The Shadow of Albion by Andre Norton, Rosemary Edghill Read Free Book Online Page A

were the stumps of mighty trees, but as the coach
    passed closer she saw that the figures were not trees, but vast, rough-hewn pillars of
     

 
    stone, placed in the middle of this plain by some unknown people for some
    unfathomable purpose.
     
    The sudden awareness of danger was a cold thrill along her limbs, and at the very
    moment Sarah recognized it and searched for its source, the music of the mail
    coach’s thundering progress changed. She heard the driver cry out, the crack of his
    whip, the faltering of the horses’ headlong pace. The other passengers began to
    rouse, and then the coach slewed violently.
     
    Sarah was half flung through the window with the jolt, and in the split-instant
    before disaster she saw the cause – a woman, standing upon the high perch of some
    strange spidery chariot, her arm flung back to wield the whip upon her wildly
    plunging four-horse team. The woman’s face was pale, intent –
     
     – and suddenly Sarah realized she was staring at her own face, as if she gazed
    into an eerie mirror. In the next moment, the coach was struck by some heavy
    unseen hand, and Sarah felt herself falling, the image of her own face seen from
    without frozen in memory.
    * * *
     
     
    She opened her eyes in a room she had never seen before. Through long
    windows to her right, sunlight shone at the slanting angle of late afternoon, and when
    she turned toward that light Sarah could see pale blue sky and a line of trees. The
    movement of her head was rewarded with the commencement of a dull throbbing
    ache in every limb. Now she remembered: there had been a coaching accident – a
    hideous crash. She had been there. And now she was here.
     
    Sarah opened her mouth to summon help, and a wave of giddiness threatened to
    whirl her back into unconsciousness. She bit her lip, willing the darkness to recede,
    and concentrated on her surroundings to distract herself from swooning.
     
    The bed upon which she lay was very fine, with elaborate carven posts and
    fringed canopy. Hue velvet curtains, lined in white silk and embroidered in silver,
    were drawn back from the sides and looped to each bedpost with a tasseled bullion
    cord. A .merry fire crackled in the carved stone fireplace at the foot of the room,
    and such of the furnishings as Sarah could see from her supine position rivaled for
    elegance any of the engravings in Cousin Masham’s pattern books. Some private
    house in the neighborhood of the accident, no doubt – but why was she here?
     
    Sarah clutched at a strap dangling near the head of the bed, and by its aid
    managed to pull herself upright, realizing only then that her traveling clothes had been
    removed and a nightdress substituted. In a sudden pang of fear Sarah clutched for
    her father’s ring, and relaxed as she felt the hard shape of it, still laced on its ribbon
    beneath the bosom of the nightdress. She leaned back against the carved maple
    headboard, weak with the effort of moving.
     
    „Oh –!“ A gasp of dismay made Sarah turn her head. A maid stood in the
    doorway to the right of the bed, regarding Sarah woefully.
     
    „I’d only stepped out for a moment when I heard you ring – Mistress did not
     

 
    think you’d wake before sundown, my lady.“
     
    Sarah smiled reassuringly, tfiough the effort made her entire face hurt. „There is
    no harm done. But tell me – where am I?“
     
    The maid bobbed a nervous curtsy. „Bulford Hall, my lady. Mistress Bulford said
    I was to sit with you until you woke. Shall I – “
     
    „Please help me up,“ Sarah said, not meaning to interrupt, but unable to bear lying
    helpless a moment longer. The maid came to the side of the bed and helped to turn
    back the heavy brocaded coverlet. „What is your name?“ Sarah asked kindly,
    hoping to dispel some of the girl’s nervousness.
     
    „Rose, my lady.“
     
    It was the third time since her awakening in this strange place that Sarah had been
    addressed by a title that was