Hello Everybody!

No, I'm not dead. I moved across the pond to the good ol' U.S of A.! If you've ever done that, it's a very long and tiring process not very conducive to writing. Here is a short chapter to tide you all over until I can post a longer one!

Enjoy!

Chapter Five

Doctor Without a Side

"Katherine!" The children shouted as they rode up to Charlotte's plantation.

Grinning, Katherine leaped off her horse, catching up Susan in her arms and spinning, making the little girl smile. "That's my girl!" She threw her arm around Samuel and walked up to the house. "Hello Charlotte."

Lifting her eyebrow, Charlotte smiled. "Now you look slightly like a lady."

Katherine giggled. "Yes, I do." She turned to the boys. "Who wants to help me clean my pistol?" The ladies laughed as the three boys started jumping up and down. "All of you then."

Later that night, Charlotte knocked on Katherine's door. Katherine called, "Come in."

Sitting down on the bed, Charlotte asked, "How are things truly?"

Katherine shook her head. "Fine. It's a camp full of mostly uncivilized men. Most think I shouldn't be there, but none of them have been wounded yet, so yeah. Otherwise, it's fine. It's like a really long camping trip I went on with my family."

Nodding, Charlotte sighed. "Do you miss them?"

Katherine pressed her lips together. "Of course. If it weren't for this war, I would do anything to get back to them, but now I feel a bond with the children and if something happens to Ben and Gabriel, I think I should be here for them. When this is over, I don't know. I do miss them, I miss them so much." Tearing up, Katherine laid her head on Charlotte's shoulder. Soon, she was sobbing and Charlotte stroked her back until she fell asleep. Then Charlotte tucked her under the covers and shut the door.

The next morning, Katherine was off again. As she rode along, she sang songs to herself, meditated on what had happened recently, and went over what she knew about medicine. After she rode for about an hour, she rode past a clearing. What was in the clearing made her nearly panic. Dragoons, lots of Dragoons. She almost rode on, but then she saw that one was on the ground, obviously wounded. Katherine's instincts kicked in. She rode her horse into the clearing without a second thought and jumped off.

The Colonel turned, startled at the sudden appearance of a woman, and asked sharply, "Who are you?"

Katherine pulled off her medical saddlebag. "My name is Katherine and I have some medical training. I'd like to help your men."

He scowled. "You're a woman. How do I know you are not a rebel and you will kill them?"

She scoffed. "I was trained by a doctor, my father, Sir, it doesn't matter what side I'm on. When I take up my tools, I'm neutral. Besides, I can tell you that the redhead will die within the hour for sure if he isn't cared for by just looking at him."

He let her pass. Katherine knelt down by the redheaded man's side and started to clean his chest wound. "I'm Katherine, Sir. I'm medical personnel. Where are you from?"

"Ireland," the man gasped.

"Hush," she soothed, "That's lovely. I've been there."

"You have?"

"Mhm, very beautiful. I visited Dublin, Belfast, and Ballymena."

"I'm from Belfast."

"Oh, you are? Lovely. Now, this will hurt." Katherine pulled out the ball and the man fainted. Sighing, she checked the chest wound and cleaned it before bandaging it together. Standing up and wiping her bloody hands against her apron, she turned to the slightly stunned Captain and cleaned up her mess. "Try to keep him as still as possible. If you can, borrow a wagon or cart. Change the dressings every few hours and for God's sake, keep your hands clean. If he develops a fever, keep him cool. Don't let one of your poor excuses for doctors bleed him. The poor boy's lost enough blood already. Crystal?"

The captain blinked. "Pardon me?"

Katherine sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do you understand my instructions?"

"Yes Miss."

"Good." She mounted her horse. "Take care, Gentlemen." Kicking up her horse, she galloped off.

A minute later, Tavington strode up to him in a lather. "Where is that woman?"

"She took her leave."

Tavington threw his hat against the ground and growled, pointing at his captain, "That woman has experience with wounds, but is not one of our camp followers. She either is with the Rebels or with the Militia, imbecile!"

The irate man stomped away, ordering, "Prepare to move out!"

Understandably, the reaction to Katherine's actions was mostly negative.

"Are you mad?" was the reply she received from Ben, Gabriel, and the rest of the Pembroke men. "Why the (some explicative) would you help a (some explicative) redcoat?" was the answer from everyone else. If looks could kill, her would have.

Slamming her hands against the log she sat on, she stood up. "For lack of a better word, I'm a doctor or a nurse! We don't care whom our patients are, what color they are or side they're on! All we care about is saving their life! If you can't handle that, then this war is already over, because you are just as rotten as them." Her last words were hissed so low that she sounded like a completely different person.

The Frenchman huffed. "Perhaps it was good that you missed training today. You would have tried to be a man."

Eyes sparking, she strode toward her horse and sticking her hand into saddlebag, pulled out a pistol and put a ball through his hat. As his jaw dropped, she sweetly cooed in slightly accented French, "Je peux tirer très bien, idiot."

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