The Colonel

The Risk

20 minutes later I found myself sitting in the saddle in front of a very angry Colonel riding hard back toward the fort with the rest of the unit either hungover or still half drunk trying to keep up. Tavington only slowed down when a sea of white tents appeared in front of us. I had never been to the camp before. "I thought we were..." I twisted in the saddle to look at him.

"I have some matters to attend to." He cut me off. Expression cold and looking straight ahead until we stopped at one of the larger tents and dismounted. Helping me down, he handed me Hercules's reins. "Wait here." He began to walk off toward where his captains were waiting.

"Wait Here! For how long?" I stared after him. "I can't possibly just stand here with Hercules!" He spun on his heel striding back to stand in front of me, his eyes flashing in anger, looking down at me.

"You can and you will. For as long as this takes." He barked. "Do not question my order again Stasi. You test my patience." He growled and began to turn away.

"Assuming you have any. Which you don't." His hand came flying through the air but before it could land on my face Hercules reared up on his hind legs kicking his front hooves, neighing loudly. The Colonel lowered his arm and narrowed his cool grey eyes at me. "My point exactly, Colonel." I smirked and he turned to walk away.

"I'll deal with you later." He growled loudly over his shoulder as he stormed off toward his captains then to the field where the rest of his men were waiting. At least an hour had passed and he still hadn't returned. Several regulars passed by glancing at me curiously but did not bother me as they whispered to each other. As another hour passed by it began to rain and I peeked inside the large tent next to me, discovering it was Tavington's. I led hercules inside out of the rain and tied him around the wooden pole in the center of the tent. I looked around for something to occupy my time with and my eyes landed on a book on the desk. Sitting down I began to read.

"Find her!" I heard Tavington yelling angrily before bursting through the tent flap almost walking right into his horse. He stared at me flabbergasted. "What the bloody hell is my horse doing inside the tent?" I looked up at him from the book.

"Staying dry." I stated obviously before turning the page in my book and continuing to read.

He arched his brow. "So your first thought was to bring him in here instead of the stables?" He asked in unbelief as he sat down.

"Yes." I put the book down, "What else was I supposed to do with him? You told me to stay here, Colonel. And besides I know that I'm the only one you trust with him." He sighed in acceptance of those two facts. ""Did they learn their lesson or whatever?" He ignored my question then stood up and came over to me.

"You questioned my order earlier." He pinned me against the pole that held the tent up, his face an inch from mine. Our lips almost touched "Never do that again. You will not like the result." He whispered harshly. I glared at him.

"Do not order me. I am not one of your men. And most definitely I do not belong to you." He stepped away from me and I turned to pet Hercules on his nose. He tossed what sounded like papers on the desk.

"Think again." Even with my back turned I could hear he was smirking. My head snapped around to look at him.

"What?!" Then my eyes landed on the papers on the desk. "What the hell is this?" I went over and picked them up unfolding them. I skimmed over them.The first one was making me legally his charge, which I already knew as Cornwallis had done that when I arrived. The next one added me to his unit. I had no idea what part I had to play in that. It was the last one however that made me freeze and stare at it in shock. "How could you do this to me! After everything I told you. When the hell were you going to tell me?" I looked up at him betrayed. "How did Cornwallis ever agree to make me a dragoon let alone your Wife?" I sneered my new title distastefully. "And since two days before the ball!" I shoved the papers into his chest and pushed passed him to storm out of the tent. Tavington reached out grabbing my arm.