Chapter 32
When Henry pulled Penelope down from Boney’s horse in front of the hunting lodge, she didn’t think she had long to live. All the way to the lodge, Henry had taunted her about his plans to torture her.
Henry’s level of detail describing the torture was so impressive she was sick to her stomach. She prayed she didn’t vomit into her gag.
With her hands tied behind her back, she had trouble balancing when she doubled over, her stomach roiling. Henry jerked on the ties at her wrists to pull her up. Penelope thought her arms would be pulled from their sockets if he did it again just a tiny bit harder.
He was one angry man. On the ride to the lodge, he became even angrier, winding himself up into an agitated state.
Penelope seemed to be at fault for every adversity that ever plagued Henry. Thankfully, he thought, I will eliminate the adversity and get my life back on track.
Henry pulled Penelope from the horse roughly. She fell to the ground on her bottom with a jolt that went up her spine.
“Get up,” he yelled.
She had to manoeuvre her legs underneath herself and get on her knees. Then in her skirts, she had to raise one leg onto her foot then the other, and then stand. She deliberately took her time doing this.
Edward would come looking for her, and this was a logical place to look. She wasn’t about to hurry to her torture and death if she could help it.
The dark clouds crossing the grey of his eyes meant Henry had wound himself up tighter. He took her by the arm again and all but dragged her into the lodge.
She looked up. Her childhood memories dropped into place around her like so much rain. The chairs around the fireplace. The blanket she used to wrap herself in until the fire warmed her enough.
The cabinet with food. She wondered what was in there now. She remembered they ate every biscuit in there one time. The same time they had all split bottle of wine. She worried for three days that her mother might find out.
Henry’s face in front of hers snapped her back to her predicament. He grabbed her arm again and pulled her down the hall to one of the two back bedrooms. He threw her on a bed and headed for the door.
“I’m locking you in. There are a lot of tools and preparation that needs to be done, and I don’t need to worry about you while I’m doing it.”
He left, and Penelope heard a bolt slide on the other side of the door. She sat up and looked around for anything sharp that would cut rope.
*****
Nash rode his horse to the front door planning to give it to a stable boy. Thomas opened the door and ran to Nash.
“Henry lit the dower house on fire and escaped. He came in the night and took Penelope, using the house tunnels. He stole a delivery cart, killed the delivery man down the road a bit, unhitched the cart, and continued with only the horse and Her Grace.”
“Which way?”
“They think he went to the hunting lodge, but they aren’t sure. Lord Balfour and a group of men are headed there now.”
“How do you get to the hunting lodge? What are the directions?”
Thomas shook his head. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. I don’t know. I will find someone who does.”
“Never mind, Thomas. I’ll go to the stables. Someone there must know.”
Nash reached the stables quickly and dismounted. “You, there,” he said, pointing to a stable boy.
“Yes, Your Grace?”
“Feed and water my horse. I need a fresh mount and directions to the hunting lodge.”
“I can take you,” a man said.
Nash turned around. “Are you a member of this estate? What is your name?”
“It’s Merrill. I’m a villager Lord Balfour employs for odd jobs when he has them.”
“Can you ride fast?”
“Very.”
Nash said, “Get on your horse. We’re leaving.”
He yelled for the stable boy, “Where’s my fresh horse?”
The stable boy walked out with a saddled horse and passed the reigns to Nash.
“Good man. Don’t forget to take care of the horse I rode in on,” he said, mounted, then galloped off.
Nash shouted at Merrill as they rode, “How long?”
Merrill yelled back, “A little less than an hour.”
*****
Edward felt like the world was turning in slow motion. The trees were passing by too slowly, and the horses weren’t eating up enough ground. He didn’t remember the hunting lodge being this far away.
He reprimanded himself. How could he have left the dower house without finding out what time Minton opened the door? He didn’t know what kind of head start Henry had. How long has Penelope been at the lodge?
He knew in his heart that Henry took her there. A sane man would have taken her somewhere unpredictable where no one could find him, but Henry was not a sane man. And for that, at that moment, Edward was eternally grateful.
How had it come to this? They had once had fun coming to the hunting lodge. He and Penelope would build a fire, raid the food, and spend relaxing afternoons talking about their hopes for the future.
Once Henry caught on, things changed quickly. At first, they tried to include him around the fire. It’s hard to talk about your hopes for the future when insults are being lobbed at you. Like everything else, Henry ruined that too.
Did he hate Penelope or think her his only ally? Did he want to kill her or use her to get away? He was so unpredictable, who knew?
They would have to approach quietly. If he got startled, he was likely to react without thinking.
Edward put up a hand to halt. The horses stopped then surrounded him. “How much longer?”
“About a half hour, My Lord,” the stable boy, Buddy, said.
He looked in Buddy’s eyes.” Alert me when we are ten minutes out. We are going in quietly. We’ll talk strategy then. Let’s ride.”
*****
Merritt had estimated that Edward and his riders had started out twenty to thirty minutes ahead of him and Nash. When Nash asked, Merritt didn’t think they would catch up with them before they made it to the hunting lodge.
But Nash’s goal was to catch up with Edward before they got to the lodge. He and Merritt were riding faster than a larger group of men could. Every so often, Nash would find Merritt in his peripheral vision, keeping up length by length with Nash’s horse. It was a good thing. He wasn’t going to slow for anyone.
Nash felt like he had been riding an hour although he knew it wasn’t true. Even so, they were getting closer to their goal. The road had long since turned into a path. Now the path was narrowing, and Nash and Merritt couldn’t ride side by side. They had to slow their horses when the path turned into a trail.
When they slowed, Nash could hear voices ahead. They would run into Edward’s riders after all. He drove his horse as fast as he could go.
“Hey,” he yelled to the last horseman in line.
The man turned around. He grabbed his pistol, “What do you want?”
Nash raised his hands to let the rider know he was unarmed. He lowered them and said, “I’m looking for Lord Balfour. Is he with your group?”
“He’s up front. What’s your name?”
Nash hesitated, knowing he was about to get this man flustered. “Nash Finch, Duke of Norfolk.”
The man drew in a breath. “Your Grace, pardon. The pistol was a precaution. Pardon, Your Grace.”
Before he went on any further, Nash raised a hand for him to stop. He did.
“Could you pass my name up the trail until Lord Balfour knows I’m back here?”
The man nodded and turned. “Benny, tell Lord Balfour that the Duke of Norfolk is back here.”
Nash could hear the voices pass along the word up to the front. He heard a whoop and knew it was Edward. The horses moved to the side as Edward’s horse made his way to Nash.
They faced each other on horses. “Your timing is excellent.”
“I think that is still to be determined, but let’s hope. Is there a plan Edward?”
“There is. At the next clearing, we will finalize it. Want to join me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
The two men walked their horses to the front of the line and talked quietly while they moved through the woods.
When the path opened up to a clearing, Edward and Nash positioned their horses in the middle while the rest of the riders surrounded them.
*****
“I’m back, dear Penelope,” Henry said while he slid the bolt back and opened the door. I’ve brought a lot of tools to the kitchen table. Once you take a look, if you see a tool and don’t know its use, ask me. I will enlighten you. Follow me.
“Here. Sit in the seat saved for the guest of honour. That would be you.” Henry smiled. Penelope saw his eyes were lit up. She had seen them look that way before, and it didn’t bode well for her.
Penelope sat in a wooden kitchen chair in the middle of the room. There was a large array of tools spread out neatly on the kitchen table. Items from an axe to a small knife and quite a few things in between.
“I see you have interest in my tools. Would you like me to explain what each one does?”
Penelope shook her head no.
“Until now, I’ve only used them on animals. I think this will be much more fun.
“Don’t worry. No one will miss you. Edward and Nash don’t really care about you. You’re too ugly. If you thought they did care, you were delusional.
“For me, besides being ugly, you have been a thorn in my side since the day my father picked up you and your pathetic family. You were two days away from whoring yourself out for food, weren’t you? How is it, Penelope, that you can be so close to becoming a whore, and all those years later you can also ruin me so that I wouldn’t be a Duke? But, don’t worry. I’ll kill the imposter ‘heir’ then leave here for some time; lay low, and return when this has all blown over. Then I’ll be Duke, and you’ll be dead, so you can’t stop me.
“You keep looking at the door. If you are thinking Edward will come for you, you’re wrong. He isn’t going to find us. Not soon anyway. You’ll be dead before he makes it here. You’ll be long dead, and I’ll be long gone. I’ll come back for him when he least suspects it.”
Penelope sat and listened. Her head was swimming down at the bottom of the ocean. She couldn’t think. The water was so much thicker than the air. Things were coming into her head slowly. She was having trouble keeping up. She just needed to stay alert and stick to the plan.
She was still gagged, and even if she were not, she wouldn’t say anything. She didn’t know what might set him off.
Penelope looked over at the table again. She wished she could take a better look at the tools without Henry noticing. If he knew of one she was looking at closely, he would probably use it on her.
“I’m having such fun trying to decide which tool I should start with while I’m watching you squirm. So many times, I’ve been around you Penelope, and I haven’t been in charge. I need this.
“Oops. I left the saw by the woodpile. Be right back.”
As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, Penelope jumped up, leaving the rope she had cut while in the bedroom on the chair. She ran to the kitchen table and picked up the axe. She didn’t want to use a little knife or some contraption that screwed open and shut; she wanted to wield something substantial.
She gripped the axe and took a practice swing with it. She liked the weight.
Penelope stood against the wall next to the door taking off her gag. She didn’t have to think whether or not she should do it. She knew she had to do it, and she was at peace with it.
The door began to open, and she set herself, her feet apart, and the axe at her waist. As soon as she saw him, she swung. She didn’t give him a chance to see her. He wasn’t looking for her there. She was supposed to be sitting in a chair in the middle of the room.
The axe connected with Henry’s chest. His eyes grew large, and he looked up at her, confused. When Penelope looked at the axe, the tip was embedded a good six inches into the middle of his chest. Blood was beginning to flow at a faster pace than at first.
Henry dropped. Unfortunately for him, he dropped front side down and yelled when the axe went in further. He rolled to the side.
Penelope was through watching. Most likely, he would bleed to death. She didn’t need to stick around for that. She fled the house, still in the night-rail she put on the night before. Now, blood splattered the front in delicate drops that were too small to drip.
Without a backward glance, Penelope left the lodge and found Boney’s horse. With a little difficulty, she saddled him. She led him to a rock where she mounted him astride.
She couldn’t be caught on the open road wearing a bloody night-rail. She took the long way home.
*****
Edward, his riders, and Nash dismounted and tethered their horses. They had agreed to spread out in a semi-circle and slowly walk towards the lodge.
They heard nothing on their approach nor did they see the horse. Nash gave Edward a quizzical look.
At the door, Edward and Nash mouthed one, two, three then kicked in the door and rushed in. Nash, having gone in first, tripped over Henry and landed on the floor. Edward stopped short, staying upright.
He turned and yelled “Clear,” to his riders.
Nash turned Henry over and laughed. There was Henry, on his back with an axe sticking out of his chest.
“Penelope? Are you here? Come on out,” Nash yelled.
Edward turned back towards the door. “Search around the lodge for the Duchess.”
Nash had searched the entirety of the inside of the lodge during that same time. He stopped at the kitchen table and looked at the display.
“I’m thinking she killed him then took off on the horse,” Nash said.
Edward yelled, “Gerald.”
He was standing behind Edward, “Yes, My Lord.”
“We need to track the horse that was here. We need to know where it went.”
“Halt,” Gerald yelled. Then men froze. “Don’t move until I have a print.”
While Gerald tried to pick up tracks, Edward spoke. “Once we are cleared to move, I want you to go back to Edgewood and let everyone know Henry’s dead. We haven’t found the Duchess yet, but I suspect she’s alive, and if she is injured, her injuries are minor. We’ll be tracking her.
“If any of you see her, bring her back to Edgewood and deliver her into the hands of Lady Balfour. Then find me.”
“My Lord,” Gerald said. “I have what we need.”
“Excellent. Everyone move out,” Edward said. “Gerald, Nash, let’s move.”
Gerald bent down and showed Edward and Nash what they were going to track.
Nash was unclear. “Why would she go this way? She knew how to get to the lodge on her own, didn’t she?”
Edward said, “Yes, she did. This is the long way. I hope she’s not panicked that someone will arrest her.”
Nash prodded his horse forward. “I need to find her.”
Edward turned to Gerald. “Let’s let him go.”
Nash rode as fast as he was able on the tricky path. He had to dodge trees and take tight curves.
All the while, he yelled for her. “Penelope, stop, call out, where are you?”
Nash kept going, muttering the whole time about this path. His day had been a nightmare since the moment he approached the front door of Edgewood. He wanted it to be over.
If he felt that way, what must Penelope feel? She was kidnapped, dragged up to this lodge, who knew what was done to her? She killed a man, and now she was on horseback. He hoped she wasn’t running away. There was no need for that.
“Penelope, where are you?”
Nash grinned. She put an axe in Henry’s chest. Good for her. I better be on my best behaviour, he thought.
“Penelope,” he yelled.
Well, this is better than locking him in the dower house for twenty years, he thought.
“Penelope,” he yelled.
“I’m here,” she said, her voice far away.
“Where are you?”
“Over here, to your left,” she said.
Nash looked ahead to his left and saw her sitting on a rock, the horse grazing nearby. He got off his horse and ran to her, taking her into his arms.
“What are you doing in the middle of the woods sitting on a rock?” he said quietly.
She looked up at him. “I killed Henry.”
He smiled. “I know. And I love the way you did it. An axe. Nice touch. Edward says I better be nice to you, or I’m going to end up with an axe to the heart.”
Penelope laughed. “I think you should listen to Edward.”
She rode with him, leading her horse behind them, leaning against his chest, the fear coursing through her body settling down.
*****
Nash helped Penelope down from his horse and took her by the hand. When they entered Edgewood, Cecilia was standing in the foyer.
“Oh, Penelope. Thank God you are alright.” She hugged her hard.
“I’m bringing her upstairs for a while.” He turned to Thomas. “Order a bath and some food to be brought upstairs.”
He tugged Penelope’s hand, and she followed him. When he shut the door to his bedchamber behind him, Nash took Penelope in his arms and hugged her.
“Stop, Nash. It’s too tight.”
Nash took a step back. “I’m sorry. I was so afraid I would be too late. I didn’t know my heart could pound so hard. Did you hear it inside the lodge?”
Penelope laughed. “No. My heart was pounding too. I knew Edward would come after me, but I wanted you, and you weren’t due back yet.”
“I caught up with them on the trail.”
There was a knock on the door, and servants brought in a tub, hot water and a tray of bread, cheeses, and ale. Penelope didn’t realize how hungry she was until she sat in front of the trencher. They ate in companionable silence, punctuated by sighs.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes,” she said. “Just remembering parts of the day. It occurred to me that we don’t have to live with Henry next door for the next ten or twenty years. What a relief. I’m not used to the thought that he can never hurt me again.”
“I know. That occurred to me too. I felt like the anvil that was on my chest every time I lay down was gone. Like I could breathe more than a shallow breath again.
“Come. I’ll help you out of that night-rail and into the tub. I’ll get Helen. Don’t worry; I’ll only be gone a minute.”
Nash went downstairs hoping Edward was back from the lodge. He was in the parlour, forearms on his thighs, head down.
“Edward,” Nash said. “I’m glad you’re back. Do you feel up to talking?”
Nash’s gaze looked at Cecilia. “Now that you won’t be alone, Edward. I think I’ll check on Penelope.”
Nash nodded as Cecilia left then turned to Edward.
“You don’t seem to be doing well. You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”
Edward looked up. “Sure I can. That little worm outsmarted me. As I was sending every man in the house down to the dower house to help with the fire, I left the house unattended. While I thought I was so smart putting a guard at Mother and Penelope’s doors, he had already taken her.” Edward shook his head.
“What are you talking about? You saved her. Your quick action in securing the tunnels and figuring out where she went saved her life.
“Don’t carry this weight, Edward. You saved my wife, and I am forever grateful to you.”
Edward shook his head. “I didn’t protect her.”
Nash sat next to Edward and made him look in his eyes. “You saved my wife. Anything that happened or didn’t happen until that point is inconsequential. No, I take that back. Everything you did before that point brought you to her. Brought her to me.”
Edward nodded.
“You need a drink.” Nash brought him a whisky.
“To saving Penelope,” Nash said, then clinked Edward’s glass.
“Doesn’t it feel good that little worm is dead?”
“You can say that again.”
*****
Penelope bathed and rested until it was time to dress for dinner. Once dressed, she stood in front of the mirror, looking at her scar, thinking of Henry. She breathed a sigh of relief.
When Penelope walked into the parlour before dinner, she looked refreshed and beautiful with Helen having taken extra care on her hair. The only thing showing she had been through an ordeal had been a few scrapes on her face and cuts on her hands as well as the rope burns on her wrists.
Nash’s blood boiled when he looked at them. He kept quiet, not wanting to upset her.
All eyes were on her, and there was almost no conversation among them. Penelope knew they wanted to hear what happened but were trying not to pry. Penelope knew all eyes would be on her until they knew what happened, so she sighed and began.
“Would anyone be interested in what happened? I think you might rest easier. But if you would prefer not to hear it, I understand.
Edward shifted in his seat and tried to act calm. “If you want, sis. But it’s up to you. We’ll understand whatever you do.”
“Thank you, Edward. I would like to tell the story but listen carefully. I probably won’t want to rehash it after today. Fair?”
Nash took her hand, “Fair.” He looked around the room to make sure Cecilia, Edward, and Mira understood.
Penelope cleared her throat. She talked slowly, but she seemed detached from the tale as if telling a story of something that happened to someone else. “I vaguely woke to a flurry of activity in the house. Once I cut through the fog, I shot out of bed to find out what happened. I put on my robe and reached for the door when it opened forcefully from the other side.
“I thought I might be dreaming, or more accurately, having a nightmare, when Henry rushed in and closed the door behind him. I was so stunned; I stood in the middle of the bedchamber frozen.”
Penelope shook her head. “I couldn’t have made it easier for him. He walked up to me and tied rope around my wrists while I looked at him in disbelief. I was pulled around by a long end of the rope.
“He moved the rug, opened the trap door, pulled me to him, and told me to climb down. He climbed after me until he stopped to fix the rug and close the door.
“He had stolen a couple of candles and matches from my bedchamber on the way down. I didn’t even see him do it he did it so fast. At the bottom of the ladder, he stopped, lit a candle, and took the lead in the tunnel, pulling me along. At the end, he tied my hands around my back and gagged me.
“By the time we got to the stables, the stable boys had been pulled away to help in the search. Henry opened the trap door and lifted me up to the horses’ stall.
“He didn’t count on Boney as his getaway, but he seemed to be pleased. I think he planned to steal one of the horses in the stable. He muttered ‘even better.’
“Boney didn’t want to be part of Henry’s plan, but Henry gave him no choice. He seemed to know what was coming. He mumbled for Henry to take his cart and leave him behind. Henry didn’t need him. Knowing Boney didn’t want to go, Henry told him he didn’t want Boney pointing the way for Edward or anyone else looking for him. He told Boney he’d shoot him.
Watching Henry kill Boney was awful. I was shocked at how out of control Henry was. His eyes darted back down the road we had just come and then to me and the road in front of us.
“He got on Boney’s horse then lifted me up. We rode fast, all the while he held me by the ropes behind my back. The horse galloped while my arms were pulled at the sockets. It was painful, but I knew if I complained it would be more painful.
“I was so happy when we got to the lodge, and Henry plucked me off the horse, even if I did land on my backside, pain shooting up my spine to the back of my head. He barked at me to get up, which wasn’t easy in long skirts with my arms behind my back, but I did.
“He pulled me into the lodge and down the corridor to one of the rooms at the end. He shoved me on the bed and locked me in. I heard him walk down the hall.
“I knew this was my last chance to live. I couldn’t help it, but I said it over and over again.
“The door was out of the question, and the window looked out on Henry gathering tools he planned on using as weapons on me. So, I began to look inside the room for sharp objects to cut my rope.
“On the bedside table, there was a hurricane globe over a candle. Henry was still outside so I broke it and took a large shard. That’s where I got these cuts.” She lifted her hands to show the cuts on her palms and fingers.
“I finally managed to cut the rope. If I hadn’t been able to get through that rope, I don’t think I would be alive right now.
“He led me down the corridor. My arms were behind my back. I had wound the rope around my wrists and was holding it by my fingers. When I sat, I didn’t know what I would do. I thought I might run out of the house.
“Henry thought I was watching the door waiting for Edward to come barging in. I knew he would come eventually, but I didn’t think I had that kind of time.
“There was no question in my mind Henry planned to kill me. If given the chance, I planned to kill him. He left the lodge for a minute, and that was the only chance I needed. And I took it. I barely remember hitting him with the axe. I remember him falling on it and hitting the floor. I turned and ran straight for the horse.” Penelope turned to Nash. “That’s when Nash found me.”
Penelope stopped and shrugged. Nash took Penelope’s hand and patted it. “I would be grateful if Penelope doesn’t have to go through this horrific experience again. She’s given us the details of her ordeal. I consider the case closed.”
Cecilia murmured, “Of course.”
Mira nodded.
Edward looked at Penelope. “The nightmare’s over Penelope. The good that comes from all of this is that Henry will never bother you again.
Penelope gave a small smile. She nodded.
Henry was gone, but the scar lived on. And would for the rest of her life. To Penelope, it used to be a constant source of shame. The first thing anyone saw when he or she looked at her face. It caused her to be the underdog in everything she did. And it ultimately made her stronger. Henry tried to destroy her, but he didn’t. She was fearless.
THE END
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