Chapter Two

Jules sat at her desk and flipped through some papers. "This dosent make sense." she said to herself, flipping two pages back and forth. Her eyebrows were furrowed in thought, and her hands were covered in ink.

"You look great behind that desk." Ryder said coming into the library. He looked around then back at her.

"What? Did you say something?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Nothing. You have gotten more books havent you?" he asked.

"Um, yes. Quite a selection, feel free to browse if you'd like." she replied, still flipping through the book.

"You remind me so much of father He was always reading, writing, taking care of buisness."

"Well, somebody has to. And I love learning new things so..."

"What are you working on?" he asked and sat down in one of the plush leather chairs that sat in front of her desk.

"The accounts for Sheldon Hall. Somethings not right with them. And I dont like when things are not right." she said looking up at him.

"Let me have a look at it." he said as he took the book and flipped through it.

"The funds that Sheldon recieves is always the same. It is more that enough for everyone there to take care of everything. The manager, Jacob White, always documents every cent they use. But, some of it is missing, in fact, a lot of it is missing. See the crop amount? Compare it to last month. It is way off. If something was happening, he would have told me." she explained.

"Yes I see, there are also missing amounts, nothing adds up. What are you going to do about it?" he asked, as he handed the book back to her.

"Go check it out of course." she stated simply.

"But you just got home. And it would be safe, or proper for you to travel that far of a distance." Ryder added, his brotherly affection showing.

"Aye, it is true that I just got home, but I cannot sit back, while something happens to my things. And as for it not being proper. I do not care what people think of me. I am a widow and thus entitled to do whatever I please." she replied, standing.

"Okay, okay. But allow me to come with you. If somebody is purposely doing things, I do not want you to be harmed." he offered.

She sighed and cocked her head, "Alright. We will leave tommorow afternoon. It is a three day journey to Sheldon."

Hust then the door opened and Andrew came in. "Mommy, mommy, can we go riding? Can we? Can we? Can we?" he asked, tugging at he blue silk gown.

"Yes we can go riding. Would you like to bring your Uncle ryder with us?" she replied, looking up at Ryder.

"Yea! Uncle Ryder, will you come with us?" Andrew asked running to him. His bright blue eyes were shining with youth.

"Sure, I'll race you to the stables." he said.

Jules watched them run out through the doors, and walked after them. She stepped out into the entrance hall and saw Mrs. Hayes, the housekeeper, with a harrassed look on her face.

"What is the matter?" Jules asked.

"I had just waxed the floor and there they go running on it." she said with a ha-rumph and waddled off.

Jules laughed and walkled outside to the stables.

The next morning, Jules and Ryder were on their way out the door, when Andrew grabbed hold on Jules leg and wouldnt let go.

"Andrew, come now, I told you that it would only be for a few days." she said and knelt down beside him.

"But you just got home!" he whined.

"Andrew Christian Sherbrooke, you are going to be the future duke here, and dukes do not whine. They take everything like a man do you understand me? Now stop whining. I will be back home in a few days, and I promise that you and I will go on a trip." she said and kissed his forehead.

"Okay mommie." he said and stepped back from her.

She walked away and climbed on Bolt and waved to him. She blew him a kiss then was gone, Ryder beside her, and the carriage behind her.

After two days of traveling, they pulled into a small town 20 miles out of Sheldon. They spent the night at Castle Inn, a place known for its wonderful hospitality, and its even better ale.

Jules sat at a table and waited for ryder to bring two mugs of ale. She looked around at the cozy inn. The fire was glowing , and she could feel the warmth of it through her cloak. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She was tired. She wanted to get to Sheldon, find out what was going on, and get home.

"Hey missy, wanna have some fun tonight?" an old man slurred bumping into the table. He grabbed her arm and was about to pull her up, but Jules fist into his jaw stopped him.

She was fast with her attack. The man fell to the floor and she moved to another table.

When Ryder came back with the mugs of ale, he saw tha unconciouse man lying on the floor and looked to her, then back again. "I wish you wouldnt knock everyone unconcious." he said and sat down.

"Couldnt help it." she replied, sipping her ale. The warm liquid slid down her throat.'Bliss,' she thought. She could feel Ryder's eyes on her and she looked up.

"Im just tired Ryder. It has been so long since I could just relax."She said, answering his unspoken question.

"I know it has. When mom and dad died, I was more worried for you."

"Why?" she asked.

"There you were, pregnant at age 16, Jeremy had just died in battle, and then mom and dad dieing in that accident. You had nobody." he replied.

"You're wrong. I had you and Jefferey, and Nicholas, and Brett, that was more than enough strength. Plus I was pregnant with Andrew, and I couldnt let myself fall apart." she said and squezed his hand.

"You all brought me up to be a fine lady if I do say so myself." she added with a smile.

"Thank you, I think we did a good job too. Now, we better get some rest." he said and downed the rest of his ale.

Jules did as well and followed him to their rooms. She slipped into the bed and fell asleep quickly.

The next moring, as the sun was rising, Jules climbed onto Bolt and waited for Ryder to do the same. They rode hard for a couple of hours before reaching the hills that looked onto Sheldon.

"Oh my God." she said drawing up at one of the hills.

"What in the hell?" Ryder said looking onto the lands.

The small town was in ruin, building were burned, farms were destroyed, all from fire.

Without hesitation, Jules kicked Bolt in the sides, and flew down the hills, and into the town. She was out of breath and her face was flushed. She jumped off Bolt and looked about the town. There were women in rags, with little children roaming the ruins.

"Excuse me," she said hurrying over to one of the women. She smelled fowl, and dirt covered her body. She was also pregnant. "What happened? Who is in charge here?"

The lady looked up at her, she could be no more than sixteeen years old. "We were attacked some months ago. They took everything, burned everything, we have nothing. The few men that survived are in the church." she said.

Jules pulled off her cloak and put around the girls shoulders. "Keep warm. I will take care of everything." she said and turned back to Ryder, who was standing beside her.

Her look was cold and hard. "Whatever bastards did this will killed." she said.

Ryder nodded, "they will you have no doubt about it. Now lets go find the men." he said and they walked around until they found the church. This was the only building that wasnt touched.

Jules walked inside and followed the sound of voices, until she reached a closed door. She opened it and strood in. A group of scraggly men were hovering around a fire and talking. they all stopped mid sentence and looked at the beautiful woman who had just barged in.

"Can we help you my lady?" one of them asked, stepping towards her. He took a step back when ryder appeared in the doorway behind her.

"Yes, you can tell me what happened her." she said.

"Ma'am, we were attacked, if you werent able to see." the man replied.

"Listen sir, my name is Juliana Rochester-Sherbrooke, the owner of Sheldon. Now, if I want to know what happened, I suggest that you tell me." she said, her voice cold and demanding.

The man gulped, "They came in ther middle of the night my lady. Totaly unexpected they were. They burnt all the farms and buildings, and raped most of the women. Many of the men that fought back, were killed. They stayed here until a few days ago, in the main house. Word got around that you were coing, and they scattered."

"Alright, first off, you have women running around in the cold with nothing, many of them pregnant widows, I want housing built as soon as possible. The manor house is still intact is it not?" she asked.

"Yes it is." another man said standing up.

"Good, I want everyone to move into it. It is big enough for the town. I will have food, supplies and men brought her to help with reconstrustion." she added and turned to Ryder.

"I want you to go to and hire a runner and inform Nicholas and Brett that we will need help, and get more men." she said.

"Jules I cant leave you here. This is a very bad situation and I dont want you to be hurt or anything." he replied sternly.

"Ryder, either you go, or I go. I am staying to take care of these women. I know what its like. The sooner you go, the sooner you get back." she reasoned.

"Fine, I'll leave now." he gave up and leaned over to say something to the men.

"If anything happens to her, you all will be very very sorry." he warned, with a harsh look.

He kissed his sister on the forhead and left. She turned back to the men, "Did anyone ever find out who these men were?" she asked.

"Someone by the name of Wilkens. He was the supposed leader, but we are not for sure." one of the men said hesitantly.

Jules nodded and took a deep breath. "I guess we should be thankful that winter has passed. How many people were killed?"

"15 by there had and 20 more by winter. Most of them were men, but the women are not fairing so well." he said.

"Lets get them moved. We have a lot of work to do. I want everyone in that house by nightfall." she said and left them. She walked out of the church and saw the woman she gave the cloak to coming to her with a group of women.

"Bless you mistress." she said tugging at her.

"I promise that everything will be allright. now gather your belongings and go to the manor house. Bring everything you can." Jules said to the women.

She turned and looked over at Bolt. She whistled and he came trotting over to her. She climbed on him and they made their way to the manor house. Raw fury coursed through her body as she looked at the once beautiful mansion.

Now, it looked like a heap of bricks. The windows were broken, the gardens were burned, she didnt even want to think of what it looked like on the inside. She dismounted from Bolt and walked inside. She stopped in the middle of the entrance hall and looked around. Carpets were ripped, tapestries were torn, it was a disaster. Paintings were disfigured and statues were lying in piles of rubble on the ground.

"They sold everything worth value. They made the women be their servants and locked the men below. Many of them died down there. When the smell became rancid, they would throw the corpses outside." a voice said from the doorway.

Jules shut her eyes and looked down, "No more please." She turned and saw an old lady standing there.

She was in rags and had the most familiar look about her. She looked closely and realized who it was. "Mrs. Chrenshaw." she said, at a loss for words.

The old lady smiled and nodded."I was glad that you remembered me, it had been so long since I'd seen you." she replied.

She looked upon the old woman she'd known so many years ago. She was pregnant with Andrew when she came to Sheldon. Mrs. Chrenshaw was like a second mother to her. She was so beautiful and graeful. She had salt and peppery hair that was always in a bun at the top of her head. And her blue eyes were bright with life, anf happiness.

But now, here hair was dirty and her eyes were still full of life, but not happy.

"Why? What happened to make this happen?" Jules said her arms raising then falling to her side.

"I have thought that for many weeks now child. The answer is I dont know. Nobody knows. It just happened, but you are here now, and we will all be fine." she said.

A week passed, and Ryder was back with twenty strong, able bodied men, and carts of wool and food, and everything else the town needed. Along with two large brothers. Jules swalked down the steps and looked at the carts with wide eyes.

Ryder jumped down from his stallion and walked to her. "Everything we need it right here." he said to his baby sister, who was grinning up at him.

"Thank you." she said and watched as men carried things from the carts inside the house.

"We will be starting work on the town this afternoon." he added.

"I will be there to help." she said. But before he could reply she was already skipping to her other brothers.

Jules hugged Brett tightly and smiled up at him. It had been many months since she had seen him last. She turned and was picked up by Nicholas, who was the biggest man she'd ever known. He spun her about, then set her on the gound before him.

Ryder watched Jules smile and heard her bright laughter. She was so different from the woman he was with a week ago. 'What happened here?' he thought to himself. He would find out soon enough.