Jae and Jula left their room, went downstairs and walked outside.
"Great, guards." said Jula in a flat voice, glancing around at the many red-coated soldiers standing around on the grounds, arms shouldered.
"So? What are they going to do to us?"
"Jae, you are so asking for it."
"Yeah well.."
"Come on let's go; those guards bug me when they stare at me."
Jae nodded and replied, "Okay; I think I can remember where we're supposed to be."
"You'd better.."
"Yeah, I do; it's over this way, but it's going to take a while to get there on foot. Better get some horses."
"Yup, guess so."
Jae and Jula went down to the stables; luckily there were a couple of horses not being used, so they saddled them and rode off to camp. Once at camp, they tethered the horses to a tree and then went looking for the colonel.
"Jae, why are we looking for the guy if we don't want him to see us?" Jula asked.
"We aren't looking for him; well, not exactly. We're just.. seeing what he's up to."
"He's probably working with his men, beating the crap out of some unfortunate recruit, or working on something stupid like reports." Jula replied.
"So? Even if he is doing something as stupid as writing reports, it would still be cool to see what he's up to. And besides, this way, we can get a taste of camp life."
"Oh right, like you care. Jae, I'm telling you, we're gonna get our butts kicked."
Jae rolled her eyes.
"Come on Jula, live a little."
"Jae, I do live, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"He's not going to kill us."
"Yeah, whatever. He may have liked the information we presented to him, but somehow, I still think he'd fry our heads if he caught us here."
"Yeah, and then, he wouldn't get any more information."
"Jae, you missed the point by like, ten miles! He already has what he needs, and if we get into trouble today, we couldn't take it from him 'cause we'd already be dead. Plus, even if we did manage to still have our heads by the time he was through with us, he's got a very good memory, and the book is in his room."
"Yeah well, we're not going to get into trouble, alright?"
Jula rolled her eyes.
"Whatever Jae... Hey look, there he is!"
Jae glanced over to her right and saw Col. Tavington standing about one hundred yards away, sword fighting with one of his men.
"Let's get closer." said Jae excitedly.
Jula rolled her eyes at Jae, but crept closer with her sister, staying close to the trees.
"Watch your footwork, Andarton..." the colonel advised, as he easily blocked the soldier's advance, slashing downward with his blade while moving forward and backing the soldier towards the woods where Jae and Jula were hiding.
Jae grabbed her sister's shoulder and backed them a bit further into the trees.
"Ashby!" Col. Tavington barked. "Step in and help Andarton out!"
Jae and Jula watched as a tall, muscular man with silver hair stepped forward and began to sword fight with the colonel in an attempt to get him away from Andarton. Col. Tavington fought off the two soldiers with easy, fluid motions, even managing to trip Ashby over a root and send him crashing just feet away from where Jae and Jula were hiding.
"Ahhh!" Jae yelped but Jula covered her mouth and backed them both even further into the woods behind some bushes.
"Shut up!" she hissed in Jae's ear, taking her hand off her mouth.
"Who's there?" a voice hissed.
Oh crap! Col. Tavington..Jae thought frantically, crouching low in the bushes with her sister.
Col. Tavington walked towards a clump of bushes. A smirk played across his lips, but instead of walking any closer to the bushes, he walked away, barking at his men to get into line and stand at attention as he went.
Jae let out a soft sigh of relief.
Thank god...
Waiting until the colonel and his men had moved away from the area, Jae and Jula snuck off, back towards the horses they had borrowed, and rode back to the estate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that day, around five in the evening, while Jae, Jula, and Lady Tavington were sitting and conversing in the Tavingtons' quarters, Col. Tavington arrived back from camp, giving his wife a quick peck on the cheek in greeting, and then looking over at the girls with a strange glint in his icy eyes.
"Hello, girls."
"Hello, Colonel."
"So, what did you two do today while I was gone at camp?"
"Well, we watched Braden.." Jula said, slowly averting her gaze from the colonel to look at the ground.
"Really? Did you do anything else after that? Wander around the grounds, perhaps?"
"Yes, we did do a bit of that." Jae replied somewhat uncomfortably.
"Well, I hope you didn't go to camp; because unless I say otherwise, you're restricted from doing so.." the colonel finished, a wicked smile turning up the corners of his mouth.
Lady Tavington's eyes narrowed and Jae went pale.
Damn, he knows...