COWPENS - the final battle | William Tavington

1- The Time Warp

Caitriona - who preferred being called Cait - was 21 years old and much to her father's dismay still not married yet. She preferred playing with her younger sisters and brothers and simply did not want to grow up. Why would you even when you could just stay a child? It was much more fun to run through the house chasing the dogs, playing hide and seek with siblings and reading a book in a tree or behind the barn. Unfortunately all these things had this bitter after taste due to the current situation she was living in: a war was taking place around her and it wasn't just any war but what would later be known as the American Revolutionary War. A war as gruesome and important at the same time that it would make it into history books and change the new world to a better one - well, maybe not into a better one but at least into a different one.

While Cait's biggest sorrow was how to sneak away from the formal event that would take place at her father's property tonight, the servants were busy getting everything ready for the 450 guests that were invited and would arrive soon. Most of them were high ranked officers of the British Army, friends of her father who was a General himself. They would bring their boring wives and their even more boring daughters too. They would try to match them with lower ranked officers such as Lieutenants and Captains so they would have the house for themselves again. What else was the purpose of marrying your daughter if it wasn't for getting her out of the house? 

Cait sighed, most of the girls that would get introduced to these men were around her age, slightly younger even. They got engaged, married, had a child. If they were lucky their husband even survived the next battles until they were with child a second or third time. If they were not so lucky they didn't even get pregnant at all. Stupid system she was living in there...

"Caitriona, get dressed, darling! Our first guests will arrive soon", her father spoke while brushing some powder off his new frock. His wig was all white, the servant had just freshened it up for him. She rolled her eyes, while her younger siblings were allowed to stay at their rooms she had to participate in this boring event. Her siblings of course saw it more as a punishment and would all rather join the grand party than sleep in their rooms. "Yes, father..", she mumbled and walked to her room where one of the maids was already waiting for her to help her getting dressed and do her hair.  

It took around an hour to fully get dressed and getting all those dark brown locks into a nice hairdo was simply impossible if you weren't skilled like miss Abby. The maid did a great job and the outturn of his daughter got finally approved the General with a soft smile. "You look just like your mother, god bless her."

She rolled her eyes when her father mentioned mother again and pulled on her sleeve. "Stop pulling on your sleeve, miss. It is perfect like it is, don't mess it up.", miss Abby whispered and put a light blue feather into her hair for the final touch, the color perfectly matched her dress. This was it. She finally looked like a piece of cake with all those bows and layers of lace and ribbons... her father definitely tried to find a match for her again. Tonight. Great.

"I will introduce you to a few officers, you might-" "No, father. We have talked about this before. These men are all the same. They look ugly, they stink of horse shit and most of them are way too old for me anyway!", she immediately interrupted him which took him by surprise. Her father huffed. "And who are you to speak up to me now? I am not going to ruin my daughter's reputation by marrying her to a simple soldier-" - "I don't even want to marry a soldier! Maybe we can look for someone who doesn't wear red by chances...", she muttered under her breath and didn't listen to her father's monologue about how important it was to marry a higher ranked officer and how happy it would make him and how her mother would approve all this. 

If she only knew that this was the last and final conversation with her father... She would've listened more closely to what he was saying. She would've saved every single word he was speaking somewhere in the back of her brain so she would be able to recall it whenever she needed to hear his voice to feel less alone... Unfortunately she didn't. Silly girl.