Renewing Hope (In Your World #2) (24 page)

“Katherine!"

I felt the scorching heat as it burned my eyes, closing them on instinct as I tumbled to the floor several feet in, knocking the wind out of me. I struggled to get up, my eyes tearing up from the smoke and the heat. In the noise I could hear the terrified shrieks of a horse, and then a voice.

"Kate! No!"

I turned toward the voice, trying to see Nathan through the thick smoke.

"Nathan," I choked out when my lungs filled with smoky air.

I scrambled toward the voice, on hands and knees to stay low under the smoke.

"Just grab her, man, and let's get out of here!"

I startled at the second voice, just as a rough hand grabbed me and hauled me up off the floor. I was turned and shoved hard against the stalls. The tears cleared enough to see black eyes staring down at me.

"I told you, Kate, you are mine. Nothing is going to keep you from me," Sean growled as he held me hard against the door.

"Sean," I sputtered, fighting to break free. "Let me go!"

"Kate!"

I turned at Nathan's strangled cry, to find him tied up against a beam further into the barn, in his workshop. He struggled in his bonds, his eyes wild as he watched me. He had blood on his face and down his undershirt. Beside him on the floor lay Benjamin, unmoving and bleeding from the head. Standing above Benjamin was Jeff.

"Grab her and let's go, people are showing up," Jeff called, wiping his hands of the blood on them.

I turned back to Sean, whose eyes had never left me.

"Please, Sean, let them go," I begged.

"This ends here, Kate," he seethed, and pushed me harder into the stall. I felt it jolt forward against my back, an angry whinny at my ear.

Magnus was still in here.

"Sean, let them go and I'll go with you," I wheezed, choking and coughing on the thickening smoke.

"No, you'll run again. Just like you do every time. This ends here. He dies and you go with me willingly," he yelled and fisted my shift to drag me off the stall door.

I grasped onto what I could, the bars of the stall holding me where I stood.

"Kate! Please, just go!" Nathan cried out, struggling again to break free.

"Please, let them go!" I cried out, and reached around to grasp the door with both hands.

Turned around, I could see Magnus' wide eyes as he pushed and tossed his head back and forth in anger, nostrils flaring. He rammed the door again, almost forcing me to lose my grip.

"Just leave her and let's go! This place is going up fast!" Jeff hollered, and slipped into the darkness near the back of the barn.

"Come on, Kate!" Sean screamed, and reached around to pry my hands loose.

"No!"

I kicked at him, his curses muffled against my hair as he tugged at me. Magnus struck at the door again, jarring one of my hands loose. I grabbed at the lock, hoping to slip it loose and set Magnus free. I felt Sean's hand wrap around my hair, forcing my head back just as my fingertips wrapped around the lock.

Another angry whinny and Magnus reared at the stall door, throwing it wide open and catapulting me away from it with Sean tangled with me. I broke from his grasp and tumbled away, hearing him yell after me. I turned to ward off his attack when a large, black mass blocked my view of him.

An angry rearing black horse and the sound of bone crushing filled my senses, followed by the bloodcurdling scream harmonized with an equine cry.

"Kate!"

I sat frozen, fallen on my side, watching in horrific disbelief as hooves and hands tangled. As the smoke swirled around the big black horse.

"Kate!"

I screamed and fought back my nausea as Magnus reared again, striking a killing blow. I scrambled back, not sure if Magnus would, in his fear, trample me as well. He huffed hard and turned toward me, head down as he whinnied and nudged at me almost tenderly. My terrified cry choked in my throat when I felt him nudge me with more urgency, pushing me toward the back to where Nathan was tied up.

"Kate, please, get yourself out of here!" Nathan cried, straining in his bonds when I fell at his feet.

"I have to get you out," I said, struggling to untie him. He had deep cuts along his wrists, and his lip was bleeding from being hit at some point.

"There is no time," he hissed, looking at me hard. "Go. Jeff left by the back door there."

He motioned with his head at the door behind him. I darted for it, praying it was still unchained. Throwing my weight against it, it wouldn't budge. I tried again, feeling it give only a little before it slipped back into place.

Jeff had locked it from the outside.

"It's locked!" I cried out.

"The wall, Kate!" Nathan choked out, coughing in the smoke as it engulfed us. "The wall I repaired! There are many boards still weak! Grab the ax!"

I coughed and looked around in the haze, fumbling in desperation to find the ax.

"I can't find it! Nathan!" I wailed, searching as my eyes watering from the smoke making it hard to see.

"Please, get out of here, Kate!"

My hands found a handle and pulling it off the wall revealed an ax. I turned to find Magnus pawing at the floor beside me. His head batted against me and he let out an angry whinny, trying to edge me toward the locked door.

"The wall!" I cried out, rushing for the gap in the wall that Nathan had left unfinished. The hole was too small of anyone to get through.

I swung and felt the jarring force of the steel hit the wood, making my teeth chatter in my mouth.

"Further to your right!" Nathan cried out, coughing uncontrollably through his words.

"Nathan!"

I looked behind me and saw him sagging in his restraints. I wheeled around and swung again, to the right. The ax cut through the rotted wood enough that I stumbled when the blade went through. I tugged it free and swung again, making a hole. Again I swung, and again, the hole growing wider. I could hear voices outside.

"Nathan! Just hang on! I'll get you out!" I yelled as I swung, until Magnus’ flank shoved me aside and he reared at the wall.

Magnus' bloody hooves came down on the wall, sending splinters of rotted wood flying. He shrieked and hit it again, the hole big enough for me to get Nathan through. I rushed back to him, his breath ragged as he coughed and sagged against his restraints. I felt around on his workbench behind him, finding a blade amongst the old nails and planks.

Voices called for us at the hole, mingled with Magnus' screams and the cracking of the wood and roar of the fire surrounding us. All I could think about was getting Nathan and Benjamin out of harm’s way. Flames had engulfed the hayloft above us; I could feel hot ashes burning at my skin as flaming straw landed on me. Nathan's bonds were taut as he bowed forward, unable to hold himself up any longer. When they broke free, he tumbled to the ground, coughing and wheezing.

"We have to get out of here!" I yelled over the noise.

Any second the hayloft would collapse and topple down onto us.

I pulled at both Nathan and Benjamin, my bare feet slipping in the dust and straw. They were too heavy for me. Nathan struggled to crawl beside me, trying hard to move while he coughed. Magnus gave one more burst of his hooves, opening the hole enough that he barreled through, crying out and disappearing into the night. I dragged Nathan to the gaping hole, just as hands grabbed at me.

I turned and could make out Bishop Yoder and another man reaching for us. I shoved Nathan at them, working myself free of the Bishop’s grasp.

"Katherine! The barn is coming down! You must come!" he yelled.

I pushed Nathan through, and tumbled back in to the barn.

"Benjamin!" I cried out. "He is here! I need to get him!"

"Katherine! It is too late!"

I turned back into the flames, the heat unbearable as I fell over Benjamin, unconscious on the floor. I shook him, trying to jog him conscious, but he was out cold. Grabbing at his arms I tried to drag him toward the wall, his weight too heavy for me to do much good. I heaved away from him again, moving him perhaps a foot.

The fire had taken over the worktable near us, the heat of it forcing my eyes closed.

I wouldn't be able to stay much longer.

"Please, please help me," I whispered, praying to be heard.

I pulled again, letting out a strangled cry that burned my throat when I inhaled.

I was going to die in here.

I pulled again, gaining another few inches. The sound of the fire drowned out the yelling, and the smoke obscured the hole in the wall as I struggled with Benjamin's limp body, hoping I was going in the right direction.

"Please. Help me," I croaked, yanking with all my weight to get Benjamin to move.

I felt hands behind me, an arm reaching around me to grasp at Benjamin. Turning my head, I could make out the Bishop beside me in the smoke. He had the weight to help tug Benjamin toward the hole, one hand on me to drag me as well. When we reached the hole, hands reached for us, hauling me out into the night, followed by the Yoders. I coughed and wiped at my eyes, the smoke and debris blinding me.

I shivered and gave into the hands as they carried us further from the fire, my strength evaporated as soon as the cold air seeped into my heated skin. I couldn't stop coughing long enough to call out to Nathan. The hands carrying me seemed to know where to take me, though.

"Kate!"

I turned to the hoarse voice, finding a shadowy figure seated in the grass away from the house and the blazing barn. I worked my way free of whoever was carrying me and rushed to Nathan, his body collapsing when I fell into him. His arms wrapped around me, uncaring how it might appear amongst the people around us.

"Nathan," I wheezed, refusing to let him go.

"I am all right, Kate," he groaned, his hand moving over my arms and back to survey my injuries. "Why did you go back in? You could have died!"

"Benjamin," I croaked.

"Is he?" he stammered, pulling away to look around. He let out a strangled whimper when he looked behind me.

I turned to see Bishop Yoder and Jonah lay Benjamin down with care beside us. We let out a sigh of relief when we saw he was still breathing. Women rushed around us with purpose, bringing water and blankets while the men wet down the house and trees beside the house. The barn was a lost cause. Where they had pulled us out was well under fire now, the last quarter of the barn catching as I watched. I saw headlights coming down the driveway, wondering how the fire department had been called.

As they drew close, rushing out to haul hoses that hooked up to their tank truck, their purpose now was clear. Save the house. The water shot out of the hoses immediately, helping the Amish men considerably.

A blanket was wrapped around me, and I opened it up to wrap Nathan with it as we listened to Jonah giving orders to those around us.

"I need more water, and we need my bag from the house. Go!" Jonah called, the voice of authority.

"Is he okay?" I whispered, my voice raspy from the smoke. I coughed hard from breathing and took a drink of water, wincing at the burn as I swallowed and coughed. The water tasted like smoke.

"I believe he has a concussion. It appears nothing is broken," Jonah replied, going over Benjamin's head and body one more time before taking the water a young girl brought. We watched Jonah while he worked, having never had the chance to really see him at his job as a healer.

I held Nathan close to me and felt the tears slide down my face as the Fisher barn flared for a moment before it toppled in on itself. The brightness of the fire hurt my sensitive eyes, but the destruction of it was difficult to turn from.

And with its fiery destruction, so was the end of my past- a grisly funeral pyre for Sean Miller.

Another minute in there and we would have perished as well.

Jonah turned to us, checking us over quickly. He pursed his lips when he noticed my bare feet, and the burn marks that had worked their way through my bone-dry shift.

"You burned your feet, Katherine. We will need to clean and wrap them," he said, looking up at me with pained eyes.

"I'll be fine. Is Nathan okay?"

He looked Nathan over, rinsing off his wrist wounds, and nodding.

"You will be tender, Nathan, but I believe you are well. You are both in shock. We will need to get you inside where it is warm. I will put some ointment on your wounds to ease the pain," Jonah replied and stood to wait for his bag. He stepped back over to Benjamin, checking his breathing and leaving us alone in our thoughts for a few moments.

"I couldn't stop it."

Nathan's soft whisper pulled my eyes down to his bowed head.

"It's all right, Nathan," I soothed, brushing away the damp tendrils that lay haphazardly across his sooty forehead. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

"I should have known. It came so fast. So fast," he murmured.

"I know. It's okay. It wasn't your fault, Nathan," I whispered, wrapping my arms around him when he started to shake.

"I should have been able to do more. And you are hurt," he groaned and shut his eyes again.

I held him closer to me, my mouth against his ear.

"Listen to me right now, Nathan Fisher. I am all right. You are here in my arms and we are together. We will be fine. We are alive," I whispered, feeling his body slowly relax against me.

"I'm so tired," he mumbled.

"A lot happened, Nathan. Just relax," I whispered, cradling him in my arms.

"I am sorry, Kate. My father’s barn. What will we do now?" he asked, his voice a little garbled.

"Shhh. We’re safe. Barns can be rebuilt," I murmured and held him a little closer.

He shifted against me, his hand slipping out of mine.

He mumbled something else, but it was lost against my shoulder, his head growing heavy on me. I brushed the hair from his forehead again, looking into the darkness beyond. I swallowed down the pain I felt and took in the damage around us, letting out a long breath. Clean up would be exhausting, and we wouldn't know just how bad it was until daylight. I closed my eyes to it all and hugged him a little tighter.

Somehow, tomorrow, I would need to assure him that we would be fine.