Page 1 of The Ones Left Behind
PROLOGUE
Vitoria, Spain, June 1813
The Allied Encampment
The grief was so thick in their throats none could speak. They had been together for only two years, yet the bonds of the battle were forged stronger than any created by blood. It was not something that could be explained, only experienced.
When they had set sail from England for the Peninsula, each had felt invincible, ready to conquer evil and save England. Now, it was hard to remember why they needed to be brave anymore.
James shivered. There was a chill in the air as they all sat huddled around the fire. The silence the night before a battle was eerie, but after, it was deafening. Watching the flames perform their blue, gold and orange dance, it did not seem real that one of them was gone. They had survived Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and Salamanca, yet Peter had fallen before their eyes today. His sabre had been raised and his eyes fierce, ready to charge when a shot had seared through him. He was on his horse one moment and gone the next. The scene replayed over and over in their minds in slow-motion. Memory was a cruel, cruel master. The same battle had left Luke wounded when a shell exploded near him. He insisted on joining them, eschewing the orders of the sawbones and hobbling out of the medic tent on the arm of his batman, Tobin.
Now, there were six of them left, if Peter’s widow was included, and all wonderedwas this to be their fate?
Someone had to speak and break the chain of their morbid, damning thoughts.
“Peter would not want this.” Five pairs of morose eyes looked up at Matthias. “We all knew this was likely when we signed up to fight Napoleon.”
“How would you want us to feel if it were you?” James asked.
“I would want you to keep going forward and give my life meaning.”
“Precisely. We mourn this night and move forward tomorrow. His death shall not be in vain.” James said with quiet conviction.
“What about Kitty?” Peter’s wife that followed the drum and felt like one of them.
“We see what she wishes to do. I expect she will wish to return home,” Matthias answered. He had known her and Peter from the cradle, and was most devastated by the loss.
“The French are worn down, this cannot go on much longer,” Luke said, though he would be sent home. No one else dared voice such hope.
“We are worn down,” James muttered.
Philip, the quiet, thoughtful one, spoke. “If anything happens to me, will someone see to my sister? She has no one else.”
“I swear it,” Colin said, leading the others to do the same.
“Pietas et honos.”
Philip nodded, too choked up to speak.
“Loyalty and honour,” another swore the oath in English.
They returned to silence, each brooding over what had happened and what was yet to come.
CHAPTER1
England
Summer 1815
Perhaps pride had died after all.
It was time to beg for mercy.
Pride had been a vicious master, but something more primitive had killed it at last. Survival. Kitty stood before the gates of the grand estate on the Sussex coast she had once called home, unable to open them. Not much had changed. The manse of golden stone still sat atop the hill overlooking its purview. Perhaps she would think it beautiful if it had not left such a bitter taste in her mouth. But now it seemed like her last chance. No, that wasn’t fair; doubtless she could ask one of the other brethren for charity, but if she had to do that it might as well be from here. At least this was familiar.Better the devil you know.
Her hands shook as she pushed open the gate and picked up her portmanteau, which held the last of her meagre possessions.One foot in front of the other, she ordered herself. It was easy to convince herself she was on any other path as she trudged along that heavily wooded drive up to the house. It was a good two miles from the gate. Memories assailed her of two young boys and a little girl hiding and playing amongst these trees. They had seemed so large to her then. How often had she played fair Guinevere while Peter and Matthias had traded between Sir Lancelot and King Arthur? A slight sigh escaped her lips.
How she had idolized them both! But Peter had been the one to save her. It was that fact that had kept her from crawling back here during the past two years.
