Kentucky Sue ran along the edge of the roof top, a long pistol in each hand. I ran along with her, all the while trying to dodge the barrage of bullets that she constantly fired off towards me.
"Sue, please! I tried this time, I really did! I just! Look, we've been over!" But it was no use, the bullets kept coming. Meanwhile, a line of British was quickly getting closer by the minute. Sue finally reached the edge of the roof then leapt down to a balcony across the other side of the alley.
"Draw your sword, Autolycus!"
But, I looked down the street, and saw the approaching battle.
"NO TIME, SUE!!" I said, taking off in a made dash towards the White House.
"No You Don't, Autolycus!" She shouted, now in hot pursuit. When we reached the door, she said, "Come on, let's go, right now!"
I stood for a brief moment, trying to catch what little breath I had left, after having run a total of 3 miles in the last hour. Their were already servants, slaves, and officials, scurrying frantically to get out of the White House.
"Look," I puffed, "if killing me… is really so much more important gasp, pant to you than this country, huffthen you go right ahead and slash my head off… but the British are going to come torch this place, any minute, can't we just help the people to escape Before We do it FOR them!"
Now she was more upset than ever
"RRRG! Damn it all!! Life won't let us be lovers OR enemies!!"
"You take the upstairs, I'll take the downstairs!"
As I ran past the kitchen, I saw a man lying on the floor on the far side of the room
"Hello!..?" I hollered as I entered the room
"Help me!" he yelled. He was a big man, a large overweight cook. I went over to him and began helping him up.
"One of the other cooks must have bumped me over and knocked me out on his way out."
"Well, come on," I said, taking him by the arm over my shoulder.
After about 15 minutes, I had him out and had turned him over to some more fleeing people.
As I went back inside, I had a horrible notion: What if First Lady Madison is still in there!
As I dashed through the White House, I came through the dining hall, and there before me, I saw a scene that mad my heart well up. The table was set for a banquet of 40 people. So this was what kind of woman Mrs. Dolly Madison was. Though I hadn't met her, this alone told me she must be a great woman. Here she was, being pushed from her house, and she thinks to set the table in courtesy towards her enemies. It filled my heart with pride for America and humanity as a whole. As I glanced out the window briefly, I was also filled with sorrow. In the brief life of this country, in the short existence of the White House, I had spent many fond afternoons here with President Washington; I played poker here with John Adams, and shared many lovely nights with President Jefferson and his family eating dinner. Now, in less than an hour, the whole place was going to be burned down. The British would soon destroy the entire capital of the United States of America. It couldn't end like this. I shook my head-No, this wouldn't be the end, just a large set back and humiliation for the Nation. Still, it was all such a shame, DAMN was I sick of the fighting. Just hoped all the people would make it out alive, those innocent civilians, the old men, the children, and the --the WOMEN!-this snapped me out of my revelry-I had to find Mrs. Madison.
I finally felt the presence of Sue, and then saw her with Mrs. Madison up stairs in a large room.
"I tried to tell her, Aut-Anthony, but she won't listen, it's gonna be too late." Mrs. Madison, a small, though sturdy, dark-haired lady, was still trying to salvage as much of the priceless items from the Nation's White House, as possible.
"Mrs. Madison," I began gently, "Mrs. Madison, Mrs. Madison, please. We must leave, now."
"Please sir, this painting of our first President; you must help me get it down-we can't allow them to take it or destroy it!"
I looked at the painting of our Nation's first President, painted by Gilbert Stuart, nearly three decades before. Like the man himself, it held a power and prestige that had long become a corner stone of The United States of America. I quickly went up to the painting, trying to jostle the frame from off the wall, but it wouldn't budge, so I decided to just break the damn frame-we would get a new one later. One of the three remaining men in the room volunteered to preserve the rolled up painting. So, I escorted the first lady, with the reluctant help of Sue.
As soon as First Lady Madison was safely within her carriage, (well, actually, WHILE Sue was helping her get in), I convinced one of the good citizens to lend me their horse.
Sue screamed after me, "STILES!! Don't you dare run away!"
"SORRY Sue, my country needs me! We'll sort this out later, I promise."
So, for the rest of the night, I went all throughout Washington, sometimes battling, sometimes helping rescue the few citizens that still remained in the city. I finally somehow found my way down to the Docks, and about the same time, Sue found me. The Shipyards had been lain fire as well, I later on found out that it our own troops who did it, to keep the British from getting at them. It was early morning now, and nearly all of the Americans, and most of the British had left the city, only a few still remained to continue feeding or fighting the fires on their respective sides.
"Ok, Autolycus, it's over now, FIGHT ME!!"
"Ah, Sue, come on! Do you really STILL feel like killing me?"
"But, it's not FAIR, JACK!!" WHY!?"
"Sue, I…" Just then, we both felt the buzz again, and suddenly, I turned and saw Richard Borington, Stairing me straight in he eye.
"YOU!"
"tsk, tsk, tsk," the weasel started, as I pulled out my sword, "My, well, your American friends certainly HAVE gotten themselves in a spot, this time." Shaking his head, "Their armies all run out of their nations Capital and left it to burn… such a pitty."
Just then, Sue stepped in angrily. "Don't you DARE, He's MINE!!"
"Stay out of This, Sue!!" I yelled, shoving her aside.
"Look Pal," I said, pointing my sword at him, "WE Americans don't have it half as bad as you're about to get it!"
With that, I tore into him with my sword. This time, I decided, NOTHING was going to stop me from kicking his ass, and slicing off is pompous, British head. I swung left, he dodged down, he stabbed for my head, I rolled forward alongside his right leg, slashing towards it. He dodged out of the way enough to avoid getting his leg sliced off, but I still got a good peace out of him. He hobbled over for a moment, briefly grabbing his wound.
"What's wrong, Boyo? You seem to be getting a might woozy!" I taunted with a grin
"Oh, you just worry about yourself there, Greecian." We locked into each other's swords, for a brief moment in a stalemate. But, very soon, I shoved him back away from me. We fought back up into the city, where, all around us, several straggling British and American soldiers could be seen fighting one another. Many of the British were still attempting to continue feeding the fires, while the Americans tried to deter them to allow the few remaining citizens the chance to Fight the fires. Fortunately for this city, help was on the way, in a much unexpected way. We battled to a small alley way in the back streets of town.
"Give it up, DICK!!"
"Never, you don't stand a chance! Even though you may have me beaten in terms of sheer years, I still have the upper hand when it comes to skill and talent."
"Talent,? Talent! You call this talent!! I've payed more TALENTS for a cup of dirty water! I jumped up on a stack of barrels and used them to leap up onto a low balcony. I looked down at him and motioned:
"Come on!!" He quickly found his way up there, but then continued on until he was up on the roof tops.
"Where you goin, Englishman? Fee Fi Foe fum, I smell the scent of fear in you…..chum?"
I finally joined him up on the rooftops. By now, both of us were highly exhausted. We were both dripping with blood from the battle, as well as sweat, both from the heat of exertion, and from the fires.
"Ok, let's go pal, let's FINISH THIS!!" We were standing on top of a large rooftop to a large tavern, which somehow, had not been set fire.
He then ran at me, where in I side stepped him just enough to spin around, slicing his head off, causing the rest of his body to fall down to the ground below. I was just dismayed a little because I had really felt like mangling his body before I offed him completely.
I stood there for a moment looking over the edge where he had fallen, panting, catching my heaving breath.
Sue had found us, and now stood down there, right below me.
"You're next. Autolycus!!"
Pretty soon, little snakes of statics began creeping up the side of the building, channeling into my toes, some of them arcing up to my finger tips. The tingling itch they produced was all but excruciating. Then, suddenly, the body began elevating off the ground, and quickly rose up until it was slightly above the level of the roof. The clouds too, had started to gather, in what was once a clear, late morning sky. The wind picked up, and suddenly, I began to be struck with jolts from his body, as I felt the pull of his energy channeling into me. Again and again I was struck, until finally, bolts of lightning from the sky began to come down, zapping me and the building, which soon caught on fire, after all. I cried out as I was hit, repeatedly, with Jolt after Jolt of energy, wave after wave of knowledge and skills, his long, Immortal life, instantaneously passing before me eye, much too fast to perceive. The power became so great, that it began to lift me up as well. Then, after a few minutes, as suddenly as it had begun, it ended, leaving me, and his dead body, falling back to the ground
far below. By the time I had recovered enough to see again, it was raining, HARD. And the wind hadn't eased up at all, in fact, it had gotten waaay stronger. In fact, I could hardly stand; Sue was soon swept off her feet and I soon followed. We were hurled into the sky. To this day, I still don't know if that Hurricane, which helped to put out the fires and discourage the British, was caused by the Quickening I received from Richard, or from something else.
When I came to, I was lying face down in the mud, in small mire in the woods, 20 miles away from DC. It was night time. Kneeling there in the mud, I thought back on what had just happened all over the past several days and hours: the burning of Washington and the routing of our troops, Sue's hatred for me, and the bloody, blasted war. I put my face down into my hands and started to sob, bitterly.
I finally got up and started walking away from there, God knew what direction. As I walked, the dark sky started to turn to a purplish grey. I finally found society again, and from there, I made my way to New Orleans. I was FINISHED with this war, PERIOD. I figured I would go down there and take it easy for awhile, let loose, play some poker, maybe find a French hooker or two even, get slammed. Also, it would give me a chance to regather myself and start a new lifetime; Anthony Stiles was DEAD.