He looked over his shoulder at her and realised then that he had been so lost in his thoughts he had not really said much over the last half hour or so. Moreover, he hadn’t been paying much attention to their surroundings either. Cursing himself for every kind of fool, he slid a quick glance over the massive field they were ambling through, and scowled when he saw two riders on the road.
‘We are being followed,’ he growled, turning to face forward.
Carlotta’s heart began to pound when she saw who it was.
‘Stay calm,’ Phillip soothed. ‘Don’t let them see that they have troubled you.’
Carlotta was busy trying to gather up her shawl with one hand so she could drape it over her head.
‘Don’t,’ Phillip snapped. ‘It is too late now. They know who you are, or they wouldn’t be following us. If you cover your head now you are going to look as if you are trying to hide.’
Carlotta froze and immediately returned to clutching the saddle with both hands. She struggled not to throw another worried look over her shoulder. ‘What do we do?’
‘Stay calm. If your horse senses your tension he is going to start to dance about and you will fall off. That would give the thugs behind us an advantage because they will catch up and make sure they are standing over you while you are trying to get up. We are going to maintain our distance. We are going to find a place to hide and will wait for them to pass us. By the time they have realised they have lost us, and double back to try to find us again, we will be far away.’
‘How can you be so sure? Do you know the area well?’
Phillip shook his head. ‘I know the area around the safe house well. When we choose a property to use it is routine for us all to scour the area, not for any sign of threat or danger, but so we get a good understanding of our surroundings. We work a lot at night, so must be able to find our way to the safe house in the dark and be aware of the pitfalls and hiding places along the way so we don’t get mugged or shot at. It is what we do,’ he added when he saw her horrified look.
Carlotta glanced over her shoulder again and gasped at just how close the thugs had managed to get.
‘We are going to go through the gate up ahead. Do you see it?’ he whispered.
Carlotta nodded. ‘Yes, but what do we do then? I cannot ride any faster.’
Phillip didn’t respond. He remained silent while they guided the horses through the gate. There wasn’t any point closing it behind them because the thugs would just jump it. Instead, Phillip looked at Carlotta with something akin to regret in his eyes.
‘What?’ she demanded with growing concern. She didn’t like that look in his eye and knew she was going to object to what he was about to suggest.
Phillip leaned over to her and lifted her effortlessly out of her saddle. She clung to his arm and then onto his neck when he dragged her over to his horse.
‘Lean with your back to me,’ he murmured gently. Phillip understood the time it had taken to get her into a safe position had allowed the thugs to narrow the distance even more. He wanted to release the horses not least because he knew they would force the thugs to slow down to avoid crashing into them, but he just couldn’t bring himself to release his friends’ horses. They were his last connection to them. Instead, Phillip grabbed the reins of Carlotta’s horse and tossed them over its head so that he was able to lead the second line of horses as well.
‘Ready?’ he asked of her.
‘For what?’ Carlotta had barely finished her question when Phillip kicked the horses and made clicking noises with his teeth.
After a few brief moments of hesitation, the horses understood what they were being asked to do and began to trot before breaking into a canter. Phillip had no choice but to release them and hope that they followed the herd.
Carlotta hugged him tightly and buried her face into his neck as they horse they rode began to canter. There was little she could do except hope and pray that she would be alive to see the end of their journey. She was jostled and slammed about and ended up sitting so intimately before him that her cheeks were aflame, but she couldn’t let go of him.
‘They are still there,’ she reported when she found the strength to look over his shoulder.
‘I don’t doubt it. Unfortunately, it is going to be impossible to hide these horses. I don’t have a gun, so cannot challenge them,’ Phillip growled. He contemplated the flick knife in his boot, but it was the only one he had and had to be used only as a last resort. Once he had thrown it he wasn’t likely to be able to retrieve it then they really would be vulnerable.
‘What? What do we do?’ she cried.
Suddenly, the hedgerow before them exploded. Small branches and twigs flew into the air as bullet after bullet tore through them. Phillip cursed and cursed again when he looked over his shoulder and saw the thugs reloading their pistols.
‘Let me get down,’ Carlotta demanded.
‘Why, so they can kill you out here where nobody will find your body?’ Phillip snapped. He shoved his face against hers and snarled: ‘Over my dead body.’
Carlotta stared at him. ‘This isn’t your fight.’
‘They are firing at me, aren’t they?’ Phillip growled. ‘That makes them criminals. I would arrest them but have no irons, no gun, and no support from anyone. Even if I could restrain them the gaol is miles away.’
He led the charge toward the farthest corner of the field to the very end of the low stone wall which joined the hedgerow. Without hesitation, he nudged the horse they were on to jump it together with the wall on the opposite side of the road. The hill that awaited them was steep, but the horses managed to race up it without slowing because they didn’t have riders to carry. Consequently, Phillip’s horse was the last to reach the top.