Riverrun by Felicia Andrews Read Free Book Online Page B

could blink. Seen enough killin’, if you don’t mind. Don’t particularly want t’die, m’self.”
    “No,” she said, holding back amazement that he actually seemed to be apologizing for what had happened. “I mean, why me? Why are you taking me with you? I’m nobody important. I only lived on a farm.”
    “Y’ mean … Josh didn’t tell you?”
    She shook her head.
    He started to laugh, then checked himself abruptly as he glanced toward the windows. “Well, see, Josh figures that if we have some trouble, y’know—if we run into some damned troopers what don’t like the color of our clothes, so to speak—well, y’see we can hold you up, see, and then they can’t—”
    “Hostage,” she said. “You want to use me for a hostage.”
    “Y’know, you talk awfully smart for just bein’ a farm girl,” he said, his eyes narrowing, his voice colored with suspicion.
    “I can read,” she said sharply, “and I can write, if you must know. I was going to be a schoolteacher when the war was over, but that’s—”
    “Well, good for you, lady,” he said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d kinda like to sleep some. I got to drive come midnight, and I want to be able to see where I’m going.”
    He propped his heels on the opposite seat and folded his arms across his chest. His eyes closed almost instantly, and added his raucous snores to the noise of the carriage’s creaking, the pounding hooves that raced through the night. Cass thought of a dozen different and desperate ways she might be able to escape, and thought of another dozen ways she would be killed if she tried. They were light sleepers, all of them—as if anyone could truly sleep in this miserable thing, she thought sourly—and a single wrong move would mean the end of the truce. So she gave up the idea, as she had innumerable times before, and allowed herself to fall into a light doze, waking with a start and a mumbled curse whenever the carriage lurched over a deep rut or around some obstacle in the road.
    Cal was replaced by Bobbie, then by Josh, but none of them spoke to her, not even a grunt. They had done what they had done, and now they were deeply involved in the business of fleeing for their lives. Cass had hours ago given up the hope that they might run into some soldiers or locals, realizing that the trio would be keeping well away from the major roads. Now and then she could hear, or thought she could hear, the crackle of firing in the distance, but it faded so rapidly that she often wondered if it were mere wishful thinking.
    There had been a fragment of a dream, too: that Geoff in his captain’s splendor came riding up to the carriage, reached inside and pulled her out in one swift motion, setting her astride the magnificent Falcon and riding away with her like some Godsent spectre. But it had only been a dream, and she wished she had the resources to weep when she realized it.
    B y the evening of what she reckoned was the third day since her capture, she made herself understand that she had no idea of where they were now. Maryland, perhaps, or even the swollen hills of northern Virginia. It was useless trying to pinpoint her location, however, because even if she knew it, it would do her no good. It was merely another waste of speculation, of time, but she grinned bitterly as she told herself that time was all she seemed to have left.
    When Cal scrambled back in through the door to relieve Bobbie with a kick and a grunt, she allowed herself to relax more than just a little. Despite her sullen hatred for the three of them, she still found Cal much the easiest to take. He was the only one who bothered to feed her and to give her drink, and to talk to pass the lonely, painful hours. But she noticed now that his face had grown more worn from lack of proper sleep and a decent meal. He said little, only taking care of her water and bread, then stretched out as best he could and fell promptly asleep. He groaned sometime later, and his