(Author's note: yes, I know it's after midnight but I haven't been to sleep so I still count it as Day 3.)
Evangeline pushed Tallulah out of the window. She heard her little sister scream as she fell then the sound of her landing. Evangeline didn't have much time, she climbed onto the window sill, relieved to see Tallulah had fallen into Alex's waiting arms as planned. They had both fallen to the ground on impact, but seemed unhurt. The two were picking themselves up off the ground when the smoke began to slither it's way into the room and Evangaline could hear the wooden structures in the house crackling and breaking, louder and louder, as the flames continued their assault through the house - towards her.
Evangeline climbed out of the side of the window and began her descent down the trellises that covered most of the outside of the wall. She went quickly and with ease; sneaking out almost nightly was paying off.
As soon as she reached the ground, a hand grabbed her arm.
"Come, Miss Evangeline."
Alex ran, pulling both girls along with him. Evangeline kept pace without much difficulty, but Tallulah and her little legs could not. Alex had Tallulah in his arms and was back running to safety in seconds. To her right, Evangeline saw the barn consumed by flames. It had been the fire's origin, the embers caught in the night's breeze then ignited the house. As she ran, Evangeline felt a moment of relief that they didn't keep animals in the barn.
Animals! The horses!
Her relief vanished and the panic she felt before getting her sister out of the house returned. Surely someone would have released the horses. It was only a matter of time before the wind blew the embers from the house over and the stables suffered the same fate as the two buildings before it. But there was no sign of any human or horse leaving the stables, it couldn't take that long to get them out. Evangeline grabbed Alex's arm.
"Get Lullah to my parents. I wont be far behind." Before Alex could stop her, Evangeline was away, Alex continued towards safety.
As Evangeline got closer to the stables, she could hear panicked neighs and metal horse-shoes hitting stone floor. The horses were still locked in, and they were terrified, By the time Evangeline had reached the stables the roof was already ablaze. Without hesitating, she ran straight to the first stall.. She unlocked it, swung open the door then moved onto the next one, She knew Ted wouldn't leave while scared without encouragement (which she didn't have time for), unless he was following Duchess. As soon as her stall door opened, the piebald mare dashed out, neighing as she went, the sandy-coloured sheltand pony springing out of the first stall after her.
Evangeline had already unlocked the third and fourth stall, Trusty and Luna galloping away, hopefully in the right direction. She had unlocked Thunder's stall door when he decided to free himself by hind-kicking the door. The stall door flew open, hitting Evangeline full force and propelling her into the wall. Winded and dizzy, Evangeline watched as Thunder disappeared in a blur of jet black. She knew she had to move. But the smoke was further hindering her already lessened ability to breath. She fell to her hands and knees, crawling, trying to stay below the smoke level. As she crawled, she saw boots running towards her.
"Hold this over your nose and mouth." A piece of cloth appeared in front of her face.
Freddie. Of course Freddie would come for the horses.
Freddie had Evangeline up, over his shoulder and on the way to safety before she could react. Evangeline chest hurt with every breath and the pressure of her body against Freddie's shoulder made the pains almost unbearable. But bear it, she would. They needed to get away from the fire and their current strategy was the quickest way to achieve that. The pain of a broken rib, or two, was nothing compared to the threat of the flames.
As Freddie got them both to safety, Evangeline watched the scene they left behind; she watched the destruction of her home. She knew it was no accident.
Someone was going to pay for this.
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