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Back Cardinal Black Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. One: Into the Storm
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Two: London Calling
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Three: The Malignant Seven
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Four: Squirrels and Cats
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Twenty-Seven
  33. Twenty-Eight
  34. Twenty-Nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-One
  37. Thirty-Two
  38. Five: Revelation
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. About the Author

“Keep moving,” Julian said. Matthew let go of the tree that was holding him onto the earth. He did not spin away. He followed Julian and Firebaugh through the snowy woods, remembering that in his state of delirium in the house he had loaded his pistol with three charges, one ball and one pour of gunpowder on top of the other, and he thought that without a bullet extractor tool the gun was now useless except as a bomb to blow his hand off, so Julian’s four-barrelled pistol would have to see them through the next encounter. Lash, Black and Miles Merda were still out there, and they were not going to let that coach go without a fight.

Julian pushed Firebaugh to the right, in a direction that would curve them through the forest back to the road. As Matthew’s head cleared—and the bitter cold had a great deal to do with that—he reasoned that the second coach had come upon the Autreys’ cottage and its driver had seen the first coach situated in front, thus had pulled the horses to a halt and backed them up around the road’s bend so as to be out of sight. Montague had likely started the fire either to drive the team away or burn them, if they weren’t set loose. The others had probably either elected their own plan of attack or been directed by the vice admiral. In any case, now there was the unholy three to deal with, and maybe the worst of the lot though Krakowski had come within a gasp of finishing Matthew off.

“Stop,” Julian said quietly.

Through the trees could be seen the yellow glow of the coach’s lanterns, one on either side of the driver’s seat. The driver himself was not perched up top. “Driver’s inside keeping warm, if he’s got any sense,” Julian told Matthew. He withdrew from his cloak his gun, which he’d been trying to keep dry during their trek from the cottage. “If you have any thoughts of shouting out,” he said to Firebaugh, who appeared utterly exhausted and in no shape to protest, “I can still pour you a cup of suffering.”

“No, please,” the doctor murmured listlessly. “Please … I won’t shout out.”

“Go.” Julian shoved Firebaugh forward.

They crossed from the woods onto the road, which itself was thick with snow. The orange glow of the barn’s fire lit the clouds. Matthew looked back to see the spectacle of thousands of sparks blowing with the wind. The coach’s team grumbled nervously and shifted in their traces, smelling the smoke. Then they were upon the coach, and Julian threw open the doors on the side facing them.