The Price of Love

Chapter 9

John's PoV

"Alex, wake up. Wake up. Alexander dearest, it's morning." I say gently, lovingly stroking his face as his eyes slowly open. He smiles up at me, his violet eyes misting darker with love.

"Bonjour mon amour. Avez-vous bien dormi?" He murmurs sleepily. "J'ai fait." I tip my head in confusion.

"English?" I request. He smiles.

"I said, good morning my love. Did you sleep well? I did." He yawns.

"Yes I did." I respond, kissing his cheek gently. He turns a delicate shade of red. "How are you this morning?"

"A little sore. Stupid ground. But nothing I can't handle." Then his eyes fly wide. "Shit. Is it dawn?"

"Just before. I figured you would want to wake up so you can get back home and not have anything seem suspicious." He goes limp with relief.

"We have to move out in a few hours. At dawn." He tells me. "We're going to Albany." Shit, that's right! I think, panicking a little. My father is going to flip out. "Come on, I have to pack my stuff." He kisses my chin and stumbles to his feet. "I'm going to my house, I'll meet you back there." He kisses my lips softly and walks away. I wait until he's out of view and have a mini-breakdown. My father is going to be livid with me. I'm leaving for months, joining the enemy's army, falling in love with a man, and I might die. I should leave. I should go back to South Carolina and forget about the past three months. But I can't. I can't just forget about New York's suffering. I can't just forget about Alex. I can't leave him, that would break his heart. I promised I'd go with him, he'd be devastated if I left. I have to go. For Alex. I stand up and follow after him. His front door is left open and a black stallion is tied outside. He runs out with a leather sack, a few loose papers half falling out of it. "I wish I had more paper." He frets. "We might run out before we're able to get more."

"Alex, it'll be fine." I say, forcing him to look at me. "We'll be alright, okay? Say, 'okay John.' "

"Okay John." He repeats.

"Good. Now go finish packing. Write your father a letter if you need to tell him anything, then we'll go get rations, then collect the battalion, then we're going to leave. Okay? Now go." He runs back inside and comes back five minutes later with a few coffee tins and I chuckle.

"I need rations, enough to last a month. A month for a regular soldier, even though I barely eat." He mutters. "And my canteen is right here, it's filled." He grabs at his canteen, hanging at his side. "Water will be a bit short, but we'll have to make due. I'm ready. Just need to collect my rations. And uniform." He continues talking rapidly to himself. He's talking so fast I can barely understand him. He already talks very fast, like everyone who lives in Manhattan as I've learned, so his talking fast is very different from mine.

"Baby, calm down. Go get your rations, I'll bring your horse and meet you at Lafayette's house, okay?" I say, stroking his dirty but soft hair. He nods and walks away, still talking to himself. I pat his stallion and untie it, leading it through the deserted streets down to where the French Army is staying. I knock on one of the first houses, Lafayette's, and the door opens. I wave at him and say hi. After three months, he understands some basic English, so I'm able to have small conversations with him. "Alex will be here soon, he's getting his rations." I say. He nods. "We're going to be leaving soon, so you might want to wake up the men who're going."

"Oui." He nods, and goes to wake up the people he shares the small house with. Alexander runs up a little bit later, lugging a large bag of rations.

"I'm back." He pants, slinging the bag over his horse's saddle. "How's everything going?" He snaps into his 'General mode', which is basically just more authoritative and bossy then he normally is.

"Everyone's woken up and getting ready. They'll be ready to go soon." I report.

"Good. Everything's packed, everything is ready, Lafayette, dites à vos hommes que nous déménageons dans une demi-heure." The tall Frenchman nods and leaves. "We move out in half an hour. I'll get a horse ready for you and fetch you a uniform." And with that, he dashes off, leaving me to stand here and keep an eye on his horse.

---

Half an hour later, it's time to leave. "Mount up!" Alex commandes from atop his horse. "We leave now to reclaim Albany." His hard gaze sweeps his soldiers. "We'll retake it. I know we will." He urges his horse into a trot, and we leave. I urge my horse forward to be shoulder to shoulder with him. He glances at me out the corner of his eye. "Fall back with the other soldiers John." He says, an icy edge to his voice to let me know he's not playing any games. "There's a certain order to the army, and you're nowhere near high ranking enough to be at the front. Go to the back." He orders, not looking at me. "I'll see you when we stop to make camp." Dipping my head, I stop my horse and wait for the rest of the soldiers to pass, walking at the back. I understand why he sent me to the back, kinda, but it hurts a little. I yawn, tired. I couldn't sleep last night, the ground was too hard. Alexander on the other hand, fell asleep pretty quickly. Guess he's used to it. I try to keep my eyes open and not drift off on my horse.

---

Thirty two hours later, we finally stop to make camp and rest. I am utterly exhausted and practically falling asleep on my feet as I half fall off my horse and lean against its flank for support. "Hey! Stay awake soldier!" Alex barks at me. "You can rest when we've made camp. Help me set the tent up." I groan and plod after him as he leads me to the edge of the clearing we stopped in. "You're going to have to do better John." He says, his voice soft and compassionate. "I can't have you falling asleep." I nod sleepily and he sighs. "Go lean against the tree right there, don't fall asleep. I can set our tent up myself." He says gently. I nod gratefully and lean against the tree. My eyes go fuzzy and I struggle to keep awake. What feels like hours later, Alex is shaking my shoulder.

"What?" I mutter.

"I got the tent set up. You can sleep now, no one will think twice of it. Go in, go to sleep." He lets me lean on him as I stumble into the tent a few yards away from us and I fall onto a blanket on the ground. "Good night my love. Sleep well. I've assigned myself to guard duty, so I won't be here when you wake up." He kisses my forehead gently and leaves. The moment my eyes close, I fall asleep.

---

I wake up much, much later to an empty tent. My stomach rumbles in hunger. I haven't eaten in over a day, I'm starving. I sit up and hiss in pain. My body is one big knot of muscle and it hurts to move an inch. I bite the insides of my cheek to stop myself from screaming in pain as I stand up and try to stretch some of them out. I rub my back, hoping the pain won't last forever, and stumble out of the tent to a happy scene. It's around noon, and all the tents are set up. About two dozen men are all gathered together, chatting and eating. My horse is tied to a nearby tree. I walk over to her and dig through the packs, looking for food. I find a tin can identical to what everyone else has and sit outside my tent. I open the tin to reveal...... a small biscuit, a few inches of dried meat, and what looks like two slices of dried apricot? This is all we get? In every meal? I nibble on the meat. Well, it's not too bad at least. I quickly scarf the lean 'meal' down, wrinkling my nose slightly at how flavorless it is. I guess I better get used to this, it's all we have. I take a sip from my canteen and toss the tin to the side. After that, I sit outside of the tent and do nothing.