Chapter 17 #2
The family congregated in the largest drawing room after the arrivals changed. The part that they would play in the illusion on the morrow was again discussed. They did not think that they were being watched, but they would take no chances, just in case there was a watcher that had been missed.
The ladies were not overjoyed that their menfolk would be in the vicinity of the action but were assured that the only one who would be close at the point of contact would be Richard.
He needed to be able to survey the field of the confrontation for any unexpected problems that would necessitate changes in strategy.
Although they had to plan for it, knowing how their adversary needed to feel that she controlled everything, there was little chance of there being a deviation from the plan she had most certainly laid out.
To keep the impression that all was normal, a group of the younger family members took a ride that afternoon, though the usual banter that one would expect from the family members was subdued.
Elizabeth steered Saturn over towards Zeus until she was riding parallel to her cousin with Aggie trotting in between them.
“Please do not get hurt on the morrow,” Elizabeth begged softly.
“I do not want to imagine not having you to…talk to.” Elizabeth realised how close she had come to declaring her feelings.
But even without hearing the words, Will understood her meaning.
“As I cannot imagine the same about you, Lizzy. We will all be well, I promise,” he replied tenderly.
“That is a promise I will hold you to,” she replied with a half-smile, both fully aware of the double meaning of her statement and that they had just declared their intentions without having to wait.
After all the anxiety, it was so simply done.
With a clarity that often comes when one is facing an unknown, they smiled ruefully as each wondered how it had gotten so far astray when they were both so incredibly good at using their words and reading between the lines.
They stayed close to one another but rode on without more discussion. No more really needed to be said.
That evening there was a quiet dinner as everyone contemplated the significance of the next day.
Andrew and George were pleased that Bennet would remain at Pemberley with the women and children so they would not be bereft of all the men in the family, and he faithfully promised to let their women work themselves into a frenzy.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Forester and his fifty men had been at Snowhaven for a sennight and were ready to finish this. This way if anyone were sent to verify the family’s departure, they would not see a suspicious mass exodus of horsemen following the supposedly unaccompanied carriages.
As there was a full moon, a little after one in the morning, Forester led his men toward their waiting points by a circuitous route. Before five they were in place and well back from the spots where they knew the criminals would be.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
McLamb led his group of mercenaries out of the inn as the dawn broke. Wickham rode next to him, and the riders were followed by Mrs Fitzpatrick in her carriage with her two footmen in their positions on the bench behind the compartment.
Wickham could taste the victory and was already spending the money that would be his in a matter of days.
If there were more time, he would have dragged the foundling into the woods and ruined her to prove his power and superiority, but if he wanted to somehow make sure that Miss Darcy lived, he would have to kill her faster than he had intended to.
Mrs Fitzpatrick was sitting on the comfortable seat, leaning against the squabs with a self-satisfied smile on her lips.
She would make them kneel before her, hear her grievances against them, hear them begging for their lives and the lives of their precious brats before she ordered them shot.
Mayhap she would do some shooting herself.
This was going to be the best day in her life since she had dispatched that useless husband of hers and found that will, which ruined all her plans.
For her, the icing on the cake was her belief that her insipid, sickly daughter and that Ashby who had married her would be part of the party so she would be able to rid the world of them, too.
She felt so relaxed that she did something that she had not since she was a young girl—she dozed in the equipage.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The precautions had been worth taking because one of McLamb’s men was indeed watching from afar, hidden in a spot that Wickham had told him about.
He saw the convoy of carriages pull into the courtyard of the manor house and he counted six outriders standing ready next to their mounts in the drive.
Until the carriages blocked his view, he saw what he believed were members of the family standing ready at the top of the stairs.
Once his view was obscured by the equipages, he sat back and waited.
His instruction was to ride like the wind as soon as the carriages started to move.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As planned, the women and children descended the stairs and then when completely hidden by the assembled coaches, they entered the servants’ entrance under the stairs.
Each of the five carriages contained four heavily armed guards.
The drivers and footmen each had a brace of pistols at hand.
Branch was sitting next to the driver of the second conveyance in the line.
As the men would be expected to do, they mounted their horses to ride alongside the coaches.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
McLamb’s man watched as the carriages exited the courtyard and turned onto the drive. The outriders took up stations between the men riding alongside the coaches. The man, who thought that he had been unobserved, jumped onto his horse and took off at full gallop towards the waiting ambush.
The two men who had been watching him, waited until he left the estate by taking the road that the carriages would soon travel.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Jones leaned on his shovel as he watched the carriages disappear over the rise in the drive.
He threw his shovel down with disgust and turned.
There blocking his way, were three footmen.
One of them was the huge beast that always accompanied Lady Elizabeth.
But if Biggs was standing in front of him, then who was in the carriages?
He unwisely tried to turn and run, but before he could move, Biggs, with catlike reflexes, had knocked him to the ground with a blow that carried the force of a blacksmith’s hammer.
“Ya thought we were fooled by the likes of ya?” Biggs said as he grabbed Jones by the collar and lifted him to his feet as if he weighed nothing. He nodded to the two footmen next to him. One fastened irons on Jones’s ankles and the other on his wrists.
Rather than being on his way to freedom, Jones found himself thrown none too gently into the windowless coal cellar.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
McLamb’s man rode in to their makeshift camp and notified him that the victims were on their way, and a half hour or less behind him.
McLamb ordered his men to pull the two trees into place and take up stations.
Next, he instructed them to take up stations on either side of the carriage trail per his employer’s exacting instructions.
When quizzed, the man confirmed that they were carrying many trunks.
McLamb was looking forward to picking over the personal jewellery and the other items that were packed after the riders were executed.
Being able to take anything they desired, including well over thirty horses, had made this job all the more attractive, even making putting up with ‘her majesty’ somewhat bearable.
Wickham felt the anticipation of the fast-approaching time when he would see those, he hated die, one especially and directly by his hand.
As he stood behind the tree, he felt to make sure that the pistol in his belt was firmly in place and ready to fire.
He did not bother to wear his disguise; in his mind, there was no need.
Mrs Fitzpatrick was sitting at her table on the outcrop of rocks that allowed her to survey the scene of her impending victory in all her imperious glory, waiting for the moment that she had long dreamt of.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Richard had joined Forester ahead of the first of the carriages entering the ambush area.
Along with the men who had been secreted in the woods beforehand, there were thirty men to each side of the trail some yards behind, where the miscreants were waiting.
He identified his former aunt sitting at her table as if she were about to watch a cricket match.
He accepted that she was insane, but neither insanity nor anything else would save her from justice this day.
He saw Wickham stick his head out from behind a tree opposite from the side that Richard and Forester were on.
His first inclination was to charge forward and end the man, but he stayed as Will walked up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“There will be time for that after,” he told his most dangerous cousin.
As the attackers watched, the lead coach entered the clearing. As it took the bend, it was forced to halt due to trees across the trail which were blocking the way forward. The other coaches came to a halt, and the drivers and riders looked suitably confused.
At that moment McLamb and his men revealed themselves. “Stand and deliver!” An overly confident McLamb called out as his men trained their weapons on the drivers and riders.
Mrs Fitzpatrick knew how it would be; her plan had been flawless!