FicWad

The four men dress in green battle uniforms, Doctor Sparrow borrowing one of Captain Fitzmaurice’s spare uniforms with no medals or insignia, and go into the woods, the Doctor and Captains following Colonel Callahan deep into the forest. Eventually he stops and points at a band of enemy scouts headed toward the camps of the Southern Army’s Bridgeton units, indicating them as the target, much to Doctor Sparrow’s protests. Captain Fitzmaurice takes Colonel Callahan’s new revolver and inspects it carefully, slowly looking at it from every angle and testing the balance very carefully by tilting it first to one side then to the other in his hands. He looks closely at the manufacturer’s markings, trigger, hammer, grip, and barrel, paying particular attention to the quality of the craftsmanship. When he is satisfied, he loads six bullets into the revolver, carefully aims, adjusts for the movement of his target and the wind speed and direction, and fires a single, extremely precise shot through the eye of the only captain in the group of enemies.

“Nice shot, Fitzmaurice,” whispers Colonel Callahan.

“Nice gun, Colonel, a little top heavy for me own likin’ an’ a bit o’ kickback, but that’s to be expected. Where’d ye get it? I’m not familiar wi’ the manufacturer’s mark.”

“A very, very illegal card game.”

“Ye cheated?”

“’Course I did.”

“Whose was it?”

“The man ye jus’ shot.”

“Ara be whist, Colonel. They’ll spot us,” hisses Liam.

“We’re well-hidden,” replies Colonel Callahan.

“By which ye mean we’re in an evergreen bush an’ all wearin’ green. Let me remind ye they’re scouts an’ three out o’ us four’ve got brass on our shoulders.”

“Well, boys, kill ‘em,” orders Colonel Callahan.

Liam, who strongly prefers bladed weapons over firearms and has not fired a gun since long before he went to prison on fighting charges. Liam bought a gun when he lived in the thick forests in the mountains as a miner and logger. There were always rabbits, deer, bear, and birds of all sorts to hunt for meat there, and the animals often encroached upon the camps. Liam has never shot a man before, though he keeps his weapon in good repair. He loads a cartridge into each barrel of his double-barreled shotgun and aims at the only other officer in the band of scouts, a large, almost bear-like lieutenant. Liam has a strong and antiquated sense of honor that prevents him from shooting other men. A pistol duel is different, in his mind, from sniping. He feels that there is no honor in killing a man who does not know that he is in a fight. It may be extremely effective, but it is also very difficult for Liam to accept on a moral level. He believes that if a man is to become a sniper or assassin, he must first become a fighter and learn to taste his own blood. He must spill another’s blood on himself and see the fear of his enemies at a close range. This is why Liam picked the lieutenant from the group of scouts. The man lumbers almost like a bear. He is massive, like a game animal. Liam carefully aims and shoots him twice in his torso, causing massive internal bleeding and destroying most of his internal organs with buckshot, essentially ensuring his death, though it is not as clean as Captain Fitzmaurice’s headshot.

Doctor Sparrow is also reluctant to shoot. He is a doctor, a man of medicine. He believes that he must do no harm. He heals wounds, not causes them. He can justify a fistfight every once in a while. He has a quick temper and honor to defend. He could even excuse a duel, as he would only shoot to wound or disarm, not to kill, and would offer to heal his opponent afterward. He has given the dying some comfort after their last rights were given to them, but giving a dying man a lethal dose of morphine is, in his mind, very different from shooting an otherwise healthy man for no reason. He is an excellent shot on the target range, but he loathes and fears the killing and subsequent injury, infection, trauma, nightmares, death, and heartache caused by war, even though it keeps him employed. Captain Fitzmaurice tells him to think of the enemies as targets. Doctor Sparrow still sees them as patients. He tries to imagine anything but the sum of their internal components. He must kill someone. For all he knows, it could be someone’s father, husband, or brother. He might have a mother, wife, sister, or child to grieve for him and who depends upon his income. He is holding Captain Fitzmaurice’s rifle, steadying the barrel on a branch in front of him. He aims, but he backs away from the sights more than would be necessary to avoid the recoil. Captain Fitzmaurice tells him that these scouts will kill or capture him if he does not shoot them first. He responds by firing quickly and shooting a corporal through the neck, the bullet lodging in the chest of the sergeant behind him, killing both of them.

Colonel Callahan takes his revolver, which still has five bullets in it. Seven men remain, all of them enlisted. Colonel Callahan arbitrarily picks five of them and fires the rest of his ammunition quickly, killing each of his targets. Captain Fitzmaurice draws two single-shot pistols and fires, killing the last two men automatically, without even aiming his guns. As soon as the last man falls, Colonel Callahan is dragged violently backward, a rope around his neck. Liam drops his shotgun and grabs his dagger from his belt. He carries a three-sided dagger with an eighteen-inch-long blade at all times, even though he also carries a Claymore, a broadsword, and a shortsword, a dirk and sgian dubh both in battle and in town. He won three of these weapons in a series of card games against a retired Scottish soldier many years earlier. He forged his shortsword himself when he was apprenticed to a blacksmith, and he bought his broadsword shortly after his arrival in Hell. His three-sided dagger is unique and very special two him since it was a gift from Michael Jameson, the older brother and only living relative of his late fiancée, Mary Jameson. The dagger once belonged to their father, who died a war hero, so giving it to Liam was Michael’s way of welcoming him into the family. When Mary died, Michael insisted upon him keeping it. It has a long blade compared to most of the knives and daggers carried by the soldiers, which have five, eight, or ten inch blades. Most dirks only have twelve or fifteen inch blades. All soldiers are required to carry a small three-inch serrated folding utility knife for cutting clothing, rope, or brambles. Many soldiers have owned theirs since they were children, since most civilians carry one as well. Liam’s dagger is almost long enough to be a sword, by contrast to the smaller knives and daggers carried by most. He has even fought fencing duels against rapiers with it. Liam also owns an engraved sword from his knighting, but it is ceremonial, even though it is sharp, and it is too embellished to be practical for killing. Liam draws his dagger and expertly slices the rope being held tightly around his Colonel’s throat, causing the Colonel to fall forward. Knowing full well that he cannot hold the Colonel’s weight and fight the enemy simultaneously, he sidesteps and lets Colonel Callahan fall to the ground, unconscious from the lack of air. Liam jumps over the Colonel’s body and swiftly runs his dagger through the assassin’s chest, the tip emerging form the man’s back. He pulls it out as fast as he put it in, wiping the blood off of his dagger on the dying assassin’s trousers as a final insult.

“Carry him back to camp!” shouts Captain Fitzmaurice.

Liam hands Captain Fitzmaurice his shotgun and dagger, the only weapons he brought with him, and Colonel Callahan’s revolver and saying, “I got him. Take these, an’ keep an eye out for more scouts. If ye see anyone, shoot ‘em. Ye’re the best shot.”

After what seems like an eternity running at a nearly impossible pace through the forest behind Captain Fitzmaurice and Doctor Sparrow, Liam finally takes Colonel Callahan off of his shoulder and puts him down on the cot in his tent. The Colonel’s tent is dark and much cooler than the warm October day. The leaves are slowly falling off of the trees, and the mornings are frosty. Many of the men muster in their winter coats, though the days are still warm enough for them to wear only their regular uniforms and armor in combat. The Colonel is weak and unable to speak, as he is still struggling to breathe. Doctor Sparrow checks his heart and inspects the bruises on his throat. He gives him a small drink. Despite a small amount of choking and sputtering, Colonel Callahan is past any danger. Doctor Sparrow orders him to rest, and Captain Fitzmaurice brings his guns to him, having already cleaned them for him, an uncommonly kind gesture from Captain Fitzmaurice, who is not known to show much generosity to his superiors.

Liam refuses to admit that he is exhausted from running through the woods carrying Colonel Callahan. He knows that if he does admit it, Captain Fitzmaurice will joke about it for the next month. Liam is disheartened that he shot a man as if he were an animal. Despite Captain Fitzmaurice’s repeated reminders that the men they shot were “jus’ dogs,” Liam cannot justify his actions. Doctor Sparrow is having trouble justifying his own act of violence, but he can take solace in the fact that his actions prevented his own death, whereas Liam would rather be dead than hunt the heads of his fellow warriors. Even though they will tell the families that their loved ones died in combat, he knows that the reality is that they met an undignified end at his hands. They did not have the chance to fight. They were slaughtered.

A few days later, Liam, still barred from combat with two badly cut hands, goes into town. He has been drinking out of the unit’s still since he arrived in Crosspoint. He only drinks in pubs when someone invites him and implies that they are paying. He does not like either arrangement. He joined the army with a great debt that needed to be paid back to his unit. He still has not seen any payment for his service, and he has been in the army nearly a year. His only source of income has been odd jobs. With so little income, he could not afford to drink in the pubs. He does not like to drink alone because he tends to drink more when he is alone, and he always drinks his own brew alone. The brew he makes in the still is strong, with an extremely harsh flavor. Some members of the unit have told him that they would rather drink the water from the River Tyne than drink what Liam makes in the still. The water in the River Tyne is so contaminated that anyone who drinks it will soon suffer from cholera, dysentery, or typhoid. The Tyne is one of the rivers that give Bridgeton its famed bridges. It is also the primary reason that nobody from Bridgeton drinks water. Those who do not heed the locals’ warning do so only once, whether they die from it or survive and learn their lesson. Nobody makes the mistake of trusting the water twice. Liam does not think that his liquor is that bad, but he willingly admits that he drinks far too much of it.

His drinking companion of late, Captain Fitzmaurice, is again allowed to fight with the rest of the unit, his eye having healed completely, while Liam is still forbidden because the wounds on his hands are not yet completely scarred. His finger have healed well, and he can use his hands, but his palms are still held together by stitches, and his movements slow and stiff. It is Captain Fitzmaurice’s first day returning to battle, and Liam is already lonely. He does not want to drink alone from his still. He fears he will fall victim to his vice like his father did, so he goes to town, hoping that the company of others and the gaiety of the citizenry of Crosspoint will prevent him from indulging in the excess that has gotten him into trouble so many times in the past.

Captain Fitzmaurice is forced to return to camp early with both of his Lieutenants. Rank disappears as soon as a soldier is wounded. A private is seen before a general if his injuries are more severe. Lieutenant Morrison dislocates his shoulder on the battlefield and falls next to Captain Fitzmaurice in agony, his face turning as white as a sheet. Captain Fitzmaurice and Lieutenant Coffey carry him back toward camp in a state of shock, Lieutenant Coffey cutting his arm on a thorn bush halfway back to camp. His injury is deep, but the cut is fairly neat, lacking jagged edges. He needs a bandage and a few stitches, but he will likely be able to return to battle within a few days, at most, as long as it is properly cleaned and infection does not cause any complications. Lieutenant Coffey is able to walk back by himself. His jacket having been off when he was injured, he is holding his left hand over his right forearm where the laceration occurred. With no help to carry Lieutenant Morrison, Captain Fitzmaurice must use what tools he has to help him. He cannot carry the Lieutenant over his shoulder and risk injuring him further. He pulls each of their linen handkerchiefs out of their kits and ties the three of them together. He roughly binds them around Lieutenant Coffey’s forearm in order to staunch the bleeding. He then leaves the Lieutenants together and walks to the nearby stream. He dips his canteen in the icy water and returns with it, splashing it on Lieutenant Morrison’s face. The shock of the icy water makes him more alert. They are not far from camp, so Captain Fitzmaurice bears as much of Lieutenant Morrison’s weight as he can by draping the Lieutenant’s left arm, which is uninjured, over his right shoulder and walking back with him.

When they return to camp, Doctor Sparrow is removing an arrow from the chest of another lieutenant. They can hear the screaming before they can see the camp. The best drugs Doctor Sparrow has are opium and ether, and even opium is not enough to dull the pain of removing an arrow, especially one that shattered two ribs, which stopped its progress. After nearly an hour, Lieutenant Ailin Killane, who serves under Liam, is brought back to his tent to rest, his chest covered in bandages. His fate will soon be decided, as he may be required to return to Bridgeton to recover. Also among those waiting to be seen by Doctor Sparrow is Lieutenant Thomas Gaffney, Liam’s other lieutenant, who has a severely swollen ankle. With no way to tell if it is broken or not, Doctor Sparrow gives Lieutenant Gaffney priority over Lieutenant Coffey, who still needs stitches badly. Luckily, Lieutenant Gaffney’s ankle is merely sprained, and he is bandaged quickly, though he will be out of combat for a few weeks until it heals. Lieutenant Coffey is next, and Doctor Sparrow quickly and expertly cleans and stitches his wound. The cut was not severe, though it bled significantly. It is also did not significantly damage the muscle, so Doctor Sparrow tells him to stop in his tent before muster to determine if he can return to battle immediately or must wait a couple of days, depending on how quickly it heals itself now that it has been stitched. Lieutenant Morrison, who is unconscious from his pain, is next to see Doctor Sparrow, the nature of his injury being obvious not bleeding, which leaves it at a fairly low priority, despite the pain. Doctor Sparrow calls for Captain Fitzmaurice to help perform the reduction of Lieutenant Morrison’s dislocated shoulder. Doctor Sparrow wakes Lieutenant Morrison, since he would rather not wake him by startling him with more pain and risk having the procedure do further damage. He has Captain Fitzmaurice pull Lieutenant Morrison’s arm with a considerable amount of force while he holds him down and watches it pop back into place. It is swollen and painful, so he bandages it in a sling, orders a few days of rest for it to heal, and gives him a few slivers of ice from the unit’s ice shed to reduce the swelling and opium to alleviate the pain.

After a long day in battle, Captain Fitzmaurice feels like himself again. After putting Lieutenant Morrison to bed, he returns to his own tent and realizes that Sergeant Barrett is not there waiting for him. He vaguely remembers her leaving, but he cannot truly remember what happened. All he knows is that she has not been in his tent for the past few days and that Colonel Callahan told him that Doctor Sparrow said that they were fighting. Doctor Sparrow would not lie about that, not even to keep Captain Fitzmaurice out of trouble. Doctor Sparrow is a loyal friend, but he is honest, almost to a fault. They can both lie, but there are some things about which they cannot lie. There are also some people two whom they cannot lie, primarily each other but also Doctor Sparrow’s parents. Doctor Sparrow cannot lie to his wife, and Captain Fitzmaurice cannot lie to Sergeant Barrett. They are not men without guilt, unlike some. Captain Fitzmaurice waits for Doctor Sparrow in his tent, away from the other men. He needs to know what actually happened in order to apologize to Sergeant Barrett and to know whether there is any hope of saving their relationship. When Doctor Sparrow tells him, he hangs his head and sighs. He swears that he will never drink like that again and vows to attempt to make peace with Sergeant Barrett immediately. Doctor Sparrow cautions him but also wishes him luck. He must not be a man without shame.

Captain Fitzmaurice ventures to Sergeant Barrett’s unit. The men there don’t even notice him. He stops outside her tent and asks if he may enter. Another Sergeant emerges and tells him that he is not welcome and that she does not wish to see him at this time or ever again. He asks to hear it from her and promptly receives a blow to the jaw that knocks him to the ground. The Sergeant spits at him and retreats back into her tent. Sergeant Barrett, having heard his voice, peers out of the tent, despite protests from the other Sergeant that Captain Fitzmaurice is not an honorable man and that she should not forgive him for what he has done. Upon seeing Captain Fitzmaurice on the ground covered in dust and spitting blood into the grass, she runs to him and helps him to his feet, brushing the dust off of him and asking if he is alright, to which he replies that he merely bit his cheek and that no lasting harm was done. Sergeant Barrett throws her arms around him and begins to sob. He runs his fingers through her long, brown hair and moves to offer her his handkerchief, realizing that it has been lost to provide a bandage for Lieutenant Coffey earlier in the day and explaining this to Sergeant Barrett who smiles and hugs him tighter than before. He reminds her that he must breathe, and she releases her grip slightly. Captain Fitzmaurice asks to walk with her so that they may discuss private matters between themselves without her unit watching, and she agrees to go with him, despite more protests from the women with whom she shares a tent.

After exchanging pleasantries and discussing mundane things, such as the weather and what has happened in their units since they last visited with each other, Sergeant Barrett asks, “Was there anythin’ ye wanted to say to me?”

“Aye, there was,” replies Captain Fitzmaurice somberly. “I’m sorry I broke me promise to ye. Doctor Sparrow had to tell me what happened. I don’t even remember doin’ it. All I remember is drinkin’ wi’ Liam in town an’ wakin’ up in me Colonel’s tent at noon the next day.”

“Ye need to stop drinkin’ like that.”

“I know I do. Ye’re right. Ye’re always right ‘bout things like that.”

“I’m sorry I lost patience wi’ ye. I’ve a quick temper, same as yourself. I left ye when ye needed me most. That’s disloyal. I can’t forgive meself for that.”

“I can.”

“If ye can forgive me that, then I can forgive your broken promise. I love ye, Billy.”

“I love ye too, Emmy. Let’s ne’er fight again.”

“’Twon’t happen. We’re each too stubborn. We’ve got to disagree on somethin’ else, an’ I’m sure we’ll find what it is at some point.”

“’Twas a nice thought ‘til ye ruined it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Ye’re forgiven.”

Liam sits in town alone. Everyone around him is so full of life that he cannot bring himself to look. Every woman he sees reminds him of Mary. She was taken to prison for aiding him, and he found out that she died while he was trying to arrange her escape. He sees a woman with her dainty feet and light gait. He sees another with her hair and another with her smile. Every young man he sees brings to mind the Private who killed himself. He sees them hanging by their necks, their uniforms defiled and their honor and memory forever stained. In every grown man he sees the opponent he killed as if he were an animal. He can see himself pulling the trigger and them falling mere seconds later, their bodies full of lead shot. In order to drown his memories of the dead, he drinks cheap whiskey. He can have all the whiskey he wants for two gold coins, and he certainly has more than that, since he was paid handsomely for his services to Kerrigan. It is not good whiskey. It actually tastes awful, but it is still less harsh than the liquid that pours from the still after he has distilled whatever grain he can find several times, and so he drinks it in quantities most men do not associate with the consumption of hard liquor. He drinks more whiskey in a matter of minutes than many of the patrons do beer in an hour, as they drink slowly and sociably. Liam sits at a small table in a dark corner, glaring out from under his tricorn, daring anyone to come close to him or make a remark about the feather in his hat, it being a piece of his uniform, just as much as his belt or the hat itself.

Late in the evening, Captain Fitzmaurice stops in the pub, having missed dinner with the unit while he was returning from speaking with Sergeant Barrett. He is alone, and he sees Liam in the corner, a familiar face amongst the crowd. He walks over to Liam to offer him dinner and a drink, and Liam says nothing, standing up slowly and punching Captain Fitzmaurice in the side of the head, knocking him unconscious. While Captain Fitzmaurice is on the ground, a patron hurries over to Liam and threatens to have him arrested, to which Liam replies with a swift and brutal beating with a heavy metal beer stein, using the mug like brass knuckles. Other men attack Liam, who draws his dagger, and a brawl ensues. In the mêlée, all of the tables are upturned, many bottles broken, and five men are seriously injured. The publican hides behind the bar. Liam fights his way out of the corner and into the street, being thrown out of a window and stealthily sneaking away before the constables arrive. Those who are not injured are arrested. In Crosspoint, brawling in such a manner is not an offense punishable with significant time spent in prison, unlike in Bridgeton. Men must remain in prison until they are sober and are ordered by the courts to pay a fine calculated by the amount of damage done across the amount of people arrested. Injuries requiring the attention of a doctor are considered to be punishment enough, so only those capable of normal activity after the fight are brought to court and fined. In Bridgeton, which is a much larger city, such actions would result in the instigator spending years in prison, as Liam has done before.

Captain Fitzmaurice wakes under a pile of injured and unconscious civilians, his head throbbing, his hat missing, and his uniform covered in blood. He crawls out slowly and stands, straightening his jacket and belt and looking around him for his hat, which he finds halfway across the floor of the pub under a fallen barstool, miraculously not crushed. He fetches his tricorn, dons it, and leaves. He returns to camp, still not having eaten dinner, in order to tell Colonel Callahan about Liam’s actions. Colonel Callahan is displeased and tells him to see Doctor Sparrow to ensure that his head is alright and wash his uniform quickly before the blood settles in. When Captain Fitzmaurice returns to camp from the stream, where he was washing his uniform, Colonel Callahan, who has already advised Doctor Sparrow to be prepared for injured men returning from town, asks him if he would have any qualms about shooting a man he knows personally, to which he replies that he would not, provided that it there were no other option capable of minimizing casualties and that it was an order. Colonel Callahan instructs him to take a pair of pistols with him and fetch his horse.

Colonel Callahan gathers a group of men whom he trusts to go to town to find Liam. He selects his brothers, Major Brendan Callahan, Lieutenant Kian Callahan, and Private Conan Callahan, as well as Major Moynihan, Captain Fitzmaurice, and Captain Boland. Colonel Callahan promises Conan that he will be promoted to corporal at the first opportunity for his assistance in capturing Liam. The Colonel, two Majors, two Captains, Lieutenant and Private take horses to town, Conan riding Doctor Sparrow’s mount because enlisted men in infantry units cannot ride horses into battle, meaning that his horse is in Bridgeton. Their first stop in town the hotel room of Colonel’s father, General Keegan Callahan, who has far more experience dealing with such matters than his son does, accumulated during his own time as the Colonel of the Thirteenth Bridgeton Light Infantry, which was long ago, during the days when the majority of the unit ran amok, causing trouble on the scale that Liam has and far greater. They find Jack in a nearby pub with General Malone. Jack is surprised to hear what Liam did, and he regrets that he must hunt his own son. He voices his worry that Kerrigan is alone in the cabin, since she is the only other person in town that Liam knows. He mounts Spectre and races ahead of the others to see if she is alright. A fog sets over the streets of Crosspoint as the sun sets, followed by a light rain. Spectre charges ahead without even noticing the weather or darkness, into the murky light spilling into the streets from the fireplaces inside homes and taverns.

Spectre stops sharply before the cabin, backing away and stamping his feet. The door is open, which is something Kerrigan would never allow on a rainy night. Jack dismounts and ventures carefully inside. The winds of the approaching storm having blown out the candles, the rain having doused the fire. His bed is soaked from the rain pouring in, it being next to the door. He pulls a match out of his pocket and strikes it against the doorframe, the small pool of light being barely enough to show him the frightening scene inside the cabin. The table and chairs are overturned, and there is a dark liquid on the floor, which he correctly assumes to be blood. Kerrigan’s coat and cloak are on their pegs still, and the wooden cups and plates are strewn about the room. The match burns down to Jack’s fingers, and he drops it in pain, pulling him out of the shock of seeing such carnage and extinguishing his view with the light. The others arrive behind him, and General Callahan holds Conan back when he sees Jack’s shock. Jack turns to them and stares ahead with wide eyes, saying nothing, his hands shaking. Jack, Colonel Callahan, and Generals Callahan and Malone walk inside, trailing their feet through Kerrigan’s blood, calling out in the darkness but receiving no reply. They feel around as well, searching in the small pools of light afforded by matches, hoping that she is there but unconscious. They then realize that the blood leads out of the cabin, which means that she has been taken elsewhere. The rain has washed away the trail of blood that would otherwise lead them to her. Liam is not familiar with Crosspoint, so Jack guesses that he has merely brought her down the alley and into the stable.

His guess proves correct. He finds Kerrigan alive, her arms badly cut but having sustained no other injuries, nestled amongst the straw, unconscious from blood loss, her nightshirt and corset slashed and bloody. Jack wakes her gently. She describes what happened to him, and he calls for the two Majors. He instructs Major Moynihan to ride ahead to camp and order the men to their tents so that Kerrigan will not be seen in such a state, and he instructs Major Callahan to bundle her in an old blanket and carry her on his horse, lest she faint and fall off of her own horse, which would greatly increase her injuries. Jack knows that Liam has not wandered far. He can sense his son’s presence, and he orders the majors to make haste, since he wants Kerrigan to be gone before the fight begins. He orders Lieutenant Callahan, Private Callahan, and Captain Boland to search the neighborhood. He tells Captain Fitzmaurice to find a dry loft and prepare his gun. Captain Fitzmaurice hides in the rafters of the stable, where he can see the street below through a small window placed there for ventilation. The eaves of the roof offer some protection from the rain, so his gunpowder will remain dry. He cannot see the commotion from his perch, but he figures that the search party found Liam’s hiding spot.

Liam sees familiar uniforms walking past. He is hidden in an alley between two houses, and he jumps out, his face, arms, and torso covered in Kerrigan’s blood, his dagger drawn. Captain Boland and Lieutenant Callahan run around the corner, headed toward the cabin. Only Private Callahan stays. He is no match for Liam, being only sixteen years of age and lacking the skill that only comes with practice, but he is bold to the point that his own brothers call him foolish. Upon hearing that Conan is alone, General Callahan lunges into a sprint to go after his son, but General Malone stops him, putting his arm out to hold him back and telling him that there is nothing he can do. Conan has chosen to fight, and must live or die by his own choice. General Callahan, knowing that his wife will certainly blame both him and his eldest son if anything happens to Conan, begins to wring his hands and pace, listening carefully to every sound echoing through the street. Conan rushes to attack Liam. He draws his knife, which is far shorter than Liam’s dagger, and he slices Liam’s face. He then goes to stab Liam and is thrown back by Liam’s block, dropping his knife and hearing it skid across the wet cobblestones. He is left with only his short, serrated utility blade. He knows that it will not do much damage, so he clenches his fists, ducks, and tucks his head into his arms, running forward and punching Liam in the stomach with both fists. With Liam on the ground, they wrestle, fists flinging wildly. At any given moment, the advantage switches from Liam to Conan and back to Liam again. Liam throws Conan off of him, and he reaches for his dagger. He fractures Conan’s skull with the pommel and stabs him in the chest, leaving Conan curled in a ball and sputtering for breath.

He then follows the path taken by Lieutenant Callahan and Captain Boland toward the cabin. Liam catches Lieutenant Callahan, who fell on the wet cobblestones, and kicks him in the face, knocking out three of his teeth and fracturing his cheekbone. He then finds Captain Boland, since Jack, Colonel Callahan, and Generals Callahan and Malone have retreated, Jack and Colonel Callahan into the house and the two Generals into the alley. Captain Boland puts his hands up to show that he does not want to fight, and Liam breaks his nose in return. General Malone rushes into the fray so that Captain Boland can escape. General Callahan is quick to follow, but Liam bests them both, knocking General Malone downward so that he hits his head on the cobblestones and slashing General Callahan’s throat, missing the major arteries but stopping him nonetheless. Jack then walks out slowly, his sword drawn. He does not want to fight his own son, and he shouts for Liam to stop. He is not heard. Colonel Callahan methodically steps ahead of Jack, his own sword at the ready, and marches steadily toward Liam. They exchange blows between Colonel Callahan’s sword and Liam’s dagger until Liam strikes the Colonel’s right arm with the pommel, shattering the bones of his forearm and causing him to drop the sword.

The Colonel gasping for breath from the shock of breaking his arm, shouts, “Fitzmaurice, fire at will!” before losing consciousness.

Jack remains in the shadows, watching in silence as Captain Fitzmaurice’s bullet strikes his son in the thigh, breaking his leg badly. Captain Fitzmaurice could have shot to kill Liam, but he would never do such a thing, as he is a man of honor. Liam is hobbled, but he is not immobilized. He looks directly toward Captain Fitzmaurice’s perch, and raises his dagger as a threat. Jack cannot bear to attack him, but he must. He drops his sword and aims a punch at Liam’s left eye, temporarily blinding him on that side. He then punches him in the stomach and throat, rendering him unable to breathe and knocking him down. Liam slices the back of Jack’s leg, dropping him to the ground, where they scuffle further until Liam grabs Jack’s head and slams it into the ground, knocking him unconscious. Captain Fitzmaurice, the last member of the search party able to fight, jumps out of the barn, barely noticing that he sprained his ankle while landing, and stands still, knowing that Liam will come to attack him, biding his time while Liam limps, a smile on his face, knowing also that Liam will think that he has something hidden. He does not. He does have a couple of advantages, and he knows this. He is sober and relatively uninjured, and he knows that he has already won, since Liam will soon be unconscious from blood loss, bleeding profusely from his face, thigh, and hands, having also ripped the stitches on his still-injured palms. Liam approaches slowly, as he is unsteady on his feet, but he moves to attack Captain Fitzmaurice nonetheless.

Captain Fitzmaurice is accustomed to fighting with guns, not bladed weapons, and he cannot fire again, since it is raining, and his gunpowder will not ignite if it is wet. His priority is to disarm Liam. He knows that he must succeed. Failure is not an option. He looks around and sees an open padlock on the stable door. He grabs the heavy iron lock and throws it at Liam’s hand, shattering it and forcing him to drop his dagger. Liam throws himself forward and moves to punch Captain Fitzmaurice with his left hand. Captain Fitzmaurice catches his punch in his own hand and throws him backward forcefully. Liam trips on the wet cobblestones and falls to the ground. Captain Fitzmaurice knocks him unconscious and binds him with rope from the stable. He then begins to assess the fallen members of the search party. Jack wakes of his own accord and moans, clutching his sliced leg. Spectre walks over to him and nuzzles him gently. He reaches upward and pets the horse’s muzzle. Captain Fitzmaurice walks into the cabin and finds a bottle of whiskey, miraculously intact. He closes the door and leaves the cleaning for morning. A local watchman arrives and sees the carnage. Captain Fitzmaurice explains what happened and that they have a doctor waiting for them, and the watchman offers to transport Liam to camp for them, realizing that his discipline is the army’s jurisdiction, not the city’s. Captain Fitzmaurice wakes Colonel Callahan, whose face is as white as a sheet from the pain and shock of shattering his arm. He then gives him a sip of the whiskey and helps him onto his horse. Conan walks back alone, clutching his chest and holding the sides of houses to bear his weight.

All of them eventually return to camp, and Doctor Sparrow sees them one at a time. Even Jack, a Senatorial General, must wait until after Conan, a Private, has been treated to be seen by Doctor Sparrow, since Conan’s injuries are more severe. Instead of treating them with medicine, Doctor Sparrow decides that they must be given blood so that they will heal more quickly, especially because Jack and Generals Callahan and Malone are among the wounded and because so many of the unit’s officers are already wounded from battle. Within a few hours, everyone from the search party is healed, and General Callahan decides not to tell his wife why Conan is receiving a medal for valor and another for being injured in combat. Liam is kept as the Colonel’s prisoner, and Jack rides to town with Kerrigan, first to pay for the damage that Liam has done and then to find a room for himself and Kerrigan for the night. Generals Callahan and Malone leave camp, and Majors Callahan and Moynihan, Lieutenant Callahan, and Private Callahan saunter to bed.

Captain Fitzmaurice, who has no intention of going to bed until he collects on the promise made to him, turns to Colonel Callahan and says, “’Tis done. Ye still owe me dinner.”