General Wellesley's Command VIII

I regretted when the week was up, the sergeant insisted on returning to camp to make sure that our captain or any other members of our regiment had arrived. All of us tried to tell him that if anyone connected to our regiment they would be able to find us no matter where we were hiding but he didn’t give us any say. No matter how friendly we had grown it wouldn’t change the fact that he was a superior officer given charge over us. We had to listen to it whether we liked it or not.

We had been right about no one else from our regiment being in camp when we got but Wellesley was happy to see us just the same. We had hardly been in the camp for more then half an hour when a soldier came and found us to tell us that we were wanted in the general’s tent.

“I was just wondering if I should send out scouts to find you but knowing the stories I doubted I would be able to find you. I would appreciate it if in the future you would let me know where you were going to be hiding before going on prolonged missions.” We all nodded sheepishly, I think that the sergeant took the small rebuke stronger then the rest of us did. The rest of were all loner sorts, unused to reporting anything to anyone outside of what we absolutely had to. The sergeant on the other hand was expect to remember who and what he was, he had become to much like the rest of us while he had been with us. He obviously was realizing that he had neglected his duties and I felt a little sorry for him. Wellesley was not known for being the most forgiving man ever to command an army. The rebuke had been gentle however, just a slight warning, and easily passed over.

“I have a job for you and any men that you can teach some of your ways,” Wellesley was talking to me, much to my shock. It wasn’t as if any of my regiment had any title or rank other then our captain. Unlike the other regiments we didn’t have corporals and sergeants, so Wellesley could have just as well been talking to Alice or Jon, but instead he was talking to me. “Can you and the other people in your regiment teach some of my handpicked solders how to survive behind enemy lines like you do?” Wellesley asked. It wasn’t an order to my surprise, but a genuine question. He was obviously not sure about whether or not it could be done but I didn’t share his doubts.

“We could do it,” I said with certainty in my voice which brought a slight smile to his usually grim face. “We have already almost taught the Sergeant everything that he would need to know sir,” I said, and then blushed slightly. It wasn’t right that I should talk about teaching an officer anything here in the proper army but Wellesley again passed it by. He seemed to understand that my regiment fell under different rules then he usually worked with and accept it.

“I will send you men in the morning, I understand that you are not an officer but I will need someone with your group who will be in charge so I am going to name you as an advisor and a temporary sergeant,” Wellesley ordered. The tone of his voice made it sound as if he had ended the conversation but there was something that I wanted to know before I left.

“Will the sergeant be leaving us then?” I asked, “Because we could still use his knowledge of the area for our training. It would be bad if one of our training groups wandered into enemy territory because they didn’t know any better.”

“You can keep him, though it might undermine your authority,” Wellesley warned and we all filed out of his tent.

“Congratulations on your temporary command,” the sergeant said, turning to me and grinning. I was relieved, I had worried that he would be jealous of me for having been almost been declared his officer. Wellesley hadn’t said as much but it had been clear that I was now in charge. With that off of my chest I just had to worry about the people from my own regiment, all of whom were bad at recognizing authority and even less likely to like it if I was raised out of the ranks to take charge of them.

To be continued...