All is Fair in Love and War

Chapter 23

The commander had ridden beside Will and Seline for the entire trip. Once again the ride was silent. Will just stared off into space and let his horse follow the one in front of him. Seline was trying to think of some way to make the Commander want to move on, but he seemed quite content to stay at the back of the line with them and continue his silence. Again they walked on for the entire day without a break. Once they reached the training grounds the Commander rode ahead to his tent. Like the day before, it had arrived before him with the forward troops and was ready and waiting for him. Since the men at the front of the line had set it up for him as soon as they arrived. The Commander stayed on his horse and turned just before he got to his tent. He looked at all the men passing by him and said, " Be sure to pick a good dry spot to pitch your tents we will be here for a few weeks while we train. It may rain and the storms here can bring lots of running water in the area. Stay away from spots beside the creek. Be sure to bed down early tonight we start training at first light tomorrow." with that he dismounted, handed the reins of his horse to a soldier walking by and walked into his tent.

Will and Seline continued to the back of the camp again. The further away from the commander and the cook wagon the less chance of issues. Seline wanted to camp near the woods again. It was easier for her to know when there were less men in the woods and easier to find times when she would have privacy to go. She also wanted to use the rope from Will's saddle to make a laundry line and wash their uniforms, but since no one else in camp was doing that Will did not want to draw attention to them by being the only ones. He figured at some point some of the other soldiers would start but he did not want to be the first ones.

They built their own cook fire though and were able to boil water and use some of the provisions that Will's mother had sent with him to make tea and oatmeal. It was not very flavorful as they did not have any spices, but it was filling and they did not have to wait in line for it. Will had noticed a couple of times as they were setting up the camp that some of Seline's hair had fallen out from under the cap. They were going to be training doing hand to hand combat tomorrow morning. If her hair came down from under that cap it would be a give away for sure that she was a girl. He hated to ask her, but without a plan to get her out of camp before tomorrow moring, there was only one thing to do about her hair.

Will wanted to wait until they were almost ready for bed in the tent before bringing it up. However, as soon as they climbed in the tent and closed the flaps, Seline turned suddenly with his hunting knife in her hand. "I hate to ask you this, I have been dreading it all day, but I need you to cut my hair. It is not going to stay up in this hat tomorrow and I know there is no way that I will be able to leave without having them come after me for being a deserter." Will was shocked that she would ask, but took the knife from her and motioned for her to turn around. She sat with her back to him. "Are you sure you want me to do this?" Will reaffirmed. "Yes. Just do it." Seline shut her eyes. She was wringing her hands, but tried to keep very still. Will grabbed a large chunk of hair and with the knife cut it off just at the nap of her neck. He saw her wince as he did. Will did the same until the rest of her hair was the same length. When he was done she turned around and looked at him. Her once long and beautiful gold hair fell in her face. She tucked the stray hair behind her ear to keep it out of her eyes. She was still the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen even with her short hair. She raised her other hand to feel how short her hair now was. Her eyes then fell on the pile of hair that lay on the floor by Will's knee. Seline suddenly burst into silent tears. Will saw the pain on her face and reached our to her. She leaned forward into him. Will held her in his arms for a moment and then pushed her back away from his body. He pushed her hair back away from her face. "Hey, It doesn't matter to me if you have long hair, short hair, or no hair at all. I still love you and I think that you are the most beautiful woman in the world." Seline smiled through the tears at him. Will bent down and kissed her on the lips. His hand on her cheek slid back into her hair pushing back a stray lock that had freed itself and fallen into her face. Seline wrapped her arms around his neck and they pulled each other in closer. Will pulled away suddenly and said, "I will be right back." Will grabbed up the hair that he had just cut from Seline's head and quickly walked out of the tent. As he went he grabbed the latrine shovel next to the tent and walked into the woods. He dug a hole and burried the hair. Will turned and went back to the tent. Leaving the shovel outside where he had found it, he went back in the tent and without saying a word grabbed Seline and picked up where he left off.