The battlefield is smoky with spent thick grey gun smoke. It takes weird shapes in front of me. My fingers flexed around my sword. It is light in my hand even after several days of battle. I'm tired but adrenaline keeps me alert and ready to fight the Hessian soldier. General George Washington foresaw in a dream a giant Hessian Soldier coming at me with a huge ax on the battlefield. He will be a huge man with a pentagram tattooed on the inside of his left wrist. General Washington told me it was necessary for the future of this country I do battle with him.
I sighed and wiped the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve. I squeezed my hand tightly around the hilt of my sword. I tried to decipher the growing shadows through the thick fog. My heart beats faster.
A voice called out in the fog.
"Captain Crane. Captain Crane!"
I jumped at the loud voice and sighed. I turned to meet Corporal Irving. He runs out of the thick fog toward me breathless.
"Yes Corporal, I'm right here, " I muttered.
The young Corporal ran up to me panting and out of breath. He saluted me.
"What is it, Corporal?" I growled. He is tall with piercing blue eyes and short black hair. I return his salute and wiped my sleeve across my sweaty forehead.
"Sir, we have a prisoner in jail, " he said."She demands to speak to you."
"Who is it?" I ask." And why is she in jail?"
"She says her name is Abbie Corbin, " the corporal replied."She was walking around town with no money and was picked up as a vagrant. She said it was urgent you talk to her. It was about the Hessian soldier."
My eyes narrowed at the soldier.
"What about the Hessian soldier?" I whisper.
"She wouldn't say, Captain,"Corporal Irving said." I sighed and shook my head.
"Alright," I answer."Only for a minute."
"Yes sir, " the corporal saluted. I returned the salute and then turned to my men.
"Be at the ready for when the Hessian Soldier arrives, " I ordered."Shoot to wound only. not to kill."
"You're in charge Corporal Irving, " I command.
I returned my men's salutes. I walked out of the bloody battlefield with a sudden sense of impending doom. I shrugged it off and continued to walk out of the battlefield to meet this new prisoner.
An hour later, I stepped up to two armed guards. They are standing at attention on either side of the entrance of the jail. One man is blonde with a closely sheared military haircut. He looks young. Maybe too young for his clean uniform. The other looks like his baby brother.
"Macfarlane, Simmons, " I mumble. I saluted both officers.
They returned my salute.
I passed through the low entrance way to the jail. My eyes adjusted from the brightness of the sunlight to the darkness of the cell. I walked in further into the cold, damp, jail. My hand rested on the hilt of my sword.
I turned up my nose to the filthy, putrid smell of dirt, and stench. I stopped at the small jail cell in the middle of the room. My eyebrows knit as my eyes rest on the young woman in the small jail.
She is tall, with dark spiral curls cascading over her left shoulder. I stepped closer. I don't see her face. She is hunched over with her head lowered, her hands and ankles shackled in prison irons. I stared at her clothes. She wore a red short-sleeved blouse, black trousers, and black boots. Her clothes are unfamiliar and strange. I don't recognize what country she comes from.
She lifted her head. Her dark eyes shine when she looks at me. She smiled.
"Uncle Crane!" she yelled. She sprung up from the wooden bench and ran to the bars. I stiffened and swung my hands behind my back. I glared at the young woman. She looked to be only a child.
"Captain Crane," I snapped.
She bowed her head and raised her eyes again. In the daylight, I see she is of a mixed race. No wonder she was arrested.
"Of course, Captain Crane." She answered. "My name Abbie Jo Corbin."
I narrowed my eyes at her.
"And what is so very urgent Miss Corbin, "I asked." You had to take me away from the battlefield?"
"Did you see him, yet?" she asked excitedly.
My eyebrows knitted as I stared at her.
"To whom are you referring to?" I ask.
"The Hessian soldier general Washington prophesied you will fight, " she said."Have you've seen him, yet?"
I stared at her.
"You know about the Hessian soldier? " I ask.
"Yes," she said. "Have you seen him?"
"No, not yet, " I answered."But I am ready to fight him once I return."
"Yes, fight him, " Abbie Corbin replied."Only remember you have to die with him so your wife Katrina can put a spell on you to put you to sleep until the 21Century. So you will meet your second wife Abbie Mills."
Silence.
"You speak strangely Miss," I answer, "I don't understand what you're saying. Katrina Crane is my only wife."
The young woman's eyes brightened.
"Oh good, you're already married to Katrina," she sighed in relief.
"Yes. and she is and will be my only wife, "I scolded.
"Not in my Century, " she shot back. "In my Century you're married to my mother's sister, Abbie Mills and Katrina is an evil witch."
"So, you are my niece from the future?" I asked.
"Yes, that's right," she exclaimed.
I leaned back and I looked down my nose at her. I shook my head. She began to annoy me. I had more important things to do then play games, with this little chit. I had to return to the battlefield to fight the Hessian.
"Where do you come from?" I demand.
"Upstate New York."
"What part?" I ask.
"All of me," she giggled. "Ha. You taught me that joke when I was little."
She pointed at me and smiled.
Frustrated I pulled back from the bars and groaned. I ran my hand over my face and frowned.
"I assure you," I shout."I've never taught you that joke. now, what is it that you want from me!"
"Take me to the battlefield with you."
I shook my head.
"A battlefield is no place for a young lady, " I answered.
"Neither is a dirty jail," she quipped.
I twisted my full lips into a smile. She had a point.
"Captain Crane!"
I turned my head to see Corporal Irving walk towards me.
I returned his salute and glared at him.
"Corporal, what are you doing here?" I shout."I ordered you to stay at the battlefield!"
"Sir, the Hessian soldier is at the battlefield, " he replied."The men are now fighting him,"
My whole body stiffened.
"I'll be there immediately, "I answered.
"Yes, sir!"
Corporal Irving saluted me and left. I shifted my eyes immediately back to the young woman. She is smiling at me. Her pretty dark eyes beaming. I don't return her smile.
I still don't know who she is. She could have escaped from a mental institution. Her story could be an elaborate hoax created by the British. But, my gut tells me I should believe her. I always trusted my gut.
"Guard release the prisoner, " I ordered." I take full responsibility for her."
We were back on the battlefield an hour later.
"Jesus Christ, it stinks out here!"Abbie Corbin said."Smells like death."
I turned to see her pinching her nose with her thumb and forefinger.
"Do not blaspheme Miss, "I scolded." A lady does not use thy lords name in vain."
She frowned.
"I like the future you better, " Abbie Corbin muttered.
I ignored her and continued to walk. I could not see my hand in front of my face. The gun smoke and the morning fog seemed to mix to create an even larger thicker fog. Then the Hessian soldier breaks out through the fog and rushed at me. It's a huge ax raised high. I stepped aside and swung my sword high above my head. I swung it down hard on the Hessian's neck. The head rolled to the burning campfire. Blood sprayed out everywhere from the headless body until it finally fell, twitching in the mud.
I fell on my knees. My breath came out in short spurts. I am so tired. I turned to look at Miss Corbin. She is staring at the fallen headless soldier. Her face white. Then she turned her head to look at me.
"No, no, you killed him!"She shouted."You were supposed to die together. so you can go back to the future!"
I opened my mouth to speak and she disappears. My eyes rolled back up into my head and I fell face down in the mud in a dead faint.
The End.