And the cart was responding, grinding to a halt and lurching off balance. It was like one of thoseparty tricks where five or six people each use only two fingers to lift someone on a chair. Their combined force was impressive.
But not enough to tip the cart over. It was surprisingly well-balanced. And at any minute, Maggie realized, the people driving it were going to jumpout and put a stop to it.
"Everybody-come on! Really hard! Really hard!"She was yelling as if she were encouraging her soccer team. "We've got to do it, now."
She launched herself at the other side as the cartbegan to sway that way, jumping as highas shecould, hitting the wallas it reached the farthestpoint of its rock. She could feel the other girlsflinging themselves with her, she could hear Jeanne giving a primal yell as she crashed into the wood.
And then there was a splintering sound, amazingly loud, amazingly long. A sort of groaning and shrieking that came from the wood itself, and aneven louder scream of panic that Maggie realizedmust have come from the horses. The whole world was,Run, Maggie thought. Stop looking now. Run.
She ran into the forest, dragging Cady with her. They had to find a place to hide - underbrush or something. Maybe they could climb a tree....
But one look at Cady and she realized how stupid thatidea was. The smooth skin of the girl's facewas clammy and luminous with sweat, her eyeswere half shut, and her chest was heaving.
At least Jeanne and P.J. got away, Maggiethought.
Just then there was a crashing behind her, and a voice cursing. Maggie threw another glance backand found herself staring at a man's figure in the mist.
A scary man. The mist swirling behind him madehim look eerie, supernatural, but it was more thanthat. He was huge,with shouldersasbroad as a two-by-four, a massive chest, and heavily muscledarms. His waist was surprisingly narrow. His face was cruel.
"Gavin! I've got two of them!" he shouted.Maggie didn't wait to hear more. She took offlike a black-tailed deer.
And for a long time after that it was just a nightmare of running and being chased, stopping sometimes when she couldn't hold Cady up anymore, looking for places to hide. At one point, she andCady were pressed together inside a hollow tree,trying desperately to get their breath back withoutmaking a sound, when their pursuers passed right by them. Maggie heard the crunch and squish offootsteps on ferns and started praying. She couldfeel Cady's heart beating hard, shaking them both, she realized that Cady's lips were moving soundlessly.
Maybe she's praying, too, Maggie thought,t, andapplied her eye to a crack in the tree.
There were two people there, horribly close, justa few feet away. One was the man she'd seen before he was doing something bizarre, somethingthat sent chills up her spine. He was turning his face this way and that with his eyes shut, his head twisting on a surprisingly long and supple neck.
As if he's smellingus out, Maggie thought, horrified.
Eyes still shut, the man said, "Do you sense anything?"
"No. I can't feel them at all. And I can't see them,with these trees for cover." It was a younger manwho spoke, a boy really. He must be Gavin, Maggiethought. Gavin had dark blond hair, a thin nose, a sharp chin. His voice was impatient.
"I can't feel them either," the big man said flatly,refusing to be hurried. "And that's strange. Theycan't have gotten too far away. They must beblocking us."
"I don't care what they're doing," Gavin said."We'd better get them back fast. It's not like theywere ordinary slaves. If we don tdeliver that maiden we're dead. You're dead, Bern."
Maiden? Maggie thought. I guess in a placewhere they have slaves it's not weird to talk aboutmaidens. But which girl does he mean? Not me;I'm not important.
"We'll get her back," Bern was saying.
"We'd better," Gavin said viciously. "Or I'm goingto tell her that it was your fault. We were supposedto make sure this didn't happen."
"It hasn't happened yet," Bern said. He turned onhis heel and walked into the mist. Gavin staredafter him for a moment, and then followed.
Maggie let out her breath. She realized that Cady's lips had stopped moving.
"Let's go," she whispered, and took off in the opposite direction to the one the men had gone.
Then there was a time of endless running andpausing and listening and hiding. The forest was aterrible place. Around them was eerie twilight,made even spookier by the mist that lay in hollowsand crept over fallen trees. Maggie felt as if she were in some awful fairy tale. The only good thingwas that the dampness softened their footsteps,making it hard to track them.
But it was so quiet. No ravens, no gray jays. No deer. Just the mist and the trees, going on forever.And then it ended.
Maggie and Cady suddenly burst out into an-.other meadow. Maggie gavea frantic glancearound, looking for shelter. Nothing. The mist was thinner here, she could see that there were no trees ahead, only an outcrop of rocks.
Maybe we should double back....
But the voices were shouting in the forest behind them.
Above the rocks was a barren ledge. It lookedlike the end of a path, winding the other way down the mountain.
If we could get there, we'd be safe, Maggiethought. We could be around the corner in a minute, and out of sight.
Dragging Cady, she headed for the rocks. Theydidn't belong here; they were huge granite boulders deposited by some ancient glacier. Maggie clambered up the side of one easily, then leaned down.
"Give me your hand," she said rapidly. "There sa path up above us, but we've got to climb a little."
Cady looked at her.
Or-not looked, Maggie supposed. But she turned her face toward Maggie, and once again Maggie had the odd feeling that those blind eyescould somehow see better than most people's.