Chapter 9

It was a cool morning as the sun was about to rise, but inside Tavington's tent, it was warm and comfortable. Awinita was the first to wake up. She thought it was best to leave before he woke up.

She removes herself from his embrace, he had his arms around her body the entire night. She quickly finds her clothes and was about to dress, when she feels a warm hand on her back.

"Awinita," she hears Tavington and she turns to look at him. He was still naked and he notices that she was ready to dress herself.

"I thought you needed to rise early," she said, but she wasn't sure of his schedule. He helps her dress and she does the same for him. He then produces a comb and brushes her thick, raven colored hair. She then feels his nose against her neck, breathing in her scent and she feels the urge to kiss him, but she holds back.

"If you keep doing that, I'll rip your uniform off," she warns, but she hears him chuckle.

"I would like to see you do that," Tavington whispers and kisses her neck. Awinita looks back on the love making last night, even though she found Tavington repulsive and perhaps cruel, she did feel safe with him.

"Will I see you tonight?" she asks.

"I'll try to come back before sunset, but we are ready to move to a different location," Tavington replies and Awinita looks up at him.

"Where to?" she asks, but he places a hand on her shoulder.

"That decision is up to General Cornwallis," he answers, "I will be seeing him today. Perhaps now, you can take the time to prepare my horse." Awinita nods at the command and leaves the tent.

She notices only a few Red Coats up and about, but she locates Elijah and he did look concern. "Where did you go last night?" he asks. She wasn't sure how to answer that question, Elijah was a bit terrified of Tavington as she could tell from the other day.

"Now don't you lie to me Awinita," Elijah insists, "I can tell in your eyes that you were with a man last night. Did one of them Red Coats rape you?" he asks, but she was startled with this.

"No, it wasn't rape!" she replies, but realizes her mistake. Elijah looks at her in the eye, he was urging her to tell the truth. "Tavington invited me to his tent last night and we...we made..."

Elijah understood the rest and takes her to find the colonel's horse. The chestnut horse with a small star on his head looks back at her as Awinita begins to brush and clean the animal. Elijah then steps behind her, "Now you listen carefully," he said in a low voice, "Colonel Tavington is called The Butcher for a reason. According to many of the Red Coats, Tavington brutally murders colonists in order to make sure that the British win this war. And from what I heard, General Cornwallis does not like Tavington's tactics."

Awinita was stunned to hear this, she had heard the other Red Coats talking of Tavington's cruelty, but she never thought he would resort to murder. What if there was a possibility that he killed some colonists she knew or perhaps, he killed her family.

"Now I insist you stay away from him," Elijah suggests, "He is a barbaric man. I have a feeling he will either hurt you or possibly kill you some day."

"Elijah," Awinita said, but decides not to make things more difficult between her and the African man who was treating her with respect. She finishes cleaning Tavington's horse and saddles him.

"I will take the horse to the colonel, you start mucking this hay here," Elijah orders and leaves with the horse. Awinita obeys and starts working. She looks at the other horses, who were fed earlier, but then a few Dragoons appear.

"You there!" one of them shouts, "Brush and saddle our horses." She places the pitchfork down and begins to brush the horses for the Dragoons, who were chatting among themselves.

"Did you see the colonel shoot down that boy yesterday? He was foolish in trying to save his brother," one of them said and Awinita listens.

"Yes, but that older boy went missing when he was taken back, and twenty of those men were killed," another replies, "Perhaps this 'Ghost' has a thing for boys."

The Dragoons laugh at this, but Awinita was trying to process this information. This 'Ghost' killed twenty Red Coats, but takes the boy? What if the 'Ghost' saved him or possibly kidnapped him. However, it didn't make sense for someone to kill twenty men just to kidnap a boy.

"You there!" a Dragoon shouts at her, causing her to come back to reality, "Are you almost done?" he demands, just as Elijah comes back, with the colonel behind him.

"You men know how to groom and saddle a horse, why don't you make yourself useful and do the work instead of relying on one person?" Tavington asks and the Dragoons then take their horses away from Awinita. He looks at her with his icy blue eyes, but she looks away from him and goes back to mucking.

Then, she senses the colonel's horse behind her, he had the animal walk up to her. Tavington reaches for her and pulls her toward him. "I want to see you this evening," he whispers, which sent chills down her spine.

The colonel then urges his horse to join the other Dragoons and Awinita watches as they ride away. She returns to her work and she sees Elijah, he noticed her with Tavington. "What exactly have you done to the colonel?" he asks, but she was confused.

"I am not sure," she replies, but Elijah wanted an answer. "We made love last night and it...it was...he didn't force me to...but...I think..." she was struggling to tell Elijah of her feelings of uncertainty.

"As I said, you stay away from him," he commands, "Even if he told you he wants to see you, you don't stay the night with him. I hate to see a lovely creature such as you get tangled in his web of brutality."

Awinita never felt so confused before; should she take Elijah's word and keep herself away from Tavington? Or serve the colonel's wishes? She goes back to work and for the entire day, she does many chores for the British army, but decides not to go into Tavington's tent. If the colonel came back early, he would take her by surprise.

Later in the day, Tavington and the Dragoons arrive at the general's quarters. The sun was starting to go down in the west. Tavington marches up to the general's room where Cornwallis was speaking to a soldier over a map. When the soldier leaves, the colonel speaks to Cornwallis, "His Majesty is most generous," he said, as he heard them speak about some land near the Ohio River.

"Though your service in this war more than warrants such a gift," Tavington adds, but Cornwallis didn't look pleased.

"Yes, this is how His Majesty rewards those..." he trails off as he walks to his desk, "Those who fight as gentlemen." Tavington then realizes that the general was going to lecture him on his brutal ways of punishing the colonists.

"I dare to presume my own meager contributions will be rewarded one day," the colonel said, but Cornwallis scuffs him and they argue over Tavington's brutality.

"These brutal tactics must stop!" Cornwallis orders, but Tavington tries to argue that his tactics were justifiable as he refused to lose a battle. "The manner in which you serve me reflects upon me!" Cornwallis shouts and continues, "I would have thought that a gentleman from an esteemed family such as yours would understand that."

Tavington's insides grew cold at this. He was no longer a gentleman mostly due to his late father's habits of gambling, which took away his son's inheritance as the Tavington estate was now bankrupt. Perhaps he was more angry at his father than any other human being, but he felt at ease when he killed a defenseless colonial.

"My late father squandered any esteem in which we were held along with my inheritance," Tavington replies and adds, "I advance myself only through victory."

Cornwallis looks at him in the eye, "You advance yourself only through my good graces. These Colonials are our brethren," he said, he did view the colonists as human begins, but Tavington thought the colonists would do well by serving England with no fuss. "And when this conflict is over, we will re-establish commerce with them. Do you understand, colonel?" Cornwallis asks.

"Perfectly, my lord," Tavington replies and turns to leave. He could feel some frustration forming inside of him.

"Colonel," Cornwallis said and he stops in tracks, "I received interesting reports that you took a Native woman to your camp." Tavington didn't want to talk about Awinita and their night of love making. For some odd reason, she put him at ease, but more of the emotional kind.

"You do well by looking after her," Cornwallis suggests, "And let no vulgar man take advantage of her. Otherwise, I will have her come here," he adds and Tavington shivers at this idea. Cornwallis was a respectable man who treated women like fragile objects and he would perform his own justice if one man were to make unnecessary sexual advances on a woman who refused it.

"I will make sure that no soldier takes advantage," Tavington replies and leave the mansion. Deep down, he made this a priority, mostly to himself. He didn't want Awintia's attention be shifted to another man, other than himself. He never felt this way towards a woman, but he never liked the women back home in England. Awinita was different, she can defend herself against horrid men as he saw for himself. Her beauty was different from the other women he met, but it was her bravery that won him over.

He climbs back onto his horse and he and his troops ride back to camp.

From the author: I would like to apologize if this seems out of synch with the movie. I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I should watch it again for some ideas.

Anyway, both Awinita and Tavington might be experiencing some confusion with their emotions for one another. I think it happens between individuals who see each other differently due to their backgrounds, much like in my other story "The President's Mistress". There's plenty more on the way! See you soon!