Complications of War

William Tavington was glad to finally arrive back at the fort. It had been a long, aggravating day and he wanted nothing more than a good meal, a hot bath, and to sink into bed.. As the fort’s gates swung open, he noticed several camp followers milling around near the entrance to greet the returning dragoons. Reconsidering his plans, he thought that being attended to by one of the fort’s whores might be just what he needed right now to relax.

“I don’t know about you, Bordon, but I could do with some female company,” Tavington said, indicatine gre group of waiting women. “If you need me, I’ll be in my quarters.”

“Yes, sir.”

After dismissing the dragoons for the day, Tavington dismounted, handing off his horse to a waiting stable boy. He then strolled casually over to the women, who gathered around him.

“Ah, it’s William the Conqueror!” one bold whore called out. “Who’s your fancy today, Colonel?”

Tavington raised an eyebrow at the outspoken woman and gave her an arrogantrk. rk. He was well aware of the nickname he’d earned among the camp followers. Looking over each woman carefully, he finally indicated a buxom, auburn haired woman of medium height, who was about his own age. “Jane will do nicely for tonight, I think.”

“You almost always pick Jane,” the other woman complained. ‘Why not me for a change?”

“We wouldn’t want to disappoint Captain Bordon now, would we?” the dragoon commander said, neatly sidestepping her question. “I seem to remember that he prefers your company to that of the other women here.”

“I suppose not.”

Turning to the woman he’d chosen for the evening, Tavington said, “Come along, Jane. My quarters.” Without waiting for a reply, he turned on his heel and started striding briskly in the direction of the mansion where his quarters were located. After giving her fellow camp followers a sheepish grin, Jane meekly followed the haughty cavalryman.

Captain Wilkins frowned in disgust as he watched his commanding officer choosing among the camp’s whores. It was obvious to him that Tavington had completely forgotten about the young woman he’d raped that day and had put the matter behind him.

“Jim?” Wilkins had been staring so intently at Tavington that he hadn’t noticed his wife come up to him. “What is it?”

Wilkins turned away from his commanding officer, who was now heading toward his quarters with his chosen companion for the night. “Oh, I’m sorry, Deborah, “ he said, sighing loudly. “I didn’t see you coming.”

“Well, you obviously have something on your mind,” she observed as he dismounted his horse. “I’ve got supper ready, so you can tell me about it while we’re eating.”

“All right, Deborah,” Wilkins said, leaning over to give her a quick kiss. “I do need to talk about it with someone, that’s for sure.”

A short time later, Deborah Wilkins sat down next to her husband at the dinner table, after quickly serving the meal. Looking at him expectantly, she said, “What’s wrong, Jim?” she asked, putting her hand on top of his “What happened?”

“I don’t quite know how to tell you this,” he began slowly. “It’s very shocking…”

“You can tell me,” she said, putther her hand over his to encourage him.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” he said, trying to find the words to tell her. Rising from the table, he went to stand by the window, facing away from his wife. After a long pause, he blurted out, “Colonel Tavington forced himself on Ben Martin’s daughter, Caroline, this afternoon.”

“Oh, my God!” Deborah’s hands flew to her mouth in utter shock. “How did this happen?”

“This morning we were patrolling and ended up stopping at Ben Martin’s farm,” he said. “It turned out that Gabriel Martin was a courier for the rebel army -- when the house was searched, the papers he was carrying were found. Because Gabriel wasn’t wearing a uniform when we arrived at the farm, Colonel Tavington ordered that he be taken into custody as a spy.”

“Go on,” she encouraged.

“Well things got out of hand fairly quickly after that,” he said. “As the soldiers were taking Gabriel into custody, his brother Thomas attacked the men, trying to help his brother escape.” Exhaling audibly, he continued, “Tavington reacted instantly; he shot Thomas in the back and killed him.”

“He’s just a boy!”

“That didn’t matter to Tavington; he didn’t hesitate for a moment to shoot him,” Wilkins said. “I’ll never forget the look on Ben Martin’s face when Tavington shot Thomas as if he were nothing more than a rabid dog.”

Deborah Wilkins reached out and hugged her husband tightly. “I’m glad that Elizabeth Martin didn’t live long enough to see this. I don’t think she could have taken it.” Deborah had known the Martin family for as long as her husband had and had been friends with Elizabeth before her death.

After a few moments, she asked, “But what about Caroline?”

“I’m getting to that,” he said. “After Tavington killed Thomas, we rode off and the last I saw of Ben Martin, he was standing over Thomas’ body. We went off to raid another farm and Gabriel was turned over to a group of foot soldiers who were to take him to the fort.

“When we were starting to head back here, one of our men, who had been out scouting the area, came back and reported that the soldiers who had been escorting Gabriel to the fort had been massacred and that Gabriel had escaped.” Shaking his head slowly, he continued, “Tavington was furious when he heard this.”

“Do you think Ben killed those soldiers?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” he said. “Anyhow, by this time, we were passing back by the Martin farm. Tavington decided to go back to destroy anything we’d missed on the first pass, and also to see if Ben was there. He had Bordon to take charge of the looting and burning and he sent me to flush Ben out if he was hiding anywhere near the farm.”

“Then what?”

“Tavington rode off by himself and told us to all meet back at the barn later,” Wilkins said. “After I finished checking around for Ben, I went to report to Tavington. I saw his horse tied near the ruins of the house and so I started to walk over there. I’d left my horse with one of the men to be watered, so he didn’t hear me coming.

“By the time I got close to the house, I saw him getting up off the ground and pulling his breeches up and fastening them," he told her. "Then I saw Caroline on the ground with her dress torn and her skirts up around her waist. I knew then that he'd just finished ravishing her."

"What did you do?" Deborah asked, horrified at what she'd just heard.

"Tavington didn't see me a fig figured it was best if he didn't know that someone had seen what he'd done, so I left," he said. As an afterthought, he added, "It was too late at that point for me to have done anything to help her."

"Have you told anyone else about this?" she asked. “Captain Bordon, perhaps?”

“Bordon is Tavington’s lackey,” her husband said, his voice dripping with scorn. “If I told him, he’d go straight to ngtongton with it.”

“What are you going to do?”

"I'm going to tell Lord Cornwallis,” he said. “Tavington shouldn't be allowed to get away with that."

"You're right," she said. "When are you going to do it?"

"Right now," he said. "Before I lose my nerve."

Fifteen minutes later, Captain Wilkins stood nervously outside General Cornwallis’ office. “I need to see Lord Cornwallis on an urgent matter,” he told the General’s aide.

“Please wait here,” the aide said. “I’ll see if he’s available.”

“Thank you.”

The aide returned a few minutes later. “Lord Cornwallis will see you now, Captain Wilkins.”

After nodding his thanks to the aide, Wilkins stepped hesitantly into the General’s office and quietly closed the door behind him.

“Captain Wilkins, please sit down.” Cornwallis was seated behind his desk doing paperwork. “How can I help you?”

“Well, it concerns something that happened while out on ol tol today,” he said carefully. “It’s a rather sensitive matter, sir.”

“Go on.”

“I saw Colonel Tavington raping a young Colonial woman, sir,” Wilkins stated baldly.

“Are you certain?” Cornwallis leaned forward in his chair.

“Very certain,” Wilkins said. “I came upon him just as he was finished with her. I caught him getting up off her and pulling his breeches back up.”

“Are you sure the young woman wasn’t willing?”

“Yes, sir,” Wilkins said. “Her dress was torn and she was crying.” After a pause, he said, “I’ve known her family for years and I’ve known her since she was a baby.”

“Where did this happen?”

“At her family’s farm,” he explained. “We’d stopped there earlier and arrested her brother as a spy, then fired the farmhouse.” Sighing, he continued, “Later on, Colonel Tavington learned that the men escorting the prisoner to the fort had been killed and the prisoner escaped. We were already heading back to the fort by then, so the Colonel decided to stop back by the farm to see if the prisoner had returned home. But there wasn’t anyone there but this young woman and her younger siblings.”

“Does Colonel Tavington know that you saw him do this?”

“No, sir.”

“Did any of the other men witness this?” Cornwallis asked. “And have you discussed this with anyone else?”

“I’m fairly certain that no one else saw it,” Wilkins said. “And I didn’t mention it to any of the men, including Captain Bordon. I thought it best to come directly to you.”

“You did the right thing,” Cornwallis said as he rose from his seat and went to stand by the window, facing away from the dragoon. “Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention, Captain Wilkins.”

Wilkins stood to leave, knowing he’d been effectively dismissed.

A few moments later, after Wilkins had left, Cornwallis stepped out of his office to speak to the aide. “Please go to Colonel Tavington’s quarters and have him report to me right away.”

“Yes, sir.”

_______________________________________



William Tavington called out to a passing slave as he walked quickly backhis his quarters. “Have a tub and plenty of hot water brought to my quarters in about a half hour,” he said.

“Yes, sir, I’ll take care of it.”

Acknowledging the slave with a nod, he hurried on, with Jane still following behind. He did not speak to her, nor acknowledge her presence until they were finally alone behind closed doors.

After he’d shut the door behind him, he immediately began to disrobe. He threw his helmet onto a chair, which was quickly followed by his jacket, neck stock and shirt. Standing in front of the mirror in only his breeches and boots, undoing his queue, he said, “Take off your clothes, Jane, and wait for me on the bed.” Tavington smiled tightly in satisfaction as the woman immediately complied, without complaint.

Once his hair was completely undone and hanging loosely about his shoulders, he sat on the edge of the bed to remove his boots. A moment later, he stood and deftly removed breebreeches as well. Now completely naked, he joined Jane on the bed, moving to recline on his back.

Noting the surprised look on her face, he said, “I’m very tired and I still have a hangover from that damned party of General O’Hara’s.” Taking her hand in an uncharacteristically gentle move, he continued, “There isn’t a another woman at this fort whose talents in bed equal yours. I am fully confident that you will be able to help me to relax and forget about this day.”

Knowing that this was the closest that Tavington would ever come to giving her a compliment, Jane smiled shyly and squeezed his hand in return. Her emerald eyes regarded his ice blue ones with affection.

The widow of a slain dragoon, Jane Thompson, had remained with Tavington’s Legion after her husband’s death, making her own way from the money she made offering her favors to the men of the Legion. She’d almost immediately caught the eye of the dragoon leader, quickly becoming his favorite among the whores. The other men rarely chose her; most viewed her as being reserved solely for their commander.

Jane had soon become accustomed to Tavington’s attentions and had one day realized that she’d fallen in love with the handsome, dashing cavalryman. But she was smart enough to realize that her feelings were hopeless. She knew that the aristocratic Tavington would never allow himself to fall in love with a womake hke her. Jane tried to simply enjoy whatever attention he gave her, and vowed that he would never know that she loved him.

After a long moment of gazing lovingly at him, Jane slowly mounted Tavington and sank down on his waiting erection with a sigh of satisfaction. Taking both his hands in hers to help balance herself, she began moving up and down on him. Her passion quickly rising, she threw back her auburn tresses in total bliss, as her pace quickened until she was riding him as if he was a galloping horse. Hearing his low moans of pleasure inflamed her desire even more. A few moments later, she collapsed on top of him in contentment after she felt him tense, then fill her with his warm seed.

Taking a chance, she fastened her mouth to his, risking a kiss and was rewarded a moment later, when his lips parted and allowed her tongue inside. They remained entwined, both quietly savoring the moment.

A moment later, their shared satisfaction was broken by a loud rapping on the door. Tavington gently disengaged himself from her embrace. “Ah, that must be the tub that I ordered. Wait here, I’ll get the door.” Rising from the bed, he wrapped himself in a sheet then went to the door to answer it.

The slave he’d spoken to earlier stood there, along with several others, some carrying buckets of hot water, others bearing the tub. “Your bath, Colonel.”

Opening the door wider, he motioned the slaves inside. After quickly and efficiently setting up the bath, they left quickly without a word, not daring to spare even a glance at the naked woman in Tavington’s bed.

After the slaves had left, Tavington immediately climbed into the tub and sank into the steaming water. “Ahhh. I’ve been waiting to do that all day.” After quickly shaving, he looked over at Jane, who still reclined lazily on the bed and he held up a bar of soap. “Come over here and soap my back, would you?”
“ “I’ll be glad to.” Moving to obey him, she crouched down by the tub and took the soap from his hands. After soaping and rinsing as much of his body as she could reach, she murmured, “Wet your head and I’ll give your hair a good washing, too.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said with a lopsided grin.

A few moments later, Jane was expertly working soap through Tavington’s long raven hair. Her hands at the same time gently massaged his scalp, which elicited soft sighs of pleasure from him. “Ahh, you’ve got magic fingers, my dear. My headache is completely gone.”

“I’m glad,” she said quietly, planting a quick kiss on the top of his head. Not daring to show any more of feelfeelings to him, she quickly said, “Now, if you’ll rinse off, I’ll braid and wrap your hair for you.”

As Jane was arranging his hair back into a queue a few minutes later, they were interrupted by another loud knock. “Now what?” Tavington snapped, irritated to be interrupted during his private time.

“I’ll get it this time,” Jane said, quickly grabbing Tavington’s robe from the hook where it hung.

“Ah, uh, is Colonel Tavington available?” General Cornwallis’ aide, Thomas Miller, was discomfited to see Jane Thompson, en dishabille. Looking over her shoulder, he spied Tavington sitting in a chair, naked except for the bed sheet wrapped around his waist, his hair half-queued. Clearly, he’d interrupted an intimate moment.

“What is it, Miller?” Tavington’s voice had a sharp edge in it.

“I’m, uh, sorry to bother you, sir, but General Cornwallis needs to see you in his office right away.”

Tavington sighed loudly in exasperation. “Tell him, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Yes sir, “ Miller said as he quickly backed away from the door.

Jane shut the door, then said, “Let me at least finish your hair for you before you go.”

“I shouldn’t be gone more than a little while,” he said as she finished up his queue. “Stay here and you can spend the night with me once I come back.”

“I’d like that,” she said, her heart warm with happiness.

__________________________________________________________


Charles Cornwallis was irritated when he saw his aide returning alone a few minutes later. “Where is Colonel Tavington?” he demanded. “Did you not find him?”

“I found him,” the aide explained. “But he had one of the camp whores in his quarters with him and was not exactly….uhh….dressed to accompany me back here.” His face still crimson, he added, “The Colonel advised me to tell you that he would be along in a few minutes.”

“I see, “ Cornwallis acknowledged. “That will be all. Thank you.” Turning his back on Miller, he retreated into his office to wait on Tavington, shutting the door with a loud click.

Fifteen minutes later, he looked up as Miller opened the door to admit the dragoon commander, who was now immaculately dressed in a fresh uniform.

“Colonel Tavington, a serious matter has been brought to my attention,” Cornwallis said, getting directly to the point, after Miller had gone back to the outer office. “I felt it was important enough to discuss it with you immediately.”

Tavington did not comment, waiting for his superior officer to continue.

Looking sharply at the younger man, Cornwallis did not waste time with diplomatic language. “You were seen brutally attacking and raping a young woman while out on patrol today. Do you have any explanation whatsoever for such reprehensible behavior?”

Tavington paled at Cornwallis’ blunt words. After a moment, he regained his composure. “Who told you this?” He was furious, knowing it could only be one of his own men who could have witnessed him ravishing Caroline Martin.

“That doesn’t matter,” Cornwallis said, his voice raised a degree. “Do you deny these allegations?”

“No,” he said in a quiet voice. He knew it would be useless to lie, realizing that it would only serve to make Cornwallis angrier.

Cornwallis rose and moved to stand in front of Tavington. “I know that you and your dragoons spend a lot of time in the field and that you work hard,” he said. “And I well understand that young men such as you have needs.”

Moving closer, he stood toe to toe with his subordinate. “But I will not stand for any man under my command raping any woman, Loyal or Rebel,” he said, his voice cold with contempt for Tavington. “Men representing England and representing me will conduct themselves as gentleman at all times. Is that understood?”

Raising his chin and narrowing his eyes, Tavington grated out, “Yes…..sir.”

“If this was a perfect world, I’d have you bound over for court martial without any hesitation,” Cornwallis told him. “And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what the penalty would be if you were to be found guilty.”

Without waiting for Tavington to reply, he continued, “I’ll be perfectly blunt. I don’t like you. You are a brutal, vicious bully and you sicken me beyond imagination.” Holding up his hand as Tavington opened his mouth to reply, he added, “Be that as it may, you are also a brilliant cavalry commander and I need you to win this war.”

Staring into the younger man’s cold blue eyes, he said, “So, in the interests of the war effort, this conversation will remain between us. No further action will be taken on this matter.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“But I will warn you that if I ever get word of you doing such a thing again, I will not be so lenient the next time, “ the older man said. “You will confine yourself to women who welcome your advances, such as the woman now wag fog for yo you your quarters, if you want to remain in command of the dragoons. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good,” Cornwallis said. “You are dismissed.”

Tavington was incensed as he stalked out of Cornwallis’ office. It was obvious to him that there was a traitor among the dragoons. He could not abide disloyalty from the men under his command and wasn’t going to stand for it now. He vowed to himself that he would find out who had seen him taking the Martin woman, and he would make that man pay dearly for his betrayal. No one crossed William Tavington and got away with it.

Jane Thompson could tell that something was wrong when Tavington returned nearly an hour later. Well aware of his potentially vile temper, she did not commebut but waited for him to speak.

Looking sharply at the woman standing before him, Tavington tore the robe from her body. “It would seem as if you will have quite a bit of work to do tonight, if you are going to help me forget about this latest aggravation,” he said, a sinister undercurrent of menace in his voice.

Sensing the brutality that lurked just below the surface of his carefully controlled demeanor, Jane trembled ever so slightly. She did not ask him what the problem was, knowing that if she succeeded in distracting him sufficiently, he might eventually tell her of his own accord.

Tavington turned abruptly from her and went to his dresser, where a decanter of wine stood. Pouring himself a glass, he drank it slowly, as he considered who among his men had gone to Cornwallis. As the wine took effect and he felt the pleasant warmth spreading through his body, his ire cooled somewhat. He felt no small satisfaction knowing that Cornwallis, after all, needed him to win the war.

Gazing back at Jane, who still stood behind him, trying not to cower in fear, he said softly, “Come to bed, my sweet. I’m not going to hurt you.”

And, so, for the ref thf that night, William Tavington kept his promise, making love to her gently, eventually falling asleep holding her in his arms.