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Back Timberdark Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Praise for Wranglestone
  5. Epigraph
  6. Map
  7. Part I
  8. Prologue
  9. 1
  10. 2
  11. 3
  12. 4
  13. 5
  14. 6
  15. 7
  16. 8
  17. Part II
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. Part III
  37. 27
  38. 28
  39. 29
  40. 30
  41. 31
  42. 5 Years Later
  43. Acknowledgements
  44. About the Author

Peter ducked. A bullet whipped through the cabin breaking the window. But it didn’t come from outside. The glass shattered out into the woods and Peter looked up.

“My name’s Betty Bridges,” said the girl blowing smoke from the barrel. “And is this all you boys got?”

Peter hoisted the wooden box with a plunger he had strapped across his shoulders off his back and placed it on to the floor. He stepped over the wire he’d trailed through the woods and got down on to his hands and knees. Cooper rammed a chair beneath the door handle to secure it and dropped to the floor next to them.

“I’m sorry if I honk, miss,” he said looking out from behind the strands of his matted hair. “My boy and I have been out on the road some three weeks now.”

Peter smiled to himself. He was never going to tire of hearing himself described as Cooper’s boy. Never. Betty scrambled on to the floor next to them. Peter waited until all three of them were in position lying face down on the floor, then reached up for the plunger. He briefly glanced sideways. Cooper’s dark eyes held his gaze. They said I love you, just as they’d done that morning beneath the warmth of the fire out on the plains. They’d been good together out here. Better than good. They’d been a team. Peter said it back without the need for words and, with a shove, pushed the plunger down.

“I guess this is where we say goodbye,” said Betty. “But what in God’s name is this place you boys talk of?”

The woods boomed.

The cabin shook.

Peter looked up, spitting snow and shards of sharp pine needles from his lips, and, smiling, said, “Wranglestone!”

2

They rode on towards night. Peter held his hand up, shielding his eyes to watch the red sun, low over the plains. The snow at their feet burned pink and for a moment, the Earth almost seemed to catch fire, singeing first the clouds and strands of Cooper’s golden hair, then finally the land itself. The sun clipped the white plains and the horizon ignited, glimmering at the fringes of the land like embers across paper. Peter leaned in, feeling Cooper’s wonder expand across the width of his back with every intake of breath. But the display didn’t last long. The blazing skies dissolved into the darkness of space and soon the stars went back and back. And yet, their path remained lit.