Page 110 of Exile's Return

Ashby waved a hand. ‘We are here to talk about your crimes, not mine, Lovell. Turner, shut this man up.’

With a nod from Turner, two burly soldiers stepped forward, taking Daniel by the arms. A third man delivered a punch to his abdomen that drove the breath from his body. Daniel went down on his knees, gasping like a landed fish as he struggled to suck air into his lungs.

Through the roaring in his ears, he heard Kit’s laconic drawl, tinged with the edge of his French accent. ‘Mon Dieu, Ashby, you have not mellowed with age. You may as well tell us what you plan to do with us. I have no great desire to prolong this interview longer than necessary.’

‘I command you in the name of the King to release us,’ Jonathan Thornton said, his voice carrying up into the blackened rafters above them.

‘The King?’ Ashby replied. ‘There is no king here. I see only five miscreants who will be dead before the sun crosses midday.’

Jonathan’s gaze flicked to Turner. ‘The days of this regime are numbered,’ he said. ‘The King will return and at such time everything claimed by the Committee of Safety or whoever it is who claims jurisdiction in London will return to its lawful and rightful owner. This is not the time or the place to dispute the authority of the rightful King of England or his servants and agents.’

‘Who are you?’ Ashby demanded. ‘I know the others but you are a stranger to me.’

Jonathan straightened. ‘Sir Jonathan Thornton, one time Colonel of the King’s Lifeguard,’ he said. ‘I can assure you that when the King sits once more upon his throne, the fate of those standing before you today will be of some interest to him. You have crimes enough to answer for without adding the murders of innocent people to your list.’

‘What crimes?’ Ashby sneered.

Daniel struggled to his feet, holding his ribs as he struggled for breath.

‘The death of Margaret Truscott and the cold-blooded murder of my father, Thomas Lovell, to name but two,’ he said. ‘I would wager there are others.’

He looked up at Ashby, seeing the twitch of a muscle in Ashby’s jaw that betrayed the man’s uncertainty. ‘I have waited for ten years to look you in the eye and make that accusation, Ashby.’

‘Is this true?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Thomas Lovell took up arms against the forces of Parliament. He refused to surrender when called upon to do so. An examplehad to be set. It was war, Thornton. You know how things were.’ Ashby licked his lips.

Glancing at Jonathan, Daniel saw no emotion in the man’s lean face. Jonathan Thornton was not a man to cross.

‘Yes,’ Jonathan said at last. ‘I know how things were. I saw innocent men die for nothing more than wearing the wrong uniform. That does not make it right.’

Ashby dismissed Jonathan’s words with a wave of his hand. ‘Enough talk, Thornton. Do you have my gold?’

Jonathan shook his head. ‘No.’

Ashby frowned. ‘No? I saw the hiding place. Something had been there until very recently.’

‘And you have no proof that it was there when we went looking for it,’ Jonathan said. ‘You can hardly accuse us of stealing something that was not there in the first place.’

Ashby frowned. ‘This is wordplay,’ he said. ‘You are thieves, all of you.’

‘And hanging us will not give you what you want,’ Jonathan said.

‘But it will give me the satisfaction of seeing you all dead,’ Ashby responded. ‘I’ve had enough of this. Turner, see the prisoners escorted to the courtyard. We will hang them from the walls.’

Turner stepped forward. He caught the eye of his burly sergeant. ‘All you men are dismissed. Return to your quarters and await further orders.’

Ashby stared at his captain. ‘What? That’s not what I ordered. Back here, all of you.’

But Turner’s men continued to tramp toward the door of the Great Hall without a backward glance.

‘Turner. Enough of this nonsense. Summon your men back, now.’

Turner did not move. His shoulders rose and fell in a heavy sigh and he looked up past Ashby’s shoulder to the high windows with their panes of coloured glass.

‘No,’ he said.

Ashby’s eyes widened. ‘No? What do you mean, no?’