Page 96 of By the Sword
For a moment Prescott tottered, staring at Jonathan in disbelief. Jonathan took a step back as Prescott’s eyes glazed over, blood-stained flecks appearing in the corners of his mouth, and he crumpled into the hay. Jonathan stood over him, his sword lowered, panting heavily. The cold, blue eyes stared sightlessly into the dark recesses of the old building.
Am I really any better than him?
‘You seem to have everything under control.’ The voice came from the doorway.
Jonathan turned on his heel to see Giles Longley limping into the barn.
‘Giles. Your timing is, as always, impeccable,’ Jonathan remarked wryly.
Behind Giles, Jacob Howell stood in the shadows, his hands on his hips, scanning the scene with a shake of his head.
Giles limped over to the crumpled figure at Jonathan’s feet. He bent and felt for a pulse. Finding none, he looked up at Jonathan’s taut, strained face.
‘This always was a bad business, Jonathan,’ Giles said quietly.
‘It’s over now,’ Jonathan said.
He threw his sword into the hay and turned away to where Kate lay crumpled like a child’s broken toy. He knelt and took her in his arms. He held her close, stroking her bruised and bloodied face. At his touch, her eyes, blank and uncomprehending, flickered open and her body began to shake.
‘Tom,’ she muttered. ‘He took Tom.’
‘Tom?’ Giles leaned over her. ‘Tom’s quite safe, Kate. He’s been out with Peter Knowles all day and forgot the time. He came back this evening with the stable lad.’
‘He said he had him.’ Kate gave a strangled sob and closed her eyes.
‘Hush. He would have said anything, Kate, if he thought it would get your co-operation.’ Jonathan held her to him, kissing her gently as she sobbed.
Jonathan looked up at Giles. ‘How do you come to be here?’
‘Ellen told me this morning you were back. Then she came to me this evening, ranting some tale about Prescott having taken Kate off and we found this in the Lower Parlour.’ He handed over the note Jonathan had left for Prescott in the dead of the night, propped up on a table in the soldier’s quarters.
‘I recognised your writing. God’s death, what were you thinking?’ The normally placid Giles blazed at him. ‘Did you believe he would meekly walk up here and you would slug it out like gentlemen? You must have realised you were putting Kate into the gravest danger.’
Jonathan tensed. Giles was right, he hadn’t thought it through.
‘I had to end it, Giles.’
‘And in doing so, you nearly destroyed us all.’ He glared at his friend. ‘Bravo, Thornton. Act without thought. Follow yourheart. You don’t change. Surely we could have dealt with this another way?’
Jonathan set Kate down and rose to his feet. He crossed to Prescott’s body and stood looking down at the man’s face.
‘For ten years he has hunted me. He has murdered men in cold blood in my name. No, there was no other way this could have ended.’
Chapter 34
Nell met them in the courtyard, holding a lantern high as her gaze moved from one face to the other, her expression one of helpless bewilderment.
‘What has happened here tonight?’ Nell’s voice cracked in distress.
Kate, lay in Jonathan’s arms, limp and broken and barely conscious. Giles, supported by Jacob Howell, favoured his good leg, his face grey and drawn. Jonathan realised he presented the worst picture with his face and shirt covered in blood from the cut above his eye.
There would be time for explanations later–for now there were other priorities.
‘Help me here, Nell. Kate must be put to bed and I don’t think I can carry her much further.’ He turned to Giles. ‘You and Jacob wait for me in the parlour.’
Jonathan set Kate on her feet but her knees buckled and he had to catch her before she collapsed. Nell took Kate’s arm around her shoulder and Jonathan steadied her on the other.
In Kate’s bedchamber, Jonathan laid her gently on her bed, tenderly smoothing back the tangled hair from her face.
