The Jezebel of India Ch. 09

Chapter Nine.

The army of the East India Company had sighted the towers and walls of the place of Jhansi. Picquets had been doubled and for the first time, scouts reported back on what they saw.

Which was nothing except obvious repairs to the Star Fort formally manned by the sepoys and officer six months ago. The scouts galloped hither and thither gathering a remarkably shortfall of actual intelligence. Ahead of the main force, Ghadnar had trotted alongside his mounted officer to view the Jhansi palace and fort. Ghadnar had stood with his English officer, peering through an expensive brass-plated telescope given to him by his father and inscribed; 'To George Mayhew, honour your name and make your fortune', and counselled him on what to expect and was promptly ignored by the officer.

"I see the fort had been shored up; nothing else! I expect to have the exalted Jezebel of Jhansi on her knees sucking my prick by tomorrow night!" The officer chuckled. His words stung Ghadnar as he too had expected to win an easy battle under the Princeling some months ago, who he assumed was still a prisoner in the palace cells, and take the beautiful Ran as his whore.

But that had changed. Mara had changed him. In her arms, he found something akin to real affection, even love. Her love-making, though still alluring and exciting, made him feel complete. He guarded her with ferocity, employing his loyal corporal to stand guard, when he was attending to his patron officer.

"Sahib, I know this fort. I know it's defences. It was strong with cannon," Ghadnar indicated the repaired section, "I can just make out a section that is fresh stonework. They will have their strongest defence there!" The officer shrugged casually,

"Well, let us focus on the palace," He scanned the horizon and spied the place. Its tall walls, towers and beautiful red stonework were awesome, "I think I will have the Jhansi bitch beneath me quite soon, but my prick will need some loving attention tonight. Who knows how long the siege might take," The Officer looked down at Ghadnar, "Arrange it!"

As the army settled into his camp, Ghadnar had his work cut out for him, none of the other whores in the cam could be bribed to take the abuse that Mayhew would dispense. He tried the other women in the camp but to no avail. He knew this failure would leave a black mark upon him, finding whores had been his way into Mayhew's good graces but he would have to concede defeat and promise him all the women he could manage when they won the battle in the morning and hope for the best.

As he made his way through the camp, he came across Mathew's tent, but it was dark and still. There was no guard either. Initially confused, he looked around. His brother officers were present, some paying cards, some drinking, other's laughing with a pretty girl on their knees, the whores would make a lot of gold this night as some men expected to die in the morning so would take whatever comfort they could.

Then an icy thought cut through him; Mara!

An hour before, George Mayhew with his new accomplice, Corporal Mulal, had approached Mara's tent, Mayhew opened the flap, walked in and found Mara partially dressed after washing herself from a freshly drawn pail. The Corporal stood guard, with his musket and bayonet ready,

"Excellent! You all clean for me," With that, he slapped Mara hard across her face which sent her tumbling to the groundsheet, "Your sergeant has failed to find me a suitable woman for the night and so you'll have to do, but I think my redoubtable sergeant has been keeping you secret, my dear" Mayhew had dressed simply, in breeches, boots and a linen shirt, grabbed at her hips, and twisted Mara onto her hands and knees, and had soon released his erect prick and was busy pulled at Mara's pleats,

"Please sahib..." Mara's pleas went unheeded. With her head still buzzing from the slap, she offered little resistance to him and within moments, Mathew had penetrated her cunny and was pounded into her. Mara could often not resistance to her abuser and as soon as his ardour was stiffened further, he spat onto her anus and worked his thumb into her puckered hole. Mara, having been abused by men, knew what was coming and did everything she could to relax herself and as her body reacted to the pounding, however unwelcome, could feel herself producing her sweet lubricant. As Mathew strained and grunted, lacking any finesse or knowledge of how to please a woman, pulled out of her cunny, thankfully coated with enough of Mara's lubricant to east the sudden invasion of her dirt hole,

Mayhew, of course, remarked on his prowess, "Well your cunny floods well, you must love my white prick! Perhaps I shall make you my whore from now on! If you continue to please me, then your man can remain a sergeant otherwise, he will be court-martialled on some charge and shot!" The implication was clear, give in to him or find herself destitute and forced to return to whoredom to survive and then back to him, on her knees begging for his attentions.

"Please Sahib, let me open myself for you," She cooed, echoing the words she had used years before. She knew Mayhew would stretch her anus, and so to minimise the pain. She looked over to the tent's end and found a flask of oil she used for her skin and made a lewd show of smearing on and inside her dirty hole. Mayhew was transfixed, as she slipped one and then two fingers into her anus, while he stroked himself to his full length and then as she pulled open her buttocks, he levelled his prick and slipped inside her greased hole without hesitation.

By the time Ghadnar had come running through the camo and met the turncoat Corporal, with his musket levelled at him and Mayhew emerging from the tent, tucking his shirt into his breeches, the deed had been done. Mathew, completely satisfied by Mara's tight bunghole had decided that he would return to her again, lest the siege take longer than expected.

"You must learn to share your pleasures, Sergeant!" Mayhew chuckled as he strolled past him and the corporal followed.

"The Englishman is my benefactor now; you really shouldn't have tried to make me give him my wife!" The two men disappeared into the night as Ghadnar rushed into the tent to find Mara humming some childhood melody and using the water to wash off the Englishman's seed from her face and breasts.

"Oh, my love! I did not know he would come here!" Ghadnar was now caught between sorrow and revenge. He looked for his tudwal sword and made to grab it, but Mara placed her hand upon it,

"No my love, not tonight. Tomorrow, in battle with all that smoke and noise, who would know who was killed by the enemy!" She looked up, her eyes dark and sad but her survival instinct was now evident." She spoke quietly but clearly.

"Yes, tomorrow and the Corporal too! Both shall meet Kali!" Ghadnar held his wife and waited for battle the next morning.

As the camp broke up, the regiments formed up and began their final march to the open field beyond the town. The junior officer marched alongside their men and Mayhew was optimistic and buoyant,

"Fear not men, As a British Army Officer once said, the Jezebel of Jhansi' will be brought to heel and tonight we will all be rich and satisfied!" The implication was clear, but few private soldiers would gain riches this day and even fewer would be satisfied with the body of a captive woman for as soon as the regiments moved down the approach dusty roads, unseen eyes and unseen hands had lit long fuses and set off wooden boxes filled with nails to hamper their progress. By the time order had been restored, the army was thoroughly unnerved and on edge. As they marched into the open field, they met the awful sight of cannon protruding from the fort and palace, lines of musket men and three full squadrons of light horsemen waiting for them.

"My god, they have an army!" Mayhew stopped and looked at the sight of bright bras and glinting steel. His ardour and cheerfulness evaporated as a dawn mist.

"Do not despair, Sahib," his sergeant reassured him, we have an army too! Ghadnar gripped his sword hilt and waited patiently for the order to advance and then Mara would be avenged after he took care of the officer's new watchdog.

"Of course," Mayhew drew himself up and looked at his accompanying forces taking their positions on the open field. Of course, it hadn't occurred to anyone, why the open field was conveniently free from brush or tree and hastily filled in craters, as Gobinder had set the sepoy prisoners to clear the field before the battle, to deny any cover for the advancing army.

The Rani sat upon her sturdy white horse, Balal, and watched the enemy form up through their telescope. She raised her hand and then a chorus of deep resonating trumpets sounded, making the very air shake with terrible notes and from within her massed ranks and atop her place and star fort scrap of red were raised, as pirates often did to indicate no quarter and no surrender.

The effect was immediate and easily seen by the defenders. The regiments of the Company faltered, sergeants and corporals raised thick bullwhips and threatened the men to keep their position. Mayhew felt a shiver of real fear and looked back at the army and the senior officers astride horses at the rear,

"Mulal, fetch my horse!" Mulal looked aghast, as his officer was supposed to accompany the men on foot,

"Sahib? We will march to the wall!" The Corporal looked at Ghadnar who simply smiled back at him,

"Do as you are ordered, by your officer!" He barked and Mulal ran off towards the rear.

At that moment, the mortars open fire. The huge brass mortars propelled heavy projectiles that pounded the massed ranks, and Ghadnar watched as Mulal was scuttling away and then a huge explosion and he was gone in a cloud of dust. He smiled gleefully as one of his enemies was been taken to Kali. He thought how Mulal's wife would need to find a new man this night, otherwise suffer a great many men who would be seeking to pillage and abuse any woman. Ghadnar knew how soldiers were after a battle, thankful for their survival and ravenous in their appetites. He thanked Khrisna, for getting Mara away in the early hours and sent her into the outlying villages to wait for him. No one would abuse her again and soon Mayhew would know that truth.

The mortars needed no ranging shots, as they were already ranged to deliver their ordnance, as the filled-in craters now attested. The army began to break up, his uniformed ranks were split asunder and now they felt the cannon fire too. Mayhew was ashen-faced, he peered through the dust and smoke and saw little, his fellow officers were obscured and the soldiers were seemingly in disarray. Ghadnar looked at the rabbit of a man and smiled grimly, his hand still upon his sword hilt. Then to compound the utter disaster that the army was facing came the horses of Jhansi.

The men fired their short carbine rifles, killing many of the field artillerymen, and while they held off the infantry with sword and shot, men hammered soft copper nails into the touch holes of the company's artillery cannon.

They were spiked and useless!

Then the horsemen, like ghosts, faded away and the Company army now faced the advancing infantry of Jhansi. Deewan had sent in the first wave of infantry as cannons fired over their heads, cannon balls flying wildly into the massed ranks taking limbs, heads and splitting the ranks cohesion. At eighty yards, he halted the front and gave the order to volley fire. The mix of Indian smooth bore and more up-to-date rifles had different effective ranges but at that distance, every shot counted and every shot found a mark. With concentrated musket and rifle fire, cannon balls skidding across the dusty plain and mortar fire lobbing explosive rounds above their heads; the Company army was ready to break. They couldn't reply with their cannon, the withering fire of the Jhansi eroded any discipline and then the final coup de grace came as the Rani spurred her horse to the gallop and led her cavalry into the fray. The mounted riders, who had spiked the guns earlier, shot off one volley and also attacked with swords, from the flanks and at that moment the Company army was lost.

Mayhew was lost too! The smoke, the noise, the sound of gunfire and the smell of blood had gotten too much and he fled. Ghadnar, of course, played the faithful servant,

"Sahib, take off your uniform and take the jacket of a private soldier, throw away your sword, it marks you as an officer! The enemy will seek out officers and kill them first for gold. If you have any throw it away!" His advice weakened any resistance from Mayhew and soon weaponless, he fled into the open tree-line followed by Ghadnar, who also threw off his uniform having the foresight to dress as a peasant but retained his sword. As Mayhew crashed into the low brush of the trees, he stopped to look back at the complete massacre of the Company army. Jhansi swords rose and fell, the dust of the field became a sea of bloody red and the bodies fell in great heaps upon the ground, Ghadnar stood beside his officer and saw the end of his own military career. He planned to return to the field, love his beautiful Mara and be at peace, he had only one task left to perform.

"Sahib, you must make your way to the south..." Ghadnar pointed to the road they had taken only this morning. As Mayhew turned he felt the point of Ghadnar's sword pierce his belly. There was no sound, not that any could be heard above the tumultuous roar of battle. George Mayhew died silently, his face like a frightened child, and Ghadnar then broke his beloved tudwal sword against the thick trunk of a tree and used the broken end to dis-figure the dead man's features with deep slashes, He glanced around, threw the broken sword away and then darted away from the body towards the road and then onto the outlying village where Mara would be waiting.

The victory celebrations went on into the night, with drums, lit lanterns, fireworks and music. The battle had been a complete triumph. The Company army had been massacred, the remaining officers thrown into prison and the private soldiers chained for judgement in the weeks to come. In the audience chamber, the Rani was met with cheers and calls for Jhansi to be independent of English rule but Lakshmi calmed their fervour,

"I thank you for your adulation but let us remember that I keep this throne for the son of my husband. We have not sought battle but had battle forced upon us. I do not invite the wrath of the red-coated army here. I will send letters to Governor Rose and tell him of the armies sent against me and tell him, I was but defending myself." Her tone was quiet but clear.

In her private chambers, she sat with Gobinder, Tara and Deewan. They talked for most of the day about the disposition of their forces and what their plans should be now. Deewan was adamant,

"Send envoys to Tatya Tope, he is a renowned leader of the Indian mutiny fighting for independence!" He insisted,

"No, my general. We will have peace now in this land," The Rani smiled.