Lords of Honor (59 page)

“You’ll have to do better than that
.”
The y
ellow-haired man rested
the b
l
ade against her cheek
.
He made a small slice
.
Libby felt the pain
.
She f
elt the blood rolling down her cheek
.
“Tell me what I want to know now, and I will leave you with this one small cut
.
Tell me a lie and I cut out your eye
.
Tell me nothing and I will carve my initials in your face so no man, not even your husband and brother will ever be able to look upon you again.”

She heard Micah’s voice
at that moment
.
Libby
!
Tell him they are in London
.
In a safe house
.
You don’t know where
.
Libby nodded
.
“I overheard them talking
.
All of the relics including the scrolls were put in a safe house in London
, t
he Avalon Society’s main safe house
.
There is a secret chamber
.
But I do not know where the house is
.
Only that
it
is heavily guarded
.”

“Ah
, p
robably their club
.
Well done, Lady Wincanton
.
I shall merely leave you with a token of my appreciation
, for today
.”
He sliced her cheek further
.
A sick grin spread across
his
face as he cut her
.
“I thought
to
enjoy
your body
now
.
I do think your husband
and brother would be highly angered by m
y use of you,
but
alas,
there is too much blood.
I
t would be messy.
”

Percy Davitt
grimaced
.
“
T
omorrow
, then
.
It should be mostly dry
.
The blood
, I mean
.
Now you have something to
anticipate
.”
He did reach out and roughly squeeze Libby’s breast
.
“A bit small for my tastes, but
I can make do
.
Y
ou’ve not been married long
.
Y
ou’ll be nice and tight
, good for a quick and forceful romp in any case
.
I won’t be gentle
, this I promise
.
I shall
rut into
you before they
arrive at the hill
.
I’ll make certain they h
ear you
r
scream
s of pain
as they come up
.
And you will scream
,
I promise you that
.
Then you
may
w
e
ll die
.
Even if you don’t and your husband lives, I doubt he will want you after I am finished with you
.
There won’t be much left to look at, I assure you.
”

The man’s lips turned up in a malevolent smile
.
He
seemed to have a great deal of
difficulty getting to his feet
.
He limped
and w
alked
quite
stiffly
.

After
the yellow-haired man ducked out of the tent
, Libby saw
and heard
something like
a wing
flutter above her.
She could see
a
blue
and
white outline of
a
being
standing over her
.
The blue and white light changed, merged, and began to take shape
,
color
and form
.
An
Angel manifested fully b
efore her eyes
.

Libby
knew it must be the
Archangel Michael
.
His
large, white and
shining wings
drew closed
.
Libby looked
upward
and gazed at
his
strong,
shining face and
into
loving, kind
blue eyes
.
She no longer felt afraid.

She tried to move her hand to her cheek, her arm felt heavy
and
useless
.
She
must
stop the bl
eeding
.
She could feel
blood
running down
the side of her face
.
The best she could do was
rest the back of her hand against her cheek in hopes the pressure would
stop the bleeding
.
The angel’s hand covered hers
.

She closed her eyes
.
She saw Micah
.
“Hold on Libby
.
Owen’s almost there
.”
He reached for her
.
T
he vision faded.

G
entle hands
sli
p
p
ed
beneath her
.
Strong arms
lift
ed
her up
.
The
coolness of the
evening breeze caressed he
r
as s
he heard
the sound of wings
unfurling
.
The last thing she hear
d was
the beautiful voice of the angel
.

“Come,
dear one
.
Your brother and husband await
your return
.”

Owen hid in the obscure
shadow
s of the
trees
near the well
.
He
watched a
yellow-haired man leave the tent
.

“That’s Davitt,” Charlie
whispered beside him.

Owen
turned to Charlie
.
“I’m going in now
.
I’ll bring Libby
to you
.
Y
ou get her out of here
.
I’ll hold them off as long as I can
.
You make damn sure Micah lives, Charlie
.
I’ll not have her mourning us both
.”
Owen stood
and
moved away quickly
.
He
disappeared into the
darkness
of the trees as he edged along toward
the tent
.

Charlie realized
at that moment
Owen would
give his life
making certain Libby got safely away
.
“Owen
!
Get back here
!
The others will be here soon
!
You can wait a bit longer.
” Cha
rlie hissed as loud as he dared.
Owen did not turn
around
or
acknowledge his words
.
“Bloody Hell!”
Charlie
cursed
under his breath.
Rising
to his feet
, Charlie followed
Owen.
Nobody was
dying
this night if he could help it
!

Owen ignored
Charlie
as they stood in the
inky darkness
while he k
ept his eyes on the tent near Arthur’s Well.

When
Owen
witnessed
a blinding
blu
ish white
light
shoot
from inside the tent
h
is heart fell
.
Was there an explosion
?
A fire
?
Libby
!

The blinding Light grew
.
It took shape and moved
,
not unlike a blanket of thick fog.
The Light
came toward
h
im
and Charlie
.
It
engulfed them
completely
.
He
watched as
a
shining white figure of a man
drew closer
.
The form of a tall golden-haired man with large white wings
manifested in the center of the Light and
appeared
before him
.
In his s
trong arms, he held the limp
body of his sister
.

Owen l
ooked
up
ward
into
the face of
the angel
.
The being
was at least two heads taller than
he
.

“Take her, brother.”

Owen took Libby from the arms of the
glowing
angel
tower
ing
over
them
.

“Thank you,
”
Owen said, still in awe of the sight.
“Michael?” he whispered.

 
The angel nodded
.
He smiled
.
“The Light will surround you until you reach safety
.
Go.”

Owen turned, cradling Libby in his arms.

“None of the
Brown coats on the hill fort top
even notice
the Light.
We’re invisible, Owen,” Charlie
whispered
in disbelief
as he fell into step beside his friend
.

“I think you’re right, Charlie
.
You s
ee
him?
”

“
The angel
,
Micha
el
?
Yes
, a
n incredible sight!
”

The Avalon Society members watched in
awe
as
a
tall, large
angel
with
enormous
wings
spread
behind him
followed
Charlie and
Owen
,
who held Libby
in his arms
,
as they
made their way down the rugged and rough side of Cadb
ury H
ill. The brilliant Light surrounded their comrades and the angel.

Gabriel and the others
realiz
ed
Owen
, Libby
and Charlie were
rendered invisible by the angel
so they could escape unharmed
.
Once Owen and Charlie reached the bottom of the hill, t
he Avalon
Society
turned
and
made their way
back
to their horses
to
head
back
to
Horethorne Hall
.
There was meant to be no
conflict
this night
.
An
Archangel
decreed it
by his actions
.

Owen turned when he reached the bottom of Cadbury Hill
.
He
gazed
once again upon the Angel
.