Night of the Burning Tents by Juliet Rosetti

Author:Juliet Rosetti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Juliet Rosetti
Published: 2021-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

"Might be a while before the rope burn fades away," Mr. Tikas said, rubbing salve that smelled like roofing tar into my neck. He and two practical nurses served as the camp's medical staff, since there was no doctor. His hands were gentle as he applied the salve, but I could sense anger simmering beneath his calm surface. He was furious at the way Leander and I had been treated despite the fact that we were children.

We'd spilled out the whole story as Mr. Tikas had walked us back to camp. Considering all the trouble we'd caused—every militia member in camp was now on high alert in case the camp was attacked—Leander and I should have been in disgrace. Instead, we were having our injuries tended to in the infirmary and were being treated as heroes.

Tikas frowned when he noticed my bloody lip. "Which of those scum did that to you?" he growled.

Leander gave a bark of laughter. "That's not her blood—it's Linderfelt's. Katie bit him!"

"She bit him?" Tikas's tired face cracked into a grin.

"Linderfelt was about to larrup me again and she just turned into a—a mountain lion. Biting and kicking and screaming—I thought she was going to rip him limb from limb."

Mrs. Crawford, one of the infirmary's nurses, who was changing the dressing on a nearby patient, cackled with laughter. "You bit that awful man? Good for you, girl!"

Leander removed the ice pack from his jaw. He'd refused to allow Mr. Tikas to stitch up the

whip slash. The scar, he said, would be a badge of valor, displayed with pride for the rest of his life. "Katie did what everyone in this camp has been itching to do— took a piece out of Linderfelt's hide. She's going to be famous."

I shook my head. "I'm going to be dead. My mother is going to kill me."

I didn't have to wait long. The tent city's grapevine was faster than the swiftest telegraph. A thunderstorm in skirts swept into the infirmary. Ellen Scully marched up to Lou Tikas. "Is my daughter badly injured?"

"Just a scrape here and there," he said soothingly.

"Fine. I'll be taking her home then."

She yanked me out of the infirmary before I could say another word and barely waited until we were outside before starting in to blister my ears, so angry that her words came out in fits and starts. "Never been so . . . embarrassment to your family. . . no idea where you . . . wandering around the countryside . . . . . irresponsible . . . laughingstock . . . selfish . . . "

When I could get a word in edgewise, I tried to defend herself. "But we didn't do anything, Ma! We were just minding our own business when those soldiers—"

"And what were you doing traipsing around in the first place, Katie? You were supposed to be home right after that ceremony this morning."

"But Irene needed eggs, so—"

Wrong thing to say. Ma practically detonated. "And what about what

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