The Mandate of Heaven (13 page)

*****

“John, are you decent?  I’ve brought a Lady, and when I say that, I mean it in the most literal sense of the word,” Alex drawled, upon stepping into the office.

There was a loud crash, as the boots that had been resting on the table-top went crashing to the floor.  The large white Stetson hat that had been perched precariously on the owner’s head went drifting towards the ground, only to be snatched out of the air at the very last moment, before being clutched, tightly, to a broad chest.

As first impressions went, Jessica mused, it didn’t seem a promising start.  The likelihood of her being rescued, and promptly reunited with her family, seemed to be receding by the minute.

“Lady Hadley, it’s a real pleasure to finally meet ya and all.  I’m Sheriff Abercrombie, but ya welcome to just call me John, everybody else does.”

Jessica shot Alex a suspicious glance, as he hadn’t taken more than one step into the room, seemingly poised to flee at any moment.  At least the sheriff’s introduction answered one question, as to Alex’s peculiar pronunciation upon entering the small office. For while the sheriff’s accent was subtle, she could just make out the twang in his voice.  It was obvious that Alex also recognised it and teased the older man mercilessly about it.  For the sheriff was indeed much older, with his grey hair slowly turning white at the edges, a beaten and weathered face, together with rough calluses on his outstretched hand, which she pointedly ignored.

Having spent her whole life with people keeping their distance from each other and only touching when absolutely necessary, while always wearing gloves, she was still not comfortable with physical contact.  Something which Alex seemed to be acutely aware of and therefore went out of this way to do, with distressing regularity.

“John, I’ve got some small errands to run.  Would you mind keeping an eye on Lady Jessica while I’m gone?  I’m worried that left to her own devices, she will have the entire populace petrified by the time I’m back.”

“Now you’re abandoning me?” Jessica demanded incredulously.  “I’ve been trying to get rid of you ever since you first brought me here, against my will, I hasten to add.  Again.”

“That’s because you’re a magnet for trouble, seriously it follows you around like bad news.   But what possible trouble could you get into while in the company of such an illustrious person as Sheriff Abercrombie?  Now, don’t go and do anything that I wouldn’t, as I probably don’t have enough money to post bail.  Ya two ‘ave fun now.”  Alex waved before slipping from the room, the door slamming shut behind him, leaving Jessica alone with the sheriff.

“I’m really starting to hate that man,” Jessica grumbled out loud, to nobody in particular.

“He’s certainly in a peculiar mood, I swear that before today I’ve never even seen him smile.  Then again I really know very little about him, unlike you Lady Hadley, whom I have recently heard a lot about.”

“You shouldn’t believe everything that you hear, sheriff,” Jessica commented dryly, resigning herself to an extended stay, at least until Alex returned, or she managed to convince the sheriff that she wasn’t completely mad.  Not an easy thing to do, considering all the wild rumours Alex had been circulating around the town.

“You’ll have to correct me as to which parts I get wrong then,” Abercrombie shrugged.  “You are Lady Jessica Hadley, eldest daughter of High-Lord Hadley, missing for the past three days, reportedly kidnapped from Osiris by one or more unidentified assailants.  I’ve even got a priority flash-alert,” Abercrombie smiled, reaching into his desk draw.  “Although the picture hardly does you justice.  There is a large reward, however, offered for your safe return, from your father and an even larger reward offered for the heads of your kidnappers—the rest of the bodies not required.  That was offered by your fiancé, High-Lord Stanton, I can only presume?”

Jessica took the recorder offered and could only stare back into her own likeness in astonishment.  The sheriff was correct, it wasn’t a flattering picture, but it was unmistakably her.  “You already knew who I was,” she said accusingly.

“Before you even walked through the door,” Abercrombie agreed.  “It was fortunate that Mary happened to be passing by and recognised your picture.  I hurriedly removed it before anybody else had a chance to look at it.  Now that would have caused some serious complications,” he grimaced.

“Sheriff Abercrombie—”

“John.”

“Sheriff, now that you know the truth, I insist that you inform my father, at once, as to my present whereabouts.”

“That’s certainly one…possibility,” John conceded.  “A very promising one, I hasten to add, but it does have its downsides.”

“Downsides?” Jessica repeated incredulously.  “You’re the sheriff, you’re meant to look dimly upon such nefarious activities.  Furthermore, you’re meant to do everything in your power to ensure that such captives are rescued, post-haste, and returned to their obviously concerned families.”

“Downsides,” John insisted firmly.  “That involves me answering many questions as to just how you came to be here.  Questions that are likely to result in Alex being thrown into leg-shackles, at best, possibly turned over to High-Lord Stanton, at worst.  If I refuse to answer such questions it’s likely to have a very negative impact on my career, health and most likely life, in that short order.  Finally, I should point out that as a victim of a violent kidnapping you seem to be in remarkably good health and have an excessively large degree of freedom, considering you’re discussing your most recent captivity with the local Law Enforcement Department.  From my perspective I would even go as far as to question your very kidnapping, as it all seems very…cosy.”

“Now listen here, sheriff,” Jessica snarled, leaning across the short divide of the table, catching him by the lapels of his uniform.  “I need rescuing.  Right now.  If you don’t, then I’m certainly going to jail, charged with first-degree murder of Lord Greystone.  Tempting as that might be, I don’t understand why you’re so willing to protect him.”

“Life here isn’t easy and nobody gives a damn about us, except Alex.  He allows at least a dozen tenants to live on his property, at no cost, saving them from starvation.  He funds the only school we have, which educates over thirty children.  He stocks our only hospital, with whatever medicines and antibiotics he can find; do you need me to go on?  In short, he fulfils the role that
your father should be doing.
”

“So to compensate that gives him the right to go ahead and kidnap me?  I think you’re a bit behind the times sheriff, as offering up your firstborn daughter, as a reward for services rendered, went out with the Dark Ages.”

“Of course not,” John snorted indignantly.

“Then contact my father and tell him where I am.”

“If I do that, I’m handing Alex right into the hands of High-Lord Stanton, I cannot do that.  I will not do that.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

“Even this far out, on the very edge of the Imperium, I’ve heard the rumours that Greystone and Stanton have—history.”

“That's impossible,” Jessica blurted out, but as soon as she uttered the words it made her wonder.  Certainly Alex had alluded to some prior knowledge about her fiancé, but had refused to divulge anything more, no matter how much she pressed him.  But still it was ludicrous; Alex was lord over some distant backwater planet, while her betrothed was High-Lord of one of the most powerful families in the Imperium. “Then we’re back where we started, at an impasse,” Jessica sighed.

“Perhaps, perhaps not.  I’ll talk to Alex and give him an ultimatum.  One month.  If he hasn’t contacted your father by then, and if you still wish me to do so, I’ll contact him myself.  You have my word.”

Jessica stared at him speechless, his words ringing through her head,
if you still wish me to do so
, and why wouldn’t she?  Still she had felt the seductive pull of this place, just that very morning, how had Alex described it? 
People are happy here; we’re a long way from the Imperium
—
and the High-Lords
.  Obviously Alex had come here to escape from something, or someone, and hadn’t she done likewise?  Glad to be finally free of her impending nuptials.

“Deal,” Jessica exclaimed suddenly, surprising herself, just as much as the sheriff.

John looked momentarily shocked, then relieved, obviously worried at what might have happened had she refused his offer.  Taking her hand, he shook it firmly and she was surprised at the warmth of the touch, realising that it felt good to have at least one friend here.  Alex, friend or enemy, she couldn’t work out which, but it looked like she now had four weeks to find out.  Her musings were interrupted by the sound of the door being swung open so hard, that its very hinges shook.

“By the High-Lords,” John yelled.  “How many times have I told you to knock?”

“Sorry sheriff,” the young man replied breathlessly.  “We’ve got trouble.  At the bank.  Somebody is holding it up and they’ve taken hostages.”

“Where’s Richards?”

“Not in today, it’s his day off.”

John simply cursed, grabbing his hat from the desk, sweeping it back onto his head.  He was almost out the door, before remembering that he still had company.  “Where is Lord Greystone?” he demanded.

“That’s the other piece of bad news, sheriff.  Lord Greystone is already there.  I passed him on the way and upon hearing the news, he simply strolled into the bank as if making a withdrawal, cool as ice he was.”

“That’s the last thing we need.  It’ll be a massacre,” John cursed a blue streak, before turning back to Jessica.  “Well, aren't you coming?”

“That depends,” Jessica replied thoughtfully.  “If Lord Greystone gets himself killed, does that mean I get to go home early?”

“No.”

*****

“By the High-Lords, what do you think you’re doing?” Alex demanded, astonished, as Jessica strolled into the bank, alone.

“And who the hell are you?” a stranger screamed out from across the room.  “This is like a goddam cattle market, people just wandering in left, right and centre.”

“Lady Jessica Hadley, eldest daughter of High-Lord Hadley.  I came to pass on a message that if you boys agree to lay down your weapons, you won’t be harmed.”

“What is it about this place?  Do they breed Lords and Ladies here?  First this one,” the man swung his pistol around to point at Alex.  “Now you.”

“We’re not leaving without our money,” added another menacingly, holding a wicked looking rifle, swinging it backwards and forwards.

“That went well,” Alex said sarcastically.  “Whose great idea was this?  John or yours?”

“Well, I thought that at least it was worth a try.  John was worried that it was going to be a slaughter.”

“Theirs or mine?” Alex growled.  “Don’t answer that.  If you must know, I had everything under control.”

“Oh, I can definitely see that,” she shot back, waving her hands at the multitude of guns pointing in their direction.  “You’ve got them right where you want them.”

“You’re nothing but trouble,” he muttered, looking up in despair.

“You accuse me of being a magnet for trouble?” she replied, ignoring his thunderous expression.  “As from where I’m standing it seems like trouble follows
you
everywhere.”

“Excuse me,” a third voice broke in.  “I hate to interrupt this lovers’ spat—”

“Don’t—” Alex snapped.

“—even think of going there,” Jessica finished, heatedly.

“We don’t have time for this,” the first gunman grumbled.  “If she knows that we’re here, then so does the sheriff.  If she’s really Hadley’s daughter, then she’s worth even more to us than what’s in the vault.  Bring her along.”

“I don’t think so,” Jessica replied, crossing her arms, unimpressed.  “I’ve already been kidnapped once this week.  Twice would be setting some sort of new record.”

“You’re taking her, over my dead body,” Alex added in a belligerent tone.

“Why, I think that’s the first thing that we can actually agree upon.  You dead,” she quipped in a sugary tone of voice.

“I’ll take her, let’s go,” the second gunman stated, ignoring them.  Pushing through the small crowed of hostages, he took a firm grasp of Jessica by her forearm, obviously prepared to drag her from the building if that was necessary.

“Coo-ee,” Jessica smiled brightly.  “You're a big strapping lad, aren't you?” she looked up at her assailant, as he towered over her, being at least a foot taller.  “Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners?” Reaching across with her remaining free hand she clamped it around his massive fist, which encircled her forearm and, with apparently little effort and a grimace of pain from him, she casually freed her own arm but refused to release his.  Instead with the same mocking expression, she continued to twist his wrist, further backwards, much to his shock and disbelief.

“What you probably didn’t stay in school long enough to find out,” she carried on calmly.  “Is that I’ve got the added advantage of over two hundred years of genetic engineering.  Which makes me far more intelligent than you and irresistibly attractive,” she brushed a lock of hair back behind her ear, smiling coyly, deliberately ignoring the snort of disbelief coming from Alex.  “And far stronger than you could ever imagine.”  At this her eyes narrowed and her expression started to slip into a far more predatory look.  Meanwhile, she continued to exert more and more pressure, bending his wrist back further and further, to such an unnatural angle that nobody in the room was surprised when with a
crack,
that echoed around the now deathly still room, the wrist snapped, broken only by his scream, a moment later.