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A Sound in the Night
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2024-10-29 19:42:56April 1861
Will Tucker was startled. He sat up in bed quickly; sure that he had heard something. Not quite sure what it was. And then he heard it again. It sounded like the thump of horses’ hooves moving through the woods just in front of the Tucker cabin. His brother, Nolan, must have heard the noise, too. Will could see him standing at the window, his rifle in one hand. Will sat up and pulled on his pants and boots as quickly as possible. In the moonlight, he could see that Nolan was already dressed. His sister, Julia, was still asleep on her cot across the room.
“What is it?” he whispered, crossing to the window to join his brother.
“Not sure,” Nolan replied. “Thought I heard branches breaking, hooves. Maybe three or four horses. Don’t see anything though.” Just then, Julia began to stir. Will glanced back over to see his sister pulling on her robe.
“What’s going on?” she whispe
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Will was not interested in listening to the dirt-covered bandit’s pleas. “Yeah, I had a brother once,” he said, his face void of all emotion. Then, the marauder, seeming to understand his fate was sealed, began to weep, his face turning from an expression of hope, a pleading look of distress, to wide-eyed terror, as Will raised his newly reloaded gun and blew the scoundrel’s brain matter all over the trees behind him.The horse whinnied loudly and tried to buck the lifeless rider from its back. Finally, the corpse’s grip slipped from the reins, and he fell to the ground, what was left of his head hitting first. The horse slowly began to trot out of the woods, stunned, but aware of his freedom. Will Tucker turned his borrowed horse around and headed back to the cabin he used to call home.As he entered the yard, a realization of all that had just taken place began to creep at the corners of his consciousness. He pushed it aside, knowing he
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Cordia’s eyes widened in horror as she thought about what Jaris’s cousins had been through. Their brother had been killed? How awful! Though she didn’t know these people, the thought of what they must have just gone through was inconceivable to her. She dropped the bucket of water, a small portion of its contents splashing her leg, and ran to Jaris, who still looked a little stunned himself. “My goodness!” she exclaimed, grabbing her betrothed by both hands. “How terrible. What happened?”“I’m not exactly sure,” he replied. “Will doesn’t seem to want to talk about it, and Julia is too out of sorts. They lived ten or fifteen miles from the town of Nevada, no other towns close by, just some neighbors here and there. Pretty close to the Kansas border.”“We are pretty close to the Kansas border,” Cordia exclaimed.Carey actually laughed at her, causing her to turn her head and
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Cordia's Will: A Civil War Story of Love and Loss Introduction
Frieda quickly grew impatient with the young woman on the other side of the door. “All right,” she said. “Now Miss Julia, this here is Jaris’s fiancée. She has brought you some nice dresses because she is concerned about you and wants to be your friend. Now, you can either stand there and stare at us until we drown out here, or you can let us in where it’s dry and warm, but we ain’t going away.”“Frieda!” Cordia began to reprimand her caregiver, but just then the door swung open, and a seemingly very small, terrified girl gestured for them to come in. “Thank you,” Cordia said as she began to remove her rain bonnet. Frieda brought in the dresses and set them down by the fireplace, which provided the only light in the room, except for the little sunlight that was pouring in through the three windows. Cordia never remembered seeing the cabin so dark and musty. She could barely see past the room they were st
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Carey’s horse ran straight past him, seeing the other riders off in the distance, and Carey knew he was trapped. Will was certainly behind him now. He dropped the derringer to the ground, hoping compliance would be beneficial. His only option was to find a way to get close enough to Cordia to take that gun away and use her body as a shield. “Cordia,” he said as sweetly as he could muster, “you’re not going to shoot me,” he smiled at her, nonchalantly. “Go ahead and step out of the way, darlin’ so I can join my men.”“You and your men shot my daddy,” she replied, her voice filled with hate.Carey swallowed hard. It had never been his intention to physically harm her father. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said quietly. “Your father and I have always been such good friends. I’m sure he would understand why you would let me go.”It was a stretch, and they both knew it
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Carey’s plan was working. The cavalry was not prepared for an assault on the munitions, and when they blew, it shook the entire square. Glass shards flew through the air, people went flying, horses darted off, some with riders still holding on. The explosion had caught the wooden steeple and roof of the courthouse on fire, and the structure was going up in flames. Within a few moments, the entire top of the building was burning.The Union troops realized that their focal point was rapidly disappearing. While this was certainly devastating to their purpose, it did suddenly create a sense of mobility to the commanders. No longer tied to a structure to protect, they began to pour out in formation, engaging the enemy where they were, rather than waiting for Quantrill and his men to come to them.Quantrill recognized this problem almost instantly. He had hoped to acquire some of the weapons and munitions that had been stored there, but at least they would no longer be
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