It was smooth sailing for the next couple of days. I was really getting really good at riding a horse by this point. We did well to avoid other patrols and got around checkpoints rather easily. We were past the halfway point and managed to avoid Philadelphia entirely out of an abundance of caution. Also, we were back on our riding mostly at night, schedule.

Whenever we reached a large river or Anabel felt it was too risky to take a bridge with checkpoints, we used Horse Ferry’s. I guess it had never occurred to me that that was how they got horses over bodies of water back in those days. You simply paid the ferryman a toll and he would walk your horse on to the deck of a small ferry and take you across the river.

On the fourth day of our journey, just before midnight, we saw lanterns ahead surrounding a large, covered wagon. We halted the horses and got them off the road before anyone could take notice.

“Come on, Eric. It looks like a checkpoint,” Anabel noted, ”Let’s head through the woods and go around.”

We dismounted and started heading through the forest as quietly as we could but just before we were parallel to the stopped wagon, we heard a woman shriek.

“By order of the King, this road is now a toll road,” said one of the four soldiers, accosting the wagon, “lucky for you, today we are offering a special discount. One hour with your daughter.”

It was a family. A husband, wife, and a teenaged girl who was being ripped out of the wagon against her will.

“We can’t just let this happen, Anabel,” I stated.

“What should we do, Eric? There’s too many of them.”

“Let’s tie off the horses here in the forest and make our way over. I’ll explain my plan on the way.”

The wife was screaming at the soldiers, “please, don’t do this. We pay our taxes. We’ll gladly pay the toll as well. Just give us our daughter back.”

“You and your husband will stay in the wagon till we’re done with her if you know what’s good for you,” said one of the two soldiers still standing beside the wagon holding lanterns.

The other two soldiers had dragged the teenaged girl kicking and screaming towards their encampment on the other side of the road. Anabel came out of the darkness from the side we had left our horses on and walked towards the two holding lanterns.

“You there! What are you doing way out here?” one of them asked.

“Me? Well, I was just in the area, and I thought I heard a party. So, I figured I’d join.”

She pushed up her cleavage a bit as she got closer. The two soldiers with the young girl took notice and halted their assault to see what was going on. The soldier talking to Anabel moved in closer as the one next to him sat down his lantern and readied his musket.

Anabel wrapped her arms around the approaching soldier’s neck and shoulders, then with a knife hidden in her sleeve, stabbed him in the back. As the other soldier held up his rifle, she drew her petticoat pistol and shot him down. Before the other two could react, I came out of the forest behind them and slashed the one holding the girl across the back with my sword. The fourth soldier went for his pistol. He got to it before I could move fast enough to attack him with my blade. Just before he lifted up to fire at me.

*POW*

A shot rang out from across the road. It was the husband, standing up in the wagon with a rifle of his own. He struck down the remaining soldier just in the knick of time.

The daughter ran back towards the wagon, her mother came down to meet her and held the girl in her arms. The father with tears in his eyes exclaimed, “I don’t know who you people are, but thank you. Thank you so very much!”

I turned towards Anabel and said, “Awesome! You didn’t miss this time.”

“No, but the one I stabbed is still alive,” she noted.

I walked over to him. Looked down and said, “looks like you just have a flesh wound in your right shoulder blade.”

“Mercy, please, have mercy,” the soldier begged.

I picked him up by his jacket and said, “what about the cries for help that young girl gave the likes of you? Was there mercy shown there?”

The family and Anabel stood by and watched in fear as to what I was going to do.

“Are you going to kill me?”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“No. No, I'm not going to kill you. But I really hope this imperial horse here knows how to find its way to the next barracks. Because you’re going to ride him until he does!”

I kicked the man back down to the ground and went to retrieve some rope. The husband jumped down and helped me tie him up. We fixed him to the back of the horse and gagged his mouth.

“Tell them what happened here and that the son of Noble did this. If any imperials wish to avoid the fate of those three, tell them to stay away from this highway. Yah!” I said ominously before slapping the horse, sending it in the opposite direction we were heading.

“Why did you do that?” asked Anabel, “You gave your name. Now they know for sure you’re here.”

“It’s likely they know by now anyway. We probably weren’t able to stay ahead of that spy from the ship. At the very least I can evoke some fear among their ranks and make them less likely to want to pursue us. Besides, It may take a while for anyone to find him.” “...Good sir…did…did you say you were the son of Noble?” asked the husband.

“That’s right,” I replied.

“I’m not a member of The Order, however, my brother in Baltimore is.

“That’s where we’re heading now.”

“Good. Tell him when you get there that the time to fight back against Washington is now! I’m on my way to confront him as we speak,” I turned to Anabel and asked, “How much further until we reach the Capital.”

“Another day at most. We should be able to reach the city by first light the day after tomorrow.”

“Excellent. Then we should be on our way then.”

“Thank you for everything mister,” the girl we had rescued uttered as her family was preparing to leave as well.

If only Stephanie could see me now!

We retrieved our horses and made haste to leave. We decided to ride well into the next day and only stop to rest in the latter half of the day while there was still daylight.

* * *

Along the road we found an old barn that didn’t seem to be in use. We brought our horses inside to keep them out of sight and rested ourselves down in the hay of a vacant stall. The stars and moonlight could be seen just out the window. Anabel was quiet at first but then decided to make some small talk.

“That was amazing what you did,” she said.

“Eh, you know, it’s what I’m here to do I guess.”

She was quiet again for a moment and then said, “I saw him once you know.” “Saw who?” I asked.

“Your father. About a decade ago. I was only about fourteen or fifteen years old and had just started working at the Inn. He was there rallying support among the early resistors. The way he spoke was incredible. His message wasn’t aimed directly at me, but I felt it, deep within my soul. He used language I had never heard, spoke in a way I never heard…until you came.”

She paused for a moment and teared up a bit before continuing, “My father died, in the revolution, just right before the end. It was before I was even born so I never met him. My mother died years later, but she always told me, this is not the country he fought to create. I may have never met him, but his efforts were enough to secure my admittance into The Order. Seeing what you did makes me think there's still hope we can build that nation he fought for.”

I changed the subject, “What will you do after the fall of the monarchy?”

“Me? Well, I plan on helping to build that nation we spoke of. I should like to settle down and marry once my duties to the cause have expired. You see, I’m afraid I’m becoming a bit of an old maid.”

An old maid? Seriously, she was like 25!

“What about you?" she inquired, “Do you have a betrothed back where you came from?”

“I do,” I said, watching her perk up in surprise, “I mean, I did. But I messed things up. She’s a wonderful person, don’t get me wrong. And we’re still quite close. I just put myself back into the friendzone ya know?”

“Friendzone?” she asked.

“It’s like a saying. When two people are romantically interested in one another but one does something stupid and causes the other to hit the brakes…eh, pull the reins back on the relationship so to speak.”

Another moment of silence fell over us as it had so many times before.

Anabel sat upright on her knees and leaned over towards me. She gave me a kiss. A more concentrated one this time. I leaned into it and started to move on for more when she gathered herself and retracted against the stall wall.

She said, “I’m sorry, that’s not right. It’s improper for a lady to carry herself in such a way,” as she brushed herself off.

Before I could say anything else, she jolted and whispered, “Shh, listen!”

The sound of two horses approaching could be heard outside.

After a moment, we heard two men dismounting and could see the faint glow of lanterns outside. Anabel sat forward, grabbed me, and pulled me down on top of her deep in the hay, just out of view from the stall window. She clutched the back of my head tightly and forced my nose and mouth in between her breasts. Wasn’t a bad place to be, I only wish I could see what was going on outside.

The two men were having a conversation as they walked around the barn.

“Did you hear the rumor?” one asked.

“What’s that?” the other replied.

“There was a peculiar man in New York last week. One who speaks strangely and carries himself differently than the rest of us.”

“Oh yeah, I heard one of the messengers at the barracks relaying that the other day.

Who do you think he is? And why is it a concern for the army?”

“Word has it that he’s a world walker.”

“Ha! World walker. Hogwash. Don’t tell me you believe that?”

Their voices began to trail off, but I could faintly hear them say there was nobody here as they remounted their horses and left.

Anabel released me from her clutches, and I came up from the depths of her bosom.

“Did you hear that?” she exclaimed with wide open eyes, “the spies must have sent messengers all over the countryside by now.”

“Yes, it’s as I feared.”

“There goes our element of surprise,” she lamented.

“It’s okay. It’s not as if we didn’t account for this. If we leave now, how soon can we arrive in the capital?”

“Just after sunrise I believe.”

“Good then it’s possible marching orders have been delayed and the city isn’t fully locked down. Let’s move now.”

We gathered ourselves and rode on through the night in hopes of getting to the Capital and coming up with some sort of plan in a hurry. Shortly after sunrise off in the distance we could see it.

“There it is, Eric. Washington D.C. There’s only about fifteen thousand people who live there but the military personnel number in the hundreds. Come on, I know of someone friendly we can gather information from.”