Lily's Leap (12 page)

She stirred against him and pushed herself up onto her elbow. “Can’t we stay here a little longer?” She stretched like a cat. “I’m so comfortable, and so warm.”

“We must leave, before the coaches, before everyone is stirring.” He swung his legs off the bed and pulled on his boots and coat. “Come on, Lily.” He held her boots out to her. “You’ll need this as well.” He shook out her long black cloak and hung it across her shoulders hoping to trap some of the warmth from the bed around her body as she sat up.

“Tom?” Her hair hung down over her face as she struggled with the long leather boots. “You didn’t talk last night about the papers George took. Why did he want them? Why were they so important?” Her second boot encased her leg and her violet gaze pinned him.

His stomach sank. The title deeds. He’d known from the moment she had spoken of the red seal what George was after. The title deeds to the land grant he had been awarded after his first expedition would legalize Dungarven’s claim to his land. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get around it but right now he wanted Lily to concentrate on the task ahead and not worry about something that would take a deal of time and legalities to sort out. “I’m not certain exactly what he took Lily, and I won’t be until I sort this mess out.” He gestured at the haphazard debris of his life still strewn in chaos after George’s frantic searching.

“All your maps, the title deeds…” He stared at her as the blush rose to her face, knowing immediately how she had spent her time when he’d left her alone in the room. He was a fool. It hadn’t occurred to him she would rifle through his papers, through his belongings. He clamped his jaw together and took several deep breaths before he answered her.

“Lily, these are my private concern.” He waved his arm toward the corner of the room. “I obviously–mistakenly–believed I could trust you not to go foraging through my possessions.” For a moment her head hung and he felt a flicker of sympathy for her, knowing he would have done exactly the same in her position. Unexpectedly her face lifted and her eyes blazed at him.

“The maps are of the area around Wordsworth, similar to those my father has.” Her hands came to her hips, “George took a set of title deeds didn’t he? I’m not a fool. I know what title deeds are.”

His cursed inwardly at his stupidity. They should have dealt with this last night, not now, not when they needed to leave, not when he had given his word to help her. He’d lowered his guard, been swayed by his emotions. He closed his eyes momentarily, drawing on every ounce of his patience and addled brainpower to make a rational decision.

“Yes they were, Lily, and it is something we need to discuss later. Now is not the time if you want to get to Windsor for the races. It’s your decision.” He saw the fight seep out of her as she weighed up the alternatives.

“Windsor.” She said through gritted teeth and pulled her cape around her and made for the door.

****

The rain fell in torrents, a deluge heavier than Lily had seen in years. Sheets of painful horizontal water slashed across her face and filled her eyes. The once majestic but somnolent river had become a furious torrent tearing at the banks and smashing through everything in its path dragging shrubs and debris in its wake. The riverbank had turned to a quagmire, the tracks crumbling as the water rose and Lily shuddered at the sucking sound erupting every time Nero lifted his hooves. She pulled her sodden cloak around her yearning for the comfort of the bed at The Settler’s Arms and the warmth of Tom’s body.

“We have to cross here. We cannot afford to risk the ferry at Wiseman’s. The longer we leave it the higher the water level with rise.” His words only added to her misery.

The rain slanted across her face, each drop stinging her skin as it pelted down. She edged Nero closer to Tom. The rushing water and torrential rain almost drowned out his speech however she had heard enough to make her stomach plummeted at the thought of entering the swollen river. “How can we get across?”

“It’ll be alright if we’re careful, we can swim the horses across. We have to move quickly.”

Lily’s heart pounded as she looked down at the churning brown waters. “The horses won’t be able to carry us across and I’m not a strong enough swimmer.” She cringed at her plaintive voice and an unexpected wave of panic swept through her. She eyed the swirling waters with dread, imagining the horror of being sucked down below the murky, darkness. Her lungs filling with water as she gasped unable to hold her breath. She shuddered and pulled her cloak tightly around her, and she shook her head as she attempted to deny the raging reality in front of her very eyes.

“Lily, listen. You are going to have to be brave. We can do this.” He pulled up under the canopy of a tree and slid out of the saddle. She stared down at him, praying he had an alternative suggestion to offer her.

“Come on. Down you get. Come and help me. We’re looking for branches, light with a deal of length. They need to be at least a yard long. These trees are all widow makers so there will be plenty of timber below them. Straight, long and light.”

Her boots sank into the waterlogged ground as she slid from the saddle. Poor Nero’s body language mirrored her own, his head hung low and the water dripping from his ears trickled into his eyes. She ran her hand down his neck in sympathy.

“Now take off your outer clothes, cloak, boots everything heavy and just leave your shirt and breeches.”

She started at Tom’s words and stared speechless as a surge of uncontrollable shivering shook her. “I’m cold.” As she shook her head in denial her wet hair scored her face and sent droplets of icy cold water down her neck.

Tom stripped down as he talked. Her eyes roamed his body, fear and dripping rain washing away any memory of the muscles bunched beneath his shirt as she begrudgingly followed suit.

“Roll your clothes and boots up in your cloak and we’ll strap them to one of the spare horses. They’re already wet; we can dry them out on the other side. The rain will stop soon. Look.” He pointed up and she noticed with relief the clouds breaking and small patches of blue sky appearing like a reprieve.

“Why don’t we just wait until the rains stops and the river slows down?”

“Lily, we have to do this now. The longer we leave it the faster the river will run even if the rain stops. The runoff from the surrounding hills will keep the water rising for days.”

She gazed up at the steep sandstone cliffs further upstream and let out a huge sigh as she grudgingly accepted he was right.

The raging torrent in front of them churned with mud and half submerged debris swept down from the valley. A random branch sped down river and she flinched as she imagined it spearing her body, or Nero’s.

“This is how it works–Will, you and Bonnie go first, Lily and I will follow with Jem. The horses will swim across with no problem. Lily, you hold fast to Nero’s tail.” He picked up one of the long sticks they had collected and she took it. “Keep the stick in your left hand, if you find your horse drifting away from the rest of us, whack the water beside Nero’s head and he will veer away from it.” He put a cold dripping wet arm around her shoulder; his reassuring hug doing nothing to calm her churning stomach and her chattering teeth.

Lily saw Will pulling Bonnie close obviously offering the same advice Tom had given and she managed to garner a little comfort from the fact it was something they had obviously done before. Nevertheless, she’d swap this for a ride down any hill, any day, no matter how steep. Her body quaked at the prospect of the icy water. It was a test she knew she’d fail–she hated water. She had never been a strong swimmer, and she prayed she would be able to keep her head above water and go with the current. She watched, horrified, as Will kissed Bonnie long and hard. She moved closer to Tom seeking what little reassurance she could.

He answered her unasked question. “The horses won’t have enough strength to pull two of us, Lily. You have to do this on your own.”

The first horses waded down the steep bank. Jem was quickly swallowed by the rushing water. Will and Bonnie followed. Her breath stuttered to a halt as she saw Bonnie go under and she waited wringing her hands until Bonnie surfaced. Her gasp caused Tom to turn and smile tightly at her. She gave up trying to control her shaking.

“Our turn now, Lily. Be brave.”

Her breath snatched when the sudden chill of the river gushed over her despite the fact she was already soaking wet. She closed her eyes and held her breath as the water rose over her head and she sank into the murky depths. Remembering Bonnie she clung onto Nero’s tail like a lifeline, her body tossed by the current until she surfaced like a cork in midstream. She sucked in a lungful of damp air. The river swirled and twisted around her, threatening to suck her under again. Above the rushing torrent of the water she heard Tom, and the rest of the horses hit the river with a splash. She didn’t dare turn around. Her hand ached as she clung desperately to Nero’s tail and she concentrated only on keeping her head above water and her mouth tightly shut.

Droplets of icy, murky water clung to her eyelashes and she would have given anything to wipe them away. With one hand gripping Nero’s tail and the other holding the long stick above the water there was nothing more she could do. The muscles in her arm bunched and screamed in agony as she strove to keep the stick above the water. Ahead she glimpsed Bonnie and Will reaching the steep edge of the opposite riverbank.

“Lily. Lily!”

She forced her head around and glanced over her right shoulder. Tom’s panicked voice broke through the noise of the rushing water and with her vision partly obscured through the icy haze she saw him rush past her, the lead rope floating uselessly on the surface of the water. With her safety line broken, she and Nero were caught in the fast moving current and they had drifted away from the others. She wrapped her hand around Nero’s tail until she could feel her nails against the palm of her hand, her wrist ached and cramped from the effort.

“Tom.” Her plaintive cry washed away down river. The surge of panic followed as she accepted her fate. It was pointless. She was on her own. There was nothing he or anyone else could do. Using her last ounce of strength she raised the stick above her head and brought it down with a resounding crash on the water. As Tom had predicted, Nero shied away from the unexpected splash and turned toward the bank. Still caught mid-stream, she grappled with the realization she was being washed further downstream. She thrashed at the water again groaning aloud as the stick hit a passing log and floated away uselessly, tossed in the bubbling current.

“Lil-eee”.

Through the haze of water she watched Tom run down the bank to keep up with her. The raucous sound of his whistle broke through her fading consciousness and Nero’s ears twitched and he responded, his flanks heaving and his legs thrashing as he strained against the current. Her head snapped back and she closed her eyes against the burst of pain and darkness descended.

****

“Oh my God, what have I done?” Tom fought against Jem’s strong arms as he dragged him from the water’s edge. He pushed Jem aside furiously and scrambled to his feet slipping and slithering down the bank to Will. The water swirled around Will’s thighs and he had the lead rope on Nero guiding him up the bank. Every ounce of air sucked out of Tom’s body as Lily’s lifeless form bumped onto the muddy bank. Her wet hair clung to her face like waterweed and mud and debris coated her in a gelatinous gray skin.

He shook Jem’s sympathetic hand away and staggered toward Will who cradled her body like a rag doll. Fumbling with her icy cold hands still clinging to Nero’s tail, he carefully unpeeled her blue fingers and her arm fell limply to her side.

Her face was as white as a shroud and the blue of her lips stood out in stark relief against the pallor. Will gently carried her up the sandy bank and laid her on the sodden grass. With infinite care, and overwhelming dread Tom rested the back of his hand against the cold, pale skin of her throat.

“Lily. Lily. Come on please, my darling, wake up.” He looked at Will, his stomach twisting and cramping as the slight shake of Will’s head confirmed his worst suspicions. He ran his fingers across her icy cold blue cheek and returned his shaking hand to her neck. An almost imperceptible pulse fluttered beneath his fingers. He pressed harder and his ragged breath caught in his throat and he welcomed the surge of relief that coursed through his body.

****

Lily flinched and blinked her gritty eyes trying to focus. Every bone in her body ached and seemed unnaturally heavy as she tried to move on the hard ground. Flames from the flickering fire illuminated the blurred darkness. Her arms throbbed and she doubted she would ever be able lift her legs again. She let her eyelids fall again but the horror of the murky water swirled in her befuddled mind and she snapped them open.

“You’re awake. Thank God.” Tom hunkered down besides her his weight resting on his heels. “How do you feel?” She studied him through the clearing haze. His sleeves were rolled up and his shirt unbuttoned. Tiny lines etched the skin around his eyes; his disheveled hair and dark stubble made him look tired and older. His sigh reached her from a great distance and she coughed, the dryness of her throat made speech almost impossible.