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

Gauvain frees Lantenec and takes his place. When Cimourdain finds out, he is distraught and nonetheless sentences him to death via tribunal. That night he goes to Gauvain’s cell and they discuss the future.

The next day the guillotine finally makes an appearance. The entirety of the force at La Tourge is there, and Gauvain is brought up. They all plead for mercy but he is killed, and Cimourdain shoots himself

Lantenec shoves past the republicans and saves the kids, hoisting the ladder and the children down to the revolutionaries before himself - Cimourdain arrests him and he is thrown in the dungeon awaiting the guillotine

Gauvain processes a long internal monologue about the shift in Lantenec, the redemption and victory of humanity over evil and petty differences - he must make a choice between family and country

The defenders block the 2nd floor entry with a large oak chest and pray for forgiveness before preparing to die

Halmalo all of a sudden appears, opening a secret passage and ushering them all to safety. The hinge to the passage seizes and can’t be closed - L’Imanus stays behind, fighting the besiegers until his gut is torn open by a Sabre

He lights the fuse

Radoub flanks the defenders by scaling the fissure caused by the min up to the first floor - he duels briefly with one of the royalists who had an eye shot out and his jaw mutilated, but not before getting stabbed and his ear shot

He finds the first floor arsenal and fires into the defenders from above, causing their retreat

The fall back to the second floor and the republicans take the first, trapping them

Radoub pleads to Gauvain to let his battalion enter the fight - Gauvain admits it

Cimourdain tries to negotiate his own head for Lantenec, which is denied

The battle starts - gruesome mutilation, chaos, confusion and combat commence

A group of royalists ambush the guillotine in transit but come to find it was the ladder ordered by Gauvain - they kill the guards and burn the ladder

Michell continues on her way until she finds the plateau and shouts for anyone there - a cannon shot responds

The scene shifts to La Tourge where the final moments before siege are described, the royalists are prepared to die

Michelle continues her journey to La Tourge, passing through a village through which a guillotine is being transported by republican soldiers

She comes to a republican village on the edge of the Fougeres and hears the crier announce all 19 royalists trapped at La Tourge denounced as brigands and sentenced to death - Michelle asks for directions without help and sets off again

The children find the book of Saint Bartholomew and make a game out of its destruction, enjoying their captivity by playing horse and carriage, and eating blackberries coming in through a vine

They are at peace, innocent - until the first cannon is fired

The kids get distracted by a wood louse, and Georgette learns to stand all on her own to join her brothers - the first sign that they are self-reliant even from infancy

A bee flies into the room, exploring every corner before departing

Siege preparations are described

Gauvain has decided to attack the breach in the tower made by the mine to preserve the chateau, a remnant of his birthplace and childhood

Lantenec fortifies the fortress, building a retirade I. The circular base room now accessible from the breach - his lieutenant fixes a fuse to the chateau and pads it with tinder, ready to ignite before moving the 3 sleeping children inside