Antony Barone Kolenc
The Harwood Mysteries Book 6
The Devil’s Ransom
The Harwood Mysteries
Book 6
Antony Barone Kolenc
Copyright © 2024 Antony Barone Kolenc
All rights reserved.
Cover art credit: Martin Beckett, MahirAtes/iStockphoto/Getty Images p. viii-x Map art credit: Martin Beckett
ISBN: 978-0-8294-5720-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2024938216
Published in Chicago, IL
For Talia, bold and spirited
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
(1 John 4:18)
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
With each new book in The Harwood Mysteries series, my characters, along with my readers, have grown in age and maturity. Hence, this sixth in the series, The Devil’s Ransom, which contains themes that are more mature than topics in its predecessors, is intended for a slightly older audience. To help guide young readers through the varying degrees of light and shadow in this story, detailed historical notes providing context to key events and actions within these pages can be found at the back of the book. I encourage parents and teachers to read this book in tandem with their youth—the conversations will be interesting and fruitful, to be sure.
Ultimately, this is a tale about the struggle between good and evil. While I do not want to give anything away about what unfolds in the chapters ahead, I leave you with this assurance from Sacred Scripture: If God be for us, who could be against us? (Romans 8:31). The answer is at the heart of this novel. I hope you enjoy it—hold on for a thrilling ride!
In Christ, Antony Barone Kolenc
1An Unexpected Guest
Xan waited near the gloomy waters of the pool, the crinkled parchment held tightly in his hand. Hoofbeats rushed toward him along the shoreline, much like that chill day back in November 1187, barely six months earlier. That was the day he had received the ransom note from the Moors who held Uncle William captive.
What anguish Uncle and the other travelers must have felt in those stormy hours off the coast of Portugal! Monstrous waves had nearly foundered their ship, and then the Moorish pirates had come. Those cruel men—steel in their grips, hatred in their eyes—had sold the poorer passengers into slavery and transported the wealthier ones to the city of Xelb to be held for ransom.
The galloping horse drew nearer, but did its rider bring good news or ill? Back in November, the messenger from Uncle William’s ship had ridden a horse just as swiftly, bringing cruel tidings of the fall of Jerusalem. He had also carried the note with the impossible demand from Uncle’s captors: 500 silver marks to be paid for his release, with the ransom delivered by midsummer or else Uncle would be executed.
The rider pulled his horse to a halt, mere paces from where Xan stood.
“Hoy, lad!” Thomas—the sheriff’ s man—dismounted in a beat. He tugged at the edge of his shirt, fastened by a belt over black pants. The shaggy ends of his mustache needed combing.
“Good morrow, Thomas. Do you bring news about my uncle?”
“Indeed I do, and good tidings at that.”
For some reason, the sheriff himself had taken an interest in Uncle’s safe return to Lincoln. Perhaps it had something to do with the ship’s survivor, who was delivering ransom letters from the Moors to dozens of wealthy families all over England. Once it became known that Xan’s meager savings would barely cover a tenth of Uncle’s ransom, the sheriff had made an appeal to the Christian generosity of the wealthy men of Lincolnshire.
“Have we truly raised enough silver to secure my uncle’s release?”
Thomas grinned. “’Tis stored safely in the sheriff’ s vault as we speak.”
Xan stared at the man. “I had no idea so many noblemen cared about us. ”
“Some donated for your sake, but most did it out of hatred for the Moors of Portugal, not to mention the Saracens in the Holy Land—may God curse those devils who show no mercy. ”
These days, everyone was cursing the followers of Mohammed: that man who had claimed to be a prophet and had started a new religion more than five hundred years ago. His disciples had converted half the world, often by the edge of the sword. But what about Saladin, leader of the Mohammedans? That sultan had shown some mercy when conquering Jerusalem last year, taking it from the Christians.
“Will our ransom get to Xelb by the deadline?” Xan said. “That voyage can take weeks.”
“Aye, lad. I have already booked passages on a ship for five couriers to escort the treasure. The vessel sails from Dover at the end of the month.”
“Five couriers?”
“Thesheriffwantsafewmoresoulstokeepaneyeonthatsilver.Not to mention that you have made enemies with men who would gladly steal the ransom if it were left unwatched.”
Xan frowned. “But I barely have the funds to pay for even three escorts.”
“The sheriff will cover the extra cost,” Thomas said. “Think of it as a belated reward for helping us expel that villainous Master and his ruffians a few years ago. ”
True, Xan had given vital information to Thomas and the sheriff about that ruthless moneylender, the Master, who had plagued Lincoln for decades. He had also disclosed the identity of a newer threat to the city: the bandit Rummy, who had been posing as a usurer called Lord Randoul. Since then, Thomas had often dropped by Uncle’s merchant shop for conversation.
Xan bowed to the man. “’Tis very generous of the sheriff. Please send him my gratitude.”
Thomas patted the edge of his mustache. “We will talk more about it next week, lad”—the man gave a mischievous grin—“after your life has been turned upside down.”
Xan did not comment on the sheriff’ s man ’ s jest. He simply gave a wave as Thomas mounted his horse and spurred the beast back toward the walls of Lincoln.
He folded the parchment and slid it into the pouch tied to the rope around his gray tunic. He headed back to the South Gate but had not quite made it past the docks when Christina appeared on the path ahead. The scarf upon her hair barely covered her thick, auburn curls.
“I was getting worried about you, Alexander.”
“Why?” He tried to keep a serious face. “I’ve never done anything worrying before.”
“Really?”
She put a hand on her hip and grinned so broadly that the scar on her right cheek caught the sunlight. She barely commented about that
injury anymore—her wound of love, as she called it, received in the ruins of Lincoln Cathedral in 1186 while protecting him. Ever since their trip to Penwood Manor last year, she had even removed the faceveil that had kept the scar hidden.
“Actually,” he said, “I was just now speaking with Thomas by the swan pool.”
Her grin vanished. “That bungler? What did he want?”
The man wasn’t high on her list of favorite persons—not since that night in the cathedral’s ruins, where Thomas had hastily stitched her dagger-wound. The man ’ s poor handiwork had made her scar more prominent than it would have been if it had been sewn by one with more careful hands.
He told her about the tidings Thomas had brought, and the possibility of ransoming Uncle.
“Oh, what a blessing!” She embraced him, her green frock pressing against him.
“So much can still go wrong, ” he said. “’Tis more than a thousand miles to Xelb.”
She whispered into his ear. “Your uncle will return, Xan. We need to trust God.”
He stepped away from her. “I just wish I could see the end of the path for once. ”
God had kept his path dimly lit for years—ever since Carlo and Rummy and the other bandits had destroyed his village, making him an orphan. The monks of Harwood Abbey had taken him in after that tragedy. That’s where he met Lucy and Father Andrew and Sister Regina. Then he had left the abbey for Lincoln to become a merchant’s apprentice to Uncle William.
Do dim paths really teach people to trust in You, Lord?
The former abbot had claimed as much, predicting that God would give light to his next steps when he embraced his dim path with a full heart. Lucy and Father Andrew had said the same.
“Those noblemen were so generous, ” she said. “See how it all works for good now. ”
He took her hand. “Actually, my love, I think raising the ransom was the easy part. Getting that much silver to Xelb may be nigh on impossible.”
She gazed into his eyes for a long moment. “I truly am your love now, aren’t I?”
“You know that you are. ”
It had taken all winter to convince Christina that his heart beat true only for her—even though Lucy had been expelled from the nunnery at Harwood Abbey. How long had it been since he had considered Lucy a possible bride? Since his return from Penwood, his feelings for Lucy felt more akin to a brother’s for a sister. His love for Christina, on the other hand, was different.
Her eyes suddenly twinkled. “That’s why I’m letting you marry me, Alexander.”
“You mean your father is letting you marry me. ”
Christina’s family had always pressured her to find a wealthy husband. Settling for a peasant like him had seemed unthinkable to them—until their daughter received a wound on her cheek so visible that her parents now believed no rich man would wed her.
You really do bring good even out of the worst of tragedies, don’t you, Lord?
“I think my parents really do like you. ’Tis the only reason they’re letting me be your wife.”
He squeezed her hand. “And that’s the reason I’m the luckiest boy in all of England.”
“You’re fifteen years old now, Xan. Maybe you should start calling yourself a man. ”
He had done plenty to earn a promotion to manhood. Not only had he solved impossible mysteries and defeated dangerous villains, but he had also run Uncle William’s merchant business this past year. He’d even had the courage to ask Christina’s father for her hand in marriage.
Xan laughed. “You’re right,” he said. “C’mon. Let’s get back to the shop.”
They strolled hand in hand through the South Gate and up the steep, flat-stoned hill lined with cottages. It being a Thursday, merchants clogged the streets with their goods. As they walked, he relayed to Christina the details that Thomas had shared. She seemed to doubt the man ’ s plan.
“Are these couriers even trustworthy? If they were to make off with all our savings, we would have neither William nor provision for our family’s future.”
She often expressed worry that the strain of the ransom would bankrupt their business.
He pinched her arm teasingly. “Like you said, I guess we’ll need to trust God.”
Trusting God also meant trusting Him with their needs in this passing world.
When they had nearly made it to Uncle’s shop, a voice shouted from farther up the road. “There you are, Xan!”
With so much foot traffic, it was difficult to make out who had called his name.
Simon—Christina’s younger brother—suddenly came into view, walking with two others: a tall, young man and a pretty girl with dark, shoulder-length hair covered by a scarf.
“Who’s that?” Xan said, as a butcher holding a mutton chop stepped in front of him.
“Really?” Christina turned to him. “You truly don’t know who that is?”
Only then did the identity of the visitors become clear. It cannot be possible!
He took a second look as they drew closer. “Lucy . . . is that you?”
Surely it was Lucy—from the kindness in her eyes to the black speck of a mole upon her cheek. She and her older brother, Aubrey, were striding toward them beside Simon.
“Look who I found at the East Gate!” Simon was all smiles.
Xan looked at Christina, who didn’t seem surprised at all.
“You knew Lucy was coming? That’s what we ’ ve been waiting for this extra month?”
She smiled back with even more mischief than before. “Of course I knew, Alexander, you silly boy. Who do you think invited her to witness our wedding vows?”
About the Author
AntonyBaroneKolencretiredasaLieutenantColonelfromtheUnited States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps after twenty-one years of military service. He has been a law professor for more than a decade, publishing numerous legal works. He speaks in middle-school classrooms around the nation, as well as at writing, home education, and legal conferences. He and his wife, Alisa, have several wonderful children and grandchildren.
In this captivating climax to the award-winning Harwood Mysteries series, Xan must unravel his most perilous mystery yet. Xan, Christina, and Lucy undertake a dangerous voyage across treacherous seas so that Xan can confront Moorish pirates who are holding Uncle William for ransom. When the friends encounter a sinister evil force, their faith and friendship is put to the ultimate test. Set at the dawn of the Third Crusade, their adventure is brimming with danger and intrigue.
Will a malevolent figure from their past thwart their mission?
Are demonic forces at work outside the city walls?
Will Xan and his friends fall prey to the dark forces that threaten to consume them?
ISBN: 978-0-8294-5720-9 $19.99 U.S.