Chapter 10

“Jane! Wake up. Hurry!” Jane opened her eyes a bit and yawned. “Wha…?” Andrija? What are you doing?” Andrija was pulling the sheet off the bed and tearing it into long strips. Jane sat up and crawled out of bed, watching Andrija knot the strips securely together.
“Get Will,” Andrija ordered, intent on her work. Jane, fully awake by now, knocked on Will’s bedroom door. Will opened the door and blinked groggily at her. “What’s up?”
“Andrija told me to fetch you. Come on. Something’s wrong- Andrija is pulling sheets off the bed and tearing them up. I think she’s going mad!”
Will pushed Jane aside and hurried into the adjoining bedroom. Andrija had finished her sheet-ripping and was now tying the long rope made of sheets to a foot of the bed while throwing the other end out of the open window of the room.
“What’s going on?” asked Will.
Andrija hurried to the window and peered out into the icy darkness. “The Enchanter’s Army is marching up the mountain to this very house. We must climb out of the window and hide in the forest somewhere.”
“What? The Enchanter’s Army! How? Where?” Jane ran to the window and looked around frantically in the early morning darkness.
“See those specks of light to the east? Those are torches. Thousands and thousands of them!” Will whispered hoarsely.
The great grandfather clock in the bedroom struck three, and Jane jumped.
“Grab your bags!” ordered Andrija, locking the bedroom door.
Will dropped the bags out of the window and watched as they vanished into the darkness. “How many stories is this house?” he asked quickly.
“It is three stories, and we are on the second. I’ll go down first,” Andrija told him, as she took a firm hold of the curtain-rope, and eased herself down slowly until they could see her no more. Two quick jerks on the rope signaled her safe landing.
Jane was next. She took a deep breath, and slowly slid down. Her palms were sweaty, and for a horrible second, she almost lost her grip. Her arms trembled and she was never so glad to feel the earth beneath her feet than when she landed. She let out a deep breath and jerked the rope. A great bundle came hurtling from the open window, and thumped beside Jane. Jane felt it and saw that it was a bundle of coats. A few moments later, Will was beside her.
He shivered. “I forgot how cold it is out here. Put on a coat, I found them in the dresser.”
The coat Jane took was much too big for her, but she was grateful for the added warmth. Her gloves were now threadbare and tattered so she put her hands in the coat pockets.
Will and Andrija donned their coats and picked up their bags. Andrija looked all around them. “The Enchanter’s Army is perhaps two miles away. They will be here in half an hour. Come, follow me.”
“Where are we going? Why did we leave the house? How did the Enchanter’s Army find us? I thought we shook off the horsemen back at the city!” Jane whispered hoarsely.
Andrija shook her head softly and squeezed Jane's hand. “Jane, this is no time to talk. We must move on quickly. We have only a few minutes to find shelter.”
Jane bent her head to the wind and trudged on. The stretching whiteness of snow ahead of her created an unnatural feeling of emptiness. Jane stared ahead of her, her eyes watering from the cold. Will we ever be safe? She wondered, looking nervously to the east.
Will and Andrija marched silently beside her, each absorbed in their own thoughts.
Jane turned to look behind her at the great stone house. In one of the windows, distinctly outlined by the lit lamp behind it, was a dark face.
The terrible face of Mr. Ford.