Chapter 5 : The Frenchmen

as I and the captain enter the camp we are greeted by men in blue uniforms, as one of them speaks up

"hello there gentlemen, how have you been, I am the french ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland. I have come to this place to request the attention of Sgt. Harry Smith of the 66th Berkshire Foot Infantry, and Cpt. Thomas O'Spangerson, of the Royal Fuserliers, in behalf of the Republic of France, I request both of you gentlemen, to come to France, where we want you to teach your ways of understanding and combat to the french army, with Mr Smith's great science of deduction, like the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes, and the greatest fighting arts of Mr O'Spangerson, like the typhoon in the English Channel, we would like to set up a special battalion in the french army, as we will provide free french citizenship, as well as a payment of 100 francs a day, with a free house. does that sound good to you gentlemen?"

the captain responded with "pardon my rudeness, but ye is already a captain in the British army and my mate beside me is also a sergeant in the British army, are you sure that Parliament wont hunt us down as British fugitives?"

the ambassador responded with "of course we would provide protection for both of you, because if you become with one of ours, you will be regarded as celebrities, who have come to help us. we would give you a personal bodyguard for both of you gentlemen. does that sound fine?"

as I hear them continue talking, I start to notice something... why are there many soldiers outside hiding in the hills when all they want to do is strike a negotiation, well maybe the ambassador is a key figure to the french republic, but he is just a ambassador, not the bloody prime minister... ah! i get it... they are here to strike negotiations with us, but if we don't accept, we would be ambushed... bloody hell, the french wearing blue and red, it's easy to spot them... well then Ive made a plan...

"that is all the terms that we will want you to accept, please sign here to complete the negotiations" said the ambassador

"well then, before that may I talk to my superior officer?"

"sure, take as long as you want, we are friendly, no rush"

"oi, Thomas, bloody hell, theres like an entire battalion outside hiding in the bushes, if we don't take the negotiation, we would be taken by force!"I whispered to the captain's ear

"ye bloody right, no wonder why the red and blue cloth outside on the hills were" the captain whispers back

"I got a plan!" I whispered back

as we head back to the ambassador we say we declined his offer, and we prefer to stay here for a while until the Zulu war has ended

as the ambassador laughs, he shouts

"Marchons! Marchons! Fuer!"

as a swarm of french troops proceed to come through the direction, the captain proceeds to knock the ambassador out with his butt stock, and killed, his 2 bodyguards, as the french troops come forward, we set up positions to take care the incoming troops, as I flick a secret lever in the camp, all the traps get activated, as the horde of troops come running, the captain shouts

"Storm Style, Riffle Arts, High Level, Fully concentrated Rapid Fire!"

the captain picks up a martini henry and puts his hands into the pouch, as he picks up 5 rounds at once, firing, and reloading his martini henry with a speed of a thousand gazelles, as he repeats the cycle, I jump down with a revolver in one hand and a saber in the other hand, as the captain sees me jump down, he smirks as he says

"Ye take care of the front lad!"

Well then Harry, since you see that there is 5 active traps, right here, well then lets calculate, I have a medium amount of stamina, and my pistol has 5 rounds but before that I took one of the captain's pistol as well, so I should be fine for a while... lets see, you will run out of stamina in 5 minutes, so you just have to fend them off, it's a matter of how longer I am going to be able to fight until reinforcements come...

as I slash and shoot through the horde of the french army. a false move can lead to my early doom, as I keep slashing and shooting my way around the french army, I have one more minute until I run out of stamina, as I slash my way back to the captain, my foot gets stuck in the sand. the french soldiers come running towards me I think to myself... ah... it's time to go eh? well I had a good one, at least the captain would be safe for a while, as I lie, on the floor a french soldier prepares impale me with his bayonet, I headed a sound from the distance...

Clack Ching! BANG!

as the french soldier's head gets blasted, I look to the direction of the sound, as I see someone I didn't expect to see for a long time... Mr Gary Brunen! as the entire British battalion engages combat with the french, as Gary Brunen came to me and I shouted

"Bloody hell, it took a long time for you to come here mate!"

"because you used a bloody messenger pigeon, what did you expect!"

"well I didn't expect it to work!"

"It didn't, some bloke was pigeon hunting down at the the Zulus, and he shot down your bird!"

"but you came just in time mate!"

"bloody hell! it was a coincidence, I came here to find you guys since I was ordered by the bloody General Secretary of War do come here and find you! I had to pretend I didn't know you!"

"Fair enough brother in law, how is grace doing?"

"bloody hell, don't call me that, I'll tell you about your younger sister later, let's get you to a medic first!"

as Gary dragged my body and another officer dragged another body, Gary sent a flare to retreat, as hundreds of soldiers retreated, and the french coming after us, there was still a army to fight, as we kept riding, Gary made a bloody genius Idea.

"Oi, Harry, we will take a detour, into a military camp of a scouting battalion! it's going to be a fight but the men here should take care of the french army, enough to get back and call in reinforcements."

"alright! what ever you do! just don't make us die!"

We arrived at the scouting battalion, and explained the situation, they agreed to let 1/3 of their forces protect us while 2/3 of their forces retreated. as men line up to engage in battle, we kept riding for a solid 5 hours until we reached Cape colony, where we were hospitalised, as my bruises and wounds were patched up. as we were sleeping, the sound of a door swinged in.

clack... WHACK!

"Harry, what the deuce happened to you?!?!"

"nothing much Grace... just a few wounds and bruises. anyways how is your marriage with Gary doing?"

"Harry, for the hundredth time, our marriage is fine, now you should rest, tomorrow, you are being sent back to Englan-"

"NO!" I shouted

"I am not being sent back to England until I get my revenge!"

"Harry? what revenge?"

"Grace, the main reason I am surviving right now is because of a lad in my scouting squad, that lad pushed my down the hill into a hole before the Boers can get me. he got shot in the head as I was rolling down by a bloke named Claudios Mens-""Harry, you are not going after Claudios Mens! he is the bloody leader of a local Boer militia! you can't even take care of an entire battalion, how could you take on an entire army! Have your senses gone dull brother in law?" Gary Interrupted

"Brother in law, indeed my senses have gone dull, but can you bloody imagine, if a bloke killed Grace, and you cant do shit about it? how would you feel?"

"intrigued, and angry of course, but there is nothing I can do about it in that-"

"FINE! I wont return to England, Ill return myself to the Frenc-"

"Fine... you can go have your vengeance, just don't die... me, Grace, Skylor, and our entire family would be devastated..."

"Gary, thats not a dare, thats just a normal weekday mate, don't worry. I wont die"

"Harry, you got to understand something, if you leave, there will be British troops on your tail and you will be hunted down as a fugitive, are you sure that you dont want to return to England as a normal citizen?"

"Gary... just dont worry about me, I'm more worried about your position of the Govonor of Cape Colony, so I am going to ask you a favour."

"bloody hell Harry, you've used up to many of them, you dont have much favors lef-"

"then I'll use all my favors for this one. Gary, I want you to send a telegram back to Parliament, saying that you have granted me the permission to stay here for a while to gain vengence, for exchange to create an entire military academy when I come back to England"

"fair enough Harry, fair enough..."

as I exit Cape Colony, I see a sunrise going up as I head to a local Boer militia to kill, Claudios Mens. as of now, I don't know if i'll make it back, because Ill make it back since I promised Gary, I right now have my service riffle, 2 revolvers including my brother's service revolver, with more than 100 rounds. enough thinking Harry! time to move on!