Every Rose Has a Thorn (The Patriot Romance story)

Chapter 2

Clara yawns and wakes the next morning, four days have passed since her father came home. She hears commotion outside and quickly gets out of her bed. She sees a group of red-coats outside the house, talking with her father, she panics, heads downstairs, and goes outside, stopping halfway down the small staircase.

"Father?"

"Clara, go back inside now." The older man says in a stern voice, not turning to face his daughter. She stared at the man in green and red uniform, a furred helmet on his head. She doesn't leave but backs up and stays on the porch, watching the scene go down.

"Solomon White is charged with the following crimes," The man reads from a parchment, "Harboring the enemy, betraying the British Army, helping the rebels... sentence is to be hung by the neck until dead."

Clara suddenly felt sick to her stomach, the feeling of throwing up at the words he was saying, her face went deathly pale and her eyes widened, "Or..." The soldier pulls out his pistol, "We can kill you right now, quick and painless..."

Now, one of Rose's bad traits is impulsive thinking. And right now, her mind and thoughts were racing. She dashes in front of her father, standing in between him and the gun that was directed at him.

"No!" She blurts out fast, "Please sir! My father has done nothing wrong but protect and provide for his family, please, let us negotiate the rules of war-"

The Green Dragoon leader delivered a hard slap to her cheek and glared at the girl's father.

"You will teach your daughter to hold her tongue in the presence of a man, to only speak when spoken to." He growls, staring down at her. She stares back at the man in defiance. The White siblings come out, having just woken up, they stare in horror at the sight of a gun being pressed to their sister's head. Clara looks back at them and then at the man in front of her, his anger-filled blue eyes staring into her green ones. She realized something, she knew she couldn't say it but she wanted to, no, she had to. 

"Take me instead." She pleads, her voice breaking slightly with tears, she knew she couldn't leave her siblings fatherless, so if this man decided to kill her instead, she would be fine with that, "Spare his and my sibling's life and take mine."

The soldier dismounts his horse and looks down at Clara before lifting his black-gloved hand to her cheek, examining her face and circling her body.

"Fine beauty you are, hmm," He says, "Eye for an Eye, Life for a Life."

"Colonel Tavington," Clara heard her father speak up, "Don't listen to her, kill me, and leave my kin alone." His irish voice shaking with the fear of losing his daughter.

The Colonel looked at him, her siblings, then at her, then at his men, who impassively waited for orders from their higher up.

"Fire the house and barns, destroy the livestock, and spare the horses, let it be known that if you harbor the enemy," The man looked right into Solomon's eyes, "You will lose your home." He orders, the men move and two of the soldiers grab Clara and bind her hands together with rope, the world flows by, everyone moving in slow-motion.

"Colonel!" Clara speaks up, a light bulb appears over her head, "The Rules of War states excessive loss or suffering is limited, reconsider your actions please sir!"

The soldiers stopped their movements, Solomon smiled at his daughter, everyone knew, even Tavington, she was right. The Colonel turned red with embarrassment by a little girl, he wasn't called The Butcher for no reason.

"Continue your orders." He said, looking straight at Clara with a defiant smirk.

The girl hears her siblings scream as The White Estate is being burnt down. She gets pulled by a wagon, Clara resists and stares at her family.

"No!" She squeals, "Please! Let me say goodbye!" She begged the Colonel who gave her no look of remorse and shook his head, "Have mercy, sir! I need to say goodbye!"

"Let's get moving!" He shouts as everyone goes down the road, Clara sees her father holding Anna and Grayson back as she's being pulled away from her only family. Tears fell down her face as she walked away, the sound of burning wood echoing in her mind, her home was gone, the look of horror on her father's face as she stood in front of him and a gun. She would never return or see her family again.

Hours, it's been hours of walking on rocky, dirty roads. She felt her feet getting more sore by the minute, Clara looked behind herself and saw drops of blood she was leaving behind. She had no shoes on, she looked up at the tree line and saw the sun shining through, the sounds of birds filling her ears with their music. She feels her knees shaking as she continues to bear through the pain.

"No, I can't fall, not here, not now. They'll kill me for it." She thought to herself, wincing in pain as she walked along. The Colonel was riding on his horse in front of the group and no soldiers were behind her. Her wrists that were being tied by rope, started to feel like fire rubbing against her skin. As Clara felt a rock stab her in the arch of her foot, that's when she lost it. She fell, no one noticed the girl they were now literally dragging behind them, until a redcoat turned and saw the poor girl on the ground, trying to keep up with the wagon. He stopped and then everyone stopped, wondering what happened, the Colonel stopped his horse and turned, riding over to behind the wagon.

"What's the problem, why have we stopped?" He asked, his face emotionless and stoic, the redcoat soldier knelt down and looked at the bottom of Clara's feet.

"Her feet are torn from the rocks." He explains, helping the injured girl up gently.

"Does it look like that is a concern of mine?" Colonel Tavington said with a grim expression on his face when he saw the blood and skin torn off, "You have 3 minutes to think of a solution."

Clara gets lifted to the back of the wagon and the soldier wraps bandages around her feet, making a makeshift sock.

"How does that feel?" He asks in a soft tone, seeing the pained expression of sadness and loss on her face. She bows her head and lets a tear run down her cheek, "I'm sorry." The Soldier gets up and Clara goes back on her feet and as the wagon starts moving she starts walking. The group comes upon a field and she spots tents, about an hour later of walking. Her legs start shaking again at the thought of resting and finishing, she now hated the thought of running or walking and never wanted to get up again. They get closer to the tents and the wagon stops, her legs give out from beneath her, the bandages torn slightly from the ground. Clara pants and closes her eyes, sweating and letting her feet take a rest, her legs numb and sore. Her body felt weak.

"Get up."