Page 135 of Feathers in the Wind
“Come forward and alone. You have my word you will not be harmed,” Luke replied and with a quick glance at Ned who signalled for the small door in the gate to be opened to admit Farrington's messenger.
* * *
Deliverance brokeopen the letter Farrington’s messenger carried.
She scanned the contents, and read aloud:
Madam, as I esteem your courage in resisting the right and the might of your rightful King, I now offer you, for the last time, the opportunity to surrender Kinton Lacey Castle. Word has come to me that your food supplies have been compromised, and it is unlikely you will hold out for many more weeks. Once again you have my word that you and your sister will be treated with the honor and respect due to persons of your delicacy and stature. Your household will also be allowed to depart in peace. The men of your garrison may offer their surrender and they will be conveyed to a place of confinement but otherwise unmolested. Surrender now on these terms. Yr faithful servant Chas Farrington.
Deliverance let her gaze travel from Penitence to Melchior to Ned and Luke. She turned to the messenger and with slow deliberate care tore the paper in half and then into small pieces, letting them drop at the man's feet.
“You have my answer,” she said. “Sergeant Hale, see this man safely escorted to the gate.”
“Ma'am!” Hale, standing guard at the door, snapped to attention. The messenger bowed, turned on his heel and with Hale behind him, left the room.
“How did Farrington know?” She looked around the faces that surrounded her, scanning each one. “How did he know our food supplies have been compromised?”
“Because the person who perpetrated the act is in contact with him,” Luke answered.
“But how?”
Luke shook his head. “I don't know, but you have my word, Mistress Felton, that I will find out.”
“Do you really think it is Toby Brown?” Deliverance asked.
Luke shrugged. “He is our best suspect at present. If anything else untoward happens while he is locked up then we will know he is innocent. If not...” He left Toby's possible fate unspoken. “In the meantime, we have work to do. Please excuse us, ladies. Ned? Blakelocke? We need to talk. Come with me.”
Ned inclined his head and hurried after his commander, with Melchior following at his usual sedate pace.
Alone with her sister, Deliverance looked down at her drab, dusty, and stained gown. “I think it may be time to show my colours again, Pen. Can you help me dress?”
* * *
The red satingown hung a little more loosely on her already slender frame. Even with careful rationing, they were all thinner. Summoning her courage, she climbed the steps to the curtain wall to be met by Luke.
“What do you think you're doing?” he said.
“I need to have a word to Charles Farrington. Can you summon him?”
“Are you surrendering?” Luke enquired with a raised eyebrow. “If so, I think you should have discussed it with me.”
“Don't be ridiculous, Captain Collyer. We haven't come this far just to surrender because some fool thought they could starve us out. Get Farrington for me. I will wait here.”
Word went around the castle and a crowd gathered in the castle courtyard, eager to hear what their lady had to say.
Deliverance ignored the onlookers and at a nod from Luke, she climbed on to the box Hale had set for her on the castle wall and looked down over the enemy camp. The bustling soldiery beyond the walls also stopped what they were doing and climbed to the top of their earthworks.
“Farrington,” she called out, her voice carried well on the breeze.
Charles Farrington, resplendent in a blue jacket trimmed with silver, stood with his hands on his hips on the closest earthwork. Jack Farrington, hatless and similarly uniformed, stood beside his brother.
“You declined my terms, madam?” he shouted up at her.
“I wish to inform you personally, Colonel Farrington, that I shall not surrender Kinton Lacey while I have breath in my body.”
From the distance she could not see his face, but the tone of his voice carried nothing but contempt as he said, “I believe you have cause to know, I do not suffer rebels lightly, Mistress Felton. When Kinton Lacey falls, as it will, no one will be spared.” He swept her a low, contemptuous bow. “I bid you good day, madam.”
Deliverance’s stomach lurched at his last words. Everyone on the castle wall would have heard them and she felt the eyes of the garrison turned on her. A low murmur rose as the implication of what Farrington had said was passed around. They all knew the fate of the garrison at Byton.
