Kay woke up to sunlight poking through a ton of wide leaves. She sat up only to immediately lie back down.
"O my god," she moaned as she shielded her eyes from the sun," screw you hangover."
She laid there for ages trying to remember the party. She recalled a lot of drinking; a lot of dancing, and making out with Brandon which later led to them having intamacies in the coat closet. The last thing she could remember was falling to the ground and passing out next to...
"Julia?" she sat up and looked around her "JULIA! Where are you?"
Surely if Julia had woken up she wouldn't have left Kay lying out in the open by herself. But, then again, Julia was trashed out of her mind, therefore there was no way she could have gotten up, period. Kay stumbled to her feet and walked out of the trees only to be met by several men dressed in 18th century british army uniforms. The group closest to her froze when they noticed her standing there in a black short sleeve shirt with tight black pants, a set of cat ears on her head, whiskers drawn on her face, and a long black tail hanging from her pants.
"Um," she said," I'm looking for my sister. She's got brown hair a little darker than mine. Last seen wearing a wine colored ball gown."
The officers continued to stare at her in shock and curiosity. Kay was getting anxious. Her sister was missing and she was surrounded by a bunch of revolutionary war reinactors who, by the looks of it were all mutes.
"Please," she said with more urgency," I'm getting very nervous. I haven't seen her since a little after the party last night, and I need to find her so I know she is safe."
The mention of the party seemed to snap the men out of their thoughts, for the middle soldier stepped closer to Kay and spoke.
"We can take you to see the Lord General," he said," he might be able to help."
You guys don't have to act in front of me, Kay thought, getting irrtated.
"Fine," she said out loud.
Her irritation increased when he didn't move but continued to stare down her shirt.
"Hello, can you quit staring at my tits and show me where I need to go? This is kind of an emergency."
Without a word he motioned to her to follow him. She followed him to the front of the house where she noticed the cars were all gone. In fact, the road was gone too. Instead there were a ton of carriages with people climbing into a few of them. Some people paused to look at Kay.
What the hell, she thought as she looked around.
"Private, what's this all about?" an elderly man strode quickly up to Kay and threw his jacket around her,"she is practically naked."
"Sir she came out of the woods on the east side of the property. Says her sister disappeared after the ball and hasn't been seen since."
The man looked at her and noticed several scratches on her arms and small tears in her shirt and pants.
"Have you been attacked?"
"What? No. Look, I'm getting pissed off. I was walking back to the manor last night with my younger sister, Julia Villani, and I passed out and now she is gone. I need help finding her."
"My goodness," the man replied," you poor thing. You have been attacked. You can't even remember what happened. Let's get you inside and cleaned up, and find you a new gown."
"I Don't need a damn gown! My little sister is missing-"
"Lord Cornwallis," one of the women who had been gawking at Kay now stood before her with a sky blue gown," she can use this gown. It doesn't fit me very well anymore, but it may fit her."
"Did you just say...Lord Cornwallis?" Kay asked," As in Lord General Cornwallis?"
"Yes,child, I did," the woman said.
Kay looked around her again, this time really taking in her surroundings. The cars and roads were gone; the men were dressed and spoke like british officers; the women were wearing gowns; the man next to her was the Lord Gen. Cormwallis...
Her arms exploded in goosebumps as her chest went numb.
"Oh...my..." Kay fainted before she could finish.
Two other officers rushed over to her and picked her up.
"Someone fetch a doctor," Cornwallis ordered. He turned to the private who brought Kay to him," Go to the camp and fetch Col. Tavington. Tell him to come at once."
"Yes sir."
Captain Bordon strode silently through the trees, enjoying the fresh morning air and beauty of the scene around him. There were no departures planned for the Dragoons for a week, which was just fine in his book. He did tire of all the fighting and such now and then. He woke this morning with the feeling that today was a day that was meant for walking, and when Bordon got a feeling, he followed it, and he was always right. He approached a nearby tree and snapped a few twigs from it. He then proceeded to snap the twigs into small pieces until they couldn't be broken anymore. He inched around the tree and was about to pull another twig when a sour aroma, much like spoiled milk met his nostrils. The smell didn't bother him as he had smelled many foul things since his first battle in the war. He followed the scent a few paces to the next tree and, looking down, he found a puddle of vomit. To the left of the puddle was a trail in the dirt..a trail that looked as if someone had been dragged. Bordon followed it through a clump of bushes and froze dead in his tracks when the trail ended. She was sprawled on the ground, dust mingling with her wine colored gown. Captain Bordon used two fingers to move strands of brown hair from her face. He was startled to see a cut that started in the mid-section of her right temple and ended a little ways down her cheek.
"Dear God what happened to you?" he asked.
Col. Tavington emerged from his tent to see what all the commotion was about. He spotted the trouble immediately. Captain Bordon was being followed by several officers, all of whom were asking him what happened and where did he find the girl. Tavington pushed through the crowd of officers once he heard the word 'girl.'
"Out of my way," he yelled at the officers. He burst into the medical tent and stopped," Bordon...what happened?"
Captain Bordon moved aside some so that the Col. could see the girl.
"I found her in the woods, sir," Bordon said," It looks as though she has been attacked. I have sent for a doctor already."
As if on cue the doctor came striding into the tent, his assistant not far behind.
"Alright," he said," where is the girl?"
Without waiting for an answer he walked to the opposite side of the cot and stared at her.
"Well what happened to this one?" he asked more to himself as he examined the cut on her head. He requested water and some linens from his assistant. She wasted little time in fulfilling his request. He wiped the dried blood away and cleaned the dirt out of the wound.
"Well I don't know what's going on around this place, but this one will be just fine," the doctor concluded.
"What do you mean 'going on around this place'?" Tavington asked.
"I just came from Middleton place at the request of Lord Cornwallis," the doctor explained," Seems officers up there found another girl who had been attacked last night too, just after the ball. She said she was looking for her younger sister. She apparently disappeared last night and hasn't been seen since...in fact, this girl might be the missing sibling."
"Was the other woman...violated," Bordon asked.
"No she wasn't. But she must have been hit pretty hard. She can't remember what happened. And by the looks of this one I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't remember anything either."
A soldier stuck his head into the tent," Col. Tavington, the Lord Gen. requests your presence immediately."
Tavington spoke to Bordon as they exited the tent. He may be a brutal man on the field, but the thought of anyone attacking a female in such a way disgusted and infuriated him.
"The grounds of Middleton should be safe for the ladies," he said as his horse was brought to him," This is outrageous. If I find out who did this they will request to dig their own grave when I'm finished with them."
