Silence Breaking (Storm and Silence 4)

‘About-turn!’ Jerking my hand in a signal to the riders that were farther away, I whipped my mount around and sent it galloping off towards the trees. Through the foliage, I caught sight of someone on a horse and—

And there was something slung over the back of that horse. Something lifeless.

Gritting my teeth, I forced my horse to run its heart out and whipped my revolver out of my pocket. Blood pounded in my ears, faster and faster. One hundred sixty beats per minute. One hundred seventy. One hundred eighty. Snow-laden trees flew by, blocking my view—but I knew what was behind them.

Something lifeless slung across the horse!

The last few trees flashed past me. Suddenly, there he was: the rider! I crossed the last few yards in an instant. In a flash, I had my gun up.

‘Freeze!’

The farm boy did freeze. So did the horse, as well as the seven-inches-tall canine the boy held in his arms. The dog watched me with enlarged eyes.

‘I…errr…um…ng…’

Slowly, the boy’s eyes travelled from the tip of the barrel of my revolver to my hand. I met his eyes—then my gaze travelled down to the sack of hay hanging over the back of the horse.

A sack of hay.

‘Woof?’ The little dog enquired. ‘Woof, woof?’

I cleared my throat.

‘Dog inspection. Show the paws.’

Very, very cautiously, the boy raised first the small canine’s paws, then his own. The dog’s were considerably cleaner.

‘Adequate.’ I motioned with my gun. ‘Carry on.’

‘Y-yes, Sir!’

Wheeling his horse around, the boy raced off in the direction from which he’d come. A moment later, three riders burst through the trees, behind me, weapons out.

‘Mr Ambrose? Mr Ambrose, Sir?’

‘False alarm.’ My words were clipped and hard as stone. ‘Head back and spread out!’

Immediately, they did as ordered. We had just cleared the trees and started to spread out across the white expanse of nothing when a sharp whistle echoed over the landscape. My head snapped around towards its origin, and I saw one of the men waving. Jerking his hands in a quick signal, he pointed westwards. My head snapped around in the direction of his gesture. What was he going on about? There was nothing there, except—

I stiffened.

My hand shot down to the saddlebag. Pulling it open, I took out a telescope and lifted it to my eye. Focusing on the horizon, I let it travel from left to right, searching, searching…

Yes. There.

I had seen dust clouds in the desert often enough. Whenever a rider galloped through the waste, dust was hurled up into the air, forming a cloud warning any one of their arrival. A cloud just like the cloud of snow rapidly moving towards us.

‘Men! Gather round! Weapons out!’

If that was Dalgliesh and his men, if he had hurt her, I would…!

…have a problem. It looked as if he had at least thrice as many men as I.

As if something like that had ever stopped me in the past.

Reaching for my revolver once again, I twirled the cylinder, making sure it was locked and loaded. The cloud of snow was racing closer rapidly.

‘Retreat between the trees,’ I bit out. ‘Take cover! You and you. Get off your horses and find two trees to climb. At the first sight of a rifle, you shoot!’