From the Ashes

Chapter Forty-Nine

Benjamin strode over to her. "I am so grateful for you, Lily. I am Benjamin McAllister. Clara is my wife."

"Oh, sir. If she is in that house, I will discover the truth of it for you," Lily told him valiantly.

Benjamin touched the young girl's cheek. "So much to ride on someone so young, but I place my faith in you."

"We are not far from the house, there are several structures outside the main house that I have seen used for other purposes. I will try and be as thorough as possible to learn if Mistress Clara is being held there. I must ask that you all wait here. I will return to you soon."

Richard did not like this plan. "Lily that is too much to ask. You are putting yourself in danger. One of us should be with you."

"I will go," said Benjamin, if his informants were correct this area is home to a Luddite faction but the leader has remained unidentified. Benjamin felt that the answer to both questions, 'Where is Clara?' and 'Who is holding her hostage?' was the same as that of 'Who is the leader of the Luddites here in the province?'

"You both are too recognizable," Benjamin said, but Lily put him in check.

"I can cover more area and would appear far less suspicious if you stay here. It will not take me long. I will be back as soon as I know anything, definitely within the hour," Lily told him.

The three of them looked at one another. No one liked this plan but conceded to the sense of it.

"Lily, you must take care. If you believe you are in the slightest danger, forget what we have asked and come back to us. We will find another way," Richard told her.

Lily felt the thrill of taking her life in her own hands for the first time. "I will be back soon," and she left them standing, waiting in the woods just outside the Chase Estate.

Clara could hear a knock on a door. There were muffled whispers, and she could have sworn she heard someone cuss. The door slammed closed. She waited and nothing. Silence. Her ears strained to hear the slightest sound. Still nothing. She must be alone.

Clara struggled again against her bonds. She could feel the rope chaffing her skin, she could not find a way to get free. She moved her feet and found they were not as tightly bound and started working at them. Clara did not know how much time she had before her captor returned, but she knew she wanted to be free as soon as possible.

If she could just manage to get a foot loose it may slacken her binds enough to extract the rest of her. Again, she thought of Benjamin. Why had she been so foolish? He feared this happening to her. Feared it so greatly, he had tucked her away in the country, under the watchful eyes of servants. She did not believe she could suffer a sniffle without Benjamin becoming privy of it.

She felt suffocated and oppressed. Her only escape was her writing. She used it to keep her mind fresh, to keep the melancholy away. Now however she understood he had just cause. She wondered if her abductors worked for the group that Benjamin had been rooting out. There has been much civil unrest. The King acts unaware but his country is becoming divided within.

Benjamin had been part of the Royal Dragoons, the light guard, responsible for reconnaissance, skirmish, and in rare cases espionage. A brilliant information officer he had caught the special attention of the King. He traveled in some dark circles, a world he did not want her to be a part of, and here she was tied to a chair, smack dab in the middle of it.

Clara began working more furiously at her bonds. The more she thought of Benjamin the more determined she became to escape. Then she heard the click of a doorknob and a slight gasp of breath. The door shut quietly and footsteps raced quickly to her side.

"Oh, Mistress Clara! I knew they would have you here!"

Clara's head turned to the voice, "Who are you?"

Lily lowered Clara's blindfold.

"Lily!" Clara exclaimed and the girl put her hand over Clara's mouth, waiting with bated breath to see if the exclamation had been heard. When she felt confident that it was not she removed her hand.

"Yes, Mistress. Lord and Lady Bentley are trying to find you, and your husband is here as well."

"Benjamin?" Clara exhaled in whispered wonderment. He had come. He did love her.

"Help me get loose. I have to get back to them," Clara said, pulling against her restraints more frantically now knowing Benjamin was so close.

Lily nodded and immediately got to work trying to untie Clara's hands but the rope was so tight she knew she would need something to cut them. She went to Clara's feet instead, having made the same assumption that Clara did, that perhaps if she could get her feet free it would loosen Clara's hands.

Lily made quick work of the knot around one leg of the chair and Clara could feel the binds ease. She pulled out a foot, and then they heard what sounded like people arguing not far from the door.

Clara looked frightened at Lily. Lily bit her lip and said, "Sorry, Mistress." And put the blindfold back into place.

Clara thrashed against the chair, "Do not leave me here!"

Lily's voice came to her clear beside her ear. "I must Mistress. It will not serve either of us if I am caught here with you. I will return. I promise. With your husband and Lord and Lady Bentley."

She heard the quick movements to another part of the room, a door open and close. Then the arguing became louder and louder and the door on the other side of the room burst open. Clara winced at the sound.

"What the bloody hell have you done! I did not authorize this! This was not the plan!" She heard someone yell.

"We needed insurance."

"You have taken this too far, and it is not even necessary! I have the letters here!"

"You are a FOOL! You always have been! You really think those are the REAL letters?"

Clara heard some scuffling movements, and another swear.

"You have compromised me, because of your arrogance, and I have outgrown you."

"Emmaline! No!"

The blast from a gun rang in Clara's ears; the putrid smell of smoke burned her nostrils.

Then she heard close to her ear she heard the menacing whisper, "Now, what to do with you?"