November 28, 1779 - Morning
Lillian nearly overslept, but awoke before dawn and peeked outside her window, making sure nobody was around before sneaking out of her room, running off to the Western Woods. The Hessian never sent back a word of response, but she had a feeling she would know where to find him that morning. The forest was eerily quiet, the trees shedding the last remaining leaves still left on their branches. Lillian would have taken great comfort in hearing birds singing or the chirping of crickets to help lessen the dreadful feeling, but other than looking up and seeing Simara flying above her, there wasn't a sign of life to be seen or heard anywhere. Staring forward, Lillian ignored the raven and headed towards the direction of the Hudson River, feeling angered at Simara. The raven carried out the task given to her, but failed her mistress in sending word back to her from the Hessian.
When she came to the riverbank, Lillian sat down on a log and waited there a while to see if the Hessian would come riding through the woods or not. She had been lucky once in meeting him that one morning when he took Daredevil out for a ride before a battle, and whether he was fighting that day or not, Lillian knew that the Hessian felt most happiest when he was in the saddle. If she caught him at just the right moment, maybe she could ask him about the woman she saw in her vision. No matter how hard she tried putting it out of her mind, she couldn't erase the image of the beautiful woman smiling and laughing with the Hessian, making her jealous with envy.
A half hour past and there was still no sign of the Hessian. Lillian rocked herself back and forth, worrying that he might not come. She stood up and began pacing the ground, thinking about heading back. She started walking towards the trees, but then stopped herself and looked back at the river, uncertain. Maybe it was her heart that was causing her brain not to function the way it was supposed to, but all Lillian could think about was the woman from her vision. It was obvious to her that the woman was someone the Hessian knew back home, but why hadn't he spoken about her before? Was he ashamed of his past with this woman? What was the secret behind it all?
Simara, who was perched on a branch in a tree, spread her wings before flying down and landed on the log, cawing. Lillian turned around to look at the raven, who gazed up at her mistress with soulless eyes, cawing again.
"Stop it", Lillian demanded. "If he couldn't come, he would have sent you back with a response last night. I gave you a simple task and you failed to deliver."
The raven jumped up to nip at a lock of her hair, and while she found it annoying, Lillian was convinced that Simara was trying to tell her something about the Hessian. Whatever it was, she could not understand, as the language of ravens and other animals was not common knowledge among humans. If anyone saw her talking with the ominous blackbird, one would immediately accuse Lillian of being a witch. Thankfully, she was not.
"I don't care what you have to say", said Lillian to the raven. "No matter what I saw, I still love him. When the Hessian comes, I'll confess my love to him, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Simara's cawing increased, as though warning her against the idea, and for the first time since she met the bird, Lillian found the raven's presence intrusive and unwelcomed. Fueled by an angered heart, she reached for the dagger at her side and drew it out from its sheath, flashing the weapon to Simara, who flew away at once, leaving her alone on the riverbank. Normally, Lillian was not a violent person and would never think about harming anyone, especially an animal, but the unresolved tension between her and the Hessian had trigged something that caused a drastic change in her behavior.
"Out of all the creatures in this world, my father had to send a nuisance like you!" Lillian shouted to Simara, feeling no remorse for scaring away her friend. "What beast shall appear next in these accursed woods?!"
As the raven flew away from her sight, Lillian couldn't help but feel a sudden change in the weather. The air grew colder, to which she sheathed the dagger so she could wrap her arms around her body, rubbing her hands up and down her limbs to keep herself warm. Any other time, she would have donned her cape to protect herself against the bitter cold, but Lillian left in such a hurry that she forgot to bring it with her. Hearing a crackling noise, the young maiden turned around at once and found herself walking towards the river, looking down at the water and seeing the reflection change from liquid into solid ice, freezing the Hudson.
Whispered voices sounded off in her ears, and when she turned her head to look back at the forest, Lillian found herself standing in a different part of the Western Woods she was not familiar with. Not only that, but there was snow on the ground, and while she did not recognize the new location, Lillian was shocked to see there were two little girls standing right in front of her. They were blonde-haired and wearing pink dresses with fur trimmings.
"Did you hear something, Mary?" The youngest girl asked her twin sister, her arms loaded with firewood.
"No, I didn't hear anything", the older sister answered, picking up a single branch. "Must have been your imagination, Tessa."
"I know I heard something", said the younger sister.
Lillian stepped forward and waved her hand in front of them to observe if they could see her, but they couldn't. There came a rustling from the trees, and when she turned around to see who it was, Lillian found it was the Hessian who came into view. He glanced back to make sure he had lost track of those who were pursuing him, and when he turned his body around to look forward, his cold, blue eyes fell upon the sight of the two girls.
"No! Hessian, run! Get away from here!" Lillian shouted.
Much like the girls, the Hessian couldn't see or hear her. Lillian was invisible to his eyes, as he put a finger to his lips, warning the female children to keep quiet. Mary did not listen to him and snapped the branch in half, the loud noise giving away his location. The Hessian looked back at the approaching soldiers with fear in his eyes. Tessa dropped the firewood and ran away, while her older sibling went and hid behind a nearby tree.
Desperate, Lillian ran towards the Hessian, but when she went to embrace him, her arms fell right through his solid form, as though she were made of mist. It was right then and there she realized that this was a vision, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it from showing her the fate that awaited him in the future.
The German mercenary took up his sword in one hand, wielding an axe in the other. Roaring ferociously, he clashed his weapons against those of his enemies, defending himself by chopping off the heads of the American soldiers who opposed him. Lillian watched helplessly as he beheaded three of them, slicing off an arm of another. Soon, the Hessian was overpowered, and one of the soldiers found the opportunity to stab their sword into his side. Yelling in pain, the Hessian dropped his weapons and fell down to his knees in the snow. Before he knew it, he was no longer breathing, as his head became severed from the rest of his body, rendering him dead.
Lillian lost her own breath, as well. The world around her went dark and she saw no more, fainting from shock.
What seemed like hours only lasted no more than a couple of minutes. Without much effort, Lillian was awoken from her deathlike sleep by the coolness of water being splashed on her face. She heard a muffled, distant voice speaking to her, asking her if she was all right. Lillian moaned in response, and while the voice's owner sounded familiar, her mind was still trapped within the confines of the vision that had just been shown to her.
"Lillian?...Lillian, wake up. Lillian!"
Gasping for air, Lillian opened her eyes and bolted right up into a sitting position, feeling her chest collide with the armored one of the Hessian. His strong arms wrapped around her trembling form immediately, and Lillian hugged her arms around him at once, breathing heavily as she shut her eyes and cried into his shoulder, clinging onto him for dear life, afraid of losing him.
"What happened?" The Hessian asked.
"Hold me", Lillian whispered, tearfully. "Please, just hold me."
The Hessian tightened his embrace on her, complying to her request. "It's all right", he said. "You're safe now."
"No, it's not all right. I just had the most terrible vision I've ever seen."
"What did you see?"
Lillian shook her head. "Please, don't ask me", she begged him, tightening her hold on his body. "What I have just seen, you cannot know about. It's too horrible."
The Hessian released his hold on Lillian, who kept her head down, unable to look at him. He placed his fingers underneath her chin, raising her head up so he could look into her sad, blue eyes, his expression calm.
"Tell me what you saw", said the Hessian.
"I saw your death", Lillian confessed.
The Hessian held his gaze on her a moment, rising up to his full height to stare down at Lillian, who remained sitting on the ground, staring up at him.
"It was the same as the last one", said Lillian. "You were running through the woods, trying to hide. I was there with you. I tried to lure you away, but I was like a ghost to you. You couldn't see me. I tried to stop you from attacking the soldiers, but there was nothing I could do. I watched you die!" Lillian lowered her face into her hands and cried out, "I'm so sorry. I never should have come here." Sniffling, Lillian lowered her hands and took a deep breath before forcing herself to look up at the Hessian, saying to him, "I wish you would kill me!"
The Hessian snarled and grabbed Lillian by the front of her dress, lifting her off the ground with effortless ease. Lillian did not scream, but became frightened when she saw the ferocity looming in his maddening eyes.
"Do not speak that way in front of me!" The Hessian shouted, furiously. "Now, you listen to me. No one, I repeat, NO ONE...is going to claim my life! Not today, not tomorrow! Not ever! Do you understand?!"
"You're wrong", Lillian told him, a single tear falling down her cheek. "I know what I saw, Hessian. Beware the innocence of children, for it is the most dangerous of enemies."
The Hessian looked taken aback by this and set Lillian back on the ground, staring at her questioningly. "A child shall kill me?" He asked.
"A little girl will kill you", Lillian explained. "She has yellow hair and blue eyes. She has a twin sister. The sister is innocent, but this child will betray you and lead you to your death. If you value your life, you will kill her."
"I am a soldier, not a barbarian! And I will not kill a child just so you can alter my destiny. Just because-" The Hessian's words were cut off by Lillian delivering a hard slap to his face, silencing him at once. His head whipped over to one side, but he did not react to the pain. He turned his head to look back at Lillian, expressing no sign of anger or surprise on his pale face. If anything, he seemed bored and unimpressed at her attempt to hurt him.
Loosing patience, the Hessian grabbed Lillian by the back of her hair, forcing her head upwards. The fear in her eyes was not lost on him, for it was just the reaction he expected out of her. "If you have any sense at all, you will leave this forest and never come back. We're finished here." Releasing his hold on her hair, rather painfully, the Hessian threw Lillian on the ground and turned to walk over to Daredevil, making ready to leave.
In a last minute act of desperation for him to stay, Lillian stood up and ran to the Hessian, blurting out, "I had another vision last night."
This seemed to do the trick, as it drew the Hessian's attention back to her. He turned himself around so he could look at Lillian and listen to what she had to say.
"In the vision, there was a tree", Lillian continued. "There was a white deer lying under it. Its stomach was cut opened. The carcass of a fawn lied next to it. I don't know why I saw it, but I know you were mourning for them."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I'm not so sure the man I saw was even you, but he looked like you. And then there was that...that horrid woman."
"What woman?"
Lillian went silent, looking down at his gloved hands. Grabbing hold of his right wrist, she removed the gauntlet to look at his hand and see if he wore a gold band on any of his fingers, finding he did not. Then she did the same thing to his other arm and removed the glove's twin from his left hand, finding, once again, that he was in no possession of a wedding ring. Lillian looked up at the Hessian in confusion. What this some kind of trick?
"Why did you do that?" The Hessian asked.
"I needed to see something", Lillian answered.
"What, about my hands?"
"Yes, about your damn hands!"
"You're acting insane", said the Hessian, tearing his hands away from her grip. "What does looking at my hands have to do with your vision?"
"I'd rather not say, unless you have something to tell me about a dark-haired temptress", Lillian remarked.
"I don't have time for this", the Hessian argued, taking his gloves back. "If you wish to speak in riddles, I suggest you see a doctor. Perhaps he can understand you better, because I most certainly cannot." Once his gloves were back on his hands, the Hessian turned around and mounted himself up onto Daredevil, taking hold of the reins before turning his horse around. Lillian ran to the front and stood before the two, blocking their way.
"You think I am a lunatic?" Lillian asked him.
"I don't know what you are", said the Hessian. "First, you say a soldier will kill me, now you say a young girl will be the death of me, so you ask me to murder an innocent? What sort of Christian are you?"
"Does this mean you do not love me?"
The Hessian felt silent, angered that she would even ask him such a thing, especially after what she had just said to him. "I could never love a woman who wishes death upon a child", the Hessian answered. "Stay your distance from me, Lillian Waise. The next time we meet, you will regret it, most sincerely That is my promise to you." Staring forward, the Hessian roared loudly, pulling on the reins as he reared his horse before heading to the battlefield.
Lillian remained where she was, falling down to her knees in disbelief. She didn't want to tell the Hessian about the fate that awaited him, but thought that if she informed him, perhaps it would give him a chance to change his future and alter the course of her vision, but he refused to murder a child to save his own skin, and Lillian thought him a fool for thinking the child was innocent. What hurt her the most was that the Hessian did not seem afraid of the thought of dying. Was it his secret desire to join the afterlife? If so, then that would explain why the woman was with him in the vision. Maybe it was them joined together in paradise.