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“No, you stay with your child and your mate. Hold them tight.”
He hung up and found Tommy and Dora staring at him.
“She must be somewhere between here and there,” he said. “I’m going to look for her.”
“I wanna come,” Tommy said.
“I know, son, but I’ll get to her faster on my own. Can you wait here and look after your sisters?”
The boy bit his lip, then nodded.
“Good boy. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Dora, if you hear from anyone else, let them know I think she’s somewhere between here and Harkan’s place.”
“I will.” Pale fingers grasped his arm. “Bring her back to us.”
“I will,” he echoed and set off at a run to get his horse.
He covered the ground quickly until he entered the wooded area between the two farms. Dusk was beginning to fall and the shadowy light beneath the trees deceived the eye as he scanned the ground for any sign of her. Then something moved beneath a tree, the blurred shape resolving into the silhouette of a horse. He vaulted out of the saddle, racing towards the image, and heard Ida call his name.
She was leaning against a big tree, her face streaked with dirt and tears, but she was real and she was alive and he breathed a prayer to the gods as he dropped to his knees next to her.
“Oh, gods, I was so scared I’d never see you again. You’re mine, do you hear me, Ida? I love you and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
“I love you too,” she sobbed, then cried out when he tried to pull her closer.
“Are you hurt?”
“It’s my ankle. I twisted it when I fell, and it hurts so much.”
A quick glance revealed that her foot was at an awkward angle, but he didn’t want to take the chance of removing her boot out here.
“I’ll try not to jostle it, but I’m going to have to put you on the horse to get you home.”
“Home,” she echoed, a shaky smile on her lips. “I’ve been dreaming of that ever since I fell. And dreaming that you would come and rescue me,” she added in an equally shaky voice.
“I would have been here sooner if I’d known where you were.”
He lifted her carefully into his arms. Her face went white and her nails dug into his arm, but she didn’t cry out.
“I’m going to put you on the horse, then get up behind you, all right?”
She nodded, biting her lip.
“Brave girl.”
Despite his best efforts, she was only half conscious by the time he mounted behind her. As soon as he was seated, he picked her up, cradling her in his arms as they set off. He fastened themare’s reins loosely to the saddle horn, and she trotted along obediently behind them.
“Why didn’t you send the mare home?” he asked, when her eyes flickered open.
“I tried. She didn’t want to go.”
He nodded, then gave the horse a puzzled look.
“Were you riding her bareback?”
“No.” A rueful smile twisted her lips despite her pale face. “I just didn’t do a very good job of putting the saddle on her. It slipped off on the way home, taking me with it.”
“My poor sweet.”
