The Charleston Chase (Phantom Knights Book 2) Read online

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Waiting, for we have a common enemy,” she said as her eyes remained fixed down the center aisle toward the door.

  Her hand grabbed my arm, jerking me down behind a long counter made of marble. Our bodies were facing each other as we knelt. Her eyes were closed, and she was quietly counting. When her eyes opened, she slowly lifted her head to look over the counter. I did the same.

  Down the aisle, standing inside the door, were three men dressed in plain brown clothing. There was nothing suspicious about them, until one of them spoke in Danish. My heart started slamming around in my chest. Those men were the same ones searching for Ma belle—for Guinevere.

  “The Holy Order is an organization of protectors. They came to this country many years ago, bringing with them three artifacts.

  “The first leader found like minded people and formed the Holy Order. As the years went by more artifacts were added until the collection made up the seven artifacts. The Holy Order split up the artifacts as they knew, one day, their enemy would come seeking them.

  “They lived in constant watch but as the years went by their enemy did not arrive. They were at peace, until three years ago when the first ship made port, filled with those whom they had dreaded.”

  Out of the seven artifacts the Phantoms had collected five. Levi had stolen the chalice, but somewhere there were two rings.

  When I had stolen the artifacts from Guinevere she was trying to get them back from the people who had been guarding them, but why?

  “What about Dimitri and the black box?”

  Guinevere frowned though her eyes were on the men who had parted ways to walk down the aisle. One of them was coming toward us, so we both ducked down. Guinevere leaned over and whispered against my ear.

  “Richard wanted possession of the artifacts, but I could not allow that to happen.”

  “Because of Ma belle.”

  Her eyes were narrowed on me, her mouth a hard line.

  “Frantz, do you see dem?” came a foreign accent from beyond the counter.

  “Nay,” he said, and I inhaled a long breath. “Vait, vat is dis?”

  Guinevere stiffened beside me and started to pull up her skirt. I averted my eyes, but could not keep from glancing back at her petticoat clad leg. She had a long dagger tucked into a garter around her leg. She pulled it away from her leg, and I immediately recognized it. It was the same weapon at both the warehouse and the night I discovered that she was the white phantom. There was a small gold pistol mounted to the side.

  The large butcher moved to the counter, his large legs next to Guinevere.

  “There they are,” a different man shouted.

  I was ready to jump up and fight, but Guinevere’s hand held me in place. Our eyes met, and she shook her head then faced forward again.

  “They be gone,” said the large butcher. “Chasing that rascal that was with you the other day.”

  Guinevere stiffened for a moment then pushed to her feet and was around the counter before I could stand up. The crowd was thicker than it had been when we entered the market. When I made my way through I saw why. Two of the royal guards were on the ground, dead if the red staining their coats was any indication. The third guard was fighting a man about my height, wearing dirty clothes and a hat firmly planted on his head. Their backs were to me as the man in the hat slammed the guard’s head against a wood table until there was an ominous crack. He dropped the man then turned toward the crowd, and my breath left me faster than a galloping horse.

  Levi.

  Having not seen him in nearly eight months, his appearance was surprising. The softness to his face was gone, and his jaw and chin were no longer rounded but pointed in sharp angles. He had always been like my little brother, my friend. We had had a falling out when I left the Phantoms, and he could not understand why. He had come to Charleston, without permission from his leader, he stole the chalice, he betrayed not only the Phantoms, but those who had accepted him and treated him as family for seven years.

  He had not seen me; his eyes were focused on something to the left of the crowd. Levi knelt, picking up one of the royal guards’ swords.

  “Hades!”

  He stiffened then his head came up, and his eyes searched the crowd until they rested on me. They widened, and I saw his chest inhale. He was worried; I could see it in the flicker of his green eyes. He blinked it away then turned, picking up a melon from a stand. He whipped around and threw it at me.

  Out of instinct I put up my arms to block my face a moment before the melon hit me. Women screamed; men shouted as fruit after fruit was thrown into the crowd.

  What the devil was he doing? This was not the place for his funning. I caught a glimpse of his serious face with a hint of devilry in his green eyes and knew he was not funning. He was trying to create mayhem.

  He threw an apple at my head and as I ducked low; I felt thoroughly angered. I picked up an apple and threw it at him. He dodged it, the right side of his lips curved up. I grabbed two more and threw them at him. Levi used the sword to slice through the second apple, having dodged the first. Memories of playing cricket with Levi, Jericho, Ben, Henry, Mariah, and Bess when we were supposed to be training flooded me.

  “Is that the best you have, Loutaire,” he called out, his voice mocking.

  If it had not been for all the shouting people, I would have thought us back in Philadelphia training together for our work as Phantoms. Though we had never before thrown fruit at each other.

  Picking up two apples, I kept one behind my back as I rose and threw the other at him. As he swiped at it with the sword, I threw the other and struck his forehead. He took three steps back, blinking in a dazed fashion.

  So Levi was working with Guinevere now was he? For that matter, where was Guinevere? I started picking up fruit after fruit, sending them flying toward Levi, but glancing around the crowd for Guinevere.

  Abe appeared at the end of the market, behind Levi, and met my eyes. He motioned his arms in a circle, like a hug, his message clear to me. If I could distract Levi, Abe would restrain him. I picked up an apple, tossed it lightly in the air, then caught it.

  “What are you doing here, Hades?”

  “As if you do not know,” he retorted.

  When I only stared at him, he smiled and lowered the sword. “You do not know.” He laughed. “I have tricked the great Loutaire. Oh, what a day this is!”

  Abe rushed up behind Levi, wrapping his arms around Levi’s chest, locking his arms at his sides. I rushed forward but before I could reach them something hard bashed me over the head. I wobbled for a moment before dropping to my knees. My vision spun. A thousand tiny pains were shooting through the back of my head as it struck the hard floor. I blinked twice, seeing a blurry image of Abe being caught by men in dark blue coats. Military men. The last thing I saw was Levi getting away, with Guinevere.

  ***

  A pungent odor floated through my nostrils and stung my brain. It was like death and onions, perhaps death by onions. There was something hard beneath me. I could not be dead for everything stunk too much to be heaven, and surely not enough to be Hell.

  I heard voices somewhere above me. “Touch him again, and it will be the last mistake you ever make,” a deep voice said.

  One of my eyes fluttered open, then the other. I was lying on a cold stone floor, and there were five men huddled in a group near some iron bars. Another man was standing in front of me. There was something not right to that picture, so I started to push myself up. The man in front of me lowered to his knees without taking his eyes from the men near the bars.

  “Slow does it, Mr. Jack,” Abe’s deep voice instructed as his hand helped me to stand.

  Swaying and using the stone wall to keep upright, the back of my head ached something fierce, and it hurt to touch it. A lump had formed where I had been struck.

  “Abe, what happened?”

  “Sheriff,” Abe replied without looking at me. “Kn
ew me and that’s why I’m here.”

  His meaning would not be comprehensible to the others in the cell, but I knew what he meant. Subduing Levi could have cost him his life if it was viewed as Abe had been the one to attack.

  Focusing on the group by the bars, they were all excessively dirty. Torn clothing, no shoes on their feet, two with bloodied lips, one with a bloody nose and the other two with swollen eyes, and all possessing yellow teeth.

  “What’s the altercation?” I asked Abe in a low voice.

  “Them there tried to steal your coat and shoes.”

  “Did you do that damage?”

  “Only enhanced their beauty,” Abe replied in a sneering voice.

  The men took a step forward.

  Making a quick decision, I stripped out of my coat then started undoing my crumpled cravat. All eyes were upon me, most in astonishment.

  “What are you doing?” Abe hissed at me.

  “Trust me,” I replied. “Who approached me first?” Abe pointed to a man at the far right. I stepped to the left. “Who was the first to fancy my coat?”

  They stared at me like I was daft, but one of them stepped toward me.

  “It is a fortunate day for you. Here is my coat. I make you a gift of it.” The man stared at me, but I tossed the coat to him then turned to the man next to him. “You look like a man who knows how to tie a cravat.” I tossed my white cravat to him.

  Unbuttoning my waistcoat, I tossed it to the third man then removed my boots and gave them to the smallest of the men. His feet were black with dirt and dried blood from walking around without shoes, but his feet looked like they might be as small as my own. There was nothing I would give to the man who started the altercation.

  “I be takin’ yer fine shirt off ye,” he said.

  Meeting Abe’s eyes, they were smoldering. Turning toward the man who had spoken, he had squared his shoulders as if that would make his words more threatening. There was no doubt that he would try to enact his words, but he had misjudged his man.

  “You will not, and if you have any ideas of trying to wrest my shirt by force allow me to assure you, though I may appear small I was boxing champion of my regiment.”

  Abe remained standing as I sat on the stone floor. My feet were covered with my stockings, but the cold from the stones and windowless cell was quickly making me regret my decision of giving away my boots. The reason I had done so was simple, and it quickly proved correct. The attention of the men focused on fighting over the clothes and no longer on fighting Abe.

  “Tell me where we are,” I said to Abe.

  “The roundhouse. At first I thought they might take us to the fort, but at the last minute one of the people what witnessed the murder of those men came to speak for us.”

  “Why are we here then?”

  “Disturbing the peace and destruction of a fruit stand.”

  That was not so bad, but then again, no one knew we were here, except Guinevere and Levi, and I was not fool enough to believe they would come to our rescue. If what Guinevere said was the truth, the royal guards were after the artifacts. It also appeared that Levi was now working for the Holy Order, though why he would choose to work for the enemy was something I did not understand. Levi was a Phantom—family—we did not turn our backs on each other.

  Boots clicked against the stone floor then a soldier appeared and unlocked the cell. “Move back, you scum,” he shouted as he pushed the dirty men away from the door.

  “Martin and Coles, you are to come with me,” he said.

  We followed him out of the cell. The door was slammed shut behind us.

  “Your bail has been posted,” the guard said.

  He led us down a corridor and then to the front door where Sam was waiting for us.

  Sam looked us over then his eyes focused on my feet. “Where are your boots, John?”

  “I gave them away,” I said, meeting his eyes.

  He stared at me for a long moment then laughed and motioned for us to follow him to the door.

  “One moment, sir,” said the soldier. “Your effects.” He handed me my pocket pistol, my money purse, and a black feather.

  I stared at the feather feeling my face grow hot in anger. Since I had left the Phantoms I no longer carried a black feather. It had to have been Levi, thinking it a fine jest, who added that feather to my possessions. Taking the feather and my possessions, I followed Sam from the roundhouse. The sun was bright as we stepped outside.

  Sam’s carriage was waiting, and Abe climbed onto the box with Jeffrey as Sam and I stepped into the closed carriage. As the carriage lurched forward Sam asked me what happened. I told him about the royal guards and Levi and the fruit, but I left out meeting Guinevere.

  “How did you know where we were?” I asked as the carriage bumped along the street.

  “Miss White came to my house and told me she saw you being arrested at the marketplace. She knew you were staying with me and thought I should know.”

  “Did she indeed? Mighty kind of her.” And confusing.

  “What is between you and Miss White?” Sam asked, staring at me with his intense gaze.

  “What is between you and my sister?”

  Surprisingly Sam looked away.

  “I understand that I am to wish you joy,” I said.

  Sam, to my astonishment, grinned. It changed his whole demeanor and appearance. He looked younger than his twenty-five years. “Your sister wanted to string me up when I told Madison that, but I have hope to come to an understanding soon.”

  There was a great chance that I was looking at my future brother. Sam was the kind of man Bess needed, if she could overcome her fears.

  “When your sister first arrived I had a reputation with women, and I am afraid that your sister heard of it.”

  “Is it true?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me, mixed with my duty as Bess’s brother.

  Sam leaned against the corner of the carriage and sighed audibly. “Yes and no.”

  “You will have to do better than that if you expect my sister to marry you.”

  I had a feeling that Bess liked Sam very much, but she was being cautious, and rightly so. She had not the best luck with men in the past. That was it, though. It was in the past, not the present or the future. If Bess wanted to be happy, if she wanted a life and a family, she had to let go of the past and live in the present, aiming for the future.

  “It was all pretense, a ruse to protect my cover in the Phantoms. I never trifled with an unsuspecting woman. Every woman who received my attentions was either married or knew it was all a game.”

  “Is that what you were doing with Guinevere? Playing a game?”

  “Not in the beginning,” Sam said slowly. “When she arrived in Charleston she was affable, beautiful, I thought she and I could suit.”

  My teeth were grinding hard, but if I stopped I might try to throttle Sam.

  “I did not know who she was, Jack. Nor did I know she was betrothed to you.”

  “Now you do know, so there will be no more games played. Do you understand?”

  “More than you know.” His eyes closed, and he ran a hand over his face. “I never let a woman into my heart, until your sister came charging into my life with her stubbornness and her orders and her rants.” Sam opened his eyes, smiling ruefully at me. “I believe I first realized that I loved her when she slapped me upon our first meeting in Charleston.”

  I laughed, unable to keep it in check. “My sister is nothing if not passionate.”

  As I thought about his words, my laughter died. He loved my sister. I angled myself in my seat to look at Sam. “She has been hurt more than any woman should ever be. Bess has built a mighty fortress around her heart, one that will take an army of good deeds and visible assurance that you are here to stay to break down the walls. Well that or a direct order from God.”

  Sam’s lips twitched. “Then let us begin at once.” Sam’s eyes ran over my state of undress. He grimaced. “But first you mu
st see to your attire. We cannot call upon your sister with you looking like you have just come from rumbo.”

  “With speech like that I would say it was you who spent a few hours in prison.”

  Sam closed his eyes again and leaned his head against the squabs. “I believe I am going to like having you here, Jack.”

  “I will remind you of that in a few weeks,” I said and leaned back in my own corner. There was one more thing that I wanted to discuss with Sam, so I said, “Do Rose and Guinevere know each other well?”

  Sam did not move, did not open his eyes. His voice was soft, void of emotion. “You could say that they do.” Sam’s eyes opened, but they were two narrow slits. “Guinevere is responsible for the death of Rose’s husband.”

  Chapter 16

  Bess

  After Sam escorted me home and ushered me into the house, standing upon the doorstep until I was safely inside, I had the best sleep of my life that I remember. Sam had promised to call upon me, but with the dawn of a new day, I realized what I should have done the moment I knew I could trust Sam.

  With great care, I dressed, and Mrs. Beaumont arranged my hair, and I packed the artifacts into a small portmanteau and went down to the parlor. Rose was there, and when she heard where I was off, to she offered to accompany me. She had some business to discuss with Sam. Together we set off in her carriage, leaving Charlotte, who had yet to waken, and Betsy at the house.

  It was nearing lunch when we met Mrs. Lacey at the door. She told us that Sam and Jack were from home, but Leo was in the dining parlor. We went there, and Mrs. Lacey set places for us to stay for lunch.

  When I asked Leo about Jack, he said Jack had run into some trouble at the marketplace, so Sam has gone to give him aid.