After the Skirmish

She smiled, satisfied, though it was not a particularly happy smile. She grabbed her blanket and cup of tea, now cold. "Come on. Guess we better hurry. I don't want to get you in trouble myself."

"Won't be in trouble, not if we get goin' right away. You just jump up on Willow, here - or let me help you up, an' we'll be right off to the baggage. An' I'll stay with you there, how's that sound?"

She agreed, climbing onto the white mule's back obediently. She looked at Cotton as he walked beside her. "Did I really scream in my sleep last night?"

He nodded. "I was sort of expectin' it. I don't blame you, neither, not after... after what happened. One of me sisters used to get real bad nightmares when she was a kid, an' that was without anythin' happenin' to her. So it stands to reason you'd have nightmares 'bout summat that... that did." He looked up at her. "It's nothin' to be 'shamed of, that. I'm only surprised I ain't had nightmares meself yet."

She grimaced. "I'm sorry. I woke up the captain too, didn't I?"

There was no getting around that. "He understands. Promised me he went right back to sleep afterwards, though. He said he didn't want you to worry about it."

She shuddered. "I am so sorry, Gabe. If I worked for him, I'd be sacked for sure."

He shook his head. "Don't be silly. He didn't turn me off after I was flogged, and that was much worse. He's used to broken nights; he inspects the picquet or the guard most nights when it's our men on duty."

She did not have an answer for that, though she still felt guilty. "Did I hit you?"

"You... you were scared. Terrified. You thought he was coming to get you. You didn't get me face, at least. An' it was only one or two, an' them not real bad." He looked up at her sympathetically. "It's all right, Maggie. I'm stayin' by you no matter what happens, I swear."

She leaned towards him and kissed his cheek. "I hope I didn't hit too hard."

"You didn't. Honest." He smiled at her. "How are you feelin' now? You was all... sort of swimmy-headed, it looked like, when you woke up. Like you wanted to just stay asleep for the week."

She smiled with slight embarrassment. "That would be lovely, wouldn't it? I don't really remember why. It's strange. Usually I always remember things. I can't even remember what day it is. What day is it?"

"It's Friday. I think. I ain't sure any more. Here we are. Lemme find you somewhere you can rest. Unless... d'you want someone to look at them bruises, see if they can do anythin' for 'em? An' did you bang your head, or anythin' like that?"

"I banged my head a few times, but - " She hesitated and shrank away from him slightly, very slightly since she was riding on the back of a mule next to him. "The nuns in Coimbra already... did everything."

"Ah." He let that subject drop. "Here's a wagon anyway. Let me see if'n they've got room for you."

They did. She eased into it and made herself comfortable, padding the side with her blanket. "I'll be all right now. You don't have to stay."

"I'm stayin'." It was a simple statement of fact; she needed him there, even if she couldn't see it. He needed to be near her, at the very least.

"Just so long as you don't get in trouble on account of me."

"I'm Captain Vick'ry's batman, ain't I? Means I'm s'posed to stay with the baggage me own self, but I don't want to, not in the gen'ral way of things, so he lets me leave his things with Jestel and march with the Company. And he knows what happened to you - a bit of it, anyway. He'll know I'm lookin' after you."

Somewhere in the far distance there were church bells ringing. "I think it's Sunday," Maggie said. "Do you know where we're going, what we're doing?"

"From what-all I've heard, we're goin' to take a town called Oporto, or summat like that, that's on the other side of a river. Dunno much else about it." He smiled at her. "How are you doin' now, lass?"

"I'm fine," she replied with a weary smile. "Just tired, that's all, and a headache, and the usual aches and pains. You know. I'll be all right."

"Well, you sleep if'n you need to. I'm goin' to be right here, makin sure you'm all right." It was a lovely day, but Maggie looked as though she could sleep through a thunderstorm.

She smiled again and leaned her head on the wooden trunk beside her, closing her eyes and soon falling asleep.