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He paused to gulp from the whiskey and said softly, "We were so hopeful If the war ended soon, we could go hoo home to our families To rest a bit after battle"

Melisande tucked a sheet about the blankets It was a bit musty from the press where it’d been stored, but it would have to do As she worked, she thought of a younger Jasper, h an autumn forest half a world away He would’ve been elated after a battle won Happy at the prospect of going ho down a narrow trail, with rugged hills on one side and a river on the other that ran along a cliff face The men were only two abreast Reynaud had just ridden up toout; the tail of thecolumn was half a mile back We decided to inform Colonel Darby, to request that we slow the head to let the tail catch up, when they struck"

His tone was flat, and Melisande sat back on her heels to watch him as he spoke He still faced ƒHe hethe , his back broad and straight She wished she could go to hiht interrupt the flow of his words And she sensed that, like lancing an infected wound, he needed to let the festering corruption drain away

"You can’t think in battle," he said, his tone al Johnny S and running at youryour e of panic when you know you must jump clear or be trapped underneath the beast, helpless to a war axe"

He sipped at his drink while Melisande tried to understand his words They ent panic he had experienced so long ago

"We fought well, I think," Vale said "At least others have told me so I can’t evaluate the battle There’s only the men around you, the little piece of soil that you defend Lieutenant Cleht, but it wasn’t until I saw Darby, our coed fro That ould all be killed"

He chuckled, but the sound was dry and brittle, not at all like his usual laugh "That hen I should’ve felt fear, but oddly I didn’t I stood in a sea of fallen bodies and swung e warriors; yes, I did, but not enough Not enough"

Melisande felt tears prick her eyes at the sad weariness of his voice

"In the end, my last man fell and they overwhelmed me I went doith a blow to the head Fell on top of Tommy Pace’s body, in fact" He turned from theand crossed to a table where the decanter of whiskey stood He filled his glass and drank "I don’t knohy they didn’t kill me They should’ve; they’d killed nearly everyone else But when my wits returned to me, I was roped by the neck to Matthew Horn and Nate Growe I looked around and saw that Reynaud was part of their booty as well You won’t believe how relieved I was Reynaud at least had lived"

"What happened?" Melisande whispered

He looked at her, and she wondered if he’d forgotten she was in the rooh the woods for days Days and days with little water and no food, and some of us ounded Matthew Horn had taken a ball to the fleshy part of his upper arer walk because of his wounds, they led him into the woods and killed him After that, whenever Matthew stu him on I couldn’t afford to lose another soldier Couldn’t afford to lose another asped at the horror "Were you wounded?"

"No" He wore a horrible half-smile on his face "Save for that bump on the head, I was perfectly fine We e in French-held territory"

He drank lass, and closed his eyes

Melisande knew, though, that this wasn’t the end of the tale So had caused the horrific scars on Sir Alistair’s face She took a deep breath, bracing herself, and said, "What happened at the ca called a gauntlet, a pretty way to welcome captives of war to the ca lines They run the prisoners, one by one, between the lines As the prisoners run, the Indians hit them with heavy sticks and kick them too If the man falls, he is sometimes beaten to death But none of us fell"

"Thank God," she breathed

"We did at the tied and dranka bit now

"Jasper?" Perhaps it would be best to go no further Melisande was afraid of ould come next He’d already endured so much, and it was late and he was tired "Jasper?"

But he didn’t seelass, as if bemused "And then came their real fun They took away Reynaud, and they tied Munroe and Horn to stakes They took burning sticks and theythey"

He was breathing hard He closed his eyes and sed, and still he couldn’t seeet the words out

"Don’t, oh, don’t," Melisande whispered "You don’t have to tell me, you don’t"

He looked at her, puzzled and sad and tragic "They tortured them Burned them The sticks were red-hot, and the women wielded them--the women! And then Munroe’s eye God! That was the worst I screamed at theers I knew then to be silent, noany emotion, only made it worse And I tried, Melisande, I tried, but the screams and the blood"

"Oh, my dear, oh, my dear" Melisande had ainst her breast And she couldn’t hold back her tears now She sobbed for hiht us to the other side of the ca Reynaud there He was crucified and on fire I think he was dead already, because he didn’t ain I thanked God that er feel the pain"

"Shh," Melisande whispered "Shh"

But he didn’t stop "And when the fire had died out, they took us back to the other side of camp and went on with it Munroe’s face and Horn’s chest On and on and on"

"But you were saved in the end, weren’t you?" she asked desperately He had to leave these dreadful io on to the hopeful part He’d survived He had lived

"After teeks I’m told Corporal Hartley led back a rescue party and ransomed us, but I don’t really remember I was in a daze"