Avelãs - 18th May, Night.

The day finally over, George sat wrapped in the cloak under a tree in a small clearing, leaning on Firebird's warm flank. He decided it was best if he spent the night as far away from other men as possible, though of course, an army camp didn't allow much space for privacy. At least he was going to sleep in fresh air and didn't have to share the cramped room in headquarters with Sanders.

With Fandorin asleep Widmayer stole away into the darkness. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair and left him somewhat more chilled.

It took a good portion of the walk for the young lady to cross from the river, towards the army's camp. She walked with a purpose, a step slightly less light, but with a gait easy on the grasslands that she crossed. It was dark, so that she had tripped once and pursed her lips in pain another time that her toe struck right upon a sharp edged stone.

She lifted her skirts a bit, for she needn't have them drag and catch on bushes to tear and carry a damage improper of a girl. She caught little attention of the men, though she was halted and questioned by one. She answered gently, softly and with a charm before she was let to continue. There was no danger of a Portuguese girl, for there weren't unknown women to come and walk as followers to the army, to earn little penny and find themselves a man.

Further in she came to see a soldier, red coated and fair, and approached him with a look of one seeking something dearly important.

The man looked up, smiling as he saw a slim looking girl walking towards him with a purpose.

"Excuse me. Could you... help me, please." She spoke in an equally hushed and gentle voice. "I am looking for someone.." She spoke, her hands crossed at the front of her dress, letting the skirts go for the moment, the fabric draping lovingly down from her waist. She sensed he might be disappointed, for the smile showed the gladness of the man to see a girl.

"He's an officer.His name is Hunter.. I think..he's a captain. Would you know where he is? Please, I would be very grateful to you."

Damn the man for a lucky bastard. Hunter was a new arrival, but his strange habits made him rather recognizable. With a sigh, the soldier pointed at a silhouette in the darkness. 'See that tree, miss? You'll find him there.'

"Thank you, good man!" She bowed her head a little, smiled a charming smile at the good samaritan and turned on her heel. With a hand she collected some of her skirts so that she would not step on one and that they would keep at the front, from the ground and began her way back into the darkness, relieved and glad that Hunter hadn't chosen an officer's busy area as his place of rest.

She was closer now, the darkness gently enveloping her figure and colouring her face dark, casting deep shades upon the fair cheeks. Her hair was loose about her shoulders and a breeze played with their softness, letting some cascade down her back and somewhat bare shoulders.

She slipped her other hand under the layers of cloth into a pocket that women had neatly crafted into their skirts - useful and unseen and approached the man more silently than before.

George shifted, feeling uncomfortable. Something was wrong. Perhaps, Wellesley still had his spies following him. He moved away from the tree, preparing to lie down to sleep.

She came behind the man just as he was shifting, and wrapped an arm around him, while the other pressed the cold blade against his neck swiftly. "Do not move." She spoke in her high and soft voice, her breath coming against the chilled ear to which her face was so close. If anyone was to see from afar, and see in that dark, may have thought it a hug of joy, rather than that of a threat of death.

George stilled, as the cold steel pressed against his throat. A woman?
'What do you want, dear?' He asked light-heartedly.

"I want answers. " She spoke, and though there was an edge in her voice, it retained some of its softness and peak. "I know who you are." She added forwardly, her hand tightening it's grip. "Do not try anything, or you shall regret it." She added, as if feeling that the man could attempt it soon.

'I can't give you any answers, when I don't know what the questions are.' George slanted a gaze at Firebird: she had pricked up her ears at the disturbance. Good. 'Regret it? How can I? Surely to die in woman's embrace is every man's wish.'

"Silence." She spoke for she risked much in standing in idle conversation rather than in seeking the truth. "Speak only once I shall tell you to." And so the cool blade pressed harder to his neck as if to press a point home. "Answer truthfully." She added, leaving no doubt that she would know.

" What was your business in Coimbra?" Perhaps to start with things she already knew, and then further her questions to the gray areas of her knowledge, till the later ones of no knowledge at all.

'Oh, dear, you are not very well informed for a spy, are you? If you know who I am than you know I was there with the army. It'd be strange if I was anywhere else.' George felt his skin strain under the knife. Perhaps, that would give him a chance.

".. I do not mean of your cover." She spoke clearly and harshly. "I speak of your other intentions..the ones your army knows not off!" She adjusted her grip very slightly. "You've met two men. ..Need I go further?"

'I've met many men, dear. I'll also tell you one thing. The army certaintly does not know one thing about me....,' with that George jerked his head sharply forward and to the side, the knife making cutting into his skin.

She's had the experience with spies, that, were their situations bleak, an attempt to end their existence wasn't unthinkable. Even so she'd had a moment before she reacted by jerking the knife from the flesh, not to grant the man his wish to become silent for good. "Halt!.." She said in a hushed cry.

There it was, a slight jerk of the hand, pulling the knife some millimetres away from his now bleeding neck. He grabbed her hand, barking an order at Firebird, who stood up obediently, creating enough noise for him to pull the girl forward over his shoulder.

She uttered a muffled cry, not loud enough that any breeze could carry it a great distance. With a cushioned thud she landed in a heap of cloth and limb on her back , facing the man standing above her. She tried turning and nearly entangled herself in her own dress. The hand which had earlier held her knife had released it, just so that it fell in the reach of her other, still free. And the one was now reaching for it.

George grabbed the girl's wrists and pulled her up onto her feet roughly. They were now face to face, and even the darkness did not stop George from recognising her.
'Widmayer?!' Hissed George in an astonished breath. 'What the hell are you doing here?! How did you even get into the camp?!'

His eyes narrowed sharply on Hunter. He should've known better but to think an interrogation with this man would've been easy. Should have anticipated something of the sort and not thought that the man was actually trying to kill himself. He pulled on his hands with a sharp set of jerks. "..For a spy, I thought you'd have seen the obvious and... easiest." He answered and glanced at his dress.

"... Now that.." Marvelous,.. his cover had been lost to the wind in a matter of moments. And it wasn't any use to pretend that he was not whom Hunter had recognised him for.

George held onto the lad's wrists firmly. 'Are you bloody crazy?!' He barked at him. 'What were you thinking?!'

It had not been his original intention to remain with the army overnight, though the notion of uninterrupted rest had grown from mere temptation to reality. Calderón had taken care to choose a spot on the edge of the encampment, where he was least likely to be tripped over or stepped on, and set about the business of settling in for the night.

But of course there was never a respite from interruptions. An argument, at first quiet and then louder, stirred him where he had laid down. The scout sat up in time to see two people, one a woman, not too far off. Theirs was the argument and it looked decidedly unhappy.

Closer scrutiny revealed the man to be the same officer who had escorted him to Colonel Edrington's tent. Of all the possible... this one was definitely unusual. Calderón's opinion of him was turning less favourable each time they encountered each other.

"What goes on here?" The scout demanded, having padded silently toward the pair.

Josef was about to answer Hunter's first questions when he caught something with the corner of his eye. It took him a moment to see how they were standing and what it could quickly mean, if he were not to act soon.

He nudged his skirts over the knife that lay discarted on the floor, and about when Calderon spoke, he leaned in against Hunter - which he had to gather a good portion of will to do - placed a kiss of a girl that had been upset but was just now forgiving, on the man's lips to cover his front and to be able to whisper to him. And so then with his own lips barely moving uttered a simple hushed :"..button it up..." Before pulling away with a distraught look on his face.

Her voice was again gentle, soft if a bit shaken. " He sends me home.." He wasn't sure who the man was, but an accented English was a safe bet. "My beloved." Such a gentle anguished gaze. "I refuse, for I love him. " A girl who was warned of coming to the army for there are no good men within it, not for a lass growing up to be a proper woman. "Please tell him that he is in the wrong!"

For the first time in his life, Hunter froze. He could not believe what Widmayer just did or said. But thankfully the soldier's training, for once in his life, kicked in and he buttoned up his jacker numbly to hide the blood on his neck out of sight.

He frowned at the girl, somehow uneasy about her. Something wasn't right with the scene the two presented.

"Your argument is not mine," Calderón said in Portuguese. In truth he had only approached the pair because of the manner in which the man had handled his companion. That was something he had never thought highly of.

The scout glanced at the officer, trying to hide his scorn. "It is not good manners to behave in such a way, however."