All Hallow's Eve (51 page)

Julian
stood taller and stated, “Wickham said ’ands off, Al
len
.”

“Did ’e now?
Or are ya
just
tellin’ me that so ya can
keep ’er fer yaself?”

“
Julian is correct;
I
did
order
you
all to
leave
Miss Elizabeth Bennet
alone
.
”
Wickham’s vo
ice
boomed
out
across
the room.
As the sieve finally
rose
into place,
Elizabeth’s head snapped up
,
and she
was able to meet
his glare
. “I am in need of her cooperation
,
and I will not have any of you act in a disrespectful manner toward her.
Give the lady your chair
, Allen
.”

How did I not feel
it
approach the house
?
The only time that has happened in the past was when
Cher-nog
was not inside a human body,
Elizabeth
reflected
.

Allen seemed quite
upset and intimidated by Wickham.
He
cleared his throat
as he moved away from the chair.
“Ahhh, Wickham!
Didn’t knowed
ya was
awake.”

“
That
is obvious
.”

Elizabeth’s eyes tightened.
Wickham
was sleeping?
It does make
perfect
sense that
Cher-nog
would force Wickham
’s body to sleep when
it
leaves
it
. If not, Wickham might act in a way that is not in accordance with the
Olc
’s
behaviour
.
It is a good thing Mama and Jane have provided William with so many herbs
to
bind
it
to Wickham’s body while he sleeps!

Wickham gestured toward the chair.
“You
will
take a seat, Miss Bennet.”

Hesitating
to do as the
Olc
asked
, she could not think of a reason why
she should
not
sit
. S
he
moved to
ward
the
offered
chair.

As she approached, Wickham backed away
quickly
to the other side of the room
,
his arm covering his mouth and nose, and
his eyes wild
.
“Take the bag of herbs from her
and dispose of it
! NOW!”

“Is
that
what stinks?” Oliver asked as he moved toward her
with his hand out
.

Elizabeth sat down
and held up her hand
in
Oliver
’s direction
. “
I have no herbs
to give to you
, sir
.
I
cannot imagine
to what you refer,
Mr. Wickham
. U
nless
of course
you speak of
the
smell of
the herb
-
scented water
that I
bathed
in this morning
?
”

Wickham’s eyes narrowed. “You
bathed
in them?
Why would you do such a thing?”

She scowled in the
Olc’s
direction.
“
Is
it not
possible that I have done
so
every
day since I discovered that
this particular combination of herbs
chase
s
away the worst kind of
vermin imaginable?”

“Can ye make ’er take anothe’ bath, Wickham
, ta get rid of that stink?
”

“Where, Oliver?
In the stream?
It has turned so cold today, s
he would catch her death
.
I
–
we
need her ALIVE!”
Wickham
threw open
the
window
s
at the side of the room furthest from Elizabeth
and paced for several minutes.

Elizabeth took
this
time to examine the other men—they all
scattered out of his way,
seem
ingly
terrified of him
, especially now that he was angry
.
Even so,
s
he
felt confident that
Cher-nog
would not allow any harm to come to her
.
H
e
was
correct;
he
needed her
alive and well if she were
to carry out his plans.

Wickham stopped and pointed at her, remaining on
the opposite
side of the room.
“That stench cannot last forever,
Miss Bennet
! E
ventually it will wear off.
Until then, my men will have to guard you. They will treat you
with
every respect at all times,” he
said before he
turned to the men and spoke in a firm tone, “
I
s that clearly understood?
She is no good to
me—to
us
—
if she is
damaged
in any way!
”

They all nodded.
Wickham walked from the room and returned a few seconds later.
He threw a length of rope at Julian.
“You will tie her to th
at
chair.
I
expect
that she will attempt
to
escape
if left unbound
.”

Wickham
’s full attention was on
Julian
as he
tied her,
to make certain she was bound properly,
and
then
he
said, “You
will
learn to cooperate with me, Miss Bennet.”

Elizabeth did not break their mutual stare.
“
And y
ou will soon learn that I am a very stubborn lady, Mr. Wickham.”

“
O
f all people
,
you
should not
forget that I am
quite
willing and
able
t
o mak
e
you very sorry
if
you do not
oblige me.”
Still staring at Elizabeth he ordered, “Julian, take first watch—move her into the first bedroom; it is the most secure
chamber
in the house.”
He turned quickly and left the room.

~%~

Julian and Oliver carried her chair to a room
just
a step or two down a corridor
,
the door full
y
visible from the parlor
.
At first it did not make sense
to her
why
Cher-nog
had them tie her to the chair outside this room,
but once they entered
,
its
reasoning was clear
.
This
was
a
small
room, and
not well ventilated—
the
Olc
never would have been abl
e to supervise Julian’s work
in here
.

Elizabeth looked around
the chamber
and was relieved to find that there was no bed.
Without a fire,
the space
was cold, and judging by the layer of dust on the
floor,
table
,
and
single
chair that was
already
in the room before they had entered
,
it
had obviously not been used in some time
.
T
he air was
extremely
stale
—rather stifling
,
in fact.

Wickham had been correct; this room was fairly secure
with
only one exit—
certainly
there
would be no
successful
attempt at
escape possible through the
window
on the wall opposite the door
; it was
so small that it
did not
even
provide much light
.
Julian and Oliver both tried to open
the window
to let in some fresh air
,
but they
could
only
manage to open it less than an inch
.
Their large frames prohibited
one f
rom assisting the other.
I
f the situation were different, Elizabeth would have thought it comical to watch them make
an
attempt.

Oliver huffed, “Ye said watchin’ ’er inside would be bett
a!
”

“I said it’d be warmer.
’Tis
a little
,
and that’ll be better soon as
I build a fire
,
” Julian countered.
As Oliver
moved to leave
the room, Julian called out, “Leave the door open
fer a few minutes
.”

Oliver shook his head. “Ye gots ta keep it locked. ’ere’s
a
key.” He handed it to Julian.
“I knowed ye didn’t sleep last nigh
t; if y
e fall asleep
,
ye be lettin’ her get away
unless it’s locked.
”

Julian
went to work building a fire in the hearth.
“I’m dependin’ on that money as much as ya all are, Oliva.”

Oliver turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

While Julian
’s back was turned, she made full use of the time by testing her bindings. Elizabeth felt that, though the bindings were
fairly secure
, she could work her way out of them in time.
She also took inventory of the room, looking for anything that she could use to protect herself if the need arose
.
T
here w
as another
chair
,
a table, the wood used for the fire, a poker, and a candelabra
on the shelf
above the
mantelpiece
.
Rocking back a bit on her chair, she could tell that the
furnishings
were quite old and
the wood
would probably break easily if she applied the
correct amount of
pressure to the legs
.
She also might be able to make use of the drapes, if pressed.

After the fire was built, Julian
locked the door and then
turned to her and
said,
“
Sorry I gotta keep ya tied up.”

Elizabeth could not think of anything to say in answer, so she just nodded.

Julian was not satisfied with that
—there was something desperate about the man which made her very curious.
It was as if he wanted to keep her talking.

He
spoke again, “
Oliva ain’t as bad as ’e seems, ma’am.
’e flaps ’is jaws a lot, but ’e won’t ’urt ya none.”

“That is good to know, sir, b
ut
what of the others?”

Julian did not seem as confident when he answered, “I’ll be tellin’ ’em what ya said ’bout ya man not payin’ if yer ‘damaged
.
’
‘Atween that and what Wickham telled ’em, t
hey’ll keep their ’ands to the
ir
selves.”