Shattered Dreams (28 page)

Tilly
winced. Suzanna fell silent as the carriage began to shudder
violently as it passed over a particularly rutted part of the road.
They all braced themselves as best they could, but the carriage
tipped onto two wheels wildly before it bounced onto the other two,
and then started to sway.

“
We are going to be dead before we get there if they carry on
like this,” Suzanna grumbled.

They
fell silent when the sound of someone shouting outside broke the
nervous tension within the carriage. Zack tried to pull the window
down to see outside but it was stuck firm. He then tried the door
but, frustratingly, it was locked.

“
Do we make a lot of noise to get them to stop and then fight
them?” Zack asked them over the rumble of the carriage
wheels.

“
I don’t think they will hear us,” Tilly sighed. “Besides, I
don’t think we are any match for them.”

She
hated to admit it, but the men would easily overpower two women and
a young boy. She closed her eyes and immediately thought of Harry.
She tried to think what he would do in this situation. It was
difficult because she wasn’t a man, and didn’t know the kind of
work that Harry got himself involved with. However, being able to
focus on him began to calm her fears, and that allowed her to think
logically.

The
carriage was old and creaky. The seats had long since seen better
days, and the floor was caked in years of muck.

With her
eyes firmly locked on the door, she lifted her skirts, and sat on
the floor.

“
What on earth are you doing?” Suzanna asked, and quickly
urged Zack to look at the opposite door, and not at Tilly’s
legs.

“
Getting us out of here,” Tilly muttered. With that, she
lifted her legs, and kicked at the door with all of her
might.

At
first, it didn’t budge, and she had to brace herself against the
seat several times when the carriage bounced wildly but, when it
did eventually settle, she continued to kick at the wood panelling
just beneath the handle. The noise she made was smothered by the
bangs and clatters of the carriage, and the loud squeals of the
horses, and it gave her the opportunity she needed to try to break
the wooden door open.

“
Let me try,” Suzanna urged when it was evident that Tilly had
started to grow tired.

They
swapped places and this time, Suzanna started to kick at the
door.

“
Move over,” Tilly ordered.

Together
they squeezed into the tiny space between the seats.

“
On the count of three,” Suzanna said. “One, two,
three.”

They
lifted their feet, and both of them kicked at the door with all of
their might.

Immediately, the wonderful sight of empty fields was visible
through the now open door. Tilly and Suzanna quickly grabbed each
other so they didn’t fall out into the road, and quickly shushed
Zack’s cheer of delight. Once they were safely perched on their
seats, they stared out of the door while they tried to decide what
to do. Tilly put her hand out and caught the door, and held it so
that it didn’t swing wildly and start to bang against the side of
the carriage, and alert the driver to what they had
done.

“
We need to jump out at the next corner,” she announced
firmly.

“
Why the next corner?” Zack asked Tilly with a
frown.

“
Because the carriage has to slow down to go around the
corners. It can’t take corners at this pace because it will fall
over. It has to slow down. When it does, we have to jump
out.”

“
What then?” Zack gasped, and fell silent when Suzanna and
Tilly threw him exasperated looks.

“
Let’s just get there first. Whatever happens, we will be a
lot better off than we will be if we reach the destination those
two oafs have planned for us. It’s time for us to leave.
Now.”

When the
carriage began to slow down, Tilly snuck a quick peek out of the
door, and heaved a sigh of relief when she spied a bend in the road
up ahead.

“
About another minute,” she whispered, and beckoned Zack to
the door. “When it slows, jump down before it goes round the
corner. Then they will be heading in the opposite direction.
Whatever you do, get out of sight and stay there. We all jump
together.”

“
One after the other,” Suzanna corrected. “We cannot risk
injuring ourselves by falling onto one another.”

“
I don’t want to do this,” Zack whispered
hesitantly.

Tilly
took hold of his shoulders in firm hands. “You have to, Zack. Think
of what Harry would say to you. We need to get back to make sure
that Marcus is alright. We cannot do that if these idiots keep us
under their control. They could be taking us back to the poor
house.”

She
didn’t think that was the case. Although she had been out for the
count, she was fairly certain that they had been travelling for
long to be anywhere near Tooting Mallow. However, without passing a
road marker, she had no idea which way they were being
taken.

She
suddenly wished that Harry was there. She missed him. She loved
him. She needed his solid strength beside her.

It was
ironic really, how life could change. Only a few short weeks ago,
she had wished that she had never set eyes on Tooting Mallow, or
the people in it. Now that she had met Harry, and realised what a
wonderful person he was, she couldn’t wait to get back there so she
could be by his side.

She
watched the landscape roll past and knew that whatever it took;
however long she needed to walk, she would not stop until she
reached him again.

Thankfully, the carriage began to slow down even more as it
approached the corner. It bumped along still, which meant that the
jump they made was going to be risky, but they really had no choice
in the matter if they wanted their freedom.

“
Ready?” She glanced back at Zack and Suzanna, who nodded
firmly.

Tilly
took a breath, closed her eyes, grabbed Zack’s hand, and threw
herself out of the carriage door. The branches of the bush scraped
painfully into her side as she fell, but she wriggled and squirmed
until she flopped in an unceremonious heap behind the thick hedge,
blessedly out of sight of the road.

She lay
on her back and stared blankly at the sky for several long moments,
and listened to the steady hum of the carriage disappear into the
distance. She was aware of grunts and low moans from beside her,
and turned her head to peer at Suzanna and Zack, who looked
horrified and jubilant at the same time.

Thankfully, everyone was still moving, if a little battered
and bruised.

“
Thank you, Lord,” Tilly murmured as she peeked over the hedge
and watched the carriage increase its pace as it sped over the brow
of the hill.

She
turned to Suzanna. “Are you alright?”

“
I think so. Heavens, these bushes hurt,” she muttered, as she
stared down at her new dress in dismay.

They
both turned to watch Zack stumble somewhat awkwardly to his feet
and begin to pluck thorns out of his breeches.

“
We have to move,” Tilly urged.

“
Which way?”

“
I don’t think we go back the way we came,” Tilly reasoned.
“If they realise we have gone, they will double back to try to find
us.”

She
silently wondered how they were going to get back to Tooting Mallow
with no money, no food and, from the look of the dark clouds above,
in the pouring rain. Still, needs must and, with renewed
determination to stay out of Dandridges’ clutches, began to walk in
a random direction across the fields.

“
We are we going?” Suzanna asked as she stumbled across the
ploughed field after Tilly, with Zack in hot pursuit.

“
We are going to find the nearest town. Then we are going to
see if we can find our way back to Tooting Mallow. We have to stay
away from the roads as much as possible, so have to cut across
fields,” Tilly replied, but stumbled to a stop. She turned to frown
at Zack.

“
How long were we travelling?”

Zack
scrunched his nose up and shrugged. “About half an hour, I
think.”

Tilly
looked at Suzanna, and a wild thrill of hope began to surge through
her.

“
We have to be within walking distance then,” she declared
triumphantly.

In spite
of the first drops of rain that began to fall around them, Tilly
felt certain that everything would be alright now.

“
A bit longer than that given how fast we were travelling,”
Suzanna corrected. “If we keep walking for as long as we can, we
could reach the Rectory sometime before dawn.”

“
Are you sure we should be going back there again?” Zack asked
with a frown.

Tilly
nodded, but it was Suzanna who answered.

“
We have men there who are armed, and will protect us,” she
reasoned. “They work for the government so if anyone can get
Dandridge behind bars, they will.”

Tilly
nodded. “We have to keep walking, and find our way back to Tooting
Mallow. We have no choice.”

“
How do we find our way in the dark? I don’t know where I am,”
Zack moaned, and edged a little bit closer to Tilly as they walked
over the uneven ground.

She
immediately clasped his hand in hers, and drew him against her
side. “We will get there, you wait and see,” she murmured
gently.

Tilly
smiled reassuringly at him but, as soon as she had turned to face
forward again, clenched her jaw against the strong wave of
dizziness that swept through her.

She knew
that it was going to be a very long night indeed.

Harry
stared at the silent mansion. They had been there for the last
twenty minutes and not seen any sign of anyone inside. It was
damned frustrating because he knew that with each minute that
passed, Tilly was being taken further away from him.

“
I need to get in there,” he growled, and broke free of his
cover to make his way to the front door. As he stalked across the
front lawn, he couldn’t help but wonder whether the woman they knew
as Bolsworthy, had already left.

The
front door was locked, and the windows were covered by shutters to
protect from prying eyes. He hurried around to the window he had
used earlier and slid it upward. Within seconds he was stalking
across the hallway into the study where the woman had talked to her
cohorts earlier.

He
glanced behind him at the sound of movement and watched his
colleagues climb through the window behind him. Within a few scant
minutes, they had completed a tour of the house and were searching
through the contents of the drawers in the desk in the
study.

“
Look familiar?” Luke growled, and tossed several sheets of
Rectory parchment onto the desk. He dug further into the drawer and
came up with an address that wasn’t recognised by anyone, and a
small notebook of names and addresses of various notable people,
some of whom had been crossed out.

“
I wonder what that’s for.” Barnaby grunted.

“
Look for Attingham,” Harry ordered, and peered over Joshua’s
shoulder while he rifled through the book.

Lady
Attingham’s name and address was in the book. The only difference
between her entry and everyone else’s on that page was a small star
beside her surname.

“
Does the star mean that she is dead, or there is something at
Attingham house of note?” Joshua asked.

“
Something, or someone,” Harry replied grimly.

At that
moment, Joseph returned to the room, and shook his head at
them.

“
There is hardly anything here. There are very few clothes in
the wardrobes upstairs. What is there is expensive though,” he
reported.

Harry
sighed. “What about the servants’ quarters.”

“
Nothing,” his colleague sighed.

“
They may have their things with them if they are planning to
move on,” Barnaby growled in disgust.

Harry
shook his head in disgust. “Now that they have the women, there is
really no reason to stay here now, is there?”

“
We have to find them,” Barnaby growled.

Joshua
shook his head in disgust. “I think Bolsworthy must have gone with
them.”

“
Come on, let’s go,” Harry sighed as he stalked
outside.

Barnaby
was already on his way to the door. “Where to?”

“
Battlington Prison. We are going to speak to that
governor.”

Tilly
shivered when a particularly cruel gust of wind swept through her.
While her walking dress was absolutely beautiful, it was completely
inappropriate for walking out in the wind and rain and, as a
result, she was absolutely frozen. From the look of the dark clouds
overhead, the storm would be with them for some time to come, and
they were going to get drenched too.

She drew
her shawl higher on her shoulders and looked worriedly at Zack. The
blueness of his lips was so very unnatural that she knew that he
would be ill if they didn’t warm him up soon. She draped her shawl
over his thin shoulders, and began to search the horizon for any
sign of a village, and somewhere they could take
shelter.