We marched on at a hardened pace. Looking back a short time later, I know I had pushed the men way too hard, and they probably all wondered how the heck I had so much energy, but to tell the truth, it probably wasn't as much from being an Immortal, as that I had this horrible gnawing feeling in my gut. I just knew something awful was up ahead.
"Anthony, slow down, Please!"
"No time!"
Just then, one of the men fell down.
"ANTHONY-HEY-HOLD ON!!"
I stopped and turned around.
It was Chris, one of the younger, though weaker members of the group. Actually none of these men were in too good of shape, after spending so long as prisoners on the British ship.
"Is he ok?" I asked, running to help.
"I think he'll be alright, with some water, and A Little REST." Daniel answered for him sternly.
"I'm sorry guys, it's just I have a very bad feeling."
"Well, either way, we've Got to rest awhile. I don't know WHAT the Hell you Are, Stiles, but the rest of can't keep up like this, you're gonna march us All to death if we keep up this way!"
"Alright, we'll rest, five hours. I'll go get some fire wood."
At that comment, they all gave me a funny look.
Gregory said: "Ok, fine, freak, be our guest."
As I walked off, I did feel really guilty about how inconsiderate of these men I had been, as well as how careless about displaying my own physical prowess. After all, we had all just spent the better part of a year as prisoners on a British navel ship, one the worst possible places to be a prisoner. Probably the worst these men had seen, though not me.
There was that time with Xena back in Ancient Greece….
I had known Xena and Gaby about 5 years, which would make it about 350 BC:
I had gotten myself captured as a slave to be taken to a jewel mine in hopes that I could come away with a shiny memento. Well, as luck would have it, Xena and her lovely sidekick, just happened to be traveling through that same, small village-I don't remember what it was called. Anyway, while Gabby was trying to talk to me, nearly blowing my cover as a slave, the men onboard the ship captured her, thereby bringing upon themselves an extra large helping of Xena. So, off we all went, across the sea. We hadn't gotten but a few hours off when a volcano erupted, sending an Olympic sized tidal wave, which engulfed us all. After a horrifying several hours down under the sea, Xena got a brilliant idea to use the few wine skins floating around, to hold air. Fortunately, thanks to Xena's smart thinking, several of the passengers managed to escape with their lives, but it would be Many years before I would go on a boat again.
I brought back a large arms load of firewood, the other men shot looks at me, but didn't say anything. It didn't matter; at this point, I really didn't care, anyway. I sat down restlessly, trying to calm my spirits down. I went over to Chris.
"How's ya doing?" I asked him.
"I……I think I am feeling a little better. My head is not spinning as hard as it was before."
"Well that's good. Let's all get a little rest. I'm sorry guys, but I wanna reach Washington by tonight. I HAVE TO!"
I lay my head down. Even as tired as I was, getting myself up in four hours would not be a problem for me; when your thousands of years old, and especially when you have spent many of those years as a thief, you learn to have strict control over your own sleep patterns when you have to.
Still, four hours came a lot quicker than I would have wanted it to. I forced myself up to my feet.
"Well boys," I said out as loud as I could without shouting, "I'm leaving, whoever wants to come with me…"
"I will!" said John Piper, popping awake. He was one of the most optimistic of the group. He drudgely forced himself to his feet. Then, he looked me straight in the eyes and said: "But if I go with you Anthony Stiles, you have to promise me one thing, if I fall behind, don't wait up for me."
Just then, another brave man, Markus Waters, stood up,
"I'll go with you too, Stiles. I may not be able to keep up with your freakish pace, but I am damn well gonna try."
"Thanks, you guys," I smiled, "The rest of you, I'm sorry, I'll see you in Washington."
With that, we took off, once again, at my breakneck pace. We kept up this same pace for about 4 hours, after which Markus fell behind. Half an hour later, John fell back as well, I wanted to wait for them, but I remembered my promise to them. As well, I still couldn't shake the endless gnawing in my stomach, so I pressed on. It was a good thing, too, because at about 10:00, I got close enough to the city to be able to hear the sounds of battle coming from the city-I KNEW IT! I hardened my pace even further, now almost at a trot. Within about 30 minutes, I could smell smoke, and see a large fire coming from the city. By midnight of the 24th, I had reached the city- it was even worse than I had thought! Many of the main buildings had been set on fire, as the British rode through, more just setting fires than fighting. Well, after a little bit closer observation, it was clear that there were far too many American troops here for them to out-muscle us in head on combat, so there were trying to use guerilla tactics to damage as much of the capital as possible.
This wasn't the first time I had seen my dreams set ablaze.
It was back in 1206, in England, I had started a whole new way, where I was working as a thief in the woods, much like my original persona back in Ancient Greece
(I even wore all green again!), only this time, I had an accomplice. I had met a band of outlaws and rebels who resided in Sherwood Forest, led by a man ironically named "LITTLE John", a big, burly man with a large, dark beard. When I had teamed up with them, I had added another side to their little get up: a source of income. You see, I had taken my old ways from back in Greece, and added a new flare, based on what Marcus Constantine had told me about trying to help others. We would rob the rich, corrupt, aristocrats and nobles, which as John had shown me, were a contemptible people anyway, and give the proceeds (well, most of it, anyway), to the peasants. It was going really well. With the help of these men, we had brought in quite a hoard. The rebellion was going well, too, and we even planned on attacking Nottingham Fortress in two days.
I even had become very close with a dark-haired Immortal lady I had met. She was still a nube at the time, by our standards, at only a few hundred years old, but man did she have spunk.
We sat there together, just enjoying the night, one last night. I looked into her beautiful, brown eyes.
"What is it, my dear?" I asked the troubled princess. "You're afraid, aren't you? Why? I told you five of my strongest men are going to accompany you. All you have to do is find King Richard, tell him what's going on here, and bring him back with you to help. Which," I grinned, "if you're in as good of terms with him as you've told me, that shouldn't be a problem."
"NO, Robin!" She snapped back, "Not ME! I'm afraid for you! You Greek fool!" By this point, I could tell she was fighting back tears. "Why do we REALLY have to do this!? We are thieves, Robin, both of us! Immortal ones at that! We can go, or, or Do anything we want! We don't Have to do this. It doesn't really concern us."
"Marion, Marion, we've talked about this, it-"
"I know, it's for the greater good, I Know, Robin. But if they catch you, they.. they're going to-they'll kill you, for REAL!" She leaned against me in my arms.
I smiled at her, "Hey I haven't been around for 2000 years for no reason, ya know."
She then embraced a long, warm hug and when she finally pulled back, we looked deeply into each other's eyes, until our lips met in a long, deep, passionate kiss.
"Alright, you better get going."
With that, she got on her horse and began riding away. Then, within the hour, one of our boys who had been out scouting the edge of the forest, returned, followed shortly thereafter, by hundreds of English soldiers, wielding flaming arrows. The perfect offense against our fortresses in the trees we had made. Within minutes, EVERYTHING was ablaze. The scene was horrible, one couldn't even THINK for all the smoke. I was up in the top of one of the largest structures trying to help as many of the civilions as I could, to get down onto the ground, while at the same time, attempting to return arrows at the attacking archers down below. Finally, all of the people were down off of that structure, but I was still trying to clear a path for them to get away, by deterring the enemy fire.
"Come on, Robin, GET OUT OF THERE!!
After a few minutes, I finally did, but it was too late, the rope bridge that I tried to run across on gave way, and I fell down into a flaming cabin far below. The only thing good to come of that day, was that the British thought I was dead, which worked to our advantage. But over all, it was a terrible day. Many dozens were killed, and hundreds more were captured.
The scene now before me in Washington was not much better. Soldiers from both sides fired upon one another fiercely while civilians ran around frantically, trying desperately to escape the city while it all fell down around them. Desperate mothers tried to protect their children from the madness around. Some of the male citizens, in a fit of rage, would run at and attack the British with sticks, boards, or whatever foreign objects they could get their hands on.
The National Treasury was already on fire, and they were now working their way towards the Capital Building. While the British were highly outnumbered, they had a great advantage of skill over the Americans, and were outsmarting them left and right. I ran in with my shotgun in hand, coming in from the side of the battle line, and taking right to the front line. I hid behind a box along the side of the street and started firing off towards them. There were still too many of them, though. I ducked into one of the side buildings through a window. There, I shot the British soldiers from the side, and took them by surprise until they started retreating back up the street. I wanted to chase after them along with our other men, but just then, I heard the sound of children coming from within the house, which I suddenly realized was on fire. I ran further into the house, running down a corridor until I heard the children's voices were closer.
"Hey, where are you!!" I shouted
"Go away! You'll never get us!" They yelled back
I immediately went to the door from which his voice came, but when I tried the door knob, I got my hand severely burned ok, bad idea, I thought. Next tactic.
"Get away from the door!!" I yelled
"GO AWAY!!" They screamed.
Well, here goes, I thought. So then, I started pounding the door with the butt of my gun, this caused even more screaming from the already terrified children. Finally, the door gave way, and I crashed through into the room. There, I saw three frightened little children no more than ten, two boys and one girl.
"Come with me, please! I'm here to help!" I pleaded.
I don't know why, but somehow they believed me, and came along with me. I rushed through the house, racing to get back outside. When I did, I noticed that all the soldiers were gone from off that street, but when I look down the street further, I saw that the British had somehow flanked back around and made it to the Capital building, after all. No time for that now. I figured, the best way to get these children out of the town, was actually to go TOWARDS the buildings that were already on fire, that way, at least we would avoid the battle. Fortunately, I soon found a man that offered to take them to safety, so I trusted them to him, and took off, now running towards the White House, fearing it would be next, hoping I wasn't too late.
I got there winded, just in time to see about 500 British soldiers approaching the White House. However, just when I got there, I felt the buzz, and heard a gunshot, and jumped out of the way, just in time to avoid getting my feet shot off. I looked up to the rooftops, to where the gun shot had come from, to see an all too familiar face.
"That's right, Autolycus, it's too late for apologies, now! And as soon as I get down off this roof, I'm gonna take your sorry head!"
It was Kentucky Sue!...
Ok, This is the end of part one in "WATCHING IT ALL BURN" part two will pick up RIGHT AFTER THIS, Instantaneously following the last words of THIS chapter.