The Lightning Bolt by Kate Forsyth Page A

and through the forest.

    All was quiet in Kingston Gaol.
    The women sat listlessly. They were so weak from lack of food that no one had the courage or the energy to tell stories any more, or sing, or play games with the little girls. The only sound was Noah’s constant cough, a sound that struck fear into Beatrice’s heart, for a young man had died of gaol fever only a few days earlier. Noah had begun to cough soon after, and now the harsh hacking sound punctuated the thick silence like the sound of paper being torn to bits.
    â€˜Baba, Baba, I want to go home,’ Mimi suddenly wailed. ‘When can we go home?’
    â€˜It won’t be much longer,’ Maggie said, her voice hoarse. ‘Never you fear. Milly and Luka will have us out of here, I promise you that, and then we’ll go back to the Great North Wood and we’ll have us a feast . . .’
    â€˜What of?’ Sabina asked longingly.
    â€˜Lamb stew with bacon and potatoes,’ Maggie said.
    â€˜Lamb stew!’
    â€˜Aye, tender and sweet as you can imagine, with baby peas and carrots, and a thick, rich gravy that you could smell for miles. We’ll have all our neighbours coming sniffing around our campfire, saying “Mmmm, mmmm, Maggie Finch, what are you a-cooking there?” And I’ll say, with a little wink, “Never you mind, Mr Squire, sir, you just sit down here on this old log and I’ll spoon you up a ladleful.” And the lord of the manor will be sitting there, gobbling down my stew, and never thinking it’s one of his own lambs that’s tasting so good.’
    The little girls laughed. ‘What else, Baba, what else?’ Mimi asked.
    â€˜Why, there’ll be stuffed cabbage leaves, of course, and potatoes baked in their skins –’
    â€˜With butter?’
    â€˜Aye, with butter, of course,’ Maggie said promptly, although gypsies rarely had butter as it was not something housewives were very willing to part with.
    â€˜And baked hedgehog?’ Sabina asked.
    â€˜Aye, of course! Emilia will catch us one each.’
    One each! Mimi and Sabina looked at each other in joy. As the littlest girls, they were always served last and had to rely on the generosity of their elders to get any of the choicest morsels.
    â€˜When, Baba, when?’ Mimi demanded. ‘When will Emilia and Luka come?’
    â€˜On the very last night of the month,’ Maggie said. ‘See, I’ve been scratching the days on the stone with my pipe. It’s been fifteen days since wewere nabbed. That means we have five days left until the magistrates come to town. Milly and Luka will come before then.’
    â€˜Only five days till we face the beaks!’ Lena cried in alarm.
    Maggie shot her a quick scowl, for the girls’ hopeful expressions had turned to dismay.
    â€˜Only five days,’ Maggie said. ‘They’ll be here by then, and they’ll have us free, don’t you worry about that.’
    How? Beatrice wanted to ask, but she could not frame a word, the iron bar paralysing her tongue. Seeing how much happier the two little girls looked, she could only be glad she had not spoken, though her own doubt and despair weighed her down more heavily than iron chains. Luka and Emilia are only children , she thought. What can they possibly do to save us ?
    Maybe Sebastien will come , she thought, and went off into a happy daydream where herbetrothed broke down the doors of the gaol to rescue her, and she swooned prettily into his strong arms. The details of how he would overcome the guards, get them all out – including her crippled grandmother and her sick little brother – and make sure no one pursued them and dragged them back to prison, were not allowed to complicate the warm haziness of her daydream.
    Maggie, however, sat with her shoulders bowed and her eyes hooded, her cold pipe clamped between her teeth. As dusk closed down over the stinking little cell, she