Rebel-Yankee Love

[PresidentDavid]

[size="5"][b]The First Regiment[/b][/size]

Private Johnathan Leblanc sat steady on his horse as he and his regiment approached Goodwell, [s]Oklahoma[/s] Texas. The moon was high in the sky while the sun was now on the other side of the planet. It was about midnight, maybe a little later. Have you ever ridden a horse while on a highway? It takes the fun out of riding the horse. John and his regiment were taking a straight, seven mile journey on highway-54 from Texhoma to Goodwell. There were reports of disturbances in the small town, so General Worth decided to send the First Regiment to see what all the commotion was about. Even though the Oklahoma Panhandle was now part of Texas, people would probably know them as foreigners until they earned their respect.

[img]http://www.hyattgunstore.com/images/P/main-3034.jpg[/img]

"Boys I say we high tail it from this point here. General Worth said they were getting a lot of calls from these Yankees about some violence... Plus I want to be back in Texhoma for lunch tomorrow. Think y'all can get your little ponies to sprint half a mile?" a few of the men chuckled as the head of their regiment stormed off. All of the men followed with their 30-30 Winchester Rifles on their backs. Private Leblanc was in the far back, though his horse was more then capable of bringing the young man to his destination considering he was a bit lighter then most of the men. The horse's hooves clattered against the asphalt of the black road as they stormed towards the city. Johnathan was the first to smell smoke, though he didn't say anything. It was when they got close that they saw a few buildings burned and one still on fire.

The regiment kept going towards the small town of Goodwell and once they could see civilians they noticed the masked strangers chasing some of them down. From nearly 200 yards away, the Regiment leader aimed his rifle, while on horseback, and fired. One of the masked men fell face-first onto the unforgiving road, hopefully breaking his nose - thought with a bullet in his back that is probably the least of his problems. The rest of the soldiers pulled out their rifles as well but waited until they were much closer. The men began splitting off into three groups as a few of them drew swords. The masked men noticed the uniformed soldiers on horseback and quickly lost hope of chasing down and terrorizing some of the other residents of the town. Many of them began to run, those that weren't shot of course.

Johnathan watched as most of his regiment rode around and shot down armed bandits terrorizing a small town. He could hear muffled screams coming from his left. They sounded distant but didn't make an echo so he decided to go check it out. Red embers of ash fell onto Private Leblanc's uniform as the screams grew closer and closer, but just as muffled. John continued to go down the main street of the town until he was nearly to the other side which was when he saw a red-scarlet haired girl tied to a support beam in front of a little shop. She struggled vigorously as three masked men taunted her, "Well lookie here Jimmeh'! We got ourselves a little treat here don't ya' think?" Her ankles were tied on the pole, above the floor so she was elevated about one foot above the ground. Though the girl was about 5 foot three so it made her eye level with them. Her hands were tied behind her back and a rag was tied around her head, covering her mouth. "Well Franky I tell 'ou what, with all the jewelry on her I bet we could buy enough whiskey to satisfy them Frenchmen that invaded New Orleans!" One of the masked men laughed and walked around the scarlet-haired girl, "Meh Jimmeh you know what I think? I think it would be just a waste to leave her tied up here don't you think?"

"Heh, well ain't that so, I was just about to say the same thing Franky!" Now that John was closer he could see the yellow masks the men had on. They looked liked troll faces, except they were a wheat-yellow. "Well how about you darlin? You want to have a little fun, huh?" he raised his hand to touch her face but froze when he heard a [i]click[/i]. The three men looked at Johnathan as he held his revolver pointed directly at the head of the man about to touch the girl. "Howdy.. Seems you are given' this girl here a little trouble." One of the men took one step forward but Johnathan quickly shook his head, "I would advise that you do not take another step partner..."
"Well now Franky it seems we got us some type of cowboy here!" the man, or "Jimmeh", stepped forward. John quickly aimed shot "Jimmeh" directly between the eyes as the other men jumped back. "I warned 'em... Now I think the girl here would oblige to you putting her things right there on the ground." Johnathan looked over to the girl and said, "Would you oblige to that ma'am?" the girl vigorously nodded.

"Awright cowboy.. I'm going nice and slow now.. No need to use that there pistol again."
"I ain't a cowboy, partner." The man chuckled as he dropped a necklace and a few cheap rings by the girls feet, "Oh really? Well then who the hell are you?" Johnathan cocked his pistol back again, "I am Private Johnathan Leblanc of the Texas First Calvary Regiment... Mister, I'm running out of reasons not to shoot you. I advise you run off to where you came from, I'll be sure your.. 'buddeh' get's buried." The man hysterically laughed and spit on his dead friend.
"I'll be seeing you around Private Leblanc."

Edited January 16, 2012 by PresidentDavid

[PresidentDavid]

Johnathan waited until the men staggered far enough away to dismount his horse. He pulled out his pocket knife and went behind the scarlet-haired girl, cutting the ropes that bound her ankles and her wrists. She then fell to her knees and removed the gag from around her head, "Th- thank you" she managed to say among a series of coughs. A cool breeze rolled in as he put out his hand to help her up, "Are you okay ma'am?" The girl didn't grab John's hand, she just backed up a little and looked at the uniformed boy, "Where are you from?" she said skeptically, "I am from Texas ma'am."

She darted off from where she was though John quickly grabbed her by the back of your shirt, "Girl are you crazy? You want to get tied up again?" he hung on to the back of her shirt while he leaned over and grabbed her things, putting them in her hands, "Now I'll bring you back to your home so no one tries to mangle with you again. I ain't gonna hurt you." She constantly shoved and fought back with Johnathan, who was three times stronger then her, "I don't need no soldier bringing me home like I'm a carton of of milk" she jerked again, "I can manage for myself." He ignored her and eventually forced her to climb on top of the horse which he then climbed on after.

The gallops of the horse on the black asphalt echoed through the desolate main street as he made his way back towards where his regiment had been fighting. "Now where do you live ma'am?" she held on to the saddle for life, not wanting to put her arms around the young man's lower chest, "It's the blue plantation house right outside of town..." John sighed as his hose peacefully ran along. He reloaded his pistol once they approached the large plantation house which didn't have any of it's lights on, "You sure you live here ma'am?" the girl nodded as John helped her down from the horse. He held her gently by the arm as he brought her to the door. He knocked on the old oak doors with power, "Hello?" he could hear slow foot steps moving through the house and eventually in front of the door, "Who is it?" an older voice said, "I have come to return your daughter from the town." An older man, probably in his later 30s, swung the door open and embraced his daughter, "Where the hell were you Sophie! Agh.. I can embrace you and I could smack you at the same time." Once the man stopped hugging her he let go and stood back up straight.

[img]http://www.house.state.tx.us/_images/texas-state-flag.jpg[/img]

His attention was now on the uniformed boy in front of him, "Thank you for your returning her back safely..." the man awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "We thought she was in her room but I suppose she snuck out [i]again[/i]. Would you like to join us for super, soldier?"Sophie crossed her arms in protest. Johnathan was tempted since all he had eaten was canned yams and chicken for the past week, "I suppose I could come in for a minute sir. I need to talk to you and your family about something, if I may." The older man nodded. Johnathan entered the home. It was beautiful on the inside. There was a grand hallway with the floor made of marble. Though you could tell that it wasn't a new building, it had been there for a long time.

John followed what seemed to be the girl's, or Sophie's, father to a decorated dinning room. Inside were a few other boys and girls mostly younger than Sophie herself, and her mother. However it seemed she had an older sister or two. Sophie's mother, who was sitting at the table, quickly looked up, "Have we done somethin' wrong?" the man shook his head and signaled for her to sit back down, "No honey, he is in the military. I suppose he came to help with the troubles in town?"

Johnathan took a seat, "Yes sir. I belong to the First Regiment of the Texas Cavalry. We came in from Texhoma." Everyone at the table, including Sophie, looked at him funny, "Are you a cowboy mister?" sad one of the younger boys. One of his sisters smacked him in the back of the head in a sisterly way, "No you dumb. He's an army man."
"Oh.." said the little boy disappointingly.

"What is the Texas Cavalry doing here Mister..."
"Leblanc. Private Leblanc... My regiment came here to help the town with what seems to be some violent troubles and also to inform y'all of some... recent events." The father sat forward and folded his hands, "What kind of 'events' are you talking about, Private?"
Johnathan sighed and took a sip of water from what he hoped was his glass, "You are on Texas soil right now sir. The Oklahoma Panhandle has been annexed by The Republic of Texas. " They all just stared at John for a moment, probably taking in the fact that they switched three different governments in the matter of a week. "I thought the cavalry was like a 1800s thing." muttered Sophie. Everyone continued to look at John who quickly removed his hat, remembering he had it on top of his head and that he was in front of ladies, "The Texas Cavalry is a Special Forces segment of the National Guard. Our mission is to protect the people of Texas and maintain Law and Order. Since this is such a small town and we were so close, we were deployed here."

"No disrespect, Private, but you seem a little young to be in the military.." said the mother. John heard that a lot,
"I am sixteen ma'am. You must be 17 to join the Texas armed forces, however you can join the National Guard at 16 with the permission of your parents. But that is enough about me, I just wanted to let y'all know about the current situation. Tomorrow, if you would be so kind as to come to the church, we will address y'all in more detail on what's going on..." the table was mostly quiet so Johnathan supposed he had said what he needed to say. He pulled out a neatly rapped Texas flag and handed it to the father, "Here sir, you might want to take down that Louisiana flag - no disrespect but I suppose it wont do you much good anymore.. Thank you for the water." he stood and put his hat back on, tipping it to the ladies... Well that went just as awkwardly as he expected.