by Michael Dean
“Then if trust is what you need, trust we must give to you. The time has come for a little clarity.” Argento nodded and stepped a little closer to me.
“What do you mean?”
Argento looked to Elysia and nodded. Elysia approached me and raised her hand over my eyes.
“Close your eyes, Leo, and relax. The time has come for you to learn a little something about yourself…to learn a little something about your enemies.”
I stood there perplexed as she placed her warm hand upon my clammy skin, covering my eyes.
“See what has been hidden from you, Leo,” Argento said.
It took only a second after I closed my eyes behind her hand when suddenly an explosion of colors fired off from under my eyelids. It was as if I was traveling through a rainbow-like tunnel surrounded by all the stars in the universe. Before I knew it, I was taken to another time period upon the earth, another place.
I was hovering over various people from this era. I focused myself, trying to hone in on when and where I was at. Below me I could see various tents. It looked like a military encampment. As I started focus in on the people, I recognized colonial military uniforms. I started to lower to the ground and could see filthy and embattled men cooking over campfires outside of tents with what looked to be eighteenth century type rifles lying around, as well as being toted by the apparent soldiers. It came to me that I was somewhere in eastern America, during the American Revolution.
I was gliding through the soldiers, unnoticed, hovering around them until I was taken into a tent. Once inside, I could tell that I was in some sort of officer's quarters. There was a general of the continental army with long blond hair with his back turned to one soldier standing a few feet behind him while he hunched over a table that appeared to have some maps and other paper upon it. Another soldier stood at the general's side facing the lone standing man. The general appeared perturbed at the soldier behind him. Just then, I was taken inside the body of the lone soldier through his back and suddenly I could see through his eyes and hear what he was hearing.
“She is a spy!” The general smacked his hands upon the table, never turning to look at me—well the soldier I was within.
“Your mindless relationship with her has endangered us all! She was stealing correspondence from your marked case and giving it to Colonel Charles Wallace in the British Army…a soldier I might add, that she has fallen for and is having an affair with! On you! Your love for your wife has blinded you, Leonard. My men are beginning to think that you are a traitor. That you purposely leaked information of our military movements to your wife which was then handed over to the British, all while your wife was being coveted in the enemies bed!”
“Sir,” I—he—said, “my wife has always been a trusted partner, I find this hard to believe. She has always been supportive of me and loyal to our cause. I am in no way a traitor. I will die for those men—for you—to honor those words I speak…to prove my innocence…and hers as well. I do not believe she has been unfaithful to me either.”
The general didn’t speak, only shook his head, still hunched over the table. He fumbled around for a bit, grabbing at a small stack of papers, handing them to the soldier standing at his side.
The soldier walked over and placed them in my—in Leonard’s—hands. I started to see various secret letters that apparently this soldier had indeed possessed at one time. Attached to these correspondence letters were personal letters, written in the hand of a woman named Isabelle. I could physically feel the shock permeate throughout the body of the soldier I was inhabiting as he began to read. I could feel his jealousy rise within him, his disgust, and feelings of confusion and betrayal as he sifted through each of the letters one by one.
The letters confirmed that this Isabella was stealing, then copying the letters for this Colonel Charles Wallace and taking them to him. Throughout the writings, she professed a distain for her husband, Leonard Smithey, for fighting a losing cause and being disloyal to the British Crown. Isabelle talked about how she longed for the war to end, for the British to win. She knew that the fate of her husband might be execution by the British, or at the very least prison for being a traitor should the American cause falter. She mentioned many nights spent with this Colonel Wallace, longing to remain in his arms, in his bed, hoping that her husband would be killed so she could marry him.
I could feel this poor man's heart sink as he released the grip on the letters letting them seep out of his hand and onto the ground.
“Do you believe me now, Captain Smithey?” The general asked.
Leonard didn’t say a word.
“Would you like more proof?”
“What do you mean?” Leonard replied. I could feel the man's heart racing inside of his body.
“My men have been keeping a close eye on Isabelle since we intercepted these letters. At this moment you are close to home, but nonetheless she knows you are away. Charles Wallace is with her…right now. While your daughter sleeps in the next room, your wife is being bedded by another man, a British soldier, in your home, in your very bed. Your wife is sleeping with the enemy. Go see for yourself.”
I could feel the torment inside of Leonard. He turned his head and stared to the front of the tent.
“Better yet, I will have you prove your loyalty. You say you’re still a loyal and obedient soldier. The time has come for you to rectify this situation and your reputation among the men…and to me.” The general kept his back to Leonard still.
“What would you have me do…sir?”
“I would have you do your duties as a soldier. Colonel Charles Wallace is an important leader within the British Army. His death would be a mighty blow dealt to the British. I would have you avenge yourself, this situation, and kill him,” he ordered.
“I will see it done, sir.” Leonard began to walk out of the tent, just before he got outside of it, the general called to him.
“There is just one more thing, Captain, we can’t have traitors getting away with their treason.”
“Sir?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know Leonard. The rules of war apply to all. The sentence for treason is death. You must kill your wife…and your daughter.”
The general slowly turned around to face Leonard. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw who the general was. It was Christian. His English accent was gone. As a matter of fact, his entire voice had changed, but it was him, no doubt. One thing hadn’t changed, though—he reached over and grabbed a very familiar looking walking cane with a shining silver ball on the top as he approached Leonard.
“My wife and my daughter, sir? You want me to murder them…myself? I can understand your reasoning towards my wife, but my daughter? She is a child. She has done nothing. She has no part in this.” I could feel the despair and angst rising within his body over what he was being asked to do.
“We cannot take the chance of this happening again. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree…correct?”
“But sir…”
“But nothing!” The general—well Christian—shouted.
“You must kill this infection yourself. Prove your loyalty, do your duty for our cause, your men…and to me! These are your orders, Captain! Disobey and I will have you court-marshaled and shot. It is up to you. Besides, there are thousands of women out there. Find another one, start another family with a more respectable girl. Not some treacherous whore. What’s it going to be Leonard? Your wife…or your life?” Christian walked up and placed his hand on Leonard’s shoulder.
I felt Leonard’s indecision, his grief, the struggle between what was right and what he must do. He paused for a moment before he muttered, “Yes, sir, I will see it done as well.” He swallowed hard.
“Good!” Christian turned away from him, clutching his cane behind his back with both hands.
“You will get over this in time, Leonard. Loyalty and duty must always outweigh dishonor.”
“Yes, sir.” Leonard muttered again.
�
��Now, to make sure you carry out your mission, a small group of men will set out with you, including myself. Since we are within miles of your home, we should arrive in no time. Let us make haste and rid the world of this pestilence.” Christian changed his more extravagant general’s garb to a more suitable general’s battlefield uniform.
“Clinton,” he said, pointing to the other soldier in the tent, “Go grab ten men to accompany us. Keep quiet as to what the mission entails. Assemble in front of my quarters in ten minutes. After that, we ride.”
“Yes, sir.” The man bowed and shot out of the tent.
At that moment I was taken out of Leonard’s body and hovered slightly above him. It wasn’t long before the small squad of soldiers arrived on horseback. With a command, Christian ordered the group to ride. I could see the reluctance upon Leonard’s face. He was in pure turmoil. He was the last one to ride out, lagging behind the group.
The riders raced through the countryside; I hovered over them for the entirety of the journey. It was like I was attached to this Leonard in some way, even though I was no longer in his body, feeling what he felt. I could sense the tension burning within him the closer they got to the small town he called home.
On the outskirts of the town, they dismounted and hunched down, crouching before they crept towards Leonard’s home. The night was still as the soldiers moved into place around the homes of the area, sneaking with guns drawn the entire time.
“Captain Smithey, to the front.” General Christian, or whatever his name was at this time, called to him in a whisper.
I watched as Leonard reached Christian who was hunkered down underneath a dimly lit window on the side of a small, stone home.
“Look…see for yourself.” Christian pointed up to the window.
In that moment, I was taken back inside the body of Leonard. I was seeing things through his eyes once again. Very slowly he rose up and peeked into the window above him. His eyes peered over the window's edge. He could see a man and a woman lying together in bed. A candle at the bedside barely illuminated an area of the room but kept the couple silhouetted in shadow. The man was on top of the woman, kissing her softly. It was easy to see they were in the throes of passion.
Leonard slumped back down in a rush and closed his eyes. I again felt his jealousy and betrayal overtake him at a greater scale than it did when he was reading the correspondence letters. He was about to cry.
“Pull it together, Captain.” Christian smacked him upside the head which caused Leonard to open his eyes.
“Now you see, boy, you have been betrayed. You must do what you must do. Kill them…kill them all.” As Leonard stared into Christian's eyes, they went completely black. It came to me that Christian was working a mission of his own at this time. He was soul collecting. This whole event, Leonard, his wife, the affair, the treason, reeked of Drift Demon interference. Leonard, maybe even Isabelle and Colonel Wallace, had been set up, led here. Pushed into their desires. I didn’t know whose soul, or souls, were at stake, but someone’s was. The desires of men make it so easy for us.
“You will go inside first. I will arrange the company to close in behind you after you kill Colonel Wallace. Surprise is of the utmost importance here. Take him out, we’ll follow in, then…kill the whore and child. The men are here to back you,” Christian ordered.
Leonard hesitated, I could feel him resisting in this moment.
“Wha-what if I don’t? What if I can’t go through with it?” He stammered.
In a flash, Christian pulled out a small revolver, a weapon not commonly seen during this era, but nonetheless, this was Christian. He cocked it before sticking it under Leonard’s chin. “Then, we go in and do it anyway and kill you in the process.”
Without saying another word, Leonard took a deep breath and crept his way to his front door. Christian waved for the company to approach and surround the house.
Very quietly, Leonard reached up and opened the door. Even the smallest noise seemed amplified as the sound of Leonard’s heart beating echoed throughout the entirety of his nervous body. He got upon his hands and knees and crawled inside the home, beginning the agonizing journey towards the bedroom where the couple were making love. He could hear his wife enjoying the moment and it ate at him as he crawled across the room and a little closer to the bedroom door.
As he scampered across the floor, Leonard made a small mistake in his stealth. His back foot hit a small end table, disrupting the vase perched upon it, causing it to hit the floor in a crash. Quickly, he jumped up and stood around a corner next to the room to hide.
A moment later, the bedroom door crept open very slowly and a figure softly stepped out.
“Hello…Christina, is that you?” A woman’s voice called out.
Then another voice, a male voice with an English accent called to her from behind and she turned to listen, “Let me go out.”
“You cannot, she mustn’t see you. She’ll tell her father a man was here with me.”
“Just move aside and stay in the room until I see that everything is okay.”
“But you’ll frighten Christina if she’s out there.”
“It will be fine, now step back and get dressed.”
The woman stepped aside and a shirtless man with unbuttoned pants emerged, closing the door behind him as he stepped into the dark room. He was brandishing a pistol as his bare feet crept across the hardwood floor. Once he had taken a few steps, he saw where the broken vase was lying shattered. He lifted his weapon and called out.
“I’m an officer in the army.” He didn’t clarify which army, I guess for his own safety. “If there is anyone here, I command you to come forward and show yourself.”
Leonard was peeking around the corner of a wall, only able to hear the officer up to this point. Then suddenly, he came into his view.
The officer saw that the front door was slightly ajar and aimed his pistol out in front of him. “C’mon now, I know someone’s here. Show yourself!”
When the officer got a few steps in front of the hiding Leonard, he stepped out and placed his rifle at the back of the officers head.
“Drop your pistol, sir and identify yourself, officer,” Leonard ordered.
The man raised his arms, allowing the weapon he was holding to dangle from one of his fingers.
“Toss the weapon…sir.” Leonard pushed his weapon harder against the back of the man's head.
The officer carefully tossed it into a corner of the room. “I am a high ranking officer in the British Army. There would be a handsome reward paid to the man that returned me to my company safely.” He tempted Leonard.
“I will ask you again, identify yourself…sir.” Leonard gritted his teeth in fury awaiting the man’s response.
“My name…is Charles Wallace. I am a Colonel in the British Army,” he said with hesitance as his arms remained in the air.
“What are you doing in my home, Colonel?”
“Leonard Smithey,” Colonel Wallace replied.
“That’s right…Captain Leonard Smithey, husband to Isabelle Smithey, father to Christina Smithey. What are you doing in my home, Colonel?” Leonard raised his voice.
“I think we both know what I’m doing here, Captain,” he said with a nervous tone. “Look, we can work something out. No harm will come to you or your family if you let me go. As a matter of fact, a reward can still be in order, a very healthy one, if my safety can be assured. I come from a very wealthy family.”
“Answer me, sir…what are you doing in my home?” Leonard shouted as tears fell from his eyes.
With hesitation, Colonel Wallace answered him, “I-I-I’ve been seeing Isabelle.” The colonel slowly began to turn around as Leonard began to sob.
“Listen, I realize there has been some wrong-doing here. You have the right to be angry, but this has nothing to do with the war. This is between us. Let me go free, and I will speak nothing more of your family, the incident here, nor of the information I’ve intercepted.”
> Colonel Wallace was now facing the gun that was still pointed at him. Leonard never dropped his arm or uncocked the weapon. It was shaking violently in his hands, but still pointed at his intended target.
“I will leave and never will you hear from me again.” Colonel Wallace started to back away.
“Daddy?” A little girl's voice shouted from behind Leonard.
“Christina? Go to your mother…now!” Leonard called back to his daughter.
Suddenly the bedroom door swung open. “Leonard? Oh my God.”
Leonard looked back at his astonished wife while still keeping an eye on the Colonel in front of him, “How could you? How could you? With our daughter here?”
“I’m so sorry.” She whispered to him as her eyes welled up.
“Daddy?” The girl called to him again.
“Sorry? You say that now? You are a disgrace! Go to your mother, Christina, the two of you, get dressed to leave…now!”
“C’mon, child, hurry to me.” Isabelle called to her daughter.
I heard Leonard’s thoughts, he wasn’t going to kill his wife and child. He was going to try somehow to get them out of there. He was even going to let the colonel go. He took his gaze fully off the colonel in front of him to watch his daughter scurry into the bedroom with Isabelle.
In that moment, Colonel Wallace grabbed a hold of Leonard’s rifle with both hands and tried to wrench it from his grasp.
This caused Leonard to tense and when he did the rifle fired, shooting Colonel Wallace in the heart.
In an instant, his body buckled to the floor.
Leonard stood over the top of him, watching him bleed, grasping at his last breaths. Just then, Christian and the company came barging into the house, brandishing their weapons. When they saw Colonel Wallace on the floor they surrounded him.
“Well done, Captain. Nice to see a soldier stay true to obedience.”
Leonard didn’t say a word, only lowering his weapon to his side.
“Now, one more piece of business. Finish the mission, regain your integrity.” Christian pointed to the bedroom door.