First Dawn by Judith Miller

Author:Judith Miller [Miller, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2005-06-30T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

18

Wet snow trickled down Thomas’s neck. He pulled his coat collar close and tucked it under his chin. Since leaving the Harris dugout, the weather had continued to worsen; he now feared the storm was reaching blizzard proportions. He rode onward, but the blinding force of the storm made it nearly impossible for him to gauge his direction. Before leaving Nicodemus, he and Ezekiel had discussed the storm’s movement. The blizzard had come in from the north, and Thomas had been making every attempt to keep the blowing wind to his right, using it as a guide. Now, however, the blinding snow was swirling around him in circular patterns that made it impossible to determine direction.

The weary horse plodded forward while Thomas remembered the warm fire he’d left behind in Nicodemus. Why had he volunteered to make this journey? He knew why—the loss of his life would mean nothing to the settlers in Nicodemus, while any of the other men would leave families mourning their death. Better that he should die than one of them, he decided as a huge gust of wind encircled and held him hostage in its whirling grip.

Suddenly the horse dug in like a tenacious mule and refused to move. What if he didn’t arrive at his destination by nightfall? He kicked the animal’s flanks, but the mare would not budge. Perhaps he would die sitting atop this old workhorse—an ice-covered statue in the vast wilderness. Had the thought been less credible, he would have laughed aloud. The intensity of the storm continued to increase by the minute, yet the horse remained motionless. He doubted there was any shelter to be found in these flatlands, yet how could he tell? He couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of the horse. An outcropping or hillock might be nearby, but likely he would unwittingly ride past it, unaware that protection was close at hand. He reached down and patted the horse’s neck. Ice and snow draped the animal’s mane, and Thomas wondered if they both would succumb to the harshness of the elements before reaching their destination.

“Not the way I’d choose to die,” he murmured while urging the horse onward. The mare finally relented and once again began slogging through the heavy snow. He’d heard stories about folks becoming so disoriented in snowstorms they became overpowered by the cold; eventually their despair and weariness caused them to lose hope and surrender to their urge to sleep. And it was at that very moment when they would condemn themselves to death—or so he’d been told. He harkened back to those tales he had heard, longing to remember some small detail that might assist him on this dangerous trek—a tiny recollection that might give him an advantage over the forces of nature. But he could think of nothing.

The pelting snow stung his face, and Thomas bowed his head against the unremitting storm. “Is this how you’re plannin’ to end my life?” he asked aloud while attempting to hold the reins between freezing fingers that now refused to tighten.

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