Status Updates From Quatrevingt-treize

The convention continues to be described but this time by the individuals contributing to the bipartisan chaos. Everything feels ephemeral as deaths are forecasted before they’ve happened.

Amidst the chaos, progress is made, but not without drama, violence, anger and animosity among the participants

Both sides of the Convention are described - a chaotic lineup of individuals who play their own part in the revolution and its politics

Thomas Paine, an American, was named?

The inception and meeting place of the Convention is described, from rags down at the Riding School to the riches of the formal palace theatre

A grandiose yet dismal and lugubrious setting

Cimourdain enters the conversation and he is granted commission over managing a younger republican commander Gauvain

Cimourdain is clearly ill at ease with this name but it is not known why

We are introduced to Robespierre, Danton and Marat, three characteristically unique republic as meeting to discuss certain papers…their fate already known

The three are at each others throats, debating the biggest threat to the revolution. Marat has eyes and ears everywhere, and all three have their secrets and skeletons but know each other’s

We are introduced to Cimourdain, presumed leader of the republicans, friend and mentor to all. A former priest with a hatred for the monarchy.

We learn about his past servicing a royal family as a tutor and the bond he developed with the young orphan who grew up to be a captain

Tellmarch sees the distant smoke and follows it, uncovering the gruesome aftermath of the slaughter of Herve-en-Pail. Two peasant survivors emerge, and they find the murdered vivandiere beside the barely-living peasant mother.

The novel shifts toward a stark description of chaotic revolutionary Paris, where law is haphazardly enforced by the populous yet crime and horrors persist

Lantenec and Tellmarch separate, and Lantenec approached the farm when battle breaks out - once it subsides, they begin shouting and hunting after him

The soldiers turned out to be royalist, 7000 in number and relinquish command to Lantenec. They defeated the Battallion of the Bonnet-Rouge within the hamlet, the same one who rescued the woman and her kids. All were sentenced to death except the children

The General is identified as Monsieur or Marquis de Lantenec. He discovers fliers advertising a bounty on his head and meets an old beggar along the road whom knows his identity

The beggar is identified as Tellmarch, the seigneur’s well known beggar who he had gifted coppers on occasion so that he may eat. Tellmarch now considers this repayment of his debt, so long as Lantenec is here to do good and not evil

The General makes his way to a vantage point where he overhears Flecharde and her children walking along a path toward a farm

The general sees every church bell tower ringing across the horizon, its movement wraith-like and soundless due to the sea wind

He contemplates why and for whom they toll

The sailor with the general is named Halmalo, brother of the gunner the general had ordered killed. Halmalo commits to killing the general for this, but the general dissuades him with passionate vigor at the crime he would be committing against the king, God, and himself

The general gives Halmalo many orders on town, forests, and villages to visit - offering the Royalist masses to fight

The captain counts the guns of the French fleet as the rest of the crew prepares for battle

The fleet surrounds the corvette up against the rocks

The captain arranges the general to escape in a small boat and battle ensues. The claymore holds its own, for a time, and the sailor transporting the general reveals himself as the brother of the gunner whom the general had ordered to be shot

The general has the negligent gunner killed for allowing the cannon to run loose

The corvette makes it through the night and fog and finds itself between shipwreck-capable stone structures and a French fleet

A cannon breaks loose on the gun deck of the corvette. The gunner captain goes to battle with it and the mysterious passenger helps conquer it with intelligence and poise

The Royalist corvette is described, a warship in disguise carrying a person of interest with a target on his back - a leader and prince

A general and chevalier discuss the goings on of the war and contemplate the direction of their new leadership

The story starts off with a Paris Battallion of the Republic is scouting the woods when they encounter Michelle Flechard and her three children, escaping the fighting and struggling to survive

She is interrogated but ultimately taken under the battalion’s wing, comforted by both the sergeant and the vivandiere Houzarde