His response was immediate.
Well done. Standing by for your arrival.
I checked in with Marcus, who reported that the twins were always hungry and had completely monopolized Phoebe’s attention. As for Jack, Marcus said he was as well as could be expected.
After my exchange with Marcus, I sent a text to Ysabeau.
Worried about the bishop pair.
It was another chess reference. We had dubbed Gerbert, onetime bishop of Rome, and his sidekick Domenico the “bishop pair” because they always seemed to be working together. After their latest defeat, they were bound to retaliate. Gerbert might already have warned Knox that I had won the vote and we were on our way.
Ysabeau took longer to reply than Marcus had.
The bishop pair cannot checkmate our king unless the queen and her rook allow it.
There was a long pause, then another message.
And I will die first.
The air bit through my thick cloak, making me withdraw from the blast of wind that threatened to split me in two. I had never experienced cold like this and wondered how anyone survived a winter in Chelm.
“There.” Baldwin pointed to a low huddle of buildings in the valley below.
“Benjamin has at least a dozen of his children with him.” Verin stood at my elbow, a pair of binoculars in her fingers. She offered them to me, in case my warmblooded eyes weren’t strong enough to see where my husband was being kept, but I refused them.
I knew exactly where Matthew was. The closer I got to him, the more agitated my power became, leaping to the surface of my skin in an attempt to escape. That, and my witch’s third eye, more than made up for any warmblooded deficiencies.
“We’ll wait until twilight to strike. That’s when a detail of Benjamin’s children go out to hunt.” Baldwin looked grim. “They’ve been preying on Chelm and Lublin, bringing back the homeless and the weak for their father to feed on.”
“Wait?” I’d done nothing but for three days. “I’m not going to wait another moment!”
“He is still alive, Diana.” Ysabeau’s response should have brought me comfort, but it only made the ice around my heart thicken at the thought of what Matthew would continue to suffer for the next six hours as we waited for darkness to fall.
“We can’t attack the compound when it’s at full strength,” Baldwin said. “We must be strategic about this, Diana—not emotional.”
Think—and stay alive. Reluctantly, I turned away from dreams of Matthew’s quick release to focus on the challenges before us. “Janet said Knox put wards around the main building.”
Baldwin nodded. “We were waiting for you to disarm them.”
“How will the knights get into position without Benjamin knowing?” I asked.
“Tonight the Knights of Lazarus will use the tunnels to enter Benjamin’s compound from below.” Fernando’s expression was calculating. “Twenty, maybe thirty, should be enough.”
“Chelm is built on chalk, you see, and the ground beneath it is honeycombed with tunnels,” Hamish explained, unrolling a small, crudely drawn map. “The Nazis destroyed some of them, but Benjamin kept these open. They connect his compound and the town and provide a way for him and his children to prey on the city without ever appearing aboveground.”
“No wonder Benjamin was so hard to track down,” Gallowglass murmured, looking at the underground maze.
“Where are the knights now?” I had yet to see the massing of troops I’d been told were in Chelm.
“Standing by,” Hamish replied.
“Fernando will decide when to send them into the tunnels. As Marcus’s marshal, the decision is his,” Baldwin said, acknowledging Fernando with a nod.
“Actually, it’s mine,” Marcus said, appearing suddenly against the snow.
“Marcus!” I pushed my hood back, terror gripping me. “What’s happened to Rebecca and Philip? Where are they?”
“Nothing has happened. The twins are at Sept-Tours with Sarah, Phoebe, and three dozen knights—all of them handpicked for their loyalty to the de Clermonts and their dislike of Gerbert and the Congregation. Miriam and Chris are there, too.” Marcus took my hands in his. “I couldn’t sit in France waiting for news. Not when I could be helping to free my father. And Matthew might need my help after that, too.”
Marcus was right. Matthew would need a doctor—a doctor who understood vampires and how to heal them.
“And Jack?” It was all I could squeeze out, though Marcus’s words had helped my heart rate return to something approaching normal.
“He’s fine, too,” Marcus said firmly. “Jack had one bad episode last night when I told him he couldn’t come along, but Marthe turns out to be something of a hellcat when provoked. She threatened to keep Jack from seeing Philip, and that sobered him right up. He never lets the child out of his sight. Jack says it’s his job to protect his godson, no matter what.” Marcus turned to Fernando. “Walk me through your plan.”
Fernando went over the operation in detail: where the knights would be positioned, when they would move on the compound, the roles that Gallowglass, Baldwin, Hamish, and now Marcus would play.
Even though it all sounded flawless, I was still worried.
“What is it, Diana?” Marcus asked, sensing my concern.
“So much of our strategy relies on the element of surprise,” I said. “What if Gerbert has already tipped off Knox and Benjamin? Or Domenico? Even Satu might have decided she was safer from Benjamin if she could gain Knox’s trust.”
“Don’t worry, Auntie,” Gallowglass assured me, his blue eyes taking on a stormy cast. “Gerbert, Domenico, and Satu are all sitting on Isola della Stella. The Knights of Lazarus have them surrounded. There’s no way for them to get off the island.”
Gallowglass’s words did little to lessen my concern. The only thing that could help was freeing Matthew and putting an end to Benjamin’s machinations—for good.
“Ready to examine the wards?” Baldwin asked, knowing that giving me something to do would help keep my anxiety in check.
After swapping my highly visible black cloak for a pale gray parka that blended into the snow, Baldwin and Gallowglass took me within shouting distance of Benjamin’s compound. In silence I took stock of the wards that protected the place. There were a few alarm spells, a trigger spell that I suspected would unleash some kind of elemental conflagration or storm, and a handful of diversions that were designed to do nothing more than delay an attacker until a proper defense could be mounted. Knox had used spells that were complicated, but they were old and worn, too. It wouldn’t take much to pick apart the knots and leave the place unguarded.