Stars

Chapter Twenty Two

How long she had been riding through the woods, Isabella had no idea. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, or even days. She had lost all track of time as she scanned every section of the forest in hopes of finding Ben.

Isabella decided that the least she could do was stretch her legs a bit so she hopped off of Ranger and walked around for a bit. Looking for foot prints or any sign of human life, she saw nothing. Her search for the man who held her heart was beginning to seem futile.

"Where are you?" She mumbles to herself.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the sound of slow foot steps snapped her back to reality. At first, Isabella hoped it might be Ben, but her hopes were crushed when she realized that she was hearing more than one set of steps. Her blood ran cold at the thought of who she would be forced to confront.

She turned to stand next to Ranger and prepare her lie for the people she should soon encounter.

It was a man in a British uniform followed by two others in civilian clothing. They went to take out their guns until they saw who it was. The man in the British uniform spoke up first.

If Isabella's blood wasn't already frozen with fear, it was now. She immediately recognized the man before her. Gamble. She had seen him around camp a few times and heard from Ben of his treachery. She silently prayed that he didn't recognize her.

"Miss Washington..." Gamble said with a smirk.

"Shite!" Isabella internally cursed.

"What might the General's niece be doing in the middle of no-man's-land?" He dismounted his horse and began walking towards her.

Frozen in her place, Isabella looked out of the corner of her eye at the saddle bag. Though she would hate to have to use it, she hoped her uncle had left his pistol in the bag. Then she would have some form of defense.

"It is costumery for one to answer when asked a question." He snarled.

As she thought over it in her mind, she decided that "none of your business" would not be the best answer.

"I wanted to get away from the camp. Life there can become rather monotonous if one is unaccustomed to it." She lies through her teeth.

"Is that so? This has nothing to do with a missing soldier? Major Benjamin Tallmadge..." He suggested, playing with her weakness.

"I can assure you, I have met the Major once in my entire life, I have no reason to seek him out." She tried to dig herself out of the grave Gamble was trying to burry her in.

Gamble took a step closer and rested a hand on the small of her back as they stood nearly chest to chest. He leaned down so that his mouth was next to her ear, his hot breathe causing her skin to prickle with disgust.

"I know you're lying. There's no point trying to hide it." He said, menacingly. His hand slid down lower until it rested on her backside. Gamble smirked to himself at the prospect of him winning this little game.

However, Isabella reacted quickly and delivered a swift slap to his face. The other two men sat dumbstruck for a moment before dismounting their horses to assist their leader. When Gamble turned away from the utter force of the slap, she took this as an opportunity to knee him where the sun doesn't shine. He stumbled backwards and left Isabella enough time to mount Ranger and rush him into a fast gallop.

"Follow her, you fools!" Gamble shouted, still recovering from the beating Isabella gave him. The other two men once again mounted their steeds and began to follow Isabella.

Two things kept Isabella from getting caught by the men. The first was the head-start she had on them. She had already taken off down the road by the time they were once again mounted in their saddles. Second was the horses they each used. Luckily for Isabella, her horse was bread for resilience, strength, and endurance. Meanwhile, the men's horse were most likely not exercised nearly as much as they should and they paid dearly for it.

At the first crossroads, Isabella decided to take the road to the left. According to the map she looked at before leaving camp, this road would take her to a town not far from Valley Forge. There, she might be able to rest her horse and inquire about Ben. Should she happen to find him near there, the two could take the road straight to Valley Forge.

After another hour of hard riding, when Isabella had not heard the men behind her for some time, she slowed and decided to take a quick rest. She pulled an apple out of the bag and offered it to Ranger.

"Thanks pal."

As Ranger munched on the apple, Isabella decided to see if her uncle had, by chance, left his pistol. As her fingers reached around the saddle bag, they felt the cold tingle of metal. She pulled it out and checked to see if it was still operational. It was.

After Ranger finished the apple, Isabella lead him to the nearby stream that held clear water that reflected the blue sky. The water seemed to be like a mirror as she gazed into it. The girl that looked back at her had brown eyes, freckles splattered over her nose from the summer sun, and a tan-skinned face that was framed by a mess of wavy, Auburn hair. The girl she saw in the stream was so different from the girl she was months ago. Isabella couldn't say she was disappointed, though.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a snapping sound. Ranger stopped drinking from the stream and looked around. Dread filled Isabella as she automatically thought it was Gamble and his gang of goons. If it wasn't Gamble, she was close enough to a town to not seem suspicious. To anybody else, she was simply a girl watering her horse, well, minus the pistol in her outstretched hand.

Something cracked again and Isabella turned towards the noise. Her eyes landed on the very person she was looking for. She breathed a sigh of relief when Ben's familiar blue eyes gazed back at her. He was clutching his side and he wasn't wearing the clothes he left camp in. Through all of the physical pain he seemed to be in, he smiled at her.

"Bella."

"Ben."