Millbank Woods
October 1713
Half term, at last.
I had only been sent to Eton about two months before, but I was hating every minute of it. Why my father had exiled me there, I do not know - after all, I'd only driven two of my past four tutors to distraction - but exiled was how I felt, and it was good to be home. The fact that Uncle Albert and Aunt Cassie were coming to stay for the week and bringing cousin Elizabeth was an added bonus. I hadn't seen her since the summer, and I missed her. Yes, they only lived about twenty miles from Millbank, but it was still far enough away that I didn't see her as often as I liked.
Don't get me wrong. I didn't normally play with...girls...but Elizabeth was different. You don't normally meet a girl who's willing to deliver a right cross when she's being bullied!
Father seemed nervous about the visit for some reason. So much so that he had buried himself in the library and took exception when I wanted to fetch a book. In the brief moment I was in there, I saw that he was surrounded by volumes and papers, before he growled at me to get out. I took the hint and scuttled away towards the main hall.
"Robert..." I heard someone calling from the stairway. I stopped and turned towards the voice to see the Colonel looking down at me from the upstairs balcony. He was a friend of my father who stayed occasionally, and had been at Millbank when I had got home the previous evening.
"Yes, sir?"
"How about another of those fencing lessons I've been promising you?"
"Yes please!"
I waited for him to join me, and then we headed towards the great hall together. He crossed to the wall beneath the Minstrels' Gallery, and reached down a pair of rapiers and some masks that were hanging there. Then he put something over the points of the blades, so that they weren't actually sharp, and handed one to me hilt first.
"Normally I would think that one of these was too heavy for a boy your age, but I have a feeling you'll be able to cope."
It did feel heavy, but after I had held it for a short while I found myself becoming accustomed to its weight.
"Alright, Robert. Can you remember how to come on guard?"
"I think so."
"Then let's begin."
We fenced for maybe an hour, during which time he seemed pleased with my progress, and then we saluted and gave up for the day. It was still tiring, even if I enjoyed it. I was heading back to my rooms to get changed - up the main stairs, rather than the back stairs as I was supposed to - when I heard the sound of a coach pulling up. I looked out of one of the windows to see Lord McCauley's coach pulling up. I let out a shout of joy and slid down the banisters to meet them as they came in the door.
Father, unfortunately, chose that moment to emerge from the library and caught me as I landed.
"How many times have I told you not to do that?" he demanded, raising his right hand as if to strike me.
"But..."
"But nothing, Robert. Go to your room." Then he turned to the Colonel. "Peter, would you please make sure my son gets there."
I looked up at him for a moment, trying to decide whether to argue, but one look at his face persuaded me otherwise. He didn't get cross with me often, but when he did it was painful. I took the hint and fled up the stairs, tears of anger forming in my eyes. I didn't wait to see if the Colonel followed me or not. As I got to my room, I slammed the door behind me, hopefully loud enough that they would hear.
After I had been feeling sorry for myself for about an hour, I heard a noise from the window. Surprised, I crossed to it and opened it.
"Thank you. I thought I was going to be hanging there for hours," came a familiar and welcome voice. Elizabeth was looking in at me, her face streaked with green from the ivy she had climbed up to get to me, and her red-blond hair looking more tousled than usual. I reached my hand out to her and helped her inside. She was dressed in a white shirt, that now looked the worst for wear, and a pair of breeches that looked just a little big for her.
"Mary leant them to me," she explained, obviously spotting my surprise, "her son has grown out of them, and she knows how much I like playing in the woods. Can you imagine how hard it would be to run around out there in the usual long skirts mother dresses me in?"
Mary, by the way, was the head maid. She was always willing to help me out if I got into trouble, and she seemed fond of both myself and my cousin.
"Are you coming?" Elizabeth asked, impatiently. I shut the window, and then looked carefully out of the door. I couldn't see the Colonel, so we quietly stepped out into the corridor. We walked up it cautiously, past the part of the great hall balcony where we might be seen, and ducked down the back stairs into the kitchen. Mary handed us both a small package of food, and then let us out of the back door.
It was a glorious day. There had been a frost first thing, but it had soon disappeared in the late Autumn sun. The air was brisk, but certainly not cold, and the trees still had the last of their golden leaves on them. We ran across the stable yard, trying to avoid being spotted, and ducked behind the tack room. From there it was a direct sprint across the lawns to the woodland that ultimately marked the boundary of my father's estate.
"Race you!" I exclaimed, and took off towards the nearest stand of trees. I beat her there, but not by much. She joined me seconds later, and we leaned against one of the trees to get our breath back.
"Where now?" she asked.
"I feel like exploring beyond the waterfall. I haven't been that way in a while."
"Sounds good. Let's go."
We made our way through the trees, and after half an hour or so we were standing by the pool below the waterfall. It was about fifteen feet across, and probably five or six feet deep. While it was in a clearing, to one side there was a raised outcrop of rocks, and it was from there that the waterfall fell. We scrabbled up the rocks and headed off towards the scrub land that marked the boundary between my father's actual estate and Millbank Farm, which he owned but which was managed by Goodman Callaway.
We played along the stream - seeing whether we could jump it, crossing it on the fallen trees that had come down in the gales father had told me about in one of his letters, that sort of thing. It was a truly wonderful day to explore.
Eventually we came out of the tree line into the scrub land. A short distance away, however, I was surprised to see a pair of figures, half concealed in the trees. They seemed to be leaning on their walking staves, waiting for something. Curious, we crept towards them, and I finally recognised one of them as Samuel Barnes, the odd job man who sometimes helped out around the manor house. I didn't know his companion. I was surprised, however, as we got closer to them and I realised that the staves were actually longbows, and was even more surprised when they started to string them.
"Over there," said Samuel quietly to his companion. I looked in the direction he was indicating and saw a magnificent stag - the dominant beast from the herd that had been around all summer. I had spent many a happy hour watching them as they roamed the common land.
Then, to my horror, I realised that the men were aiming at the stag. He deserved better than that. Suddenly furious, I shouted and ran towards them.
"Stop that...Samuel, stop." As it heard me, the stag bolted, but I saw one of the arrows hit it in the flank and it stumbled and fell.
"Damnation," I heard Samuel say, "it's the Duke's brat," and I saw him turning towards me. Then I realised that there was another arrow nocked on his bow. Surely he wouldn't...
"What are you doing, Sam?" asked the other man, shock in his voice.
"He's seen us and he's recognised me," Samuel growled and he began to aim. Common sense took over at that point, and I turned around and started back the way I came.
"He's just a boy," I heard the other man shout behind me.
"The Duke hangs poachers, Jack."
I sprinted towards the tree line as fast as I could, and had just reached it when the first arrow virtually parted my hair. "
"Come on, Robert," I heard Elizabeth shouting. It was immediately followed by Samuel's yell of "Blast it, there's two of them."
My cousin and I set off running as fast as we could, but then she tripped over a tree root and fell. I turned to try and help her up, terrified by now but determined not to leave her there, but I took too long. Another arrow flew towards me and even though I tried to dodge I felt it hit me in my left shoulder. I stumbled backwards with the force of it, and felt a flash of anger at the men. To my surprise, I saw a bright light from their direction, almost like a burst of flames, and heard shouts of pain. I didn't stop to find out why, though. I pulled my cousin to her feet and we fled into the woods.
We must have run for minutes, but the further we got from our pursuers, the weaker and colder I was feeling. I almost dropped to my knees but this time Elizabeth grabbed me and pulled me on. However, soon I felt as if I could go no further and began to fall, pulling her down with me. As I landed, there was a jarring pain from my shoulder and the sound of wood breaking. All I could do was lie there, hoping against hope that they wouldn't find us, and urging my cousin to stay still. The thought of hiding dominated my conscious mind, but I could still hear the men getting closer and closer. Soon they sounded as if they were on top of us, but then, to my surprise, they walked past.
"Where in damnation are they?" I heard Samuel say, angrily.
"I don't know. Admit it, we've lost them."
"The little bastards can't have disappeared into thin air. They must be here somewhere."
"Let's try over there," came the other voice, and then the footsteps began to move away. Soon they were gone. It was wonderful. Now I could just lie there and relax without having to worry...
A stinging blow to the face awakened me from my slumbering.
"Robert, get up...please," came Elizabeth's voice. I looked up slowly to see her looking down at me, her blue eyes filled with concern. "Damn you, stand up."
She extended her hand to me and dragged me to my feet. My left arm felt so heavy, though, and it was all I could do to stay upright, as I felt suddenly dizzy.
"What did you do?" she asked, but I just looked at her blankly. I had no idea what she meant. "They were right on top of us," she continued, "I don't see how they could have missed us, and yet they just walked away."
"I don't care," I replied, "I just want to get home." I wished that the pain would lessen, and just for a moment it seemed to. With that she draped my good arm over her shoulder and we started trying to retrace our steps. I just felt so cold, though, and it was all I could do to keep going. Please, let us get home soon.
We seemed to stumble through the woods for hours, and soon it was getting dark around us. With what little heat there had been going from the day, I just felt colder and colder. Eventually, we made it back to the pool. At least, I thought it was the pool, but it didn't seem quite right. Still, it was as good a place as any to stop for a while. I let her go, and started to sag to my knees, but she hauled me up again and I felt her slap me once more.
"Robert, don't sleep. I don't think you'll wake up again if you sleep."
"Sounds fine by me," I muttered, wishing for the warm darkness to take me. I just hadn't got the strength to go on. Then we heard the sound of barking coming towards us. It was followed by shouting, and through half closed eyes I thought I could see torches in the darkness.
"This way," came a voice, "Max has got a scent."
Samuel and his friend had found us again, despite all my efforts. I just couldn't work out why Samuel now sounded a bit like my father.
"Over here," I heard Elizabeth shout. She sounded so loud, though, and I urged here to be quiet so they wouldn't find us. I knew I could hide us both there in the darkness if she was quiet, and then we'd be safe.
"Elizabeth?" came another voice. Samuel's friend almost sounded like Uncle Albert now.
"Here father," called my companion, despite my protests.
"I can't see you, darling. Keep shouting."
But we mustn't be found. We mustn't. That thought went round and round my head, to the exclusion of all others, but it was no good. Finally Max, my pet retriever, bounded up to me and knocked me off my feet. I fell back and lay still. Through the blackness that was fast deepening in my mind I thought I heard at least three other sets of footsteps. It was unfair. Samuel had brought reinforcements, and had even turned my own dog against me.
"Father, thank goodness," I heard Elizabeth say, "Robert's been hurt and I can't make him move any further."
Then I felt myself being lifted by a pair of strong arms. I opened my eyes a crack and saw my father looking down at me, his face deeply concerned.
"My God," he said, sounding shocked and frightened, "Albert, he's been shot."
"It's alright, father," I muttered, as I realised it was really him, "I made them go away..." And then I drifted off into darkness.
When I woke up I felt warm and I realised I was in my own bed. My shoulder had been heavily bound and I couldn't move it at all. As I looked around, I saw my father sitting on the edge of the bed, with Doctor Madeley - the village physician - standing just behind him.
"You're very lucky, Robert," he said as he realised I was awake, "Duke William, make no mistake," he continued, his face grim, "your son would have died if he hadn't been partially healed before you found him." Then he turned back to me. "Robert, who helped you?"
I was confused. No one had helped us.
"We were just running away, that's all," I heard Elizabeth say from across the room, "we didn't see anyone except the men who were chasing us until you found us."
The doctor looked surprised, but before he could say anything, my father spoke.
"What happened, Robert?"
"I saw Samuel Barnes and another man - Jack, I think I heard him called. They shot the big stag. I tried to stop them and then they shot at us, so we fled."
"Describe the other man."
I dredged my memory, and finally came up with an image of him. "A bit shorter than Samuel, black hair, reddened skin. I'd know him again if I saw him."
"And after that?"
"Elizabeth tripped, I tried to help her up and the arrow hit me. I got really angry, but then they disappeared behind lots of flames and we managed to get away from them before they started chasing us again."
I looked at my father again. His face was grim, and his eyes were angry, but somehow I knew his fury wasn't aimed at me, even if I had disobeyed him. "We'll get them, Robert, and I'll see them hung for this. Don't worry, I'll be back later."
With that he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. Then, to my surprise, he hugged me. "Dammit, boy, I thought you were gone when we found you."
"He nearly was," the physician admitted. With that, my father headed towards the door, but Madeley crossed to him and spoke to him. "Your Grace, wait a moment. This might be important," he called, and when father paused the physician turned towards me. "Robert, this wall of flames. What was it?"
"I don't know. I got angry as they were trying to hurt me and Elizabeth, and it appeared from nowhere and hit them."
"And then how did you avoid them catching you once they had recovered?"
"I just didn't want them to find me, that's all."
"Doctor Madeley, what is this about?" asked my father, impatient, "shouldn't my son be allowed to rest."
"Most definitely, Your Grace, but this really is important, as I said," replied Madeley, remaining calm, "have you ever considered having Robert tested to see if he's Talented?"
"No, why?"
"He is of about the right age, and apparently the Talent often first manifests in times of stress. I think your son was instinctively defending himself."
"My family has never shown the Talent," replied my father, "so if he has it, it must have come from his mother." I could feel the bitterness in his voice as he said it, though.
"Please, consider the possibility," finished the physician and opened the door so that my father could leave. Then he turned back to me. "You need to stay there quietly for a couple of days. It really was a very close thing. If you need me, though, ring for the maid and I'll come running."
With that he tousled my hair by way of saying goodbye, and then left. As soon as he had gone, Elizabeth came over and sat on the bed.
"Thank you, Robert," she said, taking my hand.
"It sounds as if I should be thanking you. You're the one who got us back here."
"If the Doctor's right, I couldn't have done it if you hadn't helped them lose our trail."
I smiled at her, and then gently drifted back off to sleep, still holding her hand.