Raven's Fire by Louise Franklin

Author:Louise Franklin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, female lead, romance drama, historical fic, romance action, feminist novel, romance 1800s, female soldier, strong heorine, regencyromance
Publisher: Katharina Franck

18

She pulled up sharply and turned to watch in horror as Nicholas’s horse screamed in pain and tripped, somersaulting. Nicholas was thrown hard to the ground and lay still.

She galloped back towards him and dismounted, her eyes on the artillery line as they reloaded.

“Nicholas,” she screamed.

He remained still. As she approached him, her horse pulled suddenly back in fear, rearing up, his hooves inches from her face. She let go of the reins, and he galloped off back toward the woods and safety. The French Cuirassiers lay mutilated on the field, their horses screaming in pain. Nicholas’s own horse tried to stand, thrashing dangerously close to where he lay. Its hind leg was broken, and its side was torn open, entrails spilling out. She took Nicholas’s pistol from the saddlebag and shot the animal. It fell heavily to the ground.

“Nicholas,” she said and turned him over carefully.

“Go,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

Fear flooded through her as she examined him. His arm was broken and a musket ball had torn into his side turning his shirt red. His leg was also bleeding heavily.

She could hear the artillery preparing to fire again and glanced up as more French cavalry swarmed over the rise towards them.

“Come on,” she said pulling him.

“Too late,” he said. “Leave me.”

“No.”

She pulled him toward his dead horse as she heard the order given for the British artillery to fire.

They lay down together, using the horse’s body as a shield. The second volley sounded louder to her, and she cringed as shells exploded over her. Cavalry horses screamed and fell, their riders limping away only to be shot down by infantry. It was the turn of the French to be slaughtered.

When she was sure the artillery were reloading, she rose and helped Nicholas to stand. He groaned in pain, as she dragged him to the woods. Reaching the trees, they crashed through the wooded undergrowth and into the shaded darkness of the forest.

British light infantry and skirmishers held the dark woods. With help from a private, they made their way deeper into the trees to an old farmhouse. The wounded were being treated in a barn. The screams and moans of men in pain filled the air. They placed Nicholas carefully on the ground.

“Don’t go,” he said as she straightened, his hand in hers shaking, his face filled with pain.

“I need to find you a surgeon,” she said, trying to pull her hand from his.

He was losing a lot of blood, and she turned desperately to find help. She glanced at the soldier next to Nicholas and recognized him from her regiment. His hand was sliced off, the stump wrapped but bleeding terribly. Unattended, the man would die, as would Nicholas.

“I will return,” she promised and pulled free of his grip.

She recognized more faces, as she walked down the long line of wounded men, most missing limbs and bleeding out into the dirt. Others were wounded on the face, sliced by sabers, as they ran. Her sergeant nodded at her, as she passed him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.