Note: There is cannon typical violence and sexual situations that will pervade this story. Here are some warning tags.
Action/Adventure Adventure & Romance Time Skips Lucid Dreaming Dreamscapes Time period jumps Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Alternate Universe - Soulmates Alternate Universe - Historical Historical Dress Some Humor Canon-Typical Violence War Danger drug induced coma Attempted Kidnapping Attempted Sexual Assault Attempted Murder Attempted Forced Marriage beatings Injury Older Woman/Younger Man Slavery Threats of Violence Revolutionary War Alternate Universe - 1960s Alternate Universe - Vikings Anglo-Saxon Alternate Universe - Pirate Age Regression/De-Aging Sexual Fantasy
Chapter 3 Eve
What on earth was going on? Where am I? Why the hell am I in a floor length puffy dress with an apron? And a bloody bonnet of all things!
There are loud noises in the distance and the house was full of people. There are men rushing around in a panic. That was nothing new, it was all just like another day at work really but in period dress.
A woman dressed like me hands me a large pitcher of water. "Well, go get to work honey or they'll whip ya for sure."
The woman had a southern drawl and I moved in the direction that she told me too. All the men were in the dinning room smoking pipes and talking abruptly ended when I entered. They looked at me strangely and then the man stood and I saw that he was also in period dress.
I couldn't stifle a giggle as I looked at the tights he wore but then the look he was shooting at me made me straighten up and take notice.
"Girl...serve us and get out or I'll have you whipped!"
I was about to say- 'you and who's army', when I noticed armed men around the room. I poured the water in their glasses and placed the jug on the table.
"Get the whiskey now girl, top up their drinks and get to the kitchen to make luncheon for them."
I did as instructed and curtseyed not knowing what the hell was going on. The men were talking like I wasn't in the room. About the British defences and their own. I topped up the drinks and left the room but kept the door open a crack while I gathered intelligence.
Yorktown was where we British were holding up. The plan was for a siege and I really wish I could speak to M. Wait...Tanner...and Bond were all in the office just moments ago. Or at least that was how it felt.
"We've heard that a Commander Bond has arrived from the Royal Navy. He was escorting a Duchess to Canada when the weather drove them south." The leader said.
"What is that to us? Other than a handsome ransom for her return." Said the man who ordered me about. The owner of the house in all likelihood.
"It is rumoured that she was born in Paris and has many friends in the French military. Should she sway them away from helping us take Yorktown and this war will just keep going. We cannot afford to let that happen."
"Girl you had better get back to work or the master will whoop your ass." A woman came up behind and whispered to me.
She had seen me peeking through the door and sent me into the back of the house and the kitchen to begin helping. I never was good at cooking and I'm definitely not about to play the role of good bloody slave.
"They're talking about Yorktown. How far is that from here?" I ask the cook in my best imitation of Scarlett O'Hara that I could muster. Vivian Leigh was English and I didn't do too bad...this was only a bad dream anyway.
Why on earth did I ever say I was interested in American history enough to want to visit this time and place. Who was I having that conversation with anyway? Wait...Bond asked me and Commander Bond was nearby
"Yorktown is ten miles North East from here, why ya askin?"
"No reason." I find a canvas bag and begin filling it with food and head out the door. I see a wagon going by with a boy driving. "Where are you off to?"
"Town to pick up flour and supplies." He answered.
"Oh...then I'm suppose to be with you."
"Alright." The boy said as he made room for me. It was bumpy and the road seemed to lengthen and shorten in my odd vision.
This was a dream. Some details fade away, yet some are vivid but for the life of me I couldn't describe a single man in that room.
I was suddenly off the wagon and standing outside a large fort. This must be Yorktown. There were some armed Americans who ignored me. I had a great story contrived about how I was under the orders of my Master to come through the lines to speak with their men. I didn't need it with the way I seemed to be invisible to all these people. Whether that was because of my skin or that this was my dream I can't be certain.
I peek in the bag I brought and just as in a dream I suddenly had the required paperwork. "If only all missions could be this easy in the field." I still needed to lay low and hide until I could sneak into the British camp. I hope to hell this Commander Bond was who I thought he was.
I hid in a barn and unpacked some food to eat. There was little or no taste to it...therefore dream food.
I was considering what I had overheard at the house about the siege and the French troop reinforcements they were expecting. I shouldn't mess with history like this but it was all just a vivid dream...wasn't it?
I just can't shake myself awake from this...was reality really as I could shape it or could I actually change history? No...this was not Dr. Who, this was just my dream after...what...a meeting in M's office.
Someone entered and I retreated further back into the empty stall.
"There's an escaped slave headed North that we are suppose to look out for. She's likely trying to get to the British so that the Kingsmen can free her sorry ass."
"She could be on her way to Canada now, do you want me to send someone after her?"
"No, we believe we may have a more serious problem. A British spy in our midst, that Bill...Tanner...he's new and his accent has slipped up a few times. He's not what he claimed, likely a damn Hessian that the British are using to expand their ranks."
"I'll call him in here Roger and we will beat it out of him." One man left and the one called Roger waited. Was it going to be my Bill Tanner? I hoped it was. Maybe Tanner knew what the hell was going on. I found a small hammer in the stall. It would have do well enough for a weapon.
The next thing I knew I was yelling at Tanner and we're fighting off these two men. We take their bodies and hide them under some straw in the stables as good as we are able.
"Eve, thanks for the help."
"Tanner why are we here?" I implored him.
"What do you mean?" Tanner just looked confused by my question.
"Revolutionary times in the thirteen colonies!"
"Where else should we be?"
"Tanner? Bill Tanner from MI6?" Oh dear god...he looked like my Bill but he was just part of the fabric of this time. Clothes, a wig and appeared vivid to me. I touched his arm and he was solid. I gave him a smack suddenly and he reacted hurt.
"Owww...Why did you do that! Yes, I work for the British secret service."
"And we both work for M and she's about this tall with steely eyes and a short crop of white hair."
"Yes and I think we need to get back to her. Where is she?"
"I don't know Tanner! I thought you knew!"
"I'm following you in all this Eve, it's your dream, fantasy anyway. How else would I perfectly describe your boss? I am only as real as you believe me to be Eve."
"Damn it! Come on. We have to find away into that fort!"
"Why? Why not head north and be safe there?"
"Because a Commander Bond from the Royal Navy just arrived with a Duchess he was escorting only to have a storm toss them south with damaged to his ship. I have a feeling that the Duchess is M and Bond is 007 so we have to get to them for this fantasy nightmare to be over."
"We could turn the tide of this war and the United States would not happen...not yet anyway." Bill said with a smile. "The war of 1812 might be when they rise up again."
"I don't know but right now I want a cup of tea and a good book rather than hiding out in a disgusting horse stall in these times...have you noticed the smell Bill...argh."
"I don't smell anything. I'm just a character in your imagination, so are Bond and M, perhaps once we are together you will let yourself wake up."
"Christ, I hope so." Eve said. "The thing is; it has to be more than a dream because I smell and feel things...not as strongly as in the real world but my feet hurt and I have hunger and thirst. Could I be killed here and die in London?"
"I cannot know and if I am just a representation of myself am I having dreams like this?" Bill asked confused and flustered.
The sun suddenly went down and they made their way cautiously to the British camp.
"Oi! What have we here? Another escaped slave or is this your master?"
"We are spies for your side, let us pass." I tell him with more confidence than I'm feeling. They all defer to Tanner because he's male. Bloody hell! The past and this dream was a pain in my feminist arse.
We are suddenly ushered into what can only be the headquarters for the military leaders. Bond was there looking over a map and frowning. He looked very handsome in his military uniform.
The Navy's blue coats a contrast to the Red Coats guarding the area.
There was a metal sphere holding down the edges to the maps on the table. There was something familiar about that object.
However, a sudden cough made me turn towards an elegant wingback chair close to the fireplace. A woman sat in it and I could make out her petticoats layered under her travel habit and a gloved hand on the arm.
"You there. You have news of the revolutionaries? I take it you're a loyalist and a former slave?"
"Yes sir we are loyal to the Queen...I mean King...and his dominions." British General Lord Cornwallis looked taken aback by my accent as we hear the mystery woman clear her throat.
"Come forward." It was M! I felt somewhat relieved with thinking that now that M was in attendance, that all these problems would be dealt with.
I curtsied and Tanner bowed. M was resplendent in a corseted blue dress make from the richest velvets. Her hair is a white wig piled high as was the fashion. She was pale but not due to powder, M looked a bit ill.
"You brought us papers to help against the coming siege." I handed her my satchel hoping that in my dream reality whatever she needed was in the bag.
"We need to get this to the French General de Rochambeau. He will heed what I say, I am his aunt after all." M said to Bond and Cornwallis.
"Yes, Ma'am." Cornwallis went to collect a messenger, leaving the four of them alone.
"M, thank god you are here, pretending to be the Duchess of Marlborough?"
"It would appear I am. What is it that you think you will accomplish by helping the British in all this Miss Moneypenny?"
"I don't know M. I've often wondered what would have happened had the war gone the other way. Would slavery have ended sooner?"
"Yes, as of 1772 any slave on British soil was automatically fee, abolition of slavery in Britain was passed in 1833. The Northern states were more apt to accept free slaves as was Upper and Lower Canada which was basically Britain. The loyalist would have been moving north at this time and many slaves were making the journey north to freedom." M said.
"I always thought the United States was the land of the free, too bad they only meant part of the population." Tanner added with a sad sigh.
"And women are treated like property with little in the way of rights. At least they will listen to M because she's aristocracy and that's the only way you could be respected, even if it's all just an elaborate dream act. I just wish I could bloody well wake up!"
"Yes, because we are going to have to get M out of here and I think they want her to speak with her nephew first."
"Yes, we have become the cog in this historical tale, the four of us. If can convince the French to ignore the call to arms, it will change the history of this country." M said.
"Montcalm was defeated by Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, just over twenty years ago, do you think that the sting of losing Quebec has diminished enough for them to not fight British and Hessian troops?" Bond questioned.
"That's hard to say. The relationship between the two countries had always been rocky and the rise of Napoleon is not far off." M said as we gathered some weapons. "I have always found that Americans tend to ignore that without the help of the French troops, that their Revolution may have failed."
I frowned looking at the old pistol in my hand. What I wouldn't give for a high powered sniper rifle about now.
"But this is your reality Eve dear not mine. How this plays out has everything to do with you directing your dream." M said laying her gloved hand on mine and looking at my pistol.
"I'm trying but then it all seems so real sometimes I just get caught in that realism and fear. I feared for Tanner in the barn and fought the man who was going to hurt him. I know it can't be real yet it felt real. Sometimes the smell overwhelms me. On one hand I know that what we do will not change history, yet it seems so real."
"Be that as it may, my dear girl you have to direct us in all this." M said as she stood holding my hand giving me the direction and support that I've always wanted from her, on a more personal level.
The next thing I know the four of us are riding horses at full gallop away from Yorktown into the unknown to find the French troops. Bond galloped up alongside me.
"James are you here for real or do you think you are trapped in your own dreamscape?"
"I am but an extension of you Eve and what I do and say are things that you would expect of me. If we each have our own, who's to say they won't collide before we all wake up, but I think you will know when and if that happens."
"One thing I know for certain Commander Bond…"
"Yes"
"War is hell."
"For Queen and country." Bond said to me with a smirk.
"I correct him. "For mad King George you mean."
"Yes, for mad King George!" Bond said as we continued to gallop north, off to find the French.