Chapter 12

Warning for a scene of torture

Tavington and the other Dragoons return to camp just as the sun was high above at the start of the afternoon. The drunken colonial was taken to the medic's tent, but he was putting up a fight as he refused to let any of the "damn Red Coats" touch him. The wound to his arm didn't look bad, although it would get infected if left untreated, but Tavington didn't care about that.

The colonel takes Awinita to his tent and places her on his cot as she was still out cold. From what he saw, she was overcome with shock when she saw Elijah's body. However, she did seem very surprised when she saw the bay colored mare.

He did suspect that she knew the horse from somewhere. "Awinita," he whispers in her ear, but she doesn't stir. He places a tender hand on her neck, checking her pulse; it was normal, but it usually took time for someone to wake up after fainting.

He decides to leave her in his tent and see the bay mare, but she was being feisty. She was being attended by Kobe, who was now in charge of the horses. "You," Tavington said and Kobe looks at him, "Stand aside." He obeys the colonel's orders as he was afraid of him.

The mare stomps one hoof on the ground, snorting and grunting. "Easy girl," Tavington said in a calming voice and the horse did seem to settle down a little. He begins to examine the fine animal, his hands moving around on her body. She was beautiful, like Awinita. She did have fine muscles and with her being calm, she did have a gentle demeanor.

"I suspect you know Awinita?" he asks and the mare's ears turn forward; he suspected she knew who he was talking about, although he thought it was unusual for a horse to know the name of their master. "I'll bring her by later as soon as she wakes up," he said and tells Kobe to attend to her.

The mare would serve the British Army well as with any other healthy horses. It was crucial to take care of such animals as they did serve a means of transportation in this time of war.

Tavington locates Bordon, who was standing guard by the colonial. "This man here is a lunatic," Bordon said and the colonel notices that the colonial had irons around his wrists and ankles. He was moaning, either out of pain or the alcohol was making him do it.

"We did find this in his pocket, smells of rum," Bordon adds, showing a bottle that had little brown liquid in it. Tavington takes a whiff of it, it smelled spicy with a hint of sweetness.

"Should of..." the man moans, "Shot that...damn darkie lady..." The colonel felt angry when he heard that; the colonial was obviously a man who despised women and people of color.

"Sir," a Dragoon said, "Roberts and I had buried that groom, the grave is deep, and we covered it in stones, so no predators would get him."

"Good work," Tavington replies, but the Dragoon features a blood-covered hatchet.

"We did find this not far from the pit," he said and the colonel takes it in his hand. He did recall the twenty soldiers who were killed days before had wounds that were made by a hatchet. Something in his mind clicks; what if this man was the Ghost?

"Bordon," Tavington begins, "Lets interrogate this man. I have some serious questions to ask him." He has a few of the Dragoons take the man out of camp, not wanting to draw negative attention that would reach Cornwallis.

The man, however, was still having trouble walking as the alcohol hadn't worn off. They take him to a spot in the woods where no one would see them. The man drops down on the ground with a thud and stares up at the soldiers.

"State your name," Tavington demands, but the man refuses to answer. "If you don't answer my questions, then I'll have one of these men knock some sense into you," he warns, but the man just laughs. The colonel looks over to one of his soldiers, who then hits him in the face with a riding crop. The man cries out, but then only laughs as the crop only provided a flinch of pain.

Someone produces a whip, one that would break skin. He was hit with the whip over and over, which did cause him to cry out in pain, and some lashes appear, oozing blood. "Stop!" he pleads, "I'm...Jacob Fairgoode," he answers.

"Mr. Fairgoode, care to explain about this?" Tavington asks, showing the hatchet.

"I use that to cut up little bits of wood," he replies, but the colonel didn't believe him.

"Did you use it to kill the groom?" he asks and Fairgoode starts to laugh, again. "You find that amusing? Killing a man for no good reason?"

"He worked for you!" Fairgoode said in a taunting voice and continues to laugh, "I wish I had the pleasure of shooting that savage woman to-" Suddenly, Tavington hits the man across the face with the flat part of hatchet, sending him down. A bruise started to form and the colonel felt somewhat good in hitting him.

The rage inside Tavington was reaching a rather dangerous level; normally, he did use brutal tactics on colonials if they did not give him what he wanted, but since this man threatened to hurt Awinita, it did give the colonel a good reason to hurt this man.

However, he needed to ask an important question. "Were you responsible in the deaths of twenty of His Majesty's soldiers?" he asks. Fairgoode looks up at him in surprise.

"Twenty Red Coats? Dead?" he replies and begins to laugh, again. "I don't think I can take down twenty men, but I wish I did. I would like to meet the man or men who took them down."

Tavington turns away for a minute; it was clear that Fairgoode did not partake in the killings as he was mostly feeble and it would be impossible for him take twenty armed men down. He would've been slaughtered after killing at least one or two.

He gives the hatchet to Bordon and unsheathes his sabre. "One last question," he said and the Dragoons take a few steps away from the two men. "I heard you say you wanted to shoot that woman, but for what reason?"

Fairgoode chuckles a bit before answering. "She's one of them Indian savages. Them thieving bunch of pigs. They deserve to burn along with them-" Suddenly, Tavington grabs the man and plunges his sabre deep into the man's chest, the blade came out his back.

Fairgoode's body goes limp and Tavington removes his sabre, revealing the blood. He doesn't put it back in the sheathe, instead he will carry it back so he would clean it.

"Take his body and dump it in the river. He doesn't deserve a proper burial," Tavington tells his men and four of them carry him off. He notices Captain Wilkes had been watching close by. The colonel walks pass, not wanting to talk to Wilkes, but he could tell that Wilkes was troubled by what he saw.

The four Dragoons come upon the river and throw Fairgoode's body in. It was taken away by the current and it floated down, out of sight.

From the author: I'm giving new life to this story after neglecting it for some time. Pretty sure I have a good idea in mind of where I want it to go. Will have to see if it holds up.

See you soon!