From Col. Mustard’s Correspondence File
07: Widdershins
Col. Edward Mustard
c/o Mrs Midgely’s Lodging House
41 Cockspur Street
London
4th May 1769, Lisbon
Dear Ned
Another damn, troubling Dispatch from your Pen, Ned. This one is a bit of a Tale of two Halves. The first Part seems quite straightforward enough, though it is not entirely clear to me why you feel you must engage yourself in Business that properly belongs to the Runners. I cannot but feel that they owe you enough. You assisted Officer Harden in the Arrest of that miserable Sandhurst Cove. Then, when he cocked a snook at them and absconded from their Custody in the middle of his Trial, you crossed the Barriers between Worlds to hunt him down for them. At least there you had a legitimate Interest. These Fish Brothers seem Minnows too small even for Bow Street to fry and this Tonkins Fellow, if you will forgive me, seems scarcely distinguishable from the Fishes in his modus operandi.
You must pardon me my directness, but I have had a most trying Day. I had to hang young Finch today for killing a Comrade – Corporal Rivers – in a Brawl. The Cause, needless to say was a local Woman with whom, it seems, both Men were amorously engaged. Couldn’t get much Detail – Finch wasn’t talking, Rivers was beyond saying anything and the Girl just wailed and babbled in impenetrable Portugee. Can’t say I’ll much miss Rivers who was a Drunk and a Rakehell, but I thought better of Finch. I always considered him a bright Boy, if a bit of a Milksop, with some Potential. I was clearly wrong on all Counts. He died well enough – pale and shaky but no blubbing.
So at the end of this sorry Tale I am two more Effectives down – aside from the Dozen or so cases of Pox and Fever (or chronic malingering) in the Infirmary. On top of that Jenkins has now gone clean mad from the Pox. I have discharged him and put him in the care of some holy Brethren here to see out the last of his Days. He was a fine Man and it’s a damn Shame – another brought low by the Wiles of Women. I hope you will soon be able to offer me News of some more Recruits, Sir?
Anyway to the second Part of your Story. A marble Slab with curative Properties - a damn Shame it’s so, well… slabby. If it were more portable it would make a fine adjunct to a Field Hospital. Seems a shame to leave it in some obscure Barber-surgeon’s Gaffe in the Bowels of London. I wonder if your Friend Whiteman might be interested in it? I’m sure he must have the Funds to buy out this old Fellow, Parry, and give him a comfortable Retirement in return.
I guess there must be many such Pockets in London as your hidden Graveyard. The City has grown so fast of late and Land Rights and Ownership are so complex, that I can quite see how a Graveyard might be built around but not upon – though it is odd that it is so forgotten even by Dwellings that abut it. However, a Graveyard where one might travel through Time simply by steering a clockwise or widdershins Course around it – only in one of you Adventures, my dear Fellow.
So I surmise that travelling around its Circumference to the left (your Back to the Wall) takes you forward in Time and to the Right, Backwards. Do I have it aright? The same Logic applies to the Monument in its Centre. The Path you followed took you to three alternate Futures/Presents: a White City, bereft of Life, populated by walking, talking Enochian Devices awaiting the return of the Perfect Creator; a blasted City perhaps haunted by a Dragon; and a City much like our own but ruled by Akkad II with a mighty Ziggurat at its Heart. Further Exploration was prevented by the thickness of the Vegetation – you also saw ambulant Trees. You explored the third Future a little and found it similar but disconcertingly different, with rather better and more common Enochian Devices than our own. The small Change in your Pocket transmuted to coinage bearing the Head of Akkad while you were there and changed back once you returned. Gold coins retained their original Nature. You were able to return by retracing your Footsteps exactly. Have I missed anything? If you took a different turn around the Graveyard would you come to the same Futures? Do you intend to return for further Exploration?
One interesting Thought occurred to me. You say that Sandhurst had a Bracelet with a gold Coin of this Akkad II, which rightly led to speculation whether Sandhurst was an Agent of this Future, or a Refugee or a perhaps simply an Adventurer from our own Timeline – although given the Purpose with which he operated, the first seems most plausible. If that is so, I now wonder whether the Flyte’s Hole where you ran him to Ground after pursuing him through the Sands, might not have been in the Akkad World, rather than our own. If my Surmise is correct, it is indeed fortunate that you risked the Wrath of the Naga once more to return to London, rather than take the “long way” back from Surrey as you contemplated.
I enclose more formal Dispatches with this Package, outlining our Situation in more Detail with less Commentary. These are a true Reflection of our Manpower and as you will see we remain significantly understrength. Please feel free to amend them as you see fit – I realise that it might assist our Finances to claim for more Men than we have and I know this is common Practice in the regular Army. However, my Fear is that, should War come, the true Situation will swiftly become apparent and we might find ourselves brigaded with another similarly light Regiment. In such Circumstances they will not need two Colonels (or Lieut. Colonels), and it will come down to Influence. I know I have None and, with all due Respect, Gentlemen such as yourself who have risen through their own Merits are seldom preferred to the Scions of Nobility be they ever so inexperienced, lazy and incompetent. My own Thoughts are that perhaps a return to the Shires, and their Hunt meets, might offer more fertile Ground for recruitment than the Salons of London. However, I’m sure you know your Business better than I.
There is a junior Officer off a naval Sloop awaiting my Dispatches and muttering darkly about Tides, so I will leave it here. GOD be with you, Sir – for you seem to need His Goodwill more than most!
Your Obedient Servant
Nathaniel Pepper
Lieut. Col.