Just a one-shot about Connor, thinking of making another chapter. Review and let me know what you think.
I loaded my horse up with enough water and medicine and my brother watched me "Rose, are you sure this is a good idea? Those English bastards are everywhere these days," I knew he was only concerned for me, but the only concern in my mind was directed toward our mother in the next town over. She was out of medicine and thanks to a riot that had happened a few weeks ago, the pharmacy had been burned down. So I was going to go there now minutes after the letter had arrived and give her the medicine myself, spend the night and return to the town where my brother and I lived in the day when it was safer.
The journey wasn't too far on horseback but the road traversed through a forest and bandits could be anywhere, or even worse the British. There had been lots of stories about those pigs in uniforms abducting girls when they were travelling somewhere at night and alone. So I had the ingenious idea of dressing up in men's clothes and carrying a rifle just in case I did run into trouble.
I mounted my horse and bid good bye to my brother before setting off. It was nearly midnight so our town was nearly empty and I had no trouble navigating the streets. Soon I entered the dark forest on the road to the town my mother and father lived in with my younger sister. I heard a crow cawing and I shivered, fog had descended and an icy wind blew past me making my skin crawl.
I tried not to get distracted from my task and continued onward, occasionally petting my horse to calm it down. I thought I heard footsteps and a twig snapped. I looked around rapidly and called out "Who's there?" into the darkness with no reply. Feeling paranoid I made my horse go into a trot to get to my destination faster. I still felt like I was being watched though. The forest became more and more dense as I went onward, the path seemed to disappear as the undergrowth spilled over onto it and the trees seemed to whisper to each other in the wind. The moonlight was becoming blocked by the tree canopy more and more, I swallowed when I heard a wolf howl in the distance. I dreaded to think what else was out there and I still had quite a way to go too. Yet I could not shake the feeling of paranoia, of being watched.
I thought I heard leaves crunching and for me that was the last straw, I stopped my horse and dismounted. I took my brothers rifle off of my back and loaded it, pointing it at the darkness "Whoever's there, come out or I'll shoot!" I yelled. I heard more leaves being crunched and suddenly I heard a loud slap and my horse whinnied, loudly. I whirled around to see my horse running away and a sharp pain came across my cheek. A man in a British uniform was standing there with a rifle in his hands pointed at my face. My blood ran cold and I froze with fear, I felt something watery run down my cheeks, but I wasn't crying. Then I saw what was on the end of his bayonetted rifle, it was blood, my blood. I kept a firm grip on my rifle even though my hands were trembling from fear. "Well, well, what do we have here?" the man spoke in a fancy accent "A little patriot all alone in the woods? This is too good to be true!" I gulped, the look in his eyes was like that of a madman's. I glanced back and as fast as lightning I smacked the end of the rifle against his face and accidently shot the ground. The man swore and stumbled backward holding his face and I darted around and ran for it, only to run into the arms of another British soldier who put me in a head lock and dragged me over to the man I had gun-whipped. I thrashed against him screaming "Let me go!" over and over he just laughed and four more men emerged from the darkness.
"Patriot baiting, my favorite sport!" One of the men laughed at the fight I was putting up against the soldier. Another man took my rifle from me and threw it into the darkness. I kicked the man holding me in the balls, and he doubled over. I tried to run only to trip again and my hat fell off, showing my feminine features. The man with the cut across his face laughed at me and put his boot on my back, holding the end of his gun to my neck before cutting the ribbon that held my hair together and flipping me onto my back. I yelped and he put his boot on my neck "What's this? A woman dressed as a man?!" The other soldiers laughed and I yelped when the man's foot came into contact with my stomach. Suddenly I was pulled up and I tried to fight, but it was in vain, I was outnumbered. "Leave me alone!" I yelled only to get gun-whipped again. My face was stinging in pain by now and my wound throbbed.
The man in front of me had a perverse smile on his face as he said "Why don't we take a closer look at you?" the two men who held my arms had a grip on my shirt.
"No!" I screamed as they tore the material open and my breasts were exposed to the British man in front of me. Tears streamed from my eyes and stung the cut on my face when he started to grope them roughly, pinching them making me squeak "Stop it!" I begged only to be punched in the stomach, hard.
"Bind her arms," The man ordered, before I could protest my arms were yanked roughly behind my back and bound together tightly with rope. I cried even more when I was thrown into the dirt, my chest still exposed and the men who had restrained me eyed my large cleavage. The man who I realized was the leader came forward and said "Don't you think it's time we teach her the consequences of impersonating?" he asked and the men laughed. I thrashed about even more trying to get free of my bindings when the man started taking his trousers off.
Why had I been so stupid to go out on my own?! Why didn't I listen to my brother and just go in the morning? This was nobody's fault but mine. "Please don't do this! I didn't do anything wrong! Please!" I begged but it fell on deaf ears as my legs were spread wide and I felt them starting to get ripped. I shut my eyes tightly, bracing myself for what was to come.
"Argh!" I was splattered with something and when I opened my eyes I screamed. The man who had been about to rape me had an arrow through his throat and fell to the ground, dead. I saw a hooded man in a white jacket drop down from a tree and another one of the men went to shoot him, I watched terrified as the hooded man ran toward the two British soldiers. He stabbed one through the throat with the bayonette and then shot him in the head making more blood rain on me and the man dropped dead with the rifle still in him. The last of the British soldiers tried to run away, but the hooded man threw something that looked like an axe and it landed in the back of the soldiers head. The man fell to the ground also dead. I struggled against my bindings whilst the hooded man retrieved his axe-like weapon.
So many questions raced through my mind as I squirmed to get out of my bindings. Was this man a patriot? Why were those soldiers so close to my town? The hooded man headed back to me and I tried to get up to run away. I heard his footsteps come toward me and all I could do was curl up into a ball and beg "Pl-please sir! Please leave me! I'm a patriot and I swear I didn't do anything wrong! Please I beg of you! Spare me!" I sobbed and I started shaking. The footsteps stopped and I felt a gloved hand touch my neck as gentle as a butterfly. I continued crying and shivering as I felt the leather on my skin make its way up my neck to tuck my hair behind my ear, revealing my cut to him. "Shhh…it's okay." I heard him whisper. His voice was deep and a lot gentler than that of the soldiers. My blue eyes looked up at him and I found myself looking at a beautiful man with a slight tan, dark hair with warm eyes. He didn't look like your average patriot, but I didn't question it. "They can't hurt you anymore," he told me. He took the edge of my jacket and pulled it around my so it covered my breasts. "I'm going to get you some help," he said before he picked me up bridal style. I whimpered and hid my face in his chest as he carried me away in his arms.
