by Pat Kelleher
"What do you think of that?" Everson said.
"They're not the same, sir,"
"No. Jeffries' circle doesn't correspond to the one we're stood in right now. It's just coincidence, d'y'see?"
"So it's got nothing to do with Jeffries. And when he said that he knew the way home?"
"That, I can't be sure about. It seems he may have learnt some things from the Khungarrii. He mentioned the name Croatoan. Poilus has mentioned it too. There's something else going on here and this Croatoan thing seems to be key, it keeps cropping up. That can't be coincidence, it means something but I don't know what. All I have are Jeffries' indecipherable notes. That damn man has caused irreparable damage. But he's left us with one thing - the possibility of a way home and I suppose for that we should be grateful."
Lance Corporal Thomas 'Only' Atkins stepped out of the dugout an NCO, but it was a hollow moment. He didn't deserve this. He felt he was deceiving his friends and the Lieutenant. He had left chaos and calamity in his wake, as Jeffries had. He took out the letter he'd taken from Ketch, Flora's letter to him, the last post. He held it tightly in his hand as he refused to let the tears fall.
Above, the unfamiliar stars were coming out one by one; the constellation they called 'Charlie Chaplin' hung low in the heavens against the gaseous red ribbon that trailed across the alien sky. This new world, like Atkins' fortunes, continued to turn, but for good or ill, he couldn't say.
A bright point of light rose above the horizon. It was the brightest star in the sky, the star they had christened 'Blighty'. Atkins looked towards it, held the thought of Flora in his mind and made the most fervent wish he could.
THE END
The Pennine Fusiliers will return...
Pat Kelleher is a freelance writer. He has written for magazines, animation and radio. He served his time writing for a wide variety of TV licensed characters, translating them into audio books, novels and comics. Yes, he's written for that. And that. And even, you know, them. He has several non-fiction books to his credit and his educational strips and stories for the RSPB currently form the mainstays of their Youth publications. Somehow he has steadfastly managed to avoid all those careers and part-time jobs that look so good on a dust jacket.
GLOSSARY
Ack Emma: From the Signalese phonetic alphabet; AM. Morning.
A.M: Air Mechanic; ground crew in the RFC.
Battle Police: Military police assigned to the Front Line during an attack, armed with revolvers and charged with preventing unwounded men from leaving the danger area.
Battalion: Infantry Battalions at full strength might be around a thousand men. Generally consisted of four companies.
BEF: British Expeditionary Force. Usually used to refer to the regular standing army who were the first to be sent to Belgium in 1914. Kaiser Wilhelm called them a 'contemptible little army' so thereafter they called themselves 'The Old Contemptibles'.
Black Hand Gang: slang for party put together for a dangerous and hazardous mission, like a raiding party. Such was the nature of the tasks it was chosen from volunteers, where possible.
Blighty: England, home. From the Hindustani Bilaiti meaning foreign land.
Blighty One: A wound bad enough to have you sent back to England.
Brassard: Armband.
British Army Warm: An army issue knee-length overcoat worn by officers.
Boojums: Nickname for tanks, also a Wibble Wobble, a Land Creeper, a Willie.
Bosche: Slang for German, generally used by officers.
Chatt: Parasitic lice that infested the clothing and were almost impossible to avoid while living in the trenches. Living in the warm moist clothing and laying eggs along the seams, they induced itching and skin complaints.
Chatting: De-lousing, either by running a fingernail along the seams and cracking the lice and eggs or else running a lighted candle along them to much the same effect.
Comm Trench: Short for communications trench.
Communications Trench: Trench that ran perpendicularly to the fire trench, enabling movement of troops, supplies and messages to and from the Front Line, from the parallel support and reserve lines to the rear.
Company: One quarter of an infantry battalion, 227 men at full strength divided into four platoons.
CQS: Company Quartermaster Sergeant.
CSM: Company Sergeant Major.
Enfilade: Flanking fire along the length of a trench as opposed to across it.
Estaminet: a French place of entertainment in villages and small towns frequented by soldiers; part bar, part cafe, part restaurant, generally run by women.
FANY: First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. The only service in which women could enlist and wear khaki, they drove ambulances, ran soup kitchens, mobile baths, etc. in forward areas.
Field Punishment No 1: Corporal punishment where men were tied or chained to stationary objects for several hours a day for up to 21 days. At other times during their punishment they were made to do hard labour.
Fire Bay: Part of a manned fire trench facing the enemy. Bays were usually separated by traverses.
Firestep: The floor of the trench was usually deep enough for soldiers to move about without being seen by the enemy. A firestep was a raised step that ran along the forward face of the fire trench from which soldiers could fire or keep watch.
Fire Trench: Forward trench facing the enemy that formed part of the Front Line.
Five Nines: A type of German high-explosive shell.
Flammenwerfer: German liquid fire thrower.
Fritz: Slang term for a German.
Funk: State of nerves or depression, more harshly a slang word for cowardice.
Hard Tack: British Army Biscuit ration, infamously inedible.
Hate, the: Usually a regular bombardment by the enemy made at dawn or dusk to forestall any attacks; the Morning Hate and the Evening Hate.
Hitchy Coo: Itchiness caused by lice infestation and their bites.
Hom Forty: French railway freight wagons used to transport troops at excruciatingly slow speed, so-called after the signage on the side; Hommes 40, Chevaux 8.
Iddy Umpty: slang for Morse Code and, by extension, the Signallers who used it.
Jack Johnsons: Shell burst of a 5.9 or bigger, know for its plume of black smoke and nicknamed after famed black boxer, Jack Johnson.
Jildi: From the Hindi - get a move on, quick, hurry.
Kite Balloon: An observation balloon, carrying a basket for an observer but attached to the ground by a winch.
Landship: a tank.
Lewis Machine gun: air cooled, using a circular magazine cartridge holding 48 rounds each. Lighter and more portable than the Vickers.
Linseed Lancer: Slang for a stretcher bearer of the RAMC.
Maconachie: Brand of tinned vegetable stew. Made a change from endless Bully Beef, though not by much.
Mills Bomb: Pineapple-shaped British hand grenade, armed by pulling a pin and releasing the trigger lever.
Minnie Crater: Crater formed from the explosion of a Minniwerfer shell.
Minniewerfer: German trench mortar shell.
MO: Medical Officer.
Napoo: All gone, finished, nothing left. Mangled by the British from the French phrase; 'il n'y en a plus' - there is no more.
NCO: Non Commissioned Officer; Sergeant Majors, Sergeants or Corporals.
No Man's Land: Area of land between the two opposing Front Lines.
OP: Observation Post.
QM: Quartermaster.
Parados: Raised defensive wall of earth or sandbags along the rear of the trench to help disperse explosions behind the line.
Parapet: Raised defence of earth or sandbags at the front of a trench to provide cover for those on the firestep.
PH Helmet: Phenate-Hexamine Helmet. Early type of full- gas mask. Not so much a helmet as a flannel hood soaked in neutralising chemicals, and a mouth tube and distinctive red rubber valve for exhalation.
Pip Emma: From the Signalese phonetic alpha
bet; PM, after noon, evening.
Platoon: A quarter of an infantry company, commanded by a Subaltern. Consisting of 48 men divided into four sections.
Plum & Apple: Much derided flavour of jam because of the cheap and plentiful ingredients used by jam manufacturers on government contract.
Plum Pudding: Nickname for a type of British trench mortar round.
Poilus: Nickname for a French soldier, like the English Tommy. From the French poilu meaning 'hairy', as French soldiers were often unshaven, unlike the British Tommy who was required to shave every day.
Pozzy: Slang for jam.
Puttee: Khaki cloth band wound around the calf from the knee to the ankle.
RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corp, often summoned with the well worn yell, "stretcher bearer!" Uncharitably also said to stand for Rob All My Comrades.
Reading Your Shirt: The act of Chatting.
Red Tabs: Slang for Staff Officers, after the red tabs worn on the collars of their tunics.
Revetment: Any material used to strengthen a trench wall against collapse; wooden planking, brushwood wattling, corrugated iron, etc.
RFC: Royal Flying Corps of the British Army.
Sally Port: Small, hidden passage out under the parapet of a fire trench used for sorties into No Man's Land.
Section: A quarter of a platoon, usually consisting of 12 men under the charge of an NCO.
Subaltern: Or Sub; a commissioned officer under the rank of captain; first or second lieutenant.
Traverse: Thick sandbag partition built in trenches to prevent enfilading enemy fire and to limit the effect of any explosions. In fire trenches they were used to create fire bays. Also; purposely-built changes in angle of direction in any trench to achieve the same effect.
SAA: Small Arms Ammunition; rifle and revolver ammunition.
Sans German: Village of Saint Germaine, five miles from Harcourt Wood, behind the British lines.
Signalese: A phonetic alphabet.
SMLE: Short Magazine Lee Enfield. Standard issue British rifle with a 10 round magazine.
Sponson: The side-mounted gun turret of a tank, taken from the naval term. The Mark I 'male' tank had no central-mounted roof turret, like later tanks, but two side mounted sponsons, one on either side. Each sponson was armed with a six pounder gun and a Hotchkiss machine gun.
Stand To: Stand to Arms. Highest state of alert when all men should be ready for immediate action, weapons at the ready. Occurred regularly in the trenches at dawn and dusk to repel any attempted attacks. See also Hate, the.
Toffee Apple: nickname for a type of British trench mortar bomb.
VAD: Voluntary Aid Detachment, women volunteers providing auxiliary nursing assistance to the Red Cross and registered nurses.
Very Light: A white or coloured flare fired from a Very Pistol. Used for signalling or illumination at night.
Vickers Machine gun: Water-cooled, belt-fed, machine gun. Heavy and bulky, but more accurate than the Lewis.
Whizz-Bang: A German 77mm high velocity shell.
Woolly Bear: A German shrapnel air burst shell, that left a distinctive cloud in the air.
Also from Abaddon Books:-
Empire of Salt by Weston Ochse
The Olivers have a chance to make a new home by the Salton Sea. Looking forward to Californian fun, sun and adventure they are unprepared for the ecological devastation they find. The sea is rotting, the town of Bombay Beach is dying and the citizens are like bait, waiting to be plucked from their homes by what comes from the sea. For just off the coast something lies in wait, a government secret gone wrong, a deadly experiment that has created a breed of zombie like no other.
Beware the coming of the green, the townsfolk say. Beware the coming of the night!
Table of Contents
Title
Indicia
Acknowledgements
13th Battalion Pennine Fusiliers
Preface
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Interlude One
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Interlude Two
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Interlude Three
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Interlude Four
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Interlude Five
Chapter Twenty One
About the Author
Glossary
Tomes of the Dead: Empire of Salt
