Lords of Honor (3 page)

“I do not think she is completely resigned to th
e
idea
that your fellows
regard
me as a sister
.
This
bodes well for me
to accompany you to Cornwall
in September.
”
Libby smiled
knowingly
.

“Ah, and Micah is planning to come for a long visit in the next few weeks,
Libby
.
That will give you something to look forward to
.
He mentioned it in a letter to Charlie
, and asked that he pass along the news to us
.
”

Libby smiled
.
“Wonderful
!
Micah hasn’t
been to Roseland
for
six months or more
.
I
will be happy to see him
.”
She
realized
the thought of
Micah coming to
vis
i
t
Roseland
gave her a warm feeling inside
.
The fluttery excitement she felt surprised her somewhat
.
She wondered
if
her secret
crush on
Micah Wychcombe
would
ever leave her
.

“I will tell him you and Owen
look
forward to his visit!” Charlie smiled at Libby.

They talked for awhile and n
o more mention was made
of what transpired
in Glastonbury
.
Libby sensed C
h
a
rlie wished to speak privately with her brother
about the happenings there
.

She excused herself,
“I must cut some flowers to take to the Church tomorrow
morning
.
I’ll be in the garden
.
You
wi
ll be staying for luncheon,
won’t you,
Charlie?”

“Of course, Miss Libby!”

“
I will see you in the dining room
shortly
.”

She picked up
her basket she left
behind
on a table
in the
long, narrow
entry
h
all and
walked
toward the back of the house
.
She went outside and began filling her basket with some of her favorite May blooms
.

She
had
just cut some pale pink lilacs
from a bush near the
large herb
garden when she heard someone walk up behind her
.
She turned to see a rather unkempt man in a worn out
brown
coat
and hat
standing there.

“Excuse me, Miss
.
Would you be the Lady of the house
?
Lady Elizabeth
Darrington
?”

“Why do you want to know?” Libby asked cautiously
.
She
did not recognize this man
.
He could
not be local.

“I was supposed to give her a message
.”
The man nodded his head in a short bow.

“You may give it to me.” She
said in a superior tone she rarely used
with anyone in Hartland
.
She
removed her gloves and placed them in her basket
along with the shears
.

“I can only give it to Lady Elizabeth
Darrington
.”

Libby rolled her eyes
impatiently
.
“I am
Lady Elizabeth
.
What is the message?”

She heard someone approach her
from behind
.
A cloth was held
over her mouth
by a strong hand
.
She inhaled a sickly sweet smell
.
She c
hoked
as she tried to get a breath
.
Libby
tried to break free
.
She kicked and struggled
.
She felt the
basket ha
ndle slip through her fing
ers
.
She
h
eard the
shears fall
to the ground with a thud
.
Darkness came over her
.

When she woke, she felt
groggy
.
Libby tried to remember where she was but her mind seemed fuzzy
.
She felt movement
.
She h
eard
the squeak of
w
heels
and a steady c
lop
of h
orses
’
hooves
.
She must be in a carriage
.
She
tried
to
lift her arm
but could not
.
Why
?
She didn’t know
.
She heard male voices
.
They were unfamiliar to her
.
As her eyelids began to flutter open, the blinding light
hurt
her eyes
.
She closed them quickly
.

“She’s awake
.
Get that laudanum down her again
, Cobley
.”

Libby remembered
.
She’d been through this before
.
T
wice
, maybe three times
.
She would open h
e
r eyes;
try to sit up only to have
laudanum forced down her throat
.
One man
held
her
down
while the other forced her mouth open and poured the vile liquid in
.
Once she tri
ed to spit it out, and they
forced even more down her
.
The larger of the two men
held her nose
and
clamped her jaw
closed
with a
beefy
, smelly
hand until she swallowed.

“It’ll be the last time
.
Mr. Crow said he didn’t
want this one
un
able to walk
.
He said it was too
hard to
get t
hem
t
o
their destination in
London if they’re unconscious
.
She needs to be alert when we hand her over at the White Hart in Andover
.
We want every bit of our payment
.
That’s
to
night
, Rawson.
”

“We’ll see,
Cobley
.
If
she gets saucy or causes trouble, we’ll drug her again
.
No matter what that Mr. Crow wants
.
We could hang for taking a Lady
from her home
, t
he sister to an Earl, no less
.
It’s n
ot like the job we did f
o
r him a couple of weeks ago
.
That
chit
wasn’t so high born
.
No one would miss that one much
.
This one, she’s a different story.
”

Libby
kept her eyes
closed and pretended
to
sleep
.
Perhaps they would not drug her if
they thought
she
still
slept.

“False alarm
, l
ooks like she’s out again.”

“Good
.
This has been easy so far
.
I want to keep it that way.
”

“What do you suppose
Crow will
do with her if that brother of hers doesn’t get those old scrolls
from that Avalon Society
for him?”

“What else can he do
?
She’s the sister to an Earl
who is a prominent member of the Avalon Society
and Society at large
.
She comes from
a
well known, well respected family
.
He hasn’t made his plans known to me
,
but
Mr. Crow
has two options
if he does not receive the scroll
, sell her to the slavers or kill her.”

Libby realized upon hearing those words that she
must
get away
.
She tried to stay awake and alert, though she could not
.
Libby
drifted
back
into
a restless
slumber
.

This time
upon
a
wakening,
she remembered not to open her eyes
.
If she could make it long enough without
laudanum being forced down her
again, she might have the strength to get away
.
Wh
at were thes
e scrolls the men mentioned
?
Did it have something to do with
the Avalon Society
?
P
erhaps
it involved
the
ir
find in
Glastonbury
?

“Wake up, g
el
,” a
deep, raspy voice commanded
.
“Wake up!”

She felt rough hands on her arms
.
The man shook her
.
She felt suddenly
dizzy and
ill
.
Her stomach knotted up
.
This time Libby did open her eyes
.
She fought the nausea that threatened her
as she was roughly pulled to a sitting position
.

The light nearly blinded her
.
It took some long minutes before she could fully open her eyes
without feeling pain
.
She was in a carriage
.
Two men were with her
.
Oddly enough, both were dressed in long
, worn
,
brown coats
.
Her throat
felt
so dry
.
“May I have some water?” she croaked.

“Ain’t got no water
.
I’ve got some Gin
.
You
can have a swig of that.
”

“No
.”
She
grimaced and
shook her head.

“Suit y
e
rself
.
We’ll stop up ahead
.
I’ll get down and get you
something to drink and eat.”

“I’ve need of some privacy
.
To take care of necessities
,
”
Libby
’s voice came out as a hoarse whisper
.

“We’ll get a private room
.
We can’t take any chances
.
We’ll stop for a
half
hour
.
We need to make Andover by early afternoon.”

Libby
gave
the man a
curt
nod
.

The larger
of the two
m
e
n
took hold of her
arm otherwise she could not stand
without weaving
.
It was an effort to walk
.
H
er limbs felt
so
heavy
, l
ike lead
.
Libby’s
head
pounded
, she felt weak and nauseous
.
They were led
into a dingy parlour
that held a musty odor
.
The food wasn’t fresh or tasty, but she ate
a few bites
because she knew she
must
.
Libby hoped the food would
absorb some of the drugs
,
and
give her more
strength
.
She drank
a full glass of
water
.
All the while her mind raced
.
She
must find a way to escape these men!