Chapter 55 - Black Swamp

"Captain!" Lieutenant Richard Wilkins called softly as he edged through the bushes.

"Over here," Joseph called back. James Wilkins waited tensely beside Joseph as his brother crouched beside them to make his report.

"There are twelve sentries, here, here and here." Using a stick, he quickly drew a rough map in the dirt, indicating the sentrie's positions.

"How many men are in the camp?" Joseph asked.

"Not many. I reckon about fifty are holding the camp."

"Only fifty?" Joseph frowned. "Where the Christ are the rest of them!"

Richard shrugged, he did not know.

"What of Martin, did you catch sight of him? Of Lyra?" Joseph's tone took on a feverish edge.

"No, neither. Though Miss Mathan could well be in one of the tents. I watched for quite a while and saw no sign of Martin or your cousin, either one."

"Shit." Joseph looked to James. "Where the Devil is Tavington? He was supposed to be here with reinforcements by now."

"Yes, he was. Though with only fifty in camp, we hardly need them. We out number them four to one with the Dragoons alone, let alone the infantry."

"True. But Tavington may not want us to attack if the Ghost is not here." Lieutenant Robert Wentworth pinioned.

"But he will want Lyra back," Joseph countered. "And with only fifty to guard the camp, we could be in and out with my cousin in no time."

"Tavington was supposed to be here a half hour ago," James estimated. "I say we go in, get Miss Mathan and get the Hell out of here, before Martin returns with the rest of the rebels."

"On the other hand, we could get Lyra out then lay in wait for the rebels to return, catch them by surprise," Joseph suggested.

"Yes, that could work," James approved.

"Right then, we do that. Richard and Robert, take a small team and neutralize those sentries, report back when its done. Then we go in, take out the camp, get Lyra out. We will wait for two hours and if the Ghost as not returned we head back to Cornwallis."

The men rose quietly to carry out Joseph's command.

:::

It was an out and out slaughter. A highly successful outcome for Joseph's first mission.

Leaving the infantry in reserve, the Green Dragoons descended on the camp, killing anything that moved. The rebels put up a token resistance, but the wave of Dragoons was too strong and the Patriot militia still standing broke and ran. Some few got away but the Dragoons ran down most of those, as well.

Full dark had fallen by the time the fight came to its inevitable conclusion. By the light of many firebrands, Joseph guided his mount around the dead and wounded rebels.

None of the Dragoons had been hurt badly during the raid, though Joseph sported a deep cut across his hand where he had been sliced by an enemy dagger.

"Any sign of Lyra?" He called frantically. "Where is Lyra!"

"Not here!" A general chorus was called back to him, sounding throughout the camp. Most of the tents where still standing, only a few had collapsed in the initial charge. Dragoons darted in and out of the those tents, and each one emerged empty handed.

"No Miss Mathan and no Ghost," James murmured at Joseph's side. "Perhaps she is hiding in the woods? She might have slipped away when the fighting began -"

"Lyra!" Joseph seized on the idea and began calling into the night. "Lyra, come out, it's safe now!"

No answer, no one emerged from the surrounding woods and bushes.

"Shit. Where is she?" He muttered.

"We could question the wounded..." James mused. "Find out where the Ghost has gone and when he is coming back."

"Yes," Joseph nodded. "With that information, we'll know if it is a waste of time staying here. We could be back in the British camp before midnight if we leave now."

"Where the hell did Tavington get to?" Richard asked - he was checking on a wounded rebel nearby. Joseph recognised him but he had to search his memory for the man's name.

Dan Scott.

"He only had a score to protect him," James replied. "They must have been attacked."

"I can think of no other reason for his absence, to be sure." Joseph agreed. He dismounted and approached the wounded soldier Richard was tending. The man was awake and Joseph squatted at his side. James Wilkins joined him.

"Where is Martin, Scott?" He asked without preamble, half expecting to be spat at, half expecting defiance. He was utterly surprised when the soldier began to speak freely, if painfully.

"Gone. I don't know where. Gabriel came into camp, told us what was done at Pembroke. Was that you? You bunch of fucking bastards, killing innocents!"

Joseph said nothing, though he felt Wilkins tense at his side.

"Fucking bastards..." Dan Scott repeated. "It sent Gabriel into a right rage, it did - his wife was in that church! He beat the Butcher's whore and then took off -"

"He beat Lyra?!" Joseph snapped, ready to do murder then and there.

"Yeah, he did. But then he took off with a score of troops. Ben went after him, damn near emptied the camp."

"Where is Lyra?"

"Damned if I know where the whore went -"

Richard drew his saber and held the sharp tip against Dan's throat. The man could not even swallow, his Adam's apple would have been sliced if he did.

"Call her a whore again..." Richard dared.

Dan began to sweat. He nodded but did not apologize. Richard, taut with fury, withdrew his sword.

Joseph watched impassively. He had not liked hearing Lyra called a whore, but he was more interested in learning her where a-bouts than defending her honor just then.

"How can you not know where she went?"

"I just don't. We went into the tent to... To..." Dan swallowed then, and judged that it would not be prudent to tell these men what they had intended to do to Lyra. He changed what he had been about to say. "To check on the good woman's welfare," he smiled insolently. "But she was gone."

"What, just disappeared?"

"Nah, she had help. She must've had. There were those in camp who were sympathetic to her. They must've known she was in danger after the church was burnt and our people killed. Our people! What is one woman to that? Children and their mother's, Goddamn it!"

"Where is Martin?" Joseph ignored the man's ranting and repeated his question from earlier.

"I told you, I don't know. Gabriel had a lead on them, but Martin was riding from here bloody hard. They probably caught up to Gabriel and then went in search of Tavington together, for all I know. Your Butcher is probably dead by now." Scott smiled at the thought. "Yes, dead."

"We shall see," Joseph rose to his feet.

"Your orders?" James asked, rising also. Richard watched in silence as Wentworth joined them.

"Shit, I'm not sure. Return to the British camp? We will have a hell of a time trying to find the Ghost in the dark. We can't follow the tracks..."

"And Miss Mathan is safely away by the sound of it," Richard mused.

"I say we head back to camp," James suggested.

"Hmm. Yes... Hopefully Lyra will be there by now, and we can get word of Tavington. We will report to O'Hara. If he wants us to go after the Ghost, he can send us out tomorrow. For now, lets get to camp and get a good night sleep."

"Very good," James agreed. They would need their rest if they were to be sent after the full force of rebels the following day.

:::::::

"Christ, I would not say no to that laudanum right now!" Tavington muttered as he lay back on the cot he had been moved to. He was still in the medical tent but in a far corner, out of the way of the surgeons. O'Hara had already told him it was well after midnight and that he, the Colonel, had been unconscious for hours.

"It is coming, Colonel." O'Hara took a seat beside the Colonel with a sigh of relief. Cornwallis and the Brigadier General had both feared Tavington would not pull through.

"No herbs mind, only the laudanum," Tavington snapped when the Corpsman stood over him with the dose of laudanum, he did not want anything that might bring on phantasms again.

"No, Sir. It's just a little bit of wine."

"Dear Lord - you are a mess," O'Hara observed as Tavington took the small glass from the corpsman's hand.

"Indeed," the Colonel tightened his lips. "There were at least twenty of them. Took us by surprise. Killed the whole troop!"

"Yes, you told us earlier, before the doctors began working on you. We were worried for a while there."

"I was in too much pain to worry. Was it such a near thing then?"

"It certainly was," O'Hara said. He was stalling for time, not quite ready to tell him the outcome of the attack at Black Swamp. "Now, I have some good news regarding your troop, some of your Dragoons survived and have made their way back here."

"Bordon?" Tavington asked hopefully.

"No, I am sorry."

Tavington tightened his lips. Stephen. How long had they been together for now? How long had they been friends? He rolled his jaw, grief and fury burning inside him.

"There is something else," O'Hara said, snapping Tavington's attention back to him. "Captain Joseph Simms led the Green Dragoons on an attack at Black Swamp, but the camp was not heavily manned. They managed to quell what was there, taking the live ones prisoner, but the Ghost was not there."

"Lyra?" Tavington asked. Obviously she had not been rescued, for surely she would be a his bedside? Unless... "Shit, Charles," Tavington said warily, dropping all formality. "Tell me she's alright!"

"I do not know, William. I am sorry, she was not there."

"Shit," Tavington whispered. He closed his eyes and collapsed against his pillow. "She's out there, Christ knows where, still in his hands. Fuck, Charles - I killed another of his sons! It was battle, but I can't imagine that the Ghost will be reasonable. She could be dead already!"

"William, I don't know what to tell you. Simms reported that a rebel by the name of Dan Scott informed them that Miss Mathan had escaped from camp. But as she has not been returned to us, I can only assume she has been taken again. I am fond of the girl, you must remember I had thought to court her once myself! But right now, I am more concerned with you and your wound. Would you please drink the laudanum, it will help you get some rest. Perhaps there will be news when you wake again later."

"What, sleep it off?" Tavington spat bitterly. "I've failed her, failed to protect her and my baby. She's with child, did you know?"

"No," O'Hara breathed. "No, I did not."

"It wasn't common knowledge. I left her in the care of those I thought I could trust and they betrayed me, they betrayed her. They stripped away my ability to protect her. I can't go in search of her myself, I must lay here like an invalid, leaving the job to others. And what might they find, if they discover her? Damn and blast it, Charles, and you suggest that I 'sleep it off'?"

"Yes," O'Hara snapped, out of patience. There was only one way to deal with Tavington now. "Take the damned laudanum, Colonel. Thats an order."

Tavington spluttered and his eyes bulged in their sockets. An order was an order however and Brigadier General Charles O'Hara was glaring at him implacably.

"Bottoms up," Tavington ground harshly. He raised the glass to O'Hara and drank the contents whole.

::::::::::::::::

As soon as the sun rose, Lyra jumped out of the cot and dressed herself quickly. There was no mirror available to her, which was just as well for she did not want to see the bruises that marred her cheeks and jaw. She could feel them, that was bad enough. She splashed her face with water and dried herself, careful of her tender skin.

When she was respectable enough, she ducked out of her small tent and went in search of the Officer who would escort her to the main camp, where William was sure to be.

"When can we be away, Sir?" Lyra asked the Officer eagerly as soon as she was admitted to his tent. The Officer glanced up from what he was doing and he winced when his eyes caught sight of her bruises once more. "As bad as all that?" Lyra touched her face gingerly.

"Ah, yes... The bruises are... Well, there is swelling too and..." he swallowed hard. "I was told that Tavington's fiancé is a woman of renown beauty, but right now Miss Mathan, beautiful you are not."

"Charming," Lyra said flatly.

The Officer coughed with embarrassment and decided to move on to her other question. "We shall leave shortly, Miss Mathan. We shall breakfast while the horses are being readied and then we will leave. It will take a good two hours, to reach the main camp."

Approximately eight O'Clock then, Lyra judged. Not much later, anyway. She would not be happy until she was once again at William's side, for too many things had a habit of going wrong.

As promised, straight after breakfast, they rode out. The Officer set a steady pace, with his twenty cavalry men surrounding Lyra. She would have liked to go faster, but she reasoned it was a good thing, she was pregnant after all. Women were not supposed to ride at all, let alone while carrying a baby.

After several stops to rest the horses, when the sun was hovering above the horizon, they finally made their way into the main British camp.

Ah, this is more like it. Lyra glanced at all the tents, it was easily five times bigger than the camp she had slept in the night before. No, ten times bigger! And William would be in there. Somewhere.

The Officer had already spoken to a Redcoat, word would be sent to the Colonel. He would know that she had arrived very soon. He would meet her, she was certain, she could not wait to see the astonished look on his face when -

"Lieutenant," An approaching Officer stopped the detachment. "Sir, Colonel Tavington has been wounded. He is in the medical tents -"

"Wounded!" Lyra snapped sharply, pushing forward. "What happened, is he well?"

"Ah -" the Officer hesitated.

"Answer her," the Lieutenant commanded curtly.

"He is well, I believe. Asleep, they gave him laudanum during the night."

"I must be taken to him at once," Lyra said decisively.

"Of course, Miss Mathan. This way," the Lieutenant nodded, changing direction, leading them to the much larger tents.

::::::::

"Oh, God," Lyra sobbed and rushed over the pallet. Tavington lay on his back, completely still. She thought the worst at first but William was merely sleeping. His chest was bare, except for the bandages encircling his wound.

"A bullet," the doctor explained as Lyra, her expression filled with concern and love, began stroking back Tavington's hair from his brow. "He will be awake soon. There was a skirmish you see, most of the other men died. Two more were bought in during the night, and they'll survive."

"Oh, that is good," Lyra said absently, she only had eyes for William.

The doctor left her to it, left the distraught young woman to rub at Tavington's brow.

"Oh, William, wake up. Please? Honey..." She kissed his head, his cheeks, his unresponsive lips. Though the Doctor had assured her he would be fine and would waken soon, she could not stand to see him so... prone.

Her touch could not wake up though, the laudanum kept him in oblivion. Resigned, she shifted herself until she lay alongside him on the cot and she curled around him, careful of his wound.

She had not meant to fall asleep, but she was tired, so tired. And Tavington's body was so warm...

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A/N: Hi everyone, again, thanks for the reviews!

Now, I know some of you are wanting a sweet and lovely reunion but this is Tavington we're talking about and he will have to deal with a few facts before he can really celebrate her return. He's a jealous bastard, after all and I really can't see him 'glossing' over her time with Benjamin and being all lovey dovey, just because he's pleased to have her back. I'm sorry, but I just can't write him that way.

:-(

I'll try and get the chapter up tonight so it's not too long of a wait. Tomorrow morning at the latest.

Smiley - I'd hoped I'd built Curly's character enough for that to be believable. No, Curly won't be punished, though Danvers will be pissed off and suspicious! Mwahahaha. I want to apologise to you for the next chapter, because I know you want their reunion to be sweet! LOL!