Outskirts of the Continental Army's Camp….
It was evening now, the night was pitch black, but the full moon lit up the landscape. Three young sentries in blue uniforms were guarding a large dirt road in the middle of the Virginia countryside. They hated this duty given to them by their officer and while they hated it, it was still their job. One of the more attentive sentries saw riders coming from afar and pointed it out to his two comrades. The oldest sentry among them looked at where the first man pointed. He saw a convoy of four wagons and a multitude of riders.
"Go get the lieutenant" He told one of the other sentries. The other man nodded and ran off to get their commanding officer. The other two sentries waited patiently, albeit nervously for the riders to approach them.
Within a couple moments the riders were upon the two men. They showed no obvious threat, but that still did not completely calm the sentries. While both eyed the group, one of the sentries asked his questions to find out any information about them.
"Who goes there?" He yelled. "Friend or foe?"
"Friend!" One of the riders responded. The rider who replied trotted forward on his horse slightly. He was tall with blonde hair. He had cerulean blue eyes and had a scar then stretched from underneath his right eye to his jaw. "Our commander is the Ghost."
The sentry who had spoken looked at the blonde rider like he was seeing a lunatic. The Ghost was in fighting in Pennsylvania. After a moment of thinking the sentry responded with a curious look.
"You are crazy; the Ghost is fighting in Pennsylvania. What is in the wagons?" The sentry asked in a distrustful tone.
"It's prisoners and supplies taken from British troops in an ambush." The blonde rider responded.
Before the sentry could ask any more question, the sentry that left to get the lieutenant returned with him in tow. The officer was older than the sentries, but still looked as spry as the younger men. He looked over the situation, inspecting the riders before turning to the sentry who had been talking.
"Is there a problem here?" The officer asked the sentry. The other two sentries watched the riders in case they deceived them, ready to fight if need be.
"These riders here claimed that their commander is the Ghost, sir." The sentry said.
The officer turned to inspect the riders that faced them. It was a small group, about thirty at most. They had no standard uniform and seemed more like woodsmen than soldiers. The lieutenant was not tricked though. They had an aura around them. These men where no strangers to the dangers of combat. They were warriors, not random woodsmen.
"Do you have any proof of this claim?" the lieutenant asked.
Before the blonde rider could respond two more riders were heard approaching. Both riders stopped next to the blonde man. The taller rider of the two had green eyes while the other had black eyes. The green-eyed rider approached the officer on horseback with a relaxed posture, completely opposite of the men guarding the road.
"Is there a problem here?" The rider asked.
"These soldiers won't let us pass. They did not believe us when we said we were under the command of the Ghost." The blonde man responded, nodding to the sentries. The taller rider turned towards the lieutenant and spoke.
"I am the Ghost." He announced.
The officer raised an eyebrow at the proclamation and looked the man up and down. He was young that was for sure, but he held himself similar to an older man. He had obviously seen a bit of combat. His eyes were guarded and showed no emotion. The officer had a gut feeling that he was telling the truth, but asked anyway.
"Any proof to this claim?" The officer responded.
The rider reached into a small pouch on his horse. Thinking that he was going for a weapon, the other sentries raised their weapons in warning. The other horsemen reacted in the same way except aimed at the soldiers. The rider paused at that moment. Everybody was still, the situation had gone from cautious talk to a Mexican standoff. It lasted for another four minutes before the rider defused the situation by telling his men to lower their weapons. The sentries did not, still wary of the riders. The riders did so and their leader slowly continued looking for the item he needed. After a minute he finally found the item and slowly took it out of the bag. He looked toward the officer and thru it to him.
The officer caught the small item in one hand. He opened his hand and proceeded to inspect it. It was a silver coin with the helmet of an ancient Greek warrior on both sides. The officer had seen this coin before. The Ghost would often leave one of these coins behind after an attack to taunt any British soldiers or the allies, but also to strike fear into men's heart. Looking back at the ride, he tossed it back.
"It is you, you are free to pass." The officer said. He turned and told the sentries to move out of the way so the wagons could get pass. He looked back at the rider and asked his last question. "There a way I could ride along with you men into camp?"
Some of the horsemen were uncomfortable with the idea, but the main rider smiled and nodded.
"Sure, hop in the front of the first wagon." The rider replied. The officer proceeded to do so and the convoy of militia moved along the road to the Camp.
After they had passed, the sentries took up their positions again. They were all curious about who the other riders were, but no one voiced it. After a couple more minutes one sentry spoke something that was in all three's minds.
"We are lucky; they could have killed us faster than we could kill them." He said. The other two sentries murmured their agreement. When the next three men came to take up sentry duty, they returned to camp so they could get some well-deserved sleep, but none got the sleep they wanted, not after the earlier confrontation.
I have decided that I will end each chapter with some kind of quote. So here is the first one.
"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny when the government fears the people there is liberty."
Thomas Jefferson