Forever Young The Beginning (37 page)

He decided to return to the chateau
and tell Louis and Mustafa and to spend some time with the two
boys. The others would go to Paris and tell Celeste together and
would give her Ian’s love. He reminded them to be sure to tell her
that he was comforting Louis, and that he wouldn’t fail to visit
her.

Needing the time to grieve, he wanted
for a while just be what he was, and to not have to always be on
guard against detection by humans. He actually looked forward to
just running, hunting, and seeing more of the sights as he traveled
south towards Marseille, being as that would keep his mind occupied
so as not to entertain darker thoughts. His rucksack had a change
of more civilized clothing, boots and socks. It also held his
copper bowl and flasks, flint stone for making fire, saber,
pistols, powder and shot. He still had his sizeable bag of gold
coins, as did the others. Coming to Marie wordlessly he opened his
arms wide as she came and laid her head upon his chest and wept
with him. After several minutes, he separated from Marie and hugged
Henri and Li as well. There was none of the usual bear-hug
back-slapping that was so common between them. Li and Henri’s eyes
brimmed with tears too.

“
I’ll wait with the boys for
all of you at the chateau then. Give my love to Celeste. Good bye.”
He turned and trotted into the trees and they got a glimpse of him
as he gave a great bound and rocketed out of sight, angling
southward.

As the day wore on, he felt a bit of
healing. Were it not for Cosette’s death, he could be really
enjoying himself. He loved to run in the wilds and the anticipation
of seeing what was over the next mountain or hilltop, or what was
around the next bend in a stream. There was something about it that
appealed to his inner being.

He had a really sad moment when he
made a kill at midday, as he remembered how Cosette had shown him
how to drain a kill properly. By using his copper bowl and flasks
that sad memory was driven home as if it was a painful barb. He
hung his head and wept freely for several minutes even as he
wondered how many times he would repeat this in the
future.

It was nearing evening when he chanced
to come across the road to Arles. He was somewhere south of Avignon
when he spied a coach that had lost a wheel. The coachman was
unloading the carriage, presumably to lighten it so as to make it
easier to put the wheel back on if help came along before dark. He
watched a bit, wanting to go on; but seeing that it would be dark
soon, he reluctantly decided to go help them instead. Sighing
deeply, he changed his clothing at vampire speed and put on his
boots as well. He circled north and then went to the road and
walked toward them.

As he approached the driver had gotten
the last of the bags off of the top and was now unpacking the
trunk. There were two passengers standing alongside the coach. One
was an elderly man and the other was a woman of around forty year’s
age. Ian walked up to the group and greeted them “Bon jour. It
seems that you could use some help here.”

“
Bon jour, monsieur; indeed
we could.” said the driver.

Ian walked to the side that the wheel
had fallen from. The wheel was intact, but the retaining pin was
missing, likely having worked its way loose over the miles and
having not been noticed.

Ian said “I’ll cut a pole to lift it.”
He leaped lightly across a large ditch and ran quickly into the
trees. The three noted that he floated effortlessly across a twenty
foot span and a drop of ten feet like it was nothing. He ran until
just out of their site, and then selected a young oak tree of about
three inches diameter. Drawing his sabre out of the bag he chopped
it down quickly and trimmed it. Shortly he came back to the ditch
with the pole and his rucksack on his back. He ran up to the gulley
and just stuck the pole down in to the bottom of it and vaulted,
swinging himself up effortlessly to land alongside the road.
Placing the thickest part of the pole under the coach he waited for
the driver to get the wheel. In seconds the driver had slid the
wheel onto the axle. Ian said “I’ll get something to make a
retaining pin for it. Have any of you any twine, or
rope?”

The lady stepped forward saying “I
have some tied around one of my boxes. I can find it.”

Ian nodded and again and picked up the
pole and vaulted the ditch with it and landed running. Within a
half minute he returned with three small maple branches. He took
out his knife and quickly struck off the excess length from each of
the three branches, putting them into his pocket after putting away
his knife. Picking up the pole he took two steps back, and vaulted
up and across easily once more.

He whittled one peg, going just slow
enough not to be vampire speed, but faster than any one there had
ever seen anyone handle a knife. Then he cut a notch around the
circumference of it at each end and drove it into the hole with the
butt of his knife. The coachman had a small utility hammer in hand
and he drove it in tighter. Ian turned to the lady who handed him
the twine with a warm smile. He nodded in return and his fingers
flew as he tied the peg into place.

“
That will hold it until you
can get to a blacksmith and get it done properly. It’s getting
dark, so let’s get these bags loaded while we can still see.” he
said. Quickly he handed the bags for the boot to the driver. While
he was stowing those, Ian picked up the others one by one and
tossed them effortlessly to the luggage platform atop the carriage.
Quickly he was atop the carriage and he rearranged the bags as best
he could, asking if there were any more.

“
No sir. No more bags, thank
you.” said the driver. Ian lashed down the luggage and leapt down
from the carriage top and picked up his rucksack and turned to
go.

“
Wait monsieur!” said the
lady. “I insist that you ride with us.”

“
Yes! Yes monsieur, please!”
said the driver and the elderly gentleman.

Ian turned and tilted his head a bit,
seeing them all smiling. Smiling in return he said “I’m Ian
McCloud.”

“
I’m Annaliese Fellman.” Ian
looked at her then for the first time. She was about Cosette’s
height, maybe five feet seven inches tall, beautiful, and of a fair
complexion. She wore her sandy colored hair pulled up in a tight
bun and had clear blue eyes.

“
I’m Jacques Beauchamps.”
said the elderly gentleman.

The driver said “I’m Pierre. We should
be going. We can try to make Arles tonight. “

Ian drew both loaded pistols out of
his bag before stowing it on the seat beside him. He stuck them in
his waistband beneath his coat in the dark as the carriage moved
along in the darkness.

Annaliese spoke “We’re both grateful
and fortunate that you came along Monsieur McCloud.”

“
Please call me Ian. It is I
who am fortunate, getting a ride this late in the day.”

“
Please call me Anna. Why
were you walking if I may ask, Ian?”

“
I was on horseback in the
hills angling towards this road when my mount broke his leg. I had
to shoot him.”

“
Oh. How awful! Did you have
to walk far?”

“
No; only three
miles.”

Jacques spoke then “You sure knew how
to fix that wheel, Ian, and I never saw a more nimble or agile man,
or one quicker with a knife.”

“
Nor have I.”

“
I used to be a sailor and I
was around knives and rope a lot.”

“
A sailor you say?” said
Annaliese.

“
Yes.”

“
I read a story in the
newspaper in Lausanne about a merchant ship from England, no…from
Scotland; that took two pirate ships and rescued two girls. One was
related to some government official. I thought the captains’ name
was McCloud. Are you him?”

“
No, that was my uncle
Angus. I was there.”

“
Really?” Oh Ian, do tell us
about it.”

Ian sighed and related a sketchy
version of the incident as they drove along.

“
Was that around the time of
that bad storm?” said Jacques.

“
Yes.”

“
How bad was it?”

“
It was the worst I’ve seen,
I suppose.”

After being asked, he related how he
had to pilot the prize ship and about being separated from Elsie
because of the violence of the storm. Concluding with the repairs
in Marseille and the subsequent reunion with his ship mates, he
left out all of the far more interesting and bizarre
happenings.

Suddenly the coach slowed to a stop.
Ian saw two horsemen approaching. In a low voice he said “We may be
about to be robbed. When they ask for your valuables, drop them as
you hand them over.”

“
What? Are you
sure?”

“
Yes, there are two of
them.”

The highwaymen shouted “Stand and
deliver! You, driver; get off of the coach and on your knees! The
rest of you get out now with your hands in the air!”

Leaning towards Anna and Jacques Ian
said “All right monsieur’s. We’re coming out. Don’t shoot us.” He
whispered “When we get out, stand a bit behind me to each side.
When they go to take your purses, drop them.” His vampire’s eyes
easily saw them nod their understanding in the darkness.

They stood outside of the coach, Ian a
bit to the front of the other two, his hands raised.

“
You two men, get down on
your knees!” “Woman, we may take you with us. It gets lonely doing
this for a living.” He laughed at his joke, and the other joined
in.

“
Now hand over your purses
you two and we’re going to search you for valuables too. We’ll be
sure to search the lady very slowly.” Both laughed at their crude
joke and then one said “Snap to it!”

Ian and Jacques kneeled and made ready
to hand their purses to the one while the other sat astride his
mount, covering them with his pistol. Just as the highwayman came
to take Ian’s purse, he fumbled it and dropped it to the ground.
The other one grunted and cursed, stooping to pick it
up.

Like lightning Ian drew both pistols
as he sprung to his feet in a blink of an eye and shot the horseman
between his eyes a split second before shooting the nearer one
between his eyes.

He trotted after the one horse that
had spooked and edged away, bringing it back and tying both to the
carriage in a matter of fact way. Then he said “Is anyone
hurt?”

All three stood there stunned as they
replied “No.”

Ian went to one corpse and cut his
purse cord and took his knife and pistol. He went to the other one
and did the same. He quickly searched and found a pocket watch in
one’s pocket, handing that to the driver with a pistol saying
“Here, Pierre; a souvenier.”

He handed Jacques the other pistol
saying “And a souvenier for you Jacques.”

Handing the two purses of the
highwaymen to Anna he said “And a souvenier for you,
Anna.”

He then checked the reins of the two
horses, to ensure that they were securely tied to the
carriage.

“
Ian, how did you do that?”
said Anna.

“
I shoot a lot.”

“
But it looked like you got
both of them in the head. And you did it from your knees in
moonlight!” said Jacques.

“
I have good eyesight at
night.”

He stooped and picked up the nearest
highwayman as if he was a rag doll and tossed him over his
shoulder. Trotting to the woods, he returned less than a minute
later to take the other one to the same place. He returned to see
the three still standing together in the bright moonlight, staring
at him in total astonishment.

“
What? You heard what he
said. Being a highwayman is a lonely occupation.” He shrugged then,
saying “I left them together to keep each other
company.”

Li, Marie, and Henri had made it to
Dijon in four days by carriage. Marie had taken the four girls to a
shop and was getting them and herself some presentable
clothing.

That evening they all strolled around
Lyon before it got dark seeing the sights. The girls were all
excited and happy to be with the three. They ate at a sidewalk café
and the girls all got a pastry treat for dessert. Slowly the horror
of the events of that night was receding from their memories, being
replaced by happy memories. Marie knew from her years of caring for
orphans how important that type of healing is to such a child for
the rest of their life.

After talking it over they decided
that justice for the men who had furnished the horses for
Francoises’ kidnapping ring would have to wait because of having
the children with them. They figured to be in Paris in seven or
eight more days.

***

Anna and her uncle Jacques had been
guests at the chateau for three days now. Ian had summoned three
more of the staff to come help out with the guests, and those all
stayed in the caretakers’ house. She and Uncle Jacques stayed away
from the boys after being introduced to them the first day. Ian had
said that he had to tell both of them about Cosette. He had told
Jacques and Anna that Cosette was his wife, and that she had been
killed in an accident while trying to save the life of a child.
They had all gotten acquainted while on the road, but Ian didn’t
talk much that first night after the highwaymen tried to rob them.
They had camped not too far from there and he had disappeared for a
short time that night. He talked a bit the next day and later that
day is when they had learned of his wife’s death. He had invited
them to stay overnight at the chateau and told them that he would
consider it a favor.