By Fire and by Sword by Elaine Coffman Read Free Book Online Page B

on the reason she was in France. It was just as well, she thought, for she did not need herself to be distracted by a devilish rogue when her life was at stake.
    She could not hide the excitement she felt within at the thought of holding a foil in her hand once again. She was determined that she would work twelve hours a day, or if necessary, fourteen—whatever it took for her to become even more skilful than her fencing master, and then, when that hungry-faced villain, her murderous enemy, Lord Walter Ramsay, appeared on the scene, she would show him that she was no longer the young, inexperienced girl she had been when he murdered her father and three brothers, and became the guardian, and chief tormenter, to her and her sisters.
    She had foiled the hollow-eyed bastard once, when Lord Walter had kidnapped her sister, Claire, and held her captive in a deserted castle, where he tried to starve her to death in a dirty dungeon. Claire’s crime was to refuse to hand over their father’s title and the family fortune to him, by way of marriage to the son of Lord Walter’s accomplice. It was Kenna’s daring ride through the night, from her home to Edinburgh, to get help that saved Claire’s life. The Grahams, led by Jamie, the Earl of Monleigh, and his brother Fraser, hurried to rescue Claire, who was close to death by the time they found her.
    At his trial, Lord Walter, brimming with hatred, lashed out at Kenna, his mouth foaming, as he spewed his venom-laced curse, where he vowed to make her pay for what she had done, no matter how long it took. “You spawn of the devil, you will know no peace, for you will look for me in every dark place, and jump at the sight of every shadow, never knowing the exact day, or the hour I will come. But mark my words, I will come! ”
    When he had entered their lives, Kenna and her sisters were too young to know about such evil, or to ask what could transform a man into such a monster.
    She still did not know the answer to that, but she knew the young should learn about villains and monsters from fairy tales, not real life.
    The coach made one stop between Calais and Amiens at a post house to change horses. Kenna dined on a lunch of herbed chicken and potatoes, before they continued on. It was almost dark when they reachedAmiens, and she watched the shadows against the trees and rows of houses, cast by the coach lanterns as they passed. She spent Christmas Eve at the Golden Leg Inn, a modest but reasonably clean accommodation.
    After breakfast, she was in the coach again, and as they had done the day before, they stopped to change horses at another post house, where she had her Christmas lunch—a lovely little meat pie flavored with onions and potatoes. Just when she thought she was finished, the waiter took her plate and replaced it with a luscious plum tart.
    He told her it was a special “Christmas tart” and hoped it would make “Christmas away from home a happier one.”
    She thanked him, so very touched that someone understood what it was like to spend Christmas away from family and country. To show her appreciation, she ate all of it, down to the tiny crumbs on the plate.
    When the man returned he looked at the empty plate and said, “C’est formidable, n’est-ce pas?”
    She responded with a confident air, “Oui, c’est formidable, formidable!”
    Shortly thereafter, she was in the carriage again, and on the final segment of her journey to Paris. On they went, through sleepy little villages and dark, shaggy woods, across burns and bridges, until the rhythm of the coach overcame her and she was rocked to sleep.

Five
    Enter these enchanted woods,
    You who dare.
    —George Meredith (1828–1909),
    English novelist and poet.
    “The Woods of Westermain” (1883).
    K enna was uncertain how long she slept when she was suddenly awakened by the crack of a pistol that pierced the quiet. A shout—the sharp scraping of brakes—and the coach came to a sudden, jerky halt.
    Seconds