IN THE BEGINNING...
Tavington glanced down at the man laying at his feet, wingled his musket at him, then spoke in barely a whisper.
"Perhaps now, my dear fellow, you will listen to reason?"
The man grunted saveagely, but said nothing.
Tavington grinned.
"No? You are obviously mad!"
More grunting, but this time, the man spoke.
"Mad? I am not the one who is mad, Colonel!"
Colonel Tavington eyed him silently for a moment, them aimed a well placed kick at his side.
"Oh? I may be mad, but do tell me what man who fights in this war, as I do, is not mad?"
The man spat on Tavington's boot.
"Mad! You are mad! The Butcher, that is what they call you!"
Tavington grinned slightly.
"So I have heard. Some men kill for honour. Some kill for glory. I, however, kill because I can. Though I must admit, there is also honour and glory in even that."
"Heartless fiend!" the man spat again on the Colonel's boot.
Tavington merely laughed at this.
"Heartless? No, no! I do have a heart..."
"You've murdered innocent women and children!"
Again he merely laughed.
"Yes, but only those who got in my way," he aimed yet another kick at the man's side, "But, I do have a heart. Why there is one woman..."
The man struggled to his feet, staggered slightly, and glared hatefully at the Colonel.
"Cornwallis' daughter for God's sake!"
Tavington smiled for the first time.
"Of course." He fingered the butt of his gun absently.
"She is a lady, and I doubt she would dally with one such as you, Colonel."
"Now that, is where you are woefully wrong,"
The man stared at him in bitter silence.
"She has dallied with me and is, in fact, awaiting me in my bed. Now, let us get on with the problem we have here..."
The man spit in Tavington's face.
"The Lord General will have your head, Tavington!"
"For, what?" he asked, wiping the spit from his cheek.
"Seducing his daughter!"
Tavington laughed slowly.
"I? I did nothing of the sort, Williams! No, she seduced me into her bed."
"You should have refused her advances, Colonel!" Williams growled.
"And why should I have? I have her, and will continue to have her...with or without your consent. Not, he added and pointed his musket at Williams' head, "That I would have asked you in regards to that matter."
Tavington barely felt the retort from the gun as it went off. Blood splayed over him, but did not seem to bother him in the slightest. The smell of gunpowder hung in the evening air.
He looked down at the crumpled form and grinned ruefully. After several moments, he smiled a slow and eerie smile.
"Perhaps next time, Williams, you will listen to reason?"
Again, he looked down at the dead man, nudged him with the toe of his boot, then laughed slowly.
"Ah yes, there will not be a next time."