Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare

Author:Pamela Clare
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780843954876
Publisher: Leisure
Published: 2005-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The sun was just rising when they neared Fort Pitt. Nicholas found himself leading a ragged and weary band that included not only Magee and his boys—both of whom turned out to be capable backwoodsmen despite their youth—but two other families as well. They’d come across Ian Calhoun and his wife, Minna, in the wild, already fleeing with their three small children to the fort. The Wallace family had been asleep when Nicholas had sighted their cabin and roused them from their beds.

It was next to impossible for a party that included seven horses and fifteen people, seven of whom were children, to move soundlessly through the forest and leave no tracks. Their only hope rested in speed. With the Delaware war party so close he could almost taste them, Nicholas had moved his saddle back to the stallion, riding with Bethie and Belle, while the remaining horses, including Rona and Rosa, each bore one child and one adult. Stopping only when Nicholas needed to scout ahead, they had alternated between a canter and a walk all night.

Now the fort was visible upriver, its high earthen walls rising almost from the riverbank. He had already scouted the area and knew the cabins in the Upper Town and Lower Town around the fort had been burned to the ground, likely the work of soldiers determined not to give the enemy any place to take cover. The hilly forest on all sides was filled with encamped Delaware and Shawnee. Severe erosion showed that the river had run high against the ramparts during the spring freshet, but the Monongahela was now well within its banks.

Which was good, because they were about to cross it.

Nicholas had chosen a spot downriver from most of the Indian encampments but within sight of the walls. He wanted the soldiers to see them, to cover them with their long rifles as they crossed the deep water and rode for the gates. Shingiss, leader of the Delaware, was likely too smart a tactician to slaughter women and children within full view of British soldiers. But Nicholas didn’t want to take a chance. They needed to get across the river quickly, come under the protection of the fort’s artillery and marksmen before anyone could attack.

“We’ll cross here and head for the sally port.” Nicholas nudged Zeus down the muddy riverbank, dismounted. He turned to the others. “Quickly! Children stay on the horses. Adults swim alongside. Bethie, you’ll ride and hold Belle. I’ll be right beside you.”

She nodded, her sweet face set with a look of determination. The journey had been hard on her, he knew. She had dark circles beneath her eyes from lack of sleep. Dressed in a borrowed linsey-woolsey gown, she looked thinner than when they’d set out. But she had not wavered. She had not complained. She had even saved his life.

Nicholas led the stallion to the river’s edge and into the icy current, the others behind him. He heard Bethie’s quick intake of breath as the water reached her thighs.

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