PROLOGUE

Horatio could hear the shouts of his crewman as they fought for the freedom of the Indefatigable and each other. He could hear the sound of gunfire from both sides, the cannons erupting all around him and was suddenly startled to realise that he couldn't see a thing… this instinct turned into blind panic when he realised that he also could not move.

He realised where he must be… and unconscious on deck with battle being carried out all around him was not an ideal position to be in. With a sudden rush of strength and renewed energy at the knowledge that the lives of himself and his men were at risk if he stayed here much longer he heaved himself into a sitting position.

Suddenly a searing pain struck his abdomen and chest, seeming to draw all the breath from within him. His eyes sprung open, wide with shock, each new breath he took now bringing on more pain. But as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings he realised that the shouting, the sounds of gunfire and cannon explosion had gone, to be replaced by the not so familiar sound of seagulls outside his bedroom window that always signified their return to land. He was sitting up in bed… not a flimsy hammock like they had to put up with at sea but a proper warm and sturdy bed. Then as he looked down he noticed it… the thick bandage wrapped tightly around his waist, slightly bloodied, and he remembered…

A noise beside him made him start and he turned to see Archie sitting in a chair only inches away from his bed, a blanket pulled up just over his knees. His friend was fast asleep. Horatio smiled, how long had he been keeping a vigil over his bedside he wondered?

"Archie," he spoke, his voice coming out in a horse whisper, "Archie wake up."

He reached out to touch his friend's hand, to try and let him know that he was awake, that he thought he was going to be all right, but suddenly a wave of dizziness overtook him. He felt wet on his side and looked down to see that the patch of blood where his wound had been was now steadily growing larger. His chest began to feel tight, his forehead damp with sweat and a mysterious haze clouded his vision. He tried to compose himself, it wasn't a terrible amount of blood after all, but this was not a dizziness born of panic. Suddenly his head began to spin, and then everything went black.

Archie started awake upon hearing his friend's head hit the pillow as he fell backwards. He was out of the chair and at his side in an instant.

"Horatio" he whispered. "Horatio it's me. I was sure I heard you calling my name in my sleep." Then he said almost to himself, "Oh God if only I hadn't fallen asleep… I'm sorry Horatio."

Archie had not left his friend's side since they had brought him off the ship in a collapsed and severely weakened state. Captain Pellew had been good enough to give him and a couple of the other men shore leave, at least until Hornblower regained consciousness. He himself had never failed to pay his Lefttennant a visit each day since they had docked at Portsmouth, and always seemed disappointed at the news that the young man had as yet failed to regain consciousness.

Horatio had always been good to his men and during the ensuing week since his injury the news that he may never again regain consciousness had proved devastating news to some of his closest friends. Styles and Mathews had taken to sitting outside his door at every free moment they could spare to ensure that he was not disturbed, and it had to be said that Styles in particular had not been afraid to use force if anyone had so much as dared to even sneeze outside his room. The doctor had been called for a couple of times throughout the first few days, but Pellew had not considered it necessary to put Hornblower through the continuing pain of repeated physical examinations and drugging's after he had seen that it was doing the young officer no good at all. He had however done something that none of his crew had ever seen him do before, and doubted they would witness him do again.

He had spent many hours with Horatio throughout the first few critical days, talking to him, and sometimes just sitting in quiet contemplation. In the evenings he would return to his cabin and Archie would take over, sleeping close to his best friend and waking up frequently in the night to check on his condition. He himself had been close to exhaustion by the time the ship's lookout had spotted land on the seventh day, and still he would not abandon his duty to his captain, nor to one of his closest friends.

Now though he smiled briefly as he suddenly came to realise that Horatio was a man with many loyal friends.

Suddenly his attention was drawn to the growing patch of blood that had now begun to soak the blanket on the other side of the bed however.

"Damn your stitches," Archie cursed as he sprang to his feet, convinced that this new bleed was in some way his fault for falling asleep, and desperate to do all that he could for his friend. "I won't be long," he called back to an unconscious Horatio as he ran from the room.