remember
?
Harry’s wedding day, and now this
wound
.”

“I forgot about th
e scratch you got at the Abbey
.”

“It wasn’t a scratch
.
It was a graze
.
Harry said it was more than a scratch,” Micah put a card down
.

“Gr
aze?” Charlie shook his head. “
More like a scratch
.”

“
I was shot
and it bled
.
Why aren’t you ever shot, Charlie?”

“
Probably b
ecause I’m always
the one
rummaging around for shovels, picks
,
lanterns,
ammunition and the like,
Micah! Charlie offered
with a
wicked
laugh
.
He drew a card.

“I wonder where
the Brown Coats are and what they are doing
?
Gabriel and August said they’ve pulled out of Cornwall too.”
Rowena mused aloud
as she sat next to Sophia
.

“I win!”
Lyon
threw in his
cards
.
He g
athered them up
after all tossed their cards in
and began to shuffle the deck
.
“I’m certain wherever they are they are up to no good
, Rowena
.”
Of course the men knew they were in London. The ladies did not.

Libby gasped suddenly as she remembered the yellow-haired man speaking to her in the tent
.
“I think they’ve gone to London
, Micah
.”

“Did you hear them say so, Libby?” Micah asked her.

“
It was the dream, or what I thought
to be a
dream
.
When the yellow-haired man was talking to me
,
when he cut me, I heard your voice, Micah
.
He
told
me
if I did not tell him where the scrolls were he would cut out my eye
.
You told me to tell him they
were
moved to a safe house in London
.
And he guessed they were at your club.
”

Micah frowned
.
“I do rememb
er dreaming that, Libby
.
I do
.
Is anyone in London
still
?”
Micah asked as he looked to Lyon.

“Yes
,
Pendarves and Carlyon
;
and they moved to the
larger of the
safe house
s
yesterday
.
I’m going downstairs and send a letter right now
.”
Lyon rose
.
“Stay here a minute, Charlie?”

“Of course
.”

“Oh dear, have I put someone in danger, Micah?”

“Sweetheart, I remember the dream too, and I told you to tell Davitt the treasures were moved to London
.
There must be a reason for it that we don’t understand
.
Archangel Michael was there
with you
, r
emember
?
Pendarves and Carlyon will be
fine
.
Lyon will send a message
.
Everything will
work out
well
.”

“I certainly hope so.”

“Don’t you worry, Miss Libby
.
L
ike Micah said,
everything
will be fine,
”
Charlie winked at her
.

Harry returned with Lyon
a quarter of an hour later
.
“Sir John has been busy
.
He has talked to his contacts near the King
.
If Crowhurst is the same as our Mr. Crow, he’s already being watched by the King’s Elite Force and
some fellows
from
the new police force at
Scotland Yard
.
Crowhurst was closer to
King
George
.
King
William, being a military man,
has
something
;
what I do not know,
against
Crowhurst
.
Sir John
gave
them the information we have to help them capture him, if he’s the same man
.
If not
the new police force
will have an eye on Crow
as well
.
”

He continued, “
Sir John let them know about our troubles here and in Cornwall, without
giving them too much information about
the treasure
and its significance
.
And
he
informed them of
what happened to
Sophia and Libby, so they can hopefully prevent any other women
from being taken
.
He gave them the
location of the
Madame Rosier’s
establishment where Sophia was taken
after her kidnapping
.
Sir John assured me
the Madame’s
establishment is already being watched
.
He will keep me updated
.”
Harry
gave a sigh of relief.

“When did he speak to his contacts
, Harry
?
I can’t help but wonder if there is any correlation between that and the Brown Coats disappearing
suddenly
?”
Micah posed.

“Good point, Micah, I don’t know the answer to that question.
So, we must
accept
there may be a traitor in one of those places
.”
Harry frowned
deeply
.

“I sent a letter to
Dev Pendarves and one to
Trevan
also, so he is able to get
word to Pendarves and Carlyon in
the event
they’ve left the safe house for some reason
.”
Lyon returned to his seat.

Harry gave
Lyon
a quick nod
.
“
If not tomorrow, then soon, we must concentrate on translating the scrolls found in Glastonbury
and
the Secretum Domini
.
We need to know exactly what we have and why these scrolls are wanted so badly by the Brown
Knights
.
The day after tomor
row we’ll be leaving for London; a
ll of us.
”

“London!
” Rowena’s head snapped up as she
looked at Harry
in surprise
.

“Surely Micah and Libby can’t join us, neither one are able to make such a journey
yet
!” Sophia stated quite matter-of-factly.

“
London
, Micah
?”
Libby
turned her questioning gaze
to
her husband
.

Micah, Lyon and Charlie
all directed their attention to
Harry
.

Harry cleared his throat
.
“We believe that one or more of the servants here
,
at Horethorne Hall,
have been giving information to the Brown Coats
.
We believe that is how they knew
how
to get in
despite our guards
and take Libby
.
The treasure is no
t
safe here
.
We are no longer safe here
.
The treasures must be tr
ansferred to a safe house
.
T
hreats have
been made, as recently as last evening,
toward the ladies and children of the Avalon Society members
.
We
will be staying
with Lord Chilcompton, Micah’s Grandfather, for a week or more
.
I received a letter from Trevan this morning suggesting we may want to meet in Cornwall much sooner than September
, p
ossibly
as soon as
two weeks
time
.
We need to interpret the scrolls and transcribe the
Secretum Domini
– sooner than later.
”