Catching Dragons ch.9

Ch.9   The Stars to Guide Them

“Ooh he makes me so angry!” If Emily had the opportunity, and Benjamin didn’t leave in such a hurry, she probably would have taken a few swings at him. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Emily was anything but a ‘traditional’ Victorian woman.

Jessica peeked out of the window, “Well, he’s gone now.”


Rather than coming up through the hatch, James came up through the basement door. He was hesitant at first about entering the parlour, but after he heard it confirmed that his father did in fact leave, he joined his aunt and sister in the room.

“James, we have to get ya out of here.”

“Think he’ll be back.”

Jessica nodded, “He’ll be back. Knowing him, he will... Oh my Lord, James! What happened to your hand?!”

James looked down at his arm, this was the first time Jessica had noticed his hand was gone. “Bad accident with a crocodile?”

Jessica folder her hands over her mouth, her eyes still wide open.

“Mess, isn’t he?” Emily joked, “Alright children, look, we have a lot we need to do if we’re going to get James out of here safely.”

“I’m sorry Em, I didn’t want to get you involved with this.”

“No, no, it’s alright dearie, I’m not upset with you. I’m upset at yer half-witted father!” She sighed, trying to calm herself down again, “Don’ think any of this is yer fault, it’s not. We need to get ya things packed. If he does come back, I don’t know when. Who knows, he could be waitin’ just down the street for you. Either way I don’t want you here if he returns.”

“Well, Em, I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”

“I can take care of myself James. I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about you. Everyone up to the loft now, we need to start moving yer things down here.” Emily walked over to the closet and banged on the door a few times, “Come out of the closet, Nef!”

There was a some rummaging around from inside and suddenly the door burst open and Neifion fell out on to the floor.

“I’m good!”

***


Upstairs in the loft, everyone started pulling crates apart. The harpsichord had to stay, along with the two large wardrobes and Emily made sure to hang on to James’ red coat, as well a few pieces of flatware and a small chest of gold jewelry and foreign coins. She wasn’t planning on keeping her entire share, but would sell small pieces, one at the time, if she ever needed money.

They packed all of James’ clothes into one large crate. Another crate was filled with small treasures and boxes of Spanish and French money and his swords and muskets were wrapped up in one of the flags.

“I don’t understand why your father hates you so much, Jas, what did you do?” Neifion asked. He sat down on one of the boxes for a quick rest.

“I didn’t do anything. It’s all my father’s fault.”

“Why what did he do?”

“He had an affair,” Emily added, “He was only married for a few days to Hannah, his current wife, when he decided to have one last ‘fling’ with his mistress. He never told anyone who she was, and to this day Hannah still doesn’t know about it. I was the only person Benjamin told when he found out his mistress had a bun in the oven and said once born, they had both agreed to drop the child off at an orphanage. Well, when I heard that I furious with him and offered to take the child in for myself. Within days of the baby being born, Ben brought the child to me and I’ve had James here ever since. Shortly after James was born, Hannah was expecting her first child,” she pointed, “Jessica. They’re just a year apart.”

Neifion cocked his head to the side, “How was all this able to stay a secret?”

“No one talked about it. The only people who knew about James’ birth was myself, his father, my husband Nicholas, and James. Benjamin had told his wife that James was mine, and Jessica, Nathan and Stephanie were all raised to believe that James was their cousin. But he was really their brother.”

Neifion directed his comment towards Jessica, “Really, now?”

She nodded, “I didn’t know about James until I was 9. I remember we were here for Uncle Nicholas’ birthday. James and I would always hide up in his room and tell each other stories or read books, just get away from everyone for a bit. That was when he told me everything and when we got back home I asked Father about it when he was in his study. Ya should have seen him, I thought his head was going to explode! He was furious!”

Emily narrowed her eyes at James, “Yes, and he wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

James smiled. He was listening in on the conversation while he wrapped up another bundle of muskets.

“I didn’t care though,” Jessica continued, “James was always a sweetheart and after he told me that, it didn’t change anything about him, or how I looked at him. He was family. I was actually thrilled that he was my brother, and not just my cousin. I bragged about him in university, I still do. I’m not going to treat him any differently or love him any less just because society tells me I should.”

Emily added in “But Nathan, who’s a copy of my brother wasn’t particularly happy about it. Everything he knew he learned from his father who taught him to hate James, even at an early age.”

“Father was always trying to put thoughts into our heads about James,” Jessica said. “He hated the fact that I liked him so much and would tell me things he thought would get me to change my mind of him. This also caused problems at home because Mum never understood why Father hated James so much and thought all the negativity was uncalled for.”

“I remember Hannah always being nice to me,” James added.

“Alright so wait, your father’s wife honestly still believes that you’re Emily’s son.”

James nodded.

“And all three of your siblings know, well, seems like half your family knows, but your father’s wife still has no clue? You lot are good...”

“Actually, our youngest sister doesn’t know either.”

Neifion’s mouth fell open as he looked at Jessica, “What?!”

Jessica nodded, “Stephanie still doesn’t know. She’s 18 now.”

“What would happen if your mum ever found out.”

“Leave Father.” Jessica said, “They’ve fought for as long as I could remember, and that would be the nail in the coffin. Mum’s family doesn’t particularly like Father very much anyway.”

“Now where’s your mum from, Jessica?”

“London. Born and raised. Our father’s from Scotland.”

Neifion pointed to Emily, “And you’re also from Scotland.”

She nodded, “Edinburgh. Both Benjamin and I grew up there. Then when we were older we moved to London. He bought a house in Kensington and I lived in Southwark for a number of years. I’ve lived in Stratford for a time, actually met my husband in Salisbury, then we moved up here to Windsor shortly after we were married.” Emily smiled and pointed at James, “So half of him is a Scott. That’s where he gets the curly hair from.”

James looked over his shoulder at his aunt and laughed, “That explains my ginger beard.”

“Ginger beard?” Neifion raised an eyebrow. “And where do you have red hair?”

James rubbed his hand across the side of his face, “There’s a reason I don’t let the sides grow in. It comes in red. I find red hair in other places from time to time.”

“Now I know why you’re short tempered.”

James shot a glare at Neifion, “I don’t have a short temper! I just have a low tolerance for other people’s shit.”

***


Once everything that was being taken was packed, James and Neifion worked to bring everything down to the parlour while Emily and Jessica walked to the house next door to borrow a horse cart to take everything in. Jessica was going to take Neifion and James down to London and bring the cart back the next morning. They planned to leave late at night, where they’d be less noticeable in the dark.

While carrying a few crates down the stairs Neifion stopped beside a window to admire Jessica from behind,

“God I want her to have my babies, so badly.”

James stopped next to him, “I’m right here, Nef.”

“I know. I was telling you.”

“Don’t tell me that...”


The cart was loaded up in the back of Emily’s house and then covered with a black blanket. After everything was set, they all went inside and waited for sunset. Their last supper together started off as a relatively quiet one, though Jessica tried to keep the mood light as she filled James in with everything that’s been going on in the past few years. Emily however, was so worried she almost felt sick. She was scared this would be the last time she ever saw James again.

If only things were different for him. He wasn’t a bad child, he never was. He was just born in the wrong place, or at the wrong time. Emily hoped that if James ever had children of his own, they wouldn’t be subjected to such treatment, whether they were born out of wed-lock or not. Hopefully things would change over time, and future generations wouldn’t have to suffer like this; like James did.

Jessica was in the middle of sharing a funny story from her last year at university. Emily noticed how James’ blue eyes seemed to shine so brightly as he smiled. She wondered, did they really glow red when he killed someone; she had always noticed an occasional cloudy red glow from his eyes.

After their supper was ended, they all had some tea to keep them awake through the night and Emily made sure to pack them some extra food for the journey.

***


It was a warm spring night, filled with chirping crickets and dancing fireflies. James and Neifion hitched the horses up to the cart and help Jessica guide them out to the front of the house.

Emily was wearing James’ red coat, which was quite big on her. She gave James a sad smile as she pulled him into one final hug good-bye. She squeezed him tighter than she ever had before, burying her face into his chest, her tears soaking into the front of his shirt.

She pulled him down closer to her and looked him in the eyes. Smoothing his curly hair away from his face, she kissed him on the cheek, “Please be careful.”

“I will.”

“Come back.”

“I will, Em.” James wrapped his arms around her again, resting his chin on her shoulder and closing his eyes in an effort to fight back tears of his own, “I will, I promise.”

“I love you.”

James kissed Emily on each cheek, just like he did before leaving for Eton, and just like he did before leaving for Oxford. He slowly backed away and climbed up into the cart where Neifion held the cover up for him to slip under. Jessica, wearing one of James’ black cloaks pulled the hood up over her face and spurred the horses into a trot away from the little town house.

James slumped down into the cart and leaned against its side. He kept his arms folded in front of him and his hair fell down in front of his face.

“Ya alright, mate?” Neifion whispered.

James shook his head, “I need to get drunk...”

***

They had made it to the outskirts of Windsor and were on one of the back roads leading east, away from the town, when up ahead Jessica noticed two headlamps of an automobile. She gulped and gripped the reigns tighter. She tried to pull the horses to the side of the road but the automobile slowly crawled up in front of them, it’s engine growling from under its steel bonnet. She had no choice but to stop.

One of the doors swung open and a man dressed in a black suit stepped out and approached the cart.

“Pardon me, Sir,” he said, reaching into his coat, he pulled out a rolled piece of paper and handed it to Jessica, “Have you seen this man?”

Without revealing her face, Jessica unrolled the paper, folded it, and shook her head.

“He’s a wanted criminal; pirate as it were. He’s said to be quite dangerous and if you see him, do not approach him, but contact a local constable right away.”

Jessica didn’t say anything, she only nodded her head.

The man thought it a bit strange that this driver never said a word, but figured nothing too odd of it. He tipped his hat, bid her good evening and walked back to the automobile which slowly backed up, then drove past them into Windsor.

Jessica turned around to make sure they were out of sight and she lifted up a corner of the blanket,

“I think they’re on to us.”

“Who was it?” James asked. Neifion had fallen asleep at this point.

“I don’t know, I didn’t recognize him. But I’m sure he was working for Father. If they have people going from town to town warning everyone, you lot are really going to have a difficult time once in London. Everyone will know your faces.”

“Don’t go to London then. Go further south. Better yet, take us to Brighton, I want to see what’s become of my ship.”

***


Several rapid bangs against Emily’s door startled her. She was in the house alone, surrounded by her dogs and wrapped in James’ coat.

The heavy knocks continued. She got up from the couch and tried to run into the back sunroom but she heard the lock snap and the front door swung open, banging into the wall.

Benjamin was the first to storm in, followed by two other men, “WHERE IS HE!” He rushed at Emily and forcefully grabbed her shoulders, “Where is he! You tell me where he is, Emily, I swear to God!”

Emily pulled herself away and with an echoing slap, struck her brother across his face hard enough that he fell into the back of the couch.

“Keep yer fuckin’ hands off me!”

Benjamin slowly stood up, blood trickled down from his nose and onto his hand, “He was here, I know it.”

“You’ve lost yer bloody mind, Benjamin.”

“Where’d you get that frock?”

Emily’s mouth fell open, “The college gave it to me! Eton didn’t want it, you know that. I’m not allowed to wear the coat of my late-nephew?”

“He’s not DEAD!” Benjamin approached Emily and looked down his nose at her,  “And you’re going to tell me where he is!”
When Emily didn’t answer right away, Benjamin said “Tear the house apart.”
“No!” She screamed. “He just left. He’s on his way to Cornwall right now.” She purposely gave him the wrong directions to steer them away from London.

“Of course...”Benjamin said to himself, “There’s several large ports in Cornwall...” He turned back to the two men standing behind him, “Get back out to the carriage.”

But before the two men could turn to leave, Baron and Baroness both jumped up and rushed them. Baron’s jaws clamped down on one of the men’s arms while Baroness took down the other man by his ankle, causing him to fall and smack his face on the cement step outside the door. As Benjamin tried to leave he gave Baroness a kick to her ribs and she yelped, letting her prey go. The three men all ran back to the waiting automobile, but not before Baron was able to get revenge for his sister; he caught up to Benjamin and tore a large hole in the back of his trousers.

“Cornwall,   NOW!” he screamed at the driver. The doors weren’t even closed before the car tore down the street.


Emily ran outside to catch up with Baron and Baroness limped behind her. She clutched the scarlet coat closed around her as she watched the tail lamps of the automobile disappear down the road.