The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier

Chapter 16 - Unrevealed News

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

In the 1800s, people wrote letters with lots of flowery prose, so Kai's letter to Sam will have some of that, in the chapter below...

Chapter 16 - Unrevealed News

"Yerra, lassie!" Miss Gayle exclaimed as she rushed to the side of the raven-haired beauty. "What be ailin' ye?"

"I decided to open the letter from Jay," Nya said, swallowing, "but Jay apparently mixed up his letters and put the letter to you and Mr. Wu in my envelope. He wrote you to say the odds of beating the Purples weren't good. They're more organized and have more firepower than anyone thought." Tears began to run down her cheeks as she shook the paper in her hand and said, "Jay wrote out his will!"

Sam gasped.

"Oh, lassie," Miss Gayle said, bending down to hug the seated Nya, "your man just be takin' care of the business he didn't do before he left. The soldiers burned the breeze out of town so fast, ye know."

Nya was not consoled. "Well, I think I need to rest in my room for a while," she announced, wiping her eyes as she stood up to leave. "Please excuse me."

Miss Gayle stood up and made way for her. "Will ye be wantin' some tea, Miss Nya?" she offered.

Nya declined. "No, thank you. But I'll be down for supper preparation." She quickly turned and left to go upstairs.

Miss Gayle sighed after the departure of Nya, then looked at Sam. "Come and sit, Miss Sam," she said, motioning Mrs. Smith to the small kitchen table. Miss Gayle sat across from her and took the young woman's hands in her own hands, roughened by years of hard work.

"I be lovin' all ye lassies like ye be my own, but out of the three of ye, I be dependin' on ye the most now," the housekeeper admitted, "with Miss Nya carryin' a child and bearin' it before Christmas, and now" - she leaned in closer to Sam and whispered - "I think Miss Brooke be carryin' a child, too, and bearin' it by late February. My guess is she and Cole be blessed just before he left."

Though Miss Gayle's whispered pronouncement had yet to be confirmed, woman intuition told Sam it was true.

She wished nothing but the absolute best for the mother-to-be and the new life in her womb, and for the father-to-be who had no idea at this moment that he was indeed a father-to-be.

However, the wife of the brown-haired cowboy couldn't stop tears of despair from welling up in her own eyes. She desperately wanted a child of her own, but she already knew that she and Kai had not been similarly blessed just before he left.

"Ye be lookin' not too well now, lass," Miss Gayle observed.

Sam blinked a few times to prevent the tears from overflowing on to her cheeks. "I'm just hungry," she fibbed as she gave Miss Gayle's hands a squeeze. However, it was not a total fib. "Why don't we fix ourselves something to eat?" she suggested, trying to distract herself from her despair. "I'll finish setting the picnic table," she said as she stood up to go outside to set places for herself and Miss Gayle, as well as to retrieve the extra dishware.

The temperature felt noticeably hotter than it did a little while ago. Once outside, Sam retrieved Brooke's letter from the base of the oak tree, where it had been abandoned, and put it in her skirt pocket next to the unopened letter from Kai. A few minutes ago, she was looking forward to reading the message from her cowboy. Now, she wasn't so sure she would like what he wrote.

At about four o'clock, with the garden weeded and watered and the strawberry patch culled of the latest ripe red fruit, Sam poured a glass of lemonade and sat at the picnic table by herself. With trepidation, she opened the letter to her from Kai.

Camp Goldland
16th June 18xx

My dearest Sam -

Many thanks to you and the other Garmadon Ranch ladies for the package of towels and other linens, soap and other sundries, newspapers, and especially the playing cards and the dried apples. Upon hearing what Cole, Zane, Jay, and I received, some of our new acquaintances in Company C said they wished to get hitched to you ladies on the spot. They were disappointed that three of you were already wedded, but they vowed to walk the entire distance back to our ranch and bend down on one knee in front of Miss Gayle!

The weather here has been hot and dry since we arrived here at Camp Goldland. You probably know by now - if you received the photograph of Jay, Zane, Cole, and me - that we were issued our uniforms. We enlisted men have been receiving instruction on military protocols. We conduct drills, with and without our horses.

For the rest of our time, we have been left to our own devices to fight boredom. One day, the men of Company C held a series of skill contests amongst ourselves. I hope you'll be pleased to know that your cowboy is the Company's lasso champion! Garmadon Ranch was well represented in the winner's circle that day. Zane won at target shooting, Jay won at horse jumping, and Cole won the wood chopping contest. I think almost every man in camp can thank him for the pole that holds up the tent they sleep in.

My sweet Sam, I wish I could end this letter on the same happy note it started with, but I can't. Captain Noonan advised us that, as of tomorrow, the 5th Ninjago Cavalry Regiment is advancing to Jamanakai Village because our unit is deemed ready enough for combat action, even though we have been here only two weeks. This news is ominous, he said, because it means that the Yellow Army leaders think that the Purples are stronger than anyone first believed, and therefore Yellow leaders are desperate to beat them before they grow even stronger, even if it means sending in troops not completely trained to fight.

In light of this news, the captain advised us to write letters to our loved ones tonight, in case we never get another chance. So if Heaven is the next place we see each other again, my cowgirl, know until then that my love for you is as endless as the brilliant blue sky over Garmadon Ranch.

I am, as I ever was and ever shall be, your loving husband,
Kai

Through her tears, Sam noted the date of the letter, June 16.

Today is June 24. They left Camp Goldland a week ago, Sam thought. Mr. Wu must know the latest news but he wasn't ready to tell us. That's why he skedaddled right after he brought the letters. What does he know?