“Cossacks,” Jack breathed the word as the patrol looked around and then rode slowly away. Cossacks: Jack remembered their menace from the Crimea War when his 113th had fought them. They were the most feared units of the Russian Army, the cutting edge of the Czar"s empire. The Cossacks were the fierce warriors who had pushed the small state of Muscovy across the Ural Mountains to the North Pacific and the borders of Mongolia and China. Now they were here, probing towards Afghanistan and Jack"s small handful of 113th and Guides.
Jack let out his breath slowly. In a way, he was relieved that his worst nightmare, and the horror of British war planners, had been realised. Now there was no more speculation. Facts were more straightforward than possibilities.
“What do you wish us to do, sahib?”
