The Fiery Cross

:'Shoot him!" I said, with all my force, and took my last deep gulp of air. CTWO.51

'Wait! The pressure of the blade across my throat lessened, and I felt the sting of blood as I took a breath I had not expected to be given. I hadn't time to enjoy the sensation, though; Brianna stood amid the myrtles, Jemmy clinging to her skirts.

"Let her go," she said.

Marsali had been holding her breath; she let it out with a gasp and sucked air deep.

"He isn't about to let me go, and it doesn't matter," I said firmly to them both. "Marsali, shoot him. Now!"

Her hand tightened on the gun, but she couldn't quite do it. She glanced at Brianna, white-faced, then back, her hand trembling.

"Shoot him, Maman," Germain whispered, but the eagerness had gone from his face. He was pale, too, and stood close to his mother.

"You'll come along with me, darlin', you and the lad." I could feel the vibration through Bonnet's chest as he spoke, and sensed the half-smile on his face, though I couldn't see it. "The others can go."

"Don't," I said, trying to make Bree look at me, "He won't let us go, you know he won't. He'll kill me and Marsali, no matter what he says. The only thing to do is shoot him. If Marsali can't do it, Bree, you'll have to."

That got her attention. Her eyes jerked to me, shocked, and Bonnet grunted, half in annoyance, half in amusement.

"Condemn her mother? She's not the girl to be doing such a thing, Mrs. Fraser. "

"Marsali-he'll kill you, and the babe with you," I said, straining every muscle to make her understand, to force her to fire. "Germain and Joan will die out here, alone. What happens to me doesn't matter, believe me-for God's sake, sboot bim now!"

She fired.

There was a spark and puff of white smoke, and Bonnet jerked. Then her hand sagged, the muzzle of the gun tilted down-and the wad and ball fell out on the sand with a tiny plop. Misfire.

Marsali moaned in horror, and Brianna moved like lightning, seizing the fallen bucket and hurling it at Bonnet's head. He yelped and threw himself aside, letting go his grip on me. The bucket struck me in the chest and I caught it, stupidly staring down into it. It was damp inside, with a scattering of the blue-white waxy berries stuck to the wood.

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Then Germain and Jemmy were both crying, Joan was shrieking her head off in the wood, and I dropped the bucket and crawled madly for shelter behind a yaupon bush.

Bonnet was back on his feet, face flushed, the knife in his hand. He was clearly fiirious, but made an effort to smile at Brianna.

"Ah, now, darlin', he said, having to raise his voice to be heard above the racket. "It's only yourself and my son I'm wanting. I'll not be harming either of you.

"He's not your son," Brianna said, low-voiced and vicious. "He'll never be yours."

He grunted contemptuously.

"Oh, aye? That's not how I heard it, in that dungeon in Cross Creek, sweetheart. And now I see him. . . " he looked at Jemmy again, nodding slowly. "He's mine, darlin' girl. He's the look of me-haven't ye, boyo?"

Jemmy buried his face in Brianna's skirts, howling.

Bonnet sighed, shrugged, and gave up any pretense of cajolment.

"Come on, then," he said, and started forward, obviously intending to scoop Jemmy up.

Brianna's hand rose out of her skirts, and aimed the pistol I had yanked out of his belt back at the place it had come from. Bonnet stopped in mid-step, mouth open.

"What about it?" she whispered, and her eyes were fixed, unblinking. "Do you keep your powder dry, Stephen?"

She braced the pistol with both hands, drew aim at his crotch, and fired.

He was fast, I'd give him that. He hadn't time to turn and run, but was reaching to cover his threatened balls with both hands, even as she pulled the trigger. Blood exploded in a thick spray through his fingers, but I couldn't tell what she'd hit.

He staggered back, clutching himself. He stared wildly round, as though unable to believe it, then sank to one knee. I could hear him breathing, hard and fast.

We all stood paralyzed, watching. One hand scrabbled at the sand, leaving bloody furrows. Then he rose, slowly, doubled over, the other hand pressed into his middle. His face was dead white, green eyes like dull water.

He stumbled round, gasping, and made off like a bug that's been stepped on, leaking and hitching. There was a crashing noise as he blundered through the bushes, and then he was gone. Beyond a palmetto tree, I could see a line of pelicans flying, ungainly and impossibly graceful against the lowering sky.

I was still crouched on the ground, chilled with shock. I felt something warm slide down my cheek, and realized it was a raindrop.

"Is he right?" Brianna was crouching beside me, helping me sit up. "Do you think he's right? Are they dead?" She was white to the lips, but not hysterical. She had Jemmy in the crook of her arm, clinging to her neck.

"No," I said. Everything seemed remote, as though it were happening in slow motion. I stood up slowly, balancing precariously, as though not sure quite how to do it.

"No," I said again, and felt no fear, no panic at the memory of what Bonnet



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had said; nothing but a certainty in my chest, like a small, comforting weight. "No, they're not." Jamie had told me; this was not the day when he and I would part.

Marsali had vanished into the wood to retrieve Joanie. Germain was bent over the splotches of blood on the sand, studying them with fascination. It occurred to me dimly to wonder what type they were, but then I dismissed the thought from my mind.

"He'll never be yours, " she had said.

"Let's go," I said, patting Jemmy gently. "I think we'll make do with unscented candles, for now."

ROGER AND JAMIE appeared at dawn two days later, rousing everyone in the inn by pounding at the door, and causing people in the neighboring houses to throw open their shutters and put their nightcapped heads out in alarm, owing to the resultant whooping and yelling. I was reasonably sure that Roger had a minor concussion, but he reffised to be put to bed-though he did allow Bree to hold his head in her lap and make noises of shocked sympathy about the impressive lump on it, while Jamie gave us a terse account of the battle of Wylie's Landing, and we gave a somewhat confused explanation of our adventures in the myrtle groves.

"So Bonnet's not dead?" Roger asked, opening one eye.

"Well, we don't know," I explained. "He got away, but I don't know how badly he was hurt. There wasn't a dreadfiil lot of blood, but if he was hit in the lower abdomen, that would be a terrible wound, and almost certainly fatal. Peritonitis is a very slow and nasty way to die."

"Good," Marsali said, vindictively.

"Good!" Germain echoed, looking proudly up at her. "Maman shot the bad man, Grandpere," he told Jamie. "So did Auntie. He was full of holes-there was blood everywhere!"

"Holes," Jemmy said happily. "Holes, holes, lotsa holes!"

"Well, maybe one hole," Brianna murmured. She didn't look up from the damp cloth with which she was gently sponging dried blood from Roger's scalp and hair.

"Oh, aye? Well, if ye only took off a finger or one of his balls, lass, he might survive," Jamie observed, grinning at her. "Wouldna improve his temper, though, I dinna suppose."

Fergus arrived on the noon packet boat, triumphantly bearing the registered, stamped, and officially sealed deeds for the two land grants, thus putting the cocked hat on the day's rejoicing. The celebrations were limited, though, owing to the sobering knowledge that one rather major loose end remained.

After a vigorous discussion, it was decided-meaning that Jamie made up his mind and pigheadedly refused to entertain dissenting views-that he and I would ride west at once to River Run. The young families would remain in Wilmington for a few days, to complete business, and to keep an ear out for any

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report of a wounded or dying man. They would then proceed back to Fraser's Ridge, keeping strictly clear of Cross Creek and River Run.

I "Lieutenant Wolff canna be using threats to you or the lad to influence my aunt, if ye're nowhere near him," Jamie pointed out to Brianna.

, "And as for you, mo charadean," he said to Roger and Fergus, "ye canna be leaving the women and weans to look out for themselves-God kens who they might shoot next!"

It was only as he closed the door on the resulting laughter that he turned to me, ran a fingertip over the scratch on my throat, and then pulled me so hard against himself that I thought my ribs would break. I clung tight to him on the landing, not caring that I couldn't breathe, nor whether anyone might see; happy only to be touching him-and to have him there to touch.

"Ye did right, Claire," he muttered at last, mouth against my hair. "But for God's sake, never do it again!"

So it was that he and I left at dawn next day, alone.

SLY AS FOXES

E ARRIVED AT RIVER RUN near sundown three days later, horses lathered and filthy, and ourselves in no better case. The place

Wseemed peaceful enough, the last of the spring light glowing on green lawns and spotlighting the white marble statues and the stone of Hector's mausoleum among its dark yews.

"What do you think?" I asked Jamie. We had reined up at the foot of the lawn, looking the situation over cautiously before approaching the house. "Well, no one's burned the place down," he replied, standing in his stirrups

to survey the prospect. "And I dinna see rivers of blood cascading down the front stair. Still . . ." He sat down, reached into his saddlebag and withdrew a pistol, which he loaded and primed as a precaution. With this tucked into the waistband of his breeks and concealed by the skirts of his coat, we rode slowly up the drive to the front door.

By the time we had reached it, I knew something was wrong. There was a sinister air of stillness about the house; no sound of scurrying servants, no music from the parlor, no scents of supper being fetched in from the cookhouse. Most peculiar of all, Ulysses was not there to greet us; our knocking went unanswered for several minutes, and when the door was at last opened, it was Phaedre, Jocasta's body-servant, who appeared.

She had looked dreadful when I had last seen her, nearly a year before, after her mother's death. She didn't look much better now; there were circles under



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her eyes, and her skin looked bruised and drawn, like a fruit beginning to go bad.

When she saw us, though, her eyes lighted and her mouth relaxed in visible relief

"Oh, Mr. Jamie!" she cried. "I been prayin' for somebody to come help, ever since yesterday, but I thought for sure it would be Mr. Farquard, and then we maybe be in worse trouble, he such a man for the law and all, even if he is your auntie's ftiend."

Jamie raised an eyebrow at this rather confused declaration, but nodded reassuringly and squeezed her hand.

"Aye, lass. I dinna believe I've been an answer to prayer before, but I've no objection. Is my aunt ... well?"

"Oh, yes, sir-sbe's well enough."

Withdrawing before we could ask further questions, she beckoned us toward the stair.

Jocasta was in her boudoir, knitting. She raised her head at the sound of feet, alert, and before anyone could say anything, asked "Jamie?" in a quavering voice, and stood up. Even at a distance, I could see that there were mistakes in the knitting, missed stitches and open runs; most unlike her usual fastidious needlework.

"Aye, it's me, Aunt. And Claire. What's amiss, then?" Crossing the room in two strides, he reached her side and took her arm, patting her hand in reassurance.

Her face underwent the same transformation of relief that we had seen in Phaedre, and I thought she might give way at the knees. She stiffened her spine, though, and turned toward me.

"Claire? Thank Blessed Bride ye've come, though how-well, never mind it for now. Will ye come? Duncan's hurt."

Duncan lay in bed in the next room, inert under a stack of comforters. At first, I was afraid he might be dead, but he stirred at once at the sound of Jocasta's voice.

'Mac Dubb?' he said, puzzled. He poked his head up from the mound of covers, squinting to see in the dimness of the room. "What in God's name brings you here?"

"Lieutenant Wolff," Jamie said, a little caustically. "Is the name perhaps familiar to ye?"

"Aye, ye might say so." There was a slightly odd tone to Duncan's voice, but I paid it no mind, engaged in lighting candles and in excavating him sufficiently from the bedclothes to find out what the matter was.

I was expecting to find a knife or gunshot wound. At first examination, there was nothing whatever of the sort visible, and it took a few moments' mental regrouping to discover that what he was suffering from was a broken leg. It was a simple fracture of the lower tibia, fortunately, and while undoubtedly painfill, it seemed to be no great threat to his health.

I sent Phaedre to find some splinting materials, while Jamie, informed that Duncan stood in no great danger, sat down to get to the bottom of things. "He has been here? Lieutenant Wolff?" he asked.

"Aye, he has." Again the slight hesitation.

"Has he gone, then?"

"Oh, aye." Duncan shuddered a little, involuntarily. "Am I hurting you?" I asked.

"Oh, no, Mrs. Claire," he assured me. "I was onlywell. .

"Ye may as well tell me straight out, Duncan," Jamie said, in a tone of mild exasperation. "I think it'll no be a tale that improves wi' keeping, aye? And if it's the sort of tale I think, then I have a bittie story to tell to you, as well."

Duncan'eyed him narrowly, but then sighed, capitulating, and lay back on the pillow.

The Lieutenant had arrived at River Run two days before, but unlike his usual habit, had not come to the front door to be announced. Instead, he had left his horse hobbled in a field a mile from the house, and approached stealthily on foot.

"We only realized as much, because of finding the horse later, ye see," Duncan explained to me, as I bound his leg. "I didna ken he was here at all, until I went out to the necessary after supper, and he leaped at me, out o' the dark. I near died o' fright, and then I near died of being shot, for he fired at me, and if I had had an arm on that side, I daresay he would have struck it. Only I hadna got one, so he didn't."

In spite of his disability, Duncan had fought back ferociously, butting the Lieutenant in the face, charging him and knocking him backward.

"He staggered and tripped himself on the brick walk, and fell backward so as he hit his head a dreadful smackit." He shuddered again at memory of the sound. "Like a melon hit wi' an ax, it was."

"Och, aye. So, was he killed at once, then?" Jamie asked, interested.

"Well, no." Duncan had grown easier in his manner, telling the tale, but now began to look uneasy again. "Now, see, Mac Dubb, here's the pinch of the matter. For I'd gone staggering, too, when I knocked him ower, and I stepped into the stone channel from the necessary and snapped my leg, and there I lay, groaning by the walk. Ulysses heard me callin' at last, and came down, and Jo after him."

Duncan had told Jocasta what had happened, as Ulysses had gone to fetch a couple of grooms to help carry Duncan into the house. And then, between the pain of his broken leg and his habit of leaving difficulties to the butler to be resolved, had likewise left the Lieutenant.

"It was my fault, Mac Dubb, and I ken it well," he said, his face drawn and pale. "I ought to have given orders of some kind; though in fact I canna think even now what I ought to have said, and I've had time and plenty enough to think."

The rest of the story, pried out of him with some reluctance, was that Jocasta and Ulysses had evidently conferred on the matter, and concluded that the Lieutenant had gone beyond being a nuisance, and become an outright threat. And that being so ...

"Ulysses killed him," Duncan said baldly, then stopped, as though appalled afresh. He swallowed, looking deeply unhappy. "Jo says as how she ordered him to do it-and Christ knows, Mac Dubb, she might have done so. She's no the woman to be trifled with, let alone to have her servants murdered, herself threatened, and her husband set upon."



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1 gathered from his hesitance, though, that some small doubt about Jocasta's part in this still lingered in his mind.

Jamie had grasped the main point troubling him, though.

"Christ," he said. "The man Ulysses will be hangit on the spot, or worse, if anyone hears of it. Whether my aunt ordered it, or no."

Duncan looked a little calmer, now that the truth was out. He nodded. "Aye, that's it," he agreed. "I canna let him go to the gallows-but what am I to do about the Lieutenant? There's the Navy to be considered, to say nothing of sheriffs and magistrates." That was a definite point. A good deal of the prosperity of River Run depended upon its naval contracts for timber and tar; Lieutenant Wolff had in fact been the naval liaison responsible for such contracts. I could see that His Majesty's Navy might just possibly be inclined to look squiggle-eyed at a proprietor who had killed his local naval representative, no matter what the excuse. I imagined that the law, in the person of Sheriff and magistrates, might take a more lenient view of the situation-save for the person of the perpetrator.

A slave who shed the blood of a white person was automatically condemned, regardless of provocation. It would make no difference what had happenedeven with a dozen witnesses to testify to Wolff's attack on Duncan, Ulysses would be doomed. If anyone found out about it. I began to understand the air of desperation that hung over River Run; the other slaves were well aware of what might happen.

Jamie rubbed a knuckle over his chin.

"Ah ... just how did ... I mean, would it not be possible to say that ye'd done it yourself, Duncan? It was self-defense, after all-and I've evidence that the man did come in order to murder ye, wi' the notion of marrying my aunt then by force, or at least holding her hostage so as she might be threatened into telling about the gold."

"Gold?" Duncan looked blank. "But there isna any gold here. I thought we'd got that straight last year."

"The Lieutenant and his associates thought there was," I told him. "But Jamie can tell you all about that, in a bit. What did happen to the Lieutenant, exactly? "

"Ulysses cut his throat," Duncan said, and swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing in his own throat. "I should be pleased enough to say I'd done it, aye, only ... 55

Beyond the simple difficulty of cutting someone's throat with only one hand, it was evidently all too apparent that the Lieutenant's throat had been cut by a left-handed person-and Duncan, of course, lacked a left hand altogether.

I happened to know that Jocasta Cameron-like her nephew-was lefthanded, but it seemed more tactful not to mention that at the moment. I glanced at Jamie, who raised both brows at me.

Would sbe? I asked silently.

A MacKenzie ofLeocb? his cynical look said back. "Where is Ulysses?" I asked.

"In the stable, most like, if he hasna already headed west." Knowing that if anyone learned the truth of the Lieutenant's death, Ulysses would be con-

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demned at once, Jocasta had sent her butler to saddle a horse, with instructions to flee into the mountains, should anyone come.

Jamie drew a deep breath and rubbed a hand over his head, thinking.

"Well, then. I should say the best thing, perhaps, is for the Lieutenant to disappear. Where have ye put him for the moment, Duncan?"

A muscle near Duncan's mouth twitched, in an uneasy attempt at a smile. "I believe he's in the barbecue pit, Mac Dubh. Covered over wi' burlap, and piled with hickory wood, disguised as a pork carcass."

Jamie's brows went up again, but he merely nodded. "Aye, then. Leave it to me, Duncan."

I left instructions for Duncan to be given honeyed water and tea brewed with boneset and cherry bark, and went outside with Jamie to contemplate methods of disappearance.

"The simplest thing would be just to bury him somewhere, I suppose," I said.