Savage Land Read Free

horse, she thought. She'd never been on a horse in her life! But common sense had moved her hand into his and she was effortlessly swung up in front of him.
    'W-where are we going?’ stuttered Coley as he tucked the front of his rain slicker, that she had thought a cape, around her to afford her as much protection as was possible from the downpour.
    'There's an old lineshack on the other side of the hill,’ he replied, an arm holding her slight, boyish figure closely to him. He nudged his horse into a walk and despite the strength of his arm, Coley felt her perch, so high off the ground, rather precarious especially with the rolling motion of the horse's shoulders.
    The warmth of the stranger's body slowly seeped into her, though she shivered helplessly in her wet dress. His broad shoulders dwarfed her with their immensity and her rain-soaked brown hair felt the occasional brush of hair from his unshaven chin. Coley's heart pounded wildly at the closeness of the forbidding stranger, compounded by the violent storm that turned the most innocent objects into sinister shapes. The splintering crashes of lightning, the death drums of the thunder and the rhythmic slush-slushing of the horse's hooves were the only sounds to accompany the rainfall.
    'What—what are you doing out here?’ Coley finally asked, almost suffocated by the quietness of her rescuer.
    'Looking for dumb animals.’ His reply was sarcastic and sharp.
    A spark of indignation flamed briefly in Coley before she asserted, ‘My brother went to get help. He'll be back soon with someone to help him pull the car out and get it started.'
    'Not in this weather he won't,’ his voice growled just above her ear. ‘Besides, I saw your car floating away just before I saw you. The water's too high now for any kind of travelling, so wherever your brother went, he's stranded for the night the same as we are.'
    Through the gruffness and censure of his voice, Coley recognized an educated tone and considered her companion in a new light. She started to speak again, but stopped when the looming outline of a building appeared before them. Halting his mount in front of the gloomy shack, the man lowered Coley to the ground before he dismounted to nestle her under the crook of his arm, his slicker an umbrella over her head. He half carried her beneath the overhang where he stopped and put a shoulder to the swollen door. Grudgingly it opened, yawning its blackness in their face. Hesitantly, Coley followed the impatient beckoning of his hand into the void. Her bright, wondering eyes peered uselessly around as she clutched her arms tightly about her while the stranger walked directly to his left where the scrape of a match gave birth to a light. It flickered dimly for a moment inside the chimney of a lantern before spreading its cheerful rays to all but the darkest corners of the room. Coley watched numbly as the lantern was carried over to rest near the centre of the room. Without wasting motion, the stranger knelt before the fireplace and after the first crackle of flame devouring paper, began adding wood from a nearby box. As soon as it was sufficiently started not to require his attention, he turned to a makeshift bed near the fire, pulled off a blanket and tossed it to the girl shivering before him.
    'Get those wet things off and wrap yourself in this,’ he ordered before walking to the door.
    'Where are you going?’ Coley gasped, detaining his arm with her hand.
    The searching probes of light sifted through the shadows on his face revealing the previously hidden features. Her eyes widened as she saw the jagged scar across his left cheek. Startled, her gaze flew to his eyes to find that the dark shadows of the storm had hidden two piercing blue diamonds now gleaming down on her with their coldness. In a trance she noted his nostrils swell in anger before the grim mouth opened to reply to her question. She swiftly withdrew her hand from his arm, knowing her expression must