It was evening by the time Eliza arrived at Valley Forge. Despite the setting sun, the place seemed to be a hive of energy – not at all what she'd expected from a military base. There were two soldiers standing at the entrance, both brandishing muskets. Eliza took a deep breath and pulled the conscription letter out of her jacket pocket. She squared her shoulders and marched over to the guards.

"Password?" One of them asked,

"Umm, I don't have a password, but I do have this letter," Eliza thrust the letter out at the guard standing nearest to her.

He took one look at it and rolled his eyes, "Keep going down there until you hit a big tent. Lane will get you everything you need,"

"You won't be able to miss it," the other guard added, "it'll be surrounded by new conscripts,"

"Thank you," Eliza said with a nod as she put the letter away, before heading off in the direction the solider had pointed her in.

Eliza spotted the large group of conscripts before she spotted the tent. The conscripts were all milling around chatting loudly to each other. Eliza looked around at everyone as she picked her way through the crowd. Now she was here, everything seems so much more real and intimidating. How was she meant to fit in with all these people? How was she meant to keep her identity a secret?

Eventually, Eliza managed to push her was through the crowd to the tent. A solider, presumably Lane, dressed in a blue coat was sat at a table just inside the entrance, brandishing a quill and some paper. Lane looked up as Eliza approached and gave her the once over, "Papers?" he asked,

"Oh, right, yes," Eliza stuffed her hand into her pocket and pulled out the conscription letter.

Lane took the letter off her. He opened the letter and quickly scanned it, "Schuyler," he said as he wrote it down, "First name?"

"Eli-jah,"

"Elijah?"

"Yes, Elijah Schuyler,"

"Ok then," Lane wrote Eliza's name down then stood up, "Tent five B, just past those trees over there," Lane pointed over the crowd of conscripts at a patch of trees just to the left of Eliza, "Training starts at sunrise tomorrow. Don't be late,"

Eliza nodded, "Thank you," and headed off in the direction Lane had pointed in.

Eliza walked into her tent and looked around. It was empty but to her disappointment there were six crude beds made up. So, she wasn't going to be alone. Four of the beds already had belonging on them but the other two were bare. Eliza made her way over to the closest empty bed then plonked her few possessions down.

Eliza collapsed down on the bed next to her things. She clung to the frame and took a few shuddery breaths. Just the idea of having to share what was essentially her bedroom with five strange men had her the most scared she'd ever been, and she hadn't even started training yet. She could feel her eyes start to fill with tears, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed at what she's signed herself up for. She could hear all the new recruits outside the tent eating and drinking, celebrating their last night before becoming soldiers, however, Eliza couldn't quite bring herself to go out and join them; she couldn't help but think that they'd know she didn't belong there the moment they set eyes on her. Eliza squeezed her eyes shut. That wasn't true and she knew it, after all, Lane hadn't batted an eyelid at her, but she still couldn't shake the feeling.

With another shuddery breath Eliza opened her eyes and bent down to take her boots off. She unfolded her threadbare blanket and curled up under it on her bed. The bed was hard and lumpy, and the blanket was barely thick enough to keep her warm. She was already feeling homesick, and that was just making it worse. She couldn't help but long for her bed at home, with its many thick blankets and soft comfy mattress. She just wanted to be with Philip and Peggy. No. She couldn't let her mind go there, she was doing this for them and that was what she was going to cling to.

Eliza pulled the blanket tighter around herself and shut her eyes, she knew that sleep would not come easily to her but right now she just wanted to escape into her dreams. She didn't know how long she'd been lying there before she heard the sound of somebody else coming into the tent. She heard them walk over to the bed next to hers, dump their stuff then march out of the tent again. Eliza guessed they were more keen to join the party outside then she was.

-x-

Eliza slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she sat up in her bed. She had clearly fallen asleep eventually, but she felt far from rested. She scrubbed her hand over her face then took a look around the tent. It was still dark, but she could make out the five other people sleeping around her. The one furthest from her let out a loud snore as he rolled over. Eliza swung her legs off the bed and pulled on her boots. She quietly got up and crept out of the tent.

There were a few soldiers milling around outside which suggested it wasn't long until dawn. Eliza's stomach rumbled and she was reminded of the fact that she hadn't eaten dinner the previous night. She looked around and her eyes landed on what could only be the catering tent. She scurried over to it and ducked inside. There was somebody standing by the entrance passing out breakfast. Eliza walked over and the server passed her a bread roll and some water. Eliza looked down sadly at her meagre breakfast, it was far from the amount of food she got at home, but she guessed she was just going to have to learn to live on army rations. Eliza picked at her bread, trying to make it last longer, but there was only so long she could make it last before the roll was all gone.

The sun started to come up just as Eliza finished eating,

"Cadets!" came a loud shout from outside. Eliza got up and hurried outside. She was greeted with the sight of lots of new conscripts rushing out of their tents and lining up in front of a tall man in a smart uniform. Eliza hurried over and joined the end of the line,

"Attention!" The man shouted and the line grew silent, several of the conscripts stood up straight and tucked their arms behind their back. Eliza did her best to mimic their position. "I am Lieutenant Hercules Mulligan," the man said, "General Washington has put me in charge of your training so while you are here my word is law, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Now look sharp, everyone pick-up a bag and follow me,"

"Where are we going?" One of the cadets asked.

Mulligan turned to glare at him, "Are you questioning my authority?"

"N-n-no, sir," the solider stuttered,

"Good. We're going on a hike. As soldiers the majority of what you will be doing will not be fighting but marching, so you need to get used to it and quick."

Eliza walked over to the pile off rucksacks, next to where Mulligan had been standing and picked a large bag. She went to sling it over her shoulder however, she was stopped by the shocking weight of the bag. Eliza dropped the bag and groaned. She took a deep breath and heaved the bag up again, swinging it onto her back with great effort. She slowly straightened up. It took all her effort not to topple over backwards under the weight of the bag. Mulligan let out a shout then set off towards the woods and the other cadets followed him.

It didn't take long for Eliza to start lagging behind. She was hunched over to stop her bag from dragging her down; she was out of breath and drenched in sweat and she was sure her boots were giving her blisters. She didn't think she'd ever walked so far in her life,

"Keep up!" Mulligan yelled at her from the front of the group,

"Sorry sir," Eliza gasped, however as she replied she lost her footing on a loose stone and tumbled over.

Mulligan let out an irritated sigh and walked back over to Eliza, "What's your name solider?" he asked, holding out his hand to help her up,

"Schuyler, sir," Eliza replied as she took hold of Mulligan's offered hand.

Mulligan pulled her up and gave Eliza a once over, "Hmm, give me your bag,"

Eliza quickly took off her bag, letting it fall to the floor.

Mulligan picked it up and slung it over his shoulder along with his own bag. He turned to re-join the front of the group, "Keep up," he said again over his shoulder.

Eliza wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. She could feel tears pricking into her eyes but she daren't cry here. She quickly wiped her eyes before setting off after the group, her feet still hurting with every step.

Eliza had been hoping that given how exhausted she was the hardness of her bed wouldn't matter that night but despite how much her body ached sleep just wouldn't come.

Eventually, Eliza gave up on any hope of sleep and climbed out of bed. She glared at her boots at the foot of her bed, however, despite how many blisters she had right now, she couldn't walk around bare foot, so she reluctantly pulled her boots on.

Eliza crept out of the tent and slowly walked around the camp. After a while she found herself standing outside the makeshift stables. She paused outside for a second before shrugging and heading inside. There were several horses in the stables, most of whom seemed to be asleep, however, a few were happily eating some hay. Eliza walked over to the nearest awake horse and slowly reached out to stroke its mane.

"Who are you?"

Eliza spun around to see the stable boy standing behind her holding a bale of hay,

"Oh sorry," Eliza said, taking a step back, "I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk, and I guess I just ended up here,"

The stable boy threw the hay bale down next to the horse and smiled at Eliza, "I can understand that," he said, "The horses are very calming to be around,"

Eliza smiled at him, "Elijah Schuyler," she said, holding her hand out.

The stable boy took it and shook it vigorously, "Robert Shurtleff," he said, "I could use some help if you want to stick around,"

"I'd love to,"

"Great! Then you can help me distribute these hay bales."

The next morning Eliza made her way over to a large field where all the cadets were gathering. She arrived to find Mulligan standing in front of a row of what looked like targets. There was a stand of muskets next to Mulligan. It was obvious what they were going to be doing that morning. Eliza joined the end of the line of cadets just as Mulligan was getting ready to start.

"Today you will be learning how to load and fire one of these," Mulligan said as he marched over to the rack and picked up one of the guns. He walked over to the end of the line near Eliza, "Now watch me very carefully. First you insert the gun powder, like so, then the bullet. Next you tamp it down," Mulligan then lifted the gun up to his shoulder and took a step back with one of his feet, "Take aim," he said slowly, "And fire," Mulligan pulled the trigger, and there was a loud bang as the gun went off. The bullet lodged itself in the target opposite him. Mulligan lowered his gun and took his place opposite the cadets again. He started passing the muskets down the line, "Nobody is to step out of line without my express permission and nobody is to fire until I tell you to,"

Eliza took up her gun nervously,

"Now everyone load your gun. Do not fire!"

Eliza put in a small amount of gun powder and the bullet before tamping it down like she'd seen Mulligan do.

Mulligan walked down to the far end of the line and told the cadets at that end to fire. None of them hit the target and Mulligan set about giving them corrections. Once he'd finished, Mulligan continued down the line until he eventually reached the end Eliza was standing at.

"Fire!" Mulligan shouted.

Eliza rose her gun to her shoulder, took a step back like she'd seen Mulligan do, and pulled the trigger. There was a small bang, but the bullet didn't seem to hit the target,

"Try more gun powder next time," Mulligan said, patting Eliza's shoulder as he walked by,

"Yes sir."

They continued target practise for the rest of the morning, however, by the time they broke for lunch Eliza still hadn't hit her target once.

"There is nothing wrong with the way you're loading your gun, Schuyler," Mulligan said as Eliza put her gun back onto the rack, "You can do it as well as any solider I've ever met,"

"Thank you, sir," Eliza sighed, "But if that's the case then why can't I hit anything?" she'd been trying to mimic Mulligan's stance all morning but nothing she'd done had worked,

"You just need some practise," Mulligan said with a small smile, "You'll get there eventually,"

"Thank you sir," Eliza said again with a nod of her head, before leaving to join the other cadets for lunch.