General Wellesley's Command VI

Now came the risky part, even though the horses were untied they had been trained well enough that they still didn’t run. I was going to have to make some noise to get them moving and that was a risky business. I could only hope I could get away in time, I decided, as I primed my rifle. The horses scattered as my gun went off but I had the sense to grab onto the reigns of one of them. It had no saddle but it didn’t matter, I could ride bareback if I had to, though it meant that I would be sore in the morning. I swung onto its back, low to its back to make myself less of a target. Digging my heels into its side I galloped forward, already hearing the enemy guns discharging behind me.

“I thought they were going to destroy the entire camp looking for you,” complained Alice as she came up to the rendezvous spot, throwing down a pack next to me. “You made the whole camp on alert, trying to get us all caught?”

“I made a small fortune of horses escape and you are complaining?” I asked defensively. “How was I supposed to make the horses run away? Where is the Sergeant?”

“Coming,” said Alice. “We grabbed a couple of horses on our way out and he’s staking them up in some bushes.”

“Thanks to you we only managed to spike half of the guns,” the sergeant complained as he came into the camp. “With the whole camp on alert there was no way for us to continue work without getting caught. Couldn’t you have found a way to free the horses that didn’t involve telling the whole world that we were there?”

“We did our job, I doubt anyone will complain that we didn’t do enough,” I pointed out. I was right, when we rejoined the general, though he wasn’t smiling, he seemed pleased enough with what we had done.

“A very nice piece of work,” he praised, “and not one of you lost. I think I can find more work for you three. Four of you now,” he added and out of the shadows slunk Jon. I was extremely happy to see him, another member of our regiment; he was the best at stealth. If we were going to have any more jobs that involved things like what we had done last night I wanted someone who could travel through an entire enemy camp, while still in our uniform, without anyone seeing him. I wished that I could learn how he did it but it was never a talent I could master. I was more of a straightforward person when it came to fighting.

“Hello,” even Jon’s voice was quiet and unassuming. It was his lack of presence that was his greatest weapon; he made the best assassin out of any of us. Some people got nervous when talking to assassins but I found them a wonderful thing, so long I knew for sure they were on my side. My regiment had never once had a traitor, I felt confident that it never would, I had no problem with our assassin.

“Is the whole regiment gathering?” asked Alice, voicing what I had been wondering myself.

“I have no idea,” said Jon. All eyes in the room, even those of the sergeant, turned to look at Wellesley but he shrugged.

“I have no idea what your regiment’s orders are, I am not the one giving them. All that I know is that anyone from your regiment that does come in I am to put to work until your captain arrives at which time he will take charge. I am sure you won’t mind that, seeing as he probably understands your abilities more then I do, but I will try my best until he can take over.”

To be continued...