Gene Of Isis Part 42

Mr Banks suppressed a smile at the comment.

'Bodyguards,' commented my husband to his host. 'They are a little overzealous at times. Stay,' my lord had the cheek to order the knight once more. 'I shan't be long.' As I was still under their watchful eye, the guard was embarra.s.sed and remained in the lounge.

Mr Banks had gone to arrange things, and took a little longer than expected to return to the sitting room. When he did, he offered drinks all round and gave no hint that anything was amiss.

Only later did I learn that my husband had explained the situation to our host, and had then slipped out of the house. Mr Banks had provided directions to the back entrance of Mr Maximoff's home, and also sent one of his house servants to fetch the local authorities.

Once five minutes had elapsed, I was beginning to wonder after my husband's whereabouts myself, and although I tried to keep my guards distracted with lively conversation, one of them was clearly growing concerned.

'The spicy food here is certainly a shock to the system,' he commented to Mr Banks. 'If you would kindly excuse me.'

Mr Banks was nowhere near as eager to offer up directions this time. 'I'm afraid we've only one bathroom here. Once Lord Devere returns-'

The knight, frustrated, drew his sword, which made Mr Banks, and me, gasp in shock. 'Go and find Lord Devere,' he instructed his accomplice, pointing the tip of his sword in our direction. The consul then reached inside his jacket to produce two pistols, aiming one at each of Malory's knights. 'How about we await the Lord Devere's return?' he said, encouraging the men to relinquish their weapons. I collected them for safekeeping.

In the meantime, Lord Devere had raced to his brother's rescue and arrived at the back entrance to Maximoff's house, just as Malory and his men were approaching the front door.

After managing to scale the back wall in darkness, James nearly bowled over a couple of Arabs as he sped up a pathway in the courtyard. He entered the kitchen appealing desperately for information from the house staff. 'Devere? Devere?'

At first the women shook their heads, alarmed by the intrusion, until James managed to piece together enough Italian to explain that he was here to warn his brother of danger.

The eldest woman looked James over and, able to see the family resemblance and that this man was clearly an English gentleman, she relented. 'Come, I'll show you.'

The servant woman knocked a few times on the guest's door and then opened it when there was no response. She smothered a scream. A dark man leant over the sleeping Devere, and when he looked up his eyes glowed red and yellow like a demon's.

'Get your hands off my brother,' James warned, his fear for his brother's welfare giving him the courage to run at the beast, who had his palms clutched around Earnest's temples. As James came near, the creature growled and shattered into a white mist, which wafted quickly out through the balcony doors.

'Sweet mother of mercy,' the old woman uttered, and crossed herself. James ran and shook his brother.

'Earnest! Wake up!' Slapping around the face didn't elicit any response, so James threw a gla.s.s of water over his brother and Earnest came to with a start. 'Are you all right?'

'James? What are you doing here?' Earnest looked around the room. 'Where is my wife?' As soon as he posed the question, Earnest remembered her departure. 'Oh, no, we have to go!' He clambered off the bed.

'You have no idea.' James aided his brother to throw his belongings into a bag, but as Earnest made toward the door James pulled him back. 'Not that way.'

The sound of several men ascending the stairs in haste caused the brothers to back up toward the balcony.

Malory and his knights entered to find an old woman making the bed. 'Where are Mr and Mrs Devere?'

The housemaid continued with her ch.o.r.e unfazed, as men flooded the room to search it. 'They left some time ago.'

Malory noticed the closed balcony doors and immediately moved to check beyond them. He spied two figures scaling the back wall of the courtyard. 'Out here.' He directed his men over the balcony in pursuit.

'Why are you not back in France?' Earnest demanded some answers from his brother. 'And who are we running from?'

'An old friend of yours is responsible on both counts.' James led his brother down the back streets toward the rear of the English consulate. 'Does the name Lord Malory ring any bells?'

'Lord Malory is here!' Earnest was shocked to a standstill. James ran back and grabbed his brother's arm to drag him back to a sprint. 'But I don't understand...does he wish me harm?' Had the Grand Master got wind of the fact that Mrs Devere had fled her marriage?

'All I know is that he kidnapped Lady Devere and myself in order to get to you.' James ducked into a courtyard and pulling Earnest inside, he closed the gate. 'Lord Malory seems to think that your wife's destiny is to destroy some creature that originated in the Sinai.'

'Molier.' Devere named the said creature under his breath.

'I thought Lord Malory was completely insane and I would still...' James said, wishing it was so, 'had I not seen that demon leaning over you at Maximoff's.'

'You saw him!' Earnest was horrified, and yet excited as his brother nodded gravely. 'But how did Molier find me when my wife has repelled him?'

I blind you to blind you to my my being. being. He recalled Ashlee's exact words. He recalled Ashlee's exact words.

Now that she was no longer in his company, Molier couldn't find Mrs Devere but he could now find her husband. Or the creature could pursue Lady Devere, or anyone that Mrs Devere knew, who might lead the way to her.

'This is very bad,' Earnest realised.

The sound of several pistols being c.o.c.ked made it painfully clear that the situation had just got worse. But it was not Lord Malory's men, or Molier's, that held them at gunpoint this time. It was the local law enforcement. The Devere brothers were seized and escorted into the consulate.

'Excellent,' James uttered to his brother with a satisfied grin.

Earnest, who was in a hurry to catch his wife, did not agree. 'How do you figure that?'

When my husband and his brother entered the consulate lounge, I ran to embrace my Lord Devere. His captors released him, his ident.i.ty confirmed by my reaction.

'Praise G.o.d you're safe.' I looked from my husband to my brother-in-law, perplexed. 'But where is Ashlee?'

'A good question.' My husband was equally eager to know.

'Halfway to Cairo in all probability,' Mr Devere was most annoyed to concede. 'We had a little disagreement,' he added in further explanation.

'Not another one,' James complained, fed up. 'Haven't you two got the faintest idea of what a marriage commitment actually is?'

With a pat on the arm I urged my husband to settle down. I took Mr Devere aside, whilst James moved to congratulate Mr Banks on apprehending two of the kidnappers. He also wished to clarify any questions the officers of the Pasha might have about Lord Malory and his men.

'What did you argue about?' I sat down with Mr Devere in a quiet corner.

'My wife is pregnant,' he announced solemnly.

'Oh, my G.o.d!' My heart nearly stopped with all the joy that flooded it. 'Congratulations!' I made my brother-in-law smile briefly.

'Thank you.' He conceded that it was grand news. 'I thought that it would be wiser to return home to England, rather than risk a mishap in the desert.' He justified his side of the argument.

'Oh dear,' I said, knowing how Ashlee would have taken to the suggestion.

'I know,' he scolded himself, feeling that he should have known better. 'Now she is tackling the quest alone. Well, not alone,' he corrected himself, rather bitterly. 'She has Cingar and Albray to aid her.'

'Albray?' I frowned.

Devere was wearied by the very mention of the name. 'You were right in saying that my wife had not taken a lover, that it was more likely to be a male spirit advising her. Mrs Devere trusts him so implicitly that he may as well be her lover.'

'I doubt very much that a ghost would be able to match your relationship with your wife.' I suppressed a grin at my boldness in saying so, but at least the comment did manage to raise my brother-in-law's spirits. 'We should resume our pursuit of our sister without delay.' I made to move, when Mr Devere grabbed my arm.

'We have another problem...'

I sat back down to learn what it was.

'I believe that Molier can track us to my wife.'

This adventure just got more and more complex. 'So by trying to a.s.sist Ashlee, we might only be placing her in more danger?'

Mr Devere nodded. 'I need to speak with an authority on spiritual shielding before we pursue her.'

'Do you know of such an authority here in Alexandria?' I implored him, just as concerned about Ashlee's welfare.

'I need to speak with Lord Malory,' he replied, as someone knocked on the door of the house.

'That will be Lord Malory now,' I informed him cheerily. 'Come to collect Lord Devere and myself.'

Once Malory and the other men in his company had joined the growing crowd in the English consul's lounge, Mr Devere, Lord Malory and I joined forces to do a lot of fast talking. We managed to convince the Pasha's officials that there had been a giant misunderstanding.

My husband looked on in disbelief as Mr Devere insisted he knew about Lord Malory's visit, and I stated that my husband and I had come in pursuit of our relatives of our own free will.

'We did?' My husband c.o.c.ked an eye in question, wondering what the h.e.l.l I was up to now.

'It is our sister-in-law who has been kidnapped,' I said, to the shock of everyone present. 'We believe she has been taken to Cairo and so require a speedy pa.s.sage there.'

'I can arrange that,' Lord Malory said, eager to deal himself into my favour and grateful that I was not exposing him for the kidnapper he was.

'I felt sure of it.' I accepted the deal.

'Is there anything I can do?' Mr Banks offered.

'You could bid us leave with the greatest haste,' I suggested.

The Pasha's official obviously had better things to do than to stand around listening to a bunch of English people talking gibberish. As we all seemed to be getting along, he gave up on even trying to follow our discourse. 'Be gone from my city before daybreak,' he told all the tourists present.

'I shall see to it personally.' A confused Mr Banks gave his a.s.surance as he showed the officials to the door.

'Can someone please explain what just happened?' Lord Devere appealed to his brother and me.

'Mrs Devere has been kidnapped, you say,' Lord Malory cut in. 'Is it true, Earnest?'

'I need to know how I can shield myself from Molier's eyes.' Mr Devere had his own question.

'Has he got her?' Malory had to know first.

'No.' Mr Devere would admit that much. 'Is there a way I can keep Molier at a distance?'

As Lord Malory nodded and began to explain, Lord Devere was compelled to cut in. 'Can we go now?'

'We cannot leave now!' I was surprised that James would leave his brother in Lord Malory's hands and sail off back to England, especially now that our sister's safety was again in doubt.

'I was referring to Cairo.' My husband corrected my misunderstanding. 'They can talk about their demon banishing spells on the way.'

My jaw dropped open. I could hardly believe that my husband: A) was prepared to go to Cairo, and, B) could speak of anything occult in a casual, accepting manner. 'Is this Lord Devere before me, or some impostor?'

'I saw something tonight that I cannot explain,' he said seriously. 'Once I have a reasonable a.s.surance that there is no further danger to our family, then then I shall go home.' I shall go home.'

James knew I was proud of his resolution, but I suspected that he wasn't pursuing this mystery to please me any more. He now had a personal agenda. What had he seen tonight?

I had no time to ask as Malory agreed with my lord that we needed to leave Alexandria while the going was still good.

'Wait.' Mr Devere took hold of Lord Malory's arm. 'Did you have any involvement in the death of Lord Hereford?'

'No.' He refuted the suggestion doggedly. 'I have explained-'

Mr Devere held up a finger to silence Lord Malory and focused on the man's inner thoughts.

'He's telling the truth,' my brother-in-law stated, to set all our minds at ease. His and my own at least. I believe my husband still had his doubts about his brother's psychic abilities.

Lord Malory was smiling now, and not because he had been cleared of the suspicion of murder. 'Your full potential has been realised,' he stated, proud of his student. 'I can train you to hone these abilities. You can be of greater a.s.sistance to your wife in her quest. And, clearly, you must now know that my intentions are the best. I have done only what I must to ensure your wife's safety and wellbeing.'

Mr Devere had not let go of the lord's hand and again he focused on Malory's inner knowing. 'Why didn't you tell me about Mrs Devere's destiny?'

'Prophecy is not an exact science, even for someone so talented as Lady Charlotte,' Malory explained. 'We had no way of knowing your wife would pursue this quest until she chose to do so of her own free will. Had you known, and perhaps warned her of our suspicions, would such a wilful soul as she still have taken it up with such fervour?'

'What have you planned for our children?' Devere remembered Ashlee's concern and decided to clear up the matter while he had Lord Malory on the spot.

'Only what they, in the grand scheme, choose for themselves.' Malory was clearly troubled by his student's doubts about the brotherhood. 'It has been foreseen that your children will achieve great spiritual enlightenment, but this is not something the brotherhood can bring about. Our function is one of protection, not dictation.'

'Protection from whom?' I stepped in to inquire. 'Molier?'

Malory shook his head.

'Are you referring to the church?' Lord Devere was clearly shocked and uncomfortable with the suggestion.

Again Malory shook his head. 'The church are a concern, but they are by no means the greatest. But, no need to worry. For regardless of its shortcomings, the church has come to play a beneficial role in society and we have no intention of destroying their function, now that they are finally doing more good than harm.'

Lord Devere's patience and beliefs were being sorely tried. 'I believe that G.o.d knows the truth, and if the church needs deconstructing the Almighty will arrange it.'

'Absolutely correct. But G.o.d works through men, Lord Devere,' Malory suggested, 'and I trust that by the end of this adventure, you shall be seeing life, the world and its history in a very different light.'

'No truth higher than the truth,' Mr Devere reminded his brother of their family motto. 'There is no point in arguing what time will tell us. Best keep your eyes and mind open and discern the truth for yourself.'