Windrush: Jayanti's Pawns E-Book

Malcolm Archibald

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Jack Windrush is still in India during the late stages of the Indian Mutiny.

Tired of war, he has to obey orders when Colonel Hook orders him to hunt down a mysterious female warrior named Jayanti. Soon, Jack's company of the 113th Foot shares in the defeat at Fort Ruhya, where they encounter warriors wearing black turbans... and discover that they are women.

With a Pathan prisoner, Jack and the remains of the 113th Foot leave the main army to search for Jayanti.

Amid ferocious battle, betrayal and a personal game of cat and mouse with Jayanti herself, Jack and his company move ever closer to the final confrontation in their campaign.

Leseprobe

Jayanti's Pawns

Jack Windrush Series – Book V

Malcolm Archibald

Copyright (C) 2018 Malcolm Archibald

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2019 by Next Chapter

Published 2019 by Next Chapter

Edited by D.S. Williams

Cover art by Cover Mint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

Prelude

Lucknow, India, March 1858

'Welcome to Lucknow!' Lieutenant Elliot ducked behind the embankment as an enemy cannon ball screamed overhead. 'When I'm an old man, I'll bore my grandchildren with tales of this campaign.'

'If we live to have grandchildren.' Jack leaned against the trunk of a gul-mohur tree beside the sunken track. 'These mutineers are giving us harder fighting than the Ruskies did at Inkerman.'

'Aye, that's for sure.' Elliot cautiously peered over the embankment. 'They never give up, do they? We beat them again and again, and still they come back.'

'Sir Colin will sort them out,' Jack said. 'We have thirty-one thousand men now, and over a hundred guns, ten times the number we had with Havelock last year. This time we'll capture Lucknow and hold it against all comers.'

The mutineers' artillery opened up in a frenzy of flame and smoke, hammering at the British positions. Jack glanced at his men. He didn't need to order them to keep their heads down; they were veterans of a score of battles and skirmishes from the earlier campaigns of Lucknow and Cawnpore, while some had been with him through the nightmare of Crimea. Two or three had even fought in Burma, six years ago. They looked back at him with steady eyes in nut-brown faces, tobacco-chewing professionals in this vicious game of war.

'Bloody pandies,' Private Thorpe muttered as a roundshot landed among the Sikh infantry to their right. 'Why don't they give up now? They know they haven't a hope with old Campbell against them.'

'It's because they're scared, Thorpey.' Coleman ejected a stream of tobacco juice onto the ground, narrowly missing a column of ants. 'Remember how General Neill treated them, even before Cawnpore?'

'He hanged the bastards,' Thorpe said. 'He hanged every one he caught.'

'That's why they're still in the field.' Coleman lifted his Enfield rifle and sighted at the walls of the Little Imambarra. 'They know what will happen if they surrender.'

'We'll hang them all.' Thorpe spoke with savage satisfaction. 'We'll hang all the murdering, backstabbing women-raping bastards.'

Jack listened without emotion. He understood the men's venom. His veterans had witnessed the well at Cawnpore where the mutineers had thrown the mutilated bodies of the British women and children they had murdered. Men such as Coleman, Riley and Thorpe had ensured the replacements were aware of the full horror of that atrocity, adding as many embellishments as they felt suitable. At a time when British men often treated their women with veneration, the Cawnpore murders created intense hatred.

'The boys are still angry,' Jack said.

Elliot nodded. 'They haven't forgotten.'

Jack checked his revolver, chamber by chamber. 'Nor have you.'

'I never will.' Elliot touched the hilt of his sword. 'I never will. The Lord tells us to forgive us our enemies, but I'll never forgive what the pandies did at Cawnpore.'

'I doubt any of us will fully trust them again.' Jack inched to the lip of the embankment, lifted his binoculars and scanned the enemy positions. He could see the heads and smoking cannon-muzzles of the defenders. Despite the British numbers, their impending attack would be a bloody experience.

'Can I take the Colours now, please, sir?' Ensign Green looked as if he should still be sitting at a school desk, rather than commanding men in battle. His face was too smooth to have felt the kiss of a razor while his long eyelashes would undoubtedly endear him to a plethora of girls.

'Not yet, Green. Wait until Sir Colin orders us forward,' Jack said.

'Yes, sir.' Green hesitated. 'This is my first battle, sir.'

'I know, ensign.' Jack forced a smile he didn't feel. 'I'm sure you'll be a credit to your family. Follow orders and do your duty.' He tapped Green's sword. 'You might have the opportunity to use that.'

'Yes, sir!' Green looked eager.

'Good luck, ensign,' Jack said. 'Now get back to your men. They need your leadership.' He watched as Green's slim figure darted back to the men. 'Sometimes, Arthur, I feel very old.'

'You are very old, respected captain, sir,' Elliot said. 'You must be all of twenty-four now.'

'I was twenty-five last month,' Jack said. 'I feel like eighty-five when I see children like Green all keen to go to war.'

'We were like that once,' Elliot said.

'It seems a long time ago.' Jack lifted his binoculars again and studied the triple row of earthworks that protected their objective, and the mutineers that waited for them.

The Little Imambarra loomed ahead, another palace within a walled garden. If the British took the Little Imambarra, there would be nothing between them and the palace of the Kaisarbagh. Beyond the Kaisarbagh lay Lucknow, with its army of mutineers and rebels that defied the right of the British to own India.

Elliot lifted a battered silver hip flask to his lips, swallowed, and offered Jack a drink.

'No, thank you.' Jack concentrated on the Kaisarbagh. In common with nearly all the palaces that adorned the ancient city of Lucknow, a massive wall surrounded a rectangular enclosure in which was a series of gardens and once-beautiful buildings of marble. Although the elite had built the compounds for their pleasure, each made a natural defensive position that the British had to assault on their slow advance. The mutineers had added earthworks and ranks of cannon.

'Thirty thousand trained mutineers are inside Lucknow, they say,' Elliot murmured, 'with another fifty thousand volunteers.'

Jack didn't ask where Elliot obtained his figures. 'It's the volunteers that bother me,' he said. 'We can beat the mutineers; after all, we trained and armed them, so we know how they fight. These matchlock-men and warriors, the Indian soldiers loyal to a native Rajah, or to Oudh.' He shook his head. 'They're not fighting for some fancied grievance over greased cartridges or some such. They're fighting for their monarchs, much as we are fighting for the queen. They're patriots, and that makes them more dangerous.'

'As long as our men are even more dangerous,' Elliot said, 'I won't worry too much about the pandies.'

A trio of British rockets whooshed off, each leaving a trail of red sparks. One veered off course and soared straight into the sky, while the others exploded before they reached their target, leaving a smudge of white powder smoke drifting in the air.

'That'll scare the birds,' Elliot said. 'It certainly won't do anything else.'

'I hope Sir Colin gives the order to attack soon.' Jack slid back onto the track and bit the tip of a cheroot. 'The longer we wait, the less daylight we'll have to fight in.'

'He's not the fastest of commanders.' Elliot scratched a Lucifer and lit Jack's cheroot. 'He is the most thorough, though. He won't attack until he's certain of victory.'

'Windrush!' Colonel Grey strode along the 113th's position, not deigning to duck when the mutineers fired a salvo of grapeshot.

'Yes, sir.' Jack hid his irritation. He needed to concentrate on the impending attack; he did not wish his commanding officer to distract him.

'I want you to take Number Two Company to the left flank.' Grey stroked his whiskers as the enemy musketeers fired a volley. One musket ball raised a tiny puff of dust as it hit the embankment between Jack and the colonel.

'Yes, sir.'

'You'll know that Nana Sahib led the uprising at Cawnpore,' Grey said.

'Yes, sir.' Why do senior officers state the obvious?

'Nana Sahib's bodyguard is said to be in the Little Imambarra.' Grey said. 'If you see them, destroy them.'

'Yes, sir,' Jack said. 'How will I recognise them?'

'You'll know them when you see them.' Grey nodded and strode away.

'He's a queer beggar,' Elliot said. 'We've to destroy Nana Sahib's bodyguard. So what do we do?'

'We take the left flank and destroy everything that opposes us,' Jack said. 'As we always do.'

Jack lifted his head as a bugle blared in the rear. 'That's it! We're going in.' He raised his voice. 'Ready, Number Two Company of the 113th!'

The bugle sounded again, its brassy notes clear against the batter of artillery. There was no hesitation as the British and Sikhs rose to the attack.

'Oh Lord, I shall be very busy this day,' Elliot whispered. 'I may forget thee, but do not forget me, a sinner.' Taking another quick pull at his silver hip flask, he stood up and drew his sword. 'Follow me, lads!'

'Cry Havelock!' Coleman gave the battle cry that Elliot had created the previous year when they formed part of Havelock's small army that battered its way to Cawnpore. 'And let loose the dogs of war!'

'Let loose the dogs,' Thorpe echoed and looked at Coleman for approval.

Ensign Green held the Colours high, the yellow-buff fly with the number 113 faded by sun and damp, torn by musket balls but still proud. Two yards away, rangy Sergeant Greaves held the Queen's Colours. The multi-crosses of the Union Flag announced that Queen Victoria's fighting men were returning to reclaim the city.

After days when the British artillery had thundered to breach the defences, and the mutineers' guns had responded with a will, now the bayonets of the British and Sikhs and the kukris of the Nepalese would contest the issue with the matchlocks and tulwars of the defenders.

Mutineers and warriors lined the wall of the Little Imambarra, firing muskets at the advancing British lines. White powder smoke jetted out to lie thick in the dense air, so the British seemed to be moving towards a fog that partially concealed the first defensive wall. Orange muzzle flares flashed through the smoke and men began to fall. The Sikhs forged forward, with the 10th Foot – the Lincolnshires, matching them step for step.

'Keep moving!' Jack yelled. 'Leave the wounded for the doolie-bearers.' He spoke for the benefit of the replacements. The veterans didn't need instructions. Jack flinched as a musket ball whizzed past his head, swore and increased the pace. His men followed, cursing and stumbling, with Riley singing a soft song.

'Wait there, you bastards,' Logan muttered. 'Wee Donnie's coming for you. Don't run away, you pandy buggers.'

'They won't run,' Riley said. 'They'll still be there.'

'I hate crossing open ground under fire.' Thorpe ducked as something flicked at his shako. 'Bloody hell!'

'Think of it as penance for all those sins and crimes you've committed,' Coleman said. 'And the reward will be killing these murdering buggers.'

Twenty yards now, with the mutineers' musketry increasing. A six-pounder cannon roared, spreading grapeshot among the Sikhs, who raised their pace, stepped over the dead and writhing wounded and yelled their war cry.

Jack grunted as he heard 'Jai Khalsa Ji' – “Victory to the Khalsa”, the old battle cry when the Sikhs had been an independent nation.

'Follow me, lads or the Sikhs will beat us to it!' Jack broke into a run, tripped over a loose rock, staggered, recovered and swore as Elliot overtook him.

'Come on, sir!' Riley hesitated. 'Are you hit?'

Shaking his head, Jack ran on.

Logan, the smallest man in the regiment, was first to the wall. 'I cannae get up!' Logan glared upwards jabbing uselessly with his bayonet, until Riley threw himself up the wall, lay along the top and extended a hand downward.

'Come on Logie and watch you don't stick your bayonet in me!'

Scrambling up, Logan slashed at the defenders, using his bayonet as a sabre to clear a space. 'Come on you bastards; wee Donnie's here!'

In front of Jack, the artillery had done its job and tumbled in a section of wall, with sword-wielding warriors waiting in the breach. They looked like something from the Middle Ages – lithe, dark-skinned men with turbans and round shields.

Jack shot one, staggered as another slammed at him with a shield, fired again and missed. A warrior lifted his sword, screaming his hatred, and doubled over as Ensign Green thrust the staff of the Regimental Colour into his stomach.

'Good man, Green.' Jack rolled away, aimed and fired. The bullet smashed into the warrior's chest, knocking him backwards.

'Thank you, sir.' Green looked shocked at the carnage around him.

'Come on, ensign!' Jack saw Elliot exchanging sword strokes with a long-bearded Rajput as the Sikhs surged onward to his right and the 10th Foot charged at a second defensive line.

'To me, 113th!' Jack ran on. 'Don't let the Poachers get in front of us!'

Mutineer infantry clustered around a small battery of artillery, firing muskets in support of the six-pounders. A sudden roar from the rear alerted Jack, and he saw the Sikhs burst open an arched gate and charge into the enclosure. A slender, active man rallied the defenders with shouts in a high, if muffled, voice. Rough grey cloth covered the lower half of his face, while he had pulled a black turban low over his forehead, emphasising the intensity of his eyes.

'That man looks dangerous,' Elliot gasped. 'He might be Nana Sahib's bodyguard that Colonel Grey told us to look for.'

'In that case, he should be with Nana Sahib.' Jack levelled his revolver, fired and missed. 'Damn the man.'

The man in the black turban lifted his tulwar high and shouted something Jack couldn't understand. The mutineers gathered around him, facing the advancing British, panting, some yelling, bayonets and swords held ready.

Something plucked at Jack's sleeve as he looked around for his men. They followed Ensign Green with the Colours, khaki-clothed, sweat-stained and swearing.

'Come to me and keep your discipline, lads!' Jack roared. 'We'll hit them together, not as a mob of individuals.'

The 113th stopped for a moment to dress their lines and pushed on, bayonets levelled.

The man in the black turban brandished his tulwar. 'Maro Firinghi Soor' – “kill the foreign pigs”, and his followers repeated his words.

'Maro Firinghi Soor!'

'Remember Cawnpore!' the British replied.

'Bole so nihal Sat siri Akaal' – “The one who believes in the truth of God is immortal” the Sikhs shouted as they rushed forward.

The defenders were fighting hard, with warriors clashing swords against the bayonets of the 10th and 113th Foot, firing their clumsy matchlocks while the mutineers, the men who had recently been sepoys in the Honourable East India Company's Bengal Army, fired and withdrew in sullen discipline. Jack saw the man in the black turban lead a counter-attack to check the advance of the 10th Foot.

Jack lunged forward, only for a surge of desperate warriors to halt him. 'Get that fellow!' He pointed to Black Turban. 'He's rallying the enemy.'

'Yes, sir!' Green shouted.

'Logan! Riley – go with the ensign!' Jack motioned two of his veterans forward.

The fighting intensified as the mutineers once more rallied behind the man with the black turban. Jack levelled his revolver and fired, missing again. 'Damn this thing!' Running closer, he saw Logan shoot at a mutineer and then lunge forward with the bayonet as Riley knelt and aimed at a desperate farmer armed with a crude hoe.

The man in the black turban man swapped his tulwar from his right hand to his left and slashed sideways. One of the British replacements fell, staring as his intestines tumbled out in a pink and white coil. He opened his mouth in a silent scream, trying to replace his insides as the man in the black turban parried the swing of a Sikh sword, disarmed his adversary with a twist of the wrist and decapitated the man. The Sikh's head lifted on a jet of blood and landed on the ground.

'Jesus, that fellow is good,' Jack said.

'I'll get him, sir!' Holding the Colours as a lance, Green charged forward.

'No, Green!' Jack knew the youngster would have little chance against a man who was so expert. Aiming his revolver, Jack fired again, to see his target immediately duck. Who the devil are you?

'Green! Come back!'

The man in the black turban man straightened up, saw Green with the Colours and stepped forward. As if in slow motion, Jack saw Green swing the staff, miss, and Black Turban slice forward with his tulwar. The blade took Green across the face. He screamed shrilly as a child and fell, dropping the Colours.

'Save the Colours!' Jack yelled, jumping forward. The Colours were the soul of the regiment and to lose them was a major disgrace. He felt sympathy for Green, but the lad had signed on as a soldier and had to take his chance.

Black Turban shouted something, and a rush of mixed warriors and mutineers charged between the 113th and the Colours. One lifted the staff and held it high, with the yellow-buff fly crushed and stained with Green's blood. A surge of mutineers came to help, cheering at their psychological triumph.

'Come on, lads!' Logan led the counter-charge, sliding under a mutineer's bayonet to gut him, roll across the ground and rise in the middle of the enemy ranks. When Riley followed, with Coleman and Thorpe at his back, all the fight left the mutineers, and they fled in disorder. The warriors remained, standing around their leader, clashing their tulwars on round shields and flaunting their prize. The man in the black turban stepped to their front, lithe, slim and undoubtedly in command.

Jack aimed at Black Turban and fired his final round, cursed as he hit a retreating mutineer, holstered his pistol and drew his sword. 'You and me, Black-hat!'

Black Turban waited for him, tossing his tulwar from hand-to-hand, his eyes focused on Jack. The sun glinted blood red on a ruby ring on the index finger of his left hand.

Sergeant Greaves was at the forefront of the charge that smashed into the warriors' flank, and a melee began, bayonet and rifle butt against sword and shield. The force of the 113th pushed the enemy back, and the wiry man holding the Colours staggered as Logan smashed his rifle butt into his face.

'Sir!' Jack didn't see who shouted, he remained intent on facing Black-Turban. 'The Sikhs are in the Kaisarbagh!'

The man in the black turban glanced down at the writhing Green and slid his tulwar into the ensign's groin, twisted and stepped back into the mass of the warriors as a corporal lifted the Colours.

'You monster!' Jack roared as Green's screams redoubled. 'I'll find you!'

A bank of powder smoke momentarily obscured the enemy as Jack knelt beside the writhing ensign.

'Let's have a look at you,' Jack said and flinched. The tulwar had destroyed Green's face, splitting one eye, cutting off his nose and leaving a bleeding gash across his mouth. No girl would look at him again. Jack only glanced at the bloody horror of Green's groin and looked away quickly. 'It's not too bad,' he said. 'The surgeons will soon put you right.'

Patting Green's shoulder, Jack stood up. In the few seconds he'd spent with Green, the battle had moved on. The 113th was roaring over the walls of the Kaisarbagh, in company with the 10th and the Sikhs.

Without time to reload his revolver, Jack drew his sword and ran, jumping over the dead and wounded of both sides. He had two objectives in his head: lead his men to victory and find the man in the black turban.

Once over the Kaisarbagh wall, he found himself in a series of magnificent gardens with fruit trees and marble arbours, sparkling canals and tinkling fountains.

'We're in paradise.' The sheer beauty of his surroundings forced Elliot to stop in admiration. The whine of a bullet passing close by brought him back to reality.

'Keep after the pandies,' Jack ordered, 'there will be time for sight-seeing later.' He ran into a sequence of courtyards overlooked by Venetian windows and with mutineers appearing on the roof above to fire and then disappear.

'Stand and fight!' Jack yelled.

'Maro Firinghi Soor! somebody shouted with another voice adding,'Allah Akbar! Angrez kaffirs!'

Jack stepped sideways as a tall, shaven-headed Pathan appeared in a doorway and fired a jezzail. The Pathan shouted something, half drew the long cleaver known as a Khyber knife, held Jack's gaze for an instant and then slid away.

'Stand and fight!' Jack slashed uselessly with his sword and ran on, with a press of the 113th and Sikhs at his back. The Pathan vanished into the maze of courtyards and gardens, and Jack tried to follow, brandishing his sword as he burst into the palace itself. Men of the 113th were behind him, exclaiming at the treasures that surrounded them. There was more wealth in one room than they would ever see in ten lifetimes.

'This is more like it!' Private Armstrong, saturnine and predatory, said. 'Bugger the pandies.'

'Leave the loot!' Jack warned. 'There are still mutineers around!'

Soft carpets deadened the sound of their feet; silk hangings decorated the walls, mirrors reflected their images so for a second Jack prepared to strike at a wild-eyed swordsman before he realised it was himself.

'They're running!' Elliot sounded amazed. He stood with his pistol in his left hand and his sword in his right, panting as the mutineers and warriors began a fighting withdrawal from the Kaisarbagh.

'Stand and fight, you pandy bastards!' Logan waved his rifle at them; blood dripped from the bayonet. 'Remember Cawnpore!'

After the massacres at Cawnpore and Meerut, the British had no mercy. They killed anybody who did not immediately surrender. Jack watched without emotion. The penalty for mutiny and treason had always been death, and the mutineers had murdered British women and children. In this war, there was little mercy on either side.

'Loot!' somebody else shouted, and the cry spread among the British and Sikhs. As the enemy fled, the attackers realised that they were safe and within a selection of buildings that held immense wealth. 'Loot, boys, gold and jewels for us all!'

With those words, the drive eased from the attack as men turned their attention to rapaciousness rather than soldiering. What they couldn't steal, they destroyed, so in minutes the Kaisarbagh became an orgy of pointless vandalism and theft.

'Stick together, 113th!'

Men ignored Jack's shout as they delved into rooms to see what loot they could find.

'113th! To me!' Jack roared. He didn't want his men scattered around the Kaisarbagh where they could be vulnerable to enemy ambush. Capturing a town or palace was the most testing time for any military unit. Regiments held together in battle or on the parade ground, but British soldiers were prone to the temptations of loot or drink.

'Sir!' Riley ran up with small, ugly Logan at his side.

'I thought you'd be first at the looting, Riley.' Jack knew that Riley had been a cracksman, a professional thief before he joined the army.

Riley shrugged. 'There's as much smashing as stealing, sir. These lads have got no idea.'

Jack glanced around. Most of the veterans were with him, together with some of the replacements, the Johnny Raws who hadn't yet recovered from their first sunburn. Armstrong was missing, which didn't surprise him. 'Well done, lads.'

The black-turbaned leader appeared from behind a fountain. He looked directly at Jack, raised his tulwar in salute and vanished. Jack did not see where.

'Who was that sir?' Logan was on one knee, aiming his rifle. 'I cannae see the bastard.'

'I don't know who he was,' Jack said, 'but I think we will see him again.' He replaced his sword in its scabbard. And when we do, I will kill him.

Chapter One

Lucknow, April 1858

'We have trouble, sir.' Sergeant Greaves came to attention and saluted.

'What sort of trouble, sergeant?' Jack asked.

'We have two men missing, sir.'

Jack sighed. Sergeant O'Neill would have sorted such a thing out himself without recourse to an officer. 'Let me guess – Thorpe and Coleman.' Two old soldiers with a liking for drink and women, Thorpe and Coleman were nothing but trouble when the 113th was in cantonments and worth their weight in gold when the bayonets were out.

'No, sir,' Greaves said. 'Riley and Logan.'

'That's unusual,' Jack responded. 'Have you asked Mrs. Riley where her husband might be?' Charlotte Riley was a sensible woman who usually kept her husband out of trouble.

'No, sir.'

'Come on then, sergeant.'

Charlotte Riley was washing clothes in a wooden tub. She looked up when Jack arrived, drew the back of her hand across her forehead and nodded acknowledgement. Behind her, a group of women similarly engaged stopped work to listen. Three children, dressed in clothes inappropriate to the weather, scampered back inside the native huts the 113th had appropriated for temporary married quarters.

'Good morning, Captain Windrush.' Charlotte Riley spoke guardedly, with her eyes bright and wary.

'Good morning, Mrs. Riley. We seem to have mislaid your husband.'

'Have you?' Charlotte's eyes widened.

'We have, and that other reprobate, Donald Logan.'

'Wee Donnie?' Charlotte Riley smiled. 'Now there's a surprise.' She eyed Jack. 'It must be important for you to be involved, captain. How long have they been gone for?'

'Two hours, Mrs. Riley.' Sergeant Greaves replied at once.

'Oh, is that all?' Charlotte sounded relieved. 'Don't concern yourselves, gentlemen, they'll be back.'

'How do you know?' Sergeant Greaves asked.

'Riley wouldn't leave me behind.' Charlotte returned to her washing. 'He's not deserted.'

'That is true.' Jack knew that Riley was close to Charlotte. 'Do you have any idea where they might be, Mrs. Riley? I'd like to find them before they end in serious trouble.'

Charlotte pondered for a moment. 'Well, Captain Windrush, Riley is not interested in other women, so don't think of brothels. Neither he nor Wee Donnie drinks much, so it's not that.' She shrugged. 'They'll turn up. I can't think what else interests them.'

I can. Jack remembered that neither Riley nor Logan looted the Kaisarbagh. Why not? Riley had been a professional cracksman, a high-class thief, and Logan was a street Arab from Glasgow, always on the lookout for what he could take for nothing. The only reason they would not join in the general orgy was if they had something else in mind. 'They haven't deserted,' Jack agreed. 'Thank you, Mrs. Riley. Sergeant Greaves, go and find Thorpe. He can help us.'

'Thorpe, sir? Yes, sir.' Greaves was too much of an old soldier to reveal his surprise.

Thorpe was on guard duty, standing outside the regimental lines with his rifle in his hands. He slipped a stubby clay pipe inside his mouth as Jack and Greaves approached.

'Stand at attention when an officer is present, Thorpe!' Greaves roared.

'I am, sir,' Thorpe mumbled.

'It's all right, Thorpe, you're in no trouble,' Jack said. 'And you'd better take the pipe out of your mouth before you burn your tongue.'

'Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.' Thorpe looked uneasily from Greaves to Jack.

'We have come to you,' Jack said, 'because you are an old soldier, a veteran of battle and siege.' He could feel Greaves staring at him, wondering what he was doing. Officers didn't normally speak to private soldiers in such a friendly manner.

'Yes, sir,' Thorpe was equally suspicious.

'You know all that's going on,' Jack continued. 'Where everybody is and who has secrets.'

'Yes, sir.' Thorpe gave a little smile.

'I thought I could rely on you, Thorpey.' Jack clapped him on the shoulder. 'We fought together in Burma, remember?'

'Yes, sir,' Thorpe said.

'Now, I need your help. I have to tell Riley something, and I can't find him. Do you know where he is?'

'Yes, sir.' Thorpe didn't remove the pipe from his lips, so a puff of foul smoke accompanied every word. 'He's down by the River Goomtee for a little swim. Remember when we evacuated Lucknow last year, sir? They were the days, eh?'

'They were, Thorpey, they were indeed. Whereabouts by the river is Riley?'

'He's where we evacuated the city, sir, last time we was here.' Thorpe frowned, evidently thinking he had made that plain. 'Do you want a smoke, sir?' He produced a sweaty handful of something vaguely resembling tobacco. 'Me and Coley make it with cow dung and weeds, sir and a bit of real baccy when we can find any.'

'No thank you, Thorpe. You might need it.' Jack hastily withdrew before Thorpe began patting his shoulder and calling him Jack.

'Down by the river Goomtee.' Greaves repeated. 'Why the devil would he be down by the river? And it's not for a swim.'

'I agree with you, sergeant, and we'll soon find out. Come on.'

'I'll bring a picket, sir.'

'No need, sergeant.' Jack shook his head. 'I know these men.'

'That's what I mean, sir. So do I.' Greaves grimaced. 'Riley is a smooth-tongued blackguard, and I can feel Logan watching me every time I turn my back. He's gallows bait, that one, sir.'

Jack smiled. 'You'll get used to them, Greaves. You only joined us a few months ago, didn't you?'

'Yes, sir. Three months ago. I was in Number Three Company in Malta when this mutiny blew up.'

'You'll get to know the men. Come on, sergeant.'

Jack saw the flash of white skin in the water as he marched along the muddy bank of the Goomtee. 'Riley!' He roared the name.

Riley started, and Logan appeared from behind a ruined building, rifle in hand.

'What are you doing, Riley?'

'Swimming sir.' Riley was the picture of innocence as he stood stark naked and thigh deep in water. 'It's hot.'

'Swimming!' Greaves raised his voice to a roar. 'You should be on duty, Riley! By God, I'll have you two at the triangle before I'm through.'

Jack saw Riley's expression alter. Once before, Major Snodgrass had ordered Riley flogged and neither he nor Charlotte had ever forgiven the major. Now his eyes narrowed at the threat.

'Aye, would you?' Logan shifted his rifle enough to cover Greaves.

'There won't be any of that if you're back on duty within the hour.' Jack hardened his voice. 'And you'll remain under Sergeant Greaves direct supervision until I say otherwise. Logan!' Jack turned around. 'Your tunic is not buttoned properly, and your rifle is loaded. You're on extra guard duty tonight once the sergeant finishes with you! Now get back to camp, the pair of you!'

Jack watched as Greaves force-marched both men away. He looked back at the river where sad trees dipped their branches into the slow-swirling waters, and colourful birds hunted for insects. If he had Sergeant O'Neill with him, rather than Greaves, he would have found out more, but Greaves didn't know his men. Now it was unlikely he would ever discover what Riley and Logan had been doing at this river.

Lighting a cheroot, Jack sauntered back to the 113th's lines, glad that the campaign was nearly over. He had been fighting since the previous summer, battle after battle and march after toiling march. He had lost count of the number of actions he'd survived and only knew that he needed rest, a period of peace. Surely now that Lucknow had fallen, the pandies would throw in the towel.

Please God, let this nightmare end soon. I have had enough of killing and death for a while.

'Soldiers? You're not soldiers! You're babes just out of the crib! You ain't a pukka soldier until you've had a nap hand.' Sergeant Greaves paced slowly along the line of replacements, meeting the gaze of each man and saying nothing until he reached the end. 'Soldiers? I've seen Sawnies fresh from the heather who knew more about soldiering, Paddies straight from the bogs who could march better and Cockneys from the stews who had more brains.'

'He's not bad.' Watching from the side-lines, Coleman gave his professional opinion as he sucked on the stem of his pipe. 'Not as good as O'Neill, but not bad.'

'I wonder if he can fight as well as he can talk.' Thorpe dealt out the greasy playing cards.

'He did no' bad at the Kaisarbagh,'Logan said. 'He never ran away, anyway.'

'Let's see how he is when we're not winning,' Coleman grunted at his cards.

Riley examined his hand. 'Did you shuffle the pack, Thorpey? You've given me five aces.'

Logan grunted. 'Aye, me too. You're a cheating bastard Thorpey.'

'No I'm not,' Thorpe looked up, 'I'm not a cheating bastard, sir.'

'They're pulling your leg, Thorpe. Ignore them and get on with the game.' Jack eased the sudden tension.

'He's right, Thorpey. Concentrate on the cards.' Coleman said. 'That blustering sergeant will pull the beer trick soon. See if he doesn't.'

'All right,' Sergeant Greaves returned to the centre of the line. 'Step forward two paces, all those who drink beer.'

The replacements glanced at each other in wonderment, deciding what trick the sergeant was playing. Greaves waited, with the sun drawing the sweat from his face and evaporating it nearly simultaneously. Two men took a deep breath, and one stepped forward.

'They always fall for it,' Coleman said.

Logan glanced at Riley. 'Aye. Bloody fools.'

'So you drink beer, do you?' Sergeant Greaves thrust his face close to that of the lone volunteer.

'Yes, sergeant.' The man looked about twenty, with neatly shaped black whiskers and red skin peeling from his nose. Jack couldn't place which part of Scotland his accent was from, although it was vastly different from the harsh gutter Glasgow of Logan.

'Do you eat bread and cheese?' Greaves asked.

'Sometimes, sergeant,' the private said.

'Well, that's nice. You eat bread and cheese and drink beer. You'll need that for you are about to become a soldier. Now, what's your name?'

'MacKinnon, sergeant. Alexander Mackinnon from the Island of—'

'Well MacKinnon, we have a Sergeant's Mess here. I want you to trot along and tell them that nice Sergeant Greaves has sent you to have one bottle of beer with his compliments.' Greaves watched as MacKinnon hurried away.

'The rest of you,' Greaves spoke in a conversational tone, 'are lying dogs. You lied to your friendly sergeant about not drinking beer, and for that, you will double around the square with your bundooks above your head, until I tell you to stop. Now move, you lying bastards! Don't drink beer eh? By the living Christ! If you're the army, thank God we've got a navy.'

'Stupid buggers,' Thorpe said with neither malice nor sympathy. 'I'm having three cards.'

'An officer is coming,' Riley warned.

The officer was tall and slender, with black hair slicked back and lapping his neck and a moustache that drooped past the ends of his mouth. He wore the insignia of a lieutenant colonel.

'Stand up, lads,' Jack said quietly as Sergeant Greaves called his section to attention and slammed an immaculate salute.

'Oh, don't bother with that nonsense,' the officer spoke to Greaves. 'I'm looking for Captain Windrush. Captain Jack Windrush.'

'That's me, sir,' Jack stepped forward.

The colonel subjected Jack to prolonged scrutiny. 'You're Captain Jack Windrush?'

'I am, sir.' Jack knew it was highly unusual for an officer to associate so closely with the men and wondered if the colonel would comment.

'I am Charles Hook, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hook.'

Jack nodded. 'Yes, sir.'

'You knew my brother, Lieutenant Hook. You served together in Burma.' Hook held Jack's gaze. 'He mentioned you in the last letter he ever wrote to me.'

'He was a good man.' Jack couldn't think what else to say. He'd been a very young and inexperienced griffin when he fought beside Lieutenant Hook.

'Come with me, Windrush. Your men will be all right without you for a few moments.' Hook nodded to the Dilkusha palace which was still magnificent, despite the battering it had received during this final assault on Lucknow. 'I've found a modest apartment in the Dilky.'

Hook's idea of modest differed from Jack's. Two burly Sikhs stiffened to attention as Hook approached the studded doorway to his requisitioned apartment. He entered with a nod, and Jack followed him into a room lit by pointed latticed windows and cooled by an invisible punkah-wallah.

'Some minor prince or other lived here,' Hook said casually. 'I sent in my lads to ensure it was untouched during the general looting.'

'They did a good job.' Jack looked around him. He had been in half a dozen Indian palaces and forts during the present conflict, but only during the attack, or after the British had captured them from their previous owners. This room had the furnishings undamaged and the drapery intact. Jack stared at the silks and satins, the inlaid furniture and the exquisite wall hangings, with carpets from Afghanistan and Bokhara and a display of jewelled weapons on the wall. The two chairs appeared like thrones, broad and semi-circular with deeply padded seats and arm-rests carved into the likeness of snarling tigers.

'It will do for now.' Hook sounded nonchalant. 'Take a seat, Windrush.'

Jack sat on the smaller of the two thrones, sinking into the luxurious cushion.

'Now, Windrush,' Hook remained on his feet, pacing back and forth from one of the windows to the door, 'I believe that you've seen quite a bit of action in India.'

'A bit, sir. I was with General Havelock's column in the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, and then with Sir Colin Campbell.'

'You participated in both of Campbell's campaigns against Lucknow,' Hook said. 'And before the Mutiny, you were in the Crimea and Burma.'

'That's correct, sir.' Jack wondered how Hook knew so much about him.

'Colonel Maxwell told me you were a useful man.' Hook answered Jack's unspoken question. 'He suggested that you were a little unorthodox and less regimental than most officers. When I saw you playing cards with your men, I knew that to be correct.'

Jack was unsure how to reply.

'Would you agree with our assessment, Windrush?' Hook didn't halt his pacing, yet his gaze never strayed from Jack's face.

'Colonel Maxwell knew me well, sir,' Jack said.

'I heard you were involved in some interesting escapades against the Plastun Cossacks around Sevastopol,' Hook said.

'Yes, sir.' Jack remembered the biting cold and nervous strain when he had led his men against the best irregular infantry in the Russian army.

Hook's sudden stop took Jack by surprise. 'You were successful.'

'Some we won and some we lost, sir, like the campaign itself.'

'You killed your adversary,' Hook said. 'The object of war is to outmanoeuvre and destroy the enemy, which is what you did. You are a soldier, Windrush.' His smile was genuine. 'And I am looking for a soldier who is not hide-bound by tradition and regulations.'

'There are many more experienced soldiers than me in the army.' Jack avoided Hook's last statement. 'Lieutenant Elliot was with me most of the time, and he is a fine officer and a gentleman.'

'I am fully aware of Lieutenant Arthur Elliot's abilities,' Hook said. 'As I am aware you have acted the spy on occasion.'

'I had no choice, sir.' Jack knew that most officers thought spying was dishonourable. He decided to end the colonel's game. 'What do you wish me to do, sir?'

'Good man. Take the direct approach and hang the consequences, eh?' Hook sat on the larger throne. 'I want you to work for me.'

Jack felt the increased patter of his heart. 'Doing what, sir?'

'Whatever I wish you to do.' Hook's gaze was level. 'Well? I could make it an order, captain Windrush.'

'You'll have to, sir. My duty is with the 113th, beside my men.' Jack knew it was foolish to argue with a superior officer.

'Maxwell was right about you. He said that as well as being unorthodox and less regimental than most officers, you have loyalty to your men.'

'We've been through a lot together,' Jack said.

Hook's smile faded slightly. 'I suspect that you have more to go through before this war is over.' He sat on the larger throne. 'You saw the well at Cawnpore.'

'Yes, sir.' Jack would never forget the horror of the well at Cawnpore. Heads, torsos, arms and legs of women and children had filled the well in a sickening scene that still haunted him. The massacre at Cawnpore had put new savagery to an already terrible war, with atrocities and retaliation on both sides.

'Do you know who was responsible?'

'I heard it was Nana Sahib, sir, or his lover, Hussaini Khanum.'

'Hussaini Khanum is a fascinating woman.' Hook took a long cheroot from an inside pocket and tapped the end on the arm of his chair. 'Do you think that women can be as ruthless in war as men?'

Not expecting the question, Jack had no ready answer. 'I haven't thought about it, sir. I suppose I always think of women as the gentler sex.'

Hook lit the cheroot, leaned back in his throne and exhaled blue smoke. 'That is what most people seem to think,' he said. 'Have you heard of Uda Devi?'

'No, sir.' Jack shook his head, wondering where Hook was leading him with these seemingly disassociated questions.

'No? That surprises me, considering you were involved in the battle where we killed her.' Hook drew on his cheroot. 'You must remember the affair at Sikandrabagh when the Highlanders shot a female in a papal tree?'

'I do, sir,' Jack said. 'The woman had killed some of our men.'

'That woman was Uda Devi.' Hook paused for effect. 'She was not the only woman warrior, but allegedly the leader of a company of female fighters, many of whom died in the battle for Lucknow.'

'I see, sir. She was a brave woman, whoever she was.'

'Our intelligence informs us that she was trained in guerrilla tactics, martial arts and espionage. She was much more than an angry woman killing British soldiers but… we don't know what she was.'

Jack waited. It was not politic to rush a senior officer.

'You are wondering what the connection is between Uda Devi and you.' A slow smile spread across Hook's face.

'I am, sir,' Jack said.

'We believe that another woman has taken Uda Devi's place,' Hook said. 'Our informants are very vague. They tell us that they have heard the name “Jayanti”.'

'Jayanti.' Jack ran the name around his mouth. 'That's evocative.'

'The name is interesting,' Hook said. 'It means “victorious”.'

'Victorious?' Jack raised his eyebrows. 'We have defeated the mutineers wherever they have made a stand.'

'Orientals don't view time as we do,' Hook said. 'They may view this war as only the first round in a prolonged struggle.' He shrugged. 'Now that they've given us fair warning, we'll take the appropriate action. More important for the present, this Jayanti may be planning to raise another army of women.' He exhaled blue smoke. 'If they are as skilled as Uda Devi, or as ruthless as Hussaini, then they could cause us a devil of a lot of trouble.'

'The Mutiny is all but over now, sir, is it not?' Jack suffered a prickle of unease. 'We've recaptured Delhi, defeated every army they raised and taken Cawnpore and Lucknow. There is only Central India to pacify and the ragtag and bobtail to mop up.'

'If only it were that easy.' Hook's laughter lacked any mirth. 'This is India, Windrush. We are sitting on the lid of a cauldron while the devil stokes the fire. You know what happens when a boiler has no outlet, don't you? It explodes. This mutiny was an outlet, and now we must ensure any future outbreaks are small and quickly subdued. We might not find Jayanti easy to control if we don't stop her soon.'

'By we, do you mean me, sir?'

Hook nodded. 'Why else would I be telling you all this? I want you to find Jayanti, and either capture her and bring her to trial, or kill her.' He stretched out on his chair. 'If she even exists. All we have is rumour and speculation.'

Nausea rose in Jack's gut. The army was once again using him for the unorthodox. 'I'm sure other officers know India better than I do, sir. Perhaps somebody from John Company with a more intimate knowledge of the native peoples would be more suitable.'

'Maxwell told me you were an argumentative sort of fellow, Windrush.' Hook examined the end of his cheroot. 'In case you have forgotten, John Company's sepoys have just mutinied. How can I trust one of their officers after that? You are Indian-born and have more experience than most in irregular warfare.'

Jack knew there was no point in arguing further. 'How many men can I have, sir?'

'I leave that up to you, Windrush. You know what is best. Remember that too many men will make you conspicuous and too few and you'll be vulnerable to every band of badmashes and broken pandy unit in India.'

'Yes, sir,' Jack said.

Hook's grin was as reassuring as a tiger stalking its prey. 'Here is what you are going to do, Windrush. Have you heard of the Rohilkhand Field Force?'

'I've heard the name included in a hundred shaves, sir.'

'Well, here is what is happening. Rohilkhand, as you know, is a large province northeast of Delhi, and near Meerut, where this entire horrible business began.'

'Yes, sir.'

'It appears that Rohilkhand is a rallying place. The survivors from Delhi have fled there, and the local Rohillas joined them. The Rohillas are a tough crowd, descended from Afghans. Their leader, Khan Bahadur Khan is a formidable presence. As if that was not sufficient, the Nawab of Farukhabad has raised the standard of rebellion as has the Maulvi of Faizabad.'

'All the disaffected clans,' Jack murmured. 'All we need is Bonny Prince Charlie.'

'Or Bonnie Princess Jayanti,' Hook said. 'I think you are beginning to understand. The Mutiny is not yet over; it has assumed a new form, that's all.'

'Yes, sir.' Jack resigned himself to another summer's campaigning in the heat of India.

'Sir Colin is sending four columns against Rohilkhand. General Penny is marching from Meerut; Brigadier Coke is leading a division from Rurki, Seaton will advance from Fatehgarh and Brigadier-General Robert Walpole from Lucknow.'

'Yes, sir.'

'You will join Walpole's column until you hear news of Jayanti. After that, you either strike out on your own or report your intelligence to me, if I am available.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Oh, and Windrush; keep an ear and eye open for Nana Sahib and Major Snodgrass, would you? You know that Snodgrass and his entire command vanished.'

'I'll do that, sir.' The senior major of the 113th, Snodgrass had been in charge of an escort for the regiment's women and children when the Mutiny began the previous year. He and the escort had disappeared one night, leaving the women to find their own way to safety.

'I know you didn't always see eye-to-eye with Major Snodgrass,' Hook again revealed his thorough knowledge of Jack, 'but he is a British officer.'

'Yes, sir.'

'After all this time, I doubt you'll find him alive,' Hook said. 'The mutineers probably ambushed the poor fellow.' Hook finished his cheroot and immediately lit another. 'However, I'm telling all the searching columns to look out for him, and I'll tell you too.'

'Is there anything else, sir?'

'Yes, Windrush. At present, we don't know much about Jayanti, and we don't want any false rumours to spread across the army. God knows there are sufficient lies and exaggerations already. Keep the object of your search between yourself and Elliot.'

'Yes, sir.'

'I think that's all, Windrush. You have your orders. Find this Jayanti woman and look out for poor Major Snodgrass. Good luck.' He held out his hand.

'Thank you, sir.'

Hook's hand was as hard and cool as his eyes.

Chapter Two

'You know Jack', Elliot uncorked his silver hip flask. 'We've been in India for centuries, yet we're less part of it now than we ever were. We exist in a regimental cocoon while India lives outside us.'

'We're not in a regimental cocoon for much longer, Arthur, we're on the road again.' Jack leaned against the wall of their shared quarters.

Elliot held out the flask. 'I guessed that when Hooky wanted you.'

'Do you know him?'

Elliot shook the flask to attract Jack's attention. 'I know that he's a man best avoided. Where is he sending us?'

Jack took the flask and sipped at the contents. 'God that's rough! What's it meant to be?'

'Whisky. Campbell's 79th make their own.'

'What do they make it from? Dead horses?' Jack choked down the fiery liquid. 'Thanks Arthur, I needed that, and you'll need the rest when you hear what Colonel Hook wants us to do.' He looked around their bare chamber, comparing it to Hook's luxurious quarters and sighed. 'We're after a woman named Jayanti. She's said to be the head of a regiment of female warriors.'

'Amazons by Jove.' Elliot swallowed more of his whisky, coughed and wiped a hand across his mouth. 'And where does Jayanti live when she's at home?'

'That's the interesting part,' Jack retrieved the flask for another swallow. 'We don't know.' He explained the situation.

'I had thought the 113th had redeemed its reputation after Inkerman and Lucknow,' Elliot said. 'Apparently not. It seems that the powers-that-be still use us for the dirty jobs that other units don't want.' He shook his head. 'A British regiment hunting down a woman. What would Wellington have said?'

'He would have said, “do your duty”.'

'Probably.' Elliot downed some more whisky. 'So we wander about India knocking on doors and enquiring politely if a woman named Jayanti is inside?'

'We are part of a large column,' Jack said. 'We march and fight, gather intelligence and listen.'

'You'll have to say your goodbyes to Mary.' Elliot eyed Jack over the mouth of his flask. 'What are your intentions with that woman, Jack?'

'Honourable.' Jack kept his voice neutral. He'd met Mary when the mutineers attacked the 113th cantonment at Gondabad the previous year. They'd forged a close friendship despite the fact that Mary was Anglo-Indian, with a British father and an Indian mother, and therefore not a woman that a respectable British officer should know.

'How honourable?' Elliot didn't allow Jack to wriggle off his hook.

'I will not dishonour her,' Jack said. 'I'm not my father.'

Elliot passed across the flask. 'I remember that your father had a friendship with a Eurasian woman.'

'He fathered me to a native of the country,' Jack said. 'I'm a half-breed.'

'Your mother was only half-Indian,' Elliot said, 'making you three-quarters white and anyway, you are a British officer.' He kept his voice quiet.

'If the queen learned of my antecedents, she would revoke my commission.' Jack held Elliot's gaze.