“We can cross here. Stay with me and allow yer horse to find his way. He’ll follow me. You hold on tight and you’ll be fine, aye?”
She nodded, at a loss for words as she looked out across the swirling waters.
The river separated into narrow fingers around small islands of land angled through the whole of it. The islands broke the flow of the water, slowing it a bit.
Abby could only trust that Colin knew what he was doing, because none of her past experience ridingthrough meadows or on back trails in Colorado had done anything to prepare her for something like this.
Her horse wasted no time in wading in, matching his pace to that of Colin’s mount. Near the middle of the largest open stretch, the water rose well above her knees, almost to her mount’s shoulders, and she allowed her mind to flirt uncomfortably with the idea that the large animal might actually be swimming rather than touching the bottom.
As long as he seemed calm, she reassured herself, things must be going well enough. Now if she could only convince herself that there was no need to panic.
Ahead of her, Colin slowed his horse, waiting for her to come abreast of him. “Yer doing fine, Abby. We’re almost across. Yer mount is a good one. Trust him.”
She tried to smile at him, to show him she was handling this all like an experienced outdoorswoman, but for some reason her lips simply refused to cooperate, and she knew without a doubt that if she opened her mouth to speak, she was just as likely as not to end up a whimpering mess.
He reached over and plucked up the slack in her reins, maintaining a hold on it until they reached the far bank.
Somehow, that small move reassured her more than anything up to that point had. She found herself relaxing her own death grip on the reins just a bit, as if sharing that strip of leather with him allowed some of his confidence to leach into her.
When they at last reached the other side, she wanted nothing more than to slide off her horse and kiss thesolid ground, but considering she strongly suspected her legs would give way and humiliate her, she stayed in the saddle.
“Look there.”
She turned her head to follow the direction Colin pointed in, and her heart pounded in her chest as she realized those were flames licking against the trees they’d ridden through not ten minutes ago.
“I think that’s just about the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”
Colin nodded, his attention already fixed on scanning the area behind them. “We canna afford to delay here.”
Now that the immediate danger seemed past, Abby began to notice the little discomforts left behind. For one thing, her shift and overdress were soaked up to her thighs and felt as though they carried an extra fifty pounds of water. She very much doubted anything in the cloth bag tied to her horse’s back had fared the river crossing in much better shape.
While Colin seemed to work through some internal debate about the direction they would travel from here, she got down to practical matters. Grabbing up the hem of her skirt, she began to wring water out of it, section by section.
“Look at you.” Colin had returned to her side, a reluctant grin breaking over his face. He caught up one of her freshly wrung out sections and touched it to her face. “Now we’ve a great problem. It seems I’ve uncovered a clean spot.”
“What are you talking about?” She glanced to hisface as he dragged a finger across his forehead leaving a lighter trail in a smudge of dirt. “Soot?”
If she looked anything like he did, which she was sure she must, simply wringing out her skirt wasn’t going to accomplish much in the way of making her look presentable.
“There’s a small village, maybe an hour’s ride ahead. We should be able to make it there before dark settles. I know a man who lives nearby and like as no, he’ll give us shelter for the night. You’ll be able to freshen yerself there.”
He ducked his head, not waiting for her answer, and started off down the trail again.
So he knew a man in a village, did he? A place he could stay that didn’t involve a long cold night on the hard ground. Interesting he hadn’t mentioned that before. In fact, he’d been pretty specific about the whole journey’s lacking in accommodations. If she were the suspicious type, she might be tempted to suspect he had wanted her to believe every night would be like their last one just so she would stay behind with his family rather than tagging along with him.
Ifshe were the suspicious type.
“Which I definitely am,” she muttered defiantly, kneeing her horse to keep pace with Colin.
Twenty-nine
Flynn bent low over his horse’s neck, kicking the animal’s sides, demanding more speed. Not that the terrified animal wasn’t already giving all she had.
Behind him, the screams ceased abruptly, leaving only the roar of the encroaching flames. Like the beating of hooves, the sound reverberated against his eardrums, as if Hades’ own chariot chased him.
Once he made it out of this mess, he’d need to find himself some new weak-minded mortal to enthrall. He’d warned the fool to ride faster. Pity he’d lost their supplies as well.
The fire raged around him, leaping from tree to tree, consuming everything in its path. The dry timbers exploded with the fury of the inferno, showering burning shrapnel down on him that stung his face and hands.