Lords of Retribution (Lords of Avalon series) (27 page)

“I’ll take her inside. You must use your gift, cousin
. We must know what happened to Senny. I can feel that she was here.” Marrek lifted Wenna into his arms.

Trevan nodded
. “Stay for a moment.” Trevan instructed him. He gently placed his fingers on Wenna’s forehead. He stood very still and closed his eyes. He saw only darkness at first. He felt sadness and despair. From Wenna? He saw the garden as she looked over it. It seemed to calm her. He felt a gentle soul behind her, warm and happy. He knew that energy to belong to Zenny. He saw an arm with a large stick. Then he felt an excruciating pain on his head and everything went black again.

He concentrated on Z
enny’s energy. He felt her panic at seeing her sister injured. He knew she fought them, he knew she struggled to break free. Then he saw John Madingly pointing a gun at Wenna’s head. He felt Zenny go still. She stopped struggling and willingly went with the men. She was aware they were dangerous. She was focused on escaping. He watched in his mind’s eye as she tore off and dropped a blue ribbon from her gown as they pulled her away.

Trevan opened his eyes and walke
d up the path a bit. He gazed down at the large stick he knew had been used to harm Wenna. A few steps further, he found a blue ribbon on the gravel path. He held it up. “They took Zenny, Marrek. It was Madingly. We have to find her!”

Marrek
approached him and gently placed Wenna back into his arms. “You need to stay with Wenna, Trevan. This could be a ploy to draw some of us away from Menadue. You need to be here. They still want your scrolls. With the others arriving, they have probably have guessed the treasure is here as well. I’ll get a party together and begin a search at once for Zenny.”

Marrek met Tremayne upon entering the house.
Tremayne informed him that one horse was indeed carrying two riders. Marrek called immediately for Diggory to gather supplies for him and his riders. He had already selected Ruan and Creed to join him. The Avalon Society members assembled in the library.

“I want Tristan to stay with Trevan.
Riding about the countryside will not be good for your broken arm, cousin. Tremayne will join us and I need the Trevelyans to assist us.”

“I will go.”
Newt offered.

“Good, we can use a man
with your aim. Harry, I would prefer you stay with Trevan.”

“I’ll join you,
” Owen offered.

“Owen, I appreciate that, but your new wife and daughter need you to be with them and I want you here to help Harry.
Matthias, you must stay with your daughter. Wyldhurst, can you take over the guard?”

“Certainly, St. Erth,” Lucien
“Luc” Saintmaur, Lord Wyldhurst nodded.

“Cleve, I want you to join us
. We need your tracking skills.”

Cleve Griffith, Viscount Templeton
, nodded. “I’ll get my weapons and meet you…?”

“At the stables in five minutes.” Marrek turned to Ruan, “
Get my weapons and ammunition from my room, will you?”

Ruan nodded
.

Marrek hurried toward the large parlour where the ladies
chose to congregate since the earlier attack on Menadue. It was where he saw his wife fifteen minutes earlier.

He stuck his head in the door, “Catherine, may I speak with you a moment
? You as well, Aunt Morva, please.”

The bright smile his lovely
, chestnut-haired wife gave him took his breath away.
His wife!

“Yes
, Marrek?” Catherine asked him as Morva drew up beside her.

“Aunt Morva, Kitty, we have trouble here
. I recognized Madingly, the Vicar of St. Mabyn, as an assassin who turned against the Crown. Apparently, before he fled Menadue’s grounds, he harmed Miss Penrose and he along with two other men took Miss Senny. I am taking a group of men to track them and find her. Everyone must stay inside the house. No one is to venture outdoors.”

“Oh dear God
in Heaven. My poor Senny! How is Wenna?” Morva visibly paled.

“I do not know how Wenna is.
Trevan has carried her upstairs. I must leave this minute to find Senny. I’ve not a moment to waste.”

His aunt called out for Elowen and a few of the other women to help her with Wenna
.

“Be careful, Marrek,
” Catherine placed her hand upon his cheek.

She appeared to be worried.
Marrek took her hand and brought her palm to his lips. “I will. Take care of yourself, Kitty.”

She smiled up at him
. “Of course. I will see you very soon, I hope. I pray you find Senny.”

“You will see me soon, Kitty. I will find her.”
Marrek wanted to kiss her, but it was too soon. This he knew. He merely smiled, nodded and left her.

The Reverend had gone back to St. Mabyn. That bit of carelessness pleased Marrek. It gave him more time to find Senny. They had found his safe open. His housekeeper said he also took his other horse.

Marrek and his riders
stopped on the road outside St. Mabyn to study the tracks.

“I think they are trying to throw us off
. I think they exchanged horses with someone. The horse with the mark in his shoe is too obvious. Look here, the tracks with the mark in the shoe go this way, and the others that way,” Marrek said as he squatted and studied the tracks in the road.

He rose and continued,
“Our Reverend knows it is in his best interest to get himself from Cornwall as quickly as possible. He will go east toward Saltash, rather than the main road through Bodmin. He is clearly trying to throw us off.”

“I agree, Marrek
. I’ll take five men, go toward Bodmin, and follow the marked shoe tracks. I doubt we will find anything, but it is best to follow both trails,” Cleve offered.

“The rest of us
will go in the direction of Saltash.” Marrek rose and mounted his horse. He looked to Cleve, “Join us when you are certain they did not go Bodmin way.”

Cleve nodded.

Split into two groups, the men dispersed.

Several miles up the road, Marrek dismounted when he saw a snatch of light blue
silk. He lifted the torn piece of ribbon from a cluster of bushes. “Good girl, Senny. I will find you, I swear it,” he whispered. Knowing what he did about Isaac Slaughter, Marrek knew he had to find Senny soon. Slaughter would not leave her alive. He was using her to get out of Cornwall. No telling what he would do to her in the meantime. Slaughter would never allow her to cross the Tamar, this Marrek knew.

Elowen stood bent over Wenna. She looked up when Trevan re-entered the room.

“How is she, Elowen?”

“She is still unconscious, cousin. She took quite a blow to the head. She needed a few stitches. The doctor said she should recover. We must still try to rouse her. Her color is better and her breathing is stronger.” Elowen placed the bloody cloths she had cleaned her wound with on her tray. “I applied a poultice to stave off infection, and to lessen the swelling. Will you sit with her while I tend to this?” Elowen picked up her tray of soiled cloths and bottles of medicines.

Trevan nodded
.

“See if you can wake her
. She is restless and mumbles in her sleep, but she hasn’t come to yet,” Elowen advised him.

When Elowen left them alone in the room, Trevan moved to the edge of the bed
. He bent and placed a kiss to Wenna’s cheek.

“Wenna Penrose, you must get better
. You must wake, Wen Pen. I love you. I was on my way to talk with you when I found you.” Trevan continued talking to her. He became discouraged after a time and retreated into silence.

About ten minutes later,
Wenna started to mumble. He thought he heard her whisper his name. A tear escaped out of the corner of one of her eyes.

“Th
at’s it Wen Pen. Wake up. Come on. We need to talk, Wenna. I love you with all my heart. We will be wed, you will be my Duchess, and I’ll not take no for an answer. Whatever I have to do to make things right, I will do it. Just tell me, please, you will have me.”

“I – I, Trevan doe
sn’t love me anymore. So angry,” Wenna mumbled.

“I do love you Wenna, with all my heart and soul
. Now wake up. Come back to me, Wen Pen.” Trevan exhaled with relief as her eyelids began to flutter.

“He doesn’t talk to me…”

“I’m here and I’m talking to you right now, Wenna. Wake up. Open your eyes,” Trevan crooned softly in her ear. He kissed her cheek and her eyelids. “Open your eyes now, Wen Pen.”

“T-Trevan?” she called out.

“Yes, Wenna, it’s me. Open your eyes for me.” He smiled when her eyelids fluttered and he saw her gray-blue eyes.

She was clearly d
isoriented. A confused look marred her features.

“Trevan?” She tried to sit up.

“Shh, Wenna, you must stay still. You’ve a nasty lump on the head.”

Wenna winced and let her head fall back against the pillow
. Her eyes slowly closed then opened quickly. “Senny! She was behind me. It was John Madingly. He hit me with a large club. I saw his face just before I blacked out. Where is Senny?” Panicked, Wenna struggled to sit up.

Trevan placed his hands on her shoulders and held her down
. “Wenna, listen to me. Madingly and his men took Zenny. Marrek took some men immediately after and they are looking for her. They are not far behind them. They
will
find her!”

“It’
s entirely my fault he took her. I was upset and wanted to be outside. I needed to be in the garden. Senny came to find me…” Wenna began to cry.

“Shh, my love
. Don’t cry. It will hurt your sore head. You must get well.”

“But, Senny…”

“We will find her. Wenna you’ve been unconscious for some time. You must stay calm. Marrek will find Zenny.”

Wenna nodded
. Tears welled in her eyes. “Thank you for sitting with me, Trevan, I know this must be the last place you want to be.”

“Wen Pen, I wouldn’t be anywhere else at this moment
. You are the love of my life. Just tell me what I can do to make things right. I love you, Wenna. I always have. Tell me you will still have me. Tell me you will still be my wife and my Duchess.”

“Yes.” Wenna nodded
. She began to cry again. “I love you too, Trevan. I will find a way to get beyond what happened. I was hurt.”

“I know, Wenna.” Trevan caressed her
cheek tenderly. “I never meant for my actions to hurt you. At the time, I was hurting, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I thought you would marry the vicar.”

“I know. It was my doing for telling the vicar I would marry him
. I was hurting, and I think I was trying to hurt you. I did hurt you and that’s why all this happened. Now I’ve endangered Senny.”

“Don’t worry about your sister, Wenna, just rest
. Marrek will find Zenny. I swear to you, he will.” At least he hoped so. If anyone could find Zenny, it was Marrek.

Wenna nodded
. Her eyelids grew heavy as Trevan talked to her and she slipped back into slumber.

Gabriel sat in his chamber at the Inn. He looked out his window at his superb view of Launceston Castle upon the hill. They had traveled slowly and made certain their days were shorter due to Lady Amesbury and Lady Wincanton both recovering from the injuries they received during the last Brown Coat attack on the Avalon Society at Wychcombe House in London.

He sm
iled as his thoughts turned to Senny. He had been gone over two weeks and he missed her terribly. He missed her smile. He missed her kisses. He had always cared about her.

Aunt Morva had been correct when she told him being away from Senny would help him realize how he truly felt about
her. It had helped. He now knew he did love Senny. His affections for her had grown so slowly and gradually over the years, he hadn’t realized that he’d been
in love
with her for some time.

He could imagine having no other as his wife.
He couldn’t wait to get to Menadue and see her. He had already planned to marry her. Now he could not wait to tell Zenny he loved her. He was anxious to marry the woman he loved, the woman he had always loved. He couldn’t wait to make her his.

He guessed
all those years ago, when he consoled her after her mother’s death, that he had known in his heart, she was the one he would marry. He hadn’t listened to his heart, he supposed. Yet, since that time he had felt Zenny was his responsibility. Now he knew it was much more than responsibility that had bound him to Zenny. It was love. He smiled to himself.

Surely,
their party would make it to Menadue by tomorrow evening. He hoped so. He was so eager to see her, to tell her how he felt. He took another sip of his brandy and thought of the future, the one that included both he and Senny, together, as husband and wife.