Lords of Honor (75 page)

“No, Harry
.
I just want to get to London and into a bed
.
”

“If you can just hold on until tonight, Rowena, my love
,   y
ou can stay in your bed the whole of tomorrow if you like.”

“I’ll be fine, Harry! I probably need to try and eat something while we are here
.
I didn’t eat much breakfast before we left
this morning
.”

“What do you feel like eating, love?”

“Sponge cake.”

“
Hum,
I do not know if they will have sponge cake here at the Camberley Arms, Rowena, but I shall certainly ask.”

A knock sounded on the door.

“Come in.” Harry called
.

The door opened and three serving girls entered carrying heavy trays
laden with their meal
.

“Do you have any sponge cake
today
?”
Harry asked them
.

After her
short rest
and a meal, Rowena felt better
.
Harry, Micah and Lyon escorted their wives
and Lady Marston
back to the carriage
, a
nd the
ir
party was back on the
r
oad
to London
.

Rowena
never stopped smiling, even when she
appeared to be
a little green
.
She
fell asleep after
about
an
hour
.
Sophia and Libby soon followed
.
Grace sat quietly
, g
azing out the window.

Lyon felt the hairs on the back on his neck rise
.
He f
elt the familiar warning sign, a crackle of energy spread across his shoulders
.

At the same moment Micah looked out the windo
w.
“Something’s not right, Lyon.”

“
I feel it too!
”
Lyon
scanned
the countryside beyond the window
.

Harry rode up beside Micah’s window
.

Lyon
gave Harry a grim nod
.
“
What is it Harry
?”

Harry looked to
his sleeping wife
.
“Get the ladies on the floor
.
Newt is riding back toward us fast
.
I sent him ahead
to scout around the bend
.”

Micah gently woke Libby, then Rowena
next
.
Lyon woke Sophia
while
Grace moved
herself
to
the floor
.

The gentlemen helped the ladies get as comfortable as they possibly could be
upon the floor
.

Five lon
g, silent minutes pass
ed
.
The sound of a single hor
s
e’s
hooves could be heard
.
As
Newt
approached
the party
, he
sounded the alarm.
“Brown Coat road block up
around the bend
!”

“How many?” Harry called out.

“Thirty,
m
aybe more.”

“Bloody Hell
!”
Harry shook his head
.
He l
ooked to the ladies on the floor of the carriage
.
His gaze lingered on one in particular
.
H
e
spoke
to Micah and Lyon
.
“It’s our call, gentlemen, since we have more at stake here
.
Keep going, or turn around?”

“They’ll have someone behind us too
.
We know there were at least two Brown Coats watching
as
we left Templecombe
.
Stop the carriage, Harry
.”
Micah ordered.

“Everyone Halt,
”
Harry’s voice boomed.

“There’s an old
abandoned
farm house
up on that rise
.”
Micah pointed to
his
left
.
“Elveston and I cut through here on our way from London
to Andover
.
If we dig in, and pick them off, we have a better chance
.
If we ride into them we’re
doomed
.
If we turn around, it will be the same story
.
They’ll sandwich us
.
You know they
must have
some
reserves
behind us
by now
.
Newt, run up the hill and see if the
re are Brown Coats
in
side
the
farm
house
already
.”

A few minutes later Newt called from
top of
hill
.
“
It’s all clear
.
It’s a good place to hold them off
.
The place is made of stone
.”

“We’ll have to leave the carriages
.
Walk the horses up and grab as many extra arms and ammunitions as you can carry
.
Let’s do it this instant
.
Wyld
hurst, grab the chest with our
treasure
in it
.”
Harry bellowed to his colleagues
.
There were baskets of food and jars of lemonade in the first carriage
.
The ladies carried the food, Lyon and Micah carried the
baskets of stone crocks filled with lemonade
.

Once inside the house, the ladies were led
into a dark, musty cellar
.
Micah lit an oil lamp he
brought from upstairs.
He left four pistols and three knives with them
.

“I’ll be back in a moment, ladies
.
Stay
down
here, please.”

Harry met Micah
after
he came up the creaky old stairs
.
“Someone needs to stay with the ladies
.
We’ve all decided it’s you, Micah
.
You’ve barely begun to recover
.
Take some extra arms and ammunitions with you
.
Lyon you will join
him
.
”

“Harry, I’m getting around pretty good now
.
I don’t use the cane much anymore
.
Let me stay up
here
awhile
.
I can go down
to the cellar if our situation begins to deteriorate up here
.
Without me and Micah you are only seventeen
.
You could use another shooter, and you know my aim is good
,
”
Lyon spoke
.

Harry thought a moment
.
“
Very well
, but if I tell you to get down there, you do it, Lyon.”

Lyon nodded
.
“I’m going down to kiss Sophia
.
Are y
ou coming to see your wife, Harry?”

Harry sighed and nodded somberly
.
“Get your ammunition and get back down there.” He
instructed
Micah.

“Rowena, I bro
ught down a chair for you,
my
love,
”
Harry smiled
,
tr
ying
to sound calm
.
He carried two chairs.

Lyon carried two
also
.
Micah returned with a basket of food and drink
in his hand
and two rifles
tucked under his arm
.
Newt followed with a chamber pot and an armful of quilts.

Newt hurried back upstairs as the first shots were
heard from above
.

Rowena cried as she clung to Harry’s neck
.
Harry rubbed her back soothingly and whispered to her
.

“I have to go,
darling
.
I’ll see you soon
.”
Lyon dipped his head and properly kissed his wife
.
He started to turn away from her then stopped
.
He leaned close to Sophia and whispered
against her ear
, “I love you, Sophia
.
Take care of yourself.”

Tears welled in Sophia’s eyes
.
It was the first time Lyon said the
words to her.
“I love you too, Lyon
.
Please stay safe
.”

Lyon nodded to his wife
.
He turned from her, held
her fingers in his until he was further away
.
Finally he let go,
and
gave her one last
dazzling
smile before he turned completely away from her
.
He clapped Harry on the shoulder
as he passed him
.
The sound of gunfire from above increased
.
“Let’s get this over and done, Harry.”

Harry looked to Micah.

Micah
gave him a nod
.
“I’ll take good care of the ladies, Harry.”

Micah was left with
four nervous and
somewhat
teary ladies
.
They now sat upon their chairs
holding one another’s hands
.
He came up behind them
.
“Rowena,
ladies,
let’s call
upon
our Angel, shall we?”

“There must be fifty of those brown coated bloody bastards
!
We’ve taken out some, but we’ve been at this a good thirty minutes, maybe forty.
” Lyon growled as he pulled back from the window and re-loaded
his rifle and
pistol
.

“I’m tempted to see what would happen if we just threw the trunk
with the decoy treasure
outside to them!” Harry shouted back to him.

“We can’t, Harry, because of
t
he little girl
.
They’d kill her
.
There would be no chance of getting her back.
” Lyon pulled back from the window again as the fire from outside increased
.

Harry sighed heavily
.
“
I know
.
But I can no longer ignore
the fact
that our wives and my
own
child are in increasing danger with each passing day
.
Damn and blast
!
There’s another twenty coming up the hill
.
They must have been the ones behind us
.”
Harry shook his head
.
He
turned to regard
Lyon
.
“Get downstairs, Lyon
.
If our ladies have any chance at all, there needs to be more than one man down
there
with them.”

“Harry, it’s not that bad yet, we don’t have any dead or wounded
.
These stone walls are holding
well
.”

“Oh, Jesu
!
Look to the west
, o
n the road
, in the distance
, there
.
” He pointed.
“
Here come another forty or more.” Harry shook his head
and closed his eyes
to
help
keep the negative thoughts that threatened
from
creep
ing
in
.
He wanted Rowena to be safe, to live
.
He
wanted to live
.
He wanted to see his child
!
Hold his babe in his arms
.
He said a quick prayer that his wishes would be granted
.