23.

From Lady Arianna"s Chocolate Notebooks Chocolate Almond Bark 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon unsalted b.u.t.ter 11/2 cups roasted Marcona almonds (not in oil) 1 pound good-quality dark chocolate (62% to 70% cocoa), finely chopped Coa.r.s.e sea salt (for sprinkling) 1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or foil. Combine the sugar with 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook, occasionally swirling the pan and brushing down the sides with a wet pastry brush, until the caramel is dark amber, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Immediately add the b.u.t.ter and whisk until melted. Add the almonds and stir until well coated.

3. Transfer to the baking sheet, spreading out to separate the nuts. Let cool. Break up any large clumps of nuts. Set aside one-quarter of the nuts.

4. Stir the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted. Remove from the heat, add the nuts from the baking sheet, and stir quickly to combine. Spread the chocolate-nut mixture on the same baking sheet, keeping the nuts in a single layer. Top with the reserved nuts; sprinkle with the salt. Chill until the chocolate is set, about 3 hours.

"Let"s be off. Grentham"s men must be in position by now and we can signal them to come take charge of the prisoners." Saybrook struck a flint to the candles and glanced around the room. "Have you any belongings to gather up, Sir George?"

The inventor shook his head. "No," he answered mournfully. "They stripped me of all my books and sketches, right down to the last stump of pencil and sc.r.a.p of paper."

"Come along, then," said the earl. "I"m anxious to return to London."

Henning finished a cursory search of the room. "Nothing of interest here," he said. "I"m sure we"ll find that the guards are simply ruffians from the London stews." To Cayley he added, "Grab one of the cloaks hanging by the door, Sir George. It"s quite chilly outside, now that the sun has nearly set."

Trooping out to the castle"s perimeter walls, they made their way around to the wall facing the wooded hillside. The earl lit a small shuttered lantern and flashed out the prearranged signal. It wasn"t long before they were joined by several hard-looking men carrying the latest-model Baker rifles.

"No need to storm the place, Mr. Brewster," said Saybrook. "The captive has been rescued unharmed. There are two prisoners locked in the pantry and a body to dispose of."

Looking a bit disappointed, the leader of Grentham"s force c.o.c.ked a nod at his companions. "Go bring the rest of the men down," he ordered. "It appears we have naught but charwomen"s duties to perform."

"I would suggest that . . ." The earl"s words trailed off as a ghostly shape moving overhead caught his eye.

Brewster let out a grunt of surprise. "What the Devil!"

"Lucifer be b.u.g.g.e.red," intoned Henning, watching the big balloon pa.s.s high overhead. "You don"t think . . . Nay, I"m letting my imagination get carried away."

Saybrook said nothing. For a moment he stood still, squinting up at the sky, then expelled a low oath.

"Have you a spygla.s.s?" he barked at Brewster.

The man reached inside his coat and handed over a small bra.s.s cylinder.

"d.a.m.nation," muttered the earl, after a sweeping survey of the heavens.

"What do you see?" demanded Henning.

"A second balloon," answered Saybrook tersely. "They are both too far away to make out any details."

"May I have a look, milord?" asked Brewster. Snapping the lens into focus, he studied the sailing spheres. "The closer one is Sadler"s balloon. I recognize it from the Artillery Grounds."

"You are sure?" snapped the earl.

"Yes. Balloons are b.l.o.o.d.y big things, sir, and each one has its own unique design." Brewster handed the spygla.s.s back to Saybrook. "Why in the name of Hades are he and his fellow aeronauts out flying at this hour?"

"A good question," murmured Henning. "Isn"t Sadler the fellow Senora S met yesterday?"

In answer, Saybrook swore again. "Brewster, I"m leaving you and your men to escort Sir George back to London. He"s to be taken straight to Horse Guards and held in seclusion until Grentham gives you further orders." His gaze darted back to the sky for an instant. "I"ll need to borrow your rifle as well."

The weapon and ammunition pouch quickly changed hands, the burnt orange light limning the blackened steel barrel. "Baz, come with me."

"Can"t we go any faster?" Sophia peered through the rigging. "They seem to be getting away."

"No need to be alarmed." Sadler made a series of adjustments with the heating valves. "Le Chaze is riding a gust that will die at the rise of that hill. As the heat from the sun dissipates from the ground, the breezes will calm down. And for all of his braggadocio, his Charlier balloon is much slower than my Montgolfier. That"s because he"s never bothered to tune his rigging to its optimum performance."

Their gondola made a sharp drop in alt.i.tude, and to Arianna the dark-fingered tops of the trees looked uncomfortably close. "Are you sure you wouldn"t like to take another look at your barometer, sir?"

A chuckle rumbled in the shadows. "Nay, nay, I know every b.u.mp and jog along this coastline, so I"m flying on instinct right now. Just watch; in another moment we"ll rise swiftly."

Sure enough, with wind chattering through the wickerwork of the gondola, the balloon shot up, gaining speed as it hurtled along the snaking line of the sea cliff.

"Mmmph." Sophia was thrown back by a rocking jolt.

"Here, now." Sadler gave her a hand up. "We"ll be riding the currents, so you can take a rest from fueling the fire."

"How is your shoulder?" asked Arianna, experiencing a rush of guilt on realizing she had forgotten all about her companion"s injury.

"Fine," said Sophia. "It looked a lot more gruesome than it feels." Seeing Sadler"s brows shoot up, she explained with a casual shrug, "I was stabbed this morning."

It was said as if a slashing blade was served every day, along with her breakfast tea and toast.

"You two ladies are, er, rather more intrepid than the usual female," said Sadler.

"A fact that we must ask you to keep a secret," replied Arianna. "Indeed, I am sure that Lord Grentham will ask you to swear an oath of silence concerning this entire affair. The government won"t want a word leaking out."

"Y-you deal with Grentham?" Sadler blanched at the mention of the minister"s name. "I a.s.sure you that my lips will be sealed tighter than the seams of my balloon. I"ve no desire to stir his wrath."

A wise fellow, thought Arianna. Wiser than me.

"You are right," she suddenly said, catching sight of their quarry as they emerged from a skirl of drifting mist. "We appear to be gaining on them."

Up ahead, the balloon carrying Canaday and Lady Urania did seem to be losing speed.

"Look! Several cords have snapped!" cried Sophia.

A scudding of moonlight showed Le Chaze scrambling furiously to repair the damage.

"Serves the lazy b.u.g.g.e.r right," said Sadler with a savage smile. "We have him now. He"ll be forced to turn back and land. Only a reckless fool would attempt to fly over water in that state."

Sadler"s surmise, however, proved wrong. Le Chaze dropped down from the ropes and suddenly the big Charlier balloon veered out over the Channel.

"Well, I"ll be a flightless dodo-he"s going to make a run for Calais after all!"

"We have to stop him," said Arianna. "Can you get us any closer?"

More fiddling with the valves and shrouds gave their balloon an extra burst of speed.

As they came closer to the Frenchman"s balloon, Arianna could see Canaday and his sister huddled in one corner of their gondola, while the French aeronaut worked the lines in the opposite one. She grabbed up the speaking trumpet and shouted a warning. "Turn back and land. Else we"ll have no choice but to shoot you down!"

In answer, a flash of light winked out of the gloom. An instant later she heard a bullet whistle through the air and pierce their balloon with a sharp thwock.

"Why, the scurvy varlet is shooting at my Monty!" Sadler climbed up in the rigging and shook his fist. "Hoy! I"ll-"

"Get down, Mr. Sadler!" Arianna grabbed his coat and pulled him back into the shelter of the gondola as another bullet pinged against the burner. "Is there anything you can do to force him back over land? If not"-she checked the priming on her pistols-"I shall have to fight fire with fire."

"I can try cutting off his angle and giving him a good thump," said Sadler. "Our balloon is bigger and heavier than theirs, so I might be able to knock out enough of his hydrogen gas to force a descent. But to get that close will bring you ladies into danger."

"Don"t worry about us. I"ll keep Canaday"s head down with a steady stream of shots. Sophia can help me reload," replied Arianna. "What about the damage to our balloon?"

"We would have to take a lot more hits before it becomes serious." Sadler"s expression turned grim. "There is also the option of using red-hot shot on him."

"We"ll give them one last chance to land before resorting to that."

"Very well." He thrust several handfuls of fuel into the burner. "Off we go."

Crouching low, he made a quick round of the cleated lines, fine-tuning the tension. A valve snapped open, giving them a lift in alt.i.tude. Snap, snick, snap-another flurry of metallic sounds and the big Montgolfier balloon altered course.

"Canaday is taking aim," warned Sophia.

"Yes, yes, I see him." Arianna carefully squeezed off a shot, giving thanks for the lethally lovely precision of the beautiful dueling weapons.

A few seconds later, a m.u.f.fled cry rose above the thrum of the wind.

"Bang on the mark!" exclaimed Sadler. "You knocked the pistol from his hand."

"Ha, and it fell overboard!" added Sophia.

"A lucky shot," she replied, watching a small spinning shape plummet into the darkness below. "Be careful, Mr. Sadler. He may have a second one."

Sadler lifted a cautious hand to adjust a rope, but no bullet came whizzing at him. Emboldened, he stood up to tweak a few more lines.

Still no fire.

"Give me another few minutes, and I should be close enough to pluck a few of his feathers."

"That sounds like gunfire," gasped Henning, pausing at the top of a rocky rise to catch his breath. Intent on following the flight of the balloons, he and the earl had left the carriage to make their way on foot along the sea cliffs.

"Aye," growled Saybrook. "Though between your G.o.d-benighted wheezing and the crash of the surf, it"s hard to be sure." Snapping open the spygla.s.s, he drew a bead on the fast-closing orbs. "d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n," he muttered after a long moment. "The light is too muzzy to make out what"s happening. All I can tell is that there are three people in each balloon."

"Male or female?" ventured the surgeon.

Another oath. "With my wife, outward appearances can be cast to the wind." Shoving the gla.s.s back in his pocket, he watched the two ghostly shapes float together through a slow, silent spin, as if performing an elegant aerial ballet, then head out to sea.

"Let us hope that for once, she has been sensible enough not to go where angels should fear to tread," he added under his breath.

"Lady S wouldn"t hesitate to march into the deepest hole in h.e.l.l if she was hot on the heels of the Devil. And ye know it, laddie. It"s one of the things ye love about her."

"At the moment," said Saybrook, "love is not the emotion boiling in my breast." He pointed to an outcropping up ahead. "Hurry, let"s keep them in sight as long as possible."

Through a mare"s tail of mist, Arianna saw Lady Urania tending to her brother"s injured hand. A pale strip of cloth and a wink of silver fluttered in her fingers as she sought to cleanse the viscount"s wound with brandy and bandage the mangled flesh. They seemed to be arguing, for the sound of their shrill voices rose above the thrum of the taut ropes and the keening whistle of the wind.

Deciding the twins were beyond reason, Arianna directed her shout to the French aeronaut. "This is your last warning, Le Chaze! Head back to land and set your balloon down, else my next shot will be aimed at your heart."

They were now close to the other balloon-close enough to see Le Chaze abandon his efforts in the rigging, close enough to see Canaday wrest free of his sister"s grip.

"Steady yourselves," warned Sadler. "We"re hitting a pocket of turbulent air."

"You dare to challenge Prometheus?" The viscount"s enraged roar was edged with a note of hysteria. "Ha! No man or woman alive can match my fire." As he spoke, he whipped up a knife and wrapped the b.l.o.o.d.y handkerchief around its hilt. "Rainnie, give me a light! Together we"ll triumph, as always."

"Good G.o.d, he"s pouring the liquid from his flask onto the cloth," exclaimed Sophia. "I think he means to make a torch and spear our balloon."

A spark flared as his sister struck a flint to steel.

Le Chaze screamed a warning. But at the same instant a strong gust rocked the French gondola, pitching Canaday backward. The lit torch fell against the wicker, and with its fire fanned by swirling wind, flames rose up and quickly set the rigging alight.

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l!" Sadler tugged open a release valve on his own balloon, and the big Montgolfier began to lose alt.i.tude. "Hold tight, ladies!"

Ripples of molten red raced up the ropes, and it took only a handful of heartbeats for the fire to hit the French balloon"s skin with a sizzling crackle. The loud hiss of escaping gas hung for an instant in the night air, and then suddenly the sound exploded into a shuddering BOOM.

Arianna felt shock waves buffet her body as the hydrogen-filled sphere burst into a ball of golden fire. It burned for an agonizing moment-a brilliant, terrifyingly beautiful blaze against the black velvet sky-before disintegrating in a shower of red-gold sparks, the charred sc.r.a.ps plunging into the sea.

Wisps of smoke drifted above the dark waves.

There was, however, no time for the horror of what she had just witnessed to sink in. The reverberations had spun them around and their balloon was now caught in a downdraft.

"We need to shed weight," called Sadler as he fought to stop them from losing alt.i.tude. "Get rid of the main ballast bags," he added, indicating the ones to go.

Arianna and Sophia hurried to unknot the sand-filled canvas sacks and drop them overboard.

"More!" ordered Sadler after gauging the distance to the water. "Heave the rest of them!"

To Arianna"s eye, their descent slowed, but not by much. He seemed of the same opinion, for after a brief hesitation, he shrugged out of his coat and tossed it over the side. "You, too, ladies, I"m afraid. Sheepskin is heavy."

"It"s also w-w-warm," said Sophia through chattering teeth.