The Pirate and the Soldier Boy

Chapter 13

Carmen woke the same way she slept. Like a log. She rolled over drowsily around sunset and hit her head on a branch. She moaned, still half asleep. Laying on her back she stared at the beginnings of the first stars in the sky.

She rolled over and pushed herself to a seated position. She sat shivering in the arms of the bush, waiting for the sun to set the rest of the way, and had the grace to be grateful the wind wasn't blowing.

Finally she stood up and started walking, slapping her asleep leg to wake it up. The road was deserted in both directions, and Carmen walked along the side in the dark. Where she was headed, Carmen didn't know, but she walked towards the ocean. That was as good a start as she was going to get. If only Jenna's letter had been a bit more precise. But it was a miracle that the letter even found her in the first place. That was something she would have to ask.

Half the night had passed before she saw another person on the road. A group of fast moving horses galloped by, and Carmen feigned nonchalance. They stopped and wheeled around. "Boy! Have you seen anyone pass on this road?"

The tall man sneered from atop his mount. She realized in the dark light, with her hair in a bandanna and Sam's jacket, she looked like a young boy. Pitching her voice slightly lower than normal she responded. "No, sir. Just me."

He lingered for a moment, horse shifting back and forth on its feet, before he spurred it into motion and he and the rest of the men rode off. Carmen laughed inside. Perhaps this would be easier than she thought.

Mud clung to her boots as she walked, and her feet became heavy. Exhaustion added on top of the mud. She hadn't realized just quite how bad her sickness had been until that moment. She was still worn out and it had been weeks. She cast her mind back to before that. It felt like forever since she had left the ship. Hard to believe it was only two short weeks. Or was it three? Who knew.

As time passed and the sun started to peak over the horizon once more Carmen moved to the edge of the road, taking shelter under the low branches of a pine tree. She tried to sleep, but the cold was acute, biting her nose and her fingers. She would have to be careful, or she would catch hypothermia again. Even though it didn't snow extremely frequently here on the south coast of England, with the wind off the channel, her jacket was soaked through. She finally fell into a restless sleep.

* * *
The days were growing longer, but Carmen's patience definitely was not. She had walked for two weeks before realizing that she was heading in the wrong direction, having been unable to see far amidst the thick trees and hedges. Turning around was the most humiliating thing that could come to Carmen's mind at the time, and she was glad the road was deserted. She cursed the whole two weeks back the way she had come. She even had to pass on the road directly by the town where she had been held prisoner.

She could feel the temperature growing warmer. Food was starting to grow in the ground, which made her feel less bad about stealing from the farms she passed. A clothes line hung outside a window and Carmen helped herself. With a change of clothes, maybe she could travel by day instead of by night and get some proper rest. The wool trousers and men's shirt were more inconspicuous, and a hat was useful to hide her face and hair. She kept the blue and white jacket.

Still mad at herself for mixing up her directions so badly, Carmen finally smelled the salt of the sea two weeks after she had started her journey. Her solo journey at least. It was the 25th of March when she entered the city. She was startled by the size of the place. It had been so long since she had been to a large town she had all but forgotten the chaos. Especially at the docks. Not quite sure what to do next, Carmen headed down to the water's edge, wondering if she should try to hire a boat. She had no money. Sitting on a crate in despair, she placed her chin in her hands. What next?