The Cottoncrest Curse: A Novel

Chapter 38

136 Chapter 38 “now,” yelled Marcus with urgency, as the Knights came down the ridge, whipping their horses into a frenzied gallop. Marcus and Jake turned due west, away from the river, and ran at full speed, toward the smoke and flames, into the cane fields. The sugarcane, with stalks as thick as heavy clubs, was densely packed. Moving through the field was difficult. The sugarcane formed a forest of unyielding plants in row after wide row. The leafy tops towered a foot or more above their heads, and the sticky stalks clung to their clothing. Shoots had sprouted up between the rows, and Marcus and Jake had to push their way through the bamboo-like foliage. The smoke hung over their heads in spots; in others it enveloped them in a choking cloud. Marcus pulled out a handkerchief and covered his nose and mouth, and Jake followed suit. Deeper and deeper they plunged into the field. The rain had made the soft delta dirt a sea of mud, but still the fire blazed on. They could hear the pounding of horses’ hooves behind them, and ahead they heard the crackling of the fire. Marcus and Jake could feel the heat as one long sugarcane leaf after another was burned away, leaving only charred but intact stalks. Marcus moved with remarkable speed across and through the high furrows, sliding on the mud, pushing aside a stiff curtain of plants here, ducking low there to avoid the roiling smoke. Jake stayed close behind him. The sweet smell of burning cane foliage was everywhere, mixed in with the acrid smoke. The leaves were sharp and could cut you if you were not careful. The ashes fell around them, and embers drifted down like a storm of red snow, stinging whenever they found skin. The smoke 137 penetrated their handkerchiefs and filled their lungs. Their mouths were dry. Their throats ached. Still they pressed onward. As they wove their way through the field, sometimes Marcus would step to one side to let a large snake slither by. Jake could hear the scurrying of panicked mice and rats trying to outrun the fire destroying their homes. Occasionally, two or three rodents would dart across Jake’s path and sometimes across his boots. Farther and farther they pushed into the field. Now the smoke was so dense they could hardly see. Marcus bent low and kept moving, sometimes on his hands and knees in the mud, but always moving. Jake had tied the bearskin that Rossy had given him around his neck like a cloak, but now it was dragging in the mud. Nothing to do about that now. He pushed it onto his back and crawled along behind Marcus. Their pants were soaked and heavy, now coated with the wet alluvial soil, but as long as they stayed low near the furrows, the smoke was not that bad. The leaves were near the top of the plants, and that was where the flames were concentrated. Only when a downdraft hit, or when the wind shifted, did the smoke curl along the dirt, rolling toward them in thick billows, only to swoop up and away again, leaving them coughing and spitting up black phlegm. “damn!!” Tee Ray exclaimed, his horse rearing on the muddy road. The gray roan was not about to enter the burning fields. Its nostrils were distended in fear, and no amount of beating from Tee Ray’s whip or prodding from his sharp spurs would compel the horse forward. Again and again, Tee Ray flayed the roan’s haunches, drawing blood, and the horse reared high into the air in anguish and distress. Tee Ray simply yanked the reins harder and, beating the horse over the head with the whip, forced it back down. The wind shifted. The smoke and embers now swirled around all the riders. Bucky raised his hands to his face to wipe his stinging eyes, and the moment his horse felt the reins go slack, it reared up. Bucky slid backward in his saddle, dropping the reins completely and grasping for the saddle horn. The reins fell to the ground. The horse, frantically pawing the earth, started bucking. Bucky was bounced out of the saddle and came down hard upon it again. He groaned with anguish as his groin crushed down on the 138 stiff leather. The horse reared again, and when it came...