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  “It is all true, my friend. I have seen a great deal of evidence with my own eyes, and I do not doubt the remainder of what I have heard. My cousins will train with us and…” William was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  Bingley called out, “Enter!”

  In walked Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.

  “Were your ears ringing, gentlemen?” Bingley asked as he stood and bowed. “Welcome to Netherfield, Lord Reginald, Colonel. We were just speaking of you both!”

  William walked towards the newcomers, shaking their hands heartily. “How did you manage to get here so quickly? The express could not have arrived in London more than an hour ago.”

  “We received no express, cousin,” Lord Reginald began, “not of the conventional sort, anyway. You probably would not believe what has happened to us. Neither did we, until we realized the same thing had happened to us both.”

  “Let me guess—last night, you were both contacted by someone who has passed on and they told you to come here?” William asked.

  Richard replied, “Yes, cousin, your parents, in fact! Did the same happen to you?”

  William nodded. “In a way. It seems that my parents were very busy last night. What else did they tell you?”

  Between the two newly arrived gentlemen, they described something similar to what Bingley had spoken of. William knew he had to be careful about what he revealed since the Otherworlders did not tell them the entire story that he now knew.

  “Who is this lady—Miss Elizabeth Bennet? Do either of you know her?” Richard asked.

  “Yes, we have met the entire Bennet family. Miss Elizabeth is the second of five daughters. A very pleasant and pretty girl,” Bingley offered.

  “I apologize, Bingley, but sharing that she is pleasant and pretty does not clear up why she requires four men to guard her!”

  “We will work in a group of five, actually. I admit to knowing more than any of you, but I am not certain how much I am able to share. I will add that the guard is necessary.”

  “Who is the fifth?” Bingley moved to pour four glasses of brandy.

  “Mr. Bennet,” William announced.

  “Mr. Bennet!” Bingley almost dropped the bottle from his hands. “But, he is an old man! How can he—”

  “Bingley,” William interrupted, “Mr. Bennet is not as old as you would make him out to be! He is also an expert in a special kind of sword fighting that my father had once begun to teach to the three of us.” Gesturing toward his cousins, William continued, “From what I heard from my father’s lips, Mr. Bennet is a much better swordsman than Father ever was—and that is saying quite a lot! It is actually a great honour to be trained by him and be accepted to fight alongside him. Our training will begin tomorrow at dawn. Mr. Bennet will work with us all day, every day. If we are lucky, we shall learn all that he can possibly teach us.”

  “Why on earth do we need to train so hard, Will? What is the rush?” Lord Reginald inquired.

  “In two weeks, George Wickham will come into town with the militia.”

  “Wickham!” Richard growled. “Leave me alone with that slime for one minute, and he will cease being a threat to Miss Bennet—or anyone else for that matter!”

  “No, Richard, we shall leave Wickham to himself but watch him closely. From what I was told, he is working for someone, and we must find out who it is. Even those who have passed on do not know his identity. He has hidden himself from them somehow.”

  “Why is Miss Elizabeth not being taken far away from here and hidden until we can find the leader?” Lord Reginald queried.

  “There is too much at stake. It is necessary that she be here for them to make their move, or else they will try again at a later date, when we are not prepared.”

  “I see, so we must make them think that Miss Elizabeth is being left unprotected to lure them in?” Bingley was obviously incensed by the idea.

  “As long as I live and breathe, Elizabeth will never truly be left unprotected, gentlemen, not for one moment! They will not touch her!” William boomed angrily.

  Richard chuckled at his cousin’s violent reaction. “And just who is Miss Bennet to you, William?”

  “This blasted secrecy—I do not know how much I can tell you!” The knuckles on William’s closed fists began to turn white. “I will reveal that no matter what the situation seems like at present, Miss Elizabeth Bennet will someday be my wife.”

  Bingley began to choke on his brandy. “Miss Elizabeth—your wife?” Catching the look of despair upon his friend’s face, he put some effort into restraining his reaction and continued more gently, “Darcy, I wish that I did not have to be the one to inform you of this, but you should know that Miss Elizabeth does not think very highly of you.”

  William closed his eyes and uttered softly—almost desperately, “Was everyone aware of this but me?” He sighed deeply and went on with great feeling, “Never the less, at some time in the future, Elizabeth will become my wife, and I will protect her as if she already were.”

  After a few moments of silence, Lord Reginald vowed, “Well, then, so shall we all.”

  The sound of the others’ concurrence followed.

  “Thank you for your support, gentlemen. I am sorry, Bingley, but no matter how difficult it may prove to be, we must keep all of this from Hurst and your sisters.”

  Bingley nodded.

  Noticing the time, the new arrivals decided they had best freshen up before it was time for dinner. Bingley showed them to their rooms.

  Chapter 3

  November 2, 1811

  The gentlemen arrived at Elizabeth’s meadow, as William had come to think of it, at the break of day. The sight that met their eyes when entering the clearing made them halt their approach. Five beautiful ladies, hair bound in long braids, stood watching the display of colours advance across the sky. Shocking the gentlemen, but also capturing their attention fully, the ladies were dressed in tightly fitted trousers and lawn shirts.

  Even from this distance, William could barely tear his eyes away from the way that Elizabeth’s face shone with appreciation as she watched a new day dawning, but the vision of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen dressed in trousers was too tempting to resist drinking in as well.

  After a minute or two, William recalled his surroundings. He became more than a little rankled, realizing that the other gentlemen would surely look at his future wife in the same manner, although he doubted that Bingley had eyes for anyone other than Miss Jane Bennet.

  This should not be happening! It went against all he had been taught about propriety. Elizabeth was his, and even though her skin was covered with material, perhaps even more so than the usual afternoon or evening gown would conceal on top—for which he was grateful at the moment—no other man should ever have had the opportunity to see the outline of her legs! And neither should he for that matter—at least not until they were married. These differing sets of rules of propriety were going to take a great deal of effort to accept.

  “Having them nearby wearing trousers will be very distracting!” observed Lord Reginald.

  Richard replied, “I am certain that is intentional. It is not only the trousers…” his voice trailed off.

  “Not only the trousers?” William’s question went unanswered. Elizabeth turned around, and he noticed her shirt was not buttoned up to her neck, as he had hoped. Gentleman or not, he was still a man, and he knew his eyes would be drawn to her charms to see if he could catch a glimpse as she moved. “None of you are allowed to even think about looking at Miss Elizabeth!” he growled.

  “Or Miss Bennet!” Bingley added forcefully.

  “Make a point of indicating which sister is which during introductions; as they are all very beautiful, I will be content with finding something to admire in the other three, I am certain,” Lord Reginald replied.

  “Mr. Bennet is quite the strategist!” Richard observed.

  “I have never seen wooden swords like those the ladies are holding, have you?” asked Bingley.

  “Those are wasters—a sort of training sword. Uncle Darcy had us use them when he was conducting our lessons. There are also shields on the ground near them. Will we be learning shield fighting?” Lord Reginald inquired.

  Richard’s eyes widened when he noticed how many weapons there were. “Are the ladies training with us, Darcy?”

  William was still having some difficulty looking away from Elizabeth. “Mr. Bennet said they would be here, but I do not know that the ladies will be training with us.”

  “It is not possible. I will not fight against a lady!” Bingley exclaimed.

  “Oh, yes, you will, Mr. Bingley. And so will you all!” Mr. Bennet’s voice came from behind them, startling all the younger men, instantly causing them to wonder how much of their conversation he had overheard. “Gentlemen, since we only have a fortnight before the Olc arrive, you will be spending a great deal of time here training. There is no time to conduct personal lessons for the four of you, so my daughters will be pairing up with you and training you in our methods. I will be overseeing all of the sessions, making corrections and recommendations to your teachers. Eventually, you will learn how to fight as a group of five, including myself in the count.”

  At the gentlemen’s expressions of astonishment, Mr. Bennet continued, “My daughters are a fully trained legionnaire fighting group. Of course, living with me, they have had extensive training. Jane and Elizabeth are experts in the art of swordsmanship. They will train Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, exclusively. Being younger, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia have uneven abilities. Their talents run in different areas, and they will alternate between instructing Lord Reginald and Colonel Fitzwilliam, teaching you the skills that they have mastered.

  “For the past year or so, no one new has sought training. Therefore, my daughters can also use this as practice—fighting against those they do not know well and cannot anticipate is always helpful.” He could not help himself from chuckling as he walked past the group of open-mouthed gentlemen, throwing a glance back at them. “Do not worry; I will not allow my girls to harm you.”

  “Yes, yes—quite the strategist!” Richard stated with a touch of awe in his tone.

  As the gentlemen approached, William made the introductions. It was strange watching the ladies curtsy, and disconcerting that a movement which appeared graceful while they wore skirts seemed so very awkward while clad in trousers.

  William could feel Elizabeth’s eyes upon him. Whenever he dared to look, he could see they were dancing with amusement—especially as her father said, “Gentlemen, I assume you all have been well-taught in the art of fencing. Here, you will learn a different style of fighting, using daggers as well as longswords. I would like to see how well you perform in a longsword match first, to see where we should begin our lessons.

  “From previous experience, I expect a great deal of unlearning will be necessary in order to perform well with this type of sword. Therefore, as I have already informed my girls, I will adjust our usual rules for points required to win this first match. Gentlemen are required to score five touches while the ladies will need fifteen to win.”

  The gentlemen’s expressions betrayed their aversion to these arrangements.

  “Mr. Bennet, I understand the importance and benefit of being taught by the best,” William bowed his head slightly to Mr. Bennet, “and therefore will agree to engage in matches with the ladies because it is your wish, but honour prevents me from accepting an advantage in scoring. I respectfully decline such an arrangement.”

  It was unclear whether Mr. Bennet could not hide his amusement, or did not even try to do so. “If that is your wish, Darcy, then so be it. I will allow the other gentlemen to refrain from voicing their opinions until they have witnessed your match. I believe you will regret it.”

  Shortly after this exchange, William found himself standing across from Elizabeth with their wasters drawn. Mr. Bennet told him that he would first like to see his attack.

  After several moments, William stated, “Sir, with all due respect, I cannot attack Miss Elizabeth.”

  Mr. Bennet sighed. “All right. Lizzy, show him how it is done.”

  Before beginning, Elizabeth smiled so widely that William cringed, wondering if this scene was fulfilling a secret wish she had had these past six weeks as her dislike for him had grown stronger. His mind wandered for just a moment while thinking this was not the sort of fantasy he had dreamed of reenacting with her. She noticed his distraction and took advantage of it to make the first point.

  William had already vowed to himself that he would defend but would not attack, and she must have sensed this from him. Although Elizabeth skillfully backed him against the same tree repeatedly before making her second point, he knew that she could have made it much sooner. She was good—very good. How on earth was he to protect her if she was so much better at fighting than he?

  After her third point had been gained, Elizabeth became annoyed. “You do understand that you may come up against a woman in a real battle someday, do you not?”

  He knew her statement to be correct, but he also was unwilling to admit aloud that fighting a lady other than Elizabeth would be a very different experience. Although he might still attempt to avoid an altercation with any lady, when it came to Elizabeth, he did not wish to even feign harming her.

  William felt he was completely correct in this matter, at least, until she spoke again, voicing a few words between each blow to his wooden sword, “You must participate fully in training, sir, or else you will not be fighting at your best in true battle. I realize that you are attempting to reconcile your need for training with acting the part of a gentleman, but you must discard all of your preconceived notions while here on the training field. Maintaining the rules of British propriety during our training sessions is selfish, Mr. Darcy. As part of my guard, your main task is to protect me. You must see that as a result of your refusal to engage now, I may die.”

  He froze. Elizabeth could have made her fourth point easily, but she expected his distress and waited for him to recover his senses. William stood staring at her for a minute or two, breathing heavily, either as a result of their match or the emotions stirred within him by her last statement—even he was not certain of the cause. Bowing his head, at length he replied, “Of course! I had not thought of it in that manner, but you are wholly correct. I thank you for pointing out my error, Miss Elizabeth; I do not comprehend how I did not see it sooner.”

  Elizabeth’s expression displayed her surprise and confusion. William had to wonder which part of his speech had caused this reaction. Did she not think him capable of admitting that he was wrong?

  Though still hesitant at first, he began to fight in a manner closer to the way he would if he were in a match against a man. As he did, he noticed her abilities appear to become stronger.

  “You were holding back,” William stated.

  The sparkle in her eyes showed her amusement. “Of course, I was.”

  “Why?”

  “It was not honourable to do otherwise. If you would not engage fully, then I could not. Besides, I did not have to!” She almost giggled.

  William made a move that was unanticipated and scored his first point. Although he cringed afterward and seemed to have a difficult time forgiving himself for doing it, Elizabeth knew it was progress.

  “Did your father teach you that, Mr. Darcy?”

  “No, you did, Miss Elizabeth. You made that move earlier.”

  Elizabeth smiled widely. “You are a quick study, sir.” She had to hold back a chuckle at the result of her small word of praise. William was practically glowing in response! Had she been that hard on him?

  Mr. Bennet called out, “I would like you two to move further away and continue on as you have been while the others display their skills.” Her father then described to Elizabeth what he thought William’s training should consist of for this first session.

  “I do think you would do better if you removed your coat, Mr. Darcy.” Elizabeth said as she led the way further from the group.

  He glanced at her attire and then proceeded to remove his coat and waistcoat, leaving him clad similarly to Elizabeth. “I suppose one of the differences in the two societies is formality of dress?”

  “Usually women within the Tribes wear gowns, but not the same type as British ladies. You saw an example of a Tribal gown at the Sanun. Although we would rather not, at times we do wear skirts for training as well.”

  “If you would rather wear trousers, then why—”

  Elizabeth interrupted forcefully, “Because true combat will probably come at a time when we least expect it. For all we know, a challenge could come during a ball. We need to be prepared for any possibility.”

  William gestured toward the surrounding woods. “Are you not concerned that someone will see you wearing trousers?”

  Elizabeth stopped and turned to him. “My sisters and I remove our gowns after we arrive here.” Her brow arched as she said, “We also have been known to train wearing pantaloons and a chemise!” Elizabeth laughed at William’s shocked expression. “There are rumours—begun by my ancestors, I imagine—of a curse upon the meadow and the surrounding woods. People in this area are superstitious, which works in our favour. Most people stay very far away from this meadow.”

  William nodded silently. She could not know how difficult it was for him to turn his mind away from the vision she had conjured up with her words—Elizabeth undressing here in this very meadow and training in her undergarments. Though, he tried to rationalize to himself, she probably would not look very different from the way she does right now. Elizabeth’s voice barely pulled him back to the present.