All Hallow's Eve (56 page)

Elizabeth moved away from him and picked up the ropes that had bound her, handing them to William.
William knelt and tied Wickham tightly, and then threw another handful of the
“
binding
”
herbs on the fire.

“
Turn him on his side so he does not
choke on
the blood from his broken nose,
”
Elizabeth advised.

William swept the broken china away from Wickham with his foot so that if he woke,
there would be no chance that
he could use it as a weapon.
“
What did you hit him with?
”

She smiled th
e
impish smile
that
he loved
so dearly
.
“
A chamber pot.
”

William could not help but laugh
and take her into his embrace once again, kissing her soundly
.
Elizabeth’s hand touched his injured arm
,
and he flinched.

“
Oh!
”
She began to push the coat from his shoulder.
“
Take this off and the cravat as well.
I will use that
as a bandage
.
”
He did as he was told.

To Elizabeth’s relief, she noted that the
wound
was not very deep
.
Just then,
t
he door opened
,
and
Mr. Bennet
rushed
through it
, followed by Mary
—both with swords drawn
.

Upon seeing Elizabeth was safe, relief replaced their concerned expressions.
“
Lizzy!
”
Mr. Bennet
cried as
he took his daughter into his embrace
.

“
Is everyone well?
”

Emotion tighten
ing
her throat far too much to respond, Mary
only
nodded.
Jane and Bingley came
through the doorway, and
Jane rushed to her sister
.
Jane
exclaim
ed
,
“
Lizzy! I am so happy to see you
unharmed
!
”

Bingley clapped William on
the
shoulder
of his uninjured arm
before answering Elizabeth’s question,
“
We have a
few minor injuries, but we are all well.
I cannot say the same for those of Wickham’s men who remained loyal to him.
Our friends are
tying up
the others.
”

“
What do you mean
by ‘remained loyal’
?
”
William asked.

Richard joined
the group.
“
Once they realized they would not be
able to win this fight, and
,
therefore
,
would not be
paid off,
a couple
laid down their weapons
.
One
who remained true to Wickham
is
dead.
Two
others
continued
to
fight, but were defeated.
”

Jane
walked over to William and
examined
his wound.
Taking some
Betony
leaves from
a sachet in
her pocket, she laid them on the injury and began to wrap his arm in the cravat.
“
Charles, will you close the
door
, please?
The smell of the herbs is dissipating
.
It is very important that we keep the
Olc
’s
soul bound to Wickham’s body until Lizzy opens the portal.
”
She turned to William
.
“
Do you have more?
”

William nodded, gesturing toward the table where his coat was lying.
“
In my coat pocket.
”

Elizabeth took a handful from his pocket and threw it into the fire.
“
Do you have the incense pot?
We should light it and begin the journey to the meadow.
”

“
The pot is in the cart
concealed
along the road
side
.
You will need
the cart
to transport Wickham at least part of the way
,
but you will have to
carry him the rest
,
”
Bingley offered,
then
left the house
to retrieve the pot
.

“
William and
I
will
carry him
,
”
Richard volunteered.
When Elizabeth looked as if she was about to protest, Richard
put up his hand to stop her.
“
I know that you are strong enough to
help William
,
and that I cannot stay for the ceremony, but after what you have been through, I will not allow you to carry
that man
.
”

Elizabeth responded,
“
Alt
hough it
is
not the case, even if saving George Wickham from this possession had been the
only
reason, I would have done
the same
.
I understand that none of what has happened has been done by the man himself.
”

“
And yet, I
will
be coming along. You cannot talk me out of it, so do not even make
the
attempt!
Madam,
I
can be
as stubborn as you
are
at times!
The others will
stay behind until the
magistrate
arrives
and tell him that the experience left you feeling unwell
and so you
have been
taken
home
.
I am certain that,
since you are a member of the
weaker
sex,
”
a
mischievous
gleam shone from Richard’s eyes,
“
under the circumstances, he will wait to speak to you until the morning.
”

Jane removed a small vial from a pocket and bent over Wickham. “Papa, hold his head at an angle so that I may pour this liquid down his throat.
He must swallow it so that he will remain
unconscious
through the
Sanun
.”

Jane poured it slowly into his mouth. Wickham
swallowed
about half before he began to choke and spit out quite a bit of the fluid.
She waited until his cough subsided, and then Mr. Bennet held him in a more upright position so that Jane could administer the remainder.

Mr. Bennet’s mien betrayed his concern as he whispered, “Jane?
Does it matter that he did not swallow it all?”

She shook her head slightly
and shrugged
. “We had enough there to keep him in a
state of unconsciousness
for several hours
.
I am unsure as to how much he ingested, Papa
, and I do not dare to give him more.
Too much opium would kill him!
He
will
sleep
as though dead
, though I do not know for how long.
”
She took a deep breath and continued in a more confident manner, “I believe it will be long enough, sir
, but if not, I do have several more vials
,
each with
one measure that is safe for him to take if he wakes up
.”

Nodding, Mr. Benn
et’s gaze rested on Elizabeth. “He cannot
a
wake
n
during the
Sanun
.”

Chapter
19

On the trip to the meadow,
Richard
and Mr. Bennet
rode
in the back to keep
watch over
Wickham
and make certain that the incense pot remained lit
.
Trailing along behind the cart were two horses
,
so that the
Darcy’s
helpers would not have to walk home.

Elizabeth snuggled up
against
h
er husband’s
side, her head resting on his
good
shoulder
.
She
could
feel
William’s jaw muscles working
against her
forehead
and
could
guess
the
subject
on which
he was brooding.
She decided that
since
t
hey were relatively alone,
it was a good time
to ease
his mind
and
t
el
l him
a little
about her captivity.

“
From what I overheard,
Lieutenant Denny had been correct.
T
o
gain
the
ir
cooperation with his plan
,
Wickham had
informed
the
men that I was fiancée to a very rich man and that they would
share
the ransom
that I would fetch.
They had ten thousand reasons not to
mistreat
me! Actually, most of the men could not understand why
you
would
want me since
they had all remarked upon my stench
!
B
athing in those foul-smelling herbs
was an excellent suggestion of yours, my love!
It kept
Wickham
away as
well,
but for very different reasons
.
”
She
forced a chuckle
in an attempt
to ease
his
tension
, but it did
very
little good
.

“
Either it
has worn off enough
for me to barely notice
it, or I am becoming used to it,
” William said.

“I noticed that Wickham was able to get closer
to me
as time went by.
It is good that you came when you did.
But, I must go through the cleansing ritual that Jane and Mama have arranged for me so that we are certain I can
perform the ceremony successfully.
I must be able to draw the S
pirit in
so that it can pass through me.
I do not look forward to it.
”

“What do you mean?”

“I
t is very difficult to
explain, but I will try.
As
each
soul passes through me, I am aware of many things
about
that person
.
Briefly, we are one—I know all that the
soul
passing through me has ever
known and experienced
.”
She seemed confused for a moment, cocked her head to the side and said, “I do not believe that they have the same experience or else your parents would have already known...” Elizabeth blushed and cleared her throat.
“At any rate,
I would
know
if one
was
Olc
—I can feel them when they try to get through
the portal and are denied
—
which is
why I was so certain that I had not allowed any through to the living world.
During the
Sanun
, there are so many souls that pass through me in such a short time that much of what I learn about them is lost
.
Some of the strongest recollections do remain a part of me, though I
have learned to be able to discern whether
or not
they are
my
memories.
I do not know what will happen when there is only one
soul passing through to the Otherworld
,
as will happen today
.
The p
ossibility that I will remember
all
that
Cher-nog
has experienced
frightens me more than anything I have ever
faced
.”

William sighed deeply.
“
I am sorry, Elizabeth,
for a great many things.
I am sorry that I led
Cher-nog
to you with the
S
word, t
hat I could not contrive of another way to lure
it
in
without your having to go through all that you did,
and that you are required to have the
Olc
pass through you to rid the world of
it
s influence.
I fear that y
ou must regret marrying me—at the first opportunity to prove myself as your husband, I have failed miserably!
”

“
Oh, I beg to differ, my lo
ve!
”
She arched one delicate
brow above eyes that
, at once,
danced with amusement
and
smoldered with
passion
.
Elizabeth
leaned closer to his ear so that there was no chance that Richard
or her father
would hear
her next statement
.
“
I
n my opinion
, your
first
attempt to prove yourself as a
husband was
a great success, as
have been
a
ll
subsequent
displays of
husbandly
duties performed
.
I look forward to many such
attempts
in the future.
”
She hesitated just a moment
to make certain that he had understood to what she referred, and then continued,
“
In addition,
from the very beginning
,
you have recognized that
when it comes to the responsibilities o
f my position as High
Priestess
,
it is better to act
in a way that
respect
s
my wishes
.
N
o matter the risk, and
disregarding
your personal feelings on the matter, you chose what was best for the
greater good
—and then
, quite
gallantly
,
came to my rescue!
I could ask for nothing more, William.
You
are
the best of men.
”

“Do you truly believe so?”
Alt
hough h
e was glad that she felt this way, William was about to protest
and again point out all that he had done wrong
.

“Yes, my husband, I do!”
When
William
looked at Elizabeth, he could see by the look in her eyes that she was perfectly serious.

The cart came upon a clearing
. A
s he realized they were nearing the meadow, he decided to revisit the subject at a later time.
“I do not know what I have done to deserve your love, but I will be eternally grateful for it!”

William was able to
manoeuvre
the cart fairly close to the meadow
.
Mr. Bennet
, carrying two large satchels he had retrieved from the car
t
,
was next to his daughter
.
Elizabeth
held the incense pot
and a lantern
, walking
ahead of Richard and William as they carried Wickham
.
T
he binding smoke of the incense pot trailed over the body
.

“Are you certain that the
Olc
is still within Wickham?” Mr. Bennet asked.

“Yes, I am sure, Papa; I can feel
it
s presence
when it is in a human body
.
Cher-nog
is there.
”

“What is in these bags that I am carrying?”

Elizabeth sighed and stated, “I must bathe and change into
my T
ribal gown.”

“Bathe?
But where?”

“In the stream near the meadow; there would be too many witnesses if I returned to Netherfield and then went out again during the night.
William will have to assist me. I must rid myself of all traces of the repelling herbs.”

Wickham was laid down
near the large pile of wood that she imagined her sisters had spent the day stacking for the bonfire. Mr. Benne
t was to continue watching over
the
B
east
,
while Richard
would use
a large branch of a pine tree to rake the area, purifying it for the ritual
.
William left a vial of laudanum for Mr. Bennet in case Wickham began to stir.

“If he wakes, I would be more than happy to hit him over the head!” Richard exclaimed.

William
answered, “
Since y
ou have no love for Wickham
,
please
allow Mr. Bennet to do the
honour
s i
f the need
arises.
If you kill him
,
Elizabeth
will have gone through a great deal for nothing.”

Carrying
t
he bags with one hand,
William assisted Elizabeth
as
they made their way through the brush to the stream.
She placed the lantern n
earby and began to unpack
her things.
The
y found the second
bag contained the herbs that William
would
require.

“What are you chewing?” William asked.

“Fennel seeds.
Would you like some?
They will begin to c
leanse the scent
of the repelling herbs
from
the inside out.
It is also said that fennel
strengthen
s a woman’s
courage
.”

“You do not need it for that purpose, my love.”

“
I am sorry to say that a
n increase in courage would be helpful in this case.
”

He could see that she was more serious than she wished to be.
William took her in his arms, but they
ended the embrace after a few moments—
both
kn
o
w
ing
that time was of the essence.

Elizabeth took out a
muslin
bag
filled with dried
eucalyptus, parsley,
and willow leaf, and submerged it into a pot of water, leaving it there to soak.
Next, William helped her to wash her hair in the stream with a soap scented with lemon balm and lavender.
She undressed as William cut
several
lemon
s
in half, and
,
as quickly as possible,
the two of them rubbed the juices
over
her
skin
in order
to cleanse any oils that might have been left behind by her herbal bath earlier in the day
.
Next she used the bag
of herbs
that
she had left
soaking to wash
herself
and William
poured the
water from the pot
over her to rinse
.
Elizabeth
then dusted her skin with a powder made of ground cinnamon
.
Afraid that she was becoming too chilled,
William wrapp
ed her in
the
blankets
that
Mrs. Bennet had
wisely provided
, and then allowed her to dress
.