Belaset's Daughter - By Feona J Hamilton Page 0,44
a boatman. They had to go through the great stone gateway before they joined the throng passing to and fro across the bridge itself. Other riders jostled against them, wagons forced their way through, their drivers shouting and cursing, laying about them with their whips to make a passage for themselves.
The little party of four had no choice but to go with the rest, there was no other way to make progress. Once on the bridge, it seemed, there was no way to control the speed at which they moved, either; that, too, was controlled by the impatient, shifting crowd.
Jervis looked anxiously over his shoulder, to make sure that the other three were still close behind him.
They were coming through the gate at the other end, when a carter gave Judith her chance. Standing up on his cart, he whipped his horses as they baulked at going under the BOSON BOOKS
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Belaset’s Daughter
gateway. Guy’s horse reared behind her, her own danced sideways nervously, and the cart separated her from the two in front. Instinctively, she dug her heels into the horse’s flanks, wheeled its head round to the left and galloped away from the bridge. She heard shouts behind her, Guy’s voice roaring above the others, but the cart still separated him from Jervis and Trubodi, and, in the general uproar, she hopred, they would not be able to make out what he was saying.
She flew along Thames Street, then turned right before she reached the Fleet. Where she was, she had no idea. Her only thought was to get away from the others. Five minutes of headlong galloping took her deep into the maze of streets. A scream almost under the horse’s hooves brought her back to her senses, and she hauled on the reins, bringing the horse to a skidding stop which almost unseated her.
She had almost knocked over a young girl, who stood cowering against a wall, her fist in hr mouth and her eyes full of tears. The girl’s eyes were fixed on something on the ground a bundle of rags, which suddenly moved. Judith dismounted and bent to pick up the baby, but the young girl had rushed to it and picked it up herself. She clutched the baby to her scrawny chest and backed away from Judith. Then she turned, and fled up an alley between the hovels and disappeared. Judith stood nonplussed, looking around for someone who might be able to tell her where she had ended up. The horse stood blowing clouds of breath over her. Its flanks steamed and sweat shone on its coat. Judith soothed it absently and looked around again. She must get off the street as soon as possible, although she could hear no sound of pursuit. If she could only find the Yechiel house she would be safe, she thought.
She swung herself up into the saddle again and urged the horse forward along the length of the street. At the end, there was a wider street, cutting across at right angles. Caution made her ride out slowly, turning her head to both right and left, searching for one of her erstwhile captors, as they must be for her. She had obviously come to another of the main streets through the city. Here again were the jostling horses and the shouts of carters, just as there had been on London Bridge. The stench which had clogged her nostrils ever since she had entered London was even stronger here, but the travellers on the road and the high wall on the other side from where she sat astride the horse blocked her view.
She tugged at the rein and the horse turned obediently to the right, moving into the stream of traffic. Slowly, she forced her way across to the other side of the street. As soon as she could, she turned off again, instinctively seeking the darker, more hidden ways for her route. Once again, she was hemmed in by the tenements lining the lanes and the horse had to pick its way carefully through the refuse. The ragged inhabitants looked at her curiously, taking in the fur-lined cloak and the good horse, but none approached her. Vaguely, Judith realised that she was risking attack and robbery, at least, by riding alone in such an area, but her weariness and dogged need to find the haven of the Yechiels house made her push any fear for her immediate safety to the back of her mind.