December 4, 1779
The snow came quietly in the middle of the night, covering the land in a blanket of pristine white. This didn't come as much of a surprise to the townspeople the next morning, for they had been expecting it. While the adults feared the harsh conditions destined to follow, the children saw only enjoyment in this new element, viewing it as a wondrous thing as they played and chased each other through town. They were innocent and viewed the first snowfall of the year as harmless fun, unlike Lillian, who looked out from her window with concern, as if there were something ominous that lied hidden beneath it all. Her fears quickly melted, however, as she heard laughter from below and looked down, watching a trio of boys engage in a playful battle of throwing snowballs at each other. A dog barked and came running over to join them, circling around Abraham, who threw a snowball at one of his friends. This caused a small smile to grace Lillian's lips. She decided to ignore the dreadful feeling that plagued her for now and went to change into some warmer attire.
The next few days were peaceful and uneventful, and while countless battles were still being fought on the other side of the Western Woods, the war was a long ways away from being over. The villagers did their best to focus on the upcoming holiday and not let their worried hearts linger on thoughts about the absent husbands, fathers and sons they missed terribly. The women kept to their chores and tended to their houses and barns, while the children were free to run about and play in the snow.
One day, Lillian hid near the covered bridge in the middle of town, the hood of her cape pulled up to keep the snow from landing in her hair. Her eyes looked around for any sign of danger, as though an enemy were closing in on her, ready to strike and attack. It was a fate she could not escape from, for she had been lured into a dangerous game of heavy risks. Her first thought was to run away and hide in the forest, but out of concern for her comrades, she chose to stay much closer to home. Even now, she could feel the enemy's eyes watching her from all sides, waiting for their leader to give the first command and lead them into battle.
Just then, Lillian felt something hit the back of her head and turned around quickly, catching a glimpse of three heads ducking down behind a pile of chopped wood, hearing a child giggle.
"I saw you hiding back there", Lillian called out to the culprit. "Come out where I can see you." She waited for a respond, but no one replied or revealed themselves to her. "Hello?" Lillian asked, walking over to the pile of chopped wood buried beneath an inch of snow, pausing for a minute before jumping behind it. "Boo!" Lillian shouted, hoping to scare whoever was hiding from her, but there was nobody there. She frowned at this, looking confused, then felt another ball of rolled-up snow hit her again, this time in the back of her shoulder.
"Gotcha!"
Lillian turned around, seeing Abraham and two boys about his age laughing at her, each one holding a snowball in their hands.
"We got you, Miss Waise", said Abraham.
"We'll see about that, Abraham", Lillian declared, crouching down to gather some snow into her hands, fashioning it into a ball. She stood up straight and made ready to throw it at Abraham, but one of his friends threw a snowball at her first, striking her right in the chest and causing her to gasp from the sudden cold.
Just as Abraham and the two boys named Glenn and Theodore started making more snowballs to hurl at their target, three young girls about their age appeared and joined forces with Lillian. Together, the four female companions began throwing snowballs at their opponents. One girl named Emily Winship threw a snowball at Theodore, while another girl named Tilda struck Abraham's shoulder. The third girl named Sarah tried throwing a snowball at Glenn, but missed. The boy laughed at her failed attempt, to which Lillian threw a snowball at him next, hitting him in the back. The dark-haired maiden laughed as she played with the children, feeling very much like a child herself as they continued their harmless game of pummeling each other with snowballs.
Albert set another log on a stump as he prepared to swing his axe down and split it into two, pausing for a moment when he heard the laughter of children and looked to his right, seeing Lillian running away with three little girls as three boys chased after them. He lowered his axe and smiled warmly at the sight of a grown woman playing with the little ones as though they were her own.
Meanwhile, Cassandra was busy sweeping snow from her house with a broom, looking over in time to Lillian run away some distance from the children, dodging another snowball thrown by Abraham before she threw one back to him, striking the boy in his shoulder. The three girls laughed, which made Cassandra smile. Lillian did not see it, as she looked over to where Albert was, only to find he was nowhere in sight, and just when she turned her head to look back at the children, an unexpected snowball hit her right in the face, catching her off guard and causing her to shriek from the cold again. The person who struck her was none other than Albert himself.
"How was my aim?" Albert asked, tossing a snowball up in the air and catching it with his hand.
Lillian laughed it off and wiped the snow from her face. "It's rather improved, I must say", she answered.
"Get him!" Emily shouted, charging at Albert and tackling him playfully to the ground. Theodore and Glenn joined her in pinning him down, as well. Albert laughed uproariously, trapping each boy into a headlock.
Cassandra didn't think any of this was funny and threw down the broom angrily, grabbing hold of the skirt of her dress as she stormed over to Albert, thinking he hit Lillian on purpose.
Just then, Lillian turned her attention over to the forest and lost her smile when she noticed a small, dark shadow nestled amongst the trees, a winged blackbird watching her from a distance. Simara remained where she was, observing her human mistress from afar. All the while, Lillian froze instantly and saw a flash of light before a vision showed her a group of five soldiers fighting a familiar man with sharp teeth and wild black hair. The Hessian yelled vigorously as he swung his sword in all directions, chopping off the heads of his opponents until only one man remained standing. Much to her horror, the soldier he left to finish off last was none other than...
"Richard", Lillian whispered to herself. She didn't need to see the rest to understand what the vision meant. Either the Hessian was about to meet his doom, or he was about to kill Richard.
Looking to her left, Lillian made sure neither Albert nor the children noticed her strange behavior. They did not. Lillian turned her head again to look back at Simara, but the raven was no longer there.
Albert released Theodore and Glenn, then shooed Emily away before sitting up and looked over at Lillian, who had her back turned to him.
"Are you sure you're all right, Lillian?" Albert questioned.
Cassandra approached him and said, "Leave her alone. She's not talking to you after what you just did."
Albert looked at her and said, "Mind your business, Cassandra. We were just having fun."
"Fun, is it? If that's your idea of fun, I'd much rather know what your idea of boredom is", Cassandra remarked.
"You have a very narrow mind, you know that?" Albert mentioned, standing up and towering over her.
"Well, I wouldn't be so narrow-minded if you would apologize to Lillian and-" Cassandra looked over to where her friend was, only to find she was gone. "Lillian?"
Lillian ran down the trail as fast as she could, unaware of her friends bickering. She was certain that nobody saw her leaving, but in order to understand the full meaning of her vision, she had to make sure that what was foretold to her wasn't true. She heard swords clashing in the distance and followed the sound of metal scraping against metal. Finally, she came to a clearing, arriving in time to see another head lopped off by the Hessian, who roared as he swung his sword at Americans left and right, his cloaked uniform stained with their blood. Sure enough, one of the soldiers fighting him was Richard Vallingby. The foolish lad tried to stab him, but the Hessian blocked his attack and disarmed him. Rather than chop off his head, the German mercenary resorted to using the primitive method of delivering a gloved fist to the young man's face, knocking him down.
Lillian gasped and put her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror as she watched the Hessian slam his boot down on Richard's neck, choking him with his heel. All the other soldiers were dead, and now he was about to kill the last man standing and Lillian couldn't let him get away with it, no matter how much Richard annoyed her. Thinking quickly, she looked to her left and picked up a fallen branch before running over to stop the Hessian just as he was about to drive his sword through Richard's skull. She struck him on the back of his head, causing the Hessian to let out a pained yell before falling to the ground, dropping his sword. Ignoring the dull pain in his head, he turned his body over to look upon the face of his attacker, only to freeze when he saw it was Lillian, who pulled out the dagger he had given her and held the blade close to his throat.
"Don't...you...kill him", Lillian threatened, glaring down at him.
"Do it", the Hessian breathed out, calmly. "You'll be doing me a favor. Kill me."
Lillian stared at him, confused by his words. What did he mean by that? Did he want to die? Slowly, the anger faded from her eyes. Shaking her head, she said to him, "I love you too much to want to kill you."
Richard thought he misheard Lillian and watched as she stood over the Hessian, holding a dagger against the mercenary's throat before slowly pulling it away, allowing him to stand up to his full height. They held their eyes on each other for a brief moment, before the mercenary picked his sword up from off the ground and walked past her, clutching a hand to his side. A wound one of the soldiers had delivered to his side was bleeding, crimson liquid seeping through his fingers, staining his gloves. Just then, Daredevil, who missed the action, came trotting through the forest and whinnied upon seeing his wounded master, who mounted him and swung his leg over the saddle before taking hold of the reins. With a roar of command, the Hessian charged his horse forward, kicking off snow as he rode away.
Richard stood up immediately and stared at Lillian in disbelief, asking her, "Why did you do that? Why did you let him get away?"
"He would have killed you", Lillian defended, putting the dagger away by hiding it inside her cape. "Would you rather I let him kill you?"
"You should have killed him!" Richard shouted. "Because of you, he's going to kill again. Do you realize I could turn you in for what you've done? If anyone were to find out about this, they would hang you for treason."
"Then why don't you?" Lillian questioned. "Go ahead, turn me in, watch me hang for treason. Kill me yourself if you think it will make you feel any better. I'd rather die by your hand than let you kill the man I love!"
Richard's blood turned cold upon hearing those words come from her mouth. He wanted to scream and curse to the heavens, anything to take his frustration out on this stupid girl who let the enemy escape by proclaiming her love to a murderer.
"You should leave, Lillian", Richard warned her. "Run away and go, before I change my mind."
"Is that all you have to say to me?" Lillian questioned. "I just saved your life. How can you be so thankless?"
Richard shoved her and shouted loudly, "Leave me and get out of my life, you bitch!"
Lillian backed away at once, feeling as though her heart had stopped beating. This was not the same shy gentleman she once knew, but a thankless bastard, one she wished she had never met. The whites of her eyes turned pink, threatening to turn red as hot tears began to fill her eyes. "You are a fool, Richard Vallingby", she declared. "Your brother was a fool, and so are you. You insult the memory of all men who fought with honor and died with dignity. And I hope I never see you again." With that being said, Lillian turned around and ran away. Richard watched her go, disappearing into the woods. He blamed her for letting the enemy getting away, and yet despite his newfound hatred of Lillian, he did not wish to pursue her.