Light to Valhalla Read Online Free

out to brace herself, nearly tumbling from the seat . She sniffed, momentari ly pulled from the pool of self- pity, and paid more attention to the passing scenery . Odd Saunders should be driving so fast . T he weather hardly called for it, and the road was packed with mud and snow . A niggling of unease tickled her belly . Wa s it just her imagination or did the coach seem to be gaining speed?    And… Gracious !   Charley n early toppled from her perch . The carriage was traveling o n the wrong road . Even in the dark she’d bet her life on it .
    “Saunders!” she called, reflexively moving to the opposite bench , reaching for the small wooden door behind the driver’s bench . “What is going on?”
    “Shut that window and get down , milady !”
    Shocked, Charley jerked back . Something was very , very wrong.
    Thundering hooves echoed outside the carriage . “ Pull over ol ’ man! ” A shabbily garbed rider swept past her window a pistol cradled lethally in his right hand . “Stop or I’ll shoot ye !”
    Charley dropped to the floor of the carriage, grasping the seat until her knuckles hurt.
    The coach careened around another corner . A gunshot exploded outside the window . Charley screamed, clasping bo th hands over her ears . The carriage tilted precariously throwing her against the door . Panic welled in her throat as the vehicle continued to tip .
    Crack!
    S hattering wood split the night air accompanied by hysterical whinnying . The carriage buckled , crashing onto its side . Pain exploded in Charley ’s head, a million twinkling lights flashing and weaving before her eyes . “Oh. ” She moaned, pressing a palm to her forehead, will ing the world around her to still . She pulled her hand away sticky with blood.
    Abruptly the door at the top of the overturned carriage opened . Slowly her hazy vision focused on the grungy face of a man . L ong, filthy hair hung in dark clumps around his face, and his eyes shown a menacing black in the eerie darkness . For a moment she feared staring up at the devil himself.
    “Is she dead ?” a nother man’s voice called outside the coach.
    “No, but it do n’t matter . We get paid either way.”
    The devil indeed.
    A hand reached down , snatching her upper arm, yanking her bodily out of the carriage . He clutched her against his chest, foul breath raking across her cheek.
    Reflexively she jerked against the brigand’s hold . “Unhand me,” she commanded .
    “As ye wish. ” The man dumped her on to the ice packed road . Charley landed hard on her backside . “ Now, keep yer mouth s hut , if’n ye know what’s good for ye. ” H e sneered down at her , exposing a mouth fu l l of rotten teeth . Charley wanted to gag . A second man in equally shabby clothing steered a horse up behind her, tossing a burlap sack and length of rope to the first man.
    A chill which had nothing to do with the November air s lithered down her spine . She glanced cautiously between her attackers . “ Wh - who are you?”
    “ Why, milady, we’re the men hired to kill ye.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Two
     
    Beyond exhaustion, Alex collapsed in the chair behind his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger . His mother continued to rant on and on about an heir, his cousin Sidney , Charlotte , and a slew of other downfalls — his perceived downfalls . Every grating word intensified the throb behind his eyes . Little did she know the barrage she dumped at his feet sat at the bottom of his long list of worries . Grave worries . He lifted the brimming brandy sniffer and threw a brooding side glance toward the broken cabinet . His father’s prized whiskey was hidden in that secret compartment… if only he could remember how to open it .
    “ You still haven’t answered my question, Alex .”
    Heavily he sighed . Was it too much to ask for a moment or two of solace?  “I’m sorry , mother, what question was that?”
    “ How long will you be home?