He strained for any hint of human voices, but the downpour created a wall of unchanging noise. Holding tight to the reins, he steadied his balance and followed Schindler up the muddy slope. He could hardly remember the last time he had sat a horse. Every jerk and twitch of the animal’s hooves on the slippery ground seized Arie’s heart in panic. He was going to fall off the blasted thing.No, he was going to find Mathilda.The dinner that had so contented him only a few minutes before now tussled in his stomach. His muscles were leaden, weighed down by weeks of inactivity and very little sleep. Dizziness clouded his vision as effectively as did the slate curtain of rain. He shoved his hair back from his forehead and shouted for Mathilda once again.He urged his stallion farther up the slope coated with silken mud. The animal’s foreleg slipped, tossing Arie forward. He grabbed thick fistfuls of mane and stayed there, hunched close to the horse’s strong neck, until his heart eased its frantic thump.“Here!”
