„An aching heart doesn’t tell anyone what it feels if its dear are in danger”

The cold of that cloudy day made him feel even chillier than he’d been before, despite the fact that the horse he was riding was soaking wet because of the mad gallop, for Brian was spurring him all the time just to clear his mind. But neither the gallop along that huge field nor the wind that was being felt so harsh on his face could cool his soul. Per contra: he felt his mad heart acting up in his chest while his mind was somehow benumbed and this made the top of his head hurt him so much.

And he stopped: feeling that the horse, on whose back he was, lacked already powers. Actually, the exhausted one was Brian, who felt the necessity to stop the horse due to the headache that became even more painful with each past second. Then, when the horse stopped and started to powerfully snuffle from his nostrils in the attempt of regaining powers and normal breath, Brian also shuddered along with the horse which suddenly shook his body to calm down his skin that chilled right down his spine because of the contrast between the cold of the air and the heat of his body after that mad run, and that weird sensation as if thousands and thousands of needles were piercing his body, started to hover around him like a clever and sly cat that lurks on the mouse which has considered himself enough clever and which tried to eat the cheese, left in the corner of the room, like a bait.

Actually, Brian felt the same: as being in someone’s trap. Of someone’s, but he wasn’t aware of whose, and he started to feel this since he had first met count Shark for the first time. And, that day, when Bardain told him that he again feels the danger sneaking around him and that it’ll be better for Brian and Eva to leave the country, at least for a while, that feeling of fear and anxiety came back to him, so powerful that made him feel breathless.

That’s why he went to the stables: to try to run away from the world, to escape reality, the one from his mind, and to chase away the fear that snuck in his soul, a fear that was only making him feel vulnerable, weak, incapable of controlling his emotions.

Suddenly, he winced: „wait a minute! If Bardain came here and then went to London, it means that he’ll be back to Image late at night, at the earliest, or tomorrow at dawn. Then… what about Eva? Has she been left completely alone?” And Brian again shuddered and watched back, at the place wherefrom he came galloping.

Then, as if feeling the danger hardly blowing down his neck, he jumped again on the horse’s back, off whose back he descended for a short period of time to allow the animal normally breathe, without a heavy burden on his back, and, spurring him, Brian started to gallop back, to the count Shark’s castle.

But, halfway, he changed his mind to turn back to Shelby Storm’s castle, and he turned left at the same crossroad where Colby lost track of Bardain, for the first time. Then, he galloped like the wind through the forest and crossed the fields in the same gallop, till he got to Image.

It was already dusk when he got to the village and a cold rain started already to sift from some patchy clouds, gathered over Image. But Brian didn’t care that he’ll wet his clothes or that his horse, heated after the mad gallop till there, will die. What really scared him was that something could happen to Eva, and this was somehow making his heart stop in his chest, from time to time.

And when he got in front of the Stonebridges’house, he jumped off the horse’s back right away and rushed to enter the house, calling Eva’s name.

Behind him instead, the black horse kneeled down, looking for comfort from the cold soil wet with rain and also imbued with the pain of the sky while bitter tears, sifted from the sky, were jumping on the animal’s heated and sweated back that felt that he lacks powers to stand up and to look for salvation into a warm stable.

However, the horse finally found the strength to stand up, for being an old horse, which knew that if to stay more under that cold rain, he could die. That’s why he gathered his will in one single point, in his heart, and jerked up.

Very soon after that, Stan appeared, also in the gallop of the horses, and stopped the carriage right in front of the house. And the boy came to Image because, seeing that Brian wasn’t returning from the riding, Shelby sent him to look for Brian, but not finding him anywhere, he decided that his master probably turned back home after talking to Bardain, whose words also alerted him. And Stan did well that he came to image, for Brian seemed to need his help.

However, before entering the house, Stan descended from the driving box and hurried to take those three horses to the stable where he put some warm blankets on their backs to keep them warm and threw some hay in front of them to have what to chew. Then, he also rushed toward the house.

Halfway he met Brian, heading toward the field, and the boy rushed after him. „Mister Beneath! Mister Beneath!” Stan shouted after Brian, who seemed not to hear or see anything around.

Only when Brian shouted „Eva! Eva, where are you?” did Stan understand what happened - Eva was missing or gone somewhere, and, in her condition and with the heavy rain that started to be felt even colder, it was even more dangerous.

When he met Stan’s eyes, who stopped in place and was also staring at him, not knowing what to do, Brian shouted furiously: „don’t stay like a mummy! Go to the village and ask for people to come here to help us! We must find Eva and as soon as possible, for… I feel that something happened to her,” Brian finished talking in a whisper as if lacking air and power. After that, he kneeled down.

Stan took a few steps toward him, intending to help him first to stand up at least, if not to enter the house. But seeing him fighting for gathering strength and eventually standing up, later to head toward the stables where they had the lanterns, Stan spun on his heels and started to run toward the village to ask for help.

***

„So, what do you say is that Beneath’s old teamster vanished somewhere without horses and you hadn't found him, not until at this late hour,” Shelby mumbled, staring at the fire that was dancing in the stove while fighting with the thick oak logs.

„True, count! As if the earth swallowed him,” Colby murmured while standing next to the door, frozen and soaking wet, who turned to the castle in the gallop of the horse, through that heavy rain, just to tell Storm that something weird happens to Bardain and that he finally didn’t show up at Mrs. Huntington’s residence where his friend’s worker left the carriage, as he agreed with the blacksmith, and that he stood there for hours waiting for him, but no trace of him.

„And… don’t you know if he took something with him?” Storm asked, twisting a little his torse to Colby, as much as he could due to his disability while standing in front of the stove on a big armchair.

„To be honest, no, count! From what I’ve seen, he didn’t take anything from the carriage when he entered the smith. Only if he had that thing in his pocket or under his clothes.

„I understand,” Storm mumbled. „Now, you are free to go to change your clothes and… I hope you left someone on guard if that snoop old man turns back.”

„Of course, I left someone to keep an eye on that residence. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to come here,” Colby said, in a half a voice, for despite the warmth felt from the stove, the cold and wet garments he was wearing, made him shudder with all his body.

Furious that he didn’t succeed either that time, Storm just motioned to Colby with his left hand to withdraw, and that one rushed to leave the room, for if he had stood more with those wet clothes on him, he would have taken sick for sure, and, bedridden, he wouldn’t have been useful for the old count, whose plan was in full march and it wasn’t also the moment to stay and to rest.

Left alone, Storm rang the bell and ordered his henchman, who appeared only one minute after hearing the bell’s sound, to bring him another bottle of whisky, for the one he had on the coffee table, was already empty.

Then, when he had what he asked for, plus another blanket put over his knees, for Shelby felt the cold of the night even harsher, despite the big fire seen into the stove, he took thoughts while he kept staring at the dance of the flames: „he probably had that thing hidden under his clothes if he rushed somewhere and tried not to be seen by Colby. But… where did that Bardain go eventually? To see John Evans? I don’t think so. I’m sure he knew that Baron and Evans weren’t friends, especially right before his death. Lyre Walker? It isn’t also a variant, for that old fox isn’t that kind of man that helps others. And yet: there’s nobody else who the teamster could ask for help. Or… maybe Brian demanded him to hide those documents somewhere? It’s more likely. But… I still doubt that Brian knows about them. Otherwise, he would have talked to me about the documents, for he isn’t the man who hides behind the finger. More if it’s about something such important. And yet… it’s weird, for right after their meeting, Brian went to ride and never came back after this. But… what exactly did the old Bardain tell him to make him so upset? Should it be related to Eva Stonebridge? It’s possible. But… what exactly could he tell Brian about Lyre Walker’s granddaughter? What?”

Suddenly, as if the light bulb of his mind turned on, Storm wide-opened his eyes, in which the mad dance of the flames was reflected while they were hugged by the reddish shadows, and the old count bitterly grinned: „he talked to him about me. He probably told him to be afraid of me or to stay away from me. Damn you, two-penny old man! You don’t even know how many problems you cause for a lot of people, damn bastard you are!” and Shelby’s hand, the one that was squeezing the glass of whisky, suddenly jerked, and the glass hit the wall, breaking into pieces when it touched the floor, and multiple shards of glass, of hatred, and bitterness had been scattered all over.

The same henchman that brought Shelby what he asked for, entered the living room in a rush, seconds after listening to the sound of the broken glass. But he has been afraid to get closer to Storm, for he knew him swift to anger, and as the full bottle of whisky was next to him, in a fit of madness, it could have turned to be a good weapon against someone.

„Summon Colby here!” the count hissed through his teeth to the henchman, who he knew somewhere behind him, but without seeing him, for not bothering at all to at least turn his head and to look through the room to see if there was someone. „Now!” Shelby shouted again and his eagle eyes finally focused on the henchman, but he only saw the man’s back while he was rushing toward the servants’rooms.

Then, a few minutes of crushing silence, with hatred and anger floating somewhere around Shelby and inside him, difficultly passed by, minutes considered by Storm as being an eternity. Eventually, he calmed down, understanding that acting mad doesn’t serve for anything good and that it also impedes him to think normally.

And when Colby showed up in the room, buttoning his coat on the go, for the henchman found him having a hot bath for chasing the cold away from his bones, Shelby told him, without even watching back to see his man’s face: „go to Image and find out as much as possible about the reason why Brian left my castle in such a hurry and without telling me about this. And… if you see something weird there, something that can influence my plans, get rid of the source of the problems immediately, no matter who that source is.”

„Even if that person is Brian Beneath?” Colby asked in amazement.

Shelby instead didn’t answer him immediately, as if that question made him wonder. Then, he murmured. „If it’s Brian, don’t touch him. Even if he’s the one messing up with my plans. Only… keep an eye on him and find out everything you can about this. And… tell me later about what you found out.”

„Sure,” Colby murmured and left the room.

Only then did Shelby look back, for a second only, turning his head toward the door. But his eyes suddenly became sad when he murmured: „I’m sorry, Baron! But it has been necessary,” and two tears spilled on his cheeks while he was seeing Baron’s ghost in front of him. But that ghost wasn’t real and nor did it mean that Shelby was losing his mind: it was only a memory of a Baron smiling, next to the door, when he came to visit Shelby for the last time. And the fact that he was seeing Baron at that moment meant that he missed him, despite the betrayal, the past dangerous games they had, the stabbing behind their back, and it also meant that Shelby loved his friend, the only one he actually ever had - Baron Beneath.

***

„Eva!” „Miss Stonebridge!” „Miss…!” were heard shouts all over the fields of Image and through the village, for hearing that someone was missing in such awful weather, the villagers gathered old and young to help others to find her. But even if they were looking for hours already, they couldn’t find her.

„Where did she go?” Brian was wondering all the time, heaving his heart in his boots and being afraid that something awful happened to her. „More… in her condition! What the hell happened while I was missing? What exactly?” Brian kept wondering, biting his hands, literally and figuratively, that he left her alone, knowing that she was happy one minute, sad the next and that any small detail, any upset, or unpleasant news could make her lose her head. But… he couldn’t do anything else at that moment than to look for her.

„Mister Beneath,” he heard Stan’s voice behind him, and this made him stop and turned toward the boy.

Bothered by the blind light of the lantern, Stan first covered his eyes with his arm. And, when he felt that the short dizziness caused by the light has passed, he moved it away from his eyes and whispered in Brian’s ear: „people say that someone has been in Image today. A foreigner!”

„To the Stonebridge’s house?” Brian asked in amazement.

„Exactly! They say that a carriage crossed the village at dusk. But nobody could tell me who was in that carriage. Only a woman says that she thinks that there were two people in that carriage, for she heard two voices - of a woman and of a man.”

„Two people? A man and a woman? But who to be and for what purpose they came here?”

„I can’t tell you this, sir!”

„But… that woman, didn’t she see if Eva went somewhere with them?”

„No, at least she didn’t say this. However, I’m sure that Miss Eva didn’t leave the village in that carriage, eventually, for… another man saw her heading toward the jasmine flower fields. And… that she seemed upset and that she was crying. But the man who passed by her and who saw her upset told me that he didn’t want to bother her by asking questions and that he just left, in the end.”

„The world and its indifference,” Brian murmured unhappily.

Suddenly, both Stan and Brian winced, hearing voices in the distance, which were heard from off those fields that once belonged to Alfred Stonebridge, those which were next to the forest: „she’s here! Come here! Eva Stonebridge is here!” and they rushed toward there.

But as closer they were getting to those fields, other deaf shouts were heard, like moans, and even if those shouts of a woman were barely heard at first, they suddenly became stronger, as if someone was hurt there, and the pain that was crossing her body made her shout just to look for some comfort.

„It can’t be!” Brian feverishly murmured and stopped for a few moments. „It hasn’t to be this way! It’s too early!” he murmured. „It’s too early!” and he started to run toward that place, for the thought that Eva could give birth there, on the field, without a midwife next to her to help her was killing him inside.

But his great fear had proved well-founded, for Eva was indeed in labor at that moment, on a jasmine flowers field, lifeless because of the breath of autumn, with cold tears of the heavy rain, that looked like streams, running down her skin.

„Eva!” Brian shouted madly, reaching there and kneeling beside her. But even though he illuminated her face to see at least what condition she had, Eva turned her head to the right, refusing to see him, and this hurt him so much.

„Let’s first take her from here! It’s too risky to stay here for long! They can die… both of them: she and the baby!” an old woman said, and this made Brian react, and, giving the lantern to Stan, who was only one step behind him, he took Eva in his arms, lifted her from below, and rushed toward the house.

But something threw him off his balance: the fact that Eva suddenly stopped shouting, once she has been in his arms. But she didn’t keep silent because he was there or because the villagers were around them, but because of the hatred that was boiling inside her, and he was feeling that hatred while she was squeezing the cloth of his coat and a slight shaking of his body was so well felt.

However, he hadn’t time to stop and to ask what she feels at that moment: neither it was the right place nor the right moment, for more than her hatred, he was afraid of losing her or the baby, that kid he wanted so much, a child loved by him so much, but who seemed to have no luck, even before his birth.