Sharpe's Exploits

[Longleg]

"I...I hope I'm not interrupting you, Sir, but my mistress is......is dining with Mister Sharpe and I wanted to, well, I wanted to make sure that you were alright...but I can leave you if you'd rather I go, though..."

Harper smiled at that statement 'dining to most people' meant different things with Sharpe it meant all things.

As she began to voice her statement Patrick Harper rose as one did when a lady appeared, he was at his full height when her statement was finished "No , no lassie , ah Susannah, please do join me I'd be most grateful for the fine company while Mr Sharpe and your mistress....ah dine" his face blushed slightly.

He offered his chair and hauled a box that in the morning had been full of ammunition, the empty boxes made fine seats when the wet ground was the alternative. Patrick was now very happy that an hour earlier he'd made the decision to visit a small stream down the way and clean the signs of battle away from his body.

He felt considering the circumstanes he was presentable "Now lass please call me Patrick and may I enquire as to whether you yourself have eaten?" he had poor fare, beans and day old bread, but then he also had a wee bottle of something this fine young lady had given him in the morning.

She was a fine young lady and Patrick knew that was for many reasons "May I say that you look very beautiful in that very beautiful dress this fine evening" then he blushed , he'd said this without thinking "I'm sorry for being so forward so I am "

 

[Britwitch]

Susannah

Susannah soon found herself with her chin tilting upwards to meet his eyes as Sergeant Major Harper stood, towering above her slightly.
"No , no lassie , ah Susannah, please do join me I'd be most grateful for the fine company while Mr Sharpe and your mistress....ah dine"
"Thank you, Sir..."
She moved to take the seat he offered, smoothing her dress and tucking a stray lock of her hair behind an ear as he made himself a makeshift seat.

"Now lass please call me Patrick and may I enquire as to whether you yourself have eaten?"
"As you wish, Si-...I mean, Patrick..." Susannah smiled shyly, lowering her eyes for a moment or two, fighting to prevent her cheeks from blushing.
"And no, I have not yet eaten..." She paused as the realisation hit her that she'd eaten nothing all day, travelling in the carriage and then arriving at the camp shortly before the battle hadn't given her time to find Miss Savage or herself anything. "In fact, I think it was sometime last night that I last ate...I...I spent the day in the surgeon's tent...it doesn't really give one much of an appetite..." She said wryly, a slight sparkle in her eye.

"I don't think I'd realised how brutal war is..." Susannah mused, letting her eyes drift into the dancing flames before them. "I know that is probably a very silly thing to say but it's true. Reading about defeats and victories in battle is nothing like having to see the injured, the dead...and the dying..."
For a moment her head was filled with swirling images from the day, Tim and the countless others whose hands she had held as they drifted from this plain and onto the next. She shuddered and forced them out of her head. Now was not the time for such thoughts, not when she was in such pleasant company. "However, I am sure my day has been nothing in comparison to yours..." She finished deprecatingly. "I would be delighted to dine with you, if you wish me to, Patrick..."

"May I say that you look very beautiful in that very beautiful dress this fine evening"
There was no stopping the flush that brightened her cheeks this time, she bit her lower lip and lowered her face.
"I'm sorry for being so forward so I am "
"There's nothing to be sorry for, Patrick...I...I guess I am not used to such compliments..." Her green eyes met his once more and she felt an unfamiliar sensation run through her. For a moment she felt hot and cold all at once and was certain she might faint.

"I...I should be the one to apologise...I...what I did, before the battle, when I kissed you...I would never have dared, I mean, I had never...it was just..." Her words fell over one another. Susannah didn't want to make it sound as if kissing him was something she did not want to do when it was all she could think about at that moment, to feel his warm lips against hers. Nor did she want to reveal that the all too brief kiss she stole from him before he marched into battle was the first kiss she had had, and even then it had not been a true kiss her mind reminded her. She glanced away from him, her cheeks once again warm and flushed. "I am sure you must think me very foolish, Patrick..." She sighed, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees and cradling her chin in her hands.

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Justine de Villiers

She had recognised the scarred British officer even without his green jacket, and the way he pushed the unruly strands of her hair from her face adding insult to injury, but since she was bound there was no other way of responding than to try and bite him, and failing that spit in his face.

Justine kept quiet, rage simmering behind the surface. She understood that de Avellanos y Marca would not hesitate to torture her, but she was doubtful if the British officer would go through such a procedure. Hard he may seem yet there was something about him that belied his description of himself as a 'right bastard'.

She was being roughly pushed to a hastily vacated tent, the clerks staring in disbelief at her dishevelled appearence and she glared a them, pure hatred radiating as she was being sat down on a chair, her arms forced back and tied securely.

"Your name Madmoiselle?" It was the Britisher who had asked

"Fuck you and your whore of a mother to Englishman!" she spat on the floor, eyes not flinching from his gaze. Then a thought struck her, one that might work to her advantage.

"I will talk but not with the Spanish pig in attendance. Those are my terms."

Looking at de Avellanos y Marca, hoping she'd provoke him to lash out and thus shatter what alliance existed between himself and the Englishman.

 

[Katamari Roller]

"Pig...? ...pff...hahah... hahahahahah!"

Alfonso laughed out loud. For some reason he didn't quite understand, he found that very funny. Perhaps it was seeing such a beautiful woman spitting out insults like that. Whenever he'd talked to women, they'd always been polite, with a very carefully chosen vocabulary... so it was quite a change to have a French woman insult him the way she did. Even more now that she was tied to a chair.

Still, his laughing died down, and Alfonso rubbed his eyes. They itched a bit still because of all the gunpowder. His uniform was in shambles, so chances were he would spend the whole next day in breeches and under-shirt.

"Now, now. I do not know what I did to deserve such a name, and you can trust me when I say I bear no great ill will to you. If you cooperate, you will be sent along to prison, and liberated when the war ends. But as things are right now, you are not helping that happen, are you?"

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Justine de Villiers

"As I said Englishman I refuse to co-operate as long as that Papist scum is present."
Justine scowled at de Avellanos y Marca, unflinching still, and as she spat more blood to the floor she spoke again.

"You're the son of a pox-ridden whore Captain, nothing but Spanish filth that should have been done away with a long time ago. You belong to a race of lap dogs. Do you seriously think the British will leave you independent? Then you're more stupid than tolerable."

Spreading her legs somewhat, she was stiff after having been tied and slung across the back of the hors, hair hanging down in her eyes yet there she refused to budge.

"What Captain? Cat got your tongue?"

 

[Steiner]

Richard Sharpe

Sharpe sighed heavily.

"Do you really think that this is my idea of amusement? You've been nothing but a pain in my backside today, and from what the good Captain here tells me, he's lost the better part of his command chasing you down. These things do not put me in the mood to treat you lightly. Now, I'm the one who chopped your Grenadiers to steak fillet and this gentlemen did the same with your cavalry, and I've always been taught that it's the winners that set the terms. Not the losers."

Sharpe turned to Alfonso and spoke in Spanish.

"She's trying to provoke you. As long as she plays that stupid game, she's not talking about the things we want to hear about. Why don't you and your boys take five minutes to grab a drink. If you're VERY polite and don't stare at what a gentlemen oughtn't too, there's a bottle of brandy next door. But DON'T send your men, Captain, don't touch her and be bloody polite. Understand?"

 

[Katamari Roller]

It took some serious willpower not to look between her legs. It really, really was difficult not to. But Alfonso managed to, perhaps by concentrating a bit on her words. He decided not to be harsh on her. Ok, so she was a French whore who was so arrogant she seriously thought all Spaniards were filth. What did this woman's opinion matter? He had defeated her once, and he could defeat her again.

Alfonso simply grinned, and kneeled in front of her, careful to keep both his arms in front of him in case she decided to kick away like an angry horse. Which she quite resembled, being as she was bound, angry, and with a long hair that still stirred Alfonso's romanticism.

"Well, you can't hate the Pope that much, can you? After all, it was His Sanctity that ordained Napoleon Emperor, wasn't he? But still..."

Alfonso stood up again, and patted at his trousers, some dust falling to the ground, while still grinning. "At least I'm glad you put my tolerability in front of my stupidity. That's very flattering."

With a mocking bow, Alfonso fished his pistol out of his trousers and handed it over to the major. He made sure his eyes were eloquent as to what the major was supposed to do with it if the moment presented itself to do it.

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Justine de Villiers

Justine did not look at de Avellanos y Marca as he taunted her. Her eyes averted she responded, her voice dripping venom

"You forget Spaniard that His Imperial Majesty crowned himself. The Pope was merely a decoration."

Resisting the urge to spit in his face, deeming that she ought to act a bit more the lady and less the wildcat as Alfonso left the tent.

She bent her head not wishing her opponents to see the smile on her face as de Avellanos y Marca was dismissed. It was not much of a victory but it had to do, for now.

"Well Major, I take it you are a major? I must congratulate you on the victory then. Although I doubt you would have managed had not the bastard Spanish decided to turn up. Well enough of that let's talk like civilized people now that the Spaniard left us."

She sat back, legs provocatively spread and her head leaned back, the smile still lingering on her face.

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Kate Savage

She was still basking in the afterglow of hers and Richard's coupling. The impromptu visit by the corporal all but forgotten. Laying back on the camp-bed, her legs stretched out and her arm resting on her forhead.

It had been wonderful, purely wonderful. Never would Kate had imagined that the intimate exchanges between man and woman to be just so blissful as that.

She understood that Richard would be busy, the urgency in the corporals's voice not easily mistaken, yet she hoped he would be back soon. Not merely to lay with her again but also as he seemed thoroughly spent after the battle.

Well give him some sleep and some food and perhaps he would...No it didn't befit a lady to think about such things

Smile on her lips she dozed on the bed, his smell still on the blanket.

 

[Steiner]

Hefting the pistol - nice weapon, very comfortable in the hand - Sharpe took a couple of paces back and sat in a chair.

"Oh, I don't know. I got through Badajoz alright without Spanish cavalry. I imagine I'd have gotten up the hill alright today in any case, but it would have broken my Regiment for the rest of the month and I really would like to be one of the first to enter France."

He gestured at the once gorgeous jacket she wore. "You're well dressed, my lady. And those are a Colonel's eppaulettes if I don't miss my guess. Which means that you're either some rich Cavalryman's whore, or that you're the first woman I've met who holds a comission in his Imperial Majesty's cavalry."

He leaned forward, setting the pistol on the table and, despite himself, found his gaze raking along the length of her thighs to the crotch of the tight breeches. Then he looked up with a sardonic smile. "So, let's be civilised. Start by telling me your name, your rank and your unit."

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Justine de Villiers

There was no mistaking the way the Englishman, for he must be from England rather than any of the fringes of the British Kingdom, stared at her legs and the prize in between. Justine was fluent in English as well as Russian and Spanish, even though she'd never use the latter.

Licking her lips as she tilted her head to the side, shaking a few strands of hair out of the way.

"I was under the impression that the British prided themselves as gentlemen, but considering the losses I inflicted on your regiment earlier today I shall disregard from your impudent remark. I am Colonel de Chasseurs Justine de Villiers. 76 Regiment of Chasseurs. And you are?"

 

[Katamari Roller]

Alfonso nodded at Sharpe before leaving the tent. What a gentleman ought not to look at? What could he mean with that?

He entered the tent beside the one the interrogation was taking place in, heading in with a very Spanish single-mindedness. He was worried about Sharpe, and that French woman. She definitely was not one to be trusted. Because she was French, because she was a woman, and because she was a soldier. The second one being the one Alfonso trusted the least. Who knew what weapons she hid in her sleeves... or elsewhere?

He sighed, and looked around inside the tent. That was when he noticed the naked woman laying on the bed. And that was when he sighed again and looked away. He blushed a bit. Now, Alfonso was quite shy with women, that he knew. But he had forgotten, and the French vixen didn't count because she had been trying to kill him during a good part of the day. But still...

Alfonso cleared his throat quite loudly, staring at the ground... and then closed his eyes for good measure. He simply waited to be greeted in.

 

[Steiner]

Major Richard Sharpe

"Major Richard Sharpe, commanding officer of the South Essex Regiment, late of the Rifle Regiment. And I'm not much of a gentleman, I'm afraid, so don't get your hopes up on that score. So, you truly ARE a Colonel. How unusual."

He leaned back.

"There are a hundred passes along this border. Most of them are defended quite lightly. This one had a Batallion of Grenadier guards, artillery and some of your Chausseurs attached. I couldn't help but note that a Major from your regiment was commanding the redoubt when I took it. We can't interrogate him, I'm afraid, he's gone where no question can reach him - so you'll have to answer in his place."
He watched her run her tongue over her lips. She must be parched and he grabbed a canteen from the desk behind him. Of course she'd need to be untied to drink from it, so he simply took a swig himself from the water and set it back down.

"Tell me. Why? What was so important about this one pass? Fine it was the one that Nosey picked to bring our Division through, but we have other divisions at other passes and I know that the balance of your army is far to the north. You're the highest ranking officer that we've found in that place. What the hell were you doing there? What were your orders?"

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Kate Savage

"Sir! You are trespassing!"

Kate had spoken with some urgency, scrabbling for the blanket to cover herself. Wrapping the coarse fabric around her and pulling it up under her chin and scowling at the officer that had dared enter. She did not recongnise the uniform as neither British nor Portugese.

"For shame! Do you not have the sense even to knock? Rest assured that Major Sharpe is going to hear about this!"

She had spoken harshly but as she dared look at the Spanish officer she saw the colour on his cheeks as well as how he kept his eyes firmly screwed shut. Seemingly as embarressed as she was.

The sight was strangely endearing and Kate found herself smiling at his discomfit.

"I'm sorry for shouting but if you would kindly step outside and allow me to get dressed I think it would be for the better."

 

[Katamari Roller]

Alfonso bowed very respectfully, with his eyes still closed. The woman's voice was quite nice to the ear, unlike the French woman's, which although nice, took just the first mental reading to make them less than comfortable.

"My deepest apologies, señorita. It was..." Alfonso almost confessed that it was Sharpe who had told him to step in but not told him what he might find, but that would have been somewhat troubling. "... I was sent to retrieve something, and I swear that I did not know I would find you here. My excuses."

Alfonso turned around and exited. Damn Sharpe, he could have had the decency to speak clearly!

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Justine de Villiers

"Yes I am a Colonel, Major Sharpe. And would you be the same Sharpe who stole one of our Eagles at Talavera?"

She leaned back further tilting her head to the side, a small smile playing on her lips, although not reaching her eyes which remained void of emotion.

"Oh I see Major Benoit carried out his duty as per instructions. I fear that I was a somewhat unlucky there, the powder we're supplied with do not hold the quality one expects." Keeping her eyes at Sharpe as she once again licked her lips. "And 'Nosey'? Would that be the Lord Wellington of Talavera? the Sepoy General who've set our Marshals running like little lambs for a wolf?"

The scorn in her voice evident as she mentioned the Marshals Soult and Masséna.

"I do think we're finished here Major Sharpe. I will not speak to anyone else but Milord Wellington himself. I suppose with you not being a gentleman that a parole is out of the question? Yes I thought so, although I could use the facilities if you don't want me to piss my breeches."

Her face once again hard as her voice grew more scornful as if it was beneath her to address a mere major, be he the victor of today's battle or not.

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Kate Savage

She hurridly got dressed, the bodice taking some time to lace up as well as locating her panties. Besides they were worse for wear and she tucked them away, straightening her dress and standing up.

Richard did not keep a mirror so she had to do what she could with the rough reflection of a brass plate as she hastily arranged her hair and then stepping outside the tent to find the Spanish officer, still blushing and looking a bit bashful. He looked young, very young even and the blush emphasised this making Kate feel a bit bad for having shouted at him earlier.

Turning to address him, stretching her hand out and allowing him to kiss it.

"I'm Miss Katherine Savage of Oporto, Sir and you?"

Smiling sweetly trying to alleviate his discomfit "Are you a friend of Mister Sharpe?"

 

[Steiner]

Major Richard Sharpe

Sharpe nodded affably and then leaned back comfortably.

"I don't think so. You go to Army HQ when I'm good and ready to release you. Right now I could make up any one of a hundred stories and just shoot you for the hell of it. I can see you think you're special, but to me you're just one of a bloody number of French Colonel's that I've beaten. We command the same unit, you know, a Regiment. The only difference is that a British Regiment can actually fight. You, on the other hand, command a Regiment of Shades. Your men are dead. Your regiment is finished, and I brought the colours of those Grenadiers your inept command killed down with me when I came back this afternoon."

He smiled.

"There are so many worse things than capture that can happen to a woman on the battlefield. And you're a proud one, too. So make up your mind, Mademoiselle Villiers, if you're a soldier then act like one and stop messing me around. As for the facilities - you give me something first. You'd hardly be the first Chausseur I've seen today who'd pissed their breeches."

 

[Katamari Roller]

Alfonso turned to look at the woman that, probably, Sharpe had bedded. And his blush became a bit darker when he saw that, hell, if he didn't find it so difficult... he would too...

He kneeled in front of her as gentlemanly as he could, and took her hand with the utmost delicacy. His lips barely brushed her hand before he pushed it up and away with very gentle fingers. He couldn't take his eyes up beyond her hand as he spoke.

"Alfonso de Avellanos y Marca, Captain of the fourth battalion, María Luisa Hussars. And... I am an acquaintance of mister Sharpe's. It is an honor to know his beloved one's name."

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Colonel de Chasseurs Justine de Villiers

"It's Colonel not Madmoiselle Major, but I don't expect you to understand."

She kept her eyes fixed at him, not allowing herself to be rattled by his taunts. Instead leaning back on the chair, seemingly not concerned with the fact that she was held prisoner.

"Besides Major Sharpe is this the customary way to treat an enemy officer? You said so yourself you're not a gentleman but there are certain a code that applies does it not?"

Smiling coldly at his threat. "And if you want to shoot me then do it, but do so honourably here and now." Licking her lips yet again, the gesture intentionally provocative "Cock the hammer, aim and pull the trigger, easy as that and all your worries are dispensed with. Because I will not talk to you nor anyone but General Hill or Milord Wellington is that understood."

Smiling mirthlessly "What are you waiting for Major, either you shot me or you go find Hill or Wellington."

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Kate Savage

She blushed at the chivalrous gesture but his words drove a spike of pain through her.

"I'm honoured to make your acquaintance Senor de Avellanos y Marca," speaking his name with a Portugese pronounciation rather than a Spanish, "although I fear Mister Sharpe's beloved is currently in England awaiting her husband's return."

Kate cursed herself for her honesty, but then again the Spanish as well as the Portugese had a more easygoing attitude towards mistresses, well as far as she understood it at least.

"Anyway Senor, how can I assist you? And may I be ask you where Mister Sharpe is currently doing?"

 

[Steiner]

Major Richard "Bloody pissed off" Sharpe

He shrugged. "Oh, there are all sorts of rules, but do you know what they all assume, Colonel? That the officer is a gentleman. You cannot give a gentleman's word, you cannot be expected to conform to a gentleman's code - so really, all those rules do not apply to you, do they?"

"You asked me to get rid of Captain Avellanos so that we could talk like civilised people. It seems you don't want to be civilised after all and do you know what, that's just fine with me. I think I'll call our Captain back in here, I think I'll get him to bring a few of his men with him and I think I'll leave them to decide how you ought to be interrogated. I don't know how long you've been a soldier, but there's one cardinal rule of the game.

You lost. You have no rights. You have no priviliges. You're property."

Sharpe picked the pistol up and looked at it as if contemplating its use.

"Shoot you? I'd be doing you a bloody favour and I'm not charitably disposed towards you right now."

He stood up and walked past her, heading for the tent flap.

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Colonel de Chasseurs Justine de Villiers

She laughed at his display, the sound filling the tent.

"My dear Major Sharpe, I know of the sore losers but you are indeed the first sore winner I've encountered."
Her voice becoming harsher again as she addressed him next. "Besides, civilized discussion demands that the other part maintains at least a fraction of civility wouldn't you agree. I know of you Sharpe. The son of a whore and starting in the ranks. Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure that you'd made the rank of general had you been born a Frenchman. But you are not a gentleman hence the rules that you mentioned does not apply to you neither do they? Thusly we have reached a stale-mate have we not? By all means bring back the Spaniard if that amuses you. I care not, but know this. I will not talk to him either and do not presume to threaten me. I was at Moscow and I've seen more horrors than you possibly can imagine."

She draw a deep breath looking intently at him.

 

[Katamari Roller]

Miss Savage's words regarding her state of affairs with Sharpe lit a candle... no, a lamp in Alfonso's mind. His eyes went up to her face, and he noticed clearly that his words had not been the most appropriate. Still, because she gave him the chance to stray away from that topic, Alfonso decided to grasp at it.

"Ah! Well! He is busy interrogating a... prisoner, one that almost eluded our pursuit. A French officer. Mister Sharpe suggested that I stay away for a while, because my presence was not... appreciated by our guest. And he specifically mentioned a bottle of brandy, but I think that after this pitiful show of my lack of manners, I am not entitled to it anymore..."

Alfonso stood up, guided by the sudden realization that kneeling before Miss Savage in front of the whole camp was not exactly the best way to be introduced. They were attracting a few stares.

 

[Lady_Mornington]

Ms Kate Savage *since Steiner insists on using titles*

"Is he now? That must be quite the important prisoner one might guess, given the urgency at which Mister Sharpe had to depart."

She smiled at him as she stood up. She reminded her slightly of Jorge, the Portugese lieutanant and poet who had aided Sharpe at the pursuit of James and leading the allied forces across the Douro. The same youthful expression and the belief that they were invincible.

"As for the brandy I guess you have earned it Capitan, if you pardon me saying so, you look thoroughly dishevelled."

Kate didn't wait for his reply but went back in the tent picking up the bottle and returning to hand it to him.

"I hope you will enjoy it Captain. And if you see Mr Sharpe do tell him that there is tea brewing. It was a pleasure meeting you Sir."