Brian Oberlies’s Reviews > Ninety-Three > Status Update

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

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