Endsville by Harlan Finchley

Author:Harlan Finchley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2020-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“WHERE DO WE GO NOW?” Jesmond said as he and Bodie hurried along the back of the stable.

“Just stay quiet and run,” Bodie said. “We’ll worry about where to go later.”

Jesmond couldn’t argue with this plan and they ran along the backs of the derelict buildings until they reached the edge of town farthest away from the stable and saloon. They stopped, but Hoyt hadn’t followed them.

“I guess the big fellow doesn’t run.”

“I hope you’re right, because I reckon we’ll have just made him angry. If he recaptures us, I’m sure we’ll be the next ones bubbling away in that pot.”

Jesmond winced. “You did make me think for a moment back there that you were going to eat what was in the pot.”

Bodie turned to Jesmond. “I’ll do anything to survive, but I wouldn’t do that. Thankfully, the better option presented itself.”

“And what about Cresswell?”

“Based on what happened to Yardleigh and Flynn, I hope he got lucky and he’s dead, but even if he isn’t, we’re in no position to do anything for him right now.”

Despite his recent arguments with Cresswell, Jesmond still thought about how they might help him, but he had to admit that Bodie was right. Bodie wasn’t in a fit enough state to mount a rescue attempt, and being tethered together hampered them too much.

He provided a reluctant nod and then with Bodie he turned to the hill. There was no adequate cover until they reached the trees at the top of the hill, but the sun had set and the terrain was getting darker with every passing moment.

The two men broke into a run. By the time they reached the base of the hill, they were both gasping for breath, but every time that pain cramped Jesmond’s legs, he thought about the pot they’d left behind in the smithy.

The hill turned out not to be as steep as it had seemed when they’d ridden down it on their way into town and after struggling along for a few minutes they reached a point halfway to the summit. With only a gentle slope ahead of them until they reached the trees and with no sign of a pursuit getting underway, Jesmond stopped checking behind them.

Neither man had explored the area when they had been here before, but Jesmond remembered that the trees stretched along for several hundred yards. The rest of the group hadn’t searched for Marcel for long, which suggested the small forest was dense.

Unfortunately, even if they could find a place in the trees to hole up until it was fully dark, the area beyond was devoid of cover for dozens of miles. Then they would have to walk through the night to reach terrain that might provide them with a place where they could hide and evade capture, and it would take them much longer than that to reach the nearest town.

The better option was to locate their horses, but Jesmond had no idea where Rosemarie had taken them and, if she’d run them off soon after they’d arrived in town, they could be far away by now.

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