That Dodd's got a rare sense of humour, so he has.
(TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC PLAYING)
Off your grub, Pat?
That isn't like you.
You did know that shot wouldn't carry, didn't you?
Of course I did.
The powder Dodd gave me was blended wrong.
There weren't nowhere near enough saltpeter in it.
How in the name of God would you have known that?
Three years in the army at Srirangapattam.
A man gets to know powder, the smell of it, the taste of it.
Yeah, well, I mean, all the same. You could have, you know...
Well, you think Dodd would let us have loaded guns if he didn't trust us?
And His Majesty not ten foot away.
Yeah, well, you might have had a notion to let me know.
I was getting my excuses ready for St Peter.
It had to look real, Pat. Sorry.
But we are in the cushoon, aren't we?
Yeah, yeah.
We're in a cushoon all right. Up to our bloody necks.
(HORSE NEIGHING)
Get those feet up, you!
Heave them, bastards!
It ain't a tea party we're marching to!
It's to war.
GUDIN: Old comrades.
Magnificent, are they not?
Yet I do pity them.
They will be pounded to dust.
You'll never break a besieging army sat in a fort, sir.
And there's the weather to think about.
And the rains may make them withdraw to Agra.
But they'll be back for sure in greater numbers than before.
It is not the ''when'' of their assault which need concern us, gentlemen.
It is the ''where.''
Highness.
I never thought of them to be so many.
Be not dismayed, Your Highness.
There will be far fewer of them presently, I promise.
(WHISTLING)
Ah, McRae, you are done with your promenade?
Major Stokes has completed his initial service, sir, aye.
Stokes?
I regret to report I'm unable to advance my artillery pieces
against the north or the south ramparts.
Now, there is a possible approach against the east.
And how long do you estimate it will take you to establish a practicable breach?
-A few weeks, sir. -A few weeks?
Which, with the arrival of the rains almost upon us,
we do not have.
No, sir.
Well, thankfully, while you have been walking up and down the earth,
I have made some certain enquires.
This man tells me that his sons were taken away
by Khande Rao's troops a few months ago,
to help construct an inner wall inside the fortress.
-An inner wall? -Just so.
Mr Harper made no mention of such a development in his report.
Yes, well, you may set great store upon him, McRae.
But to my mind, the Irish have always proved themselves
an altogether undependable race.
Happily, for all the gaps in your intelligence,
I have uncovered the weakness in Khande Rao's plans.
Building of this inner wall upon the west is not yet complete.
At that point we have only the outer wall to breach.
The west. Are you sure, sir?
-Have I not just said so? -Aye, seems a mite convenient is all, sir.
-Convenient? -Like Laocoon, sir,
experience has taught me to be wary of Greeks even when they are bearing gifts.
What?
It is not beyond Khande Rao to seek vantage through subterfuge.
-Nonsense. -Maybe, sir.
But my mind would be eased if we could get confirmation from Colonel Sharpe.
Sharpe be damned!
I told you, the man is a bloody adventurer and cannot be relied upon.
The west it is, Stokes, that's the place.
See there, how the wall is in poor repair.
That's where we'll make our breach.
And we'll do it in strength. By God, I'll pour the whole damn army in.
There'll be a show to put Richard bloody Sharpe in his place.
(SCOFFING)
Looking for the Colonel. Colonel Gudin.
(MEN SPEAKING IN HINDI)
(MEN CHATTERING IN HINDI)
Who are you? What do you want?
I... I am looking for Colonel Gudin, sir. He's my officer.
Could you tell me where I am, sir? I think I'm a bit lost.
This is western gatehouse. And you have no business here.
You can see there's no Colonel Gudin here.
-Out! -Aye, sir.
-Out! -Thank you, thank you very much, sir.
A mine? Where?
The western rampart.
There's a tunnel underneath the old gatehouse. Leads to the inner wall.
And it's stacked high with gunpowder.
God save Ireland.
I can see them now, coming on, flags flying.
A forlorn hope storming into the breach.
Yeah, but it won't be a breach that they find.
Just a tight bloody corridor and nowhere to go but along it.
Jesus.
They'll be trapped between the inner and outer walls.
Yeah.
And all the while, Dodd will be sat there waiting,
ready to blow the whole bloody army straight to hell.
(DODD BARKING ORDERS)
Sergeant, can you use a sword?
Aye, sir, sometimes, sir, when I need to.
Good. Then oblige me. It's been a while since I matched steel with an Englishman.
Begging your pardon, sir, but I'm drilled as a rifleman
and no match for Your Generalship.
I'll be the judge of that. Choose your blade.
I'd sooner not, sir, if it's all right with you.
Choose your blade.
So, what brings you to His Highness's service?
As we told Colonel Gudin, sir...
(GRUNTING)
-You weren't ready for me? -No, sir.
Well, let that serve as a lesson to you.
The enemy won't announce his intention to strike and neither will I.
-That's better, Sharpe, much better. -I learn fast, sir.
So it seems.
What about yourself, sir? If I might ask.
What brought you into His Highness' service?
I was a lieutenant in the East India Company for six years, six bloody years.
You see, in the Company, it doesn't matter how good a soldier a man might be
if he hasn't got the money.
He's got to wait his turn.
I watched wealthy, young idiots buy themselves majorities in the King's ranks,
whilst I had to bow and scrape to the useless bastards.
''Yes, sir. No, sir.
''Three bags bloody full, sir.''
-I thought this was just practising. -You're holding back.
Is that how you'll fight the red-coats when it comes to close quarters?
Test me, man! Test me!
I think you should've joined the King's army, sir.
-Get up! -You got me, sir.
Come.
Let's refresh ourselves.
-I'll have a surgeon look at your wounds. -No, sir.
You let me win easily, I know you did. I know why too.
It's not done in the British army to let a ranker best an officer.
But you're not in the British army now.
You have courage, ability,
and you were born to live poor and die in the ranks.
Another name on the butcher's bill.
-A soldier's fate, sir. -Not in my army.
I'll show those English bastards what a man can do.
You're an Englishman yourself, aren't you, sir?
Once. Maybe.
Now, I see a red-coat, all I wanna do is start killing.
Is that what happened at Chasalgaon?
Why the hell do you ask that?
You hear tales in the ranks, sir.
Rumours. I just wondered what happened.
I made a reputation, that's what happened.
I put Chasalgaon to the sword.
Company troops and civilians alike.
Every last man, woman and child. No prisoners.
You see, when men fight me, Sergeant, I want them to fear me.
That way the battle's half won before it's even begun.
# Rock of Ages
# Cleft for me
# Let me hide myself in Thee
# Let the water and the blood #
(MAN CHATTERING)
Who gave you orders to take a breather?
Get to work, you lazy brown bastard, unless you want a flogging!
Here.
Give us a drop in my pan.
Thirsty work is this.
(EXPLOSION)
As you were, you gutless heathens!
That's our pieces firing!
Those buggers out there ain't got no chance of hitting us in this rain.
(MEN SCREAMING)
We must clear the enemy from the woods, sir,
if I'm to bring my pieces up to bear against the west.
You have my mind exactly, Stokes.
We'll put some cannon to them, flush the buggers out.
First the cannon, then we'll send the beaters in.
Be ready to advance at dusk.
(GASPING)
Oh, stop moaning.
God almighty, that was a close call. What were you thinking?
What kind of a bloody common soldier handles a blade as well as that, huh?
I let him beat me, didn't I?
Oh yeah, sure you did, yeah.
It's as fine a piece of playacting I've seen outside of Mr Kemble's Coriolanus.
I didn't think you cared for Mr Kemble in that part.
In any event you should have just killed the bastard and been done with it.
He'll get his, Pat. Don't you worry about that.
The time of my choosing. My place, not his.
Sergeant Sharpe, you are summoned to the palace.
It is called the Vadavaka.
The Mare's Trick.
Mmm-hmm.
And can only be perfected with long practice.
Oh. I don't doubt it, ma'am.
Oh, I expect it's more impressive in its beholding than in its achievement,
like any cavalry manoeuvre.
You fought well, Sergeant.
On the parade ground.
There aren't many men who could best General Dodd.
If you recall, ma'am, the General had the better of me.
No false modesty. You let him win.
I don't deny that General Dodd has been a useful ally to this house, these past years.
But to place all our hopes on the shoulders of one man...
What if he were to weary of such a burden?
Or that some lucky shot should take him from our service.
Who then would we look to for guidance?
-His Highness, ma'am. -Khande Rao?
He's just a boy.
Ferraghur needs a strong and experienced hand upon her,
if she's to blossom as she should.
Why have you brought me here?
I would know you better, Sergeant.
Come.
Sit with me.
Shall I command you?
No woman commands me.
(MADHUVANTHI LAUGHING)
You would refuse me?
I have been loved by kings.
You know who I am?
(SCOFFING)
I know what you are.
That's how you want it, ma'am? Eh?
Nice and hard?
Off a ranker with the drill sweat still on him?
Or is this another test of my loyalty?
Is that it?
The General sat next door, listening to which way I'm gonna jump next?
Well, if that's your game, I'll have none of it.
If that were all, ma'am?
Get out.
Get out!
(MAN SHOUTING IN HINDI)
Sir, Captain Mohan Singh, requesting permission to join this evening's attack on the tope, sir.
I fear your lancers will be of little use in yon forest of the night, Captain.
The action's best disposed by foot.
I'd still like to volunteer, sir, to be duty officer, whatever troops you use.
I see.
Medals and glory, eh, is that it?
Two years ago, my family were murdered by Pindari bandits,
much like those same dogs that presently swarm about the tope.
A battle's no place for private vengeance, Captain.
Not when there's a job to be done.
Sir, whether I kill for my blood
or for the sake of His Britannic Majesty,
a dead bandit is a dead bandit.
Very well, if you're so resolved.
-I suppose you must go. -Thank you, sir.
(MAN SINGING IN HINDI)
Inform His Highness that I wish to speak to him.
The jatropha, it's a medicinal plant.
And this is the Bodhi tree.
Mahatma Gautam Buddha sat under this tree and attained divine enlightenment
-thousands of years ago. -Thousands of years?
All Hindus worship this tree.
You Europeans like to think yourselves very enlightened.
But beside a civilisation so ancient and great as this,
you are what your Mr Swift called it.
Yahoos, no?
No more than a rude intrusion upon the history of this land.
This culture was here long before you,
and will doubtless be here long after you're gone.
Pardon me.
Excuse me, madam.
SHARPE: Miss.
Miss.
Mr Sharpe.
-Are you well, ma'am? -Thank you.
Well enough.
You have news?
Our army is encamped
on the plain beyond these walls.
When the bombardment against the fortress begins, it may begin as early as tonight.
When it does, I'll come for you.
I understand.
You'd better go.
Until tonight, Godspeed.
(SCREAMING)
-Has it started then? -Right.
You get yourself away to the gate.
I'll bring the lass along as soon as I can, all right?
-Listen... -No, you listen.
Whatever it is, it'll wait till we're on the boat back home. It'll keep till then.
You just make sure you get that lass to her father, all right?
HARPER: Richard.
Mind yourself.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING IN HINDI)
Sergeant Sharpe.
-What are you doing here? -Sorry, sir, I was just looking for an officer.
Orders, sir.
Well, now you've found one.
-Can you ride? -Aye, sir. A bit.
Good. Then follow me.
The British are taking the wood to the west of the fortress.
Come, what are you waiting for?
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
(MEN SHOUTING)
Fire!
(MEN SCREAMING)
(EXPLOSION)
Your old friends are trying to drive our rocketeers from the wood.
-I want you to confuse them. -Sir?
Shout orders at them.
An English voice will confuse them.
I wouldn't mind a rifle, sir.
You're not here to fight, Sergeant.
Just to mix them up.
We shall lead them in a quadrille, no?
Shout at them to come this way.
Forward.
Nineteenth.
Forward.
Louder. Try a name.
(MEN SCREAMING)
Bickerstaff!
SHARPE: Sergeant Bickerstaff!
To me!
(MAN SHOUTING IN HINDI)
Bickerstaff.
Who's there?
Good. Bid him come.
Over here, Sergeant.
Where are you?
Happen if I get a bit closer, sir.
Of course, gentlemen, in those days
His Royal Highness was still very much with Mrs Fitzherbert.
Yet, for all that, he had turned his eye
upon Lady Isabelle.
Well, like her mother, Lady Isabelle was always given to a good swining
and would go after it like a vixen at eggs in the henhouse!
There was an appetite to make Messalina blush, eh?
By God, gentlemen, was ever cheek and chin born to...
Excuse me!
Damn it, sir, damn it! I will not have my story interrupted so.
The devil take your anecdote!
An attack stands upon the balance, man.
The duty officer sends for another company to reinforce the assault.
Sir.
Perhaps you didn't hear me right.
-The duty officer sends for... -He may send for what he pleases, sir.
There will be no reinforcement.
Let him use better that which he has.
The fewer men, the greater the glory.
Now gentlemen, what was I saying?
Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff, where are you?
Bickerstaff!
Bickerstaff, you miserable bastard!
Where are you? Get your arse over here.
Bickerstaff. Come...
Oh, Christ. Am I ever glad to see you.
What are you doing, man?
-It's me! -I knows you, Colonel.
I'd know you anywhere.
Twisting a skirt like some Eastcheap dollymop, I know.
But wait!
Shadrach, wait.
Look, I've got news, I've got news for General Simmerson.
It'll have to keep then, won't it?
Me eyes. Me eyes.
(GROANING)
(BICKERSTAFF GRUNTING)
Bastard.
This bastard is mine.
Fire!
Sharpe, leave him. Sharpe, leave him.
(MEN SCREAMING)
I told you to leave him.
This is the bastard who set us up for a flogging, sir.
I don't care! Keep him alive. He may prove useful.
(SHOUTING)
You took a terrible risk. You could have been shot by your friends.
But it worked, eh?
Take him back.
(MEN SPEAKING IN HINDI)
I'll make sure His Highness hears of your bravery.
No doubt he'll want to reward you.
Gave them a beating, eh?
SHARPE: Oh, aye. We gave them a beating, all right.
Now, go and get drunk. You've earned it.
General Simmerson was told of the request.
So where were the reinforcements, Colonel? Why didn't they come?
(MEN CHATTERING IN HINDI)
Well, McRae, is it done?
I regret to report, sir, that our attack has been repulsed,
with heavy losses.
Well, I always said a night attack was folly.
We'll clear the tope in the morning.
I understand, Sir Henry,
that you have late sent a rider to Agra for reinforcements and further orders.
-General Burroughs, sir. -I think it would be well,
if you took yourself after him to see how the request progresses.
My place is here, sir, at your side,
lest the ague ever take you again.
I had thought, Sir Henry, to spare you further ignominy.
But since you are determined to prove
as dull-witted and thick-skinned as a hippopotamus, let me speak plainly.
I have no wish to die beside such a bloody fool as you.
Hie, sir.
Hence, sir.
Get you hence!
-Bickerstaff. -The bastard tried to kill me, didn't he?
I told him, an important word to Simmerson, and he still come at me.
Did you do him?
-I don't think so. Gudin pulled me off. -Gudin.
Took Bickerstaff prisoner,
along with a dozen more of our lads.
Our only hope is that the bastard dies,
or else that you've rattled his brains to shite.
'Cause he'll sell us out, certain sure, first chance he gets.
I know. It's a right bloody mess.
-Arrack. -Simmerson's attack failed.
Khande Rao's men still hold the woods.
And Gudin's recommending me a medal for my part in the victory.
Oh, well! It wasn't an entirely unprofitable evening then.
I let Burroughs' lass down. I know that.
Oh, come on. You're being too hard on yourself.
Yet again, you answered the first rule of soldiering.
You survived. No man can ask for more.
We can. We have.
-We must again. -And will again.
But not tonight.
No, no. Not tonight.
I'm beat. I've never been so beat.
Not the piss and vinegar I once had.
Which of us has, Richard? Which of us has?
(PRIEST CHANTING IN HINDI)
Sergeant Sharpe, Your Highness.
Colonel Gudin tells us you fought bravely,
and have proved yourself to be a worthy soldier.
We are proud to number you amongst our forces.
You are now a hero of Ferraghur.
-Gone? -MOHAN: I've covered the entire grounds, sir.
Apart from those killed in last night's action
the tope's completely free from enemy forces.
They must have fallen back to the fortress under cover of darkness.
But why?
Whatever their reasoning, Colonel, I'm not about to decline the gift.
Major Stokes, be pleased to bring your cannon up and begin work against the western ramparts.
Aye. Very good, sir.
Pray our luck holds a short while longer, McRae.
By God's grace, we'll breach the west before the rains are upon us.
Amen to that, sir.
Amen to that.
(WOMAN SINGING IN HINDI)
Lieutenant Montclair, commence firing if you please.
Commence firing.
(EXPLOSIONS)
(SHOUTING)
English prisoners, your king and general have betrayed you.
They sent you to plunder the riches of a land that does not belong to you.
For that, you will have your reward.
Colonel Gudin, for mercy.
Cannot you do something to help these men?
I regret, madam, their fate lies far beyond my hands.
Beyond your hands? You and your soldiers captured them, did you not?
(PLEADING IN HINDI)
This is what you meant for them?
They are soldiers, like yourself.
If you were taken from battle for my father's army you would be treated honourably.
Alas, madam, we have left that country far behind.
Your Majesty, spare these men, I beg you.
Are you to be turned from the victory that is rightfully yours
by woman's tears, my Lord?
Will you show mercy to the merciless?
Your father would not have shrunk from such a choice.
(MAN SCREAMING IN PAIN)
(SNAPPING)
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
They've sent in more guards to watch the mine.
How long do you think the outer wall will hold?
It's not meant to hold.
It's meant to come down.
God knows, there's nothing more appealing to a besieging army than a great, bloody breach.
Except once our lads get through it, the only place they can go is down that alleyway.
Aye, and Dodd will be waiting to blow the mine.
That alleyway is a bloody killing ground.
It's long enough and wide enough to wipe out half our bloody army.
You're gonna have to do what I couldn't, Pat.
You have to get word back to Simmerson. Tell him to beware the west.
Yeah, that's all well and good, but the gates are closed.
Well, we'll have to bloody open them again, won't we? Come on.
No! Wait!
I know who the traitors are in here, I know!
Oh, get these bastards off of me!
BICKERSTAFF: Listen, do you wanna listen?
There's a traitor in your ranks, a British officer.
DODD: Wait.
Wait.
What do you mean, ''a British officer''?
A colonel, he is.
The army said he went back to Agra, but he didn't, did he?
'Cause he's here.
Because I saw him last night with my own eyes.
Dressed in a frock like them.
Who did you see? Give me his name.
I'll tell you, if you promise to save my life, sir.
Your word of honour as a gentleman.
His name!
That's better.
You look like a real bloody soldier again.
Well, at least we won't get shot by our own side.
-You ready? -Yeah.
Right, let's do it.
GUDIN: Did you think to be leaving us, gentlemen?
You really must learn to decide whose side you are on,
Colonel Sharpe.
S'il-vous-plaît.
Heroism is so pointless.
DODD: That's enough. Get him up.
Get him up!
I trusted you.
More bloody fool you, then.
DODD: Take him to the dungeon.
-Aren't you gonna kill us? -Of course I'm gonna bloody kill you.
Just not yet.
You thought you were better than me.
But you underestimated William Dodd, didn't you?
Just like all those other bloody British officers born to privilege.
Or born to the gutter, Dodd.
I'm like every other gutter bastard.
Another shit that belongs there.
Really?
Well, know this, your army is gonna be utterly destroyed.
And I want you to see them annihilated.
I want you to see that, Sharpe. Then I'm gonna kill you.
Take him away.
Highness.
You have been kind, and I'm grateful for that.
But I beg you speak me no further words of kindness or comfort.
All is lost.
With Colonel Sharpe went the last of hope.
General Dodd has laid a trap for your father's army.
A great mine is hidden by the western gate which will kill many British soldiers.
That is so?
Madame, I have cause for tears, but I can think of none for yours.
You ask me for why I weep?
I weep because when your army is defeated,
General Dodd and the witch Madhuvanthi will murder my brother.
-Then we are both undone. -Perhaps not.
If I went to your father, and warned him against the mine?
You would do this?
I should sooner see my brother alive under British rule
than dead at a renegade's hand.
Highness, for all your courage, you run the risk
that my father will neither receive you, nor believe what you have to tell him.
Which is why I have come.
I thought, if I could offer him some sacred words, or a memory,
as a token of the trust which exists between us,
then perhaps he would not so quickly turn me away.
I cannot fault your reasoning, Highness.
Indeed you give me hope beyond hope.
Though one in my condition dare not dream of it.
I hopes you slept well, gentlemen.
You bastard! Bastard!
Steady, paddy, steady!
You'll do yourself harm.
And we wouldn't want that.
Enjoy your crowing while you can.
Until the court martial.
And a length of rope with your name on it waiting.
Aye.
We'll see you step the hempen jig, Shadrach.
Damn me, if everybody doesn't clap in time.
I don't think so.
Do you not?
You're a traitor, Bickerstaff.
-That's how the army deals with traitors. -Trial be damned!
It was your neck or mine.
And here we are.
As to your precious army,
in a few hours there ain't gonna be no bloody army,
and good riddance says I. They've had the best of me.
The best of you? There's no decency in you, Shadrach.
You're scum, and you'll die like scum.
I'll leave you to enjoy each other's company.
And God knows you might as well, for you'll ne'er see another bibi this side of hell.
-Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff! -Bastard!
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
Now then, missy.
Where might you be going?
# He looketh at the earth and it trembles
# He toucheth the hills and they smoke #
I shall sing praise unto the Lord, as long as I live.
All sing.
# I shall sing praise unto the Lord as long as I live #
What possible reason could you have for leaving Ferraghur on the eve of battle?
Mmm?
Answer me directly.
We shall see if a flogging cannot encourage that pretty tongue of yours to sing.
You would not dare raise a hand against a princess of the blood.
When my brother hears of this...
Alas.
I fear His Highness has seen his last sunset.
(MEN CHEERING)
My God, an inner wall.
BURROUGHS: Recent-built by the look of it.
Can it be breached, Stokes?
Fresh clay, sir.
Neither my guns nor Joshua's trumpets will put a tumble to it.
Then we must ignore it and concentrate on the outer wall.
Capture the battlements and we will command the fort.
Colonel McRae,
have the forlorn hope stand ready to advance upon my order.
Aye, sir. I'll see it done.
Pray God our losses are none too grievous.
(DOOR OPENING)
(WHISPERING) Hey. Now, don't speak, just listen.
I don't have much time.
I'm here by permission of Colonel Gudin with his blessing.
-You came to rescue your general's daughter? -Yes, we did.
I thought as much.
What's this?
I give you this so you can cheat Dodd's torturers.
A cartridge apiece.
That's all I have.
-It'll do. -Thank you.
I'm sorry I could do no more, my friends.
MAN: Sahib.
Faut que j'y aille.
Maintenant, an old enemy salutes you,
and bids you farewell.
# Come cheer up, my lads
# 'Tis to glory we steer
# To add something more to this wonderful year
# To honour we call you as freemen, not slaves
# For who are so free as the sons of the waves?
# Hearts of oak are our ships Hearts of oak are our men
# We always are ready
# Steady, boys, steady
# We will fight till we conquer again and again #
Courage, boys.
-Will there be grub in the town, sir? -Aye, boys. Plenty.
-And bibis? -Running over with it, lads.
Just panting for you. Even enough for us old officers.
(MAN SINGING SOULFUL SONG)
There you go, son.
It's my first cigar, sir.
When you come back, find me and we'll have one together.
-Do your duty, lad. -Whenever you say, sir.
Forlorn hope, stand to!
Forlorn hope will advance!
Forward march!
May God keep you.
Sergeant Bickerstaff,
I promised the British spies a spectacle.
Have his Highness's jetti fetch them up from the dungeon.
Very good, sir.
May I say I am grateful to you, sir,
for giving me this chance to prove meself.
You've proven yourself already.
As model of self-interest, I confess you put even my own ambitions to shame.
Sir.
(MEN SHOUTING)
What are you doing?
(MEN SHOUTING)
Forlorn hope onward!
HARPER: Oh, God almighty.
Out of the frying pan...
It's just not our bloody night, Pat.
Follow me, lads! Run! Run!
Come on, lads!
Oh, come on now, lads. Three to one?
That's hardly fair odds, now is it?
They don't want fair odds though, do they?
Eh, Shadrach?
It's a bloody contest.
Come on, Pat.
Come on, let's show these buggers.
Sharpe!
Kill him. Kill him!
Eh bien, les gars, it seems you've chosen another form of suicide, pas vrai?
-What's this? -Une belle alliance, non?
You'll be needing this, I think.
-Colonel Gudin. -Don't look so surprised.
There must be rules, no? Even in war.
My sword is yours to command.
Glad to have you, Colonel. Find Celia Burroughs.
Keep her safe. And get her out of Ferraghur if you can.
-GUDIN: And yourself? -We've got a bloody army to save.
Bonne chance.
(MEN SHOUTING)
Sharpe and Harper have escaped.
The French are helping them.
-They've betrayed us. -Highness, it's of little consequence.
(MAN SCREAMING IN HINDI)
You see, my love? The British will soon lay scattered across the plain
and Ferraghur will be ours.
(CELIA SOBBING)
Bonsoir, madame. I come here in Sharpe's confidence.
Only it's Shadrach Bickerstaff's.
(LAUGHING)
(SOBBING)
(BICKERSTAFF SINGING IN FRENCH)
Oh, Colonel.
The fortunes of war, madame.
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(MEN SHOUTING)
(MEN SCREAMING)
Cease fire! Cease fire!
Let them come on.
-Sir, they're falling back, sir. -Come on!
Is that it?
Don't think so.
Wait for it.
Oh, shite.
-Christ, God. -It was too soon.
They blew it too soon.
Who gave the order to blow the mine?
Who?
On your feet, troops. Forward!
Now's the time, lads!
Forward!
We must go. We must go now!
(MEN SHOUTING)
Forward!
(COUGHING)
Harper? Oh, no.
No, no, Pat!
Pat?
Pat!
Is it done?
It's done.
God.
I'm gonna get you out of here.
Jesus, it won't budge.
You're gonna be all right. It's our lads now.
Where are you going?
I've got an account that wants settling.
(MEN SHOUTING)
Well, I'm the Rajah of Ferraghur.
Why do you not strike?
Do you not hear me?
I am the Rajah of Ferraghur.
You are a child.
And I am not a murderer.
Get the boy out of here, sir.
(GUN FIRING)
(SCREAMING)
Well then, paddy?
Where was we?
(GUN COCKING)
Say hello to Mr Mack.
Quickly! Pick it up!
-You must take me with you. -Why? You mean nothing to me.
And love, William?
(SCOFFING)
Love? For a whore?
(GRUNTING)
Come back! Come back, damn it!
Lieutenant Dodd.
So it's come down to this.
For all your dreams of kingship,
you're naught but a common thief.
You were the same at Chasalgaon,
only there it were peer chests.
Now it's the royal treasury.
What the hell do you know of Chasalgaon?
Oh, I know all about Chasalgaon, Lieutenant Dodd.
By God, I should do.
-For I were there. -I left not a man alive.
You left one.
A red-coat sergeant.
I shan't make the same mistake again.
Well, you've got your throne.
How does it feel, Your Majesty?
(GRUNTING)
Pat!
-Mohan Singh. -General Burroughs' daughter?
She's safe.
Good.
Good. That is well.
I'm sorry to take my leave of you so soon, Colonel.
I should have liked to know you better.
So you shall. You just rest easy.
It's perfectly all right, Colonel.
I am unafraid.
This is not my first death, and nor will it be my last.
We keep coming back, you know.
Aye, I know.
Before I go though, Colonel,
I should like to beg your forgiveness
for my earlier discourtesy.
I remember nothing.
When we met, I called you my enemy's enemy.
A necessary evil.
-It's just words. -Words,
poorly chosen.
It was wrong on my part.
And I hope...
I hope that we might part now in friendship.
We do, and to my mind,
we've never been anything else.
Papa!
Richard.
You are leaving us, Colonel Sharpe?
Aye, ma'am.
Princess Lalima tells me she hoped you might be persuaded to stay on
to oversee the retraining of her father's soldiers.
Had you not heard?
Khande Rao is to be awarded a Company pension.
And a jagir of Pindari lands in perpetuity.
And what does the Company get by way of a return for its investment?
The Rajah's signature on a new peace treaty
and some 5000 of his troops requisitioned to the 3rd Army.
There's me thinking
for once all that blood were about something more than making rich men richer.
How might General Sharpe sound?
No disrespect to your father, ma'am,
but I think this place has seen enough generals for a while.
Is there nothing one might say that could induce you to remain?
I came to India to find a friend.
That's all my mission ever was.
-Now I've done that so... -BURROUGHS: Celia.
Let's not keep the General waiting, ma'am.
They don't care much for it.
Goodbye, Richard, and Godspeed.
Well, are we out of here or what?
Yeah, we're away.
-Let's go. -Let's go.