Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Phoebe worried that Uncle Sol’s plan was a bit too reckless. And yes, she realized that it was quite ironic for her to say such a thing.
But she was forced to admit that the time of evening ensured that the Square was quiet.
It was late enough that servants were eating dinner in kitchens or back rooms, and families were in their bedchambers on the upper floors or relaxing in warmly lit drawing rooms rather than in dining rooms on lower floors, ablaze with candles.
The only disturbance was the occasional carriage, but even those were uninteresting as they pulled up in front of townhouses and allowed the occupants to descend and enter their own homes, returning from late-night revelries.
The greatest difficulty of the plan was in luring the men out from the park square to the area closest to the houses, a shadowed strip near the walls.
Most of the square’s occupants were either below stairs or on upper floors with windows that looked out at the park, not down toward the street.
Those windows were closed to the evening chill, and only someone leaning out would be able to see the area cast in darkness below.
Phoebe still scanned the houses on the square, looking for any twitching curtains or shadows cast by lamplight, but she saw nothing as she and Keriah stumbled down the street. Phoebe’s arm was around her waist, helping her along, but the two of them moved slowly, unevenly.
Keriah had spent years practicing her deportment in order to try to hide her limp, but now she exaggerated it. She still carried her leather satchel, and its unwieldy bulk swayed as she stumbled, making her look more unsteady.
Phoebe staggered next to her, pretending weakness and exhaustion. They had drawn their faces into masks of terror and fear, and they hurried down the road toward the Coulton-Jones house, ignoring the subtle movements of figures hiding under the trees of the park.
All of the men’s attention was focused upon the two women. Phoebe could tell from their increased heartbeats and quickened breathing. They could surely smell the cloud of Goldensuit around Phoebe, but Mr. Verling had also suggested another trick that might override their sense of logic.
“Hunters delight in the chase,” he said, with a faint note of bitterness in his voice. Phoebe suspected he spoke from personal experience. “And their attention will always be caught by wounded prey.”
They had used a knife not smeared with sedative to cut a long gash in Phoebe’s arm.
Keriah had not wanted to injure her too gravely, but Phoebe took the knife and cut deeper, causing the blood to run down to her palm, dripping onto the pavement.
She knew that she would heal in a few minutes, but as soon as the men caught sight of her and Keriah, they would smell the blood.
Keriah made her body more limp, relying upon Phoebe’s greater strength to help her along. She glanced behind them as if terrified at who might be chasing them.
The two women hurried toward the Coulton-Jones house, but not quickly. They kept their pace slow as if Keriah’s limping gait held them back.
Phoebe heard the movements of the five men across the grass of the park long before she saw them as they drew near. They emerged from the darkness under the trees, vaulting easily over the railing that encircled the private park, landing on quiet feet.
She pretended to freeze as the men were revealed in the lamplight, then redoubled her efforts to drag Keriah toward the house.
But she could sense how far away each man was to her by the sound of their footsteps, the harshness of their breathing.
She slowed her pace slightly so that the men farthest away could begin to overtake them, forcing two men ahead to draw closer.
All five men converged upon them, their steps soft but casual—not to drive them, but to intercept. And by adjusting her own pace, Phoebe was able to draw the men into a loose half circle around them.
Her arm tightened around Keriah’s waist, causing them to halt. The five men stopped also, at a distance a bit too far away for them to rush in to attack.
Phoebe stared around at the men … and waited.
Suddenly, from the corner of the square came the sound of horseshoes striking against the stone, a horse that had been spurred into a gallop. Phoebe kept her eyes upon the men, but two of them turned to look toward the approaching rider.
Uncle Sol might have cut a more dashing figure if his horse hadn’t looked so ragged and tired, but he had been forced to purchase the animal from the hackney driver, who charged a king’s ransom for the underfed, overworked animal.
Rather than a gallant black, it was a rather muddy gray color, but that gave it the appearance of a ghostly stallion as it drew near.
Uncle Sol had removed his cloak, so it was not whipping behind him and slowing the horse, and he rode directly toward the two women.
The five men did not immediately move out of the way.
Instead, three of them glanced at Phoebe and Keriah, wondering what sort of trouble they had brought upon themselves to reduce them to such a state of fear, to receive a wound bleeding with fresh blood, and to draw a rider down upon them in the dark.
Phoebe felt Keriah’s body tense, and she tightened her grip on her waist, signaling for her to wait. Only when Uncle Sol’s horse was nearly upon them did she suddenly drag her out of its path. Keriah swiftly dropped her satchel and kicked it out of the way.
At the same time, Uncle Sol pulled on the reins to angle the beast toward the five men instead.
Before entering the square and beginning their charade, Phoebe and Keriah had tied masks around their necks and stuffed them down to hide in their cloaks. Now they yanked the masks up and over their noses and mouths, tightening the strings just as Uncle Sol rode past.
Powder bloomed in the air, but in the darkness near the house walls, it looked like gray, dirty snow. His aim had been excellent—the powder enveloped all five men, although a greater amount of it struck the faces of the first three men.
As Uncle Sol and the horse streaked away, the five men began to cough, then stagger.
Within seconds, their movements had slowed, although they were still faster than normal men.
Keriah had warned that the sedative powder would not instantly incapacitate them since they were all taking the Root, but it did an excellent job of unbalancing them.
As soon as the horse was out of the way, Phoebe removed the knife from a sheath strapped to her lower back and rushed at the two men dosed with the least amount of powder. With her speed granted to her by the Blood Nectar, she crossed the few yards in the space of a blink.
The first man reacted, but slowly. She easily blocked a swing from his left arm and punched him hard between the eyes.
While he was still stunned, she stabbed the knife near the socket of his shoulder.
Keriah had told her that as the sedative entered his body, the wound would make it difficult for him to use his arm to attack her or remove the knife.
His eyes widened in surprise and pain before Phoebe darted away. It had taken her less than two seconds.
She turned toward the second man, who had pulled out his own knife and swung it at her wildly, trying to force her to keep her distance, but she easily dodged the blade. A kick to his shin surprised and shocked him, allowing her to step closer and land a ringing blow just under his jaw.
He was not immediately knocked out, but his body had stiffened and begun to fall. Phoebe quickly pulled another knife coated with sedative from her boot and stabbed him in the thigh.
She had already begun running toward the other three men as she heard the clatter of hoofbeats on the cobblestones, Uncle Sol turning the horse to attack the men again.
Mr. Verling suddenly appeared. He had been hiding around the corner at the other end of the square and had begun running toward them as soon as Uncle Sol first galloped toward them.
Now Mr. Verling had reached the remaining three attackers, who had had time to shake the sedative out of their eyes and remove knives from boots or coat pockets.
Mr. Verling attacked the man closest to Keriah, but instead of aiming at him with his fists, he dropped low and swept his leg in a wide arc. It took the man by surprise, causing him to fall hard upon the ground.
He had barely landed when Keriah rushed to her knees beside him and stabbed him precisely in the inner thigh with a sedative knife. She had aimed for and hit a major vein, and blood began pooling on the ground. The Root would heal him quickly, but not before he had lost a great deal of blood.
By then, Uncle Sol had returned on the horse, and he did not slow as he drove the animal into one of the other men still standing. He cried out as he was struck by the horse’s hooves, and he crumpled to the ground.
By this time, Phoebe was engaging the third man, who, despite being on the Root, reacted far too slowly to Phoebe’s jab to his face. Powder burst in a cloud in the air as she hit him, for he had not completely brushed it away from his eyes and nose.
To her surprise, he stiffened and dropped insensible to the ground.
Mr. Verling had arrived to provide assistance, but it was not needed.
Phoebe guessed that the man had inhaled a larger dose of the sedative powder, and while that alone was not enough to incapacitate him, it left him vulnerable.
As soon as he fell, Keriah darted in and stabbed him with another sedative knife, ensuring he would not wake anytime soon.
It had been less than a minute, and all five men were unconscious on the ground.
They hurried to drag the men’s bodies closer to the house walls and deeper into the shadows, and Uncle Sol dismounted and rushed to help them. All of them removed their masks, careful not to inhale any powder that clung to the cloth, and tossed them into the gutter.
Keriah retrieved her satchel, and Uncle Sol looped the horse’s reins around the railing surrounding the sunken front area of Mr. Coulton-Jones’s house. Then all of them hurried up the steps to the front door.
They had barely reached the top step when the door was opened from within, and a shadowed figure of a man stood in the doorway.
“Hurry inside,” Mr. Rosmont said, stepping aside.
As they entered the entrance hall, he said, “I was shocked when I saw the men leave the park square, for I did not immediately see Miss Sauber and Miss Gardinier. But I knew that you would not have attacked the men if you had not had a plan in place, and so I remained here to guard the household.”
Uncle Sol nodded firmly to him. “That is precisely what I would have wished you to do.”
But as the door shut behind them, Phoebe stiffened.
“Uncle Sol, there are two men on the Root who are already upstairs!”