Clearly it wasn’t his idea to leave England in the first place. If he comes home to his influential papa with so much as a sprained ankle, we’ll probably all face charges.”
“Maybe the tentpole was a better idea. How long do we wait on him, Gabe?”
“Not long. Just until he comes back with our men. Look at it this way, boys. Even if it turns out to be one of our own patrols Darby saw, at least we’re rid of Myles for now.”
Cooper grinned. “Always a pony in there somewhere, they say.”
With nothing else to do, and with even Darby beginning to doubt what he’d seen, they hunkered down to watch the line of trees.
Gabe knew his friends had followed him up here because he seemed to always take charge, ever since they were at school. Was that a good thing? They all held the same rank now, had commanded their own men until assigned to be with him in this combination of English and Russian troops. What if he was wrong? What if they’d all land in the briars for striking out on their own...which pretty well implied that their faith in the Russian general’s military genius was limited? They weren’t half-drunk friends out on a spree, using their military capes to dazzle a bull as if they were matadors; they were seasoned soldiers talking about a possible attack by a desperate enemy.
“What if I’m right?” he asked quietly.
“Right about what?” Cooper asked, yawning.
“Right about Bonaparte’s desperate need for a victory. What if he really is out there?”
“Ah, I understand, Coop,” Darby said cheerfully enough. “Our good friend is doubting himself. I suppose there’s a first time for everything in this world. Don’t fret like an old woman, Gabe. We’re all in agreement here. Besides, what else is there to do in this godforsaken place?”
“Thanks, Darby, for that faint praise. But we still wouldn’t have much of a head start if he’s really out there, hiding in the forest.”
Cooper patted Gabe on the back. “Those trees on the other side of the field are a long way away. Remember your Shakespeare. ‘I will not be afraid of death and bane till Birnam Forest comes to Dunsinane.’”
Gabe chuckled softly. “Yes, and look what good that sort of bravado did Macbeth.”
Finally, Rigby lifted his head, probably to help prick up his sadly prominent ears. “Don’t talk Shakespeare, for God’s sake. If Darby hadn’t taken my exam for me, I’d still be buried in plays and sonnets, and missing all the fun. Not that we’re all having a jolly good time at the moment.”
Cooper stretched out his legs on the cold ground, as if settling in for the duration. “And there you have it, Gabe. Let’s just go back to blaming the dastardly Earl of Broxley, who remains, after all, the reason we’re here halfheartedly playing at nursemaids to his heir in the first place.”
Everyone was quiet until Rigby fell to his back, holding up his leg and fiercely rubbing his calf. “Cramp, damn it all. I’m telling you, Gabe, this isn’t exactly the best time you’ve ever shown us.” He pulled himself up and peered toward the tree line once more. “Haven’t seen a thing, not even a rabbit for our pot. What’s the time, Darby old man?”
“Nearly ten. We’ve been cooling our heels for more than twenty minutes.”
Gabriel had been eyeing the sweep of landscape to his left, his right, mentally positioning the soldiers Neville would bring with him. Every hundred yards should do it, and there was ample cover. “He should have been back by now, or at least alerted the general and sent Ames along to relieve us.”
Rigby snorted with laughter. “Probably stopped to change his drawers, the thought of a battle scaring the piss out of him.”
“Listen. Have you noticed—Rigby’s appreciation of his own wit notwithstanding—how quiet it is? No birds, no small animals scuttling through the undergrowth. We’re not the only ones holding our breath, waiting to see what’s going to happen next.”
“That damn eerie quiet before all hell unleashes on us,” Cooper said, raising his head as if to sniff the air. “Time to go?”
“Time to go,” Gabriel agreed.
“Didn’t somebody already suggest that?” Rigby grumbled. “I know I was thinking about—”
Anything Rigby may have added was blotted out by the short blast from a bugle as a double line of battle-seasoned French cavalry burst from the trees in a near-instant gallop, followed hard by a seemingly endless number of infantry marching double time, their bayonets already fixed. Hundreds of birds that had been nesting in the treetops took to the sky, almost as if they were part of the charge.
What commander sends cavalry first? A desperate man? Or an insanely clever tactician, one unafraid to adjust his attack order to the situation. It had to be Bonaparte himself coming at them. Gabriel cursed himself for not considering every last alternative. He’d put his friends in danger well above what they’d have had if they’d stayed with their troops.
“Do you know how much I hate it when you’re right!” Darby yelled at Gabriel. They threw off their cumbersome greatcoats and shouldered their packs as they headed down the hill toward the thin line of trees standing between them and the snakelike line of tents along the river, the camp that now seemed so far away.
There were no English soldiers marching toward them to give them cover until they could reach their own lines. No Sergeant Major Ames, no Russian troops falling into formation in front of their tents, weapons at the ready. And no Myles Neville to be seen anywhere. Only the smoke from thousands of small cooking fires rose up to meet them, that and the smell of borscht.
Behind them and closing rapidly came the sound of thundering hooves and shouting Frenchmen.
* * *
WOULD AN EARLIER warning have altered the outcome that day? Probably not. Napoleon knew he badly needed a victory to rally the French people, and although not all his infantry might be well trained or even well armed, they did outnumber the Allied troops nearly four to one.
In less than an hour, the easy triumph of La Rothière became the embarrassing debacle at Champaubert, with morale swinging back in Napoleon’s favor, giving him the will to fight on. After all, he’d lost only two hundred of his men, while the Allies’ casualties numbered over four thousand, with many more taken prisoner, including Olssufiev.
By some miracle, Gabriel and his friends survived the rout, but not without consequences. Cooper Townsend had taken a ball in his side, and Jeremiah Rigby was occupied guiding Darby Travers along the rough track that ran beside the roadway; the man’s eyes were covered with bandages.
“Move aside! Move aside!”
The command, issued in guttural French, warned the seemingly endless line of prisoners to stumble into the slush and mud at either side of the roadway as yet another equipage rolled by.
Gabriel looked up in time to see the Russian general and several of his senior staff being driven past the long line of marching prisoners in a horse-drawn wagon. Rank had its privileges, even in defeat.
“Where’s Broxley’s brat?” he shouted, knowing the man couldn’t understand a word of English but not really caring at the moment. He chased after the wagon, hauling Cooper along with him.
“I can’t go on, Gabe,” Cooper gasped out as exhaustion stopped their pursuit. “Did you see him? I didn’t see him.”
“I saw him. Perched right up next to Olssufiev. Somebody stuck him in a Russian officer’s uniform.”
“So now he’s under the general’s protection. Politics, that’s all it is, Gabe. Money and politics. Let it go.”
But Gabriel was incensed, nearly out of his mind with rage and with no clear direction to focus it. Coop could be dying. Darby had probably lost vision in at least one of his eyes. Many of their men were still sprawled on the muddy ground, left there