“There are near five hundred French soldiers stationed in the town, with another two hundred positioned along the estuary. Your biggest problem will be the cannon the French have positioned at the mouth of the bay. I do not know if they can reach the ships, but the captains seem to think they can, and they will not draw near.”
Beast glances to the charbonnerie, who smile and nod. He turns back to the abbess. “Their cannon will not be a problem. We will take them out easily enough so the ships can get through. My bigger concern is disabling as many French in the town as possible so the British will not be massacred as they attempt to disembark.”
The abbess moves to a table set up near one of the high windows. “Here is a map of the town,” she says, and we join her.
“Here,” the abbess says, pointing at the map. “This is where I am told the soldiers are being garrisoned.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon plotting and planning, trying to come up with a strategy that has some hope of succeeding. All the while, I can feel time eating away at our chance of success, just as the waves eat away at the shore. D’Albret has likely reached Rennes by now. Hopefully, with no saboteurs to grant d’Albret access, the city will hold.
Chapter Forty
IT IS LATE AFTERNOON WHEN we rejoin the rest of our party. They have been busy during our absence and have the camp set up. It is abustle with activity: the rubbing down of saddles and tack, the sharpening of blades, and the checking of weapons. The air fair hums with the anticipation everyone is feeling, but there is none of the old acrimony that had been haunting us since we first left Rennes. Whether they have called a temporary truce or merely needed some common enemy to focus on, I do not know.
It is not until I dismount and hand my reins to Yannic that I see the marques. There, on that man-at-arm’s brow—a man whose name I do not even know. Winnog too is marqued, I see, as he walks by and gives me a jaunty wave. Alarm clangs through me like a bell.
My gaze searches among the camp for the greenlings. I find them just beyond the clearing, practicing their skills. Henri and Claude also bear marques. As does Jacques. More than a dozen men bear the marque, and cold understanding creeps along my skin.
Ismae was right. These men cannot all be traitors to our country. Nor does it make sense for Mortain to have marqued them all at once if I am to be the one to kill them. It can only mean they are to die. Tonight, or more likely on the morrow, during our assault on Morlaix.
Even though I have eaten nothing all day, I fear I will be sick.
Beast.
Dreading what I will find, but desperate to know, I go in search of Beast. He has already called the captains to him and begun telling them what we have learned. I ignore the others, my eyes devouring the ugly face that has grown so dear to me. While it is not one whit prettier and is covered in dark stubble, it bears no marque.
It is all I can do not to whoop with joy, but the marques I see on de Brosse and Lorril sober me. While I knew that men would die in this battle, it is hard—so very hard—to know who will not be returning.
I join Beast and the others at the small map table that Yannic has set up. I glance once at d’Albret’s former jailor and am relieved when I see that he too is unmarqued.
“There are three points of attack,” Beast is saying. “We will send two parties north, to take out the cannon on either side of the bay. Erwan, I will want at least half the party to be your charbonnerie.
“The second defense we will hit is the massive chain they have strung across the narrow mouth of the bay. If we can cut that down, some of the smaller British ships will be able to sail directly into the town quay and disembark there.
“Last, the majority of our forces will strike here. Lazare and Graelon have developed a plan to immobilize most of the French troops.”
Lazare’s thin serious face breaks into a rare smile. “We will smoke them out,” he says.
It is a bold and desperate plan, and because of that it just might work. Under the cover of night, the charbonnerie will bolt the sleeping garrison in, then set fires at two of the windows and direct the smoke to fill the room. That will leave one window—the one with a twenty-foot drop outside the city walls—through which they can escape. Many broken bones will ensue, and not nearly enough deaths to make the men happy, but it is the fastest way to free the town of the troops’ presence so the British can land.
“Have your men catch some sleep,” Beast tells them. “We will move at midnight so we are in place well before dawn and can strike while the French are still unsuspecting.”
As the captains leave to give their men their orders, I move to stand beside Beast. “How do you do it?” I ask, my gaze on the departing men. “Send men to their deaths?”
Beast looks at me, surprised. “You know they will die?”
I nod without looking at him. “De Brosse and Lorril are marqued. As are a dozen other men, including Winnog and Jacques.”
“They are not all traitors.”