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

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