Gunwitch (32 page)

Major Haley looked back over his shoulder, but said nothing as he helped Janett into one of the sitting room’s wooden chairs. Janett produced a handkerchief and daubed at her eyes.

“Miss
Bainbridge
,” Janett said, “brought it on herself.”

Chal made a noise in her throat, but said nothing. Major Haley looked uncomfortable. When Margaret looked at him, he did not meet her eye, so she glared at Janett again.

“Do you want anything to eat, Margaret?” Major Haley asked.

Margaret stared at him. She did not tell him that Mr. Thomas had forced her to eat, to chew and to swallow what the cold, dead hands of her escorts pushed into her mouth. She did not say that she did not know when she would
want
to eat again.

“Perhaps later then,” the major said, looking uncomfortable. “If you ladies will excuse me then, and you, Miss Chal, I must be off.” He gave a short bow to each of them, then stepped to the door.

“Major Haley,” Margaret said, turning as he walked past her. The major stopped with his hand on the door. “Why was Miss Rose put in the stockade?” she asked. “Da told Mr. Thomas that Miss Rose had gone looking for me.”

The major took his hand from the door and turned to face her. He stood at attention, Margaret saw, as if he were addressing Da. “You must understand, Margaret, your father, the colonel, did what he thought was right–”

Chal made the noise in her throat again.

“–as did Miss Rose,” the major added, ignoring Chal.

The door behind the major opened. Margaret stared. Miss Rose stood there, with a tall private standing behind her who looked sour. Miss Rose looked dirty and disheveled, as if she had just come out of the bayuk, or had slept in a stable. Or both. Her face was smudged with dirt and the braids of her hair had almost worked themselves loose. Stray strands surrounded her face.

“And that,” Miss Rose said, “was not the first time the colonel and I disagreed as to what was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, even now, it probably won’t be the last.” She strode into the sitting room. The private started to follow her. “You can wait for me outside, private,” she said, and closed the door in his face.

She looked at Margaret and the woman’s expression changed in a way that made Margaret want to cry again.

“Margaret,” Miss Rose said. “I’m so glad–” She started to walk toward Margaret, then stopped, looking uncertain. “I’m so sorry, Margaret,” she went on. “I’m so sorry. I tried–”

Margaret made the decision for both of them, rushing at the woman, hugging her around the waist. Miss Rose returned the hug after only a second’s hesitation, then was kissing her cheeks and stroking her hair and hugging her. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” Miss Rose said over and over. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” Just as Mum might have done.

Margaret remembered how she had thought that she had never met a woman like Miss Rose. Even now Miss Rose surprised her.

When she could speak again, Margaret said, “But I’m not sure we’re that safe, Miss Rose. Mr. Thomas is still out there. He only let me come back with Da because–”

“I know, Margaret. I know.” After another squeeze, Miss Rose released Margaret. “But Mr. Thomas doesn’t know everything, no matter what he thinks. He doesn’t know you, he doesn’t know the Colonel, and he sure as hell doesn’t know me.” Miss Rose took Margaret’s right hand in her left. “Now, everyone,” she said to the room, “I think it’s time we went to see the colonel to discuss where we go from here.”

“But Da told us to wait here,” Margaret said. To her surprise, she saw Janett stand. Janett touched her hair and adjusted her skirt, looking for all the world she was going to follow Miss Rose’s example. And disobey Da. Janett met her eye, gave Margaret a tight smile, then looked at Miss Rose.

“You will need this, I think,” Chal said. She held out Miss Rose’s pistol, butt first.

As Miss Rose’s fingers touched the pistol, Margaret thought she saw strange letters flash along the barrel. The next instant, though, the letters were gone. Margaret was not sure she had seen anything.

Chapter 16

Rose

Fort Russell

1742 A.D.

“You are a most stubborn woman, Miss Bainbridge,” Colonel Laxton said.

“Only when you disagree with me, Colonel,” Rose said. She saw Margaret looking at her, and gave the girl a smile. Margaret almost smiled back. Rose’s smile faded and she again made a silent promise to kill Thomas Ducoed. Margaret and Janett sat in the corner on wooden chairs. Neither girl had said anything since they had come into the room with Rose. The colonel had looked sharply at Janett, then at Rose, but had made no attempt to send the girls away. He had only sent the private back to his sitting room to retrieve chairs for the girls.

“It seems you are determined to do disagree with me at every turn.” Colonel Laxton stood flanked by Majors Eason and Haley, with Captain Keele and two Leftenants that Rose had not been introduced to. The men stood on one side of the long table. Chal and Rose stood on the opposite side. A surveyor’s map of the river, fort and hill lay on the table.

“Please be silent, Major Haley,” the colonel said without looking away from Rose. “Unchapparoned? Really, Miss Bainbridge. I would prefer that you do as I have asked you. Take your … scout, and whatever provisions we still have, and escort Janett and Margaret back to Fort Gunter. We will provide the distraction–”

“You will provide very little distraction for Ducoed and his allies, whoever–whatever–they are, without me. They will attack you and overrun you as soon as you are clear of the fort, while Ducoed comes for the girls.”

“Which is why you should be with the girls, Miss Bainbridge. I can think of no one better capable–”

“Colonel,” Rose said, “I am your element of surprise. Whatever Ducoed has planned for you, he is no longer expecting me to be a part of it. I am your only hope of lasting long enough.”

Major Eason said, “The English Army is unmatched in the field–”

“Your little army is
surrounded
, Major,” Rose said. “And the surrounding force is not interested in letting you leave. Ducoed is playing a game with you. Even he doesn’t expect you to just take him at his word and leave peaceably–and I don’t think even an arrogant bastard like Ducoed believes you believe him. He
expects
you to try to surprise him with an attack. And he expects the attack to be a ruse, to allow the colonel a chance to send the girls to safety. He expects you to do exactly what you’re planning to do. The only thing he does not expect,” Rose went on, “is me.” She paused, but none of the men contradicted her. A first. “Are we agreed?”

The colonel did not respond. He turned back to Rose. “I … disagreed with you before, Miss Bainbridge,” he said, “when you … offered … to go look for Margaret. Now you disagree with me when I ask you to go with Margaret and her sister–”

“I’m doing this for Margaret, colonel,” Rose said. “And Janett. And you,” she added. “I will help you buy the time they need to get away.”

“Do we not have a say in this?” Janett asked.

“Janett, please,” Colonel Laxton said without turning around. He looked down at the map. Then he took a breath, brought his head up, and looked Rose in the eye. “I would ask you as an officer– No, hear me out,” the colonel said before Rose could interrupt. “I would ask you as an officer, Miss Bainbridge, but I know that is … insufficient. So I ask you as a father. Not as a very good father, it could be said, but as a father nonetheless. Please, Miss Bainbridge, save my little girls.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do, Colonel.” Rose looked at Margaret and Janett, then back to the colonel. Their father. “Even now, Ducoed is spreading his forces around the fort, on both sides of the river, and up and down the river. He knows you will attempt to smuggle the girls out of the fort. What he doesn’t know is which direction you will try.”

Rose stopped talking as Margaret let go of Janett’s hand and walked up to the table to stand beside her father. Major Haley stepped aside to give the little girl room. Margaret took her father’s hand. She looked up at him, then at Rose.

* * *

“You do not know what you will be up against,” Chal said.

“I have some idea,” Rose said. “After being chased in the bayuk, and feeling the magics in use this morning.”

They had retired to the small bunkroom Chal had been assigned while Rose was in the stockade. Rose had stripped to the waist and begun washing herself with the cold water in the earthenware bowl on the room’s only table. Chal sat crosslegged on the bed, watching her.

Rose looked at Chal, then continued rubbing at her skin with the rough washcloth, trying to remove the smell of the stockade. She doubted there was enough clean water in the fort to accomplish that. But she would try. It was more than just the stench of stale straw and urine and worse that made her scrub at her skin until it was a pale rose color. For fifteen years in the 101st Pistoleers, before and after every battle, she had scrubbed herself the same way. Before the battle because she might die in the next hours, and if she were going to die, she wanted to die clean. Not that there was really any such thing as
clean
on a battlefield. But at least she would die with only the mud and blood of the battle on her. Then after the battle to try to feel … human … again. Maybe even like a woman again.

“They are an evil that my people have seen before,” Chal said after a minute. “A new evil, perhaps, but created from an old evil. An evil my people once fought. An evil my people once created.”

“You’re taking the girls,” Rose said, tugging the braids out of her hair. She wondered if she should take the time to wash her hair. “And Major Haley and however many men he decides on. All you need is a boat and a push. Once you’re on the water, there’s nothing Ducoed can do to stop you, or catch you.” She held a lock of her hair to her face and smelled it. “Ugh,” she said. “Do you think the private would bring me another bucket of water?”

“Once I am on the water,” Chal said, her voice almost a whisper now.

Rose paused, holding a turtleshell comb in her hand. “Are you alright, Chal?” she asked.

“The waters,” Chal said. “The river. His songs are changing. My song … I can no longer hear …” Her voice drifted off. Then she sat up straight, her eyes focused on Rose, her expression tense. “The Seeker draws near,” she said.

“Here?” Rose said.

“Of course. This is where I am. I felt him touch the waters. He was letting me know that he is near. That I should be ready.”

“Then there is no more question,” Rose said. “You are going with the girls. You will be able to outrun the Seeker too, once you’re on … the boat. The river will carry you to New Venezia. If I survive, I will find you there.”