Lily's Leap Read Online Free Page B

way carefully over the uneven surface. A hundred yards ahead the steepness of the ground almost hid it from sight.
    “There’s a track at the bottom, the trees clear, and we will cross the Great North Road. The trick is to drop down around the escarpment. It’s the only time we need to be near the road and the only moment we are in any danger of being spotted.”
    Lily listened to his voice and licked away the sweat beading her upper lip. This was it. The opportunity she’d been waiting for. It was now or never. If something went wrong there would be dire consequences, but it was her only chance. The picture of Nero fallen and injured, a pistol at his temple, made her stomach clench and waves of nausea wash through her. Any mistake, any error of judgment, could be fatal.
    Could she get away with it? She had to. All her past escapades seemed to pale into insignificance as she concentrated on the steep slope ahead and the rocky terrain.
    “Everyone clear? No hanging around, straight down, across the road, weave around to the right and follow the track below the convict wall. The culvert is too deep and it is too steep to take a horse unless you know what you are doing.”
    Lily’s skin prickled as she nodded her understanding. Her throat contracted, she couldn’t manage to say a single word.
    Was it the right thing to do? It was her only chance. If only she had thought to tell Bonnie what she intended, but it was too late now. Besides she wasn’t even sure she knew what she actually intended. She’d have to wait and place her trust in the lap of whichever gods guarded this rugged place and see what the landscape offered.
    She closed her eyes and the memory of her father’s maps spread on the old cedar table became crystal clear. The Great North Road led from here to the St Albans Common and onto Solomon Wiseman’s ferry but perhaps there was an alternate route? Once across the roadway if she could get free of them, there was a chance she could make her way back to Laguna and get help from there.
    She tightened her hold on the reins as Nero picked his way down the steep gradient. She needed to concentrate, if she was going to get him down the hill. The last thing she wanted was to have a fall. Tom was just ahead of her. She slowed and fumbled with her stirrups as she allowed Will and Bonnie to overtake her.
    “Are you alright, Lily?”  
    She nodded to Bonnie and turned in her saddle to see where Jem and the other horses were. There was no need.
    “You get a move on there, miss. I’ll bring up the rear.” The Aboriginal tracker’s eyes bored into her as if he could read her mind. There was more to him than she gave him credit for and now she had no chance of dropping back. The hill steepened even more and she could see the pale ribbon of road below cutting through the trees and the bright blue expanse of sky wide-open in front of her.
    “Nero. You can do it,” she whispered into his sleek, shiny neck and he snorted in response. Her thigh muscles burned as she tightened her grasp on his flanks. His muscles tensed in response, attuned to her body. She gritted her teeth and willed her shaking hands to steady. “We can do this, Nero. We have to.” Her heart hammered so hard in her chest she thought it might leap right over the culvert and down the hill ahead of them.
    With barely a moment’s hesitation she dug her heels into the stallion’s flanks and urged him down the hill. Will and Bonnie’s startled cries rushed past her with the wind. A glimpse of Tom’s stunned expression registered in her mind. The last trees cleared and the sudden heat of the sun stung her face, then she crouched low over Nero’s neck. The clatter of his hooves on the sandstone surface told her they had reached the road. The blood raced through her veins, pulsing in her ears, a violent and excruciating pounding raged through her body.
    “Stop.” Tom’s command echoed around her as the blocks of the convict hewn, sandstone walls