Lords of Honor (65 page)

They saw the glow of
fire up ahead.

Two carriages blocked the road
.
Seven mounted men in long, hooded brown robes, each holding a flaming torch waited
.
The hooded figures wore black
domino
s
over their faces.

“Amesbury?
” One of them called.

“Who wants to know?” Lyon shouted.

“The Grand Knight
s
of the Brown Order!”

“Never heard of such a thing.” Lyon taunted
him
while he positioned his arsenal on the seat beside him.

“Most Heretics have not
.
You cannot know the truth wh
en you live in Satan’s darkness,
”
t
he Knight shouted.

“Satan
?
It appears
yo
u
a
re the one surrounded by fire
at
the moment, your Grand Brownness.”
Lyon’s mouth twisted into a determined fr
own
.
He leaned out the window and squeezed off a shot,
t
a
k
ing down
the Brown
Hood to the left of the mouthy leader
.
The hooded man slumped
and
slid from his horse
to the ground
.
No
t one
of his colleagues moved to see
about
him
.
A rumble of voices could be heard
.

The Grand Knight held up his hand to silence his comrades
.
“I could have you killed, all
three
of you,
five
if you count your driver
and footman
.
You could die
at this moment
, Amesbury
.
There are twenty men behind these carriages
.”

Lyon watched
as the Grand Knight made
a gesture with his hand
.
Twenty armed and mounted men in Brown Coats came around the carriages blocking the road.

“We c
an
just add that twenty to the four we took out earlier today,” Lyon called out in a sarcastic tone.

“Bring the child!” F
rustration
and anger
could be detected
in the Grand Knight’s voice.

Lyon watched as a
dark-headed,
tiny girl child of about three or four was held up next to the Grand Knight
.
She cried
and kicked her dangling legs
.
She c
alled
out
for her mama.

“Do y
ou sacrifice children as well,
O
’
Hooded Evil One
?
We already know what you do to women!” Lyon struggled to think
what significance
the child could be to the Avalon Society.

“If I do not have the scrolls found in Glastonbury, the cruets brought by Joseph of Arimathea, and the Glastonbury Sapphire in my possession by
Tuesday week at noon
, this child will never be found
or seen again
.
In addition to this child, there are other women and children connected to the Avalon society who will disappear as well
.
You,
Glaston,
Wincanton, Wyldhurst, Fitzlewis and The Duke of Penrose shall deliver what I want to the Jasmine Star in Limehouse by noon
Tuesday
.
I have heard you know the location well, Amesbury
.”

“The Jasmine Star is kind of a shoddy establishment, your
Grand Arse
.
It’s not fit for the likes of us to step in
.”

“Nonetheless, you shall bring what I want
;
or this child of Lord Fitzlewis
’s loins
shall be the first to die
.
We have a far reaching network of spies and members, Amesbury
.
We are protected by men in high places
, m
embers of our Order
.
You cannot defeat us.
”

The spokesman of the Grand Knights waved his torch, “
Eight
women and t
wo
children, all special to some of your senior members shall disappear
and never be heard from again
.
You think the
women and children
dear to
your members are
safe
?
Think again
.”
The Grand Knight laughed wickedly
,
“
They are not
.
None of you are safe
.
The other ten I speak of are already being watched by
our
spies
.
Their “safe” places are already infiltrated by my people
.
The plans to remove them are in place and will happen
.
Your own whore of a wife m
ay even be on my list, Amesbury!
”

Anger fla
r
ed inside Lyon at the
thought of Sophia being harmed; a
nd that this piece of trash just called
his beautiful wife
a whore
.
“Just s
o you are aware, you
Bloody
Brown
-Hooded
Arse
,
I’m going to fi
nd out who you are and kill you by the eve of Tuesday next
.
Anyone who trie
s
to touch my wife
or any other woman or child of Avalon Society members
dies immediately, you
understand
that you Brown
Coated
sons-of-bitches
!”
 

August Trevelyan laid his hand on Lyon’s arm as he reached for one of his pistols
.
“He’s trying to goad you, Lyon
.
They intend to let us go
.
We are the messengers
.
Harry and the others need to be warned
of this
.”

Lyon let out a deep breath
.
He n
odded
and r
emoved his hand from his pistol
.

“Until
Tuesday when we meet in London
.”
The Grand
Kn
ight
bellowed
.
Two men picked up the body of the man Lyon shot and draped it over the horse
.
The
sobbing
little girl was carried away
.
In a flurry of movement, the riders
holding their
torches, turned and disappeared behind the two carriages blocking the road
with the mounted Brown Coats following them
.

Lyon and the Trevelyan’s listened to the thunder of horses’ hooves
as their enemy retreated
at a fast pace
.

“Let’s get those carriages out of the road and get the hell to
Horethorne Hall
!
That’s the direction they’re riding toward.
”
Lyon descended from their conveyance.

The carriages
on the road
were not empty.

“I saw that elderly couple get into their carriage
at the
inn where
we
stopped
at noon
.”
August shook his head
.
Both the man and woman
were
shot in the head
.
The driver’s body was conspicuously absent
.

The other carriage contained a gentleman
.

“Lord Gransby
.
I’ve met him s
everal times when
visiting Micah
.”
Lord Gransby t
ook
a bullet to the heart
.
“He’s a near neighbor to
Wincanton
.”
Lyon shook his head
.
Lord Gransby’s driver and footman were both dead beside the carriage
.
“Leave the bodies in the carriage
s
.
We’ll send the constable in Templecombe back for them tomorrow morning
.
Let’s clear the road and be on our way
.”

It was late,
well past
midnight
,
when Lyon
and the Trevelyan
s
arrived
at
Horet
horne Hall
.
Simmonds
saw their bags were taken upstairs.

“Is Harry up?”
Lyon asked when he found
Gabriel and
Wyldhurst in the library.

Wyldhurst shook his head.

“Go
wake
him
.
Wake everyone except the women
.
We need to have a meeting
,
now
!
E
xcept Micah
, he’s probably not able to come down
.
I especially need
Fitzlewis
.”

A quarter of
an hour later
the Avalon Society members who were not on watch were gathered in the library
.
Having heard voices in the hallway,
Micah insisted Wyldhurst help him down the stairs.

The gathered members listened
while Lyon, August and Marcus told
what transpired
earlier
on the road outside Templecombe
.

Owen sat stunned in his chair
.
“I do not have a child.”

“Perhaps you have one you are not aware of?” Lyon posed
.
“He specifically named you, Owen
.
Specifically said the girl was
of your loins
.
This child from the loins of Lord Fitzlewis
.
I guessed her age
to be about three or four perhaps.”

August and Marcus
confirmed
Lyon
’s words
.

Owen shrugged
.
He s
hook his head in bewilderment
.
“
I do not have a child.
”

Charlie spoke
up
.
“How long ago did Grace marry Lord Marston, Owen?”

“Grace
?
When we spent five months in Italy
, Charlie
.
Three, no four years ago
.
I came back and
found
she married Marston
.”

Owen remembered something
at that moment
.
When he returned from Italy, it was to find that his lady love, Grace, married Lord Marston
.
Owen confronted her only once
after returning
, a
t a ball in B
ideford
.
H
e
approached her
to
a
sk her why she married
Marston when she accepted Owen’s proposal before he left
.
She
sobbed
.
He recalled her words,
“I did not want to
.
You left me no choice
, Owen
. I sent you message after message
.
You never an
swered
.
It was almost too late;
I had to
.
Father arranged it
.”

Lady Marston’s sister-in-law
rushed to
join them
and intervened in their private conversation
.
Owen hadn’t understood Grace’s explanation
that day
.
Nor
did
he
ever try
.
He
excused himself from her company,
left the ball, and never looked at or talked to Grace again
.
His heart
was
broken
.
He thought she loved him
.
Maybe she did
?
He never received th
e messages she spoke of
.
Maybe
?
I
t was possible
.
H
e
very well could
have left her with child
.
He
planned
to be gone three months
, instead
he
returned to Devon well after five long months
.
Owen and Grace
planned
to announce
their
betrothal
after
he returned
from Italy
.