Red, White, and Prussian Blue: Chapter 7

You finally left the cabin when the sun was in the sky. You had straightened up the papers and put all the ones concerning the Carolinas in one pile. You smiled. You felt like you got something accomplished. You had translated the rest of the letters by yourself and you wrote all the information down for Steuben and Washington to look at later. You looked up to see Gilbert riding up on his horse. He stopped beside you and he smiled down at you.

"I just got permission to leave." he said.

You grinned and said, "Good luck."

His face suddenly fell and he murmured, "Stay safe Fräulein. These troops march in three weeks."

You nodded and said, "I will."

He nodded again and he took off. You watched his back as he rode off into the forest near the valley. You sighed and thought, I can't believe that I might actually be a little bored now. You shrugged and walked toward your cabin. You haven't eaten in a while and you were famished. You finally made it to the women's camp and you reached your cabin. You sighed and opened it up. Martha looked up from her breakfast as you shut the door.

"Where were you?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

You laughed and said, "I fell asleep helping Captain Beilschmidt translate letters. I knew it would be foolish to try to leave last night so I camped out in a wooden chair."

She nodded in understanding. "Yes, I would have flogged you if you tried to come back here. I swear, I fear some of the men more than the Redcoats sometimes."

You shrugged and sat down, reaching for some stone cakes and a potato. "It doesn't help when there is a cabin full of wenches at the edge of our camp for them." you grumbled.

That was the only thing you detested about staying with the army.

"I think we found out where Gilbert's brother is. He rode off just now to find him." you explained.

Martha's expression lightened. "That's great!" she chirped.

You smiled and said, "Yes, but it's going to be a little boring now. I have no one to yell at now."

Martha laughed and handed you some stone cakes.

******

You walked toward Steuben's cabin the next morning, wondering where Gilbert was. You sighed and decided not to worry about it. He said he would write. You shook your head and picked up the pace. Knowing Steuben, he probably already messed up all the papers you set in order already.

"Miss _____!"

You turned to see Alfred waving and jogging up to you. You grinned and said, "Hello Alfred."

He stopped beside you and asked, "Where did Gil go? I know you've worked with him a lot so I decided to ask you!"

"He got a special assignment from General Washington, he won't be back for a while." you said, biting your cheek, trying to not give away the fact that you were lying.

You didn't like lying, but Gilbert didn't want everyone thinking he was only over here for his own personal purposes; he really did want to help beat up the Briten, so he told you. Alfred nodded and started to walk beside you. "So, Gil told me he was teaching you German."

You looked at him in amusement. "Ja, so?" you said in a fake German accent.

He laughed at your pun and said, "I guess that's helpful. You know, when we win this war, people from everywhere can move here and start a new life. Washington is even giving the black men who serve a chance. I bet we'll get a lot of Germans here after a while."

You nodded, grinning at the thought of a free America, where everyone can come and live with freedom. "Yes, it will be helpful." you mused, hoping that your father was alright. You planned to use your acquired knowledge to help his business after all.

You looked at Alfred. "Alfred, what are you going to do after all of this?" you asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I might go back to my parent's plantation in Virginia."

You nodded, saying, "I just hope my father is alright, and then we can go back to running the store again."

Alfred smiled sympathetically and patted your arm.

"Don't worry ______. This army is better than it was. I see it and feel it. I know we can win this now." He paused and he suddenly laughed, "I feel like we just won some huge battle. It's like we think we can do anything now after this. I bet those Redcoats wouldn't have lasted as long!" he said with a small laugh.

You grinned and said, "Yes, I can see it in the men. I believe in all of you."

He beamed at the comment and you finally made it to Steuben's cabin. "Well, I have to sort papers now. Have fun at training Alfred!"

Alfred guffawed and said, "Yeah right!"

You chuckled as you walked in and sighed. Sure enough, Steuben created a chaos again. You rolled up your sleeves and got to work.

*******

You only received one letter from Gilbert in the next three weeks. His letter informed you that he was following the group of Redcoats that had Ludwig and the other prisoners and he was waiting for the right moment to get Ludwig out. He said he was fine and not to worry, which, didn't help because you worried a little anyway. You couldn't help it; you worried about your friends when they were being a little crazy, which, Gilbert was.

June finally came and your stomach churned in anxiety as you stacked up Steuben's papers one last time. The army was finally marching out of Valley Forge. The British were moving toward New York and Washington decided it was time to act.

You hurried back to the women's camp to find Martha packing her things in a sack. You started to do the same.

She stood up straight and said, "This is it!"

You grinned and said, "This is it."

You both walked out together and joined the huge throng of women meeting outside of the camp. You looked to see the soldiers starting to march out. "Let's go girls!" a woman's voice yelled.

You walked beside the women behind the continental army.

*******

You couldn't remember a time when you walked so much. You didn't complain though, seeing that some of the women were boasting about how they could walk even longer. The army finally stopped for the night and you and Martha chose a fire to rest and knit and sew beside. You hissed when you pricked your finger again. You never sewed outside, in the dark, by a campfire. You grumbled about it and tried to fix the sleeve of Alfred's coat. He searched for you when the army settled for the night and asked you personally. You weren't going to shod it up.

You finally finished and inspected your work. You shrugged. It wasn't bad, for your first time in the dark next to a campfire. "Does this look right Martha?" you asked, knowing that she's done this before.

She studied the sleeve and nodded. "Looks great! Not bad for your first try!" she laughed, sewing up a pair of britches as she did.

You studied Martha for a moment. "Why are you here Martha?" you asked.

You never asked her before because you became friends so quickly, it never occurred to you to ask.

Martha looked up and she put her sewing in her lap. "I'm following my brother. He's all I got and I'm all he's got. We're in this together now."

You reached over and held her hand, trying to be understanding and reassuring. She smiled at you and squeezed your hand before letting go and getting back to work. You picked up the socks beside you and decided to do the same thing.

******

You had an uneasy feeling when you reached New Jersey. You looked to see the men loading their guns and packs in the distance. "They're getting ready to fight." Martha said from beside you.

You looked at her, then at the soldiers in worry. You gulped, sad that you knew that you wouldn't see some of those men again after this. Martha tugged at your sleeve and you followed her back to the stream where all the women were doing the laundry.

It was better than standing and waiting.

******

You shivered as you heard the sound of the cannons and gunshots in the distance. It was dark and the moon was rising in the sky. You couldn't sleep, not with those sounds in the distance. You sighed and sat beside the dying embers of the campfire. You clasped your hands and bowed your head, saying a quick prayer for all the men fighting, and then you put in a word for Gilbert.

You finished and looked up at the moon again. The gunshots and cannon booms slowly started to dwindle. It must be over, you thought.

You heard some twigs snapping and some grunts and you gasped, racing to your tent. You peeked out of the flaps and your stomach flip flopped when you heard, "Gott Fräulein! It's us! Gott verdammt!"

You raced back out of the tent, trying not to wake Martha. You gasped when you saw Gilbert walk out of the bushes; half carrying, half dragging a blonde haired man. Gilbert was covered in blood and shaking from carrying the obviously larger man. "Don't just stand there Fräulein! Where's the medical tent!"

You scowled at him and said, "This way dummkopf."

He chuckled at your retort. You guided them to the medical tent. "Where do you want him?" you asked, trying to see what Ludwig looked like, well you assumed it was Ludwig.

"Somewhere where he won't be noticed. I don't want to raise suspicion."

You nodded and led him to the back corner of the makeshift tent. "Put him here. He won't be noticed and I was assigned these beds."

He nodded and grunted as he put his brother on the makeshift cot. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "Danke Fräulein. Now, I have to leave again. It's not safe here."

You looked at him in confusion. "Was?" you asked, switching to German.

He looked at you, a grim determination was in his eyes. He said, "I'm not letting those bastards get him again. Especially the devil they have in charge of them." He switched to German as well.

"What is going on Gilbert?!"

"Look, read one of the letters I translated from the Hessians. That will explain the person I'm trying to keep Lud away from. Look," he paused grabbing your shoulders, "I need to look after him, just for a bit. I have to lead Kirkland off the trail; I can have him tracking us here. He'd wreak havoc on this camp and he won't have mercy for anyone. When he wakes up, tell him not to speak, and when he has to, it has to be to you. Got it?"

You nodded, feeling tears come to your eyes. You honestly were frightened. He actually looked scared when he talked about the Kirkland person. "Gilbert, what are you going to do?"

You never liked seeing fear or worry in men's eyes. That usually meant something was really wrong. "I have to make sure the Briten's I stole Ludwig back from don't find this place. I'm going to lead them away. Here," he paused again and reached into his pocket, pulling a letter out, "Give this to Washington. It will explain the whole situation to him and hopefully he can prepare his men."

You took the letter and nodded. He grabbed your shoulders and his grip tightened for a moment. "Fräulein, thank you for everything, I mean it. Stay safe, don't go anywhere alone now, understand?"

You nodded and grabbed one of his hands on your shoulder. You didn't really like how anxious and worried he looked, even though he was trying to hide it.

"Alright. You stay safe too, I need someone to yell at." you said.

He smiled and guffawed before striding out of the tent.

You sighed, hearing the sounds of the soldiers coming back to their camp.

You looked at the letter in your hand, and then you looked at Ludwig.

"Oh bother."