The ambush
Outside Ferguson Manor, King Alcott’s spies had been setting up surveillance for three days, waiting for the right moment to attack. Of course, not in the sense of physically attacking, but in performing an action.
As predicted, the Ferguson family was heavily guarded. But Mahala’s warriors were ready. All they were waiting for was the right opportunity.
And apparently, it was getting closer. Ronn nudged Shadow, getting his attention. In these long hours of surveillance, the three of them had taken turns, and Ronn was the one with the monocular in hand at the moment.
His target, Lady Prima Ferguson, was leaving the mansion, accompanied by two of her servants and four guards. According to her routine, she would surely go to town. Her shopping habits were excessive.
The trio had already drawn a plan, in which they marked the places where they would attack if she went to a particular place.
Shadow became alert, and with his foot, he woke up VÃctor, who was peacefully asleep on the ground, with his head resting on a rock. He opened his eyes, and just looking at Shadow, he knew what it was. Silently, he sat up and looked at where his two companions were looking.
The time had come to make a move.
The three picked up their weapons from the ground and hooded their faces. Ready, they began to follow the carriage on foot, closely. They had to hijack the carriage and question, Lady Ferguson. Al this before the other guards in the Mansion realized that they had not returned as announced. Easy to say, but any mistake would give them away, exposing them and their king’s identity. If that happened, they would have to kill them all.
Having gone a few kilometres, the carriage took another direction, deviating slightly from the main road. Lady Ferguson, realizing this, stuck her head out of the window, addressing the chauffeur. “What happens? Why have you strayed? This path will make us lose time.”
“My Lady there is an obstruction on the main road, I had no choice but to take this shortcut. I will speed up the pace of the horses to make up for the lost time.”
Lady Ferguson, satisfied with the answer, put her head in and continued to observe the landscape from the window. She urgently needed to be on time for her card game with the other society ladies. And just thinking about the cupcakes they offered at the club was enough to get her through the trip.
A few moments later, the carriage came to an abrupt stop.
“AAAA,” The ladies inside were thrown forward. The servants, when they could, got up, helping their mistress to sit on the seat.
“Damn coachman, he’ll pay for this when we get to the Ferguson mansion.”
Furious, she waved the hands of the servants who wanted to help her, and angry, got out of the carriage. But when she set foot on the ground, she was surprised by someone who grabbed her by the neck, with a knife pressed against her neck. Lady Ferguson sucked in a breath, going very still. Out of the corner of her eye, she looked around, wondering where her guards were, and in the distance, in some bushes, she saw legs on the ground, covered in leaves.
The realization of this hit her like acid to her stomach. Lady Ferguson began to tremble. “Gold, you want gold, I can give you that. Release me and we’ll go get it. I have a lot, and I could fulfil easily all your wishes if you let me go.”
She tried to negotiate with the thieves, but no one answered her, making her situation even direr. There was nothing worse than priceless criminals. Lady Ferguson understood that they were after her, or perhaps they wanted to hold her to collect a still exuberant sum of gold. Yes, that could be. Or they didn’t believe her when she told them that she could make their wishes come true.
But no one answered her, instead with his other free hand, the criminal covered her mouth, dragging her towards a nearby tree. There she was bound hand and feet, and a piece of cloth was forced into her mouth.
From the floor, she saw how two more men came out of nowhere and threatened her two servants. Leaving them inside the carriage, bound and gagged. Similar to how she was. His driver was nowhere to be seen, and surely all his guards had succumbed to these criminals.
She hopelessly waited for the men to finish what they were doing, so they would pay her some attention. Hoping to finally reach an agreement.
Sometime later, her wishes were fulfilled, as the three masked men walked towards her, intimidating her because of their height and complexion. She changed her mind for a few seconds, thinking that it was better if they left her abandoned in the woods.
One of them crouched down to her level and removed the gag. Lady Ferguson licked her lips, and immediately said, “damned criminals, as soon as my family finds out about this, your heads will be impaled at the gates of the city, and…” But before she could finish, the piece of cloth was shoved back into her mouth.
The man who had bent down got up, and nothing, gently took her by the arms and put her on his shoulder. The three men walked a few kilometres with Lady Ferguson on their shoulders, until they came to an abandoned hut, which they had previously sighted for this purpose.
The place smelled terrible, mushrooms, animal dirt, and other things that she did not dare to think about, abounded there. And as soon as the BANG of the door being closed was heard, she was thrown to the ground, on top of a pile of dry leaves. Lady Ferguson fell over with a Puff when her body hit the floor.
One of the men straightened her up while the other two watched her, until one of them finally spoke, “Tell us, everything you know about Sir Perseus. And I mean since before he was born. We want to hear everything, and if you don’t cooperate….” The man pulled a massive knife from his belt, causing Lady Ferguson’s eyes to widen in horror. But after the shock of seeing the giant knife pass, finally, the words the man said clicked. Lady Ferguson began to babble and move erratically.
One of them reached over and ripped the piece of cloth from her mouth again, wishing he hadn’t…. “You, damned thieves, kidnappers, dared to take me just to ask about my bastard son? That pathetic good for nothing. If he owes you something, it’s not my problem, you can kill him if it suits you. That thing has nothing to do with me. No gentlemen, nothing to do with me.”
The three king’s spies looked at each other, asking what kind of woman was this one. Because not even in their most terrible battles had they faced someone as ruthless as her. But if she were ruthless, they would be more so.
Victor drew his knife, and with speed no one could have expected, hurled the knife at Lady Ferguson, lightly touching her neck, cutting through her skin, and then burying itself in the wall behind her.
She froze, her brain emptied of everything she had planned to tell them. Instead, she began to speak angrily, telling them the story of Sir Perseus without anyone being able to stop her.
Shadow, Victor, and Ronn gasped.
