There was barely a moment to identify Josiah Anders before Darcy was hit from behind and knocked violently to the ground. It was more surprise than force that led to him losing balance, and he roared as he rolled over one man who clung to him and tossed two others a few feet away. He scrambled to his feet, the second man still hanging on his back.
Someone flew past him, knocking a third attacker to the ground. The second, who Darcy had tossed off, leapt forward, hand outstretched, holding a blade. He lunged.
Darcy bent forward sharply whilst pulling hard at the man on his back, dumping him over his head and atop his attacker. Both assailants tumbled to the ground, the man with the knife on the bottom. Darcy ground his knee into the man’s wrist and disarmed him, then flipped him over and pinned both men to the ground by kneeling with one knee on each man’s back between their shoulder blades.
Finally, he glanced around for his cousin. Fitzwilliam had twisted the arm of a fourth man up behind his back, and then wrapped another arm around his throat. Josiah Anders had a heavy boot on the back of the third, who was still wriggling on the ground.
“All day ridin’, and I dinna even get to play,” Isaac complained. He cut the rope into several pieces and handed them out.
“You’re too slow!” hooted Josiah. “Gettin’ old!” He tied up his man.
“What kind of knot is that?” Fitzwilliam asked. “Looks nautical.”
“Don’t know if it has a name. All sorts of naval men in the family,” Josiah said, “but Isaac ’n me went in the army. He gits seasick, he does.”
Isaac’s laugh was brash. “You’re always sayin’ that, but you’re the only one gits sick, you widgeon.”
Josiah snorted. “You keep denyin’ it, but that dinna make it true.”
Isaac rolled his eyes. “Need help, Colonel Darcy?”
“Lieutenant Colonel,” Fitzwilliam grunted.
Isaac shrugged. “Both colonels to me,” he said.
“As he was addressing me,” Darcy called out cheerfully, “yes, Anders, I would appreciate the assistance, seeing as I have two prisoners and Colonel Fitzwilliam has only the one.”
“You are such a great ox they ought never to have taken you down in the first place,” Fitzwilliam shot back. Josiah came to tie up the man he held as Fitzwilliam tightened his arm around the man’s throat.
“Not that I am ungrateful, Anders,” Darcy said softly, “but why are you here?”
Isaac grinned. “Yer lady knew something were wrong. She sent us to help you.” Once their attackers were bound, Isaac reached into his pocket and withdrew a note. Darcy opened it hastily to find it contained a hasty message in a feminine script.
You are in danger. Allow the men to help you, and please return to me safely.
He frowned. “How did she know?”
Isaac shrugged. “Something about two expresses. We were in a hurry, sir.”
Darcy chuckled, a little of the tension dissipating with it. “Quite right. Forgive me.”
All the prisoners were bound and lined up against the wall when a slightly built man rounded the corner.
“Colonel Darcy!” he called. “I was just at yer house!”
“Good evening, Vaughan,” Darcy said. “I received your message.”
Vaughan hurried over and surveyed the scene with dismay. “I beg yer pardon. This was the very thing I sought to avoid. I was sure you would call for me to come to you, not that you’d come ’ere.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yer oughter come in, then.”
“Anders?” Darcy called. “Will you two be all right here?”
Isaac was already tying up the horses. He returned with two rifles and handed one to his cousin. “We’ll be jest fine, sir.”
Darcy stepped back up the street to the young man holding not only two horses, but four now. “Can you watch them all?”
He nodded vigorously, excited rather than frightened. He would no doubt be recounting this story for months to come.
“I’ll make this quick,” Vaughan said, leading them into a cramped but tidy flat. A screen hid the bed that had been shoved into one corner, and he offered them the only two chairs in the room. He took a deep breath, his complexion so pale that Darcy thought he might collapse. He was about to ask after Vaughan’s health when the younger man began to speak in jumbled sentences.