That night he dreamed of being a man of wealth and consequence. He slept fitfully until the first vestiges of dawn were visible in the east. He walked to the stream and relieved himself then walked upstream and drank his fill. He returned to where the horse was tied up where it would be invisible to those on the path and checked the reload of the late Jim Wickham’s pistol.
As the sun was peaking above horizon, William, Andrew, Richard, Anne, and Elizabeth set off toward the bridle path after a slight delay while Lizzy had fed Astraea a carrot and an apple. They were escorted by Biggs, Johns, two more footmen guards, and a groom. As they were setting off, George Darcy was waiting for his steward who was late for a meeting—which he never had been before. He dispatched a groom to go to the Wickham’s home and make sure that all was well.
The groom entered the open door after receiving no response to either his knock or hailing. As soon as he walked in, he saw the steward, his head to one side, his shirt soaked in blood, and the pool of blood below the chair. The groom did not need to hail a doctor to confirm that the man was dead. He turned and sprinted to his horse, making all haste back to the stables.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Mrs Fitzpatrick’s two spies saw young Wickham preparing himself to fire upon someone, but they were powerless to stop it. They would have to reveal themselves to the group riding up the bridle path in order to do so, and exposure was not an option.
It took the out-of-breath groom to inform the master what had befallen Mr Wickham. George Darcy had no doubt that George Wickham had finally snapped and killed his father; the only question was what else he intended to do.
He shouted for Douglas and told him to have every footman and groom ready to ride in a matter of minutes and he yelled for a footman to summon his brother-in-law. He had a terrible feeling that young Wickham meant to harm the group that had ridden out a half hour earlier. Within a short time, above twenty riders spread out at full gallop in all directions.
The group out riding was all in the best of moods. It was a spectacular day, they were together, all of them enjoying the longer ride they had planned together. Lizzy and Anne were in the middle of the group, William and Richard were ahead of them, and Andrew behind, their escorts just behind Andrew. They were drawing near to the outcrop of rocks next to the bridle path they were traversing when a shot rang out. The horses startled, and each rider fought to control their mount. They had all been concentrating on their task when Biggs came galloping though their middle, and that was when they saw the most chilling sight imaginable.
George was mad, he had missed the mongrel and hit her horse instead. He considered reloading and trying again but he realised that would be suicide. He was about to slink toward his stolen mount when he felt a sharp pain in his head and his world went black. In the ensuing furore after the gunfire, one of the spies had snuck up behind George Wickham and had just hit him hard with a cosh. He dragged the lad to where his compatriot was holding their horses, threw the unconscious young man over one of the horses behind the saddle, and took off to gain some distance before taking the time to lash him securely and gag him.
Biggs had seen young Wickham stand just before he fired, watching with horror as Astraea was struck in the neck causing her to drop like a stone with the young miss under her! He charged forward with Johns hot on his heels, followed by the other two footmen and the groom. It was as the escorts came to a halt when the other four noticed that Astraea was down and that they could not see Lizzy but for some of her raven locks protruding from underneath her beloved horse.
Anne burst out in tears and William gathered her in, trying to comfort her though he felt as if he would be sick. Richard and Andrew had leapt from their horses to assist in lifting the dead animal off Lizzy.
This was the scene Reggie Fitzwilliam and George Darcy came upon. Reggie quickly looked around and saw his sons, niece, and nephew, but no Lizzy, then looked at the commotion as Biggs and Johns yelled for everyone to lift together. That was when he realized he was seeing these men were rolling Astraea to one side, and then he saw her. His beautiful daughter, prone on the ground and not moving.
The End of Book 1
