General Wellesley's Command V

The soldier inspected me with more interest as I approached. I had tried to find a uniform with as few blood stains as possible on it but I was sure they could still be seen if someone looked closely. By now I was counting on there being as little light as possible, I was sure my life was hanging on the fact that it was night. Not once did I stop to consider that a lot of regular soldiers in the enemy army probably had bloodstains on their uniforms as well. I was sure that the bloodstains stood out in a horrible way and marked me for what I was. Fear and stress had reached a climax when the soldier finally shouted a challenge and I stopped. I didn’t have to have however, the moment the challenge had been issued Alice had made her move. She stepped over the soldier’s body, his throat having been cleanly cut, and motioned me to join her inside the tent.

To our surprise the sergeant came with us into the tent. We both had expected him to remain outside while we worked. This was no time to be asking questions though, the only reaction Alice gave was a raised eyebrow and I just shrugged. The sergeant, with the general’s permission, had procured a large helping of mercury from the army’s medical supplies. Usually it was used to treat certain embarrassing diseases but now we were going to use it on the enemy. Anyone who had ever seen one of the soldiers who had gone through the treatment knew that it weakened them horribly. With the amount we mixed into the food we had in front of us I doubted that any man who got his food from the tent would still be standing. It wasn’t enough to kill, which was a shame because it would save us bullets, but it would keep them off the field for a time.

Having finished our work I remembered the body of the soldier and dragged it into a good hiding place, I considered us lucky that no one had seen it while we were inside the tent or it would have alerted the entire camp. My first thought had then been to drag it into the tent but that would have instantly warned anyone who found it that there was something wrong going on and there would be suspicion placed on the food. Instead I hid it in the bushes and hoped that it took them a while to find. There was just so much to think about and we had to hurry about everything.

Once I had come back from disposing the body the sergeant point that I was to go in the direction of the cavalry mounts and he and Alice were to go in the direction of some artillery pieces nearby. I knew what I had to do but horses made noise, he had given me the most dangerous job and I glared at him for a second to let him know that I realized it. Still I turned and headed in the direction that he had pointed, it was better for us to split up and then regroup in the place that we had agreed would be our rendezvous point then to wander around in a suspicious looking group. Also that way one of us got caught the others stood a chance.

The cavalry horses were tied to a long post laid on the ground and hammered in, it was too large to pull out of the ground which had been my first thought so I had to crawl along the ground, untying each individual horse. It didn’t help that here too were guards that had to be dealt with. My sword came into play here though by choice I use a rifle, the gun would have made too much noise. It was a tricky matter to kill the soldiers before they could shout out the alarm but I managed it, mostly through surprise attacks. My uniform was now covered in more blood then it had been at the start of this mission and now I was sure I would look suspicious in broad daylight. The largest comfort was that still none of the blood was mine.

To be continued...