Jack Windrush Collection - Books 5-8

Chapter 2-1

"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.

"Not our Victoria." Elliot said. "If the queen did such a thing, and it"s a big if, Her Majesty would be losing one of her finest officers. However, that is not likely to happen, and you are avoiding my question. What are your intentions with the delightful Mary?"

If"I don"t know," Jack said. "I like her."

"The whole regiment knows that you like her." Elliot couldn"t hide his smile. "And also, that she likes you. The question is, how much do you like her?"

likemuch"I don"t know," Jack said again.

"For your sake, Jack, find out," Elliot said. "I"m your friend, I hope, so when I speak, I"m only thinking of your happiness. Keep Mary as a friend, by all means, but no more than that. Don"t, for God"s sake, contemplate matrimony."

Until that moment, Jack hadn"t seriously considered marrying Mary. However, as soon as Elliot gave his advice, Jack frowned. "I"ll do as I damn well please, Arthur."

"Will you?" Elliot said. "Best consider the future, Jack. Jack!" He raised his voice as Jack rose from the chair and stormed away.

"Damned cheek," Jack grumbled to himself as he lit a cheroot. "Telling me what I can and can"t do and who I can and can"t marry. Bloody cheek of the man."

Mary had found lodgings in a small chamber near the Dilkusha palace. She looked up from her small charpoy when Jack tapped on the door.

"Come in."

"You look tired." Jack stepped inside the bleak chamber.

"I"m a lot better than most in here." Mary sat up and ran her hands through her thick black hair.

"You"re acting as a nurse, aren"t you?" Jack sat on the woven mooda stool that was one of the few pieces of furniture in the room.

mooda"No." Mary shook her head. "I"m not acting as anything. I am a nurse. There are a lot of badly injured men who need help."

actingam"I"ve heard," Jack said. "The pandies have left powder stores all over the city, and our men light their pipes and throw away the Lucifers."

"Exactly so." Mary reached for the chapatti that lay on the small table beside her charpoy. Tearing it in half, she passed one piece to Jack and bit into the other. "Some of the poor devils lie there and pray for death, and no wonder with most of their bodies burned to a crisp. All we can do is try to soothe their pain."

"You"re a good woman, Mary Lambert," Jack said.

Mary washed down the chapatti with a drink of water from a brass bowl. "No, Jack, I"m only a woman."

"You"re one of the best," Jack told her.

"What can I do for you?" Mary"s smile only highlighted the tired lines around her eyes.

"I"ve come to tell you that I"ll be leaving Lucknow shortly," Jack said.

"Are you allowed to tell me where you are heading?"

"Into Rohilkhand," Jack said.

"Rebel territory." Mary put out a hand. "Be careful, Jack, please be careful."

"I will," Jack said.

"No." Mary shook her head. "I know you. You will charge into whatever danger there is and end up with more wounds and more scars, or worse."

"That"s part of the soldier"s bargain," Jack said.

"It"s a poor bargain," Mary responded. She waved her hand to fend off a circling fly. "I"ll be thinking of you."

Jack nodded. He tried to think of something reassuring to say. "I"ll be thinking of you, too."

"You know where liars go," Mary said with her mouth full of half-masticated chapatti. "You won"t think of me at all, only of your beloved regiment."

"I will think of you," Jack said quietly. He wanted to touch her.

Mary held his gaze for a long minute before she replied. "I know you will." Her voice was equally quiet. "I do."

Jack knew that she was still watching as he left the chamber. He wished he could have said more as he stalked away with his temper growing fouler by the minute. What am I going to do about that woman?

What am I going to do about that woman?"We are joining Walpole"s column with orders to remove any rebels from the left bank of the Ganges and bring British rule and justice into the districts through which we pass." Jack addressed his junior officers. "Our goal is Bareilly, one hundred and fifty or so miles away."

"Another long march." Elliot glanced upwards. "And the hot season is reaching its zenith."

"Check the boys fill their water bottles," Jack said, "and ensure the bullock waggons have extra water. I don"t trust these bullock-wallahs any more than I would trust a pandy."

bullock-wallahs"Sergeant Greaves has already checked," Elliot said.

"Well, do it again," Jack ordered. "I"m not going to depend on the word of a sergeant to look after my men." He knew he was bad-tempered this morning and Elliot was doing his best. However, junior officers were there to assuage the wrath of their superiors. Jack looked at his men, some marching, others riding six-a-piece on bullock-daks. They were relaxed, jesting and fit. He had no real worries with them. He glanced back toward Lucknow, hoping to see Mary.

Damn the woman. She could at least spare a few moments to wave goodbye. So much for her protestations of thinking about me. Bloody woman.

Damn the woman. She could at least spare a few moments to wave goodbye. So much for her protestations of thinking about me. Bloody woman."We have a decent little army here," Jack forced his mind onto other things. "A Highland Brigade, two battalions of the Rifle Brigade, the Company"s 1st Bengal Europeans, two sepoy regiments, two regiments of Queen"s cavalry, three Punjab cavalry regiments, seamen from HMS Shannon and a gaggle of engineers and artillery."

Shannon"And us," Elliot said, "two companies of the 113th Foot. The pandies won"t stand against this lot so it will be a wasted expedition."

"They might not have to stand," Jack said. "All they have to do is keep mobile and let us chase them across India. They can live on rice, water and burned corn and they ignore the sun while we"ll lose men by the score with heat exhaustion."

"It"s better being on the move than waiting in Lucknow," Elliot said. "The quicker we beat the rebels, the sooner this war will be over. Anyway," he shrugged, "I"ve had more than enough of Lucknow with its dead bodies putrefying in the streets, mines waiting to explode and murderers hiding in the alleys."

"The men are still keen," Jack said.

"They want to kill pandies," Elliot agreed. "They won"t forget Cawnpore."

Jack took a last look at Lucknow, the city of palaces where he had met Mary and lost his mother. There was no familiar, friendly face waiting to wave him off.

"Come on Arthur, let"s find this Jayanti woman and finish this blasted war."

* * *

The searing wind raised a mist of dust that hid the sun, coated every surface and scoured every face. The column marched through waist-high dust, spat out dust-filled phlegm and narrowed their eyes to protect sensitive pupils. When the men drank, they swallowed dust-tasting water, and they tried not to scratch at the dust that seeped inside their clothes and made walking a chafing nightmare. India had indirect methods of fending off invaders.

"Tell me again, Coley, why do we want India?" Thorpe took off his hat, shook off the dust and replaced it, as dusty as before.

"India," Coleman said, "is the jewel in the Empire"s crown, the glory of the nation and a money-spinning gem for the Honourable East India Company."

"Oh." Thorpe thought about Coleman"s words for a few moments. "That might be right, Coley, but why do we want it. It"s a cesspit."

weColeman sighed. "It brings money to the East India Company," he said. "It"s all about money for the nobs."

"So how come we"re fighting here and the nobs aren"t?" Thorpe asked. "We don"t want the bloody place."

"I don"t want it either," Parker said.

"Can we not just tell the East India Company that we don"t want their country and give it back to the Indians?" Thorpe said.

"That"s what we"ll do!" Hutton said. "We"ll all go to the East India Company and tell them that. You go first Thorpey, as it"s your idea."

"Will you come with me?" Thorpe asked.

"We"ll all come with you," Hutton said. "You lead us Thorpey, and we"ll follow."

"Thanks lads," Thorpe said. "Where is this East India Company?"

"In London," Coleman said. "We can go after the war."

Thorpe grinned and straightened up. "All of us?"

"All of us, Thorpey. The whole regiment, band, Colours, colonel and all."

"Thanks, lads," Thorpe said. "You"re real mates, you are."

Jack watched them as they marched on into the dust, weary men with no future except fighting, disease and poverty, living on false hopes and the prospect of a few hours oblivion through alcohol and cheap prostitutes. "It"s strange, Arthur, that ultimately the Empire depends on these men. Without them, there would be nothing."