The moment she was down, Jeremy moved to the carriage and began poking around the driver’s seat area. A moment later, he headed back toward her with a second weapon in hand. She thought it was a blunderbuss, and supposed she shouldn’t be surprised the driver carried one. The roads were filled with highwaymen and bandits. No doubt the weapon came in handy.

Pausing beside her, Jeremy tucked the blunderbuss under his arm and proceeded to reload his pistol. The sight reminded Suzette of the horse he’d shot and she glanced toward the animals. The wounded one appeared to be dead, though she couldn’t tell for sure; however, it wasn’t moving. The other horse was still alive but tangled up in the reins and works and pinned to the ground by the dead horse. He was struggling to free himself, but wasn’t getting anywhere.

Suzette frowned and turned to Jeremy. “One of the horses is still alive, but it’s pinned. He can’t get up.”

Jeremy glanced toward the horses as he finished reloading, but then turned his attention to the carriage when the driver, Thompson, suddenly emerged from the cab. As they watched, he perched on the side of the carriage with his legs dangling into it through the opening. He then bent and pulled her father up and out to lie beside him, still bound. Within moments Thompson had both himself and her father on the ground.

Suzette eyed the older man with worry, glad to see that while he, like her, was a bit banged up, he seemed mostly fine.

“Good,” Jeremy said as Thompson led her father to stand in front of him. “Sit him on the ground next to his daughter.”

Thompson urged her father around to her side, and pushed on his shoulder to make him sit. He then glanced to Jeremy for further instruction.

“Now go see if the one horse can be saved.” Jeremy waved his freshly reloaded pistol toward the struggling animal.

The driver glanced to the horses and frowned. In the short time since she’d first looked, the live horse’s struggles were already growing weaker. She suspected the weight of the horse on top of him, along with his position, was smothering the poor creature, and guessed the driver had decided as much too when he said, “He won’t last the amount of time it would take me to free him. Besides, two carriage wheels broke in the turn, we can’t use the carriage anymore anyway.”

“Just check the damned horse,” Jeremy snapped.

Thompson scowled belligerently, but turned and stomped toward the horses. He hadn’t taken three steps when Jeremy retrieved the blunderbuss from under his arm and shot the man in the back. The driver barely seemed to hit the ground before Jeremy tossed the empty blunderbuss aside and turned his newly reloaded pistol on Suzette and her father. “Up.”