The Pavee's Camp [Open to all]

[Scott Evans]

“I will walk beside you then ma'am if you do not mind” Terry nodded to the lady who was now moving towards him on her horse. He took a quick look at the length of the horse's legs to make sure he knew how far to stay at all times out of its reach.
Gathering his thoughts, “Wilkinson, take point, lets move chaps, times awasting.”
Climbing back onto the road that he had vacated like what seemed a lifetime before, Terry walked carefully beside the big horse trying not to make any sudden actions that would end up being detrimental to his long term health.
Watching both sides of the road, the adjacent fields carefully, Terry scanned the buildings they passed for any enemy but so far no one on the other team had seemed to be alerted to their presence or the fact there were enemy troops already behind their front lines moving to engage a vulnerable 'rear' area, they probably did not even know the 'enemy' had any interest in the small village with a Welsh name.

“Wait up there sergeant, don't get yourself too far ahead.” After the quiet command was acknowledged by the sergeant slowing his pace enough to stay at a good distance, Scott went back to carefully keeping the road ahead and the fields beside them under surveillance. There was little chance of the civilian population giving them away, most would have been in bed hours ago in this part of the country and the greatest threat would be from over-enthusiastic guard dogs.
Pausing to dig out his map once again, for he did not want to get lost at any stage, he brushed the chinstrap on his helmet that was dangling across his chest.
“If we are here, no, we must have made it to here by now.” The midnight darkness and the clouds that were beginning to scuttle over the face of the moon did not help the slightly confused officer. Looking up at the rider who was looking down at him curiously he asked while motioning the map towards her. “Do you think you could discern this for me?

[Niamh Dunlevy]

Darkness. The inevitable void that swallows the world when the sun falls beneath the horizon. Predators of all kinds prowled around in its heavy veil, and what some might call the saner folk would be in bed, dreaming sweetly. Niamh had often travelled under the cover of darkness, especially when in the country if Drummer was fit enough. Sometimes, the thought of wild dogs prowling around her campsite was a little too unnerving...

Glancing down at the Lieutenant walking beside her, Niamh noticed that he was giving Drummer a wide berth. She smiled at this - apparently, he knew how to act around a horse and rider. Should Drummer spook, there would be ample room for him to dodge the beast's powerful hooves, thus saving himself a broken rib or crushed skull. Niamh respected a person who could give a rider the space a rider needed.

As the Lieutenant called out quietly, telling his Sergeant to slow down, Drummer nickered. Even though he was still walking along, his ears swivelled to the right, Niamh's eyes following the movement. As a cloud passed over the moon, the woman thought she saw movement, the light bouncing off the grasses in a nearby field in a peculiar manner.

The Pavee leaned over to whisper into Terry's ear. However, he spoke, and a hand went to cover his mouth instead. She glanced at the map, squinting, and nodded hesitantly.

"I t'ink," she mouthed. "B'quieth; somet'ing's nearby. Tho our righth, somewhere in t'e fields."

[Scott Evans]

"B'quieth; somet'ing's nearby. Tho our righth, somewhere in t'e fields."
Terry stared for a moment at Niamh as he comprehended what she was saying.
“Over that way?” he asked pointing to her right. Before she could reply he was on the move half whispering to the men in front of him. “Wilkinson, Thompson, on me, on the double!”
Swiveling in their tracks the two made their way back to Terry and he took a quick look at the surrounding area which might turn into a “battleground” in a very short time.

Down a slight embankment there was a stone fence about four feet in height and running along the road for a fair distance forward. The group had just passed the corner of it where it proceeded away from the road into the hinterland. It bordered on a small group of trees which cast a shadow into which Terry and Miss Dunlevy shifted into so as to shrink the chances of being seen.
“Sergeant Wilkinson” Terry started when they two had made their way into the shadows. Take Private Thomspon here and get down to that fence without being seen and peer around the corner. I will head through those trees. If you hear firing get on the position as fast as you can and flank whoever is there. Now go man! Don't be seen!”
The two men slipped quietly down the roadside and as soon as they were hidden behind the fence they signaled Terry they were in position.
“Ma'am, I am not going to ask you to join us on this venture, but if you care to follow me through those bushes your welcome to come along. If you decide to stay I must ask you to dismount so as to provide a lower profile and a much less chance of being seen. If you wish you could rest on the other side of this road.”
Checking that his revolver was loaded correctly, for a bolt action rifle would not be too much use in a dense bush setting with unknown amounts of enemy lurking close by, he silently gave the Pavee a minute to make up her mind and then he would head of to find out who was flanking their advance. He knew that if it was an enemy machine gun emplacement it could seriously effect the main column as it advanced up this route as there were few heavy armoured vehicles and a well placed machine gun could delay the entire force.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

“Ma'am, I am not going to ask you to join us on this venture, but if you care to follow me through those bushes your welcome to come along. If you decide to stay I must ask you to dismount so as to provide a lower profile and a much less chance of being seen. If you wish you could rest on the other side of this road.”

From her spot in the shadows with Drummer, Niamh grinned wickedly. The way the Lieutenant worded it, he had given the Pavee the idea that these soldiers were being chased by something. Perhaps Jerry had become overambitious? Maybe a rival group of soldiers was chasing down the Lieutenant and his crew out of a grudge? It sounded fun, actually. And even with a gun, no man was a match for Drummer.

"Acthually, sir," the woman began, "I've goth a betther idea."

As the man had asked, she dismounted. Rather then stay in the darkness that covered her and Terry, though, she walked forward, clicking her tongue. Drummer trotted after her, the pair stopping at the edge of the road and looking both ways, then crossing.

Yes, the soldiers probably saw her as insane. Yes, there was a chance that she might blow their cover. Niamh, however, wasn't very willing to let her new acquaintances get hurt, and she had been stalked like a prey animal before. This was nothing new.

Picking up a rock off the side of the road, Niamh peered into the field with her mismatched eyes, then pitched the stone into the darkness. She acted only on a guess, but sure enough, the stone hit something with a loud clink, and Drummer snorted in surprise. Something moved in the barely-moonlit grass, and a few curse words could be heard whispered a little too loudly.

The Pavee grinned wickedly. "Drummer, min'urt kadog," the woman said quietly. The horse perked up, readying itself like before. Niamh pointed towards where the movement had been, her grin growing larger and more malevolent.

"Drummer, sic."

Her steed let out a berserk shriek, and tore off towards the direction in which his master pointed. He sailed over the fence with graceful ease, his hooves like war drums as they pounded against the ground, and from where the movement had been, three figures leapt up. They shrieked bloody murder, firing blindly at the horse, but were too shaken by his stampede to hit. Drummer immediately reared up, screeching, and brought his hooves down with a loud thunk.

[Scott Evans]

"Drummer, sic."

The horse made a terrifying sound and charged directly into the forest. Three figures jumped up shouting, but the horse charged on right at them and started rearing at them with his hooves.

Terry stared aghast.
He had a hard time formulating a coherent thought but he pushed everything else aside and knowing what he had to do, he swallowed hard and said in an extremely hurried voice. "I thank you for your intent ma'am, but, but we must remember that they are not real enemies and are merely the chaps from another battalion! If you could.. would stop your horse before anyone gets seriously hurt I would be obliged."
And as an afterthought "We don't want to kill any of our own chaps, Fritz is doing that enough for us!"
Knowing that he could not wait any longer, and disregarding the danger, he dashed through the woods and straight for the commotion ahead of him. He did not know what to do, but he had do to something before someone got killed.

He knew he did not have enough time to stop and try to wave his arms to distract the horse, so all he could do was to try and get between it and the other chaps. He knew he would prefer to be injured or even die than let someone else be injured for his mistake of not making it clear to the Pavee girl just who was in the bushes. Of course everything was moving to fast to think about these for more than a millisecond, so all he did was try to get between the rearing horse and the three chaps who had suspected nothing until they were being chased wildly be a terrifying horse.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

It was Niamh's turn to stare, except in shock. The men that were following them...weren't actual enemies.

This was bad.

Not just bad, but unbelievingly, undeniably humiliating as well.

"DRUMMER!!" the woman screeched, vaulting over the stone fence in a single motion, "NO! DOWN HORSEY! DOWN BOY! BACK, BACK! STHAND DOWN! DOOOWN, DRUMMY!!"

The horse had been in mid-charge when Niamh began to scream her head off at him. His mouth was open, revealing huge, yellowed teeth that weren't exactly intimidating, but the shriek that had followed had been. In a move some would consider strange for a horse, he had been about to bite the poor Lieutenant, but halted when the command came.

Those he had scared earlier carefully peeked over the tops of the grasses that hid them, eyes wide and panting heavily. Drummer merely turned and snorted, his black tail possibly whipping Terry in the face if the soldier didn't move out of the way, and trotted back to Niamh. The Pavee breathed a long, loud sigh of relief, hand on her chest, running towards the soldiers while fumbling around in her coat pockets for a torch.

"OI! Everyone all righth?! Sorry, sorry! Didn'th realize you weren'th really baddies, laddies! Sorry!" the woman called out into the darkness, finally switching on her light and shining it on the soldiers. A few of them came out of hiding, looking quite pale, and a few were even trembling.

"Dear God, woman!" one snapped in a Canadian accent. "You could have killed us! Jerry's already doing that, if you didn't notice!!"

"Sorry, sorry, I said I was sorry," Niamh said flatly, frowning at them. Stupid soldiers...what did they expect, her to know they weren't German spies or something?! She wasn't exactly a sage when it came to the military; they should have expected that...but then again, they probably didn't know she was there.

Bugger.

[Scott Evans]

Gasping for breath, Terry slowed down as he saw the horse turn towards him. The horse, who's name was Drummer if Terry had had the time to consider it, emitted a fierce sounding noise and started to move towards Terry.

"DRUMMER!!" the woman screeched, vaulting over the stone fence in a single motion, "NO! DOWN HORSEY! DOWN BOY! BACK, BACK! STHAND DOWN! DOOOWN, DRUMMY!!"

Before he almost realised it, the entire episode was over and the previously dangerous horse was calmly trotting back to it's master. Quite an extraordinary horse Terry thought, grateful that the Pavee woman had her wits about her to call the horse off.

"OI! Everyone all righth?! Sorry, sorry! Didn'th realize you weren'th really baddies, laddies! Sorry!"
"Dear God, woman! You could have killed us! Jerry's already doing that, if you didn't notice!!" one of the ones who had been hiding blurted out.
"Sorry, sorry, I said I was sorry"

Lt Scott quickly took over the situation. Sergeant Wilkinson and Private Thompson had come running up to see the commotion. “Sergeant Wilkinson, cover these men with your Bren until we figure out what side they are on.”
“Now, is everyone all right?”
Ten heads nodded in unison, ten being the amount of troops which they had stumbled upon. Two sergeant, three corporals and five Privates judging by their insignia. Between them they had one Vickers set up facing the road, two Brens and seven Lee Enfield Rifles. They all wore airborne uniforms which on first glance would actually put them on the same side in the exercise as Terry, but he had to be sure. The Vickers was a good place to start, he knew none had been airdropped with the paratroopers.
“You there, private, who is your commanding officer?”
“Captain Richardson, sir.”
“Where did you guys pick up this Vickers? None were dropped with Captain Richardson's company.”
“We took it from an enemy position we knocked out back there” said the private motioning to the east.
“Where's Richardson now?”
“We don't know sir,” piped up one of the sergeants “we all got mixed up in the jump and we only found each other out of good luck I guess sir.”
An corporal added "We were not sure who you were or how many of you there were sir, so we set up a defensive formation."
“Okay, well I know you guys are on the level, I remember a few of you from base and I know there were no paras in the enemy formation so you all are coming with us.” Terry concluded.
Selecting two privates randomly “You, and you take the Vickers, your our machine gun team. You two sergeants take the Brens. The rest of you get your rifles ready. Be ready to move out in five minutes.”
Looking at his watch he noticed that another precious half an hour had passed.

He then made his way to Miss Dunlevy who was standing off to the side looking side looking somewhat ashamed.
“Don't feel bad ma'am, it was my fault for acting so tremendously serious about the entire business and not making it clear to you that you were in no real danger.”
“We are moving out in 5 minutes, tag along if you want, your still most welcome.”

[Niamh Dunlevy]

Niamh stood nearby as Lieutenant Scott spoke, gently stroking the muzzle of her steed. To save on a battery already dangerously low, the Pavee had turned off her torch, placing it back in her coat pocket for further use. Drummer nickered, snorting lightly, and nuzzled his mistress's face. Niamh smiled at the gesture, giving her horse-brother a kiss on the muzzle in return.

So this was some sort of...military exercise? Made sense. If the Germans managed to get past the British defenses, then the troops would need to be ready. Besides, the amount of mud the UK's soil had after a rainstorm was similar to the amount of mud found in a wet trench - at least, that's what Niamh's father had said. The young woman was wishing she knew that beforehand.

The Lieutenant then turned to Niamh, and seemed to notice her slight pout. To the Pavee, he said, “Don't feel bad ma'am, it was my fault for acting so tremendously serious about the entire business and not making it clear to you that you were in no real danger We are moving out in 5 minutes, tag along if you want, you're still most welcome.”

"T'ats very kind of you, Lieuthenanth," said the woman. "I'd like tho apologize 'gain 'bouth nearly killin' your men. I justh didn'th wanth anyone tho geth hurth by a Jerry and whath-noth."

Out of the corner of her odd-eyes, the woman noticed the looks she was getting from the men. With a slightly-exasperated sigh, Niamh turned to them, frowning,

"Don'th worry, Drum's harmless," said she. "He's thrained tho atthack on command, or if he feels I'm in danger. I won'th sic him on you 'gain, I promise."

[Scott Evans]

"Don'th worry, Drum's harmless," said she. "He's thrained tho atthack on command, or if he feels I'm in danger. I won'th sic him on you 'gain, I promise."

Leaving Niamh to her thoughts, Terry turned back to the men. “Okay lads, lets move out. Sergeant Roberts is it?” Terry asked calling over one of the 'new' sergeants. “Pick one corporal and two privates and get on that road heading north, your our first squad and our van.”
Turning to face the Wilkinson who had come up behind him. “Your our second squad, take one corporal, the Vickers and the two privates I assigned to it and stay on me, when I call for the Vickers I want it deployed immediately, got it?”
“Yes sir!”
“If I get knocked out of action, Wilkinson, your in command.”
Pointing at the last sergeant, “You, Sergeant Davidson, the rest of the men are your command and your our third squad, take the rear, stay 50 yards or so behind me unless I call you up. Lets go gents! We have only got a couple hours to get there! I want as little noise as you can make, no need getting us ambushed again.”

There was a large amount of grunts and groans as the small party got to it's feet. As Sergeant Roberts pulled together his makeshift squad, Terry turned back to Miss Niamh,
“I do not know where you care to ride, but just keep your horse under control and all will be fine. I am quite confident you will be able to and that is why I am allowing you to stay with us but I must request that you keep a firm grip on your emotions and do what I ask of you between here and were we part our ways.”
The van made its way onto the road and started north towards the bridge. Lieutenant Scott with the second following right behind moved silently about 50 yards behind the van, and the rearguard the same behind the second.
Reholstering the Webley which he had dug out earlier and picking up his rifle which he had dropped when trying to make all speed in intercepting the horse Drummer, Terry sighed relieved that it had not been an 'enemy' but his small force had been added to. He still was not sure of the exact force opposing him, but with a bit of luck they might just pull it off.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post

The following CP has been issued:

Scott - 16CP

Dunlevy - 16CP

-JT