Island of Bones

V.9

Her note written and Ham dispatched, Harriet had retreated to the kitchen to let Mrs Briggs’s cook feed her, then realising her presence was making the woman nervous she returned to the study and sat drumming her fingers on Sturgess’s desk and looking about her. Tucked under the desk she saw the butt of a pistol and hissed between her teeth as she bent down to retrieve it. It was a Light Dragoon pistol, impossible to shoot accurately with such a weapon, but at close range it was devastating. Crowther had been lucky beyond belief. She felt herself flush with irritation. How could he have been so foolish as to not see what Sturgess was about? She laid the gun on the table top. It was a fine example and well cared for. But then had not Hudson said Sturgess had had military experience in one of his former lives?

She stood and looked into the open drawer of the dresser behind her. The drawer was very deep. There was the case for the gun, and the powder and ball. He must have been very quick to load it and prime the pan without Crowther noticing, but then she had served long enough at her husband’s side to see such weapons loaded and fired a hundred times. She would have recognised the necessary movements. Crowther, it was likely, was less familiar than she with such guns. The thought made her smile.

There was a knock at the door. She looked up, expecting to see one of the lawyers or servants, but instead saw Miss Scales hovering in the entrance with Ham beside her. Harriet felt a sudden cold dread in her stomach and her smile disappeared.

‘Mrs Westerman, Sophia is missing.’

‘Good God!’ Harriet said, emerging from behind the desk. ‘When? Did she take anything with her? Tell me all.’

Miss Scales was obviously distressed, but she answered calmly. ‘She told me she wished to go for a walk while I was reading to Papa, late afternoon that must have been. I thought she must have returned and gone straight to bed, but when I went to her room after reading your note, it was empty. She had taken some clothes, I think, but not more than she could easily carry. It is difficult to say. I think she had a small travelling bag, and I cannot find it now but I may be mistaken.’

Harriet began to pace the room. ‘Can we know what direction she took?’

‘We saw some parishioners of my father’s along the way and enquired. Miranda Dent is sure she saw her walking towards Silverside.’

‘Alone?’ Miss Scales nodded, and Harriet tried to reason herself out of her dread. No doubt Fraulein Hurst had regretted turning Felix away, and meant to try her luck at Silverside again. However unpleasant the Vizegrafin might be, Sophia would be safe there. Surely Sturgess would not make some attempt on her now, with the village ready to chase him down and his secrets exposed. He must be thinking only of escape.

But still. . ‘I am sure she will come to no harm, Miss Scales, but perhaps Ham, we should go and find her there?’ The huge coachman nodded. ‘Miss Scales, may I ask something of you?’

‘Of course, my dear. Anything at all.’

‘Would you be so kind as to take charge of Crowther’s nursing until I or Casper return? Lottie is with him at the moment but when she leaves, I would be easier knowing he is in your care. He may develop a fever yet and should be watched.’

Miss Scales nodded and Harriet walked briskly into the hall and crossed it to reach the library. The circle of male faces looked up at her.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said with a nod. ‘Felix — a word with you, please.’

He shot to his feet and joined her. ‘Mrs Westerman, I have been kicking my heels for hours! I don’t understand what is happening at all. Why did Sturgess shoot my uncle?’

She kept her voice very low as she replied. ‘There is a chance that your wife is in some danger. She has left the vicarage and was seen walking in the direction of Silverside. Will you come with me to find her? I shall explain on the way, as best I can.’ He did not manage to speak, but he nodded at least. ‘Good.’

Harriet returned to the other room to collect her cloak and saw the pistol on the desk. She hesitated for a moment before picking it up and gathering ball and powder from the drawer, and re-attaching the ramrod to the barrel. Heavy as it was, she had no difficulty concealing it in the folds of her cloak. She did not want to spend the ride to Silverside arguing with Felix about the niceties of females arming themselves with such weapons.

As the darkness around them became complete Sophia tried to persuade Stephen to leave her to wait alone, but he remained adamant. He had a certain streak of his mother’s stubbornness under his gentle ways. He had decided it was right to remain at Sophia’s side and he would not be moved. Eventually she gave up trying to send him off and instead told him stories from the convent. Fairytales from the forests of Germany and Austria, folksongs that tricked his tongue and made him laugh. In turn he told her the stories he had learned at his mother’s knee of her adventures as wife of Captain Westerman. Sophia was eager to hear all that he could tell, and as the landscape disappeared into darkness the time passed quickly. Then they heard voices below them. Stephen jogged to the edge of the tower and leaned over the edge. Deep in darkness below them he could see a lantern, and peering up at him the face of Mr Sturgess. He was with two other men but they were all in shadow. He called out and waved.

‘We’re up here, Mr Sturgess. Miss Hurst and I!’

‘Very good!’ Mr Sturgess said something to the men he was with that Stephen couldn’t hear and they moved away. ‘Wait there, Master Westerman! I shall come up and light you both down.’

Harriet found Mrs Briggs and Mr Quince in the drawing room in Silverside.

‘Crowther’s wound is severe, but he is conscious and lucid and in Casper’s care. I think he will do,’ she said in reply to their first urgent enquiries, then looked about her. ‘I hoped to find Miss Hurst here. Is it possible she is closeted with the Vizegrafin?’

They were all confusion — no, Miss Hurst was not there. ‘I saw her this evening. She wished to see the ruins of Gutherscale Hall at dusk,’ Mr Quince said, and found himself the centre of Harriet’s furious attention. ‘Stephen went with her, as I did not feel I had the strength.’

‘Stephen? Dusk has passed long ago, Mr Quince.’

His eyes darted to the darkness outside the windows. ‘The news of Mr Crowther’s shooting, I did not notice the time passing. .’

‘I assume Stephen has not returned?’ Harriet asked. Quince shook his head. ‘Felix, Ham, I suggest you arm yourselves, and fetch lanterns. We must go immediately.’

Ham left the room at once with a nod. Felix, however, hesitated. ‘Mrs Westerman, surely you should allow us to go alone and remain here, till we return.’

Harriet did not bother to conceal her disgust. ‘Go and arm yourself, Felix. We shall not wait for you.’

Mr Sturgess emerged onto the top of the tower and placed his lantern down at his feet. The thin light set the shadows of the crenellations and suns on the battlements dancing. The fallen corner of the tower though seemed to swallow the light entirely and pour out darkness of its own. Miss Hurst crossed to Sturgess and shook hands with him.

‘I hope you have not had too uncomfortable a wait for us, Fraulein?’ he said. ‘I am sorry I was delayed.’

‘Stephen insisted on waiting with me to wish me farewell, and we have passed the time very happily together. Is all prepared? Shall we leave at once?’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said with a smile and keeping a hold on her hand. ‘If you will just give me the Luck, then you shall be on your way at once.’

Miss Hurst looked confused. ‘The Luck, sir? I don’t understand you. Forgive me, what can you mean? I have the little carving of Casper’s — can you mean that?’

‘Now, now Miss Hurst. We spoke of it this morning — the treasure you wish to take from the valley. That is the Luck. Give it to me now, dear.’

Stephen saw her try to remove her hand from Sturgess’s, but though he was still smiling he held onto it fast. She put her other hand on her belly. ‘I am with child, Mr Sturgess. Did not you know? My child is the treasure of which I spoke.’

‘You stupid bitch!’ Sturgess pulled her hard, spinning her round so her back struck the low wall behind her, then he laid the whole weight of his body across her and bent her over so her upper body curved over the darkness. ‘I know he gave it to you!’

‘He did not! He did not! Only one of his carvings!’

‘Liar!’ he roared. ‘I know you have it! Give it to me now or I will cut that bastard whelp out of your belly this moment.’ Holding her against the wall with his left arm, he pulled a blade into his right hand. It caught the lantern light.

Sophia screamed.

‘Stop it! Let her go!’ Stephen was on his feet and there was a black taste in his mouth. ‘I have it, Mr Sturgess. I have it!’

They ran. Ham, Harriet and Felix, lightly and swift along the path between Overside Wood and Stub Hill. Ham and Felix carried lanterns held high, Harriet bundled her skirts over her arm, and her slippers scudded over the dry earth. They did not know they were watched for. There was a sound to the right, and in the same moment something came crashing down on Ham and he fell to the ground at once. Harriet and Felix turned to see two figures plunging out of the darkness, one with a club in his hand, the other a pistol. They all fired at once, and the air became as thick with flashes and powder smoke as at Mr Askew’s firework display. The one with the club shouted and fell writhing on the path. Harriet heard Felix cry out and spin to one side as the force of the bullet caught him, carried him round and dropped him to the ground. The other was uninjured. He stepped towards Harriet and raised the butt of his gun. She froze, unable to do anything but wait for him to strike. She closed her eyes, then heard a gasp and opened them again. The man’s expression had turned to one of surprise, the gun dropping from his hand as he fell forward, almost on top of her. There was an arrow sticking through the back of his left shoulder. She stared, still unable to move. A lumbering step and Mr Quince appeared on the path red and sweating holding Felix’s longbow in his left hand. He bent over, panting, then looked into Harriet’s white and frozen face.

‘There were no more guns,’ he said.

A scream, a woman’s, opened the air behind them. Harriet turned towards it, then back to Mr Quince. ‘Go, Mrs Westerman.’ She ran off into the night once more.

‘Give it to me.’ Sturgess sounded much calmer all of a sudden, but he still had his knife raised, was still pressing Sophia over the wall. Stephen pulled the pouch from his pocket and held it up where the light from the lantern could reach it.

‘Let her go first.’ He was shaking.

‘No, Stephen,’ Sturgess said softly, and shifted Sophia in front of him, the knife at her neck. ‘Bring it to me now, or I will cut her throat in front of you.’ He pressed the blade into her skin.

‘Stop!’ Stephen yelled. Then he lowered his arm and took a step forward. ‘Take it then.’

With all the strength and speed he could manage, he drew his arm back and threw the pouch at Sturgess’s head. The man dropped the knife and, pushing Sophia away from him, grabbed at it as it spun by him in the darkness and caught it with his fingertips. Stephen dashed to grab Sophia’s hand and drag her towards the stairs, but Sturgess was too quick for him. He got in front of the arch and swung his fist at Stephen, catching the boy on the side of his head and sending him staggering towards the broken corner of the tower. Sophia caught hold of him and pulled him away from the black edge and to her side.

Sturgess steadied himself and laughed. ‘Not so fast, Master Stephen. Let me see what you have given me.’ He scooped up his knife. ‘If it is another of Casper’s wooden copies I shall be very, very cross.’ He wagged the blade at them, then began to unwind the binding on the leather pouch.

Harriet saw the light on the top of the Pele tower and heard her son shout. Hardly able to think, she began to run up the stairs, feeling in her pockets for powder and ball. Her shoe slipped on the smooth stone and she fell heavily on her knee; the gun bounced out of her hand. It was so dark. She felt it again and grabbed hold of it, struggling up the remaining stairs, blinded by the night and her own desperate tears.

From where they sat huddled against the far wall Sophia and Stephen could only see the heavy gilt back of the Luck as Sturgess withdrew it from the pouch, but they could see his face change from delight to disbelief. He tossed the pouch aside.

‘What is this? Where are the jewels, you little bastard! What have you done with the jewels?’

He threw the Luck down onto the stone. It clattered and spun, then lay there glinting gold in the lamplight. Sophia and Stephen held each other more closely, staring at the bald cross, its surface pitted and scarred. It was far more like Casper’s wooden carvings than the cross in the museum picture. The same shape, but there were only indentations where the jewels had been.

‘That is the Luck!’ Stephen yelled. ‘That is all there is!’

Harriet reached the last turn of the stairs. She poured powder down the muzzle, placed the lace ripped from her cuff across it and put the ball on top. She was shaking so hard she almost dropped the ball, then she pulled out the ramrod and pushed the charge home. Now she just had to hold steady enough to prime the pan. Oh God, hang on, Stephen, please. Just another moment, just one more moment.

‘You lying little dog!’ Sturgess crossed the space between them and lifted up his knife again as Sophia tried to thrust Stephen behind her.

‘I’m not lying! That’s the Luck! That’s all!’

Sturgess hesitated for a second. Then there was a voice at the archway.

‘Sturgess.’ Harriet said it quite quietly. ‘Get away from my son.’ Stephen looked towards the arch and saw his mother, a pistol raised to shoulder-level. Her hand was very steady. Sturgess turned and took a step towards her. She fired at once, her arm straight. The force of it knocked Sturgess backwards; he threw out an arm, but it was not enough to save him. He stumbled, and for a moment they all watched as his feet scrabbled for purchase on the edge of the void, before his body went slack and he disappeared into the darkness. His cry was cut off, suddenly and completely.

Stephen yelped and stumbled towards his mother. She lowered herself to the ground to receive him and pressed him hard into her arms, rocking him, her eyes tight shut. Miss Hurst remained with her back against the opposite wall, her hands over her face. On the flags between them the Luck gleamed in the light of Mr Sturgess’s lantern.

Casper’s search for the herbs he needed to treat Crowther had taken him through the darkness to the high paths above Silverside Hall. The land opened up to him as its own creature and he could move as sure-footed in the darkness as in the day. In the moonlight he gathered the comfrey, herb Robert and ribwort he needed to knit Crowther’s shoulder together again, knowing them by the texture of their leaves, their scent and shadows. His own pain felt as if it had been lifted from him the moment he gathered Agnes into his arms and carried her from Sturgess’s folly alive and whole, so when he caught the sound of the first shots coming from the path to Gutherscale he launched himself down the slope towards them like a fox who hears the pack behind him. He had not yet reached the path when he heard another crack from the tower.

He found Mr Quince, his hands all bloodied and tears running down his face, trying to stem the bleeding of both Felix and Swithun, and Ham attempting to raise himself onto his feet, his hand on the swelling bruise of his forehead. Felix’s wound was flowing fast and his breath was coming in a fierce pant. Casper dammed it firmly with Felix’s own coat and showed Quince where to hold it. Having done what he could and hissed at the gape one bullet had left in Swithun’s belly, but unable to wait any longer, Casper was about to turn and run for the tower when he saw a light bobbing towards them. Miss Hurst was carrying the lantern. Mrs Westerman followed her with her son in her arms.

Miss Hurst at once dropped to her knees by Felix’s side, a rapid stream of her own language at her lips. Mrs Westerman paused by Casper, but did not speak to him. Instead she let Stephen down onto his feet. He took the Luck from his waistband, its scarred body wrapped once again in its leather pouch, and handed it to Casper.

‘Sturgess is dead,’ he said. ‘Mama shot him.’ Casper glanced at Mrs Westerman and she nodded, so Casper took the Luck once more. Holding it in his left hand he placed the fingers of his right hand on Mrs Westerman’s forehead. She flinched, but allowed it and shivered as he whispered something too low for anyone else to hear. Then he tucked the Luck into his waistband and released her.

Ham and Casper followed Harriet back to Silverside carrying Felix between them. It was on Casper’s word they took him first; he judged Felix had the best chance of living through his hurt. It was slow progress. No one spoke and the only sound was of Felix’s damp and catching breath. Silverside was a blaze of light and they found themselves greeted on the lawns by the servants of the place with lanterns raised and white faces. Felix they laid in his bed, leaving him to the care of Miriam and Mrs Briggs, and the hysterics of his mother. The last view of Mrs Westerman Casper had that night was through the half-open door to her rooms. She had her son on her lap, her face buried in his neck and was rocking him to and fro, though who gave comfort in that embrace, and who received it, Casper could not say.

Quince remained with Miss Hurst doing what they could for the Fowlers until Casper and Ham could come back with help and means to carry them. By the time they returned, Mr Quince had seen the man he had shot with the arrow die, his pinched, frightened face turned towards the lake. He had not bled much. Quince had crawled away from the body when the breath shuddered to a stop and the eyes became blank, and crouched on the path staring at the corpse till Ham and Casper arrived. He asked the man’s name, and Casper told him in a low voice, placing his hand on Quince’s shoulder as he did. All the while Miss Hurst calmly tried to make Swithun more comfortable, one hand on his brow, one on the padding placed over the ugly wound in his belly. His hands scrabbled in the dirt of the path. The servants Casper and Ham had brought with them carried torches, and by their light Quince watched Casper touch his fingers to Isaac’s throat, then pull mistletoe from his bag, place a sprig of it in the dead man’s mouth and close his lips over it. The Fowlers were lifted onto the blankets and carried to Silverside Hall.

Mr Sturgess was forgotten until after sunrise, so his corpse lay that night among the ruins of Gutherscale and the broken emblems of his family’s great house, guarded by the crows.

12 May 1718, Silverside Hall

Lottie scratched at the door. ‘Ruben?’

She thought she heard a stirring within and pushed it open a little, lifting her candle. There was a curse from the bed and her light fell on a tumble of blankets. Ruben Grace lifted his head. A woman was lying across him in her shift, her bare legs over him, her head, the brown hair all loose, scattered over his chest. Lottie breathed in sharply and turned her back. She heard the maid scurry under the blankets.

‘What is it, Lottie?’

She remained bowed over her candle. ‘There is something I must tell you. And in private.’

‘Now?’

‘Yes, of course now!’ she hissed. She heard his low chuckle and the smack of a kiss delivered. She glanced swiftly back over her shoulder; he was cupping the girl’s chin in his hand, and she was watching him like a greyhound watches its master. He swung his legs out of the bed and Lottie turned back to the candle, her face hot, and listened to him dress.

A moment and he touched her on the shoulder and passed by her across the threshold. She followed him and he pulled the door to behind them. He bent over the candle towards her.

‘It’s Sir William,’ she said in a low voice.

‘Does he ask for me?’ He made as if to turn away and up the stairs to the upper chambers.

‘No, no.’ She put a hand on his arm to stop him. Another man would have asked her questions, hurried her, but Ruben stayed quiet and still, his attention complete.

Lottie drew in her breath. ‘I saw the light under the door to his room, and I was going to ask him if he needed anything further this evening. You know how he has been up and pacing every night these last three days.’ Ruben didn’t speak, but simply kept his eyes on her face. ‘I heard something — the door was a little open, so I looked in.’ She licked her lips and stared into the candlelight. It fluttered and smoked. ‘Ruben, did you ever see the Luck?’

His eyes widened. He placed one palm on the rough plaster wall between them, and leaned even closer. ‘I did.’

She spread out her fingers. ‘Was it a little bigger than this? With jewels in it?’

He nodded slowly. ‘What did you see, Lottie?’

‘The master bent over the table with a chisel in his hand. There was something that size, gold, on the table in front of him. I only saw for a moment, but there was a fat clear stone on the table near the door. And he was working away at another.’

Ruben’s mouth set in a line. ‘The bastard. That’s the Luck.’ He grabbed her shoulders and the flame shook. ‘That’s our Luck, Lottie. The Luck of the valley. I’ve been searching for it three years.’

Lottie drew in her breath. ‘The dawn of the day he left this place Lord Greta rowed out to the Island of Bones. Sir William saw him, and told me of it that day. Between then and you coming here, I saw Sir William go there a lot. Always before anyone else was about, or late, and saying nothing.’

Ruben was frowning now. ‘And you never thought to say anything?’

‘I did not know you were looking! And he gave me a shilling to say nothing about Lord Greta going to the Island. Didn’t seem right, and I didn’t know what it might be.’

Ruben released her and put his hand to his chin. ‘You are right, Lottie. Forgive me for speaking sharp.’ Then, after a moment’s pause, ‘You must help me. Take off your apron. We must watch him from the shadows. You stay in the house, watch what you can from the door. I’ll slip out the back and see what I can from the window.’

For a moment the instruction about her apron confused her till she looked down and saw it snowy in the gloom. He was gone towards the kitchen, treading as gentle as a cat, before her fumbling fingers had managed to undo the ties. Then she folded it, stuffed it under the settle, blew out her candle and began to creep into the dark.

They had a long wait of it. Lottie was pressed to the wall beside the office, never daring to look in, but listening to the sound of the chisel. At one moment there was a scrape and a curse from Sir William. Lottie thought her heart would burst out of her chest. She pulled her skirts around her legs and held her breath. The scraping started again, there was a final clink and the sound of the chisel being placed on wood. The office was full of drawers and cupboards and secret places a man might place his money or bonds away from the eyes and fingers of his servants. If Sir William placed the Luck in one of those, they might have to break every lock in the room to retrieve it.

Holding her breath, she inched closer to the hinge of the door, and put an eye to it. Sir William seemed to be looking directly at her, but she managed to fight the desire to flee. No, he was examining the jewels in the candlelight. His face looked set and heavy as he turned a diamond that looked to Lottie the size of a plover’s egg in his fingers. Sharply, he set it down again and drew a little leather purse from a drawer of the desk. Then, one at a time, he placed the jewels within it. Lottie lifted herself on her toes; she could see the Luck itself, naked and golden, its surface full of ridges and hollows. Where the chisel had caught, it was scarred with short lines of brighter metal. Sir William put the purse back into his pocket, and picked up the cross. For a moment he looked around him, then with sudden decision took up his candle and stepped towards the door.

Lottie swung back into the shadows, flattening her spine into the wall and closing her eyes. Sir William did not look round but went straight to the front door, and from his candle lit the lamp that always hung ready in the hall. He pulled the bolts free and stepped out quickly into the night. Lottie gathered up her skirts and followed him. He had not pulled the door to behind him. She closed her eyes for a moment, and said her prayers, then followed.

The light of the lantern bobbed down the path to the edge of the lake. She kept to the shadows, stooped over and moving as quietly as she could. It was a dark night. Hardly a thread of moon, and that part obscured by cloud, and everything painted in dark greys. The path was silent under her and seemed to carry her forward.

Sir William stopped at the lakeshore, then she watched his light bob along the shingle, moving away from the path as she did so, but keeping him in sight. Lottie felt a touch on her shoulder and turned. Ruben was crouched beside her.

‘He has it? I could not tell.’ An owl cried out from the Island of Bones.

‘He does,’ she said as quietly as she could.

Sir William seemed to hesitate a moment. Then he reached into his pocket. A low winding wind shook the trees above them, and the clouds stepped away to let the thin moonlight fall on the man at the edge of the water. He took his hand from his pocket, drew back his arm, and threw. The light caught the Luck like a shooting star. It fell, and the waters swallowed it with a ripple. Lottie felt Ruben’s fingers squeeze on her shoulder, he was as rigid as a pointer. Sir William waited until the disturbance on the surface had died away into the steady blackness of the water, then turned and made his way up towards the house. He passed so close to them Lottie could have reached out and touched him.

‘What are we. .?’

‘Shh!’ Ruben said, his eyes still fixed on the surface of the lake. They heard the door to the house close in the distance, and the scrape of the bolts in the locks slipped down the slope of the path towards them.

Ruben stood up and walked across the shingle to the place where Sir William had stood. Lottie looked around, then hurried along after him. As soon as he reached the spot he began to undress, dropping his clothes on the grey stones, his eyes still fixed on the surface of the water like a man called to the rocks by the Sirens. Lottie turned away, and heard the gentle splash and gurgle of the water as he stepped in. When she turned back he was up to his waist, his white shift making him look like the ghost of a drowned man. As the water reached his shoulders he lifted his arms up into the air, then descended into the darkness. Lottie shivered and watched the spot where he had disappeared. The owl called again, and the surface of the lake settled as if Ruben had never been.

Lottie took a few steps forward, her hand held out. The cold waters met around her ankles icy and gripping. She could feel tears coming into her eyes.

‘Ruben?’ she called, her voice a whisper, rising. Her teeth began to chatter. ‘Ruben?’

The surface broke. He half-swam, half-waded towards her, finally falling on his knees in the shallows. She splashed towards him, put her hands under his arms and began to haul him in. He panted and crawled with her up among the reeds, then collapsed onto his back. Lottie turned to look for his coat. His skin looked blue in the moonlight. She felt his hand grip her ankle; she turned back to him. He laughed softly at her, then lifted his right arm. The Luck. Scarred and dripping, it was held gleaming in his hand.

She reached for his coat and he sat up to let her sling it round his shoulders, then she crouched down beside him.

‘He hurt himself, Sir William I mean, prying out the stones,’ she said, after a little while.

‘That I saw,’ Ruben said, staring down at the Luck cradled in his broad dark hands. ‘First bite the Luck has taken from him, and I doubt it’ll be the last.’ He traced the marks where the stones had sat.

‘What wilt thou do with it, Ruben?’

‘When I can get away she and I will walk the old ways together, Lottie, and rest together between the Druid’s stones. Then I shall hide her, till we need her in dark times, and protect her as we may. This air is hers, this water and these hills and here the Luck will abide.’