To say that my neighbors responded badly to the arrival of the enchantress and the threat of soldiers coming up here, even if only a single company, would have been an understatement. It only took about ten seconds before someone screamed and then the entire room started panicking. Some started argueing, others were making for the door, at least one man had dropped to his knees in prayer. This was bad, this was very bad.
Realizing that someone had to nip the panic in the bud before something irreversible happened, I took the initiative and tried to calm the room down by asking they do so in a level but loud voice with little success. Seeing I was having no luck with my first method, I decided to go for a more blunt approach. Taking a deep breath I bellowed "QUUUUUIIIIIIEEEEET!" at the top of my lungs. I happened to glance up after I stopped shouting and I think I might have actually made the chandelier shake, cool.
My booming voice echoing through the large ballroom like a thunderclap. That wrenched everyone out of their panic and they all turned their attention towards me. I had a flash of panic at that moment, shit now I had to follow up and say something to assure them everything would be alright, even though I had my own doubts that it would.
Glancing over to him, I gulped when I saw that the Dauphin was outright staring at me, anger and fear seemed to be fighting for dominance in his face. It was the most lost and helpless look I'd ever seen on a man in my entire life. He had no idea of what to do and was terrified for his new bride, his people and himself. The way he almost enveloped Belle in his arms as if to shield her from some threat was touching but also showed how scared he was. His fear was understandable. He'd been a young child during the revolution, then hidden away for a year before finally being cursed and spent his formative years as a raging ball of self loathing and primal fury. He was likely still learning how to walk on human feet still, assuring the people in the ballroom like a monarch should was still way out of his league.
Well if no one else would do it then I guess I would. Mother had always wanted me to be an officer and support the king, this was a bit different from what she had likely intended but the spirit would still be the same. Taking a breath I said, "Well, I guess all those old stories about a witch of the mountains were true after all." I looked around at the crowd and with a wry grin that I most certainly didn't feel continued. "I don't suppose anyone here happens to be the great-grandson of a witch hunter?"
My weak attempt at a joke got a few weak laughs and helped to calm down the crowd, though I admit I privately hoped to be surprised and learn that there was indeed a scion of a witch hunter in the crowd, we sure as hell could have used one. I had been mildly surprised when I was little to learn that witch hunters had not only been real, but had been practitioners of an honored profession going back for centuries from the time of Charlemagne himself. They had hunted black magic users, excised ghouls, exterminated goblins and even slew the occasional vampire (though you really needed an army for that last one from what I had read) for Glory, God, Gold or any combination of the three.
Unfortunately for them during the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty years war the explosion of witch trials and witch hunts caused a massive uptick in demand for their services….and ultimately tapped out their targets. Some hunters tried to become mercenaries but when the various princes and kings turned to more professional forces, they eventually hung up their swords and crosses and disappeared into the rest of society. I severely doubted that any here could claim such a pedigree as most hunters in France joined the nobility as compensation for their centuries of service. Other than the old Baron, who I knew for a fact didn't have such a heritage, none here in the village were even of the lowest rungs of the aristocracy.
I'd never really thought of the hunters much other than the occasional idle wondering what had happened to the sorceress in the time since she'd laid her curse on the Prince and his castle and servants. If one could have been found it would have been cathartic to hunt the bitch down and make sure she didn't ruin anyone else's life ever again. Even if the Prince learned his lesson thanks to her curse, the rest of the staff had never deserved such punishment. In the wake of her party-crashing and bomb dropping I was finding myself pining for one of those tough hunters of the otherworldly. But you had to deal with the cards dealt you and all that.
"We already knew this was likely to happen and we already agreed as to what our response would be, right?" I asked them, reminding them of the meeting under the oak. The nods I saw among my fellow villagers was comforting and showed I was getting to them. "Well I'm not getting cold feet yet, are you?", I asked them. That a series of no's and head shakings, good I was getting to them. Now for the prince.
Squaring my shoulders I turned to the Prince, "Your Majesty, a few days before the wedding, we had a meeting and after some discussion we had come to the conclusion that sooner or later you would be found out and unfortunately the self-crowned Emperor isn't going to just allow you to live your live. He doesn't take threats to his power kindly to put it mildly. All this has done is hasten the inevitable."
The villagers nodded in agreement and many of the castle folk blanched at the idea. While they had been cut off from the rest of the world for the most part, news HAD trickled in from the outside, they had heard of Napoleon and the idea of that military juggernaut bearing down on them terrified them. The prince looked to Belle as if he were seeking confirmation, after their eyes locked for a few moments she slowly nodded, confirming his fears. I was mildly insulted that he had to look to Belle for confirmation, wasn't like I stopped my brother from trying to burn his house down and mount his head on his wall. Then he turned to me and asked, "And, what did you decide to do?"
Reminding myself that the man undoubtedly trusted Belle above all others for a very good reason, I smiled then bowed, giving the best flourish I could. I privately thanked mother for insisting my brother and I learn all the forms of edicate we could, even if after the Revolution we doubted it would come of any use. How things change. I lifted my head and answered him, "We decided that we'll stand with you, your Majesty, no matter the cost. Besides in order to get to you the buggers will have to pass through our homes and we'll not allow that to go unpunished. Right boys?" I turned to the villagers my best feral grin on my face.
I had to fight down the butterflies in my stomach as I waited for their response. Despite all their proclamations of support actual soldiers coming would damper the enthusiasm of any man. To my relief they proved their words true.
As one every jack-man of them bellowed "NO!" More than one adding a crude expletive. I sighed with relief as my stomach settled and some of the tension drained out of me. At least I wouldn't be alone facing the Imps (my private terms for the soldiers of the Grand Armee) alone.
I turned back to the prince and said, "Well, there's your answer your majesty. We're ready to fight and die for our homes and our king." The others agreed with me with loud cheers and cries of Vive le Roi!
The prince seemed to be almost overwhelmed at our response. He shut his eyes and rubbed at one of them, then he looked back up and I thought I saw moisture for a moment. "Even after all that my family has done? I was only a child but even I noticed how badly many were suffering then."
I shrugged, "You were never to blame your majesty, and besides, we've never been done wrong by you nor our former lord." I gestured to the old Baron, who seemed almost embarrassed at the attention I was showing him. Then he straightened up and gave the most gallant bow I'd ever seen a man make, impressive for an old man bent with age, but I'd noticed a new vitality in the old man in the last several days and he seemed to be standing taller than I remembered. Maybe the thought of having a king again had revitalized him.
I turned back to the prince, "Maybe we were the odd ones out and maybe things needed to change but everything out there? It's gone too far and thing's need to be put back together and if we can help in any way, we will." I then took a knee and bowed my head, "I offer my life and service to my king, that he may return to his throne and right the wrongs that have been committed on France." How much of that did I believe? A fair amount but not entirely. While my home didn't suffer before the revolution or since then I knew that things had gone very WRONG in France. At the same time my home and my loved ones were in the cross-hairs of the mightiest warlords to ever march across Europe and I had to stop that by any means I could.
Then to my surprise Gaston walked to my side and knelt as well, "Both of my Grandfathers fought for your Great-Grandfather, my mother's dream that Pierre and I serve your father, when our learned of you father's execution he lead a band to strike at the Jacobins and slew ten men in the fight personally. Our family has always been yours my prince. I'll fight to the death for you. It is the least I can do to make up for what I almost did." Kiss-ass, I thought but nicely done as following our example, the other men of the village knelt as well offering their own oaths to fight to the last for their king.
The prince looked around at the crowd of kneeling men then to our surprise he bowed deeply in return, "Thank-you, I'm amazed at your courage and your loyalty, and it will be rewarded, if ever I have the power to do so."
The moment was shattered when the butler, Cogsworth I think was his name, spoke up and walked to the center of the room, one eye blacked from his fight with the maitre'd and his wig askew. "Your grace, if I might interject, all the courage in the world isn't going to make a difference against armed soldiers. Unless you have something planned it might be wiser to simply flee. You still have family in Austria."
I shook my head, "I was out of town less than a week ago, all anyone was talking about was the 'emperor's' most recent victory. Bonney clobbered both the Emperor and the Tsar's armies somewhere in Bohemia, the fight's been beaten out of both of them for the time being."
You could have heard a pin drop after that bit of news, "Besides I think that's what the sorceress wants us to do. If we run the prince fails her little test yet again, and Heaven knows what she'd do to him this time."
That little observation went over about as well as well as could be expected. But before another panic started up I continued, "We're not completely helpless here my good sir. Sure we're not trained soldiers but our fathers and grandfathers were all soldiers. I dare any one of you to say you didn't learn SOMETHING from them, even if it was just war stories." There were smiles and nods of agreement from the villagers in response to my question.
"As for arms some years ago as my brother implied, our father led a posse to find some revolutionary soldiers to avenge your royal father's death on. We took their guns, powder and shot and tucked them under the tavern, we've got enough to arm fifty men and the shot to make a real fight of it should it come to that." I continued. "That doesn't count the hunting pieces many of us have, many of us are good shots and I doubt there's a better marksmen in all of France that could rival my brother."
I clapped my brother on the shoulder and he just beamed and bowed slightly, "It's true your majesty, I've managed to shoot down almost anything at any distance over the years, if a bullet can reach it I can shoot it." He declared.
"No one shoots like Gaston, your majesty." I said, I blinked when I felt the pinch of a song coming on, I stomped on it so hard I could feel the thing metaphorically cover its eyes and light a cigarette right before the end. I had never sung my brother's praises before and it'd be a cold day in hell before I did so willingly.
"Then there's the terrain, I don't know how much you remember before coming here but these mountains are not easy to travel through and any soldiers trying to get through are going to have a hard time keeping together, especially if we use our knowledge of the mountains to our advantage." I continued.
"Don't forget the Goddamned wolves around here. Winter's going to be rough one and those buggers are going to be even hungrier than usual." One of the du Rhin brother's interjected. Then he sheepishly turned to the priest and muttered, "Sorry Father."
The good father just smiled and said, "In this case I can allow it. Those wolves are insane in the best of time." It was true in a way, in this world at least the wolves of the Vosges were notorious for being psychotic killing machines, when hungry they were famous for attacking even large groups in huge packs and few dared the trek into the mountains alone if they could help it, especially in winter. I pitied the poor bastard who tried it without knowing how to deal with them. Most in these hills learned to carry a slab of goat meat with them and toss it to the wolves as a sort of toll if they had to go into the mountains. They seemed to understand the offer and usually took the meat and left the wanderer unmolested.
"Finally motivation, we're fighting for our king and our homes, they're fighting because their captain wants to loot an abandoned castle and they're not even expecting to fight in the first place. We'll have the moral high ground in this fight and God will be on our side." Not something I would have said in my past life, at least in public, but in a world like this? He very might well tip the scales for such a cause.
"In all I think we have a chance but we must use every advantage we have, and we need to use every moment we have to prepare. I'm ready to fight and prove that witch wrong. Are you?" I turned to the others. They shouted their agreement.
The prince, still more than a little, overwhelmed, could only say, "So am I, I've lived in fear of that woman for longer than I care to remember, I failed her tests once, I won't do so again." That set off more cheers, including the men from the castle. Good, we had the fire in our bellies now, now we just needed to make sure we had the tools to fight them. With that I needed to speak with Maurice and Armand the gunsmith, and see if there were any woodworkers or smiths among the staff, and see about those soldiery types that rode with the prince when he made his announcement in the village a few days ago.
Standing up I looked for Armand and Maurice and gathering them together I said, "I have an idea for making some more firearms before the soldiers come. Maurice, you're good with Steam Engines, you think you could rig something together to help if I told you what I had planned?"
The old man furrowed his brows then nodded, "I'm sure I can, what did you have in mind lad?"
"A machine that could make the rifling for multiple rifles at the same time, the by hand process would take too long for what I had in mind." I said.
Maurice thought for another moment, his eyes darting back and forth as he tried to figure out the logistics of such a machine. His eyes snapped back into focus and he looked at me and nodded his head that it was possible, "I could do it, give me the tools and materials and I could have one banged out in a couple of days," he expanded.
"Wait a moment Pierre, you mentioned this idea of rifles before, but I'm still not sold on it. Sure rifles are accurate but the rate of fire is terrible and those leather wrappings are a mess to deal with." Armand asked, the older man was a master of his trade and his concern was a legitimate one.
"For one thing I didn't intend to have us face them head on. Rather I'd have us use the hills to our advantage, ambush, hit and run. These men are likely conscripts and fresh to otherwise they'd be with our 'dear emperor' over in Austria right now. They'd be doing well just marching in formation and firing as one on an open battlefield. Fighting up in the mountains they're unfamiliar with might be a little bit beyond them." I replied while turning to one side and making a spitting motion (completely dry mind you this IS a castle and a wedding and I was in front of royalty) Then I continued after Armand made the same motion, also dry. Maurice, not a true local didn't repeat the little insult to the Corsican warlord. "Also I've been kicking around the idea of a bullet that was designed to catch the rifling without needing a leather cover to spin. It'd make it much faster to load without losing accuracy." I made a rotating motion with my finger to indicate the spinning motion needed for accuracy with a bullet.
"And how would you do that?" Armand asked, then crossing his arms and cocking his head in doubt.
"Well if the bullet were somehow hollow at the base…."