Fort Orange—A Short Story

Fort Orange

 

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There was absolutely no sign of her. Anywhere. Everywhere Lotte looked there was smoke, and only smoke. And of course, the grand Fort Orange. But nothing else. In fact, after Lotte’s sister had knocked her to the ground, it was hard to see pretty much anything.

Lotte called her name many times. But there was no response.

“Come back!” she had called. But no one came forth. “Please, Sanne, come back!”

But no one came back.

Eyes moist, Lotte ran back to her small tent where her mother was preparing dinner. Her father sat on the floor, preparing a board game for Lotte and her sister. But little did he know that today’s game would be two-player.

Lotte burst into tears. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “She wouldn’t listen. She insisted that she go.”

“What?” Her mother looked confused. “Where is Sanne? What are you talking about?”
“She wouldn’t listen,” Lotte continued. “I told her it was stupid and unfaithful, but she didn’t listen.” She wiped a tear from her frozen cheeks. “She never listens.”

“Where is Sanne?” her mother repeated.

“She left,” Lotte replied casually, “She left and she’s gone and she’s probably never coming back.”
“To where?” her father demanded.

“Fort Saint Louis,” was the horrifying reply.

Her mother dropped on her knees. “Why so?”

“She liked a French boy. They ran away together.”

“And nothing did you to stop it?”

“I tried, Mama! I really did. She didn’t listen.”

“The boy’s name?”

“Jaques. He’s Sanne’s age. Maybe a year or two older.”

Her father wiped a tear from his eyes. “She could have told us.”

“She knew you wouldn’t approve,” Lotte said. “The boy’s family is of poverty.”

A tear rolled down her mother’s cheek. Her father heaved a heavy sigh. He began sobbing.

Her mother ran out of the tent.

“Sanne!” she called. “Sanne! It’s Mama. It’s me.” She looked back at Lotte and her father. “She couldn’t have gone too far. She must be around here somewhere.” She got down on her hands and knees and began searching in the bushes and in the forest until she was out of sight.

“I’m sorry, Papa,” Lotte cried, “I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t. She didn’t listen to me.”

“She was foolish,” her father admitted, “but this is no time to reason. We must find her. Fort Saint Louis is in Texas, and we are in New Amsterdam. It will be a long time before our Sanne returns home.”

“How long, Papa?”

“I don’t know. But we must tell the soldiers. They must look for her.”

“Papa, perhaps I can help ----”

“No. You are too young for this. I shall go inform the General immediately. You are to stay here. Eat your dinner and wait for your mother to come back.”

“Papa, where has Mama gone?”

“Into the forest to look for Sanne. Wait here, dear, I will be right back.”

And with that, Lotte’s father took off for the soldiers.

It gave a moment for Lotte to think…. Could she have done more? No, she told herself. Papa told her that she shouldn’t try to intervene. But that didn’t mean she shouldn’t have! 

As she poured herself some stew, she thought some more. Mama and Papa were angry and sad because she had decided not to do anything. And Sanne was in danger because Lotte had decided to act like the little sister that she was to Sanne. She hadn’t tried to act fast.

She missed her big sister dearly. All the things that they had done for each other, why had Sanne decided to leave now? At a time like this?

Surely something was up. She didn’t like Jacques, Lotte thought, Jacques was forcing her into something.

Yes! Lotte thought. I remember that Jaques wasn’t around when Sanne had left her in the open fort alone. There was no sign of Jacques anywhere then. And she also remembered how Sanne had looked slightly scared and hesitant to leave. Of course! It all fit together now. Lotte had to tell Mama and Papa that her sister was in more danger than they had imagined.

The question was, where were Mama and Papa?

Lotte gulped down her stew and ran out of the tent, hoping to see her Mama and Papa waiting for her. But no one was back.

Lotte sadly stepped back into the tent and ripped a piece of bread from the old loaf that Mama had baked three weeks ago. She nibbled it gently and began weeping her heart out. She had no idea what to do, and her sister was in grave danger, more than Lotte had explained to her parents. 

Just then, Mama came back into the tent. She saw little Lotte crying on the floor, her tears wetting the clay beneath her scarred knees. She had never seen her girl cry like this before. 

Down on her knees, Mama wrapped her daughter in pure comfort and warmth and put her to sleep.

Lotte woke in a daze. She overheard her parents talking in hushed tones by their mat. They hadn’t a clue that little Lotte was awake, silently eavesdropping on whatever was so important so late at night.

“But when the French find out, they’ll----” said her mother gravely.

“I know, I know. Which is why that Jaques boy must keep them undercover. Whatever he is dragging her in to is dangerous for Sanne,” jammed in her father.

“My child!” cried her mother. “They’ve taken her off! They’ve taken my poor, sweet, innocent baby off to do witchcraft!”

“Don’t be silly, dear,” said her father comfortingly. “No one is getting hurt. No one will lay a finger on Sanne if I can help it. The soldiers will find her.”

“NO! My girl can’t die!”

“Shh, Zoё! You’ll wake her!” He gesticulated towards Lotte. Instantly Lotte pretended to be fast asleep.

“Do not forget, she matters too. In times like this a child is the only one who will keep us from going mad. Care for her, Zoë. Do not let Lotte get affected by this.”

“As you wish.”

“Sleep, now. Get rest. It’s been a rough day.”

“I cannot sleep while my daughter is out in the forest, running from French soldiers! What if she returns? Who will greet her and feed her?” She grabbed her husband’s collar and shook him until he gave a response.

“Fine, then, I shall stay awake tonight in the case she returns.”

He laid her down and allowed her to sleep.

“Papa?” whispered Lotte.

“Lotte! I’m sorry, we must’ve woken you. Go back to sleep.”

“I must tell you something. I’ve just figured it out in the evening.”

“And that is?”

“I don’t think Sanne ran off to be with Jaques in New France. I think he is forcing Sanne to do something bad.”
“Like?”

“Like be unfaithful to her country. To join the French. Or perhaps to ...”

“To wage war between us.” Her father sat silently on the mat and stared with his eyes widening. 

“We must find Sanne and that Jaques boy and bring them back!” said Lotte.

“Yes, yes, we must.” He ushed her to sleep. “Thank you, Lotte. Papa loves you.”

“I love you too, Papa! We will find Sanne, I promise! I will find her!”

Her father chuckled and went back to rest. But he never slept. After all, he promised his wife that he would look out for Sanne in case she returned. And Lotte had promised that she would find Sanne if it was the last thing she did.

And after all, a promise is a promise. Lotte would start the next morning.

 

The next morning, Papa and Mama were still fast asleep next to each other. Lotte carefully stepped out of the tent and ran towards the forest, making sure that no one saw her. She stepped over thorny bushes and hard tree trunks until she came across a dirt footpath. Engraved in it were dainty footsteps next to much larger ones. Sanne and Jaques were heading this way!

Lotte followed the footsteps through dirty burrows and sloshy riverbanks. After about thirty minutes, the footsteps stopped. 

Lotte continued further. A few meters later were a pair of sandals and a set of dark wooden boots. 

Lotte recognized those sandals. They were Sanne’s! They must have taken them off to cross a river.

But what river?

There was no river in sight. Not even a stream. Nothing for the next couple of kilometers were there any bodies of water.

And yet another thing: why had there been no footprints thus far? The shoes had been taken off here, not in the back. Then why had the footprints stopped a few meters back and had the shoes end up here?

Something didn’t feel right. Lotte looked back. There was absolutely no sign of human activity.

With a jerk she turned back around. There, standing before her, was a tall and stocky soldier dressed in blue and red.

“Comment t'appelle-tu?” he said in an unknown language. “D'où êtes-vous?”

Lotte stood frozen as a deer in headlights.

“Parlez-vous francais?” he repeated angrily. “Comment t’appelle-tu?”

Lotte gave no response.

She only had her sister in mind at the moment. That’s when she remembered the French and English classes that her sister had given her in case of emergency. She had been taught simple phrases that could help answer simple questions. This would be the first time that she would use them.

“Je ne parle français,” Lotte replied. “Je parle neerlandais.”

“Oui, oui,” said the soldier. “Viens par la.”

Although Lotte didn’t know what the soldier said, she followed him into the thicket and the underbrush, past a huge, roaring river, and finally to a fortress where French soldiers marched about.

The soldier sat her down on a rock and motioned for her to stay there. He walked to another soldier and had a conversation with him in rapid French, faster than what Lotte could keep up with. Finally, the other soldier came up to Lotte and took her to a tent.

“I speak a little Dutch,” he said, pouring her a cup of tea. “What is your name?”

“Lotte,” the young girl replied.

“Ah,” the soldier said calmly, “What a gorgeous name! I have a daughter who is just about your age. You are…..”

“Thirteen,” Lotte said. “But mother says I don’t act like it.”

“Ha, ha!” joyced the soldier. “My daughter is twelve, but she acts very mature.”

“What’s her name?” Lotte whistled.

“Abelle,” replied the soldier with a frown. “My dear Abelle. Such a sweet baby. Would always warm my frozen, dark heart with her charming smile and dainty little fingers touching my suit. Boosted my whole day.”

“Is she with her mother now?”

“Oh, no, her mother left me as soon as she found out that I was in the army. Dumped the poor child with an army lad like me, no clue what to do, so I dropped with a foster family until the fur trade ended. Then I would pick up little Abelle by the arms and swing her around until I couldn’t any more. That is, if I could.” 

Lotte felt pity for the poor soldier. Somehow she felt that she must make it up to him for helping her get settled and pouring her such wonderful tea. She wanted him to see Abelle again.

“What’s your name, sir?” she asked politely.

“Adrien,” was the reply. “Might I ask you something?”

“Is it for the reason I’m here? I’m here because my big sister, Sanne, ran away with a French boy named Jaques to Fort Saint Louis. I’ve come to find her.”
“What a bold little gem you are,” said the soldier with glee. “I want to ask you something else, then: will you help me with something if I help you find your sister?”
“Of course.”
“Then we must shake our hands on it. I have to know that you will help me with whatever I ask for. Is that a deal?”

Lotte stook out her hand to shake. Adrien took it in his own and they shook hard.

“What does your sister look like?” Adrien inquired.

“She’s tall and slim with dark hair and blue eyes. Her skin is peachy.”

“Very well, I shall tell the soldiers to keep an eye out for— wait, dark hair? You are blonde!”

“Yes,” Lotte sighed, “She has brown hair. She takes after no one in my family. My family hates her for having brown hair. Except for my parents, everyone else.”

“Yes, yes.”

Lotte stared down at her shoes.

“Have you at least a clue as to where she went?” asked Adrien.

“Um, yes. As I was walking here and before your soldier stopped me—”

“Gabriel.”

“Yes, Gabriel, before he stopped me, I saw my sister’s sandals and a pair of rough-looking boots in the mud. But there was no sign of a river anywhere. I didn’t have a clue as to why they would just take their shoes off.”

“To minimize footprints,” Adrien said, with a calculative look on his face. “I used to practice as a detective before I retorted to army work. Anything else you saw?”

“Some footprints that I reckon belonged to Sanne and Jacques,” Lotte recalled. “But they stopped a few meters away from where the shoes ended up. Something was off-track. Perhaps they went through the grass?”

“No, too obvious.” Adrien was still thinking with that calculative look on his face. “No, it was something else. But...no, they wouldn’t…. AHA! Yes! That seems about right as right can get.”
“What?” Lotte demanded.

“They climbed trees, Lotte,” Adrien cried. “They were running from something— someone— and they had to climb. Is your sister skilled in climbing?”

“Not in the least bit,” Lotte giggled. “She couldn’t even run until she was five.”

“Hmm. It wasn’t climbing, then. Jaques couldn’t have carried her without dropping her, that’s for sure. Then, yes! They were flying.”

“WHAT?”

“Yes! Jaques was a pilot. He must have picked her up by plane! Weren’t you there when Sanne left?”
“Yes, but… oh! Jaques wasn’t in sight because he was in his plane, in the forest!”

“Yes! And he was very smart. He had Sanne walk for a little bit with her shoes on, then his. After that, she left both of their shoes there on the ground and went by plane!

“It’s so obvious now! I think I know where they could have gone... Or where they are now.”

“How so?”

“Jaques was an assistant pilot. His plane went at most fifteen, maybe twenty kilometers per hour. If they started from the point where Gabriel found you… they must be near the Missouri River.”

“Then we must set out for the Missouri River!”
“No. I will set out for the Missouri River.” Adrien frowned. “Your parents must be worried sick.”

Lotte remembered her parents back home. She had completely forgotten about them in all the excitement. 

“They wouldn’t want to have lost another child,” Adrien said solemnly. “I will find Sanne for you and bring her home.”
“I won’t let you go without me,” Lotte said. “Sanne’s my sister. I know her more than anyone. And what if you come across the Spanish? They won’t leave you, that’s for sure. France is their biggest rival.”
“You can’t negotiate with a Spaniard,” Adrien admitted. “But are you sure you will be safe? You are barely eligible to marry or leave the house, as valiant as you are?”
“Yes.” Lotte puffed out her chest. “I will come with you.”
“Very well then,” Adrien said as he gathered a sack of bread and butter. “We must go by sundown. Otherwise, I’m afraid it will be too late.”

Lotte and Adrien went by Estelle, a Camargue Horse of French origins. She was an extremely good horse, belonged to Adrien, and was of a pearly white colour. When she saw Lotte, she snorted and stuck her left hoof out for Lotte to shake.

“She is very young,” Adrien explained as he boosted Lotte onto the majestic mare. “She’s not ready for the world yet; but she’s the only one we have as of now.”

Lotte patted Estelle on her back. She neighed. Instantly Lotte felt a rush of adrenaline and trust course through her veins. Adrien climbed on behind her and began riding.

Through forests and rivers they soared, every step bringing laughter and excitement behind it. Lotte felt the wind rush through her long, blonde hair, holding tighter onto the saddle of the enormous beast; no longer did she feel that her sister was in danger, but rather in the open arms of Heaven, waiting to be heroically rescued as the knights did in fairytales. 

They stopped at a stream to drink water and wash up. Lotte saw her reflection in the stream. Her blonde hair was tinted brown.

Adrien fed little Estelle a carrot that he had put in his sack. Estelle whinnied. She liked the carrot. She nudged Adrien in the nose, asking for more.

“I have no more,” he said. “But there’s some nice, clean water in that stream.”

Estelle trodded over to where Lotte was standing and bent her neck into the stream. She slurped water right into her mouth.

“You should drink some, too,” Lotte told Adrien.

“No,” he replied. “I’m okay.”

Estelle neighed. Something irritated her very badly. Lotte walked over to where Estelle was and saw the horrific reason: There was a body, thrashing in the raging water, screaming for help below. 

“Oh!” shrieked Lotte. “Adrien, come look at this! We must help him!”

Adrien rushed over and threw a rope over the river. The man floating in the river grabbed hold of it. Then, he came out and steadied his rifle. He aimed it at Lotte and Adrien. Adrien aimed his crossbow steadily at the man. That’s when Lotte saw the man’s attire: a navy blue suit with two leather strips going in a cross. The man was Dutch.

“Are you okay?” Lotte scurried over to the man and approached him with such suavity that Adrien had to stifle back a gasp. “What’s your name?”
“Luuk,” the man responded in smooth Dutch. “Who are you, and what business have you with this French boy?”

“Boy? He’s not a boy!” Lotte exclaimed. “He’s a man, and his name is Adrien. He’s here to help find my sister Sanne and her lover. Or, so we thought she loved him. But now we just think he threatened her to do something bad. The point is, what are you doing here?”
“A man named Eduart has sent a team of soldiers to find his daughter. I was searching here when this man and his wife, I believe, came and pushed me into the river without warning.”

Lotte and Adrien fell silent. Even Estelle stood idle behind the scene. Finally, Lotte said, “Describe the woman, if you can, Sir?”
“She had dark hair,” the soldier recalled. “And peachy skin. Tall, skinny as a deer’s leg. She’s got eyes the color of those blue lotuses. Quite a girl, she was.”

“And the boy?” Adrien inquired. “What was he like?”
“Oh, not much.” Luuk scratched his beard. “He was a poor lad, he was. No more than twenty. Lanky sort of boy. He had his hands around the woman’s wrist tightly, as if losing her would cause Europe to fall.” Luuk grimaced. “The last thing I remember was the girl mourning for her little sister. She said that she had knocked her out to do this. I reckon she was having second thoughts. Happens to me all the time.”

Lotte gasped. Yes, this was Sanne and Jaques! Adrien looked at her with a clever grin.

“Thank you, Luuk.” Adrien shook his hand firmly. “We are forever indebted to you. Is there anything that you would like in return?”
“A nice, big husk of bread would do. I’m quite hungry.” His stomach rumbled on cue.

“Here you go.” Lotte ran to Estelle’s saddle and tore off a fine piece of bread to give to Luuk.

“Mmm, thank you!” Luuk swallowed the bread and proceeded on his way to his duty.

“Luuk, may I ask of you a favor?” Lotte called.

“What?”
“Don’t tell anyone that you saw any of this.”

“Sure can do. I’ll end up forgetting half of the day’s events in less than two hours flat, guaranteed.” He smiled at Lotte and proceeded forward.

“Stupid man,” Adrien laughed. “All that information for a husk of bread? I would have asked for a colony!”
“But awfully nice,” Lotte said. “He did ask for nothing more than a husk of bread.”

“Some girl,” Adrien said to himself. “Come on, Estelle, let’s get moving.”

Estelle whinnied and nudged Lotte to get on her back.

For a few more kilometers they rode, always keeping an eye out for someone who may have had information. Sometimes they stopped to feed Estelle, sometimes to feed themselves. Lotte took charge of bathing Estelle to keep her from perspiring too much. She smothered her in wildflower nectar, although Adrien insisted that it wasn’t necessary. Estelle loved it, so she did it. The girl had grown closer to the pony by the minute. 

For many more kilometers they rode, until a dirt path revealed the signs of a vehicle that had passed this way. Adrien stared at it until he came to a conclusion.

“Those tracks belong to Jaques’s plane,” he said finally. “We are getting close. Wait here while I—”

Suddenly a woman came up behind Jaques and Lotte, smashing them to the ground. Estelle neighed and trampled the woman with her hooves. She nudged Adrien and slowly he got up. Lotte and that woman stayed planted to the ground, hardly moving, but slowly breathing. 

Adrien grabbed the woman by the wrist and refused to let go. “What is your name? Who are you with?” he asked her sternly.

The woman looked pleadingly at Lotte, her eyes cutting right through the line of sensibility and emotion. Instantly, Lotte knew those eyes like nowhere else.

“Adrien, let go,” Lotte demanded in her best sassy big-girl voice. Adrien soundlessly obeyed.

“Sanne,” Lotte whispered. “This will never be forgiven.”

“I know,” Sanne said as tears welled in her lotus-blue eyes. “I loved him, Lotte. I really did.”

“That,” Lotte scolded solemnly, “is nothing but a broken promise. I mean when you intentionally harmed Adrien… and me.” She ended her sentence with a lower emphasis on the word ‘me’ to enhance the mistake that Sanne had made.

Tears spilled out of Sanne’s swollen eyes and down her frozen cheeks. Adrien protectively walked over to Lotte and stood to her right.

Sanne wiped the last of her tears from her cheek and tried to embrace Lotte. But the young girl stood at a distance from the sibling who had once been her everything. Now to Lotte’s family she was nothing but a mere memory that brought sorrow, anger, disappointment, and tragedy behind it. Sanne, Lotte decided, was not to be trusted until proven innocent. Until returning to the way she used to be; overtaken with love for her kin, not lust for a potential enemy.

“You aren’t so perfect, either,” Sanne told her sister. “I’ve only one; you’ve ‘allianced’ with two French… people and sorts.”

“How could a horse hurt me?”
“Not talking about the horse!” Sanne snapped. “This man and the other French soldier who stopped you in your tracks, when you had gotten a clue. He was a setup. To make you fall into this trap. This Adrien, though, is not bad at all. But he wasn’t part of the plan. Don’t know what that Gabriel screwed up to get this one in the show.”

Lotte gasped in shock. Now, she decided, Sanne was no longer her everything. She wasn’t even a memory. She was thin air. Absolutely nothing. She had to go home and tell her mother and father that Sanne was a figure of betrayal and that calling her a daughter, or sister, for that matter, would be a great sin. But she couldn’t do it with Adrien alone with Sanne. Who knows what she would do to the innocent man?

“Check her pockets for weapons,” Lotte requested.
Adrien obeyed and pulled out his small earth magnet to scour Sanne’s clothes for metal of any sort. Once the magnet proved none, Adrien shook his head to Lotte. 

“Very well, then,” Lotte sighed. “Adrien, please escort Sanne to your prison in New France. I will find Jaques.”

“But—”

“GO!”

Adrien bowed to Lotte and grabbed Sanne’s wrist. She struggled and twisted and turned, but Adrien kept a firm grip on her arm. He dragged her to Estelle and threw her on the horse. He tied a rope around her arms and latched a saddle-belt to her lap. He sat in front of her and patted Estelle’s back. She whinnied and nudged Lotte’s cheek for the last time and rode into the distance.

Lotte began searching. She went back the same way she came, following Sanne’s footprints until they came to a halt. Hiding behind a black raspberry bush, shivering, was Jaques. 

Lotte sprinted toward the bush and dragged the boy out by the ear. She then held him by the chin, tightly, and struck him across the face.

“How dare you!” she screamed, followed by another blow from her palm. “How dare you turn my innocent sister into a cruel monster!” She punched Jaques in the stomach until he gave a loud groan.

“Have mercy!” he yelled as he grabbed Lotte’s hand in midair.

“Don’t touch me!” the girl countered, with yet another smack to the back of Jaques’s head.

Jaques dropped to the ground. Lotte’s self-defense training had a huge impact on Jaques. His eyes were sunken and he had a black spot where Lotte had punched him. His cheeks flourished with crimson. Blood was coming out of his mouth.

“Please,” Jaques pleaded, “I have no relationship with your sister. We were just...on a mission, if you will.”

“What?” Lotte was lost. “How do you know Dutch?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I am Dutch, after all.”

Lotte’s head was spinning. What did he mean, he was Dutch? His name was Jaques, for God’s sake! What was he talking about? And why had Adrien known him if…

Of course, Lotte thought to herself. He’s a spy.

Lotte looked back up at Jaques. The boy was smirking. Lotte looked at his pockets. Sitting like a shark in a mess of corals, was a titanium bat. And he had his hand on it.

Lotte brought her wits to the scene. She knew this was her only chance of living against this boy. So, she made a deal with him.

“I know that only one of us is going to live today,” she began. “And you know it too. So I’ll make a deal with you. Ask me a question, any question at all. If I answer it with the answer you do not expect of me, I get to do what I want with you, and you give me information. But you must be faithful.”

“And if you answer it incorrectly?”

“Then kill me on the spot. But I have one request: tell my parents that I died of some disease I caught in the forest. Tell them that Sanne is safe with you, and chooses to stay with you. Write fake letters from her perspective and send them. Make sure they believe that my sister is okay.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “They aren’t ready for the truth.”

“Okay, girl.” Jaques grinned, showing his bloody teeth. “Ready?”

“Come at me.”

“Okay, if you’re so confident. Your question: Do you think that what you did is correct—leaving your parents, dragging a French soldier into the situation, and imprisoning your own sister for a mistake that even you, yourself, committed?”

Lotte was not expecting such a question. She thought, after all Jaques did, that he would know what it felt like to make a mistake, to forgive yourself but blame someone else for the same mistake, to feel like a mistake. But now she realized that Jaques was bad. He felt no remorse, no regret, no feeling, for what he did. His mistake turned into an error—a mistake he refused to correct, refused to change into at least a mishap.

“No,” Lotte admitted. “I know that what I did was wrong. But it was all the truth. I went with my gut, which leads to mistakes sometimes. Yes, what I did was a mistake. I embrace that. I did it to hide the horrific truth from my parents, who couldn’t live with just one of their daughters. I made a mistake for them. And for Sanne. As unfaithful and horrible as she was, I did it for her. No matter who she sides with, she’s my sister, and sisters know what parents want. So I locked her up for the same mistake that I made. Sanne committed that mistake for you. I committed that mistake for her. So she, herself, agreed that she should be the one to get locked away from everyone she loved.” She scowled at Jaques. “She did it for you, ungrateful soul.”

Jaques laughed. “That’s what I was expecting.”

Lotte felt a turn in her stomach. But she didn’t show it. Instead, she responded with, “I know. That’s why I said it.”

“What do you mean?”
“When I told you to be faithful, I meant it. But I knew you wouldn’t be faithful. That’s why I counteracted you. I said exactly what you expected. Because I knew what you were expecting in the beginning. So now, if you said yes, since that was not what you were expecting, you would still be unfaithful. There’s no way out of this, Jaques.” Lotte smiled. “I told you, only one of us is going home tonight.”

Jaques’s grin turned into a round of shock. His eyebrows raised as Lotte reached into her pocket to retrieve something—the last piece of rope that was on Estelle’s saddle.

Lotte crafted a harness onto it and dragged Jaques into it. She had no intention to hurt him, but made the boy believe otherwise.

“One more word out of your mouth unless I ask, I’ll throw you into the river,” she threatened.

She dragged Jaques by the extra piece of rope all the way to the French site where she had met Adrien. She rustled through the bushes and covered Jaques’s mouth with the rope. She stuffed in the back of his teeth and wrapped it around his head. She held the last, tiny piece as a leash to make sure he didn’t run anywhere. She hauled him over to the man who looked like he was in charge.

“Can I see Adrien, please?” she asked.

The man called Adrien over, most likely to translate, but Adrien bowed to the captain and said something to him in French. The captain smiled at Lotte and patted her head. Adrien took Jaques by the hair and Lotte skipped after them.

In Adrien’s tent, Sanne was sitting on a bench, sipping tea out of a bowl. She saw Jaques tied in a rope and ran to him. Adrien blocked her way but she pushed his hand aside and continued. When the moment was right, she whacked his cheek with the side of her fist.

“What have you done?” she cried. “You’ve debated with my sister for her life? She’s thirteen, Jaques! This was between you and me. I dumped you—and to be honest, for the greater good. So why drag her into all these politics?”

Just then, the captain walked over to the scene. He grabbed Jaques’s hand and dragged him over to the courtroom. Later, Adrien explained that he was going to have a trial and would be sentenced to death on charges of treachery if he lost. Lotte suggested a milder consequence, but Adrien told her that it was not up to him to decide Jaques’s fate.

Sanne and Lotte spent the night at Adrien’s tent. He was on lookout duty, so Lotte and Sanne had the whole tent to themselves. Adrien set some cooking pots and pans out as well as some ingredients, so Sanne prepared a stew while Lotte set the blankets for sleeping, and also tried to scour out some berries for dessert. She found black raspberries, which she laughed over as she plucked them off the bush.

Sanne and Lotte ate heartily at the tent. They blew out the candles and fell asleep soon after. Meanwhile, Adrien went out to look for the captain to let the girls’ parents know where they were and that everything was safe. They even drew detailed pictures of the girls to let them know that they weren’t lying with the help of an artist.

Adrien escorted the girls back to their home the next morning on Estelle. The horse whinnied and licked Lotte’s face as she kissed the horse goodbye. Adrien shook hands with Sanne and embraced Lotte as a sign of friendship. He told them that he wasn’t into emotions, as he grew distant from them when he had to leave his daughter, Abelle. But he told them to send him a letter if they needed anything. He watched them as they entered their tent and wiped the tears and calmed the sobs of their parents. He remembered the heartwarming smile on his Abelle’s face when he returned from training everyday to collect her from the caretaker, the sweet fragrance of French lavender on her skin and clothes. The way she would call for him when he got out of the carriage that took him to and from his camp. More than anything, he wished to be with her. But now, he had found his little Abelle in those two girls. Adrien wiped a tear from his cheek as he remembered the explosion that had taken his daughter’s life, and sat on his horse to ride further off into the distance.

 

THE END