Page 114 of Feathers in the Wind
Luke took a deep breath and uttered a silent prayer of thanks he had not given in to emotion. Farrington had guessed, rightly, that Luke would respond to the situation at Byton and had laid the ambush for his return, certain in the knowledge that he would catch the parliamentary troops off guard.
“How many?”
“A hundred, maybe more.”
They stood no chance against those odds. “Were you seen?”
The man hesitated. “I don’t know.”
Of course he had been seen. Farrington would have his own scouts out.
“Fight the bastards,” one of the men growled.
“Not today,” Luke said. “Split up. Half of you go around to the north and half to the south. Get across that river and we will meet back at Kinton Lacey.”
Even as he spoke, a musket ball whistled overhead, and he heard the pounding of galloping horses. Farrington must have realised he had sprung his ambush and was coming after them.
Without the need for further discussion, Luke’s men turned their horses in the narrow lane and they galloped for the nearest crossroad where they split up. Luke, Hale, with the boy Toby riding pillion behind him and three others went north with a squadron of horsemen in the Farrington livery of blue coats hard on their heels.
One of the men with him was local, and he turned them across country down towards the river, but even as they reached the bank, he could see more blue-coated soldiers on the far bank.
“There’s a ford about quarter a mile further on,” the young man said as they paused with blue soldiers closing in on them from behind.
Luke nodded and they followed the riverbank, the men on the far bank keeping pace with them. The occasional pistol shot slowed them but failed to hit any marks. A heavily wooded copse on the far bank slowed their pursuers and the parliament men put their heels to their horses knowing that if they could get across the river before the soldiers on the far bank reached the crossing, they stood a chance of making it to Kinton Lacey, two miles further on.
Luke crouched low over the horse’s head and prayed.
* * *
Deliverance had been upand down to the tower watching for the men since mid-morning. As the evening drew on, annoyance turned to concern. Her fears had been justified. Luke had walked into a trap and was probably captured... or dead.
At the last thought, her heart tightened.
Penitence, calm as always, looked up from her needlework as Deliverance paced the floor of the parlour. “He will be fine, Liv,” she said.
“I have a bad feeling,” Deliverance blurted out. “I told him not to go. If anything’s happened to him, it will be his own fault.” She clasped her hands together. “I tried to get Ned Barrett to go out after them, but he says his orders are to stay within the castle. He won’t defy Collyer’s orders.” Deliverance did another round of the parlour. “Collyer’s so stubborn, arrogant and... and...”
“A man?” Penitence suggested.
Melchior Blakelocke entered the room without knocking. “Some of Captain Collyer’s men are back,” he said.
Deliverance’s heart lifted for a moment before sinking back as she realised what Melchior had said.
Some of his men...not Captain Collyer.
Blakelocke signalled to a man waiting outside the door to enter. He all but stumbled into the room, his face drawn and grey, his eyes red-rimmed and haunted. Deliverance took one look at him and knew that something had occurred at Byton, something terrible. Her first thought was of Luke and that terrible nagging fear that had haunted her all day crystallised. She took a deep breath. She had to maintain control. If she fell in a weeping heap on the floor, that would serve no purpose.
“What happened?” Deliverance refrained from grasping the man by his dirty collar and shaking him.
“Farrington was waiting for us at the bridge over the Teme. We got away, but we had to split up.”
“Captain Collyer?”
“He’s with the others.” The man shot a glance at Melchior. “They’re not back yet?”
Deliverance glanced through the window at the darkening sky. If Luke was in trouble surely he would wait until the cover of darkness to make his way home?
The man sensed her concern. “He’ll be fine, ma’am. I’ve served with him this year past and he can look after himself.”
