Chapter 6

New characters introduced in this chapter:

Sergeant Mulligan

Militia Sergeant, 5'-10" tall, 160 pounds, 36 years old, blond hair, blue eyes

Seamus and I transferred to the Headquarters tent. Our arrival there startled everyone. Luckily Colonel Williams was still there.

"You startle everyone when you do that!" he told us in exasperation, when he had recovered somewhat.

"Sorry sir. We're all used to it, having grown up with everyone in the family able to do it," Seamus told him.

"What can I do for you? We are a little busy preparing for the storm that is coming in," the Colonel told us.

"That's what we want to talk to you about, sir. The storm that is," I told him.

"Can you stop it?" he asked, eagerly.

"No sir. Even we can't affect that much weather. What we can do for you is to cast a defensive shell over your entire encampment. It will keep the rain out, and your people dry," I told him.

"This camp covers an extensive area. Can you cover that large an area?" the Colonel asked.

"Yes sir, it won't be a problem. We can cover a quite extensive area with a spherical defensive shell," Seamus assured him.

"And the smoke from the watch fires won't accumulate like the smoke from the gunpowder did this afternoon when the militia fired their weapons?" he asked, expectantly.

"No sir, we can create some openings for ventilation. It won't be a problem," I assured him.

"You can probably reduce the number of men on guard duty also, sir," Seamus told him.

"The men are used to pulling guard duty, and would think it strange if we were to cancel it here in the field. They would worry that something was wrong," the Colonel told us.

"So, do we have your permission to set up the defensive shell?" I asked.

"Go ahead. It can't hurt, and if it keeps us dry, we will be able to move out of here without waiting for things to dry out, or ruining our tentage, which is in short supply," he told us.

"Thank you, sir," we both said, before vanishing again to reappear in G & G's defensive shell.

"It's a go!" I told everyone gathered there, when we appeared. "Now here is what we'll need to do. Seamus and I, along with Gwyn and Glanda, will cast the defensive shell. We'll need four people with Magic-powered lanterns to be stationed at the four extreme edges of the camp. As we cast the spell and expand it, the ones with the lanterns will turn them up, and wave them to indicate when the shell has passed their position. That way we can move the center, as necessary to cover everything without making it too large," I told the others.

"What about the ventilation?" Seamus asked.

"What ventilation?" G & G immediately asked.

"There will need to be ventilation to clear out the smoke from the watch fires that will still be burning," I told them.

"And just how, dear Brother, do you intend to accomplish this?" they asked sweetly.

"By creating some openings in the shell," I told them.

"And what will keep the rain from coming in those openings?" Gwyn asked.

"Or any British waiting in the forest to attack the camp?" Glanda asked.

"We will place the openings high enough that no one will be able to use them to enter the camp," Seamus told them.

"And we will use wards over the openings to keep the rain out," I added. My Sisters looked at me thoughtfully for a few seconds after hearing this.

"Yes, that would work," Gwyn admitted. "The wards will allow air and smoke through, but would prevent anything solid, like rain, or infiltrators, from coming through."

"Who wants to be on the lanterns?" Seamus asked. Sererena and Saraid both volunteered, as did Carl and Wolf. We all transferred to our approximate positions when we were ready. The four of us appeared in the area outside the Headquarters tent, and then moved to what we thought would be the center of the camp. We wound up on one of the company streets in the infantry camp.

We quickly sat down and cast the spell for a regular spherical defensive shell. We then expanded it, and began looking for lanterns. We were beginning to draw a crowd when we saw the lanterns from the two sides and one from the area toward the stream, but we couldn't find one from the area behind the camp where the bluff was. The crowd of curious men had also increased while we searched for signs of the fourth lantern.

We quickly moved toward the bluff and lost the light from the area toward the stream. We expanded the shell some more, and soon had all four lanterns showing. We were half finished, but now had an angry Lieutenant to deal with.

"What are you people doing here," he demanded, gruffly.

"We're trying to keep everyone dry,"Gwyn told him.

"By creating a disturbance?" he demanded.

"The Chief-of-Staff approved our casting a defensive shell to keep the rain off the camp," I told him. This information didn't seem to appease him, or have any affect on him at all.

"I want you out of this company area immediately," he shouted at us.

"We will leave you in peace, in just a minute," I told him, in the old English that he had been speaking before I turned to the others.

"Let's create the highest opening here over the center," I told them in Gaelic.

"You two create the opening, Mark, and Glan and I will cast the wards over it," Gwyn told me.

"Cast your own wards around you first," I reminded the others, and we all cast our personal wards around us. Seamus and I then quickly created the opening at the top of the dome, and were rewarded with a shower of rain. It was pushed away from us by our wards, but caught the Lieutenant and several of his men in a good drenching. It only lasted for a few seconds before G & G had the opening covered by the wards. The Lieutenant was very unhappy (furious) with us, but we vanished before he could do anything.

Following that, two of us went to each lamp position to create an opening for ventilation and ward it. There had been quite a bit of commotion when the rain suddenly stopped, but it didn't last long, and everyone seemed to be glad that it was no longer raining on them. Everyone but that Lieutenant, that is. We were soon finished, and had all returned to G & G's defensive shell.

"We don't know about the rest of you, but we are going to sleep," Glanda told us. It was already dark, and the rest of us soon followed them. Jillian had moved her things over to my area and cuddled up to me after we lay down on our sleeping pads, which had been covered by our sleeping bags. I pulled my blanket up over us, and we were soon asleep after a little hugging and kissing.

It was some time later when we were all awakened by a series of blinding lightning flashes that were followed almost instantly by the crash of deep, loud thunder, that seemed to roll across the landscape of the valley. This was accompanied by a torrential downpour that beat against the defensive shell covering the camp. It was pushed by the accompanying high winds of the storm.

"What a storm!!" I heard Seamus say, across the isle from us during a lull in the thunder.

"It's a good thing that we erected that shell over the camp. This storm would have really soaked everything," Sererena said from farther down the row of sleeping pads.

"Well, I'm going back to sleep. I need my rest," Glanda told her Cousin right after that. We all tried to get back to sleep, but it took some time. Eventually the thunder and lightning moved on, but the rain and the wind continued long after that.

It was still raining, but not as hard, and the wind had moderated also, when we were all awakened by the sound of a bugle the next morning.

"Damn Army! It's too early to get up!" I heard someone say from farther down the line of sleeping bodies, but I wasn't sure who it was.

"They aren't going anywhere until we remove the defensive shell, so go back to sleep," Gwyn said in a perturbed voice to those still listening. Jillian cuddled up closer to me, and we kissed for a time before going back to sleep.

When we awoke again, it was at least light out, if not sunny. The clouds that we could see through two defensive shells were dark and foreboding and held the promise of more rain, but it wasn't raining currently.

"I'm going to cancel the defensive shell over the camp, so they can go out to get water and other things that they may need," I told the others, as we got up.

"We need to check for threats outside the shell before we cancel it," Seamus reminded me.

"Yes, an excellent idea, Cousin," I said, chagrined that I hadn't thought of it myself. I had only been thinking of what they might need to get from outside the shell.

"Maybe I should check with those at the Headquarters tent also," I added after that.

"I'll go with you when we finish," Jillian said. "I haven't seen the rest of the camp." We finished our morning rituals before leaving, believing that the Army could wait that much longer. We then transferred to the Headquarters tent, but appeared outside of it, so as not to startle those inside. A couple of the guards were shocked by our sudden appearance though.

"Are you going to be long?" Jill asked.

"I shouldn't think so," I told her.

"I'll meet you back at G & G's shell. I want to look around a little, and see what they are doing," she told me.

"Okay, don't be too long, or you'll miss breakfast. The others will eat your share," I kidded her, knowing full well that James would keep something for his twin to eat.

"Okay!" she told me with a smile, and set off to look around the camp. I went into the Headquarters tent.

"Good morning, sir," a Sergeant on duty there said as I entered. "What can we do for you?"

"I came to see if it is all right to remove the defensive shell that kept the camp dry last night?" I told him.

"I'll have to get one of the officers to answer that," he told me, and hurried over to a table where a meeting was in progress. A large man in the uniform and with the insignia that I had come to associate with a Lieutenant Colonel looked up from the meeting on hearing the Sergeant, and rose from his chair to come over to me.

"Good morning, Master Mark O'Connell. We were wondering how to remove that. Our people need to leave to draw water and cut firewood, in addition to grazing the horses, which we now have a considerable number of," the officer told me before looking past me and saying, "Good morning, General."

"Good Morning, Alex. In the future, you may address young Mark O'Connell here, as Captain O'Connell. I've issued him a commission, as Captain of Special Troops," the General told the Colonel, as he handed him a piece of paper, and then handed me a second sheet.

"You will be able to draw food and transportation for your people this way, Captain O'Connell. When we return to Lexington, you can get proper uniforms for your people. You will need to send a representative to the Quartermaster to draw rations and arrange transportation later this morning," the General informed me before turning to the Lieutenant Colonel.

"Issue orders to have the Ranger Companies scout the area as soon as the defensive shell is removed," he told him. I gave both Officers a salute before departing, as they were obviously busy.

Outside, I looked around for Jill, but didn't see her anywhere. I could detect her Talent, as she made her way through the camp on foot, and back to G & G's shell. I canceled the defensive shell and wards covering the camp before transferring back to G & G's shell to have breakfast. Everyone was certainly surprised when I told them about being commissioned a Captain, after I reappeared in the shell.

"This doesn't really change things though," I reminded them, before adding, "It does create some added responsibilities, however. The first of which is the need for someone to be the Quartermaster, and draw food and arrange transportation for us," I told them.

"And just who would that be?"Gwyn asked.

"Since you volunteered, I appoint you our Quartermaster, Lieutenant," I told her. "Glanda can be your assistant." This just got me a dirty look from both Sisters.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that there will be additional responsibilities for all of you, as we go along. C & D and D & C are already the Medical Team. All of you will get the chance for some special assignment," I told them before we all sat down to have our reconstituted freeze dried breakfast.