-1XX

Battle In The Stables

The sound brought Rathbone to whirl around, the seal lowering in his hand. For a beat only, he half hoped, half feared Lin would be standing there. He'd practically begged her not to follow, prayed she had not followed for both their safety… However, two faces, quite unlike Lin's dropped down from his sight. His heart stilled before alarm welled up inside him. He tried to assess the situation. Nevertheless, time ran out.

Over the nearby stall, the horse whinnied, drawing his attention just in time to find Lin cutting through the air with an outstretched kick. It knocked the wind out of him, hitting him square in the chest. For an instant time slowed, and the seal flung from his hand as he fell backwards, landing softly against a wall of hay.

He blinked hard, coming to his senses as he saw Lin standing before him with a determined frown. He remembered the two men and Wu Chow were not far away… Lin was getting him out of the way to get to Him. The men, whoever they were, had obviously followed Lin… They were a threat, regardless. The glare in her eye, and the shock of her attack planted a seed of doubt…whose side was she on? He flicked his wrist, and the metal contraption clicked to life, springing out the derringer to his palm. He could not turn the barrel at her, and instead turned the pistol on the men who threatened everything.

He aimed and fired. It splintered the wood over their heads as one darted out from his hiding place, a Chinaman in a green vest. The horses began to kick and whine in their stalls.

Lin closed in on him and he instinctively turned the pistol on her. She took his wrist, the pistol aiming over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" He hissed angrily in her face.

They spun around in half a dance as they struggled with the pistol, and his finger tightened over the trigger. A bullet cut through the air, and the next moment there roared a raging flame sprouted from the fallen lantern upon the hay sprinkled ground. The fire soon caught both their attention as it created a barrier, slowing the two men on their dash for the fallen seal. In that moment he knew the men were with Lin…

The animals grew more frantic, kicking against the walls of their stalls as their instinct to escape fire rose. Unable to let her go forward after Wu Chow while his Jubilee Ball was still in session, he had to act quickly.

Rathbone locked eyes with her, holding the struggle still for only a beat. "Go back the way you came in!" He growled and with a sudden and violent thrust, he threw her off.

She collided with Wang, stumbling to catch her balance with his aid.

Locking his pistol back to his sleeve, he glared at the three who charged at him and reached for the twine of the hay, yanking it down to put a barrier between the three and himself. They stumbled back, avoiding the falling hay as Rathbone reached aside for a nearby lantern. Raising it high, he caught Lin's eyes for a split moment. Gritting his teeth and swallowing down his doubts, he smashed the lantern into the hay.

In an instant a spire of flames roared to life, creating a thick wall of fire between he and his current enemies. He raised his cloak as extra protection from the abrupt heat as he stepped back from the stable doorway. Coughing, he looked through the stables, watching the stone building as the flames licked up high to the wooden rafters. He pulled the doors together, and in the pinch of it, offered one last glare to them all before he sealed them inside. They would have to take the long way around to get outside again to find Wu Chow…

He stood back, looking up at the hellish scene, coughing into the fold of his cape until he was far enough away, standing upon the grass beside the road. He heard screaming. Horrible screaming… His hear dropped as he recalled his pedigree horses still inside, all five probably burning to a crisp. Shutting his eyes, he lowered his face level to the ground and silently prayed for a miracle.

His miracle came. A loud bang brought his head to snap upward to find his very horses stampeding out. Throwing him self even farther from the grass in the nick of time.

"Yeehaw!"

"Yeh-haaaw!" Came two voices as they thundered past his head.

Rathbone scurried to his feet after the last horse passed. His face burned with rage at having almost been trampled by his own horses…and knowing damn well Wu Chow had not gone far enough to have missed this…He huffed and growled and wheezed, glowering as he watched the faint figures run down the lane and out of sight…

Cursing and kicking the daylights out of a nearby shrub, he threw off his cape, tossing the derringer with it, and the blasted contraption to join. After his temper was exhausted, he turned with a deep breath to the flaming fiasco of his Jubilee Ball.

Rathbone froze with a sudden thought. His eyes rolled and then shut, "Oh no…" he leaned down upon his knees. The seal was still inside…

A troop of guardsmen came jogging through the partway in the hedges, pausing at the sight before them. His head already swimming with endless thoughts, he turned and barked at them. "Call a fire brigade!" One nodded and ran off, "You! Get Inspector Doyle!" The second obeyed quickly, "And the rest of you! Get back to guarding the guests!"

They marched off in a hurry, leaving Rathbone alone with only two guards. He looked back to the stables, cursing under his breath before stomping into the garden and to the open veranda to rejoin his guests. He would have to make a very calm, very formal apology to them all… and see to a quiet and safe evacuation of those who were not already staying at his estate.

"Yes." He said, looking quiet unsettled as he lowered the sketches done by the police of the two men in the ridiculous costumes. "These are the men who attacked me."

A handful of inspectors stood dutifully by, awaiting orders. With the majority of the guests having been let go, the house staff under careful questioning and the fire being extinguished outside, Rathbone was finally having time to think.

Inspector Doyle fiddled with his bowler hat, dripping wet from his own encounter with the stampede over the bridge outside the castle. "I'm afraid the assailants have temporarily eluded us, my lord."

Lin, he thought… if Lin had not been able to escape her cell in London in the first place, none of this would have happened. Snapping back to Doyle from his ruffled pacing, Rathbone most angrily replied, "Perhaps you could explain to me how Looney Lin managed to escape the confines of Scotland Yard under the watch of the most respected police force in the world…?"

Embarrassed officers cleared their throats. Doyle shame seemed short-lived until he recalled the wire he received with the details from Hodgkins. "Yes, of course. It's fascinating! Uhm." Brows furrowed as he collected the details in his mind, "She picked the lock using a deck of rather risqué playing cards. Then scaled the walls with a mop, a fork and several pilfered undergarments." He gave a snorting laugh, "You've got to hand it to the Chinese. They're awfully ingenious, aren't they?"

Rathbone smirked, un-amused and still miffed. Suddenly he exploded, "Does your incompetence know no bounds?!"

Sneering, he tore away from the cowering inspector, who was huddling over his dripping wet bowler hat.

Doyle sheepishly glanced to Rathbone, who was making his way to the spirits table… when his eyes lowered. His brows lowered, and the gears in his head began to turn. "Pardon my prying sir…"

Rathbone stopped, huffed and turned to face him with impatience.

"…But might I inquire as to the whereabouts of the underground passage?"

The Lord stood still and silent.

"Well. I couldn't help but notice that your shoes carry a specific shade of gray clay, found only in sub-terrain layers of the earth, quite unique to this area."

Rathbone's eyes trailed down to his own shoes, which were indeed, caked with clay. "Underground passage? What lunacy is this? I see your incompetence is only superseded by your impertinence." He shot the idle constables a sideways glance as he stalked up to Doyle. Standing quite closely, he strenuously said, "Tread softly inspector."

He left immediately, determined to have the last word, and to make certain Doyle could never become a future threat with his obvious knowledge. Doyle's reputation would be mangled beyond repair, destroyed and ultimately flushed down the John by this horrid fiasco, and Rathbone would see to that personally first thing in the morning…