Arsenic and Old Armor (35 page)

The upper body of the dead marquis was
already halfway out of the box.

“
With all the blood, the
tapestry is probably already ruined,” she said hopefully. “There is
no point in dragging him out here.”

The two women weren’t listening to her. Each
had an arm now, and they were pulling with all their strength.

How foolish of her to think things could not
get any worse. She had visions of Dorset’s body lying on the floor
of the great hall, and the English soldiers discovering them all
there. Of course, her aunts would simply offer them all a cup of
wine and a meat pie!

The marquis’s corpse was now stretched out
straight, suspended horizontally in the air with the two women
holding his arms, and his feet still caught on the edge of the
window seat.

“
Aunt Margaret, Aunt
Judith,” she called authoritatively.

Her aunts both turned to her. “Yes,
dear?”

They had heard her. It was a miracle.

“
We must put him back,” she
told them.

“
We need to get the
tapestry first,” Margaret said, panting a little from the
exertion.

“
The tapestry,” Judith
said, pointing with her chin.

Marion tucked the dagger into her belt and
moved quickly to the open window seat. Dorset’s blood had indeed
stained the topmost cloths. “There are only scraps of cloth here, I
tell you.”

“
Look underneath them,”
Margaret said in a strained tone. Dorset’s weight was obviously
getting to be too much for her.

“
Underneath,” Judith
echoed, mimicking her sister’s tone.

Marion couldn’t believe she was going along
with this madness. She leaned into the large space and tried to
push aside the soiled pieces without getting the blood all over
her.

“
I’ll be,” she whispered a
moment later as an old tapestry appeared at the bottom.

With her prize in hand, Marion straightened
up just as Dorset’s feet came free. Turning, she saw her
aunts—still holding on to the corpse—falling backward onto their
buttocks. The body of the dead nobleman landed on their
outstretched legs, pinning them to the floor.

“
By all the…”

She dropped the tapestry and started to go
to their rescue, but the sharp edge of a blade at her throat caused
her to reconsider.

It didn’t take Iain long to find the
trapdoor. Carrying a candle from the great hall, he’d simply
followed the stairs down until he found the bloodstains on the
floor in the dark corner of a landing. After a short search, he
found heavy blocks of stone that he quickly hauled up and piled on
the trapdoor.

Hurrying back up the steps, he charged into
the great hall and came face to face with his greatest fears.

Judith and Margaret sat sprawled on the
floor with Dorset’s body across their legs. Beyond them, Marion
stood in front of Jack Fitzwilliam, his dagger at her throat. On
the wall in the corner, a panel was open, revealing yet another
secret passage.

Bloody hell.Iain’s world tilted and
everything fell out of focus for a moment. He couldn’t lose her.
Marion mattered more to him than land or title

or his own life.

“
Let her go, Jack. Your
fight is with me.” Iain crossed the hall.

“
Stay there,” Jack said,
raising the dirk higher. “You’re wrong.
Our
fight is finished, and you’ve
lost.”

Marion moved onto her tiptoes, her eyes
flashing with anger.

“
I have already taken care
of you by bringing to Fleet Tower the dead body of his lordship the
honorable Marquis of Dorset. There are servants at the inn where he
was staying who have already reported they saw the Armstrong plaid,
and heard your name called by the people who kidnapped the English
leader,” Jack told him. “All that remains now is to do away with my
wee cousin here.”

“
Would someone be kind
enough to help us down here?” Margaret called from the floor
impatiently.

“
Down here,” Judith
repeated.

Iain ignored the two women’s pleas and took
another step toward the villain. “If you so much as nick her with
that dirk, I will skin you alive.”

Jack laughed. “Do you really think you can
frighten me with empty threats?”

“
That is no threat, Jack,”
Iain said, his voice cold and hard. “That is my vow.”

The outlaw hesitated a moment, then laughed
again. “You forget that I am the one with the upper hand here. In a
short time, the English troops will be here, and your life will be
worth nothing.”

“
I would expect nothing
more than such a cowardly scheme from a bastard cur like you. Since
you cannot strike me down yourself, it only stands to reason that
you would try to find a way to have others do it. What you fail to
realize is that before the English get here, I will cut every ounce
of flesh from your bones and feed your heart to the d—”

“
Halloo!” Margaret said in
a high-pitched singsong voice. “We cannot move down
here!”

“
I cannot breathe, you
three,” Judith added. “He is too heavy.”

“
In heaven’s name,”
Margaret wailed. “Can’t
any
of you give two old women a hand?”

“
Anyone?
” Judith shouted.

The ruckus the McCall sisters were making
was increasing in volume, and Iain saw Jack’s eyes flicker toward
them. Iain took another step closer and glanced at his own dirk at
Marion’s belt. Her eyes followed the direction of his glance. A
moment later, her hand started inching toward it, but she paused
when Jack’s dagger pressed against her throat as he turned her
slightly.

“
Cardinal Bane!” he
shouted.

Iain heard mumbling coming through the open
panel in the wall behind them.

“
Cardinal Bane, come out
here.”

“
But I can see you have
everything under control, Jack,” the whining voice called
out.

“
NOW!” Jack
bellowed.

A small wiry man wearing the robes of a
cleric crept out of the passage opening, his dirk drawn. Iain could
see the little man was shaking badly.

“
One of you come over right
now and lift this uninvited guest off of us,” Margaret ordered.
“The rudeness of some people.”

“
Some people,” Judith
repeated indignantly.

“
This is certainly no way
for a gentleman to act.”

“
No way,” Judith
agreed.

“
And the English are always
puffing themselves up about their fine manners,” Margaret
complained.

“
Always puffing themselves
up,” Judith told her sister.

“
Quiet my aunts down,” Jack
shouted to his man over the unending chatter. “Shut their mouths, I
tell you.”

“
But Jack…,” the wiry man
started helplessly. “But how? I can’t.”

“
This is no way to treat
your own kin, Jack Fitzwilliam,” Margaret wailed.

“
Jack
Fitzwilliam.” Judith spit out the name like a
curse.

Iain moved even closer to Jack. He saw
Marion’s hand was once again edging toward the dagger.

“
I cannot kill old ladies,”
the little cleric blurted out.

“
I didn’t say kill them,
you fool,” Jack yelled. “I said shut them up. Lift the bloody
corpse off them. Do anything, but make them stop
talking.”

As the outlaw’s frightened henchman moved in
a wide arc around Iain, there was suddenly a shout from the
courtyard. Iain realized his man John was calling up to the open
window. At Jack’s surprised look in the direction of the window,
Iain took another step toward him, but the outlaw stepped back
toward the open panel in the wall, dragging Marion with him.

“
You come closer to me and
you’ll find her head lying at your feet,” he threatened.

“
There is no getting out of
this, Jack. My men are here before yours, before the English.”
There was no reason for the outlaw to know that there were only two
Armstrong men outside and not a hundred. “I will make a bargain
with you, though. I’ll let you run for it if you let Marion
go.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Iain could see
the cleric bending over the sisters. Grunts and muttered curses
from the little man told him that the McCall sisters were being
rescued from the weight of the dead Dorset.

“
One thing you can be
certain of,” Jack threatened. “She will not walk out of this castle
alive.”

“
Nor will you,” Iain told
him.

“
You think that matters?
You think that frightens me?” He snorted. “What is life to me?
Nothing! And it’s because of her.”

“
She’s done nothing to
you,” Iain snapped.

“
She’s been my life’s curse
from the day she was born. She took everything that was mine and
everything that was intended for me. I will not let her live no
matter what fate awaits me.”

There were more shouts from the courtyard.
From the outside, there was a shove on the door to the great hall.
Iain heard John’s voice, calling to him.

“
Don’t answer him,” Jack
ordered.

There was no reasoning with him. The only
solution lay in killing him; Iain could see that. Still, he had to
figure out how to get to the madman before he cut Marion’s
throat.

“
Don’t you walk away from
us now,” Margaret called out.

“
Stay right here, David
Bones,” Judith ordered.

“
We cannot leave him on the
floor,” Margaret said.

“
Definitely not on the
floor.”

The sisters were obviously talking about the
dead body of Dorset.

“
Leave him there,” Jack
ordered. “And the two of you will shut your mouths.”

“
That’s no way to talk,
Jack,” Margaret scolded.

“
Just shut up and go sit at
the table.”

“
At the table,” Margaret
repeated. “That is an excellent idea.”

“
We’ll sit him at the
table,” Judith agreed.

“
Lend us a hand, Cardinal
Bane,” Margaret ordered.

“
I said leave the body
there,” Jack said, fuming.

“
Right now, Cardinal Bane,”
Margaret said in an authoritative tone.

“
Do what you’re told, David
Bones,” Judith snapped. “Now!”

The cleric appeared to be more frightened by
the McCall sisters than by his leader, for Iain watched the man
jump to assist them.

“
I don’t want him at the
table with the food,” Margaret ordered.

“
Definitely not near the
food,” Judith added.

“
Put Sir William’s chair
next to the earl’s chair…yes…yes…right there,” the older sister
ordered.

“
Right there,” Judith
confirmed.

Jack’s frustrated gaze shifted in the
direction of his aunts for the briefest of moments. There was not
enough time for Iain to do anything. He saw his wife had used the
opportunity, though, and had her hand at her waist, inches away
from the dagger.

“
I told you to leave him,”
Jack shouted.

Bane appeared to be deaf to anything but the
women’s commands.

“
Lift him…hold him by the
shoulders. That’s it. Slowly. I don’t want any of his mess on the
chair,” Margaret was saying.

“
No mess,” Judith
agreed.

The banging on the door started again,
louder now. Iain realized both of his men were on the other
side.

“
Are you in there, m’lord?”
Tom shouted.

“
A large group of men are
approaching along the village road,” John added. “They’re carrying
torches, but we cannot tell if they are our own men or the
outlaws.”

“
Shall we raise the
portcullis?”

“
Answer them,” Jack said to
Iain in a low tone. “Tell them yes.”

The outlaw was assuming they were the
English troops. Iain didn’t answer his men. A closed gate bought
them some time. Marion’s fingers were wrapped around the dagger’s
hilt now, but the weapon was still tucked in her belt.

“
That’s much better,”
Margaret said from behind him.

“
Much,” Judith
agreed.

“
But don’t expect us to
entertain him, Jack Fitzwilliam,” Margaret announced.

“
Not us. You brought him
here.”

“
You take care of him,”
Margaret finished.

Iain glanced back and saw Bane crossing the
great hall. He looked back at Marion and Jack. The outlaw was
looking across the hall at the cleric.

“
Come away from there,”
Jack ordered his man. “Come away from the…NO drinking, I said. I
need you sober, you fool.”

Iain looked around. Bane was pouring out a
cup of wine.

“
Put that down!”

“
But I need this, Jack, to
calm my nerves. Just one.”

“
Pray, Cardinal.
Pray.”

Surprised by the sincerity in the villain’s
tone, Iain stared at Jack.

“
I am sorry, Jack. Prayer
won’t work for me right now. I’ll just have a sip of this and then
I’ll pray,” the cleric said.

Iain turned and watched Bane drink down the
cup of wine. He sat at the table and poured himself another
cup.