Page 66 of The Rebellious Countess
How many more would she experience before they were safe?
Elias turned back to Father Charles and lifted the large soldier by his shoulders while Father Charles lifted the man’s feet. Not knowing what else to do, she picked up the bottle of oil Father Charles left behind and stuck it in her satchel, while the two men brought the man’s body to the corner and propped him against the wall as if he were sleeping.
Elias then removed the man’s jacket and slipped it on as they walked away. “Lucky for me, he was a dragoon. This jacket is cut high enough that there is little blood on it. The bad news is that he was a dragoon, which means there may be more here.”
“At the top of this set of stairs is the gate to the courtyard of the abbey,” Father Charles explained. “Máira will have to pick that lock. Once inside, you can follow along the wall of shrubbery on the left, where you will come to another set of stairs. That stairwell will lead you to the back entrance to the altar of the abbey.”
She felt rather than saw Elias stiffen. “Where will you be?”
“I must go find someone else.”
Sixteen
Father Charles,
I have received word that Napoleon has moved Cardinal Jean-Frédéric Linguet, and Pope Pius VII to Mont-Saint-Michel. If this is true, then you are to secure their freedom by any means possible. I charge you with the duty of bringing His Holy Eminence home.
Cardinal Cattaneo
Reims, France
—A letter to Father Charles at Moidrey Mill, France, from Cardinal Andre Cattaneo, who along with the Pope refused to denounce Napoleon’s first marriage and give legitimacy to his second marriage to Marie Louise. Pope Pius VII and Cardinal Linguet were kidnapped from Rome by Napoleon’s men, and have been in forced French exile since 1809.
The priest’s words stopped them in their tracks.
“What?” He asked.
“I am needed at the Chapel of Saint Aubert,” the priest told him.
“Who is at the chapel?” He asked.
“A special guest of Napoleon himself.”
Elias swore under his breath. He should have known Hag had ulterior motives. She didn’t like political intrigue. Since his father’s death, she had been all about coin. She refused to embrace her French heritage, but she was barely tolerant of his English ancestry as well. If anything, she held them both in contempt. She wanted nothing to do with the war, or either side. Yet there was one man she would manipulate her only son to rescue.
“Who?” Máira asked, but Elias knew the priest would not answer. He answered for him.
“The Pope.”
“The Pope?” She choked on the words. “The bloody Pope?”
He shook his head in disgust.
The priest frowned and made the sign of the cross.
“Are you telling me the Pope is here?” She asked.
Elias put his hand over her lips. “Shhhh.”
Máira swatted him. “Don’tshhhme!” Despite the lowering of her voice, she was clearly irate. “We’re supposed to be rescuing a family friend, and he’s being held in the same prison as the Pope?”
“And Cardinal Linguet, but they’re not being held together,” the priest clarified.
“They’re on the same bloody island being held by the same bloody Frenchman.”
The priest was in obvious discomfort dealing with a woman mad enough to shoot them and let the scavengers pick their bones. He was glad he hadn’t given the soldier’s gun to her when he decided to take some of the blame for this debacle. “That’s why Hag sent us.”
“Because of the Pope?” Her voice was blanketed with disbelief.
