Free Elizabeth Bennet's Excellent Adventure: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary by Regina Jeffers Page B

walk far in the countryside, and Darcy expected to reach the road without much difficulty. He counted some five hundred steps, roughly half a mile. He expected to reach the road, but several attempts proved fruitless. After wandering about for some two hours, Darcy realized he turned away from the road instead of toward it.
    Looking to the way he came, with a sigh of resignation, Darcy came to the conclusion that he would never be able to recall accurately all the turns he made. Looking to the sun to determine its direction, he managed east and west. That led to a turn of his steps to the south. Darcy assumed his kidnappers drove away from London. He meant to encounter those traveling to the City and beg for their kindness.
    Reaching a clear creek running through the landscape, Darcy knelt painfully and drank his fill. The creek also provided a means to free his hands. Placing them in the chilly water, Darcy soaked the leather strap until it stretched enough to free one hand. He quickly untied the leather from the other before it dried again and shrunk tighter against his skin.
    Rubbing feeling into his arms, Darcy surveyed the surrounding tree line.
    “Another victory. Another challenge,” he declared to bolster his resolve.
    With that, he set out again. Darcy’s trek was slower than he anticipated. Even after he discovered a sturdy branch to use as a staff, his gate remained painfully slow. He ate berries he recognized as safe, using his small penknife to cut away twigs. He rested more often than he wished, but there was no other way to go. Darcy remained weaker than he would like.
    He spent the second night of his trek curled in the crack of a downed tree. Darcy wished for a flint where he might light a fire for although it was early May, the night held its chill. He tied the stiff kerchief about his head like a peasant woman to keep his head warmer and wrapped his jacket tighter about him. Closing his eyes for welcomed sleep, Darcy conjured up his favorite dream of Elizabeth–the one that started with a simple kiss and led to a heated night in his bed.
    “Wait for me, Elizabeth,” he murmured as sleep claimed his bruised body. “I will come for you soon.”
    And so he would for on the third day as Darcy set a more determined pace, he staggered into an open glade to discover a hound clawing at a rabbit hole under the raised roots of a mighty oak.
    “Where is your master, Boy?” he demanded in a gravelly voice.
    The hound turned to snarl at Darcy, but when Darcy sat heavily upon the damp earth, the dog approached warily. Only after sniffing Darcy’s hands and shoulders did the animal nuzzle Darcy’s leg.
    “I shan’t harm you,” Darcy whispered.
    He extended his hand slowly to scratch behind the dog’s ears.
    “Can you call for your master? I am in need of a strong shoulder upon which to lean.”
    As if the animal understood Darcy’s request, the hound set up a mournful howl. When Darcy praised the animal’s efforts, the hound rewarded Darcy with a wagging tail and a slobbering kiss. Within minutes, a rather rotund man called out to the dog before stepping into the opening.
    “What have ye there, Chester?” the man asked in caution.
    Darcy continued to stroke the animal’s head. The motion calmed his nerves.
    “A man seeking your assistance, Sir,” Darcy pronounced on a breathy exhale. “Several men attacked me and left me to die. I wandered these woods for two days until your hound discovered me.”
    The man’s eyebrow rose in skepticism.
    “Why didnae ye walk to the road?”
    Darcy thought to chuckle, but his cut lip would not curl.
    “I asked myself that very question more than once. I do not seem to possess a sense of direction.”
    “Kin ye walk?”
    The man edged closer, but he did not lower the long gun he carried.
    Darcy gave the dog a final pat on the head.
    “It depends on how far, as well as the pace you set.”
    Darcy planted the tree branch in the soft earth to use it as a staff to