Savage Lands Read Online Free PDF Page A

leaves to mud that sucked them down to their ankles and slowed progress. Rivulets of water trickling down the mountainside soon sprang into fast-flowing streams with enough force to sweep their feet from under them.
    â€œAre you sure this is the way?” shouted Clark from over pattering rain that sounded as if the forest canopy was ready to collapse on them. His injured leg was forcing him to the back of the group with Robbie.
    Robbie squinted, the rain stinging his eyes. “Think so. We really need the sun to check the direction.” The driving rain drowned out any response from Clark, but as Robbie wiped his eyes he was startled to see the large man was bearing quickly down on him despite his injured leg. He wiped his eyes clear just as Clark roughly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him so close he could smell the man’s stale breath.
    â€œListen ’ere, mate,” Clark hissed as low as he could. “This ain’t no game. This is serious cash that’s gonna get us all out of this hellhole and we don’t need you screwin’ it up!”
    Robbie shook him off. He was too surprised by Clark’s sudden violent streak; this from the man who had found him stowed away on a cargo ship and offered him unquestioned help and friendship. Was the lure of being so close to the riches he’d always wanted now distorting Clark’s priorities? Robbie’s mind wondered, trying to make sense of it all, before he realized Archie was shouting a warning.
    â€œGuys!”
    Robbie glanced up just in time and saw the earth move through the trees uphill. Archie and Greystoke were already scrambling for cover from what was approaching. Rain stung Robbie’s eyes again, forcing them shut—but not before he heard the low rumble of the mudslide as it rushed toward them like a freight train. The previous earth tremors had dislodged a huge chunk of earth higher up and the sudden rain had been all that was needed to turn it to liquid.
    Robbie turned to run, blindly grabbing for Clark who was frozen to the spot, staring up at the wall of mud and debris piling toward them.
    â€œClark!” Robbie could say no more before he felt the ground pulled from beneath his feet as the mudslide poured into him. He felt himself falling backward, and caught a brief glimpse of Jane reaching for him with one hand, the other securing her to a sturdy tree limb, before he tumbled onto his back.
    Robbie reached out for anything to which he could anchor himself, but his hands cut through the shifting mud. He could feel it everywhere—in his eyes, his ears, even seeping into his mouth.
    He lost all sense of direction as he spun around. Something soft bounced into him and ricocheted away—Clark? He tried to reach for it, but his grasp was slick. Then he struck something hard—a tree. His breath was knocked out of him as he spun around the object. Before he could get a grip, the muddy torrent bore him away again, glancing his shoulder off another tree before his stomach lurched and he dropped like a stone. With a sickening sense of dread, he knew he had been dragged over the cliff.
    â€¢ • •
    T o Jane, it felt as if her arm was being yanked from her socket as she held on to the tree, the mudslide flowing beneath her, pulling at her legs. For almost half a minute there seemed to be no end to the torrent—until it suddenly petered out to a trickle then stopped. The trail they had been on was now five feet higher, a slick wedge of mud that led from the mountain above to the drop below.
    Even though the avalanche had stopped, Jane didn’t dare let go of the branch. She fought for breath, still shocked at seeing Robbie and Clark dragged away in an instant.
    â€œJane!”
    Archie emerged from a knot of trees, Greystoke following closely behind. The backs of both men were covered in glossy mud from where they had hidden from the deluge.
    â€œDad!” Seeing Archie finally gave Jane the