Free Firebird by Iris Gower

of greenish liquid and Binnie, coughing, drank it.
    Maura moved impatiently towards the bed. ‘Oh, my Lord, what’s happened to you?’ She sank onto the floor beside the bed and held Binnie’s hand. Llinos hung back, not wishing to intrude.
    â€˜It’s all right,’ Celia said, ‘the boy is not going to die, he’ll live to fight another day.’
    When she had finished dressing Binnie’s wounds, Celia moved to the door, jerking her head for Llinos to follow. The door closed, shutting Maura in with Binnie, and Llinos moved slowly towards the stairs.
    Celia put her hand on her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, lovie, you’ll have a little fellow-me-lad of your own one of these fine days.’
    Llinos shook back her hair. ‘After seeing my mother’s miserable married life, I don’t think I want a husband,’ she said bitterly.
    â€˜Ah, all that will change when you meet the right man. I’ve seen it all before, you can’t tell old Celia nothing.’
    Llinos was silent. She thought of the man in her dreams; he was beautiful and kind. He towered over her, the wisdom of the ages in his blue eyes. He gave her the most wonderful sensation of happiness. But then, he was only a dream, that was all he would ever be and suddenly, she felt like weeping.
    Joe was breathless when he returned to the high point of the hill where the captain was waiting for him.
    â€˜Part of the French army are camped astride the main Brussels highway.’ He sank down onto the ground, resting his back against the warmth of a rock. ‘Infantry men, a light cavalry corps and the Guard, in all about sixty-nine thousand men and above two hundred guns.’
    â€˜Well done, Joe.’ Savage winced, he had twisted his ankle in a rabbit hole and his foot, inside his boot, was swollen to twice its normal size.
    â€˜It looks as if the big battle will take place soon. So far, the three days of hostilities have not achieved much for either side.’
    â€˜We must get back to camp.’ Savage attempted to rise and stood for a moment on one foot. His courage was not in question but it was clear that his injury would impede him.
    â€˜You can’t walk in that state, Captain.’
    â€˜You’re right.’ Savage sank onto the ground, his face white. Joe looked around for a tree in full leaf with stout branches and sliced through them with his knife. He placed the branches around the captain, effectively camouflaging him from any but the sharpest eyes.
    â€˜Tell Wellington that Mont-St-Jean is the place to be, that’s where he should deploy his men.’
    Joe nodded; he had come to the same conclusion himself. ‘I will not be long.’
    He moved silently away without a backward glance. He could have told the captain that the battle would be won within days, that Wellington would prove his mettle and that the Prussians would change sides at the last moment. But he had held back, knowing that Savage could not quite come to terms with what he saw as Joe’s ‘prophesies’. But they were more than that, Joe had the certain knowledge of the events that would shortly occur at the place they called Waterloo.
    He felt the breeze in his face, smelled the hot smells of a French summer and knew it was good to be alive. He smiled to himself; soon he would leave the soil of France behind him for good, for a new life was about to begin.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Llinos knocked on the bedroom door and pushed it open to find Binnie already dressed in his freshly laundered shirt and breeches. Binnie’s condition had improved rapidly. He was young and healthy and his injuries were quick to heal, though Llinos could still see some slight bruising around one of his eyes.
    Since the night of the beating, Bert Cimla had not returned to the pottery but Llinos kept the musket handy just in case.
    â€˜How are you feeling now?’ Llinos pushed back the hair from Binnie’s face and