As a Dare, They Sat the Poor Companion at the Duke's Chessboard — Then She Took His Queen
Chapter 13
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And then she was in the snow, face down in a drift so deep and soft that for a moment she thought she was drowning.She fought her way up. She got her head clear and dragged in a breath of air so cold it hurt her teeth. The coach lay on its side in the ditch like a dead beast, one wheel still turning slowly in the air. The horses were screaming.Thomasina floundered toward the coach through snow up to her waist. The coachman was lying in the road near the leaders' heads; he had been thrown from the box. He was trying to get up, and failing, and swearing in a steady, breathless voice. His right hand hung from his wrist at a wrong angle.The guard came staggering back out of the whiteness with his lantern. There was blood running down his face from a cut on his scalp."Are you hurt, miss?""No. The coachman's wrist is broken. Who is inside?""Four: an old lady, a gentleman in the wool trade, a soldier's wife, a young fellow in a brown coat." The guard wiped the blood out of his eyes. "Miss, I have to go on.""Go on? Where?""With the mail. It's my orders. The mail goes through, whatever happens. There's an inn at the far edge of the heath—maybe five miles. I'll cut the leaders loose and ride one, and I'll send back a wagon from the inn.""How long?""Two hours. Three in this."Thomasina looked at the coach half-buried in the ditch. She saw the snow coming down so thick that the guard's lantern made only a small gold room in it. She thought about three hours. Her whole body was shaking now, not from the cold alone: she could feel her heart going in her throat, fast and light as a bird's, and her mouth had gone so dry that she had to try twice to speak."Go," she said. "Go quickly. We will be here."The guard hesitated. "Mistress, there's nobody to look after them.""There is me," said Thomasina.The guard studied her: a young woman in a gray cloak with snow in her hair. Then he nodded once and turned back to the horses.She got the door open. It was on top now, since the coach was overturned, and she had to climb up the wheel to reach it. Inside, in the dark, people were crying and calling out."Is anyone bleeding?" said Thomasina into the dark. "Tell me now, quickly."A man's voice said, "I think my arm is broken."A woman's voice, young and frightened, said, "The old lady isn't answering.""Then I am coming in," said Thomasina, and slid down through the door.It was pitch-black inside; she felt her way. The old lady was in the corner, wedged against what had been the floor, very small and very still. Thomasina found her face with her hands: it was cold, but there was breath coming out of it, faint and warm against her fingers.