The Heir

Chapter Forty-three

The room was dark. The only thing that told Sabrina she wasn't alone was the cranky voice that she recognized, coming from somewhere in the middle of the room, complaining, "What do you want now?"

"It's me—Sabrina," she said in the general direction of the voice. "Weren't you expecting me?"

"Oh! Yes! But what took you so long? I gave them the letter to mail days ago."

"I only just received it today."

"Bah, those idiots," Mavis said derisively. "I should have known they wouldn't know how to post a letter. Well, no matter, you're here finally. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate your coming."

"Don't mention it," Sabrina replied. "I'm just surprised that you would contact me. I really thought the letter was a joke."

A sigh. "If only it was. But I'm sorry, Sabrina, truly, to have involved you in this. I simply couldn't think of anyone else to contact nearby. It would have taken so long to reach my parents, and besides, they think I'm still at Summers Glade and I didn't want them to think otherwise. They'd be quite upset with me to know I left there but didn't come straight home, and then that this happened."

Sabrina decided not to mention yet that they already knew their daughter wasn't where she was supposed to be. She wanted to assure herself that Mavis was all right first, and she had to see her to do that.

"Is there no lamp in here that can be lit? It seems rather odd, talking to you in the dark."

"There are several, yes, but I didn't think to be conservative. I've already used up the fuel in them, and

they won't replace it—probably wouldn't bother to look for the store of it, the lazy sods," Mavis added bitterly.

A moment later, though, moonlight streamed into the room as Mavis opened the curtains at both windows. Since Sabrina had been several minutes in the total dark, that little bit of moonlight was almost as bright as a flamed light.

"Better?" Mavis said, coming back to sit on the edge of the bed where she had been.

"Much," Sabrina replied, and moved to sit next to her for a closer examination.

Mavis looked fine, though, if quite rumpled. She was fully dressed, but in the same clothes she'd been wearing when she left Summers Glade, and it looked like she hadn't removed them once. She'd been sleeping in them, and just using the bed as more of a pallet, not turning down the covers, even though they would have given her some welcome warmth. The room wasn't too cold, though, which suggested the fireplace had been fueled earlier and had just burned down to nothing. That Mavis had her coat near to hand meant she was probably used to the cold intruding late in the night.

"Have they been feeding you?" Sabrina asked with concern. "Treating you well?"

"Yes, I've been fed, but mostly with loaves of bread they steal, I don't doubt, since I can't imagine them baking them. The house wasn't well stocked with food, just a few stores, and they no doubt went through that very quickly. As for how I've been treated, well, I've been kept locked up here and left alone for the most part."

"What exactly happened here?" Sabrina asked next. "Is this your house?"

"No, it belongs to my cousin John. We arrived late at night, having come here directly from Summers Glade. The house was somewhat of a mess, which is why John suspected it had been broken into. We didn't expect to find the intruders still here, though, and sleeping upstairs. They were as surprised as we, actually. They'd apparently found the house empty and decided it would make a nice place to live for the winter, or until the owner showed up. Vagrants, the lot of them, or so I've gathered."

Sabrina had come to that conclusion as well. "I take it there was no time to summon the authorities?"

"There was no time to think of anything logical, if that's what you mean. That should have been our first recourse. I know it. You know it. But John was too furious to be thinking of doing things in the proper order, I suppose. Understandable, of course. They had broken into his house, were still here. He really was livid. But he really shouldn't have tried to physically evict all four of them himself."

"All four?"

"I know, even if he was a bloody Corinthian, which he's not, those odds are a bit much. And they were scrambling to escape, after all. So everything might have been fine if John hadn't chased after them in his rage. When he tried to trounce one of them, the other three came to their friend's rescue and John ended up being the one trounced."

"Was he hurt bad?"

"More his pride than anything else, I imagine. Their victory over him emboldened them, though. They tied him up and put him in the cellar, then locked me up here. It was another few hours before they came

up with the ransom scheme and I was ordered to write that letter—for a mere forty pounds. Can you believe it?" she added with an indignant snort. "My parents are worth—"

"I know it's a silly amount," Sabrina cut in.

"But probably not to them, and redundant. They have guns. Did they have them before?"

Mavis frowned, hearing that. "No, I saw no weapons before. My, my, they're really embracing the criminal path, aren't they? They must have acquired the guns since this started, probably stole them like they have the bread. That was really stupid of them. Someone might really get hurt now."

"As long as it isn't us."

"Oh, I wasn't worried about us. They're more likely to shoot each other. They do seem like complete incompetents. I doubt they've ever done anything like this before, so they don't really know what to do. I wouldn't even be surprised if this whole ransom thing was just a delay so they could stay here longer. They do seem to love it here, but then, of course, they would, if they'd been living in the streets."

"Gathered that myself. And they've already come up with another reason to let them stay longer. They plan to keep me now and send you for another ransom."

Mavis made a choking sound of frustration. "Absolutely not! I didn't ask you here to put you in the same deplorable situation as I. They are idiots. There is no other explanation. Well, we'll just have to inform them that this is not how this is done."

"That isn't all that needs explaining," Sabrina said, her worry sneaking into her tone. "I'll have to let them know that others will be arriving here if I don't leave soon. You've dealt with them for a few days. Will that work to get them to take their ransom and run?"

"Will someone be arriving?"

"Yes, my aunts will." Sabrina sighed. "They're waiting outside in our coach."

"Oh, dear," Mavis said, and then when they heard some door pounding coming from downstairs, "Oh, dear."