Chapter 31

Mark resumes the Narrative:

I didn't have a chance to return to the barracks room until sometime later. I had checked with all of the Platoon Leaders and the remaining leaders of Olive Hill. I had also created the permanent Portal to Hickory Hill to get supplies in here. Wolf came over to me as I entered the room. He had very hesitantly left the girl that he had rescued, who was asleep on one of the bunks.

"I'm sorry that I let you down, Mark, but I ... I just couldn't leave Saoirse. She was so injured, and needed me so badly," he managed to finish, all choked up. I quickly pulled my younger Brother to me and hugged him.

"It's all right, Wolf," I assured him. "I know exactly how you felt. I couldn't leave Clare when she was so injured either. Fortunately, Ken and Kell plus their Wives showed up just in time to help get everything straightened out. Can you believe that they are married?" I asked.

"It is amazing, and can you believe that Ken found two Mages and did you feel the Power of Kell's Wives!? They are Masters already, and only helped with the spells, but they can draw on massive amounts of Power. I wouldn't want them mad at me!" Wolf told me, obviously impressed with Kell's Wives, and feeling much better now. I checked on Clare after that, but she was still asleep.

Later I found Clare along with Wolf and Saoirse in the cabin that belonged to Saoirse's Parents. Sunshine and Rose were there with them, but were preparing to leave when I arrived.

"How are they," I asked Ken's Wives.

"They are both much better now, but are still very much in need of someone to protect them, as they are still very afraid," Sunshine told me.

"We know exactly how they feel, as we suffered the same kind of mistreatment," Rose told me with a catch in her voice. Sunshine pulled her Sister to her, and hugged her for a time until she was better.

"Where are you staying for the night?" I asked them.

"We're in the house that the Fort Commander occupied. Dymphna and Coleen are there with the two little girls. Kell and his Wives are there also," Sunshine told me before they left.

I could see Wolf over near the fireplace with Saoirse, but I didn't think that they were aware of anyone else being here, as they appeared to be totally wrapped up in each other.

After Sunshine and Rose had departed, Clare hesitantly rose from the bed where she had been sitting. She was now dressed in her own clothes. There was the ever present chemise, which all women of this period wore as an undergarment. Over this was a skirt made of heavy printed cotton with a quilted petticoat under it. Her upper body was covered by a short gown with long sleeves and drawstrings at the neck, and just under her breasts giving a high waist look. Her feet were in dainty ladies house slippers that revealed the woolen stockings that she was wearing. There was an apron on top of a large heavy shawl over the back of a nearby chair where both were ready for use later. Being inside with a fire in the fireplace, she didn't have on her cap presently, and her long auburn hair was down the sides of her face and back. She looked absolutely lovely, as she moved over to me.

"I... !!" she began when she was about two feet from me, but couldn't continue, as the tears started, and she began to shake violently. I quickly gathered her into my arms, and held her while she cried.

"Thank you," she mumbled through her tears after a time, but continued to tremble, and her breathing was ragged.

"They used us before tying us to the posts and whipping us. Oh God, the pain was awful. We screamed and screamed, but they didn't stop!" she mumbled through renewed tears and more trembling. I held her tightly to me, and sent soothing thoughts to her disturbed mind. After a time, she settled down some, and her breathing evened out.

"Thank you for coming to rescue us. I know that terrible man would have done to me what that other man did to Saoirse. Oh God, poor Saoirse! How can she even be alive after what was done to her?" she begged in a trembling voice.

"Easy, sweet Clare. No one will ever harm you again. You have my word on it. I will take care of you and protect you. My Brother, Wolf, will take care of Saoirse also.

"Both of you are alive and well because we used Magic, both White Magic and Green Magic, to heal both of you, and many others here who were wounded, or hurt," I told her quietly while still holding her.

"But ... but Magic doesn't exist," she answered quietly. "Not real Magic, and when you leave the British will return, and we will be at their mercy again," she whispered again in tears.

"There was little Magic used here previously, but it did exist here. We O'Connells came here to help remove the British from North America, and we are all users of Magic and have strong Talents. You and Saoirse also have strong Talents. We will teach you how to use them," I told her.

"As for the British, we have created a Defensive Shell around the fort. It will remain when we leave, and we will leave someone here whom we have trained, and who will be able to open and close it to allow the settlers in the area to access the fort. There are no British guns, or cannon that are capable of penetrating that shell," I assured her, and then paused for a second.

"If you wish to leave here with us, with me actually, we will take you and Saoirse with us when we return to Mount Sterling," I finished.

"You would do that? You hardly know us!" she asked in wonder.

"Sweet Clare, I could feel the strength of your Talent as soon as we arrived here, and I became aware of you as soon as we entered the barracks. I have been in love with you from that instant, and became even more deeply in love when I held you and felt your goodness and sweetness. There are few women with your level of Talent outside of my Sisters, Cousins, and Sisters-in-Law. Wolf is also deeply in love with your Sister Saoirse," I confessed.

"Saoirse is my Cousin. I have been staying with my Aunt and her Husband since my Parents were murdered by the British!" she told me, and began to cry quietly again.

"Please don't cry Sweet Clare," I begged her. "All of that is in the past. Look forward now to a brighter future," I told her. It took some time, but eventually she was better.

"The other women, your Sisters or Cousins, suggested that I should thank you properly as a woman," here she paused to draw in a ragged breath before continuing, "but I can't do that, not now, not today." She broke down in tears again after that quick confession.

"It's all right, Sweet Clare. There is no rush. I would never make you do something that you didn't want to," I reassured her and bent down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Thank you, Mark," she whispered, and lay her head on my chest, as I continued to hold her. We were interrupted some time later by D & C arriving with dinner for us.

"Oh, sorry! We didn't mean to interrupt anything," they told us with a giggle.

"It's all right," I told them. "Nothing was going on." But turned to look at Wolf and Saoirse to be sure.

"Yet!" I quickly added.

"G & G sent food and firewood through the new permanent Portal for us and the Rangers and Continentals, though I'm not sure where we are going to put all of them," Dymphna told me.

"I'll be out and straighten things out in a bit," I told them.

"Don't worry about it. Eat your dinner. Ken and Kell are taking care of getting everyone settled," Coleen told me.

"Yes, Ken's Wives jumped right in and made this venison stew after we finished with the wounded. They are right at home cooking in a fireplace, and Kell's Wives helped them," Dymphna added as they set the small kettle, which they had used to transfer the stew in, on the table along with the bread, butter, and a pitcher of milk.

"How are the little girls?" I asked.

"They are still recovering and will be for a while. We are all staying in the late Commander's house, and they are sleeping in their own bed there. The rest of us will make do. There is plenty of room and they have a loft also," Coleen assured me before they left.

Clare had gotten out the utensils and the plates, and started to fill them with stew before pouring the milk into mugs while I talked with D & C. She now went over to her Cousin and Wolf.

"Saoirse, it's time to eat," she told her gently. The other girl looked up from where she clung to Wolf.

"Has Mother returned?" she whispered in fear.

"No, Dear. The food was brought in by some of the O'Connell women. We should eat it while it is still hot," Clare told her.

"Come," Wolf told the girl, "we will eat and then you can get some more sleep."

"You won't leave me, will you?" Saoirse asked, in a frightened whisper.

"No, of course not. I wouldn't leave you, but we should eat to keep up our strength," Wolf told the frightened girl. He helped her up from where they had been sitting on the bed in the corner by the fireplace. I could see that Saoirse was dressed similarly to Clare. We all had dinner after that, and I must admit that the stew was very tasty. Wolf took Saoirse back to her bed after the meal.

"Stay with me for the night," she begged him, sitting on the bed.

"I need to get some things out of my backpack, Sweetie. I'll only be a minute," Wolf told her. Both of our backpacks had been deposited here earlier, but I wasn't sure whom to thank for that.

Wolf retrieved a thick nightshirt and his blanket from the backpack. He had soon changed out of his uniform into the nightshirt, which came to his knees. Clare had helped Saoirse to remove her outer clothing, and she had on just her chemise of thick cotton, and then donned a wool bed gown that came down over her hips for extra warmth on this cold night.

Wolf placed the thick wool blanket, which we each now carried, on the bed over the blanket already there before adding the quilted comforter over them. He then joined Saoirse under the covers, and she immediately moved over against him.

I, on the other hand, couldn't go to bed yet. As the Commander, I was responsible for all of the men that I had brought to the fort, and needed to see that they had been properly taken care of. I had shirked my responsibility long enough already.

"Clare, I need to check that everything has been taken care of. These men and now the fort are my responsibility, and I must ensure that all is well," I told her, as I prepared to leave.

"You won't be gone long, will you?" she asked in a worried voice. "You will come back and stay with me for the night also, won't you?"

"Oh yes, Sweet Clare! I will be glad to spend the night with you," I told her, before removing my blanket from my backpack, spreading it on the bed that she had been using and giving her another kiss before I donned my heavy winter coat and left to check on things.

I checked first with the Platoon Leaders, and then with many of their men. All assured me that everything was taken care of, and that they were all well clothed and well fed. The sentries that I checked, all had on heavy greatcoats or thick Capotes, which are coats made from heavy blankets. They also all had on boots or insulated moccasins.

"Oh yes, Major. We is all well fed in our outfit," one older man told me when I inquired if he had gotten enough to eat. G & G were still the Quartermasters for our units, and they insisted on good food supplies from their suppliers. I understood from various sources that a number of large green frogs had been seen at various establishments where they dealt, warnings to those who would cheat them.

"How is it going?" I asked one of the sentries after being challenged and identifying myself.

"It's right cold tonight, Major, but these here shells keeps the snow, and the wind out, and that counts for a lot. It would be more worse without them. Plus we don't need as many sentries with them, so we gets to sleep in on more nights," he told me with a grin. I checked with Ken and Kell last.

"You have done a remarkable job for just arriving this afternoon," I told them.

"You have things very well organized, and your people are well trained. We just supplied a little Magic and some directions where needed. Everyone seemed to know that we were O'Connells, and we didn't have any trouble," Ken told me.

"Your wives were invaluable also. You must tell me how you met them sometime," I requested.

"Yes, sometime when we can get everyone together," Kell told me. "It's a long story, and doesn't want too frequent retelling."

On the way back to the cabin, I could hear the wind moaning through the branches of the trees on the hills surrounding the one that the fort was on. It also howled over the spherical Defensive Shell that Ken had erected around the fort and blew the still falling snow around in a blinding blizzard. The storm had started a short time after we had arrived, but Ken had erected the shell before much of the snow had a chance to accumulate inside the area covered by it. I was sure that the British raiders were having a hard time out in the storm. The storm had been accompanied by a hefty drop in temperature as well.

Clare had banked the fire in the fireplace by the time I returned to the cabin, and was already in bed. The cabin had already begun to cool down. I quickly changed into my cold night shirt, before removing the remainder of my outer clothes.

One of our Magic-powered lamps was hanging from a chain in the middle of the cabin. Someone had installed it earlier while I had been otherwise busy. Quite possibly it had been Wolf. I crawled under the covers of the partly warm bed before turning the lamp down to just a very dim glow for the night.

"Will you hold me, Mark?" Clare asked very quietly, but added, "Only hold me tonight."

"Of course, Sweet Clare. Anything that you desire," I told her, and she moved over to me so I could put an arm around her. She was soft and warm, and she turned on her side also, and was soon pressed against me.

"Are things all right with your men and the others in the fort?" she asked next.

"Yes, everything is secure, and everyone has been fed, and has a place to sleep," I assured her. "The storm has increased in intensity. The wind howls and blows the still falling snow in all directions as it shifts. The British are having a hard time, if they are still out in it."