'Drake, come quickly, Lucy's missing!'
In an instant he was at the door facing his friend, wild eyed and trembling.
‘Missing? What do you mean?’
‘She went out for a ride, but it’s been hours and she’s still not back. It will be getting dark in a few hours, she never stays out this long’
‘Calm down – do you know where? Does she usually go out on her own?’
‘No, she slipped away after you came up here. The stable lad told me she’d headed off up toward the hill track.’
‘Then what are we waiting for, lets get out there and look. Tell Gladys to put the air ambulance on standby, she might be hurt.’
The two friends raced to the stables and mounted up. The stable hands had got together some useful items – rope, torches, blankets, water and medical kits – and two of them had already gone out themselves. Mobile phones were useless out in the hills, so whistles and flares would have to serve as communication devices.
Brad galloped off up the trail and Drake followed. After a couple of minutes ride it forked, and by the fresh hoofprints they could tell that the servants had taken the lower path to leave the other one for Drake and Brad to search. They rode on, the trail growing narrower with no sign of Lucy. It forked yet again, and Brad drew up short, turning back to Drake
‘We’ve more chance of finding her if we split up. You take the low path, I’ll go high. Use your whistle if you find her.’
Drake pressed on into the forest, hoping that they would find her before the light started to go. The trees started to thin out a little to the left down a steep slope, but a few still clung to the hillside going upwards to the right.
Suddenly he noticed that the vegetation to the downward side of the path was beaten down, and he slowed to a stop. He dismounted and listened intently. There was nothing but the normal sounds of the forest – little but the sound of the wind and a few birds up in the tree tops. Then he heard the unmistakeable sound of a horse whinnying ahead.
‘Hello!’ he shouted ‘Lucy, are you there?’ when around the bend in the trail Lucy’s riderless horse appeared, limping a little and harrumphing at being found. Drake moved forward to soothe the animal and examine her leg. It didn’t seem to be badly hurt, but the horse didn’t like putting weight on it. He turned back to the crushed vegetation at the side of the track, which led off down a steep slope, plants still lying flat from something – or someone – rolling over it. He tethered his and Lucy’s horses and shouted again.
‘Lucy! Where are you?’ He blew his whistle as hard as he could so that Brad might hear. He thought about waiting for him, but decided he needed to act. He got a rope from the saddle and tied it securely around a tree. He used it to start to make his way down the slope, looping it around his waist and lowering himself slowly down, scanning the foliage. At last he saw a scrap of colour further down the slope and shouted again.
‘Lucy, can you hear me?’ At last he saw movement below and a pale face upturned toward him.
‘Drake? Is that you?’ her voice was faint, and she sounded confused ‘I fell’ Relief flooded through him at the sound of her voice.
‘It’s ok, I’m here. Stay still, save your strength’ he shouted, and made his way down as quickly as he could. She had rolled down the slope and was lying just short of a rocky ledge with a sheer drop below. ‘Don’t move Lucy, I’m coming to get you’ He blew the whistle again and heard an answering blast from above.
‘I – I think I hit my head’ she said faintly ‘I don’t know how long I’ve been here’
‘Now listen to me Lucy. Stay awake and stay still. I’ll be there in a few seconds. You’re safe. I’m coming to get you now.’ He continued to scramble down, having to rely more and more on the rope as the surface turned to rock and loose gravel. From above him he heard a voice
‘Drake! Is she there?’ shouted Brad ‘Is she all right?’
‘Yes! She’s hurt but she’s okay. I’m going down to her. Call the medics – send up a flare. She’s on a ledge, and she said she hit her head. I’ll try to get her back up the slope if I can’
‘Leave it to the professionals Drake, stay with her and keep her awake and warm’ Drake had reached Lucy now. She didn’t look injured apart from a little trickle of blood at her temple. He didn’t think she’d broken anything, as she moved a little and put her hand to her head. He heard a whoosh and saw a flare going up above him.
‘My horse threw me’ Lucy said, voice trembling ‘something on the track spooked it and I rolled down here’ With a possible bang on the head, it was a good sign that she could remember what had happened. She pulled herself into a sitting position, wincing. Hopefully all she had was bumps and bruises, Drake thought.
‘You’re okay now, don’t try to move, I’ll get you out of here’ He got to her and looped the rope around under her arms and tied it securely in case she rolled off the edge. He looked up to see Brad far above anxiously scanning the slope.
‘I’m with her and she’s safe. Can you lower a blanket and some water down?’ he shouted, and Brad disappeared for a few moments. It only took seconds for him to lower the items down, and Drake draped the blanket around her shoulders and handed her the water, telling her to take small sips.
It was then he noticed something that made his blood run cold. Where Lucy had pulled herself up to sitting was a red trail. He moved the blanket to take a look, and Lucy looked down as well. A red stain was blooming between her thighs, and she stared at it mesmerised.
‘Lucy, look at me’ said Drake, trying to draw her attention away, but she started to moan
‘Oh no – no no no!’ and she started to whimper ‘Not this – no’ Drake put his arm around her and held her tight.
‘Help is coming Lucy, just hang on. I’m here and Brad’s called the air ambulance’ He heard the thump of the rotors in the distance as he spoke.
‘Drake…’ she sobbed ‘Drake, you were right. I was late – not long, just a couple of days, but I forgot to count. You must be right – I’m pregnant’ Drake’s heart thudded in his chest and tears pricked his eyes ‘That’s why I came out riding – I needed to think, needed to be alone to think about it all.’ She cried, and Drake held her tight, his mind reeling. It seemed an age before the helicopter was overhead and a medic with stretcher was lowered down.
‘What’s the situation, Sir?’ he shouted over the noise, the downdraught kicking up a fierce wind
‘She fell down the slope. She’s got a slight head wound and I don’t think anything’s broken. But she’s bleeding – she thinks she might be pregnant’ The medic nodded and turned his attention to Lucy.
‘Hello Miss, can you tell me your name?’ he asked incongruously, peering into her face, but Drake knew enough about emergency triage to realise it was a test of her mental condition. Her reply was faint but steady as the medic examined her, shining a light into her eyes to examine her pupils. He worked swiftly to check her over.
‘Okay Sir, I’m going to strap her into the stretcher now, stand back’ Drake’s heart pounded behind his ribs, rivalling the throb of the rotor blades.
‘I want to come with her’ he shouted
‘I’m sorry Sir, we need to get her out as soon as possible. You’ll have to make your own way to the hospital.’ Again he worked swiftly to get Lucy onto the stretcher, untying the rope Drake had used to secure her.
‘Please’ cried Lucy ‘Don’t leave him behind. I can’t go alone’ and she held his hand tight
‘Can you take me or the King?’ he shouted back at the medic.
‘I’m sorry, we’re too close to the trees.’ The medic yelled ‘We have to go now, and I’ve no harness for you. I’ll take good care of her’ Drake squeezed Lucy’s hand and reluctantly let it go
‘You’ll be fine Lucy, don’t worry, we’ll get to you as soon as we can. Be brave, Valois’ The medic signalled to the crew above, and the winch started, taking him and Lucy up and away. Drake retrieved the rope and scrambled back up the slope with Brad’s help from above.
‘Drake, how is she? What happened?’ Drake was exhausted and sat heavily on the edge of the path.
‘Her horse threw her. She has a slight head wound and I don’t think she broke anything. But Brad…’ His voice cracked ‘She’s bleeding. She thinks she might be pregnant’ Brad went deathly pale and sat down beside Drake.
‘She didn’t say anything to me about it. What are we going to do?’
‘Brad - I thought she’d sent for me because she was pregnant and didn’t know whose it was’ he confessed ‘She said she wasn’t, but she sounded surprised when I said it. I think it got her wondering, and she rode out alone to think things over’
‘Dear God. It never occurred to me. She said she wanted to wait a while, and we’ve always taken precautions’
‘I – I slept with her in Vegas – but we used protection. I’m so sorry Brad, this is all messed up. It’s all my fault’ Brad put a shaky hand on Drake’s shoulder
‘Don’t blame yourself my friend. She told me about Vegas - I’d okayed it on the night though I wasn’t certain who she was going to choose. No method is 100 percent, it was just an accident. We don’t know for certain that she’s pregnant and even if we did, it’s so early they probably couldn’t tell us whose it is – or was’ He crumpled, and his shoulders shook, his voice breaking
‘We can’t lose her, we can’t, not after all we’ve been through’ By this time the two servants from the Lodge had arrived and walked toward the two men urgently.
‘It’s getting dark, we should get back to the Chateau and then we can go on to the hospital’ said Drake heavily. ‘Come on Brad, this isn’t helping Lucy’
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