Page 81 of Drowned in the Pleasure of a Devilish Baron
Another shot sounded and each of the four men tussling on the ground froze at once. Felix turned to see the third man standing above them, his double-barreled Flintlock pistol pointed toward the sky.
“That’s enough of that now,” he said, in a voice that was almost kind. “The two of you have put up a good fight, a respectable fight, but it is done now.” He had the barest trace of an accent, but it was one that Felix, who had never had the money to travel and whose acquaintances were limited solely to Englishmen with the exception of Dubois, could not place.
Felix met Leonard’s eye, and he nodded. They stilled and stood, keeping their hands in front of them to indicate peace. Felix was thinking quickly. He knew the Flintlock pistol was a bear to reload, and they had heard the man shoot at least once while they were still in the carriage. If he had not reloaded, then he was out of shots now that he had shot again, and they could fight their way out of this.
But what if he had reloaded while they were waiting to spring from the carriage?
The man must have seen the look on his face, for he smiled and pointed the pistol directly at Felix’s chest. “Do not make me shoot you,” he said. He waved the pistol at the other bandits. “Hold them steady.”
“The money is in the left chest pocket of my coat,” Leonard said calmly, indicating the location with his chin as his hands were pulled behind his back, the bandit behind Felix doing the same to him. “Take it and go.”
“If only it were that simple,” the man who was clearly the leader of the bandits said. “Sadly, Lord Cunningham, we are not interested in your money,” he said politely.
“No? Then what are you interested in?” Leonard said, but the bandit did not respond. He was looking to the man standing behind Felix, and speaking in a low tone in a foreign language. Leonard and Felix looked at one another again, but this time their decision was different. It was suddenly feeling as though they were going to have to fight for their lives.
Felix looked once more at the pistol in the man’s hands. Was it loaded? That was a risk he was going to have to take. The man behind him was responding now to the lead bandit. It sounded as if they were arguing, and his grip had loosened just a touch on Felix’s hands. Just a touch, but it was enough. Felix shot one last look at Leonard and sent a prayer into the sky. It was now or never.
In an explosion of force, he reared his head back as hard as he could, slamming it into the man’s face behind him, at the same time ripping his arms forward. There was a sickening crunch and the man let go of Felix’s arms, dropping to the ground with a shout as he clasped both hands to his nose. Without giving the lead bandit any time to react, he lunged forward, ramming his body into his stomach.
The lead bandit tried to cry out, but all of the wind had been knocked out of him, his pistol falling from his hand and skittering across the dirt. He crashed to the ground and Felix was on top of him in an instant. Behind him, he could hear Leonard grappling with the third bandit, and hoped he would be successful. Felix had one shot, and he decided to make it count. With all of his strength behind it, he clocked the man from beneath his jaw, measuring his strike carefully—he wanted to incapacitate, but not kill.
The results were just as he’s hoped—the bandit went limp at once, knocked out cold. Felix sagged in relief and noticed that the sounds behind him had silenced. He turned to see Leonard standing over the other bandit, who was similarly knocked out, and moving toward the third who was still rolling on the ground, crying and holding his hands to his nose.
Felix stood as well and joined Leonard, and the third man looked up at them with wide, streaming eyes and threw his hands up in surrender. “No, please! I give up! You broke my nose!” he wailed.
“Where are my footmen, my coachman?” Leonard asked steadily.
“There! There!” the man pointed off the road into a thicket of trees. “We tied them to a tree there!”
“You go,” Felix said nodding to Leonard. “I’ll handle this one.” As Leonard strode quickly toward the trees, Felix asked the man, “Have you more rope?”
“Yes, on our horses, there,” the man indicated three horses tied on the side of the road, lazily eating grass.
“Get up, you’re coming with me to get it.”
“Sir, please!” he begged, throwing up his hands. “My nose! It hurts! I will stay here!”
“I do not trust the honor of a would-be bandit. The three of you came to kill us, did you not?” Felix’s face was hard, his tone cold. The man responded, finally calming himself and staggering to his feet.
Clamping his hands around the man’s fists, he led him to the horses, using one hand to pull down the rope and secure it tightly around his hands. He tied the other end of the rope to the back of the carriage and went to meet Leonard, who was walking back to the road, his coachman and footmen at his side.
“Are you all right?” Felix asked, looking the men over.
“Fine, Sir, fine,” the coachman said. His face was deadly pale, but he seemed unhurt. “A bit shaken up, but fine.”
“Are you well enough to drive us into London?” Leonard asked, a hand on the man’s shoulder. “If not, you can take one of their horses home and we will continue on alone. It is understandable after the fright you have endured.” He looked to the footmen. “That goes for all of you.”
The coachman shook his head firmly. “No, My Lord. I will not abandon you now. Those men were not the usual highway bandits, looking to pilfer a few pounds. They were out to hurt you. I will stay by your side until this is settled or you are safe home.”
The footmen nodded their agreement.
Leonard nodded and clasped the coachman’s shoulder. “You are a good man, Goggins. I won’t forget this.”
He looked to Felix. “Let’s get the other two tied and into the carriage. We can follow them from behind on their own horses. I think Cast might want to speak with them, and if they cannot give us any useful information, the constable can have them.”
“It must be connected,” Felix mused as they tied the men and lifted them into the carriage before leading the sniveling third, whose nose was rapidly swelling, in behind. “Goggins is right, they were not truly bandits. They knew your name. Whoever is behind all of this now has moved to trying to kill us now.”
Leonard’s face was pale, but determined as they mounted the two horses, the third tied behind the carriage to follow. “You are right. I should have thought to bring guards with us today, but did not imagine anything like this happening. We have to speak to Cast and figure out what’s going on. It is clear that we have run out of time.”
