‘You’re coming wi’ me, boy,’ he whispered through his tears. ‘We’re getting out ay this place. We’re leaving all ay this behind. Come on then, come wi’ me.’
He took River King’s bridle and gently led him out of the paddock. At the gate the groom looked up and smiled.
‘I see you found your mount, soldier! And a fine one ‘e is, too, ‘e is! ‘E ‘ad a wound from a musket ball in his rump, but it went straight into the meat and didn’t ‘it anything vital. Wasn’t too deep, and I managed to dig it out, coz he was so bleedin’ exhausted ‘e didn’t even ‘ave the energy to fight me. ‘E’s right as rain now, ‘e is.’
William wiped the tears from his face with shaking hands and tried to regain at least a semblance of composure.
‘Saddle him up for me,’ he said to the groom.
‘Er, I’m not supposed to do that without an officer present,’ the boy replied, looking suddenly uneasy.
William’s heart began to race as he pulled the doctor’s paper out of his coat pocket. He was taking a huge gamble here, but desperate situations called for desperate measures. Trying to maintain the sternness of his expression, he handed the paper to the boy.
‘I may not be an officer, lad, but I’ve go’ an order from one. Straight from Lord Cardigan himself. I’m tae courier a message tae British command at Sevastopol.’
The boy stared uneasily at the paper, chewing on his lower lip.
‘Well, er, the thing is, soldier, um, the orders isn’t usually given to me as such, but rather to my superior.’
Tension and apprehension knotted themselves in William’s belly in a burning churn of discomfort. This was taking far too long.
‘And where is your superior?’
The boy shrugged.
‘I’m not sure, like. ‘E was supposed to be back ‘ere ‘alf an hour ago. If you’d just wait a few moments, like, I’m sure you could give it to ‘im, see.’
‘I dunnae have a few moments!’ William snapped, putting on a charade of impatient wrath, which, given his mounting anxiety, was not too hard to fake. ‘This is an extremely urgent order! Now are you going tae read it an’ help me, or am I going tae have tae report you fir obstructing a direct order from Lord Cardigan himself?!’
Panic flashed across the lad’s face and he began to stutter.
‘I er, look soldier, can’t you just ‘old on a few minutes, like, I’m sure—’
‘No I cannae! Dae you or dae you no’ understand the meaning ay the word “urgent”?’
‘I er, yeah I do—’
‘Then bleedin’ look at the order, sign whatever you need tae sign, an’ saddle up this damned horse fir me! Now!’
The boy sheepishly took the doctor’s paper and perused it awkwardly before handing it back to William. He did not seem to be able to meet William’s eyes.
‘I, er, yes soldier, that seems to be fine, it does. I’ll saddle this big bruiser up for you right now.’
William breathed out a subtle sigh of relief, for his bluff had worked: the boy was illiterate.
‘Come on then, get on with it!’ he snapped, maintaining the illusion of impatient anger.
The boy nodded and retrieved a saddle, which he put on River King with as much haste as he could manage. While he was doing this, an icy sweat had started to soak William’s back, and his hands had begun to tremble badly. He kept on looking around as the boy worked, his gaze darting back and forth, terrified that the groom’s superior would show up and thwart his plans. The man did not, however, and within a few minutes River King was ready to go.
‘Thank you, boyo,’ William said, the cold hardness on his face giving way to a kinder expression. ‘Enjoy the rest ay your day.’
‘Good luck with your mission, soldier,’ the groom said as he went back to polishing saddles. ‘Looks like a right ‘eavy snowfall is coming. Don’t get too cold on the road to Sevastopol, like.’
‘I won’t.’
William mounted River King and trotted off toward the road that led out of the camp, breathing out a sigh of relief as he did. There was still one final obstacle to overcome, though: a number of guards were posted at the entrance to the camp, and they were all huddled around a fire in an attempt to stave off the approaching cold, cupping their hands around mugs of freshly brewed coffee as they stoked the flames.
‘Hail, Private!’ one of them yelled as William approached. ‘What are you up to then?’
‘Urgent errand fir Lord Cardigan!’ William shouted in response. His heart was thumping in great, sonorous beats, and cold sweat slicked the skin of his lower back beneath his coat.
‘I’ll need to sign you out and see your orders.’
‘Very well,’ William said, trying to appear calm and confident.
‘Right-oh, let me just get the book,’ the trooper said wearily, groaning and cursing as he heaved himself up from the fire.
‘You can read and write, can you not?’ he asked somewhat sourly as he handed William a ledger, a quill and an inkpot.
‘That I can,’ William replied as he took the items.
‘Good, just fill all of that out then.’
William filled in the required details with shaky hands, feeling flushes of alternating heat and cold pumping through his veins and washing over his skin as he did. Eventually, he completed everything and handed the book back.
‘Right, that all seems in order,’ the soldier said as he looked over the information that William had just filled in. ‘Now, if you’ll just let me have a look at your order, I’ll sign you out and you can be on your way.’
William’s mouth was utterly dry at this point, and the back of his coat was heavy and completely sodden with sweat; he could not use the doctor’s note to fool this soldier. He avoided making eye contact with the man as he began to dig in his pockets, pretending to search for the non-existent order. Eventually, after digging in every
