‘Wake up,’ she shouted, shaking and slapping him. ‘Please, Jasper. We have to go.’ Rowenna pounded on his chest hard enough to break his ribs. ‘Please don’t die. I cannot bear it. Please.’ Her sobs echoed around the woods.
Just when she thought all hope was lost, a rattling groan came from Jasper’s throat. He began to gag and gasp for air, sucking it in with a horrible rasping sound. When he opened his eyes, they were bloodshot, anguished, terrified. He stared at her as if he did not see her.
‘Get up, Jasper. We have to go,’ she screamed.
He tried to say something, but it came out as a croak. Rowenna freed his hands and stood up. ‘We have to go, now!’
Jasper seemed to understand her, for he rolled onto his knees and tried to stand. But he could not. She held out a hand and tried to haul him up, but he was a heavy man, and it was beyond her strength. Rowenna glanced around the clearing, praying the other man had run off. She put down the sword and took hold of Jasper with two hands, and with a grunt, he managed to stand up. Rowenna put the sword in his hand.
‘I will get the horse. If the third man comes back, defend us, Jasper.’
Her words seemed to bring him to his senses. He swayed a little, but he nodded and gripped the sword tightly. Rowenna ran as fast as she could to the horse. It had run into a thicket and was whinnying, frightened out of its wits. It reared and aimed razor-sharp hooves at her head, but Rowenna was in no mood to be intimidated. She snatched hold of its bridle and hauled its head down to show mastery. By the time she led it back to Jasper, he had recovered enough to tear back the dead men’s masks, but there was no time to linger. Shouts rang out.
‘The third man,’ she cried. ‘He must have summoned help. They are all around us.’
Jasper grabbed her hand in an iron grip and pulled her into the woods. The horse’s reins slipped from her fingers, and it ran off. Rowenna watched it flee in desperation. Jasper was like a man possessed, sweeping back branches and crashing through the undergrowth, heading downhill. There was a roar close by, and suddenly, they were teetering on the edge of a drop-off over an icy brown river in full flood.
Shouts and the cracking of branches came from behind them, and Rowenna turned to see horsemen bearing down fast.
Jasper grabbed her hand and kissed her with icy lips. ‘Jump,’ he croaked.
Then she was in mid-air, legs kicking. She hit the water with a crash and sank into the frigid depths. Her scream of panic was snatched from her lungs. Darkness and cold engulfed her, and Jasper’s hand slid from hers. Everything was muted for an instant, and then she surfaced to the roar of water over boulders and her own panted breaths, each sending a dull ache through her throat. Her skirts had become lead. Rowenna could not hold her head up as she was twisted around by the force of the water. She tried to spot Jasper, but as the cold froze her blood and the water went down her throat, she began to weaken. Her world shrank to mere survival as her ordeal went on and on.
‘No,’ she cried as a huge boulder loomed before her, cutting the river in two. It would split her head open like a walnut shell and crush her bones to powder. She tried to turn her head away and kick with what little strength she had in her legs, but the current was too strong. She was going to die.
Something took hold of her wrist and yanked her sideways with enough force to make her cry out in pain. Rowenna slidaround one side of the boulder and found herself in flat water - calm but fast-flowing. There was a roar in her ears, growing louder.
‘Swim, lass. Come on. Kick for the bank.’ Jasper was beside her, holding her up, kicking against the current. She sobbed with relief as they slowly drifted towards the bank. Her feet hit something solid, and Rowenna scrambled up a steep, muddy bank strewn with fallen branches and tussocks of grass. Her hands tore on gravel and rocks, but she kept going. Jasper kept pushing her from behind, but her knees would not work properly. She fell and vomited out water, but there was to be no respite.
‘Get up,’ said Jasper in a hoarse whisper. ‘We came a long way downriver, but they will be hunting for us. We need to move and get warm, lass. Come on.’
‘No. I cannot. Please, just leave me here. Go on without me.’
He gave a weak smile. ‘As you went on without me? Get up, Rowenna. We are on the opposite side of the bank, so they must find a place to cross. But the cold will kill us before they do. We have to keep going until we find shelter.’
Thunder rumbled overhead. It was useless. ‘There is no shelter,’ cried Rowenna.
Jasper took her face in his hands. ‘Hear that sound? It is the falls. There is a drop just around the bend in the river. I know this place. I know where we are. I think the woods thin out to farmland somewhere near here. If we can reach open ground, we can find shelter, a fire, and safety. Do you trust me, Rowenna?’ He shook her to make his point, and she could only nod between chattering teeth.
They staggered away from the river. Jasper seemed to have regained his strength where she had lost hers. Many times, she fell down, only for him to haul her up again. The day grew colder and darker. Her wrist was a world of pain, and she could not feel her fingers and toes.
Just when she could go no further, Jasper stopped. ‘Smell that?’ Rowenna could only shake her head. He smiled. ‘Smoke. We are close.’
The woods thinned into a green field of high grass. In the distance, a thin ribbon of grey floated up from a cottage tucked within a shallow little valley. Jasper held her up by the waist and hurried onwards. They burst in through the door of the cottage to find four terrified occupants – a couple and two skinny children.
‘If you give us dry clothes and a horse, I will give you my weight in coins and my eternal gratitude,’ Jasper declared.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rowenna woke to bright sunlight streaming in the shutters. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Jasper was standing by the window. His stamina had certainly returned to normal, for she was exhausted from the night’s activities.
‘Awake at last. I thought you were going to sleep all day,’ he said. Days after his ordeal, his voice was still a strained whisper, but he was improving.
‘Better than sleeping forever.’ She teetered on the verge of tears again, and Jasper rushed to the bed and enfolded her in his arms.
‘You are shivering.’
‘I don’t think I will ever be warm again, Jasper.’
