Sword & Flame: The Sara Featherwood Adventures ~ Volume Two Read online

  Sword & Flame

  The Sara Featherwood Adventures

  Volume Two

  ~

  By Guy Antibes

  MAP OF PARTHY

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  MAP OF PARTHY

  CHAPTER ONE – EXPULSION

  CHAPTER TWO – A STUDY-FILLED INTERLUDE

  CHAPTER THREE – THE GRAND DUKE’S COURT

  CHAPTER FOUR – PARTH

  CHAPTER FIVE – THE WOMEN’S COLLEGE PROPOSAL

  CHAPTER SIX – AN OLD FRIEND IN TOWN

  CHAPTER SEVEN – ARMED & DANGEROUS

  CHAPTER EIGHT – THE GENEALOGIST’S CAVERN

  CHAPTER NINE – WINTER’S RISE IN PARTH

  CHAPTER TEN – A NOBLE PRESENTATION

  CHAPTER ELEVEN – DANGEROUS ENCOUNTER

  CHAPTER TWELVE – CHOSTER, THE BUTLER

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN – BACK TO THE ARCHIVES

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN – ABDUCTION

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN – A BELTING HOLLOW RETURN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN – A BRIGHTLINGS TRAGEDY

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – A NEW WEAPON

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – THE BATTLE OF BELTING HOLLOW

  CHAPTER NINETEEN – THE BATTLE OF OBRIDGE GATE

  CHAPTER TWENTY – WOMEN WARRIORS

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – ENCOUNTER AT STONEBRIDGE FIELDS

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – MIDNIGHT RETREAT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – PLOTTING A DUKE’S SALVATION

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR – THE DEATH OF A DUKE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE – A PARTING OF THE WAYS

  BIT ABOUT GUY – GUY ANTIBES BOOKS

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  BONUS! CHAPTER ONE OF GUNS & FLAME

  Chapter One

  Expulsion

  “Have you no respect for the dead?” Ben’s words astonished Sara Featherwood and only made her seethe inside. Sara sat in the sitting room of Brightlings, her home. Her father, the Squire, hobbled painfully into the room leaning on Nona’s arm, red-faced in anger.

  Sara met his eyes. The concern that she so recently felt for her father had vanished as she reacted to his rage. “Vesty treated me worse than a servant, Father, or didn’t you notice? She erased me from Brightlings. Did you erase me too? My portrait removed from sight, my own bedroom taken over as a dressing room for gowns that she had no place to wear. The both of you threw me out of Brightlings where I grew up. Why should I respect her now that she’s dead, when she hated me in life? I tried to be nice during the funeral, believe me, I tried. I stayed around until after the pastor’s service and then left. If you didn’t notice, I wear a bandage around my head and stitches in my arm. I have injuries that I sustained saving your own home.”

  She felt the heat of her anger reddening her face and making her head pound. She began to shake. Why didn’t her father defend her after what she did for him?

  “I loved Vesty, Sara. We were a pair. You could have thought of that before you bolted from the funeral service and ran home like a child.” Ben Featherwood waved his cane like a sword as he lowered himself into an easy chair by the fireplace.

  Sara looked at Nona, her best friend, one of the village healers, and her two brothers Seb and Enos, seeking support. Nona looked away and her brothers just looked scared. The Ben Featherwood from last spring, who wouldn’t even open Brightlings to his only daughter, had returned in full force.

  “And what about me? Where do I fit into your life now?” Sara said it. She yelled it. She hadn’t ever brought her own plight in front of him before, even after she found out that he was partner to Vesty’s rape of Brightlings, her mother’s inheritance.

  The woman had only been Sara’s stepmother for two seasons and had gone through much of the estate’s money. Did her father not realize how ruinous she had been?

  Ben paused for a long moment. “I don’t have a daughter. Never did.” He stared into the empty fireplace. “I want you out in the morning, after all. Don’t expect me to support you in school. As far as I’m concerned, now that the estate’s been saved, you don’t exist.”

  Sara gasped. She knew her Father well. Those words weren’t just said in anger—he meant them. Nona put her hand to her mouth and glanced at Sara as she went to Ben’s side. “Surely you don’t mean that, Ben,” Nona said.

  He ignored her and stared at Sara. “Send a message to your friend Banna. She’s still at the inn. I still don’t know why that woman came up here for Vesty’s funeral—it’s nearly an insult. You can leave with her first thing tomorrow. I’ll just have to suffer whatever consequences come along, but you are gone—disinherited. I no longer want your presence in my house.” He clutched his head in pain. “Leave!”

  How could he act this way with so much hate? Vesty. She poisoned him and the rest of Belting Hollow and there was nothing Sara could do. She collected herself with a deep breath and turned to walk out. Seb and Enos stood like statues at the entrance to the sitting room shocked to silence.

  Sara couldn’t just leave without saying more and she had no control over her anger at this point so she just let it go, yelling at her father, “In that case, you are no longer my father, you lazy piece of trash! No wonder you hated Mother, she reminded you everyday of your own inadequacies. She made Brightlings work, not you! Is that why you spent so much time away from the house, up at the mines? Don’t make a mess of the money from the sale of the coal mines. You bankrupted Brightlings once. Don’t do it again or there won’t be anything left for my brothers. Neither my mother nor I will be here to save you.”

  “Get out!” Ben collapsed in a chair. “Get out” The last came out as a croak.

  Sara refused to show the man a shred of sympathy. She ran to her room and slammed her door shut. Her things had only been moved up from the basement when she arrived just days ago. They’d probably be moved back down again just as quickly. Tears began to stream down her face. Sara lost her breath and began to sob as she struggled to catch her breath. What happened to the man she called Father? So mean. He didn’t even consider Sara’s position or gave her even the tiniest credit that she saved Brightlings for the rest of his life.

  Ever since her mother, Sythea Featherwood, had died, life had been one upset after another. Escape to the Women’s School in Obridge after her father’s marriage to Vesty, working with Dr. Hedge to produce the percussive powder that was discovered in her father’s mines; spies, kidnapping, banishment from Brightlings—the first time. She killed a man and wounded another who was responsible for Vesty’s death and the injury to her father. None of these things meant a fig to her father—none of it!

  Sara no longer felt like a girl of sixteen tentatively approaching womanhood when her mother died nearly a year ago. She felt tired and used up. Sometimes she felt in control and other times she had to fight to maintain her own personal balance. Didn’t her father even want to understand? His yelling dispelled any hope of that. Her reply sealed the separation with her own anger.

  She thought of the ways she had learned to interpret others’ words and intent. It just didn’t work when you were so angry you could burn down Brightlings. The thing was Sara had just enough magical talent to do so.

  “Sara, can I come in?” Nona spoke through the door and cracked it open.

  “This isn’t my house, so I have no right to stop you.”

  Nona put out her arms and Sara gladly let them enfold her. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” Nona said. “The poor man has collapsed!”

  “I’m trained to understand words, remember? He meant every word. Perhaps his emotions were out of control, but he doesn’t want me here and he inten
ds to disinherit me. It’s still as if Mother and I no longer exist, nothing changed with Vesty’s death. No wonder Mother’s portrait had disappeared so quickly from the sitting room. Did he hate my mother so much?”

  Nona squinted her eyes and looked over Sara’s shoulder. “He’s told me that he did. You were right. Sythy made him feel inadequate and this latest episode, including your negotiating the payment for the South Mine, was an assault on his pride.”

  “His pride?” Sara felt the anger return. “He wasn’t in a right mind to deal with Duke Northcross. You know that. Who else was there? If it weren’t for me, Brightlings would be close to bankruptcy! Besides, Lord Pearstone conceded the purchase price so quickly, that it was hardly a negotiation.”

  “But if you hadn’t asked, he wouldn’t have paid,” Nona said. “You were the competent one, not him. Sythy was the competent one throughout their marriage and it continually ground on Ben’s ego.”

  Sara broke off the hug and walked to her empty bookcase. “So I’m my mother’s daughter and not my father’s. What am I? Who am I?”

  “Go back to Obridge. You’ll find your answers there, not here. Your father still has the town set against you. I’m afraid you’re not welcome here any longer.”

  “For saving Brightlings?” Sara snorted. “That’s a wonderful reward.” She tore off the bandage on her head and stomped on it. “Risking my life means nothing to these people. Nothing! I didn’t ever want to feel this way, but I’m glad to be leaving.” She sat on her bed, trying to bring some composure to a mind seething with emotion. She let it fade. “I’ll miss you, Nona.”

  Nona stayed silent for a moment. “It’s better this way. Take your books and whatever trinkets you want to keep. You may never be able to retrieve them.”

  “I have everything I want to keep in a trunk downstairs.” She thought of the figurine of Lady Carolta, a heroic ancestor. “I’ll pack now, if you’ll help make me another white cap.” Sara looked at Nona. “I’m sorry.”

  ~

  The carriage clattered on the cobbles in the Abbey Precinct, the large courtyard in front of the Women’s School in Obridge. The place felt deserted. Banna had been dropped off at her house, leaving Sara the task of returning to the School alone. The spring session had ended while Sara traveled to and from Belting Hollow and there weren’t a lot of compressed courses during Summer Break. A couple of servants came out to help Sara down and take her luggage and the boxes of books and possessions that she had hastily taken from Brightlings. The boxes would go into student storage and her luggage would be delivered to her room.

  She strolled through the nearly empty Foyer. A few students sat at the many desks that littered the large entry hall as Sara moved past them and up the stairs that led to Quarters where her room awaited her.

  She collapsed on her easy chair and then rose to open up the modest window that looked out over Obridge and took off her cap. She looked for signs of blood and didn’t find any. She was relieved she wouldn’t need it anymore.

  Her room was one of four cut out of the former Duchess of Obridge’s personal suite. Her eyes ran over every surface of the furniture and the imperfections of the walls. Familiarity enveloped her with a sense of security that no longer existed at her once-beloved Brightlings. The bed seemed so inviting. She laid back and put her head on the pillow and let her cares leave her.

  ~

  The assayer at her father’s mine, that Sara had recently killed, glared at her with glowing red eyes threatening her in the laboratory where Sara and Perry Hedge developed percussive powder. He lifted the gun that Hedge had made out of a handbow and fired...

  ~

  Sara screamed and sat up in her bed. A nightmare. She put her hand to her mouth as the awful visage of the assayer’s face still burned in her mind. Still dressed, she rose and went to the bathroom that the four rooms of the Duchess wing shared, splashing water on her face. Leaning with both hands on the washbasin, Sara had trouble catching her breath, so she splashed more water and concentrated on calming down.

  Her room no longer seemed the refuge it had been not too many minutes before. She descended the wide stairway to the ground floor and sought out the Refectory. Perhaps something to eat would settle her down. The Refectory served most of the men’s College and Women’s School students, but only a few people were sprinkled about. Sara sat on the women’s side and ordered a salad of greens and a fruit punch. The act of eating seemed to settle her anxious mind.

  “Do you mind if I sit here? You weren’t in your room.” Banna Thresher, the Headmistress of the Women’s School, who had accompanied Sara from Belting Hollow, stood at her table. Her mother’s best friend and correspondent had become more like family to Sara than Ben Featherwood. She’d never think of him as her father again, but just ‘Ben’.

  “So now you’re on the outside, even more than Sythy in Belting Hollow,” Banna nodded, patted Sara’s hand, and then squeezed it, “but you’re on the inside here, my dear. I’d never turn on Sythy’s daughter. I’d never turn on you, my friend.” She leaned over and hugged Sara. “I know it hurts. Don’t let it make scars, but you must deal with it. Your life awaits you.”

  “My sentiments, exactly. However, the reality of such a harsh rejection doesn’t heal so easily,” Sara said. “I have no more relationships in Belting Hollow than I did at Spring Break. Luckily, my little brothers aren’t too affected by it all, they were the only sympathetic ones.” Sara’s anger settled on their three-day trip back from Brightlings, even after Nona pointedly ignored her as she left. It looked like Ben had jusr recently poisoned her, too.

  “Will your father continue to support you at the School?”

  Sara shook her head. “No, he told me he’s washed his hands of me. He said, ‘I don’t have a daughter, never did.’ That really hurt. It really hurt a lot.” Sara felt her eyes water. “I told him that he didn’t have a daughter. Tit for tat.” She shook her head, with the memory and the pain still fresh. “I will have to put it into perspective.” She sniffled and sat up straighter. “I won’t let that man destroy my life like he did my mother’s. I won’t. I assume I’m paid up to the end of the term?”

  Banna nodded. “Northcross left a letter at our house as he passed through Obridge on his way to Parth. I think you better read it.” Banna pulled the missive from her pocket and gave it to Sara. “By the way, Perry’s here for a few weeks and then he’s back to Parth. I’m afraid we’ll have to find you a new mentor.”

  “Not Science,” Sara said, putting a handkerchief to her nose and dabbing at her watery eyes. “I have nightmares that take place in laboratories.” She shuddered as the assayer’s hateful face came to mind.

  “Oh, dear. What about Lisha Temple? She asked about you while you’ve been gone.”

  The woman was part of Doctor Perry Hedge’s little group of Parthian spies who reported to the King’s Minister, Duke Northcross. The duke purchased the Brightlings mine for the Crown, where percussive powder had been discovered. Did she want to become immersed in more intrigue? Sara didn’t know, but any familiar face seemed appealing in her present state.

  “Very well. I don’t know what to do about getting a First,” Sara said.

  “We’ll decide on that later. I do believe you could qualify for a First at any subject in the Women’s School.” Banna laughed and Sara joined in. She felt cleansed after she had put a smile on her face. She’d get through it all.

  ~

  The letter from Northcross sat on Sara’s desk. She didn’t want to open it in Banna’s presence with her emotions on edge. Her face had been washed with enough tears in the Headmistress’ presence. The sounds from Obridge in the summer made their way with through the cool evening air, through the open window and into her room, relaxing the tension that seemed to consume her. She picked up the letter and began to read.

  Miss Featherwood,

  For services to the King and to Parthy, our monarch has authorized me to create a 5,000 gold crown facility at the Obridge
branch of the Royal Bank of Parthy. Your sacrifices have indebted our country for much more than this award. The King expects much of you, Miss Featherwood.

  My personal thanks are in order. I don’t know that I’ve been so thoroughly out-negotiated by one so engaging as yourself, even while you suffered from your injuries. Should you ever find yourself in Parth, I encourage you to call on me.

  Faithfully yours,

  Renall Passcold, Duke of Northcross

  Home Minister to the Crown

  Heady company and one that rewarded her with more than enough money to keep her at school and far beyond.

  Well, she deserved it. Sara gingerly touched the wound on the top of her head. It still hadn’t finished healing and the hair, growing in around that had been shaved off, itched. She restrained from rubbing hard and went to bed. At least one thing had gone right in her fiasco of a life. She had a fat bank account and that gave her the confidence to know she would survive her estrangement.

  ~~~

  Chapter Two

  A Study-Filled Interlude

  Sara threw herself into schoolwork. First she took her final tests for the spring term and then she earned top honors in all of her summer classes. She took every course that she could cram into her schedule and the academic focus seemed to salve her painful thoughts of Belting Hollow and Brightlings. Natti, the former housekeeper at Brightlings, had taken to writing in her crabbed hand, as Nona remained silent.

  With the end of summer came a new term, where she took all of the courses that she could. Sara had made peace with herself. Thoughts of Ben before her mother’s death just didn’t seem the same and the memories that now came to mind had gravitated to events that didn’t include him. Bouts of occasional melancholy overtook her, especially on lonely weekend days, but she had mastered her feelings enough to recognize them and turn her attention towards her studies.