Audrey’s heartbeat thumped loud in her ears, overwhelming what she hoped to hear.
Philip waited only a handful of seconds before he began to move again. “Let’s keep going. I can’t see an opening yet, but we should get one with another pull or two.”
She gave Chaucer’s neck a final pat, then adjusted the harness and moved into position. “Let’s do this, boy. Walk on.”
Chaucer strained and she encouraged, pulling on the lead. Little by little, they nosed forward. First, one small step. Then another.
With the third, Philip called out something she couldn’t understand. A rumble sounded. Then a shout.
Chaucer’s head reared high, nearly jerking the lead line from her hand. He swung his hindquarters toward her to escape the growing noise.
Her heartbeat grew frantic as she tried to soothe the gelding. That sounded like another rockslide. Did more stones break loose from the ceiling?
A shout sounded. Philip. Was he caught amid the falling rock?
From the corner of her gaze, the tumble of stones began to rain down behind the horse. The harness rope had fallen to the ground, leaving Chaucer the freedom to dart forward.
He lunged from the apartment, jerking her hard behind him.
Levi swung after Audrey and the horse as quickly as he could manage. The thunder from the rockslide seemed to be lessening, but dust clouded thick in the air.
In the corridor, Chaucer spun, head high and eyes wide as he tried to dart away. Audrey held a firm grip on the rope, keeping him from turning completely. She spoke soothing words, but the horse’s panic made him deaf to her sweet voice.
Levi eased his movements as he drew near and began speaking to the gelding, his voice resonating more than Audrey’s. “Whoa, fellow. Settle down. Easy there.”
He dared to draw near enough to give a firm pat to the horse’s neck, a touch still soothing, yet solid enough to break through his frantic state.
Chaucer quivered under his hand but slowed his movements.
“Easy, boy. All is well.” The smoke of the torches was greater out here, surely adding to the gelding’s panic. Though the rock fall had ended inside the work area, frantic voices had taken up the noise.
Levi’s gut churned. What further injuries had been caused now? Leaning on the walking sticks, he reached for Chaucer’s lead line. “You’re probably needed in there. I can handle him.”
Audrey hesitated, glancing between the horse and him, her gaze dropping to the walking sticks still propped under his arms.
A loud groan—or maybe a heave—from inside the work area seemed to make the decision for her. She handed over the line, and her gaze met his for a brief moment, fear and worry swirling in her eyes. “Please be careful.”
He nodded. “Let me know what I can do to help.” Maybehe couldn’t do anything more than the others, but if there was something...
In the torchlight, Audrey stared at the mass of rock rising up before her. Removing the boulder had shifted the smaller stones jammed into that narrow hallway, sending them tumbling in both directions and bringing more down on top of them.
But now that the dust had settled, the stones formed a slope that allowed enough space between the peak and the ceiling for a small person to wiggle through.
Brielle had just disappeared over the top, and Philip and Wesley were hauling stones off the pile to widen the opening.
Audrey grabbed the chief’s arm. “Are they alive?”
The only time she’d ever seen his face as grim was the day of the massacre, when his wife had been shot, along with five other villagers. “I think so. Brielle needs you in there.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a nudge.
She jumped into action, grabbing the satchel of medicines she’d been carrying on the visits to her patients.
The men clearing the rubble allowed her to pass, then assisted her as she climbed up the stones. Rocks shifted beneath her, some of the smaller ones tumbling down as she stepped away from them.
The opening at the top barely allowed her to slide through, with both her back and belly rubbing against stone. But her discomfort was nothing compared to what Evan and Hugo were probably experiencing.
As she maneuvered down the other slope, she strained to see anything in the darkness. “Brielle?”
“Over here.” Her voice came from the far side of the narrow chamber, and her tone sounded like she was crying.
