Lies and Misdemeanours

Charlie was a little nonplussed by the sight of his colleagues working alongside Hetty’s brothers. Within seconds, the cart-horses had been released from the cart and saddled with saddles from the back of the cart, and were now ready to leave. The cart was pushed back against the side of the farmer’s barn in the far corner of the field. While it was being shoved into position, Joseph led several more saddled horses out of the barn.

“Good Lord,” Simon whispered as he watched the men work.

“Thank you,” Charlie murmured fervently to Joseph as he accepted one of the horses and quickly mounted. He turned to look at Simon, and opened his mouth to speak only for Luke to interrupt him.

“You can’t stand around to chat. You, Charlie, will go with Marcus, Luke and Barnaby,” Joshua said. “You, Simon, will come with the rest of us.”

Charlie pierced him with a stare. “I just can’t go and leave Hetty behind,” Charlie objected.

Although the thought of going back to Derby filled him with sickening dread, he hated the thought of her not only struggling amongst the crowds, but being at the mercy if Meldrew if he caught her. He knew from his sight of her earlier that her red hair was stood out in a crowd. If Meldrew saw her, he would capture her for certain. The thought was horrifying.

“She will come to us once it is safe, and is going to take a different route to all of us. She is with Mabel, so will be fine.”

“You can’t leave them by themselves,” Charlie protested.

He had no idea who Mabel was, but was horrified at the thought of what Meldrew would do if he caught either one of them. The gallows were already built. If she was captured, she too could be tried, found guilty, and be sentenced to death before any of them knew about it.

“The lads from the tavern are in town,” Wally added. “They are going to help them get out. She is my sister, Charlie. I don’t like leaving her behind any more than you do, but it is imperative to all of us keeping our freedom, that we stay the hell away from there. Give her a chance to come to us.”

“She is my wife, Wally,” Charlie argued. “It is my responsibility to keep her safe.”

“She is your what?” Marcus demanded. He stared at Charlie in stunned disbelief.

Charlie looked at his colleagues, and read the shock on their faces. “Hetty is my wife,” he announced.

“You are married?” Luke shook his head in disbelief. “I didn’t think that I would ever see the day that Charlie Ryder was married.”

“Wife or not, we have to get you out of here,” Barnaby growled as he mounted his horse and swung it around to face the opposite corner of the field. “We can talk about what to do about her on the way to the safe house. Now, move.”

His stern gaze silently challenged Charlie to argue.

“Let’s go,” Charlie sighed reluctantly.

Although he allowed his horse to follow the group, his mind, body and soul was firmly back in the town with Hetty.

As he rode across one coarse field after another, not for the first time that day, he silently began to pray – and it wasn’t for himself.

He had not slept at all last night. He had not been able to settle his mind to anything other than the opportunities he had lost. The image of Hetty had hovered in the corners of his mind, and refused to leave him. By dawn, he was exhausted, but firmly resolute toward the fate that awaited him.

The thought that she had willingly placed her life in danger, and risked putting her own neck in the hangman’s noose, in order to spare his was as humbling as it was horrifying.

He realised now just how seriously he had underestimated the young woman who had crept up on him, and stolen his heart. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry; be immensely proud of her fortitude, or stunned at her daring.

“She has to be alright,” Charlie growled to nobody in particular as he paused at the brow of one particularly large hill, and looked back at the town. The place looked busy even from this distance.

A steady procession of people was streaming down the busy road that led out of town. Now that the entertainment had vanished, there seemed to be no point in lingering, and it appeared that the majority of people had decided to make their way home.

“I hope that lot aren’t looking for us,” Barnaby whispered as he studied the carriages that wove their way around the people.

“I hope that Hetty is in that lot,” Charlie replied fervently. “She has to be leaving town.”

“Mabel grew up in Derby. She volunteered to help guide Hetty out,” Joshua replied confidently.

“We have to go the long route to Afferley, but most of it is through countryside. We will avoid the villages,” Barnaby added and threw a warning look at Charlie. “There is a lot to update you on.”

“You may have been fooled by Cedric Meldrew and his men, but at least you had Simon and his family to work for you. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have known about today,” Joshua informed him.

“I know. I am incredibly grateful to you all but cannot help but wonder what we should do now,” Charlie declared flatly. “Star Elite or not, you could hang for this if you get caught,” Charlie sighed as they cantered steadily across the fields. “Meldrew is nothing if not swift. If he gets his hands on us again, everyone will be hung so swiftly that Sir Hugo won’t even have the chance to saddle his horse before we are at the end of the hangman’s noose, and that includes Hetty.”