Charlotte Tavington nearly sobbed with relief when she saw the gates of the fort come into view as the dragoon column approached the fort. She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as the gates swung open to admit them, and felt as if a lead weight had been lifted from her. William hadn't told her much about what had happened in Pembroke the day before, except to say that Rollins and Mattie had been 'dealt with' and couldn't hurt her again. Nevertheless, while on the road between the plantation and the fort, she hadn't been able to help feeling apprehensive.
As William Tavington saw her features relax, he leaned over and said, "Home again, safe and sound."
"Amen," Charlotte murmured fervently. "I never thought I'd be so happy to return here."
Ten minutes later, the Tavingtons entered their quarters, followed by Ruth. After helping the women with their bags, he turned to his wife and said, "I'm sorry, but I must go see the Lord General right away and make my report. It shouldn't take that long. Will you and Ruth be all right while I'm gone?"
"Yes, of course, William," she said, smiling. "We're fine. I feel quite safe here at the fort." Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she added, "Ruth and I will tidy up here a bit, then do a bit of unpacking."
"Excellent," he said, smiling, then gave her a kiss before heading to the door.
As he walked to the Lord General's office, Tavington knew he had to get to Cornwallis and tell him what had happened at Pembroke before the rumour mill got started and blew the story all out of proportion.
To Tavington's great relief, Cornwallis was in and available when he arrived at his office. He found the Lord General alone, catching up on some paperwork while he enjoyed a cup of tea.
Looking up from his work as the younger officer entered the office, Cornwallis said, "Have a seat, Tavington. I was just attending to some mundane paperwork, so go ahead with your report." Before Tavington could begin, he asked, "Were you able to locate many of the homesteads of Martin's men?"
"We found and destroyed four farms, leaving their families in disarray," Tavington told him.
"That's a good start," Cornwallis interrupted. "But why are you back so soon? I would have thought you'd have stayed out on patrol until you'd found more."
"We had planned to, but something unforeseen came up," Tavington said carefully.
"Oh?" Cornwallis said, raising an eyebrow. "Go on."
Clearing his throat, Tavington looked around before replying, his discomfort obviously showing.
Finally, he said, "While my men and I were raiding the four farms, my wife decided to go into Pembroke to see her seamstress. She'd though it would be safe in light of the intelligence that put Martin's partisans heading rapidly to the north."
Pausing a moment to collect himself, he continued, "But it seems as if our intelligence reports were not entirely accurate. As my wife left the tailor shop, she was accosted by two men from Martin's militia. One of them was about to rape her, with the other waiting to take his turn, when Martin and the rest of the militia turned up in Pembroke. Martin stopped his man, Ezekiel Rollins, from completing the act - probably because Charlotte was his wife's sister - after which, he saw her safely home."
"I don't know what to say, Tavington," Cornwallis said, stunned by the news of what had nearly happened to Charlotte Tavington. "You have my sympathies."
After an awkward moment, he added, "And in regards to the intelligence you received, it seems that Martin and his militia were heading up to help Shelby at King's Mountain. My guess is that it was all over and done with before they could get there, so they simply decided to return home."
"Martin had left by the time I returned to the plantation that evening," Tavington continued, his emotions carefully controlled. "After my wife told me the details of what had happened, I decided to return to Pembroke to look for this Rollins and make him pay for what he'd done. Wilkins had told me that Rollins' sister lived in Pembroke, so I thought we'd have a good chance of finding him there. I also thought I might have a chance to fight the rest of the militia as well."
"Did you find Rollins, then?" Cornwallis asked eagerly. "And did you engage the militia?"
"Oh, yes," Tavington affirmed, a feral expression appearing on his face. "We didn't find the militia, but I took care of Rollins quite handily, I can assure you."
Taking a deep breath, he continued, "But we had trouble with the residents of Pembroke, my Lord. They instigated an armed resistance and I'm afraid we had to put it down, and in a most brutal fashion, I might add. I lost two men during the fracas, but I can assure you there will no further resistance whatsoever from the town of Pembroke."
Cornwallis suspected there was more to the story than that, but he did not inquire because he really did not want to know. As long as Tavington was getting the job done eliminating the partisan threat, the General would not look too closely at his methods.
Changing the subject somewhat, Cornwallis asked, "How is Mistress Tavington? I trust that her baby is unharmed?"
"She's fine," Tavington assured him. "A doctor examined her and said nothing was wrong. Of course, she was rudely handled and ended up having most of her hair shorn off."
"Does she have a good wig?" the Lord General asked. "She could wear one until her own hair grows back."
"She has an old powdered wig, but is rather disinclined to wear it, I'm afraid," Tavington said, chuckling. "She says it itches."
"It just so happens that my wigmaker is coming to fit me for a new wig tomorrow," Cornwallis told him. "I'm sure he'd be quite happy to fit your wife as well. I can assure you he'll make her one that won't itch. And he'll be able to do one in her natural hair colour as well, if she prefers."
"Thank you, my Lord," Tavington said. "I'll be sure to tell her."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
James Bordon was glad to finally climb the stairs to the quarters he shared with his wife, Mary. He hoped they'd have a few days at the fort to spend together so that they could work on making a baby, something they'd been hoping for since their wedding day. After all the horror he'd seen yesterday in Pembroke, it seemed all the more important to him to bring a new life into the world; to create, rather than destroy.
Bordon found Mary and Susan sitting together by the fire doing some mending as he came through the door. He smiled with contentment at the sight of his small family.
Dropping her mending into the basket, Mary jumped up to greet her husband. "James! I didn't expect you home so soon!" Throwing herself into his waiting arms, she murmured, "But I'm delighted to see you. I hope you'll be able to stay for a few days this time."
"I sincerely hope so," he said wearily. "I need to forget about the war for a little while."
At the tone of his voice, Mary looked up at her husband to see the haunted look on his face. "What's wrong, James?" she asked in concern. "What happened?"
"Not now," Bordon said, looking pointedly at Susan. "Later, when we're alone."
Mary couldn't wait until bedtime to hear what was bothering her husband, so she turned to Susan and said, "Susan, why don't you go outside and play until dinnertime. You've not been outside all day and you could use some sun."
After the young girl had complied, Mary joined Bordon on the sofa, where he was removing his boots.
"What is troubling you, James," Mary asked gently, taking his hand. "I can tell from the look on your face that something is wrong."
Pausing for a moment to think of how to tell her, Bordon finally said, "It's Charlotte Tavington. She was nearly raped in Pembroke the other day while we were out on patrol. It was another of Ben Martin's men."
Mary blanched at the reminder of her own rape, but swallowed hard and asked, "What was she doing in Pembroke on her own?"
"Our intelligence indicated there was no partisan activity in the area; that all rebel partisan groups were heading north to assist Isaac Shelby in cornering Patrick Ferguson," Bordon told her. "So Charlotte thought it was safe for her to go into town to see her seamstress."
"Oh, dear," Mary said. "But you said it was an attempted rape, not completed. Did you all ride in at the last moment and save her?"
"No, and you'll never believe who did," Bordon told her. "It was Benjamin Martin, of all people, who stopped it and saw her safely home."
"Well, I'm not entirely surprised by that," Mary said. "After all, she's his dead wife's sister. And I think he'd been wanting to marry her ever since they'd both been widowed."
A moment later she asked, "Is Charlotte all right? And the baby?" Shaking her head, she added, "How did the Colonel react? He must be beside himself with rage."
"Charlotte is fine and so is the baby, considering what happened to her," her husband said. "She's had most of her hair hacked off, as one of the rebel women took out her frustrations on Charlotte."
"And the Colonel?" she reminded him.
Bordon sighed loudly, then briefly covered his face with his hands. "Tavington was livid, to say the least." Turning slightly away from her, he attempted to gather himself together to tell her the next part.
"What happened, James," she asked quietly. "What did he do?"
"It was brutal," he finally said miserably. "I won't give you the details, but not only did he execute the partisan who attacked Charlotte in a most brutal fashion, he allowed the man's sister to be raped repeatedly by several of the men."
Ignoring the look of horror on Mary's face for the time being, he took a deep breath and continued, "And even that did not completely satisfy his desire for revenge. After he dealt with Rollins and his sister, he went on and had the entire population of Pembroke exterminated. It was Sunday and they were all in town for church, so he locked them all in and ordered the church burnt to the ground."
Completely appalled, Mary allowed James to take her into his arms as she digested the enormity of what had happened. "His grief must have driven him to temporary insanity," she surmised. "That can be the only explanation."
"Perhaps," Bordon allowed. "I'd not have faulted him for killing the man who assaulted Charlotte, but the rest of it is beyond my understanding." Heaving another sigh, "It will be a long time before the images of what happened there will leave my mind."
"You didn't, uh,…participate…in that woman's rape, did you?" Mary asked timidly. She didn't think he would, but she had to know for sure.
"No, Mary!" Bordon said indignantly. "How could you even ask me such a thing?"
"I'm sorry, James," she apologized helplessly. "I just needed to hear the words from your own mouth."
"None of the officers participated personally in any of the brutality, except when Tavington himself executed Rollins," he told her. "Tavington left Marcus Tapp in charge of all the dirty work." After a moment he added, "And he went ahead and promoted that jackal Tapp to Sergeant Major before we left the plantation to come back here. But, then, I figured he would, even though I had strongly advised him against it."
"Oh, dear," Mary said. Several times over the past few weeks, James had complained to her about the growing influence the tall sergeant had with Colonel Tavington and of how he thought it a lapse of judgment on Tavington's part.
"Enough talk about that for now," Bordon said brusquely. "I want to forget about the war for awhile and think about increasing our family." He bent his head and gave Mary a long, lingering kiss.
"I'm sorry, James," Mary said, frowning in disappointment. "I got my courses again, yesterday morning. I'd hoped that this time was the charm and that I was finally with child, but not this month, at least." She sighed in frustration, having gone through this very problem with Thomas when they'd tried to have another baby after Susan was born.
"Well, we'll just have to keep on trying," Bordon said with a suggestive grin. "That's where all the fun is, at least."
"I'll just be happy once we finally have a baby on the way," Mary said, sighing.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Marcus Tapp was in a fine mood as the dragoons rode back to the fort from the plantation. He and a few of the other dragoons had raucously celebrated his promotion to Sergeant Major the previous night, having pooled what gin, rum, and wine they had between them. After getting mildly drunk, he returned to his tent to roger Rachel one more time before falling into a contented slumber. Life was good.
Shortly after riding through the gates of the fort with the dragoon column, Tapp veered off and headed straight to the small cluster of tents that housed the camp followers who mainly made their livings on their backs.
As he reached the row of tents, Molly came out of the first tent when she heard the sound of horse hooves coming near.
"Marcus Tapp, you miserable bastard!" she called out with a broad smile on her face. "I didn't expect to see you back so soon. What did you bring me?" She looked up appraisingly at Rachel Scott, still riding pillion with Tapp.
"I'm glad to see you too, Molly," Tapp shot back, laughing heartily as he looked down at the bold trollop. Dismounting easily, then helping Rachel down, he continued, "I've brought you another girl. Her name is, uh, Rachel."
"Oh, she's a pretty one," Molly said, looking closely at the young woman. "How old are you, girl?"
"T-twenty-two," Rachel replied, thoroughly confused.
"I expect you've already sampled the merchandise?" Molly asked Tapp.
"Several times," he assured her with a wink. "Trust me, she'll do just fine."
"Good," Molly said. "I need an extra girl, as Libby up and married Corporal Morris. I even have a tent ready for her."
"I aim to please,' he said lazily, giving her a mock salute. Turning to go back to his horse, he said, "I'll expect the usual twenty percent from everything she makes."
"Naturally," she said, rolling her eyes. "If you like, I'll come by your tent later on and thank you proper for bringing her."
"Yeah, that would be fine," Tapp said, giving her a swat on the rump. "But you'll have to come to see me in the Sergeant Major's tent now. Tavington promoted me last night."
"Congratulations," Molly told him. "You're really coming up in the world."
"I'll see you later, then," Tapp said swinging back up onto his horse.
"I'll look forward to it," Molly told him sincerely. She always had a good workout when she visited the handsome and virile Marcus Tapp.
Before he could ride away, Rachel ran up to his horse and looked up at him. "I thought I was going to be staying with you in your tent and that you'd be taking care of me."
"You're a bit confused, little one," Tapp said with a mocking smile. "I promised to get you away from that backwoods cabin. I did that. I didn't promise to marry you."
Turning his horse away, he said dismissively, "You'll have to make your own way here, same as everyone else. Be a good girl and go with Molly, and she'll treat you right, as long as you don't give her any trouble."
With no further ado, Marcus Tapp rode off. He was ready to find a couple of privates to move his things into the larger Sergeant Major's tent, which stood at the border between the enlisted and officer's encampments.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Two days later
"Why don't we go find Mary and take a walk around the fort," Charlotte suggested to Ruth, about an hour before lunchtime. "I'm so tired of being indoors and I find that a good walk before a meal improves the appetite."
"Yes, Miss Charlotte, that's a fine idea," Ruth readily agreed. "I believe I fancy a walk, myself."
A few minutes later, after the two women had picked up Mary Bordon and little Susan, Mary turned to Charlotte and asked, "Where shall we walk today?"
"William said that the men would be having sabre practice today," Charlotte informed her. "Why don't we walk down and watch for awhile before lunch?"
"All right," Mary agreed. "I could use the exercise."
As they reached the area where the dragoons were gathered for sabre drill, Ruth's attention was captured by a lone dragoon sitting tall and straight in the saddle, looking almost one with the horse. The sleek, handsome dragoon was demonstrating a slashing manoeuvre to the men in a graceful, almost choreographed, manner, pivoting around so that Ruth could see that his face was as pleasing as the rear view of him had been.
Sighing audibly, Ruth said dreamily, "Oh, my."
"What is it, Ruth?" Charlotte asked in amusement, as Mary looked on. Following Ruth's gaze, Charlotte looked upon the lean figure of Sergeant Major Marcus Tapp.
"He is a handsome creature, is he not?" Ruth murmured, sighing again in appreciation. "I wonder who he is?"
"Oh, that's Marcus Tapp," Charlotte told her. "William just promoted him to Sergeant Major a few days ago." Favouring Ruth with a conspiratorial smile, she said, "And I must agree that he is a most handsome man. He'd be a fine catch for you, Ruth, I'm thinking. William has told me that he was a Sheriff in New Jersey before joining the Green Dragoons and has said that he's a fine soldier."
Mary Bordon looked at the two women with dismay. It was obvious to her that Colonel Tavington had not shared the more unsavoury details of Marcus Tapp's character with his wife. And what James had told her about the man had been in confidence, as it was patently evident that Colonel Tavington had taken the opportunistic Sergeant Major under his patronage. She knew she had to tread carefully, for to now speak disparagingly about the man might reflect badly on James. Knowing that discretion was the better part of valour, she kept her opinion of Marcus Tapp to herself.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ruth's line, "He is a handsome creature, is he not?", was lifted directly from Margaret Lawrence's book, "The Burning Bride", when another young woman was looking upon the sight of Marcus Tapp.