Brothers in Arms by Iain Gale

Author:Iain Gale [Gale, Iain]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Fiction, War & Military
ISBN: 9780007322671
Google: DsP8xoGUdIUC
Amazon: B008CBDJGQ
Barnesnoble: B008CBDJGQ
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

NINE

It was a rare thing for Steel to awake in the morning without a sense of foreboding. When with his regiment, it might come in the form of anything from the mundanities of company administration to the impending action and danger of a battle. Most recently he had woken steeped in anxiety. The very fact that he was behind enemy lines was worry enough. But he could not get the face of Major Malbec from his mind.

This morning though, he had found his thoughts unclouded by any such spectres. Certainly the fight in the street with the Irishmen had brought cause for alarm. They had seen through his cover. But he hoped that he had despatched them before they had been able to communicate their knowledge. Malbec too was still a worry, but he was not a pressing matter, merely a cause for irritation.

Perhaps it had been his encounter with Alexander, the assurance that brotherly love was yet stronger than any political differences, and not least the fact that his brother had saved his life. Perhaps it was the fact that he had delivered the letter from Marlborough to Major Charpentier and had to all intents accomplished his mission. What Louis would make of the proposal remained to be seen, of course, but, as intriguing and as full of possibilities as it was, Steel knew that it was not his concern. Such things were the business of commanders. He was a soldier, not a politician. Perhaps, he thought, his mood was occasioned by the fact that he was due this day to leave Paris. For as much as the city had intrigued and delighted him, he felt a deep longing to be back with his men and a yearning too to see his wife as soon as that might be possible. He wondered how the men were surviving the siege of Lille. Any siege was a bloody affair, as he knew from experience, perhaps the bloodiest type of warfare known to man. But Lille was Vauban’s showpiece, and he hoped to God they had not taken too many casualties.

He was not sure, either, how well he was suited to this deep subterfuge. Prevous missions for the Duke had been dangerous, certainly, both in Bavaria and at Ostend. But, save briefly in the latter case, he had not been compelled to adopt an alias. Certainly, his position had never seemed as perilous as it had recently been, so deep in the Sun King’s capital, surrounded and quizzed by his courtiers and even a would-be monarch. No, thought Steel, he would not be sorry to leave all that behind. Men like Simpson were better suited to be spies – men who had nothing to lose, men whose everyday lives and characters were essentially duplicitous, men who revelled in an ever-present danger and for whom the knock at the door brought not apprehension but the thrill of yet another potential trial of their wits.

Deprived of his customary soldier-servant, Steel had dressed himself and

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