Into Thin Air: Chapter 7
"Oh Marianne!" Elinor sighed as she rushed to her sister and pulled her into a hearty embrace. They had been here before, the ghosts of Brandon's previous disappearance had been evoked the moment one of Delaford's servants had knocked on Elinor's door and explained what was going on. Edward had dressed himself at great speed as well and had now already joined the search party. From what Elinor had understood, the men were sweeping the roadsides now to see if there were any traces of where Brandon's horse may have got off the road. They hadn't been able to go very deep off the road last night.
"Elinor, I don't know what to do if something bad has happened to him!" Marianne sobbed against her sister's shoulder. Elinor was keeping her safe and she could let her guard down for a moment.
"Oh dearest, I'm absolutely certain he will be alright and we'll soon find out what happened. Why don't you tell me everything?" Elinor suggested, and Marianne explained everything she knew about the fire last night and how her husband had simply disappeared off a simple road not half an hour from home. Elinor had, of course, heard all this before, but she thought it would do Marianne good to be able to process the events out loud herself. It also passed the time.
Suddenly one of the men approached Delaford on his horse at high speed.
"We found some tracks on a field!" the man declared form a distance loud enough for the sisters to hear as well. Marianne's heart was racing. Some tracks? Michaels must have asked for more information because by the time Marianne and Elinor made it out of the house, the man was explaining about some hoof marks and signs of dragging on one of the fields. They had sent men on horses that way immediately.
On the very field a very tired Colonel Brandon was limping towards the familiar hill in the landscape. Suddenly, behind a deep dip in the field he saw his horse. The creature was enjoying a hearty breakfast of grass, not at all concerned that his master was in need of help.
"Caesar!" Brandon called. He held no hope at the horse actually moving to meet him, but there was no reason why it wouldn't let him get to it. This was a young stallion, but Brandon did train them well and they were never particularly difficult. Oddly enough, his stallion must have decided spending this long on an empty field in full riding gear was getting tedious: Caesar lifted its head and decided to go to his master!
Brandon was not sure if he could mount the horse, but at least he could try and get some support and a little warmth. With his better arm Brandon assisted his hurting leg toward the stirrup, but long before his foot was anywhere near it he could tell getting on the horse would be an impossibility – he had pulled his leg too badly to reach the distance. Even trying to reach the stirrup with his better leg was impossible. He leaned on the horse for warmth as he tried to catch his breath. Just trying that had exhausted him, and clearly he was still a good distance from the road. After a while, Brandon went to the other side of the horse so that he could grab hold of the saddle straps with his better hand and get support.
"All right then, Caesar, lets plod along home," Brandon said quietly to the horse and clicked his tongue. The horse surprised him again: the creature started to walk towards the hill Brandon had been aiming at already, maintaining a slow and gentle speed that his master could manage. Brandon was not using the reigns at all and still the once-stubborn stallion followed his basic verbal commands to slow down more or stop for a breather.
After an eternity Brandon thought he had started to hallucinate when he heard human voices. He couldn't see anyone, but that wouldn't be surprising with the way these fields rolled up and down. The voices became louder and suddenly he saw figures on horses emerge from a dip. "Thank God!" he thought, and allowed a sense of relief take him over.
"Over here!" Brandon shouted with what was almost his last ounce of energy, and then dropped onto his knees. He sat there, breathing heavily until the search party got to him.
"Thank God you are all right, sir!" someone said
"Get some blankets!" he heard another voice call. All he could manage was to try and not black out. He needed to get home to Marianne. She must be so worried.
