Armored Hearts

chapter 16

Gareth and Jessamine entered the house by way of the kitchen, placing Grandfather on the table.

“Sarah!” he shouted as they entered. “Sarah!” He flew around to the pantry looking for her.

She came running in from the hall. “What is it?”

“Lord Pensees has been shot and Tabitha’s been kidnapped.”

Sarah grabbed at her chest, her mouth and eyes echoing Gareth’s own sense of horror. Her face grew pale. “When? How?”

“I’ll tell you all in a moment, but first, Grandfather.” He pulled the ruddy woman to the table. “Can you help him?”

Gareth moved back and stared at his grandfather’s lifeless body as Sarah bent over to look more closely at the arrow and to listen to his chest. She bent over his face, putting an ear to his lips.

The cuckoo clock above the stove must have been ticking, but Gareth could not hear it for his own heart pounded in his ears. Sarah had been baking. The coppery smell of his grandfather’s blood mixed with the sweet scent of bread and revolted him. Tears stung his eyes, and he swallowed back the bile which wanted to rise. He could not allow the full gravity of this moment to reach the surface. He’d never acted like a blubbering fool and now was not the time to start. Something touched his hand. He blinked at Jessamine beside him and felt her hand intertwine with his. He said nothing, but didn’t stop her either.

Sarah rose up, her eyes wet and her face grim as she shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

Gareth clenched his jaw and worked to steady the quiver in his lips. “Tabitha can still be saved, and we must.” He swallowed again.

“How was she taken?” Sarah asked as she picked up a table covering and draped it over the body of Lord Pensees.

Turning from the sight, Gareth answered, “The gift was a trap. Some kind of mechanical horse and birds that took hold of her and escaped out the window. We followed as far as the woods before being assaulted by archer attack. There was more than one. At least half a dozen, if we judge by the number of arrows raining down on us.”

Sarah marched to the pantry and pulled open a door. She grabbed hold of a shelf of canned vegetables and pushed it forward, revealing a passageway. “In here, quick.”

Gareth stayed back. “I’m not hiding while they fly off with Tabitha. We must go after her.”

Sarah turned back to face him, her own eyes red and wet. “I know. I’ve taken care of the girl since the day she was born and placed in my arms as a wee babe. She’s like me own. But we canna go running off unprepared. Come. This be a passageway to the stables. Thompton will be there and our weapons.”

Gareth and Jessamine followed, ducking as they entered the passageway.

“What about my father? We can’t leave him defenseless,” Jessamine asked as they followed Sarah into the long dark corridor.

“Mr. Keller went into town early this morning to sign the final papers with the solicitor. He plans to stay with his sister’s family tonight and come get Tabitha for the voyage tomorrow.”

Gareth grabbed up Jessamine. “Wouldn’t we move faster by flying?”

Sarah’s feet left the ground. “Aye, I was na thinking. Living among humans, I’ve grown accustomed to walking.”

They raced down the deep stairwell into total darkness.

“Hold on.” Sarah threw a handful of something into the air. A glowing powder lit the path ahead of them in a rainbow of glittering light. “Fairy crystal dust. I dona need it. I’ve memorized the way but dona want the two of ye gettin’ hurt.”

They came to another set of stairs which lead to a trapdoor above. Sarah pushed it open and they came up in the storage room of the stables.

“Thompton!” Sarah screamed as she pushed away rakes and pitchforks before opening a large crate.

Thompton was not in sight. Sarah grabbed a quiver and filled it with arrows, before swinging a longbow onto her shoulder. She glanced up at Jessamine. “Do ye know how to wield a sword?”

Jessamine shook her head. “But I can throw knives. I learned from the Cherokee near our home. They used to come play in our yard when we were children.”

“Good. Here.” She grasped three knives and handed them over to Jessamine, who quickly lifted her skirts and tucked one into each of her garters and the last in the straps of her corset.

Thompton entered the room. “What’s the ruckus ‘bout?”

“Someone’s taken me Tabitha,” Sarah answered.

Thompton marched into the room in two quick strides, knocked over another stack of tools from a crate, and lifted the lid. “Do we know where they’ve taken her?” He pulled out a claymore and strapped it on his back before doing the same with a small sword on his hip.

Sarah turned to Jessamine. “Ye said it was mechanical animals, like the things ye and Tabitha work on in the bonnet room?”

Jessamine nodded. “Yes, obviously by someone of the underground automation movement.”

Thompton handed Gareth a small sword to strap onto his side and nodded toward his wife. “I’ll go fetch Lord Gareth’s chair. We’ll take them by carriage to Mrs. Collins’s place. If anyone knows who would have made such automatons, she will. I’ll drive, and Sarah will sit with me as second guard.”

Gareth stood next to Jessamine as the other two finished getting ready.

“So Tabitha doesn’t rework bonnets? Do I really not know the truth about anyone?” Gareth scowled at his new bride. The secrets around him were stacking up like barrels, each concealing their weighty contents. Only now, each was jarred loose and falling all over him. Tabitha was his one true friend, and even she hid things from him.

“She was afraid you wouldn’t approve. She said you were always discouraging her intellectual pursuits.”

Gareth shook his head. “Only for her own good. Too much knowledge and thinking is dangerous for the female mind.”

Jessamine crossed her arms and frowned at him. “Superstitious nonsense used to keep women in their place. Only I don’t believe pretending stupidity to be a woman’s God-ordained place at all. The Proverbs 31 woman is exalted for her business sense as well as her ability to take care of her family and home. Her intelligence brings honor to her husband. Do the English presume to know more than God about a woman’s abilities?”

Gareth turned away from her and stared out the doorway of the stable as the two servants exited to make preparations. He swallowed and tried hard to push away the fact that her words made sense. “I refuse to argue with you about this right now. We have more important issues at hand.”

Jessamine reached up and touched his face. He clenched his mouth shut, but her delicate fingers pressed against his jaw. Her eyes had grown soft and searched his. “I have no words. I’m so sorry about Lord Pensees. He loved Tabitha. He died trying to rescue her. You can remember him for being brave. We will find Tabitha. She’s become so dear to me in such a short time. The only girl friend I’ve ever had really. Growing up, I climbed trees, threw knives with the native boys, and waded in creeks looking for frogs and crayfish.”

Gareth blinked. “My wife grew up in a more manly way than I did.”

“You spent your childhood stuck in a chair, locked away from everyone. But you don’t have to be that little boy anymore. We will find Tabitha and get all this sorted out with the Faes. And when it’s all over, it will be up to you to choose what kind of life you wish to live and what kind of man you want to be.”

Gareth gazed into her dark eyes for just a moment, wondering if life really could be different for him if he chose it.

Thompton and Sarah shouted from the stable area. “It’s safe to come out now.”

Gareth flew to the carriage while Jessamine followed a few steps behind.

Sarah opened the carriage door. “We did a quick fly through the wood. Whoever was there before be gone now. This visit to Mrs. Collins will need to have the likeness of a social call. Na need to involve anyone else in Fae business. Find out who in town might be behind malevolent automation, and we’ll search there.”

Jessamine nodded as she entered the carriage. Gareth joined her, noticing Thompton loading his chair on the back of the buggy. How he hated that chair. One of the many reasons he hardly paid a call on neighbors. A visit required a manservant to lift him from the chair, into the carriage, and back again. And if the estate had steps leading into the home… It never ended, this feeling of being less than human and not quite a man. He glanced over to Jessamine who watched him as if she knew what he was thinking. He quickly turned away. He didn’t like how easily she read him.

***

When they pulled up to the Collins estate, Thompton opened the door and stepped back to allow Jessamine room to exit. Then he pulled down the wheelchair, and just as Gareth prepared himself for the humiliation of being picked up, Thompton said, “Coast is clear if ye wanna get in yerself.”

Gareth paused, absorbing the idea. There was freedom in having those around him know the truth. He zipped out of the carriage and into the chair so they could make their way to the front door. Thompton ran ahead to knock and waited for the housekeeper to answer. A petite, blonde woman in black searched the group with wide, blue eyes.

Thompton announced, “Lord and Lady Smyth to see Mrs. Collins.”

“Mrs. Collins is in her garden out back. Make your way around, and I’ll run ahead to let her know you are here.”

Gareth and Jessamine nodded at Thompton, excusing him to stay behind as usual. The two followed the path to the rear of the house where Mrs. Collins rose from her chair, placing her book in her seat. The middle-aged woman gave them a wide smile and left the shade of the tree to greet them.

“Lord Gareth and Lady Jessamine. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

Jessamine glanced down at Gareth as a signal that he would take charge of the conversation. He paused, regarding Mrs. Collins’s silver-streaked hair and soft, welcoming expression. Everything in his being felt her trustworthy. He cleared his throat. “We were hoping you could help us with a problem.”

The woman’s brows furrowed as she took them both in. “Problem?”

Gareth frowned, and his voice became grave. “Yes, it would seem someone sent us a wedding gift with the purpose of harm. As you can see, we are both uninjured, but we are curious as to the source of this gift.”

The woman’s eyes grew wide, and a hand fluttered to her neckline. “You don’t suppose I had anything to do with such a gift?”

Jessamine shook her head and stepped forward to reply. “Oh no, ma’am. The only reason we came to you is because the gift was…” Her eyes darted about as she moved closer to the woman and whispered, “Part of the movement.”

Mrs. Collins’s face tensed as she peered down at Gareth and then back at Jessamine.

“Oh, Gareth knows and is completely supportive of my interests.”

The woman’s expression relaxed. “That is wonderful. Having a supportive and understanding spouse is always a blessed thing. Now, tell me about this gift.”

Gareth rolled his chair forward. “The gift was a steam horse and mechanical doves. I believe it was engineered to kidnap Jessamine with designs to hold her hostage for ransom. Do you know who might be capable of creating such a thing? Someone in the bonnet club, perhaps?”

Mrs. Collins pursed her lips and raised her chin. “No one in the bonnet club would ever… We are all upstanding women with only one purpose in mind when it comes to our automation—to make life better for all society.” Then she paused and looked away and then back at the two of them. “There was a woman who visited a couple of times. She wasn’t from our community, and we actually asked her not to return after only two visits.”

Gareth blinked. “And why was that?”

“Her ideas for automation were aggressive items of war and not a good fit with the purpose of the bonnet club. I asked my husband to find out what he could about her, and it turned out she and her husband were new money. That in itself is no problem with the bonnet club ladies. We seek to cross class lines. But it was how this woman and her husband had made their money that was the problem.”

“And how was that?” Gareth asked.

“In factories that enslave the poor—ones which pay very little and work the people to death. They even employ children, some losing limbs in the production of malicious automations. They will make any product for any reason, no matter the purpose, for the right price.”

Gareth adjusted his chair to a different angle. “Can you tell me her name or know where we could find her and her husband?”

“Her name was Mrs. Steel. Her husband owns factories over in Ardenshire, along the river. Sad and ugly part of town. The streets are full of rubbish and dirty, unfortunate children. My husband told me about a meeting he had over in that area with a man who owns warehouses in the district. A very sad direction in advancement when it’s used to exploit the poor, wouldn’t you agree?”

Jessamine nodded in agreement. “Very sad indeed, ma’am. The whole purpose of industry is to make life better for the masses.”

Gareth took Jessamine’s hand to indicate it was time to leave. “I want to thank you, Mrs. Collins. You’ve been most helpful. I’m sorry if we’ve disturbed you.”

“Thank you both for coming by, Lord Gareth. And take good care in keeping this young lady around. She’s got one of the brightest minds I’ve encountered in the club, next to Tabitha’s. You are one blessed man to be surrounded by such intelligent women.”

Gareth’s heart leapt at the mention of his aunt’s name. He nodded before turning his chair to leave.

As they made their way back to the carriage Jessamine whispered. “You were downright friendly. I’m in shock.”

Gareth responded flatly, “So am I.”