Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men

Prologue

The night was dark, no hint of moonlight penetrated the thick banks of cloud. The wind blowing from the east brought fast-moving showers that would soon soak anyone foolish enough to be out of doors on such an evening.

    Better to be inside; in bed, or a tavern, with a welcoming fire and a tankard filled with ale, or better yet rum. Only people of a nefarious character had reason to be abroad on such a night. 

     A person of vivid disposition might let their imagination run wild as they pulled the collar of their coat up and turned their face towards the rain and trudged homewards. If they were lucky, they would be mounted or inside a post-chaise or coach, where the wind rattled the doors, but the rain could not penetrate. The driver for a pittance would endure the elements; the wind beating against his exposed face as the rain dripped from his hat, the only sound to keep pace with the keening wind was the stream of profanity spouted by the driver as he promised this would be his last such journey.

     The weather was not the only concern for the driver; the roads were pitiful, pitted as they were by potholes. And then there were the footpads that haunted the lanes and byways; men who would wield a club, knife, and pistol, and were unafraid to use it on an unwary soul in order to gain enough money to spend in a tavern.

     Out on the roads leading to the capital, and the commons surrounding it, the footpads were not the concern; it was the misnamed Knights of the Road—the highwaymen. The man in the coach was unconcerned by highwaymen. 

     Judging by his appearance; his face was red and spoke to his fondness of the grape and grain. His companion held his attention—his daughter, he had said archly to a stranger at the coaching inn where he had begun his journey.     The driver knew different, she affected a French accent at times; Madame This or Madame That. Her haunts were the inns surrounding London, but she had let slip when in her cups one time that she was from Portsmouth, the daughter of a sailor who had abandoned his family when she was a girl.