The Long March - Hinge Point

(Source)

"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

The Prince's manservant was standing next to the Prince's cot, trying to awaken his master. His voice was getting louder, but he was still, essentially, whispering. He didn't touch the Prince because he knew that to do so was to invite certain death, depending on the Prince's mood when he awoke.

"Sir! Your Highness, there's ..."

The Prince awoke with a start, sitting up abruptly, "Damn it man, what is this sniveling?"

"Highness, your bodyguard is leaving, they ..."

"WHAT?!"

Throwing off the bedclothes, the Prince stood up, shoving the manservant to the floor of the tent. "My boots, you idiot, my boots!"

The Prince was snapping his fingers angrily as the manservant scuttled across the floor to get the Prince's boots. Once he had them he went back to the Prince, kneeling, waiting for the Prince to sit back down on the cot.

"FOOL!" the Prince once again shoved the man to the floor, "I'll do it myself."

As he hurriedly pulled his boots on, he could hear the snorting of horses and the muffled imprecations of men as they hurriedly saddled their mounts.

Tugging his left boot on, then nearly stumbling as he started to walk, the Prince kicked his manservant who was trying to scurry out from underfoot. The man grunted as the Prince's boot slammed into his midsection.

"F**king oaf, move!" the Prince barked at the man as he strode from his tent, drawing his pistol as he did so.

"What is the meaning of this!" he bellowed at the nearest trooper who was trying to mount his horse. The animal was shying away from her rider, made nervous by the tumult around her.

"Damn it man! ANSWER ME!"

The rider successfully gained his seat, then turned his mount towards the road. The Prince, leveling his pistol, stepped in front of the horse. The rider buried his spurs in the animal's flank which caused her to jump forward, knocking the Prince to the ground.

The Major was awake and moving before his brain had really registered the reasons why. Close by was Joshua following on his officer's heels, ready to support him regardless of what they required.

"Joshua, what the ..."

"The mounted bodyguards, they're abandoning the camp."

Rushing towards the commotion, he could see the last of the mounted men heading down the road, back the way they had come. The Prince was standing in the road, without his tunic, firing his pistol at the receding figures.

"Sir, this doesn't look good."

The Major looked towards the bivouac of the Imperials as shots rang out from that direction. A number of men were firing in the direction of the road. No targets were in evidence but the Imperials were blazing away like the poorly trained troops they were. As more men joined in, the firing became heavier.

Stopping in his tracks, the Major turned to Joshua, "Come on, I've got to muster the battalion. You head over to the column commander's bivouac and let him know what's going on. My recommendation is that we stand to before the Imperials get completely out of control."

As the two men separated, the Major ran into the Sergeant, "Top, stand to. The Imperials are apparently mutinying. The mounted bodyguard has fled and the foot soldiers are firing at shadows."

"On it, I'll go to 1st and 2nd Companies ..."

"I'll get to 3rd and 4th. This is not good!"

Asher watched the chaos playing out below him. He didn't awaken Daniel or the others, the quickly mounting rifle fire would soon do that. As far as he could tell, their was something that looked remarkably like a mutiny going on in the regular's camp.

He felt a presence behind him, knew that it had to be Daniel, "Things have taken an interesting turn, Commander."

Daniel grunted as he pulled out his glass and trained on the proceedings below. "Mutiny?"

"Could be, all I can definitely say is that the mounted contingent took to horse and headed back towards the capital. Then the Imperials started firing into the gloom. There was one fellow on the road firing what sounded like a pistol. The muzzle flashes seem to indicate that he was shooting at the fleeing horsemen."

"Damn! I recognize the Prince, even from here. He's out of uniform and it looks like he just got out of bed. I'll bet that was his bodyguard fleeing. I wonder why? What could have spooked those bastards?"

Daniel turned, expecting to see Mary and Benjamin waiting behind him. They were.

"Benjamin, follow Rachel, let Abel know what's going on here. We might be facing fewer enemies than we anticipated in the next few days. Mary, go with him, Asher and I will follow once we've seen the outcome of all this. Tell Abel that we'll meet him at the old grist mill on the lower swamp road."

The two headed off into the darkness while Daniel and Asher settled in to watch the show.

"Too bad we don't have a force here to attack those rascals." Asher commented.

"Heh, why interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake?"

"The battalion is formed Major."

"Thanks, Top." Turning to face his assembled force, the Major bellowed out, "Battalion will fix bayonets!"

"FIX!"

The clatter of hands reaching for scabbards followed that command.

"BAYONETS!"

Even in the dim light from the nearby campfires, the flash of cold steel being affixed to rifle muzzles was unmistakable. The Sergeant felt a chill rush up her spine as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, "Battalion stands ready, Sir!"

"Very well."

The Major turned once more towards the Imperial camp. The firing had subsided, now the men seemed to be arguing, fights were breaking out in the Imperial's camp. The Major realized that he was going to have to take action now. As he turned back to his battalion, the column commander rode up.

"Major!"

"Sir?"

"Your battalion will advance and quell the disturbance over there." The column commander was missing his kepi but his sword was drawn and he was using it to point at the Imperial's camp. "The rest of the column will support your movements. Deadly force is authorized."

"Sir?"

"If the bastards won't fall in and cease this idiocy, kill them. Kill them all!"

The column commander then abruptly rode off to where the Major could see the other elements of the column forming up.

"Battalion will advance!"

The company commanders all commanded at the same time, "CHARGE BAYONETS!"

"HURRAH!" The battalion bellowed as one.

"BY THE RIGHT INTO LINE, QUICK... MARCH!"

The companies executed the movements required to put the battalion into three deep line, moving forward as they did so. Some of the troopers had grim looks of anticipation on their faces, very few of them had any love for the Imperials.

"Damn it, man! Get your people under control!" The Prince was screaming at one of the Fourth Cohort's centurions. He had no idea where his First Spear was.

The centurion looked at the Prince, not recognizing him at first, "Who the f ..."

Before he said another word, it dawned on him who he was speaking to. "Sir!" Then he dashed into the darkness, hoping to get away with his own bodyguard.

The lone rider who had returned to camp had been in a panic. He had reported that hundreds of rebels had attacked and overwhelmed the baggage train. He claimed that he and his companions had ridden into an ambush and that only he had narrowly escaped. Which was true, to a certain point.

But the centurion had no idea of the truth, all he could think of was to make his own escape and get back to the capital. If he could take his entire Century, then he would, but that was looking less and less likely as the chaos in the Imperial camp grew into a riot.

"BATTALION!"

The command, "COMPANY!" repeated down the line ...

"HALT!"

The Major was looking down a slight embankment at the Imperial camp, men were rummaging through the belongings of others, fighting each other, there were already bodies on the ground, dead bodies.

Some of the men in the camp looked up to see the battalion arrayed in line, bayonets fixed. They began shouting insults, one man raised a rifle and fired at the regulars. At that point, the Major made his decision.

"PRESENT!"

Again the command rippled down the line ...

"FIRE!"

The companies were well-drilled and did not fire all at once. Rather, it was a rolling volley, each platoon firing together, one after the other, until the 4th Company had fired. Firing recommenced with the 1st Platoon of the 1st Company, this would continue until the battalion was out of ammunition or the officers called a halt.

The Major let the volleys go down the line twice, as the Fourth Comapnay completed its fire, he bellowed out, "CEASE FIRE!"

The Imperial's camp looked like an abattoir, blood, body parts, and ruined equipment everywhere. Amidst the bodies and the debris of the camp, wounded men could be seen, struggling as they tried to extricate themselves from the mess.

"1st Company Captain!"

"Sir?"

"Take a platoon in and finish this."

"SIR!"

The Prince was beside himself with anger, "What the Hell have you done, Colonel?"

"The Imperials were out of control, in the field, in the midst of an enemy country, we can't spare the time to treat these types of men with anything approaching civility. They were ordered to cease, they did not. Now, they have ceased." The Colonel answered quite calmly, knowing that his career and probably his life, were now over.

"You will answer for this! With your head!"

The Prince reached for his holstered weapon, drawing it. The Colonel made no move to stop him, he understood that the Prince was well within his rights, as the government had decided, to kill anyone who opposed him.

"Any last words, Colonel?" the Prince said, with a smirk.

A shot rang out, the Colonel started, then realized that he was untouched. He looked and saw that the Prince, his arm extended, his finger on the trigger of his pistol, had a puzzled look on his face. Then the Prince coughed and bright red blood gushed from his mouth, spilling down over the front of his white shirt.

Behind the Prince, who collapsed to the ground making odd, gurgling noises, a struggle was taking place as two men were attempting to restrain the Prince's manservant. The man had let himself be disarmed as he stared at the body of the dead Prince, oddly enough, tears were streaming down the man's face.

The Colonel took a deep breath, now none of them could ever go home.