Chapter 17

They two ladies quickly got up to follow the captain. He was rushing back towards the command tent. The two couldn't say a word as they followed trying to understand why he was so worked up. The Captain entered the tent and started packing some documents and stuffed them into his saddle bags. Then he glanced at the Major.

"Major your coming with me. Go get the Sargent and tell him to come here." The Captain spoke as he lifted up his saddle bags and carried them out of the tent.

"Yes Sir." The Major replied slowly.

She too left the tent leaving the Lady Mayor alone. She then sighed to herself, "I need to convince them to take me with them. I must know who this Lilly is." She quickly trudged back to her father's mansion.

After a while the Sargent returned to where the Captain was getting several soldiers together. They were packing up a small amount of supplies for the trip and the Captain was rushing about getting them to hurry.

"Sir." The Sargent called out to the Captain. "What's going on?"

The Captain, who had now gotten his armor on, paused momentarily to speak to the Sargent.

"I am returning to base with fifty men. Your to be in charge of the town in my absence. As usual if the orcs attack send word immediately and don't give up the town until it's absolutely required." The Captain said immediately getting back to work.

As the Captain turned to walk away the Sargent called out. "What is the reason for the sudden departure?"

The Captain didn't even turn around but called out, "Lilly is back!"

"Ah, I understand now." The Sargent said aloud and nodded to himself.

The Major was standing behind the Sargent and she couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked him, "Who is this woman Lilly? Is she someone important?"

The Sargent chuckled. "The Captain never told you about her?"

"No." The Major answered sullenly.

"Hmm, that's odd." The Sargent said stroking his chin.

At that moment the Lady Mayor came up to them. She was wearing clothing suitable to travel and a house servant was just pulling up in a wooden cart.

"Major, tell the Captain I'm coming too. Since you're going to a large town, I convinced my father to let me go. This is a good chance to open a new trade route between the two towns." The Lady Mayor said, but it was clear to the Sargent that she had ulterior reasons.

"All I can say," The Sargent continued, "Is that Lilly is the most important person in this world to the Captain."

The two women glanced at each other with worried looks. Clearly, as the Sargent thought, they fancied the Captain. As difficult and awkward as the was Captain. The Sargent sighed inwardly wishing he had half the luck the Captain did.

"But who is she really?" The Major persisted.

The Sargent threw up his hands giving a shrug. "You'll see when you get there."

Then before either of the two could ask him any more questions, the Sargent walked away towards the command tent. Leaving the two frustrated women behind too wonder at who the mystery woman was.

The Captain was tightening the final parts to his horse's saddle when the two women finally found him. He was at the front of a group of fifty soldiers that were also reading to mount their horses. He barely glanced at their arrival.

"Major your horse is already ready." The Captain nodded behind him at her horse. Then he yelled out at the soldiers behind them. "Mount up men." With a tight tug he tightened the last strap under his horses' stomach.

"I wish to go as well, if that's alright with you?" The Lady Mayor chimed in. "I am ready to leave right now."

"That's fine." The Captain said looking towards her cart. "Tell your driver to be quick but careful. I don't want to be held up by a broken wheel."

"I will." The Lady said turning to hurry back to the cart.

Soon everyone was mounted up and ridding their way out of the town. As soon as they left the town gate the Captain ordered the troop to move at double time. Which was like a trot rather than the horses normal walking speed. In no time they had entered the woods past the farmlands.

The Major was following behind the Captain trying to find another chance to ask him once more about Lilly. However, every time she pulled her horse up near the Captain his facial expression said it all.

He was smiling. Not like the soft smile he would get when talking to anyone. Nor the sinister smile he had when fighting or cutting training. This was something more. It was a faraway smile that radiated pure excitement and love.

The Majors heart clinched every time she glimpsed it. She couldn't understand it, what had this woman, Lilly, done to harbor this kind of wanting desire in the Captains heart?

The sun had just past noon when they finally crossed over the big stream. If they continued at this pass, they would arrive just before sundown. The whole time they were crossing the stream the Captain was passing back and forth on his horse encouraging everyone to hurry carefully across.

He even carried the Lady Mayor on his horse to speed up the carts crossing. She clung on to his middle while looking at the Major with a victorious smirk. The Major held a blank expression pretending not to care but was actually jealous.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and they actually made better time than everyone anticipated. When the troop emerged from the forest, they doubled their pace again. The Captain didn't even give the order, he subconsciously sped up and several of the veteran soldiers that understood their captain's actions gave the command to speed up.

The suns golden head was falling low now. It was soon resting on the green pillow of the earths horizon by the time they spotted the town in the distance. The Captain spurred his horse ahead of the rest and entered the town.

They weren't held up by the town guard, as the Mustang Banner was well known to this town. If it weren't for the amount of people in the marketplace shopping for food for their dinner, they would not have been able to catch up with the Captain. Soon they arrived at the military base and the Captain didn't even take his horse to the stable. He just hopped off and started walking quickly, immediately towards the building the General was in.

The Major and Lady Mayor also quickly followed the Captain best they could. If the Major hadn't known where she was heading, they would have lost him in the base. The buildings here were not uniformly lauded out and it was more like a maze than barracks.

As the Captain got closer to the Generals quarters, he could feel his heart pounding. It had almost been a full year since he had last seen her. He had been unable to contact her or know of here whereabouts. Though he had a guess of where, he wasn't told.

The Generals quarters was now right in front of him. He hadn't felt this anxious or worried since he had been in the death battle with Helgrath.

"Lilly!" He called out loudly, well before he had even reached the buildings porch. "Lilly!"

The two women had just rounded the last building when the Captain started calling out. He was just about to open the door when it suddenly swung open inwards. A tinny white figure bolted out of the building and tackled the Captain.

"Daddy!" Lilly shrieked grabbing her father's legs.

"Oh, Lilly! It's so good to see you!" The said dropping to his knees and wrapping his big arms around his little daughters' body.

"I missed you daddy!" Lilly said, her smile was as big as the sun and just as bright.

"I missed you too sweetie!" The Captain sobbed holding back his emotions. He held her back for a moment and looked her over. "You're so big now! What have you been eating? You'll be as big as me in no time."

Lilly giggled and the two started talking about how the other had been. Seeing this touching reunion of father and daughter the Lady Mayor wiped away a tear from one eye. The Major sighed in relief seeing that Lilly was a little girl.

Suddenly, she realized something. If the Captain had a daughter, then he must have had a wife! Just as she thought of this another person stepped in the doorway.

It was a woman slightly older than herself, but she was gorgeous. With long brown hair tied up in the latest fashion and a beautiful pale blue dress. Her expression, though beautiful, was stern and seemed displeased looking at the Captain.

"Your back and late." She spoke to the Captain in a blank voice. "Come inside. We need to talk."

She did not look happy as the Major or Lady had expected. They glanced at each other, and instinctively knew something was wrong.

"Yes, I understand." The Captain said standing up. He saw the two women watching them from behind. "Lilly can you go talk to the Major and Lady over there. Your mommy and I are going to have a conversation inside, ok?"

"Oh, ok." The little Lilly said slightly disappointed.

The Captain leaned down to whisper in Lilly's ear, "If you ask the Major nicely, she might let you hold her sword."

Lilly's eyes lit up and she walked over to the two women shyly. The Captain smiled seeing her go, then he turned back to his ex-wife and his smile faltered. Tonight, would be a long night.