“Yes, sir. But the grandfather kept from her the exact nature of what had happened to the two men. That’s what I overheard Mrs. Jamison-Lewis tell her lady-in-waiting when she asked if the girl understood what the soldier had said. I suspect the Reverend told her an untruth.”
“I hope you are right.”
“We were then suitably distracted by the comings and goings of the soldiers with our belongings. We were made to choose what to take with us; it had to fit in one portmanteau, which kept everyone occupied for most of the evening, and our minds off our situation.”
Alec dared to smile. “No doubt Mrs. Jamison-Lewis railed against the General’s high-handedness?”
Hadrian Jeffries looked up from pressing down on the lid of the leather trunk he had packed to bursting with as much of Alec’s belongings as he could stuff inside.
“Yes, sir, she did.”
“And he took his verbal punishment with good grace?”
“Yes, sir.”
Alec came across to help his valet close the trunk.
“Good. That would have made her feel better. Our travelling companions need to be reassured, and if not that, then diverted from our present predicament.” Alec let go of the trunk’s lid, now the locks were secured, but he did not move away from his valet, saying quietly, “Hadrian, I won’t lie to you. Given General Müller’s barbaric treatment of Luytens and Visser, I have no idea what sort of reception we’ll receive from Prince Viktor. But regardless of what happens to me, I will plead with the Prince for the freedom of the rest of my party. I cannot see him being unreasonable, not if he wants my help to storm Herzfeld Castle…
“I want you to look after Mrs. Jamison-Lewis and her lady’s maid.
The Caroline
is due to dock at Herzfeld port, and I will request that you all be taken there, and given safe passage, even if it’s just across the strait to Denmark. You’ll at least be out of harm’s way.”
“What about you, sir? Surely, you’ll be able to come with us?”
“My priority is to rescue Sir Cosmo and Miss St. Neots. I hope to do that when Prince Viktor invades the castle, with my help. So you see why I am asking you to look after Mrs. Jamison-Lewis and Mrs. Evans?”
“I won’t fail you—or them, sir.”
Alec stuck out his gloved hand, and when his valet gladly and firmly gripped it, he held the young man’s hand a little longer.
“Thank you, Hadrian. I am indebted to you. I sincerely mean that.”
Hadrian nodded, a little overcome and forced a smile. “I wouldn’t have missed accompanying you for the world, my lord.”
Alec stepped back as the cabin door opened and two soldiers entered.
“I hope to hear you say that again when we are safely far out to sea on our return voyage. But what I need you to do now,” he continued in English, knowing the soldiers did not understand, and watching them take up his trunk and depart with it, “is to keep up the pretense that we are not the least intimidated or anxious about the situation we now find ourselves in. I don’t want the others in our party panicked or worried. We must make believe that everything is as it should be, and enjoy the sledge ride with all the enthusiasm as if we were off to a Thames ice fair. Do you think you can do that?”
“To be truthful, sir,” Hadrian Jeffries confessed, following Alec up and out onto the deck, “I won’t need to pretend. I’ve never been in a sledge so I’m looking forward to it.”
They disembarked from the trekschuit and crossed the towpath, Alec wishing he shared his valet’s excitement as he surveyed the activity for their departure by dawn’s early light. But weighing on his mind was the fact that time was running out for Cosmo and Emily. He was now only two days’ ride from the Castle, but in his present predicament he was no closer than had he remained in Emden.
B
EYOND
THE
TOWPATH
, in an ice-covered field, soldiers patrolled in long coats and heavy boots, a watchful eye on the small group of passengers wrapped in fur coats and hats, chins buried deep in warm mufflers as they huddled together waiting to be directed into the sledges. Lined up side by side, each sledge was harnessed to two magnificent Frisian heavy horses. Standing around fifteen hands, with powerful quarters, a noble head and pitch black hair, the breed was indigenous to Midanich and, with the country’s well-trained soldiers, a much prized export.
The wooden carriage of each sledge was affixed with two smooth polished running boards that allowed the sledge to glide effortlessly and quickly over icy terrain. The interior was large enough to carry two passengers and a small amount of personal luggage, a domed canopy of leather stretched over cane providing shelter from the harsh winds and sleet. But being open to the elements facing forward, each carriage had the luxury of a brass foot warmer and its occupants were provided with a bear skin rug to snuggle up under. There was no such protection for the driver who sat in front of them on a wooden seat.
One sledge had no such canopy. It was piled with the passengers’ luggage, and the large wooden crate holding the mechanical gaming table. Soldiers were putting the last of the trunks aboard under supervision of an officer, and had a tarpaulin and ropes ready to secure the cargo for the journey. A number of other officers were already on horseback, General Müller amongst them.
Alec looked further afield, across the bleak, flat landscape to the township atop its man-made mound, its people and rebel soldiers safely behind its heavily-fortified walls. The cluster of red brick buildings were shrouded in morning fog, and thrusting through this low cloud, the spire of Aurich’s church.
The church brought his thoughts back to Selina, and he looked for her, just as the order was given for the passengers to climb up into their assigned sledges. He caught sight of the Reverend Shirley with his granddaughter being directed to the third sledge, and was relieved Müller was not leaving them behind in Aurich. He wondered what had prompted the General to bring the vicar and the girl along on their journey, for surely their presence was more a hindrance than a help. Perhaps they were to be used as hostages, too? He saw Evans being assisted by a soldier into the second sledge, and Hadrian Jeffries was then escorted over to sit up beside her.
It was then he heard his name, turned and saw Selina waving a gloved hand from the first sledge. He waved back. She was already aboard and rugged up under the bear skin. He joined her under the sledge’s domed roof, snuggling in beside her out of the cold, a soldier tucking them in securely, and putting up the foot rail, and with a nod to the driver the sledge was ready.
Alec was quick to search out Selina’s gloved hand under the rug and hold fast, as if needing anchorage, as if he feared she would somehow be taken from him if he let her go. Looking into her delicately flushed face, and large dark eyes, he was momentarily overcome with emotion, and did not know what to say to her: About their predicament; about the execution of Herr Luytens and his brother-in-law; that he thanked God she was alive and well, and looked no worse for the ordeal after being caught up in the crossfire between rebels and soldiers loyal to the Margrave; because he loved her so very much and would not know how to go on without her. His blue eyes must have told her everything she needed to know of his thoughts, for she smiled in understanding and leaned in to first kiss his stubbled cheek, and then his mouth, before nestling in, head on his shoulder.
It was then that General Müller reined in alongside their sledge on a magnificent black Frisian steed that was well over fifteen hands, and whose mane of glossy black hair had been braided and set with ribbons. Here was a much-prized animal, and a proud rider.
“Enjoy the journey, Lord Halsey,” Müller said, addressing Alec in German. “All going well, and we encounter no resistance along the way, there’ll be a change of horses in two hours at Wittmund. And then there is another two hours of travel before we reach our destination. Plenty of time to admire the winter landscape, spend a last few private hours with your sweetheart, and contemplate the future, such as it is.” He glanced at Selina, adding with a grin and a wink, before tipping his fur hat to her and swinging his mount away to give the order for the convoy to move out, “You see, I, too, am a romantic.”
Alec did not believe him. His grip on Selina’s hand tightened.
T
HE
FIRST
HALF
of the journey by sledge was spent traveling east, into a rising sun that was hidden behind low hanging gray clouds. The fog still clung low as they approached the village of Wittmund. The General was right in his calculations. Two hours of travel through a flat landscape of frozen marshes and abandoned peat bog farming lands, without encountering a single soul, living or dead. It was as if nothing and nobody inhabited this part of the world. But with the village in sight, there were a few isolated farmhouses close to the road on the outskirts of the township. Their inhabitants pulled back a curtain from a single window, or cracked open a door to the icy winds, to catch a glimpse of the travelling party, in particular the sledges pulled by magnificent black Frisian horses, and their wealthy occupants in fur hats and snuggled under bear skin rugs. But those same doors were instantly shut and bolted again when the convoy, protected front and rear by armed soldiers on horseback, sped past without a look right or left.
There was little to show for the civil war in this remote northeastern area of Midanich. Alec reasoned that perhaps there was nothing worth fighting for in such a desolate patch of marshland, with few inhabitants, and little to pilfer beyond the livestock kept indoors at this time of year. But as the horses slowed on approaching the town, it was apparent that Wittmund had not been spared from the conflict. A windmill on the edge of town had damaged sails, and there was evidence of a clash between opposing forces in the shattered and splintered wood of the shutters and the white-washed walls full of lead shot. Most telling of all were the fresh mounds of ice-covered earth. Unmarked graves. Alec countered at least twenty mounds as the sledges slowly glided into town. He wondered which brother’s forces these simple farmers regarded as their enemy.
M
ÜLLER
SENT
A
SCOUTING
party on ahead, to discover if there were any hostile forces. But the place appeared deserted, its residents and their livestock locked and bolted behind closed doors, to keep out the winter, and a war abandoned until the spring thaws. The sledges were driven to an inn at the far end of the village, and here Müller and his men dismounted, the General and two of his aides-de-camp disappearing inside the inn, while the rest of his force protected the sledges.
An hour later, with the horses and the passengers of the sledges watered and rested, the convoy set off again. During their stop, the women were separated from the men and taken into the inn first, all under escort. They were able to use the facilities, such as they were, offered hot tea or beer, and then escorted back to their respective vehicles, with no opportunity or time for conversation. Given it was bitterly cold and the inn was little better than a hovel, this suited everyone. It even provided a moment of light relief, when Alec returned from the inn to find Selina nestled under the bear skin still wearing the same expression of utter disgust on her beautiful face that she had tried unsuccessfully to hide when she emerged from the inn.
“Don’t tell me. Let me guess what you found most frightful back there,” he said, climbing up beside her and throwing the heavy rug across his lap, and then tucking them both in. “Was it the all-pervasive odor of animal excrement mingled with the root vegetable stew, or was it the lack of adequate—um—amenities?”
“You mean their second-best bucket?”
“Second best?”
“Surely they keep their best for their animal feed?”
At that, Alec chuckled.
Selina smiled, liking his laugh. She pulled her gloved hand out from under the rug and showed him a small empty porcelain container shaped like a sauce boat, decorated with a floral pattern and fine gold leaf, before quickly returning it to its hiding spot under the seat beside her shargren covered
nécessaire de voyage
.
“I may hate travel,” she grumbled, cheeks flushed, not so much from the cold, but from her impulsive action in showing him such a deeply personal item. “But I do know
how
to travel. Men’s needs are so easily accommodated—
in every respect
.”
Far from taking offence, Alec grinned, and kissed her temple.
“How true, my darling. But females are far more ingenious in overcoming obstacles.”
“Not all obstacles,” she replied cryptically, and sighed her relief when the horses set to and their journey continued, hoping she need not explain herself.
She had shown him her
bourdaloue
in the hopes of diverting him. She did not want to tell him that while the primitive conditions found inside the inn had startled and revolted her, and no doubt the pungent odors had increased her discomfort, the nausea she was experiencing was in truth morning sickness. She had had the same queasiness when she woke that morning, and that had had nothing to do with odors—vegetable, animal, or otherwise. Evans reaction was to be overjoyed, telling her that morning sickness was a good thing, that the baby was thriving, and in the next breath saying she couldn’t wait for her to inform his lordship because then they would have to be married without delay—and that the Reverend Shirley, with the Bishop of London’s authority, was qualified to perform the ceremony. Selina was too ill to argue, other than to say Evans’s dearest wish would no doubt be granted.
But glancing at Alec’s handsome profile, as the village of Wittmund was left behind and the convoy began the journey south—the sun appearing from behind the clouds told her so—she decided he had enough to worry him without her condition adding to his burden. Regardless of how happy she knew her news would make him, she could not be so selfish. They were in a hostile country, one where men were dying for their convictions; one young soldier before her very eyes. And while she had done her best to block that harrowing image from her mind, it had still left her shaken. As had the violent deaths of Luytens and his brother-in-law. But most of all, she thought of Cosmo and Emily, still held prisoner in a castle which also harbored the mad sister of its ruler. Yes, her happy news could wait—for now. Particularly as they had no idea what fate awaited them all at their final destination.