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Arthur Kirkland walked into the room of generals and sat down at the center table. He was the one in charge here. The ageless general with centuries of experience would lead the British Empire to victory and quell this tiresome uprising. Every man in the room saluted to him and he nodded his head acknowledging them. General William Howe said “Sir, we have decided that the best way to defeat the rebels would be to send a small amount of our forces to battle the continentals directly and use the rest to attack them on their flank”.
The General nodded approvingly and said “Your plan seems to be sound, Howe. I just have a piece of information that you should distribute the troops. There might be a young girl on the battlefield. Her name is Amelia Kirkland. She has blue eyes, blond hair, and looks to be about four and ten years old. If they find her or someone who looks like her, bring them to me immediately. If any soldier is found hurting a girl meeting that description, I will have words with them”.
With that the General left the room and the atmosphere of animosity within the tent dissipated. Howe dismissed the lower ranking men and the meeting ended.
The men meandered around the camp, bustling with anticipation before the battle wondering who Amelia Kirkland was.
“Maybe she’s his wife? With the way he described her, he sounds like he wants her in some form.”
“No. She’s definitely his niece, cousin or sister. There’s no possibility that Lord Kirkland would marry a girl who would be so uncouth as to join those damned rebels. But I wonder what would possess a girl of such good breeding and nobility to support the dirty farmers in their foolish rebellion.”
“What man would risk his military reputation for a cousin? She’s a niece or sister and with how close the Kirklands are to the royals, she might end up marrying the crown prince”.
“Not if she has the family eyebrows. Those things would scare off even a poor man regardless of her likely large dowry”
“I saw her once at a ball hosted by the king, she looks like the General but she doesn’t have his eyebrows. I bet she’s a spoiled child who thought that running away to the New World would take away her obligations. That’s all the girls these days think about.”
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As she ran through the field thankful that she wore her trousers instead of a dress, she looked around at the soldiers injured or dying on the ground. They were dying for her. For America. She turned around and heard someone cry out. Amelia ran toward the figure and knelt on the ground next to them. She looked over the man and saw the wound on his knee gushing blood. Amelia got out her bandages and started wrapping the wound. The soldier was still awake but looked close to passing out.
He said, “Girl, get out of here. You’re gonna get hurt. I can see another line of soldiers coming and they’ll be worse to you than me. We all know what they do to pretty girls that are your age. Take this letter, I want it sent to my wife and daughter. She looks a lot like you actually.”
The husband fumbled around in his jacket and got out the letter. He sighed in relief that nothing had gotten on the words. Amelia took the letter and put it in her bag before getting out more medical tools.
“No, She said adamantly, “I will not leave you here. I will carry or drag you if necessary but I will get you back to your daughter. Do you understand?”
He looked at her pityingly and didn’t seem willing to fight anymore, so he nodded. Amelia sat the man up and slowly stood with the soldier’s arm around her shoulders. While a normal girl would not have been able to support the man’s weight for extended periods of time, Amelia’s strength had been growing steadily as her people believed more in the ideals that they were fighting for. They took a few steps and stopped to let the man get his breath back. Then, Amelia looked back to see how close the British troops were and saw something that made her freeze
“Wait!” a familiar voice yelled. “Howe, do not press the attack. Keep your soldiers in their place. I will take to the field. If the rebels begin to retreat, let them. We shall be gentlemen and let those fools surrender when they realize the treason that they are participating in.”
Amelia was stuck. She couldn’t move her legs and as Father General Kirkland walked closer to her and her soldier, she felt like she was a young child again, waiting for Father to punish her for breaking the rules. She was scared and her soldier had passed out. She needed to move in order to save him but she could not do anything.
Amelia knew that when if her Father Colonizer found her, that she wouldn’t be able to see her beloved shores for…a long time. Her people would be crushed by even more restrictions and those who supported her independence would be executed. But no treatment would be worse than that which would be faced by her dear leader. He would be tortured to root out any remaining rebel forces and once all rebellion was snuffed out with extreme prejudice, her Would-be-King will be executed and she will watch.
And then there will be one. The one who started it all. The one who wanted freedom will not be tortured or executed. When she was previously treated as a man ought to treat his only child, his daughter, she would instead be kept. Like property. He would make sure that she was always watched, always acting properly, always showing respect to those oppressing her people, and always kept faraway from those who he thought could “corrupt” her again.
For if he could not have her as a daughter, he would have her as an object.
As nothing more than HIS.
Amelia didn’t realize how close he was to where she was standing until he lifted his musket and fired. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped that the man’s letter wasn't stained by her blood. Blood dripped down her arm and Amelia wondered why nothing hurt. She opened her eyes and her face turned a color close to white. Her soldier was dead, a bullet wound to the head and he was still slumped on her shoulders. Her jaw and the man dropped.
Amelia bent over and started to retch as tears streamed down her face. Amelia knew that she shouldn’t have done that. The Continental Army was already lacking funds and the rations distributed to people were decreasing. She had tried multiple times to convince the General to decrease the amount of food she was given but he refused on account of her being “a growing child who cannot afford to miss meals”. He refused to listen when she reminded him that she was not a child as she was nearly 200 years old, that she did not grow according to the amount of food she is given, nor can she even permanently die from starvation.
Once Amelia was finished vomiting, she was grasped around the waist by strong arms and began to be dragged towards the British camp. She dug her heels in and elbowed her captor in the stomach. Despite her efforts, the man was able to grab her forearm, turn her around, and force her to look him in the eyes. Arthur’s eyes were normally a forest green but at that moment, they looked dark enough to be black.
“You idiotic child! Treason is not a game! Your insolence is killing people and you won’t even succeed” He shouted. He took a deep breath and sighed. “If you stop this folly now, I might be able to get you a small amount of mercy despite your treacherous behavior”
Amelia flinched and wiped the tears off her face. She gritted her teeth in anger and spoke quietly “I am not yours. I am a free country and my people deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The only treacherous behavior happening is the tyranny that you are subjecting my people to! The only person who could be blamed for my people’s death is you!”
Arthur tightened his grip and started to drag her again. He smiled as he said “Oh, Pet. You are my daughter and you will do as I wish. We are going home and you won’t see this land until I know you are obedient. Now, we are going to go to my cabin where you will get dressed in proper clothing and we will set sail. Perhaps I will move our household into the palace where you will be under close scrutiny. And now that I think about it, I’ll betroth you to one of the princes to ensure your loyalty!”
Amelia got her feet under her and kicked Arthur’s left knee where an old wound from the Seven Years War would flare up in hot and humid weather (which coincidentally was the weather at the time). Arthur yelled and fell to the ground in pain. In his moment of weakness, he accidentally loosened his grip enough for Amelia to wrench her arm out of his grip and start running. The sound of the battlefield was getting louder with the sound of horses running towards Arthur.
She ran and ran until she felt a pair of hands on her waist and Amelia panicked. She screamed and kicked. She was lifted onto horseback and put in front of a familiar figure. George Washington yelled, “Do not ever do that again! Allowing yourself to be near him is a recipe for disaster! He could have hurt you or worse!”. Even though she was being scolded, Amelia relaxed knowing that she was safe with her Leader, her true Father. The one that she chose.
The pair rode back to the American encampment in silence. Washington helped her off the horse and they trekked back to the tent where his Aide-De-Camps worked. They walked in and the aids saluted quickly to Washington with a quiet “Your Excellency” before returning to their work. He escorted Amelia to his study where they sat down at his desk and he put his head into his hands.
George looked exhausted and quietly said “You will be the death of me, America. If you are captured by him, this revolution would be over before it could truly start. Please, you are not safe in this camp. Even when we are not faced with the British, you are still in danger. You are a young woman in a camp full of angry men. I do not wish for you to be violated. You should shelter with Congress in Philadelphia or I could send you to Mount Vernon to be with Martha. Anywhere else would be better than on a battlefield.”
Amelia felt conflicted, she wanted to fight for her freedom but she knew that her presence near the fighting would distract Washington from being the best general he could be. America stood up, put her hand on the soldier, and said, “I will go shelter in Philadelphia or any city that you deem fit as long as I am permitted to work with your intelligence teams. None of the soldiers in those cities will expect a young girl to be a spy and then I can still contribute. I’m fighting for liberty too. Let me help”.
He lifted his head out of his hands and sighed, “If I let you do this, there will be conditions. You will send direct communications to me or my Aids no less than once a month assuming there is no imminent threat to your safety. You will not be involved with any missions that have even a chance of Kirkland’s presence. If you are in a city that is invaded or that I feel is too close to the fighting, I will have you immediately extracted regardless of your progress”.
Amelia smiled, “Thank you…Dad”.