Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (44 page)

Skirting the outermost pickets and sentries
easily Ian rocketed to the outermost tents and then slowed to the
speed of a horse and then to that of a human, heading to the center
of the camp, now calling out to the sentries surrounding the
command center where the senior officers were.

In under a minute he was in the tent of
several officers. The wood-burning stove gave off welcome heat as
Ian spoke to a colonel there, saying “Get blankets and get someone
to take off their long johns. Hurry now, this man is freezing!” As
he spoke, Ian stripped off the man’s clothing and his own clothing
but for his underwear and lay down by the stove next to the man,
holding him as he drew the blanket about the two of them. “More
blankets and coffee or soup; hurry now!” A major came over with two
more blankets and lay down on the other side of the man, moving
close to him then as the two of them rubbed the man’s arms and
shoulders. Another brought a cup of hot water, being as a pot of
that was on top of the stove. Ian held it to the man’s lips, urging
him to drink. Shortly the Colonel produced a cup of hot coffee and
held it for the man to sip.

After several minutes, the man’s violent
shivering spells began to subside and he said through chattering
teeth “I am Major Benjamin Tallmadge. I am supposed to report to
General Washington.”

“I was beginning to think that I might never
see you again.”

Yvonne skillfully unbuttoned Captain
Jonathan Siebert’s shirt and slid her hand inside slowly while
smiling at him seductively as she said “Now Johnny, I told you that
I must be careful of alerting Stefan of my… desires for…
companionship other than his.”

He tipped back his head and sucked in a
breath as her knowing hand moved lower while she teased his neck
with little kisses. The tip that Priscilla had offered of seeing
Ian McCloud at a trading company had finally been confirmed to be
wrong and Yvonne had finally decided to bed Siebert again in the
hopes of gleaning new information from him. Priscilla had
apologized so sincerely and truly, she appeared to be the most
eager to please of all the coven members. Yvonne had actually begun
to view her as what would pass for a friend. For one as hedonistic
and self-centered as Yvonne, what she felt for Priscilla was almost
bordering on a mild form of affection, which was most out of
character for her.

She would have been just as satisfied to
couple with Grundy again that night, but desiring to find some new
nugget of information to use to exact revenge on Ian McCloud drove
her to this rendezvous. Going over the way she would converse with
Siebert after they had copulated, she skillfully moved things along
as she mentally itemized the things she would talk of afterwards.
Finally satisfied that she had her pillow talk planned to the
finest detail, she decided that since she was already there, that
she would enjoy herself as best she could, and abandoned herself to
her immediate desires.

Afterward Siebert held her close as he
listened to his own heartbeat racing out of control. Never had he
been with a woman as intoxicating as this one. He was hopelessly
smitten and was committed to move heaven and earth to please her
and to keep her returning to him by any means possible. They talked
a while about mundane things and she seemed to be in a mood for
general conversation. After some twenty minutes of this she asked
“How have your work assignments been, Johnny?”

“The war seems to be at a stalemate
now.”

“Is that surprising?”

“Not really I suppose. They have learned to
fight and we can surely tell the difference.”

“Now that France is in the war, doesn’t that
make it worse?”

“Definitely. We always have the threat of
their navy trapping us somewhere by surprise now and we do not have
the control of the seacoast that we had before.” Seeing that Yvonne
seemed interested, he eagerly supplied details of some of the war
as he held her close.

“We fought to a draw at Monmouth New Jersey
and we actually left the field to the Americans. They can fight
using our tactics now as well as we can, truth be told. We did take
and occupy Savannah though, but earlier in the year, a commander
named Clark bluffed a superior force to surrender Kaskaskia on the
Mississippi river.”

“I read something about that.”

“I have to admit that I am impressed at
times with the ingenuity of the Americans. They have adapted very
well to this land and have developed a style of fighting that is
unpredictable at times.”

“What of Ian McCloud? Have you ever heard
anything about his whereabouts?”

Drawing back a bit to look into her eyes he
said “No. But I just had an idea since you asked.”

“I am all ears, Johnny” she said as she
began to kiss his chest and gently rub his stomach.

As his desire faintly began to be rekindled,
he said “I could see if we might question the deserters and
prisoners we take to get a location on the man. You must want your
revenge on him badly to be so persistent.”

“He has earned my hate, Johnny. I have never
hidden that from you” she said as her hand skillfully slipped lower
and lower on his torso while she gently kissed his chest here and
there slowly.

His breathing became deeper and his voice
more husky as he said “I will draft an order tomorrow to query all…
mmm… prisoners, including those in our prison ships. It may be
that… mmm… one of them has seen your McCloud.”

“Mmmm Johnny; I would be most grateful” she
said, rolling astride him as he groaned ecstatically, mumbling
“Yvonne, you will be the death of me… oooh… mmm… aaah… what a way
to die!”

***

Margaret Milliken read Ian’s communication
again in detail. “We should send James’ last address to Cosette,
Robert. She can at least go and try to find him, or at least leave
word that she is alive and waiting for him in New York City now
with the Millhouses.”

“That is a good idea and if not for this
affair involving Moreau and Edwards stalking Henri, I might have
thought of it myself.” He pulled her close then and kissed her
tenderly saying “I do not know what I would do without you.”

“Are we going to keep these Adept bodyguards
around now?”

“Yes. Moreau and Edwards think I am a human
who does business with Henri, but we shouldn’t let down our guard
yet.”

“Henri just did send word that he knows of
one or maybe two covens being built in France by those two
villains.”

Gently taking her arms from around his neck
he leaned back, a concerned look on his face “When did that come
in?”

“Just this morning after you left.”

“When the time comes, we will go to France
and bring help to wipe them out. I will speak to Henri about it at
the next
Council
meeting after the spring thaw” he said as
his eyes began to take on a topaz colored glow.

Pressing in more closely to him, Margaret
peered up at him, her eyes glowed a bright blue as she said “I am
looking forward to it, and I want to go along when you go to the
Council
. I can stay in Zurich and visit with the Lafayettes,
er… I mean the Laforges” she said with a laugh.

“Ever since we helped Ian raid that big
coven here, you have been quite… adventurous. Pulling her close he
ran his hand slowly, suggestively down her back. “What is it with
you anyway?”

With a throaty chuckle she said “I finally
learned what puts that sparkle in Marie’s eyes and the spring in
Henri’s step.”

“What? I have been played all of this time?
What is next” he said as she began to squirm slightly and press
against him, murmuring against his throat as she kissed him gently
“You are about to find out now… mmm.”

Moon Owl and Ian had made good time
traveling north. They had arranged to store their tent and
furnishings at a farm near to Valley Forge. In exchange for that,
Ian had lent his wagon and oxen to the man for the winter, paid for
the hay and fodder for them, and told him to keep using them until
he returned the following winter.

He and Moon Owl had spent a comfortable
winter at Valley Forge and had steadily brought in game from as far
away as forty miles distant. Even if venison became scarce for a
bit, there were always rabbits, squirrels, and partridges to be
had.

The sentries on duty at the north end of the
encampment at Valley Forge had come to relish sentry duty because
they could always get a couple of bowls of hot stew or a rabbit or
a good cut of venison most any time they stopped in to see Mrs.
Monique McCloud. Their tent became a favorite stopping place for
sentries going off duty as a place to eat a bite and warm up.

She and Ian were the topic of some
discussions among the troops, but always in a good light being as
they were by now widely known to provide game for the army. It
became known that he had rescued Major Tallmadge from certain death
that winter and that he had never signed up nor had he ever
received a bit of pay for his service since helping General Knox in
the winter of 1775-76.

He had delivered some two dozen messages to
and from Congress in Philadelphia that winter, and had become known
to those who did not already know it that he was a reliable and
fast courier when available. Several members of the Congress wanted
him to be a courier only, for high priority communiques, but
Washington petitioned them to allow Ian to continue to hunt for
game during the wintertime as that was perceived to be of higher
importance. Washington placed the highest priority on holding the
Army together during wintertime and holding down the rate of
desertions as much as possible. Feeding the men was paramount to
achieving that goal so the Congressional Intelligence Committee
relented, but desired to use Ian when possible in warmer weather.
For his part, Ian wanted to help them whenever possible, but he had
resolved to take Moon Owl to her people for the summer and to see
James and Melissa at Boston while they were in that general
area.

It was with this in mind that the two
arrived at Melissa’s cottage during the evening one day in late
April. Melissa herself answered their knock and embraced both of
them, urging them to come in.

After the women had hugged and kissed each
other Ian said “You look well, Melissa. Where is James?”

“Thank you. He is in the city and I expect
him home soon. Please stay. I know he will want to see you both.
What have you been doing?”

“Supplying meat for the Army in
Pennsylvania; my helper came with me this time” said Ian with a
smile as he pulled Moon Owl closer.

“Will you stay at the tenant house?”

“Yes. I have leased it through summer and we
may extend that lease again.”

Pulling a chair in from the kitchen Melissa
sat down facing the two. “James has had something on his mind
lately, but he has not said what. I can tell something is bothering
him.”

About then they heard someone come up the
steps to the front door and James came in. Seeing the three of them
sitting in the parlor, he broke into a big grin. “By heaven it is
good to see you two. Are you here to stay a while?”

“Only a short while to visit; we are going
to see Moon Owl’s people soon.”

“Well at least stay and have supper with us
tonight. We will catch up on all we have each been doing” said
Melissa as she rose to check the stew simmering on her kitchen
stove. Moon Owl rose and followed her into the kitchen. Soon the
two friends were chattering about what they had been doing as James
dragged a kitchen chair over to sit next to Ian.

“I am really glad you two came by. I want to
ask you something, Ian.”

“Go ahead.”

“I want to marry Melissa, and I want to see
if she wants to be brought over. I wonder if it would be better to
ask her with all of you here, or to ask her when we are alone.”

“Speak to her in private. Then offer to
bring her to see us tomorrow at our place. We can speak to her
there and help to answer questions. It would be good to let her
speak with Moon Owl about it since she just
crossed over
last year.”

They had a lovely evening visiting and
catching up on things, and it was late when Ian and Moon Owl
departed for their house.

They arrived there in only minutes, checking
the perimeter and outbuildings before entering. Looking about, both
were satisfied that no one had been there since they had left the
place. Ian lit several oil lamps and Moon Owl busied herself
storing things away that were in their ruck sacks. Ian lit a fire
and within only three minutes had both kettles full of water
heating for a bath. He busied himself bringing in firewood to stack
in the rack along the wall by the hearth as Moon Owl busied herself
with a broom knocking down cobwebs and sweeping the floors.

Later the two undressed each other and
picking her up, Ian settled into the piping hot water holding her.
She lay back on his chest, sighing deeply as he sponged hot water
over her. “Oh Ian, this is heavenly. I do so look forward to this
every day. It is so much nicer than an icy stream, don’t you
think?”

“Mmm yes, it is.”

“What were you two so secretive about in
there earlier this evening?”

“It seems that James is going to ask Melissa
to marry him.”

“She does not know about him.”

“No. He is telling her tonight. They may be
out here tomorrow to speak to us.”

“Is he going to tell her about us?”

“Probably, unless she reacts badly.”

“What do you think she will do?”

“People can have a really bad reaction to
us, how we have to feed and all. Some cannot handle it. I get a
sense that she will accept it once she gets over the shock of
it.”

“To tell you the truth, I am more than happy
that you told me and asked me to
cross over
. I cannot
imagine my life now not being as you are.”