After leaving the fort, Colonel Tavington rode ahead of the Dragoons that were in three lines of four. Captain Wilkins was just behind and to his left as they galloped up to the farmhouse. A hand rose to stop the troops and he sat on the large chestnut horse watching the surrounding area.The militia. Sneaky bastards.
There was no sign of them...or of captured British officers. Obviously this was a trap. But just in pure interest, he waited. His Dragoons sat patiently as the horses snorted and stomped and the jingles of bits being chewed on were the only sounds. Tavington sighed softly as pale blue eyes watched the shadows. Even by now there should have been an attack. Not that he was worried. He knew they had enough Dragoons but this intolerable...
But then there was a shot.
The ball whizzed past Tavington's left ear, catching him but not hurting more than a sting, but had lodged in the skull of the Dragoon sitting behind him. There were shouts as horses spooked and the Dragoons fought to bring them back in line. But Tavington was more interested in the musket shot. And with a snarl hearing a horse gallop away, he drew his gun and shot blindly but in the direction of the retreating hoof beats and kicked his chestnut in the ribs and the horse took off with a jump. The full moon glowed down on what was a lone silhouette of a rider, a bit scrawny perhaps, riding bareback across a field. As the Dragoons charged after him, Tavington knew he had been set up and it angered him all the more to fairly set him in a rage now.
They chased the rider into the stand of trees on the other side of the field and lost him. They fanned out, slowing around the birches and willows, looking for prints or any clues until one Dragoon finally rode up to the Colonel and pointed to the way he had come from. "A farmhouse, Colonel...past the trees."
An evil smile came across the Colonel's face as he kicked his horse once more and galloped towards the small farmhouse.
When they arrived in the front. he gave a jerk of his head towards the house and the soldiers dismounted and stormed to the door, kicking it down and going in, rousting the farmer and his wife and their two sons. There were shouts and a scream from the woman as they were all restrained. The oldest boy,being near 19 possibly, had tried to attack the guard holding his 15 year old brother.It seemed that the Dragoons had barely touched the oldest boy, but he was bleeding from a wound - hmm, looks like a musket ball shot - in his shoulder. When the Dragoons tried to contain the boy, he tried to jerk back and fight, but finally fell to his knees, dizzy and bleeding more.
"What are you doing? What are you looking for? We have nothing of value to you OR your war!" the farmer bellowed.
"I think not..." Colonel Tavington said quietly as he walked into the fray. The soldiers tightened holds on the family and stood at semi-attention when their leader walked in. The woman's face went pale and the farmer felt his knees go weak. "In fact...I think you can be a 'wealth' of information for me and my Dragoons. And you shall not be harmed if you give me the information I am looking for."
"The Butcher..." the farmer and his wife mumbled together.
"Now now...Is that any way to greet a guest?" Tavington snorted softly and gave a look at the two boys. "What happened to him?" he said as he slowly walked over to the oldest son, glaring eyes staring at the growing splotch of red on the boy's shoulder. The corners of the Colonel's lips quirked in a smirk as he looked up at Wilkins before turning and facing the farmer once more.
"It seems there is at least one here that insists on helping the rebel cause. So yes...you do have something of value for...'our war'. Where. Is. Benjamin Martin?"
There was a complete moment of confusion on the farmer's face and he shook his head. "I know no...Martin."
"That's not what I see in front of my own eyes." Tavington said, a nod at the oldest boy's wound,staring at the other man with a deadly stare. Like a shark. Or a cobra about to strike.
"Please, Colonel...we don't know this man. We're just farmers. We can't even afford a large enough farm to pay what we owe..." the woman begged.
Tavington shifted his gaze to the woman for a moment then that all-too-condescending smile. "Then you won't mind if we burn it to the ground, will you?"
He watched as the other Dragoons came back from a search of the house and announced, "No one else here, Colonel." Tavington nodded and then his gaze back to the farmer and his wife. "Take that one outside." with a nod at the oldest boy. And when the boy was dragged out, the other Dragoons started to drag the youngest boy and their parents out afterhim as well, but Tavington put up a hand to stop them.
"Leave them here."
The Dragoons nodded and tied them all up, throwing them down on the small room floor and stepping over them to go outside. And the door was closed and blocked from the outside. And one of the Dragoons rode up to the thatch-roofed house with a blazing torch.
Tavington climbed back up onto his horse after taking the reins from the Captain once more and situated himself on the saddle before asking, "All right, let's try this once more, shall we?"
The boy was in a panic. "PLEASE! Colonel!" and then a softer tone as he looked at the house. "It was all me. I knew you'd come if word got to you that The Ghost wanted to meet with you...I...I didn't " well he couldn't SAY he didn't mean it. He'd wanted to kill the man. He wanted the glory. But now he knew they'd all pay for his stupidity. And a look up at the Colonel with pleading in his voice. "Please don't hurt my family!"
The Colonel watched him for only a moment and then the quickest of glances at the soldier with the torch who stepped another foot closer to the house and Tavington said aloud for all to hear, "Then let this be an example as to what will happen when Benjamin Martin decides to play games with the Green Dragoons and recruit the ineffectual. He will lose. Every time."
And with that, the roof was lit on fire and his gun drawn, Tavington shot the boy directly through the stomach. When the young man fell to the ground, dying slowly and painfully, listening to his family being burned alive, The Butcher and his troops charged off into the darkness once more.
