She'd lost him finally. Well, knowing the 'lay of the land' and all having been here a few more years than Tavington had been….
She couldn't go back to where Fresh Water had stood. That would be the first place the Butcher would look. She pulled the horse up at the end of the road that headed up to the house, and the gelding snorted, and came to a halt as she set her gaze on the large white mansion just yards up the way. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and set back in the saddle, a soft chuck of her tongue and she pulled the reins off to the left, guiding the horse into the brush and to the trail she and her brothers always used when trying to hide from chores when they were younger.
Not enough room on the trail and not enough light from the moon to guide the inexperienced, but Charly knew every rock and leaf by heart. Soft murmurs to the horse who picked his way along, every once in a while the girl looking over her shoulder to make sure the Dragoons were nowhere around.
The Colonel rode up the road to the remains of the large white mansion. He roughly pulled back on the reins and the chestnut let a whinny escape as he plowed to a hard stop, fore hooves digging into the dirt and his back end nearly sitting as he and the Colonel slid the last 4 feet until they finally stopped.
Tavington jumped off of the horse, a quick pat to the animal's lathered shoulder, and he headed for the rubble. Staring at the pile of burnt wood and various metal objects in the pile, he growled softly. Icy blue eyes would loft to look around the area. Any signs of movement. Any hint of a noise.
Nothing.
He sighed and turned, heading back to his horse and gathering the reins when a small platoon of nearly 7 Dragoons arrived, riding hard as well. Bordon halted them and watched as the Colonel again mounted the chestnut and pulled – a bit gentler this time – on the reins, the horse whinnied again and rose a bit on rear legs as he spun to face the corps or soldiers behind them. A head toss and chewing angrily on his bit would garner him another hardy pat, but this one to his neck.
"Search the woods. She has to be close by." Tavington commanded as he gave the horse a nudge to the ribs with his knees and the animal bolted first but set into a slow walk. Bordon and the others spread out, fanning the property, the torches of the riders lighting the vicinity of their immediate being.
Tavington didn't use one.
He knew that if she was still around, the torch would merely alert her. So this had to be done with….stealth. Back down the plantation road to the main road. He pulled up his horse once ore and sat, looking first up one way and down the other. The horse shifted under him and snorted gently. Tavington took a full five minutes to watch and thi—wait.
Slowly he dismounted, dropping the reins and a gentle stroke down the horse's forehead, and stepped across the road to a parting in the brush. He looked back over his shoulder at the white fence that surrounded the property and then back at the brush. Hmm.
The parting wasn't actually noticeable unless you were looking at it for a time and….well, thinking. But he had been looking. And he had thought. And contrary to popular belief, he had been a boy once.
He stepped into the brush and immediately found himself on the trail. A smirk and he stepped forward a bit faster as he followed what prints of the horse's hooves he made out in the dirt before him. Of course looking down meant that he wasn't watching what was ahead. And this was very unlike the Colonel. Another hundred yards, and he came upon a small clearing. One that held a small fire, a horse chewing on some grass….and a girl.
More specifically. Charlotte.
He stepped forward, a grin on his face. "Charlotte….you had me insane with worry! Come along, darling; let's go back to the fort." A fast look around but his attention wasn't on the area. It was strictly on her and how much he wanted to pick her up and throw her over that horse and take her back to the fort and then he'd deal with this whole childish issue of running away.
"Your dress is ruined it would seem." The smile fading a bit when he realized she was merely sitting by the fire and only watching him. "Charlotte? What's wrong, sweethea –"
He'd never finish it.
Suddenly there was the sound of a rush of bushes and as he saw some men invade the clearing. He tried to run to the girl, but suddenly his world went black as he fell, face down into the grass.
Charly stood up and snarled at Billings, "You didn't have to hit him that hard!" And she jumped to her feet and ran over to the unconscious Dragoon and glared up at the figure that walked out and up to stand on the Colonel's other side.
"Let's go, Charly." The quiet baritone mumbled.
She was torn now. She'd been talked into this plot to save her brother. Again. But this time there were….different circumstances. And a soft whimper as she pulled Tavington's head into her lap and cradled him gently, blood oozing from a cut on the back of his head where the butt of the gun had crashed into his skull. "He's hurt. We have to get him help."
The men around shuffled and put out the fire and took the reins of the horse and brought him around. Two of them grabbed the Dragoon Colonel by the upper arms and lifted him gruffly up, then threw him over the horse's back. "NO!" she cried out. "You'll kill him!"
She whirled and glared at the man standing now behind her. "There were other ways to do this. I could have gotten to Gabriel and had h him released."
Benjamin Martin watched his daughter for the longest minute and there was a soft sorrow I his eyes. But soon enough he nodded at the horse and told her, "Go on. Mount up. We need to get back to the camp before we ruin our chances."
And without another word, Martin turned and headed for his own horse that had been brought into the clearing as the others had already mounted up and were waiting for their own Colonel. Charly clambered up onto the back of the horse that held the Dragoon Colonel, but instead of handing her the reins, she noted that Billings kept them and mounted up on his own horse, leading them along with the others. "Give me the – " she started, but he shook his head and when she turned to complain to her father, he merely turned his horse and started off back to the military camp.
Wait a minute….what the hell…..
