Elizabeth charged out of the front door of the house as fast as she could and around it toward the great oak. Lightning forked the sky, illuminating the scene of devastation on the beach.
The three French ships were already fleeing, leaving the dead and dying behind as the cave full of powder exploded one barrel at a time, and the huge landslide hurtled down to the sea and swept the boats, men and horses on the beach to their doom.
Monroe, Vevina and Stewart were all clustered near the oak tree, the rain lashing them unmercifully as they stared at the carnage on the beach. Will was cradling Parks to him in a blood-soaked rendering of the Pieta which caused her heart to lurch into her mouth.
Elizabeth ran to Will's side and threw herself on the ground. She pressed her hands together to steady them and once more she prayed. Then she put her palms on his throat.
"Parks. Please. Please don't leave us. We all love you. You're our dearest friend. Please don't go."
She could feel the heat, a small movement, but she could feel what little strength she had left draining away. "Live. You must live!"
Will gave her a wild-eyed look. She stared open-mouthed. She pressed harder. But despite all her efforts, there was no breath.
She and her husband stared at each other as though across a chasm. The vision…. It wasn't supposed to have ended like this.
"Parky, please, come on. Come back to us, please," Will begged, placing his own hands over his wife's, feeling the hot blood cease to pump.
They both held their breath, and waited. Will pressed harder, but there was nothing, only a devastating stillness.
Elizabeth knew a grief so acute, she could almost taste it as the bitter tears welled up. She was just about to raise her hands in abject defeat and take those of her husband when Vevina knelt and rammed her palms down over both of their hands. She felt a jolt lurch through her, and a scorching sensation shooting from Vevina's hands right through her own.
Suddenly, Parks gasped and coughed blood, and then groaned.
Vevina held him down for another moment, while Will urged, "Come on, that's it, fight, Parky, fight."
Then she collapsed on the grass with a sharp cry, clutching her belly in agony.
"Vevina!" her husband shouted, dropping to his knees beside her.
"It's all right," she whispered. "I'll be fine. It's over now. He's safe. We're all safe."
"Monroe, get Doc up at the Castle. Meet us at the Manor," he shouted as he scooped up his wife and began to run for the house.
Parks sat up slowly with a groan and shook his head. Then he blinked as another explosion tore through the night sky, and stared at the beach in horror.
"Look at those poor buggers. Burnt or buried alive. Like those ancient human sacrifices Vanessa Stone told us about." He shook his head, and then looked around him at the white-faced Elizabeth and her husband. "What the hell happened? And Will, where is your house?" he asked, his tone one of complete bewilderment.
"Can you walk?" Will demanded.
Parks scowled impatiently. "Of course I can walk. Nothing wrong with me, old man. But My head hurts like hell. Who hit me? And can anyone tell me how I got out of the cave?"
Will helped him to his feet, and Elizabeth was about to take his arm when a woman stepped in front of her, and hugged her tightly.
"Elizabeth, thank God you're all right."
Elizabeth started, and stared. "Sarah? What are you doing here?"
"The same thing as you, I think," Alexander Deveril said with a grim look at the carnage on the beach below.
She nodded at the tall man standing by her dear friend's side. "Darling, this is Sarah Deveril, and her husband, er, Alexander, two of the other Rakehells I've mentioned."
Will and Parks blinked.
Will frowned. Then his face lit up. "Jason?" he gasped.
"Alexander Deveril, until I got my memory back and was able to recall that I'm actually Jason Alexander Davenport."
He shook their hands, and nodded to Elizabeth. He looked down at the beach with a look of horrified relief. "It appears my wife and I got here a bit too late. So who would care to tell me what on earth you've all been up to?"
Chapter Thirty-five
Safely home at Ellesmere Manor some time later, Will and Elizabeth gave everyone a considerably expurgated version of the events in the cave. They all sat in the drawing room nursing a brandy apiece as they eagerly awaited news on how Vevina was feeling after her collapse on the cliff.
Alexander was relieved that Ferncliffe, Agnes, and so many of their co-conspirators had perished.
"But there are still more of them out there," he warned. "I've been chasing them for months, thanks to the dispatchs Andre Olivier has been able to smuggle through."