Authors: K. R. Richards
Wyldhurst and
Lachlan
lifted Mic
ah o
nto his bed
.
Harry
went
downstairs
.
T
ogether he and Charlie would try
to find
out
where the Brown Coat
s
entered Horethorne Hall
.
G
uards
were placed
once again
at
all the doors
, on every side of
the house
.
Rowena and Sophia removed Micah’s shirt
.
Lyon escorted Sophia to the kitchens to get the supplies she needed to tend Micah
until the surgeon’s arrival
.
“The bullet went through,” Wyldhurst said as Lachlan Douglas lifted Micah’s body far enough so
he
could examine his wounds
.
“Let’s hope none of his major organs were damaged.”
Micah stirred
.
“Micah?” Rowena
sniffed
.
She
rushed to him
.
She t
ook hi
s
hand in hers
as she
ben
t over him
.
“Micah?
”
“Rowena, where is Libby?” Micah’s voice was weak.
“She – she,” Rowena began to sob
. She
held a towel tighter to his side as if she could stop his bleeding by her own will
.
Unsure of what to say, s
he looked to
Lord Wyldhurst
.
Micah’s hands came up
and
grabbed Rowena’s arms
.
“Where is Libby
?
Rowena tell me, please.
”
“They took her, Micah
.
O
wen and Newt are following them
.
They’ll get her back.
” Wyldhurst told him
calmly
.
Micah struggled to sit up
.
The movement caused his wound to
gush
more blood
.
“Micah
!
You must be still
.
You are hurt, man
.
Every
time you move you lose more blood
.
You’ve lost far too much already
.”
Lachlan Douglas moved to help Wyldhurst hold him down
.
He
turned
to Rowena, “We need brandy or laudanum to keep him quiet
.
Don’t leave the room
.
You are to stay with us,
Lady Glaston
.
Just yell down to Lyon
from the door
.”
Micah still struggled, “I have to find Libby
!
Let me go
.
I have to find her!
”
“I cannot let you go,
mon ami
.
You would be dead in twenty minutes from loss of blood
.
Owen and Newt are following them
.
You cannot go find your wife
.
Yo
u need to be stitched so you can
heal
.
We do not yet know how seriously you are wounded, Micah
.
You will have to trust Libby’s brother
to
find her.”
“Don’t you understand?
I
f something happens to Libby, I might as well
die
.
I can’t live through this again,
Luc,
I can’t
lose her
.
I have to find her
.
They will hurt her
.
Maybe k
ill her.
”
Wyldhurst and
Lachlan
were still struggling
with Micah
when Rowena
returned
from the hallway
.
“Micah Wychcombe!” Rowena scolded
.
“
Owen and Newt will find Libby
!
You best be still, or Libby will return to find you dead
.
Do you wish for Libby to suffer long years of grief as you did after your Lucy
and
your
babe
died
?
Stop this at once
!
You are currently bleeding to death
.
Be still, Micah
!
Think of Libby
.
Live for Libby
.
And me
, p
lease.
”
Micah stilled
.
His eyes closed
.
A tear slid from
the corner of
one
eye
.
“I don’t want Libby to hurt…”
his voice trailed off.
“He’s unconscious again.
” Wyldhurst
spoke
to
Lachlan
, “There needs to be more than Owen and Newt
searching
for her.”
“
We’re down three men with Micah wounded and Fitzlewis and Newt following the Brown Coats who took
Lady Elizabeth
,”
Lachlan
shook his head
.
“I wonder
how they are faring in Cornwall
.
We could use some of the Cornish contingent about now.”
“Last I heard, they have it the same as we do,” Wyldhurst
shook his head and
stepped back when Lyon and Sophia returned with a tray bearing thing
s
the ladies
needed
to tend
Micah.
Sophia and Rowena ministered to Micah while they awaited the
arrival of the
doctor.
The surgeon, Doctor Fuller,
arrived
quickly
.
He was
optimistic that
the wound was clean
and that the bullet went through
.
It would be a matter of time before they knew if any organs
were
damaged, and if he bled
f
r
o
m somewhere
inside his body
.
The doctor stitched his wounds
.
He
left laudanum
, p
oultices and teas for fever which he cautioned was sure to come
.
“If he’s going to live, he will be better in three or four days
.
If vital organs were damaged, he could die
within the week
, even tonight
.
At this point,
even a fever can take him
.
I’ve
never seen a wound like this one that didn’t bring fever with it
.
He will be weak
.
He’s lost a lot of blood
.
He needs nourishment to help him
keep his strength
.
It will have to
be
forced down him.
”
Harry came to step behind a teary-eyed Rowena
.
He rested his hands on her shoulders
.
Lyon
hugg
ed
a somber Sophia
to him
.
“Keep him quiet so he doesn’t re-open the wounds
.
He can’t afford to lose anymore blood
.
I’ll call
again
in the morning
.
If you need me before
then
send for me
.
I will come straight away
.
I have cared for the Wychcombe
family
for years.
”
Wyldhurst and
Lachlan
stayed with Rowena and Sophia long enough to get some laudanum down Micah
.
Lyon offered to stay with the ladies while Harry and the others took care of business
.
After they met,
Lachlan
joined Lyon
in
Micah’s chamber
.
They
discovered t
he Brown Coats broke a small window
in the service area of the ground floor
.
They came
up
the
back
servant’s
stairs
.
They
carried
Libby down the
same
stairs and killed the guard at the door
leading from the
small
servants
’
parlor
to make their escape
.
The deceased man,
a
Mr. Hobbs,
was
a manservant of longstanding at Horethorne Hall
.
It
appeared
they
specifically ca
me for either Libby, or one of the women.
Harry was truly concerned
.
They were outnumbered
.
Their wives were in danger
.
Libby was taken
.
Micah could be gravely wounded
.
They
was
no choice but to let Owen and Newt
trail
Libby
’s abductors
while
the rest of them
remain
ed
dug
in at Horethorne Hall.
At half
past
two
that
afternoon
ten Cornishmen led by Gabriel Chynoweth
, the Earl of St. Mabyn, and cousin to the Duke of Penrose
,
arrived at Horethorne Hall
.
“What news
do you have
, Gabriel?” Harry asked
.
It would
have to
be important for Trevan to send
Gabriel and
ten
of his
men to them.
“We wiped the
Brown Coats out at Menadue
by sending parties
out at night
to hunt them
.
We killed twenty, took seven prisoners
.
Trevan has amassed a small army of
our
relatives
.
When I left our ranks
numbered forty five
.
Twenty more are expected by today
.
The Brown Coats have not re
-
formed
.
In fact, it appears they left Cornwall, altogether
.
Our guess is there might have been twenty left to flee
.
My cousin feared they would concentrate on you here at Templecombe
.
I have brought ten
of our men
with me
.
Pendarves and Carlyon were dispatched to Lond
on, to await Lyon’s arrival
.
Trevan
can send
a dozen
more
men
whenever you need them
.
I need to speak with you privately, Harry.”
Harry nodded
.
He t
ook Gabriel Chynoweth into Micah’s main
study.
Harry
first
briefed Gabriel on their
immediate
situation.
“Trevan feels we should
still
send Lyon to London, though it may be more dangerous for him now
.
This is why he sent Pendarves and Carlyon
.
They are both known to visit the hells and bowels of London when
it is necessary
.
And they are good men;
s
neaky
and t
ough
brawlers as you
well
know
.
They won’t let Lyon out of their sight
.
This mysterious Mr. Crow
may see it as a trap right away
, we cannot be certain
.
But Ly
on is the only one of us who can positively identify
the man
.
Even if he
is able
only
to
alert Carlyon and Pendarves to
what this
Mr. Crow
looks like
, they can at
least watch him
in the future
from afar.”