Lords of Retribution (Lords of Avalon series) (52 page)

Elowen blushed and turned to retrieve the blanket
. She returned to his side and supported Lord Alloway’s body again. She’d like to clobber the man, but Marrek would ask questions. She realized Lord Alloway would likely enjoy answering her brother’s questions. She had no doubt he would do so in detail.

Together she and her brother
slowly walked down the corridor each supporting an unsteady Lord Alloway.

T
he door was locked. They heard the sounds of gunfire coming from the grounds outside the parlour below. Micah admitted them after hearing Marrek’s command to open the door.

A chaise awaited Newt
. Marrek lowered him down. After a loving touch to his sister’s shoulder, he gave a nod and smile to his wife, before he hurried from the room.

Elowen’s cheeks flamed as she
tried to make Lord Alloway comfortable. He did everything he could manage to keep her bent over and attending him.

“Thank you, Lady Elowen
. I think I am finally comfortable,” Newt said, his green eyes dancing with amusement.

She tossed the blanket upon the chaise
, leveling her cool, crystalline gaze upon him as she rose to her full height.

“Thank you for bringing my blanket
. I’ve grown rather attached to it,” Newt said with a wide grin that showed his white teeth. He laid it over his groin area.

Elowen stared in disbelief as the man actually winked at her
.
What audacity!
He seemed to be quite enjoying her complete humiliation and mortification.
Damn him!

She groaned inwardly as
Micah pulled up a chair for her right next to the chaise where Newt rested. She had no choice but to thank him and take the seat. Raising her chin, she gave Newt a heated glare. She decided to ignore him as best she could.

Marrek, Harry, Trevan and Gabriel looked out the drawing room window
. They carefully watched what was going on outside. Stephen and Ruan joined them.

“I don’t see Madingly,” Trevan said
.

“
He’s here. Look to the man furthest back near the entrance gates on the big bay. That’s him,” Marrek said.

“He’s bald
? And dressed like a fisherman,” Trevan shook his head.

“He knew the only way he could slip back int
o Cornwall would be in disguise,” Stephen Johnstone, Lord Lyndhurst, spoke. “You must remember he worked at The Department with us once upon a time.”

Gabriel watched the man closely
. “I see it now. His mannerisms match Madingly’s; the way he sits his horse, the way he adjusts his shoulders. I’ve seen him do that many a time.”

“I want him,” Trevan said.

“He’s mine,” Marrek looked to his cousin.

“Not if I get him first, he’s not,” Gabriel
glared at them both. “He hurt my Zenny.”

“No fighting amongst ourselves
. Perhaps the three of you would like to work as a team to bring him in. We need to know who the leader is, and Madingly can tell us, of that I am certain,” Harry posed.

“I am certain he can, as well,” Stephen said
with a nod.

“Done.
” Trevan spoke.

“Agreed,” Marrek nodded.

“Then let’s get him!” Gabriel affirmed.

“We will wait for him to get closer
. He won’t stay that far back if his men make headway and show signs of breaching the walls of Menadue,” Marrek offered.

“We’re not letting those cutthroats in
side Menadue!” Trevan declared adamantly. “We have women and children here. Practically all of my family is in this house!”

“As is mine,” Harry echoed.

“Many of us have family here. Mine is here as well. We only have to make Madingly think they are getting in. We pull them in and kill them or take them prisoner. We can make it look and sound as if they are successful. He will come closer.”

“Good plan, Marrek
. I agree. Madingly or Isaac Slaughter, whatever his real name is, will be bolder if he thinks his plan has worked,” Stephen said thoughtfully.

“Samuel Potts knew him as Isaac Madingly,” Marrek added.

Stephen shrugged and sighed in frustration. “I wish we knew his real name. It would be much easier to find information on him.”

“The ladies
, children and our elderly gents will be in danger if any Brown Coats should get loose in the house. I don’t like this idea,” Trevan protested.

“There will be no danger
if we make certain his men don’t get past us on the ground floor,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “Otherwise
we
have to get through his men to get
him
.”

Marrek nodded
. Harry agreed. They all looked to Trevan.

Trevan
looked at them with a serious expression and slowly nodded, “As long as no one gets past us. Let’s round up some men. We need Jack, Lyon, Wyldhurst, Cleve and Creed and a solid line of men who have good aim and can fight them off. It’s a pity Newt is not able to join us.”

“Newt is awake, but he can’t stand on his own two feet
at present,” Marrek said.

They turned their attention
to Madingly’s men slowly approaching through the garden on foot. They hid behind the giant conifers and shrubbery lining the pathways when they were not taking shots at the line of men on guard outside Menadue.

Wyldhurst, Lyon and Creed joined the
gentlemen at the drawing room windows.

Jack came in
behind them. He studied the situation for a moment. He looked to Trevan. “Is there an easy way to get up on your roof from inside?”

“Yes,” Trevan answered.
A slow grin spread across his face.

“A man on the roof could pick them off one by one,” Jack provided
.

“Several men on the roof could pick off many of them!” Trevan nodded.

Marrek’s eyes lit up. “Good thinking Jack. That is perfect. We put maybe ten to fifteen men on the roof, lying low and staying out of sight until we lure Madingly and his men closer. The men on the roof keep the ones further back at bay while we take care of the ones who
think
they are getting into Menadue.”

“Then how do we get Madingly?”
Gabriel asked.

“Bait,
” Marrek said.

They all turned to
him.

“Who?” Trevan asked him sternly.

“Me,” Marrek said. “He’s wanted to kill me for some time. If there was an opportunity, he would take it.”

“That is too dangerous, cousin.
” Trevan shook his head.

“Marrek is correct, Isaac wants St. Erth’s blood,” Stephen nodded with a
confident grin. He slapped Marrek on the back, “Excellent idea.”

“Hear me out
. This will work,” Marrek began to explain his plan to them.

Within ten minutes, eighteen men were lying in position on the roof. Though the roof was mostly gabled, there were flat places and many nooks to perch upon the rooftop of the large, U-shaped main house that boasted many additional wings.

Jack waited, watching the man he knew to be Madingly
quite closely. He was speaking to a man with a patch over one eye. Jack surmised he must be the one-eyed Garlock, the one who had tried to shoot Tuesday when they were en-route to Menadue.
Jack wanted Garlock dead
.

The two men remained on horseback and were still back at the medieval gatehouse
with about twenty riders. Jack and his colleagues knew they would send the riders in when their men on foot got close enough to the house.

Jack and the others on the roof would make certain the riders never reached the house
.

The men
Madingly and Garlock had sent onto the grounds on foot were pushing ever closer to the house.

Jack was itching to pick off the men hiding behind the shrubs and large, ancient conifers lining the garden pathways. He had a clear shot of at least seven of them from his vantage point, but he had to wait for Marrek’s signal
. He sighed and waited. It would be dark soon. He hoped the moon would be free from clouds tonight.

Gabriel stood with Trevan, Harry, Marrek and Stephen once again at the drawing room windows. They watched the progress on the grounds. The outside watch was now aware of their plan. They instructed them to let a few of the intruders get closer to Menadue.

It was nearly time for hi
m to lure Madingly closer. Marrek looked to the gates to locate him again. “I still see the one-eyed Garlock, but I no longer see the Reverend,” Marrek got an odd feeling at that moment. Prickly chills ran up and down his spine. “He’s up to something. But what?”

Moments later,
Jack hastened into the room. “Madingly has left the gate. I watched him skirt around the grounds and he’s gone through the woods on his bay. It looks like he’s making his way around to the back grounds or the Chapel.”

“But all the doors are heavily guarded, and he’s alone,” Trevan
said. He started toward the drawing room door.

Harry, Ruan, Lyon and Creed stayed in the drawing room
. They sent word to all their men on watch and especially those on the roof to start shooting. Something was not right.

Marrek, Stephen, Jack,
Gabriel and Nightshade followed Trevan.

Once i
n the conservatory, they looked out across the grounds through the two walls of large windows. Their guards stood outside at the ready.

“These gardens in back are relatively open
. The door leading to the gardens on the east side where the conifers provide more cover is where he is headed, I’ll wager,” Trevan thought aloud.

Gabriel h
ad an odd feeling. He realized what they had not thought of. “Um, Trevan. The chapel! The underground passageway from St. Michael’s chapel to the house would be a perfect way inside.”

“
Yes, there is the passageway. It has long been unsafe. The doors on both ends have been bolted and locked for years.”

“Where does the passageway come into the house, the
main cellar beneath the kitchen?” Marrek asked.

“No.” Trevan shook his head
. A look of concern darkened his features. “The smaller storage cellar is below the anteroom leading to the servant’s stairs. There’s a trapdoor leading from the floor of the anteroom to the storage cellar below. Let’s go.” Trevan led the way.

They
discovered the footman who had been standing guard at the servant’s stairs dead. The trapdoor leading to the small storage cellar was open.

Trevan grabbed a
lit lamp from the table, Marrek and Gabriel followed him down into the storage cellar.

The door to the passageway stood ajar.

“Someone on the inside had to remove the lock,” Marrek said as he crouched down to study the broken lock. “It would have taken time to do this, even though the lock was rusted. It must have been unlocked before the shooting started.
Bloody Hell
, we’ve another mole inside the house we were not aware of. I’ll wager Madingly is upstairs, he knows that is where the women are. Senny said he wanted a hostage.”

By the time Trevan and Marrek came up the narrow wooden steps to the anteroom,
Gabriel and Jack were already ascending the servants’ staircase, their pistols drawn. The rest of the men followed them with the exception of Stephen and Nightshade.

“
We’ll go around to the main stairs. I’ll get some of the others,” Stephen said. He followed Nightshade as he ran the other way.

Marrek nodded
as his long legs took the steps two at a time. He reasoned there was some benefit to having one’s superior along.

The sound of footsteps along a corridor intruded into Senny’s thoughts. The shadowy vision sprang forth in her mind. She saw the figure silhouetted in the dim light.
Someone was coming!
She saw
him
in her mind’s eye. Madingly!
He was in the house.
He wanted a diary from Tuesday, but he also meant her harm. She felt his anger.

She realized there was a second man
in the house, a man cloaked in shadow. She could not see his face. Was it because he wore a cloak, or was able to suppress his energy somehow? His intentions were not good either. He knew Madingly. He knew what Madingly was doing. Yet he said nothing, told no one. He was waiting. He wanted Madingly to succeed.

“He’s here,
He’s in the house!” She tried to tear herself from the vision. She had to let go of the vision of the man in shadow to warn the others. “There is another man, though I cannot see his face. He is in the house just waiting. He knows Madingly is here.”

“Who is here Senny?”
Micah asked her calmly.

“Madingly and someone
else. The other one hides in the shadows, waiting, but he knows Madingly is here.”

At that
moment, a barrage of gunfire erupted outside. One of the windows broke. Glass shattered all over Micah, Tristan and littered the floor.

“Ladies,
get away from the windows. Get along the far wall,” Micah ordered. “George, Julyan! Help them.”

Tristan and Micah began to fire
upon the men outside, Micah was at one window and Tristan at the other.

“Help me up!” Newt ordered Elowen.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You are in no condition to be on your feet, you are quite dizzy and unbalanced still.”

Newt ignored her
, took his rifle and tried to help himself up on his own.

In the end, Elowen had to help him get to his feet to keep him from falling atop her
.

“I told you.”

I’m
up
,” he stressed the word, “aren’t I?”

Elowen blushed
. She whispered heatedly, “You’re horrible to bring up
that
at such a time. Will you please just forget?”

“No
. Never,” Newt chuckled. “
Never
,” he emphasized while sporting a devilish grin. He tucked Elowen neatly under his arm. “Stay here. If I need to shoot, I need you right here to help me stay balanced. Put your arm around me.”

“Nice try,
” she whispered as she rolled her eyes.

“Put your arm around me, Elowen!
I’m dead serious. I need to shoot if someone opens that door. You need to keep me steady.”

She saw his determination
in the heated flash of his green eyes.