< previous page page_277 next page >

Page 277
was again a red glare reflected from the low-hanging clouds. A roar burst from the confined people, a wailing of insane terror mingled with rage against those who had confined them so that now they would die in agony. The roar died down as the madness took firm hold. In that half silence came another roar, that of devouring flames mixed with a few screams of fear as the men scouring the lanes saw that the fire had spread west. Then sound burst out anew, and with the second wave of sound the whole mass of people began to move.
Geoffrey had no need to pause to think. ''Let them go," he bellowed, gesturing to Tostig and the man near him to spread the order.
No force of men could hold them quiet or force them to leave the Chepeside in a safe and orderly manner. The crowd was now a ravening beast and would tear apart anyone or anything that stood in its way. Geoffrey saw a man-at-arms go down, saw his horse seized, saw the man who seized it torn away from his prize, thrown down, and another grasp at the horseall in a matter of seconds. Joanna was on horseback! If these mad creatures laid eyes upon her they wouldWith a gasp of fear, he roweled his tired stallion into a trot toward the south end of the Chepe.
Just as he turned west, a riderless horse charged out of the lane mouth ahead of him and, encountering the edges of the mob before it, a wall of humanity to the left, and fire to the right, it reared and screamed with terror, lashing out with its hooves so that those who had thought to seize it shrank away, preferring their own feet. Hard on the heels of the animal, Knud burst forth from the alley.
"Where is Lady Joanna?" cried Geoffrey.
"In the lane, my lord," Knud gasped, gesturing with his head at the opening from which he had run.
Relief made Geoffrey sway in the saddle. Joanna was not part of the seething caldron of death. The relief was short lived. From the corner of his eye, Geoffrey had seen men. and women darting into the mouth of that lane. Worse, the

 
< previous page page_277 next page >