A/N: Hello all! Chapter 3 here! I love the reviews that have come in - very helpful to my writing process. Thank you to those who have read! Here goes!
After they arrived in England, General Alexander left for London to plan "the end of the Reich" as he called it and Ella and Aldo set up on the American base. They were begrudgingly allowed to bunk together, and Ella fielded strange, hateful looks when she walked by. Some men even spit at her feet - which she could have had them disciplined for. Instead, she stared them down, tapping her carefully sewn-on Corporal's patch and waving them on. Before, she had kept her black hair short, and always up in a ponytail. The General had told her to grow it out, for the purpose of keeping in style if her new regiment sent her to recon in towns. She had taken to curling it, and now it bounced around her face and shoulders. They had measured her for dresses for the same reason, and seamstresses just off the base were making them custom - adding a little extra room for a thigh holster and a blade on her belt. But it was her paradise. Especially when she found the stables.
The braying of the mules and the smell of hay comforted her. The British had stopped using horses on the front line for two years now, but they kept them for hauling jobs and training. Ella had kept Winnie up until she and Aldo left for Helena, and even then she only sold her to someone Aldo had known for years. Winnie was to be only in good hands, and Ella made sure of it. She walked down the concrete hallway, open on one side to the grounds and an arena, stalls on the other side. A whinny from one particular stall stopped her in her tracks. A horse stuck his head out of his window two stalls ahead of Ella, his ears perked.
"Hey, boy," Ella murmured, stepping up to the horse and offering her hand for him to scent. He pushed his nose into her palm, looking for a treat. Winnie had done the same thing, except this horse was at least 8 inches taller than her, tying for the exact same height as Ella at his shoulder. His head was almost as long as Ella's torso.
"That's Brutus," said a Cockney-accented voice behind Ella as she stroked the horse's forehead. It was the stablehand, toting a wheelbarrow filled with hay for morning feedings.
"He's gorgeous," replied Ella.
"He is. Fiery, tha' one. Only 5 years old. No lineage for 'im, but we think Percheron and some dressage stud."
Ella glanced into the stall, taking in Brutus' confirmation. His hips were tall and muscled, legs long, but not as thick as a draft horse's. The stablehand was probably right - a mix of the powerful, heavy pulling horses and the agility of a show horse.
"He's broken, I assume?"
"O' course. You want a go?"
"I'd like a try, yes, if you don't mind."
"I'd be willin, but I'd 'ave to know if you've ridden before. He can be a handful."
Ella nodded. Here was a man who cared about the horses in his stable. "Of course. I had a mare in the States before I came over here, since I was a girl. We spent a few weeks riding the Rockies, a lot of it bareback. She was a Paint, not nearly as tall as this one but when my Papa and I broke her, she was nasty herself sometimes."
The stablehand shrugged. "As long as you stay in the saddle is fourth from the door in the tack room. May have to shorten the stirrups a bit, though, Miss." He glanced at her jacket. "Sorry, Corporal." An odd look, and he moved on, throwing hay into the next stall.
Down the hall in the tack room, Ella welcomed the smell of dust and leather. Just like her father's shop in Bell County. Things here on the base kept reminding her of home - and sometimes it was bittersweet. Sometimes, when she couldn't sleep, she wondered what would have happened to her if her father hadn't been killed. Probably working in the leather shop, maybe even married off by now. Once, she had overheard heard her Papa talking to their neighbors when they had come by with a few loaves of bread from their wheat farm.
"You're doing wonderful with that girl of yours, Andrew."
"Thank you, Mrs. Douglas. How's your boy?"
"Oh, he's fine. I think soon he'll take a shine to Miss Ella. She's a pretty one."
"Just like her mother. I think when he inherits that wheat farm, she'd be a great girl to have around. She's not afraid of the animals, but she does well in the house, too."
"I'll say. This place looks beautiful. She has a nice touch, even at twelve."
From there they had moved on to what the fall rain would be like, but it was clear that before long, Ella was going to be a wife on a wheat farm. When she tried to imagine what that was like, she couldn't. Of course she had thought about a few men that way. She was 20 years old. But she had been given another agenda when Aldo told her that he was heading to Montana.
Ella made her way back to Brutus' stall with the saddle and tacked up, even though she had to reach up and put pressure between his ears so he would bend down for her to put the bridle on. She led Brutus out of his stall, and she could easily see that he was eager for a workout. He snorted at her when they entered the arena and she looked for a mounting block. The horse's coat shone in the rare late-winter sun, a dappled buckskin fading to white socks on his legs and a wide stripe on his face. His mane was short and dark, slightly frizzy, but soft. This would be the first time she'd ridden since she sold Winnie, but she had been waiting for a chance to get back at it. It reminded her of home.
She slid her foot in the stirrup and hoisted herself up, swinging her leg over Brutus' back. It was taller than she had ever been, and when she clucked her tongue to signal a walk, Brutus listened beautifully. He was eager, but he was still well-trained to listen to his rider. War horses' training was not to be taken lightly - if there was a moment of stubbornness, it could kill both horse and rider. First a walk, then a trot, finally a canter - Brutus performed his paces well, save for when he tried to subtly lengthen his stride and turn the canter into a slow gallop. Ella had him turn circles, stop and back up, and even got him to go from a stand-still to a trot, all in the first 15 minutes in the large arena.
"Hey, Corporal Demski!" Aldo was at the other end of the arena, standing next to another man with dark hair, waving her over.
"Let's get 'em, huh, boy?" Ella said into Brutus' ear. She tucked her heels into his sides, going a little harder than when she asked for the canter. Just like she'd hoped, the horse took off, barreling towards the men at an alarming pace. His legs were long, and he covered the distance in seconds before Ella tightened the reins and he skidded to a stop, bouncing his front hooves up once in enjoyment. It was probably things like that bounce that made Brutus a 'handful,' but Ella would take that any day over an animal that couldn't care less.
"Dammit, girl, let you 'round any horse 'n you damn near take my heart outta my chest."
Ella smoothly dismounted. "Sorry, sir!" She stood at attention, looping the reins over her shoulder. No matter how long she and Aldo had known each other, they were still on an Army base and he was still her Commanding Officer.
"Ella, this is Sergeant Donny Donowitz. Sarge, Corporal Ella Demski."
The Sergeant almost stuck his hand awkwardly through the fence of the arena. Ella saluted first, being that Donowitz ranked above her, and made her way to the gate, the reins still over her shoulder. Brutus followed dutifully, not even having broken a sweat yet. She shook hands with Donowitz then.
His strong grip sent a barely-noticeable shiver through her. She'd seen handsome men before, but the only reason Aldo would be introducing them was that he'd be joining their little guerrilla Nazi-hunting party. The thought of the three of them going against the entire Third Reich was tantalizing.
"Now let's get something straight," Aldo started. "This mission they're giving us ain't no picnic. Us and eight other men are gonna kill every Nazi we find, so we gotta be a team. I mean not bein' afraid to say something to each other. Rank is gonna be loose once we get off this base. I'm obviously gonna stay in charge, but we're all gonna be men out there, you get me?"
A "Yes, sir" from Donowitz, a "Got it" from Ella. Relief ran through her. Even though Aldo had just called her a man, by doing so, he made her one of them, a fellow soldier. Few things were as important as her being considered an equal.
"We'll hit the mess for dinner together, the three of us. Ella, I want you to the shooting range when you're done with this beast. Then meet up with Donnie and you two git to know each other, all right? At dinner we'll go over some of them recruits, 'n I'll have them chosen by supper. As you were."
Ella saluted again - in the military, a salute was something that could happen every five minutes - and gathered Brutus' reins to finish his workout.
"Hey, uh, Corporal?"
Ella turned back to the Sergeant, getting a good look at him for the first time. His hair was dark and thick, carefully groomed earlier but tossed a little bit since then. Dark eyes stared back at her, sizing her up just the same way. He was handsome, to be sure; strong jaw, intense eyes, broad shoulders, and Ella could just picture a smirk on those lips. She was, though, just a soldier, and if Aldo even sensed that a man was flirting with Ella, he would make sure they never glanced her way again. It had happened before.
"Whaddya say, meet around eleven? Front of the officer's barracks?"
"Sure," she said, giving him a smile. His accent was strong, and even though she hadn't really been to the East coast of the US, there was no mistaking that. "See you then." Brutus pawed the ground behind her and snorted again, prompting Ella to roll her eyes. "Impatient boy," she intoned, turning to rub the huge animal's face.
"I don't know how you do it," Donowitz said, looking at Brutus. He was quite a bit taller then Ella's 5'5" but was definitely intimidated by the horse. "He could kill us if he wanted to."
"It's easier when you've grown up with them, like I have. And it's not about dominating or forcing the horse, it's more about working with them. If you see them more as a partner, they see you that way, too."
Donowitz furrowed his brow. "Never thought of it like that."
"Most don't. They're like big dogs, most of 'em." Brutus nudged Ella with his nose as she spoke, throwing her off balance a bit. "Okay, okay! Sorry, Sergeant, but he needs to work out some energy."
"Of course. Eleven o'clock?"
"Eleven o'clock."
A/N: So Ella is a girl after all! haha. A little insight into her past in this one. And in the next one, you find out more! Thanks, readers! -Alex
