Going Home

Nicholas Corcoran POV

One day free, and I’d revealed myself to humans.

Fuck, what a cock-up. I shifted as soon as I was out of sight of the two girls, racing back to the creek I’d passed. I washed my fur in the water, then shook myself to dry before repeating it. Running back to my pile of clothes near them, I shifted back to my human form and pulled on my clothes. “I’m back, you’re safe,” I said as I walked out into the clearing.

“You came back,” Laura said. She was sitting on a fallen tree, gripping the sword that was almost as tall as she was with one hand, while her other held her torn shirt up. Emma was by her side, looking at me with wide eyes. “The other man?”

“He can’t hurt you now. My name is Philip, Philip Corcoran.” Laura was shaking, the adrenaline dump from the fight was wearing off. Her shirt was barely a rag, with no way of staying up. I pulled my shirt off and handed it to her, turning my back to them so she could pull it over her head. When I looked again, she was wearing my worn shirt like a dress. “Are either of you hurt?”

“Emma’s hip hit a rock; she can’t walk. I’m all right.” The look of pain in her eyes told me she wasn’t, but she was acting brave.

“Emma, can I check your leg?”

She looked at Laura first, then nodded. I gently checked her ankle, knee, and hip for motion. Her hip was tender, but I was able to move it around. The bruise would be painful, but she would recover. “Try walking on it.”

Emma stood up, and I could tell it hurt. I held her as she tried to walk, but she let out a cry of pain, so I helped her sit down again. “I’ll have to carry you home,” I said with a smile.

“Doggy ride home,” she said.

I stopped a few feet away, kneeling until I was at their level. “The dog helped you, but you cannot tell anyone about him,” I warned them. “Please. Men will hurt him if you tell them the dog saved you.”

“Why? The doggie was nice,” Emma said.

“People are afraid of what they don’t understand. They will hurt me too.” I looked in their eyes, pleading with them to understand. The other choice was too horrible to think about; I was foolish to shift back around them.

Laura whispered in her sister’s ear, and Emma smiled and looked at me. “Our secret?”

“Yes, our secret,” I said. “We tell people the bad men tried to hurt Laura, but I fought the man instead until Laura stabbed him.” I still couldn’t believe this blonde wisp of a girl had run him through with a sword. “If they want to know more, you can’t remember. You were frightened.” With these two, the less said, the better.

“You’ll take us home?”

“Yes.” I helped Laura to her feet; I could smell the blood, but I didn’t want to know if the man had hurt her that way. “Leave the sword here,” I told her. “There is no one left to hurt you, Laura. You were very brave today.”

“Very foolish,” she said as she looked at the ground. “I got us lost, and this happened.”

“Wandering off was foolish, but you didn’t deserve what happened next.” I picked up Emma in my arms, holding the young girl against my chest. “Come on.” I didn’t know where they lived, but I knew which way the skinny man had gone, so I followed that scent. It wasn’t long until we came across the other man. The dingoes had found him, four or five of the wild dogs ripping into his carcass. I turned so Emma wouldn’t see, but Laura had spotted the body, and she turned aside and began throwing up. “Close your eyes, Emma.” I stood there until Laura’s retching was over; she wiped her mouth and stood up again. “Keep your eyes on me only,” I said softly. She moved up next to me, using me to block the view.

We walked for another hour, moving at Laura’s slower pace. She was more hurt than she let on. We were taking a rest for my arms when I heard men shouting their names. I stood up and cupped my hands, yelling back in their direction. “OVER HERE! HELP!” The girls started crying as they heard the horses approaching.

The first to arrive were two mounted soldiers. Spotting me with the girls, my whip lashings on display as Laura had my shirt, they drew swords and closed fast. I moved a few steps away from the girls, dropping to my knees with my hands up.

I don’t think the soldiers cared; they were going to kill first and ask questions later. “NO!” Laura moved in front of me as the two riders came to a stop. “He saved us,” she said as she cried.

One of the men sheathed his sword and jumped off his horse. “I was bringing them back,” I told them.

More men on horses arrive, one of them in a panic. “LAURA! EMMA!”

“DADDY,” Emma cried out. She tried to get up but fell back painfully.

“Her hip is bruised; I had to carry her,” I told the men. Neil Baillieu rode up, rushing to embrace them.

“Take them home, we’ll finish up here,” the Sergeant told her.

Neil picked up Emma, but Laura grabbed his arm and led him to where three soldiers were watching me. “Daddy, this is Philip Corcoran. He saved us from the bad men who tried to hurt me.”

The anger in his eyes quickly changed. “Thank you,” he said.

“Your daughters were brave,” I said. “When I came back to the clearing, the man had torn Laura’s clothing and was trying to overpower her. I knocked the man off Laura, and while we were fighting, she grabbed his sword and ran him through.”

“You were a prisoner?” I could see Neil’s hesitation.

“My papers are in my shirt,” I said as I nodded my head towards Laura.

She pulled them out of the pocket, and her father looked them over. “Released yesterday,” he said as he looked up.

“Yes.”

“What were you doing out here?”

“I was hoping to find work on a farm. I herded sheep and raised crops in Ireland, and I need a job.”

Neil handed the papers to the Sergeant. “If he checks out, send him my way. I can always find a place for a good man.”

“He’s a traitor to the Crown,” the man said.

“He was thirteen years old.” With that, he walked back to his horse, lifting Emma onto the saddle.

“Lawrence, escort him back with the older girl,” the Sergeant ordered. Moments later, the two horses were trotting away, leaving me with five confused and pissed off Cavalry members. “Now, where were we?”

“An hour’s walk to the first man, another ten minutes to the second,” I said. “Assuming you want to find the people who tried to hold the girls for ransom and rape the older one.”

“Tie him up, he can lead us there,” the leader said. One of the men bound my wrists behind me with a leather thong and tied a rope around my neck that lead back to one of the horses. As I walked, I gave my story and answered their questions. I don’t think they believed me.

They didn’t mind when the rope “accidentally” pulled me off my feet, made more difficult by my hands being useless. It was late afternoon when we got to the clearing; a musket shot drove off the dingoes. One of the soldiers threw up when he saw the body, but it helped my story if they couldn’t tell how his throat got torn out. “I know this guy,” another man said. “He escaped five weeks ago.”

“This is the runner,” the Sergeant asked.

“Yes. Look in his pockets. He carried the girls’ necklaces as proof for the ransom.” The soldier pulled out the two lockets and handed them over. “The girls were attacked this way.”

“What about the body, Sarge?”

“Dingoes gotta eat too,” he said as he mounted up again. I led them back to where the big man lay in the sun, more of the wild dogs on him. My story checked out; the sword wound in his belly killed him. “Cut him free,” he ordered. “Get him on your horse. I don’t want to be out here past nightfall.”

One of the men extended his hand, and I swung onto the horse behind him. We rode back to Sydney, arriving at sunset, and went straight to the prison administration building.

“Corcoran, that didn’t last long,” the Lieutenant said.

“His story checked out.” He gave his boss everything he had learned, including the identities of the two dead escapees.

“Put him in a cell for now,” the Lieutenant said as he took back my papers. “The Governor can decide tomorrow.”

It took two days, but the next time I walked out of that prison, I had a pardon from the Governor in my pocket. I was surprised to see Neil Baillieu waiting with a spare horse. “Mister Baillieu,” I said as I approached him. “Are the girls all right?”

“They will be fine, Philip. Come on. I’ve got a job for you.”