Chapter 58
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Sebastian shivered as another blast of cold rain slewed off the marsh, penetrating his saturated cloak and sending cold, watery fingers down his back.
He dismounted and waited for Harry to catch up with him.
Harry’s horse had begun to favour a leg over the last mile, so he had dismounted and had to lead it on foot.
Pharaoh, as cold and weary as his master, threw his head up and whinnied. Sebastian leaned forward and patted the horse’s sodden neck.
‘It’s all right, old boy. This is it.’
Through the rain and driving wind he could see the dark, squat shapes of buildings rising out of the bleak, miserable landscape.
‘I can see the village. Not far now,’ he said as Harry joined him.
Harry nodded and Sebastian spared his old friend a second glance.
Harry looked exhausted. The events of the last twenty-four hours had tested both of them.
Without needing to speak, the two men led their horses into the village of Lidiford.
Although the ragged collection of rough dwellings hardly deserved so grand a title as ‘village’.
A quick glance at the water showed them the tide was nearly in and the fishermen were aboard their craft readying the little boats to sail.
From the shoreline, Harry hailed the nearest boat. A scraggly bearded man leaned over the rail, his hand to his ear as Harry shouted through the wind and rain, ‘We’re looking for a man and a woman that may have come this way.’
The man scratched his beard and looked up at the leaden sky.
‘Strangers?’
‘Aye,’ Sebastian said.
‘We don’t get many strangers down here.’ The man rubbed his nose. ‘Don’t know about no woman, but I did see a man talking to Tom Parkins.’
He indicated a boat that had begun to set its sail.
Harry thanked the man and they set off on foot down the bank.
‘Hey, you!’ Sebastian shouted across the water.
The man on the boat looked across at him but did not respond. He turned his back and continued hauling up the sail.
‘We’re looking for a man and a woman who are seeking passage across the channel,’ Harry called out.
The man kept his back resolutely to the shore, and the little boat began to slip out along the channel towards the estuary.
Harry and Sebastian exchanged glances and, without speaking, ran back to the horses. They swung into the saddles and turned the horses to follow the patched sail as the boat met the sea on the turning tide.