The journey, to my amazement, was very fast. Maybe they thought that we were being chased by the Americans; that must’ve been the reason they moved so fast.
We continued down south till we finally made it to Charleston. Mr Smith had earlier advised us not to follow the comfortability of the place and let down our guard and of course, his advice wasn’t neglected.
One evening when I returned back to my tent from Mr Smith’s tent, I met Catherine waiting for me. I must confess, it had been very long since I saw or talked to her and I was very damned sure that’s what she wanted to come and talk to me about. But what excuse am I to give? I thought.
I was still lost in thoughts while standing at the entrance to my tent when her voice jolted me back from the streams of thoughts.
“Morris, don’t even think of framing up any crippled excuse because I’m not going to take any of the crap you call excuses,”
“But you seem not to understand the nature of my office,” this wasn’t an excuse, I had been busy.
“Are you the only man in the camp?”
“No,”
“Is Bonny-Bob not among the reserves?”
“He is,”
“Is Clif and El not?”
“Of course they are,”
“Do they neglect their women?”
“That I don’t know,”
“How will you know?”
“I’m a leader, unlike them, I’m always busier than they are,”
“Leader? Busier?” She raised her voice.
“Yes, a leader, and please Katty, don’t shout,”
“I will shout! I will damn do shout, my man neglects me and acts as if I don’t really exist. What difference does it make with Doris whose man is on the battlefield? And you expect me not to shout?”
“Please Katty, I’m sorry it’s just that…”
“Don’t tell me that crap, that’s all bullshit,”
“Did you just call the duty to my people bullshit?”
“Yes!”
“OK thanks, I’m very much disappointed in you. You’re supposed to understand and encourage me, now you are…”
“You neglect me all along as though I never did exist in your life?”
“I didn’t know,”
“Now that you know, what do you say?”
“I’m sorry,”
Yes, she was right, I had neglected her just because of my duty, and worst of all, not even bothering if she existed or not. I could see the hurt in her eyes. Out of guilt I just took some few calculated steps towards her and reached for her shoulders, but she instantly drew back.
“Don’t dare touch me, since you want to neglect me, go right on and do it. I will leave here right now and you will never set your eyes on me again.”
“Katty, it hasn’t gotten to that, let’s settle this amicably once and for all.”
“Nothing to settle again,”
“Come on Katty,”
“I said no,”
“I’m ready to make time for you,”
Her face radiated joy.
“Really?”
“Yes,”
Instantly, she jumped like a kid and embraced me tightly, crying at the same time.
Gradually, I released her from my grip, looked up and sighed heavily. Really, I had missed her but duty wouldn’t let me spend quality time with her. After we made up, I asked for her help. I went inside and brought her the map Mr. Smith gave me some days back.
“Here,” I pointed at the map.
“Oh, this is Charleston, we are currently here,”
“I know, but the problem here is, how do we move down south without being attacked and by the Americans?”
“That’s difficult to tell but based on calculations, the Americans have a high population in Alabama. Let’s just say Atlanta, now let’s just say we move west through Albany, it will be a suicide mission, so I suggest we walk by the coast rather than the main-land.”
“But what about when we get to Georgia, how do we cope?”
“That wouldn’t be a problem, just walk by the coast,”
“Which means we’ll pass through Savanna?”
“That’s what’s on my mind too?”
“Then from there, we walk down to Jacksonville in Florida, you know Orlando is there,”
“Yes, I remember Orlando, some groups of rebels recently fled there, maybe they’ll join forces with us,”
“But we’ve got some problem once we get to Florida,”
“What problem?”
“You know we don’t have ships, so the Americans will take advantage of that,”
“That’s not a problem. Once we get to the coast, you know Mr Smith is well connected to the British merchants, maybe he can hire their ships.”
“Let’s just hope that it works out,”
She was a genius. I stared at her and she stared back with her face inching closer. Our faces soon collided as we engaged in a deep romantic kiss. Just then, the sentry guards on duty blew the trumpet to signify an invasion.
I rushed out of the tent, Katty trailing behind. A host of troops were advancing towards the camp. My deputy had already given orders for everyone to take their battle formations. Children and women were sent to the hideouts and soon enough, two messengers arrived with the news that it was our troops, not the Americans.
Only then did the tension and commotions in the camp die down.
Boris soon came to meet me with Doris clinging by his side. He gave us a report of the battle.
“Well, it went well. Heavy casualties though, but we did outwit the Americans down west and decided to give them some chase up north even to the Ohio valley. We even battled their navy at Norfork,”
“You guys went back to Virginia?”
“Yea, sure we did but in Virginia we got more men 'cos we went to free the newly imported slaves and hijacked some cargo ships all loaded with enough ammunition and food stuffs. It will arrive here in three days if not deterred.
“Seems like you boys have been very busy,” I marveled. “So, what about Mr Clifford?”
“Oh, the poor old man was murdered,”
“Murdered?”
“Yes, by his son, Nerrick,”
“But why did he do that?”
“That I don’t know, I heard he joined forces with the McCumings to eliminate the slaves,”
“He’s such a bloody animal, very arrogant,”
“Yes, that’s why we went back to Virginia, to carry out an assault and steal some supplies,”
“Nicely done, criminal,” I saluted.
“Don’t worry, I will soon be upgraded,” Boris joked as we burst out laughing.
We later had some other discussions before a young lad came to inform us that Mr Smith wanted to see us. He said it was an urgent meeting. With a puzzled look, the both of us left our beloved ladies to honor Mr. Smith’s call.
In Mr Smith’s tent, everyone was there already. The atmosphere in the tenth was tense, even Mr Smith’s face wasn’t encouraging at all. Mr Smith motioned for us to have a seat, we sat down and he began his speech.
“Howdy lads, I just want to congratulate you all on your recent victory. Black Duke has told me all I needed to know about the battle and I must admit, you boys did very great. Yeah, you did very great braving back to Virginia and capturing ships with supplies. But do not rally on your recent victory and let down your guards for the Americans wouldn’t relent. They will surely hit back with a brutal force that will even surprise you all. They will mobilize and come after you with stronger weapons alongside their allies. And you all know that if that happens, it will be very difficult to escape them.”
Mr Smith stopped speaking and took a careful look at everyone present, making sure that we were following. Seeing that everyone one of us was paying undivided attention, he resumed his speech.
“Some of you might be surprised as to why I’m speaking this way, but please don’t be. All I want you to know is the fact that we are no longer safe here in Charleston, we need to move on.”
There was murmuring among the men. Mr Smith spoke out.
“Please let’s stop the murmuring and act like men, if you have any question to ask, ask rather than to be murmuring.” Mr. Smith ordered.
A young man stood up and cleared his throat noisily to draw attention.
“Greetings to you all my fellow freedom fighters. My question is, if we leave Charlestone, where do we move to and what about our rout?”
He sat down while Mr Smith cleared his throat and shot a look in my direction. I understood what it meant so I stood up nervously.
“Maybe Mr Morris can answer that question,”