A Refuge Assured by Jocelyn Green

Author:Jocelyn Green [Green, Jocelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction;Christian fiction;Love stories;FIC042030;FIC026000;FIC014000
ISBN: 9781493413690
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

When Liam awoke, it was to a headache that swelled beneath skin and bone, and to the firm conviction that his left ear was caught in a vise. His hand went to the pain and found a bandage. A swath of his left cheek burned, and the ginger touch of his fingertip found the skin torn away and a scab beginning to form. He opened his eyes to find himself back in his tent by the Monongahela River. The flap opened to sunlight made blinding by the snow.

“You were lucky.”

“Alex.” Liam’s voice sounded too loud in his head. “How long did I sleep?”

“Two days, with a little help from laudanum. I’d offer you more, but we’re rationing it. The rebels got a piece of you, didn’t they? Better you lend them your ear than they take your head.” Alex smiled wryly at his own wit, and Liam knew he was holding back from another comparison to the French guillotines.

“It wasn’t a whiskey rebel or Jacobin, and I suspect you know that.” Grimacing in pain, Liam turned onto his side, uninjured ear to the ground. “One of your soldiers shot me. I won’t ask whether he was relieved or disappointed not to have killed me.”

Alex said something, but Liam couldn’t hear him. Nor did he really care. Slowly, the events of that night drifted back to him. “Tell me it isn’t true, Alex. Tell me you didn’t say they could arrest anyone, even if they weren’t on those blasted lists.”

The words were muffled, but Liam could hear in the cadence of his reply that Alex was justifying his decision. Ever haunted by the hobgoblins of disorder, Alex was in his element now. On a witch hunt for both rebels and martial glory.

“I’m sickened to be a part of it.” Liam pushed himself up and felt the blood pounding in his skull. He went to the washstand set up in the tent and picked up the handheld looking glass, his breath fogging the cloudy surface. In front of his bandaged ear, the wound on his cheek reminded him of Indian war paint. After pouring fresh water into the basin, he soaked a towel and did his best to clean himself up.

Light flashed into the tent, signaling that Alex had lifted the flap to leave. Camp smells of coffee, bacon grease, and horse manure took his place.

Liam turned his head toward the opening and listened. Hoofbeats. Were they breaking camp and heading east? He ducked outside to see for himself.

Chilblains again aching in his fingers, he folded his arms and watched the parade before him. The Philadelphia Horse Guard formed two rows as its members escorted prisoners between them. Neat and trim in blue broadcloth uniforms, the guards sat astride huge bay horses, so perfectly matched and powerful they could pull coaches belonging to the urban elite. The bare winter sun gleamed on silver bridles and stirrups, and on the swords the guards held pointing straight up.

Between these long lines of soldiers came pairs of prisoners bound for Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.