Shadow Play by Katherine Sutcliffe

Author:Katherine Sutcliffe [Sutcliffe, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, General
ISBN: 9780727842978
Google: VHndAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0380759411
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 1991-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Sarah stood on the muddy shoal, her hands gripped together as she prayed for Kan. She might have collapsed when he clawed his way out of the water, but the dread of what she must face left her too numb with fear to feel relief. Soon the rope was secured and the raft was rigged to it, loaded with their belongings and shoved into the water. Morgan turned back for her, extended his hand; she took it, refusing to look him in the eye, knowing he

would recognize her fear. She'd tried to be brave in the face of every danger, but it seemed that the floresta was throwing every hurdle it could into their path. She followed his orders and, boarding the raft, fell to her hands and knees, holding on as tightly as she could while it heaved like a living being beneath her.

As the roar and spray of water rose around her, the men's shouts came to her like whispers. She could not understand the words. She did not want to understand. Her senses were vibrating with feeling, yet numb with a hypnotic lethargy. Closing her eyes, she lay on her stomach and pressed her face into the raft, vaguely aware of splinters biting into her cheeks. We're going to make it, she told herself, wanting desperately to believe it. -^

The water surged over the raft, lifted it from beneath, and lunged it aside as if it were a piece of driftwood. The ropes snapped taut with the force, and several men lost their footing and were hurled into the river. Supplies tumbled and skidded from their braces. Sarah looked up to see Morgan trying to right the dangerously tipping vessel with a pole, slamming one end of it against a rock as he attempted to maneuver the raft. The pole snapped, sending Morgan diving toward the raft. Henry spun away. Then the world became a rending of sound, and suddenly the raft was disintegrating beneath her.

"Morgan!" She tried scrambling to her feet, only to be thrown to her knees. The waves crashed upon them, spraying daggers of water into their faces. On his hands and knees, Morgan reached for Sarah, only to be hurled to the raft's edge. Only Henry's quick response kept him from being swept away.

Again Morgan reached out with his hand. Sarah could almost touch him, but it would mean letting go of her hold on the raft—and oh, God, if she let go she would be swept into the water and she couldn't swim and—

"Sarah!" Morgan shouted.

She reached. Their fingertips touched. Then she was spiraling backward and Morgan was stumbling to his feet and becoming more and more distant, and she thought, Oh God, I’m going to die! I've slipped away! He'll never catch me now!

How keenly she saw their faces, the emotion, the fear as they watched the fragmented raft split asunder, hurling her down the river. And she experienced it all with a sense of detachment, a calmness that she might never have thought possible in the face of her own death.

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