I picked up my first follower, so thank you to that person!

CHAPTER THREE

Sharpe cursed silently to himself. He cursed Dunnett, he cursed Murray, he cursed Moore, he cursed Wellesley. He cursed the French, the Spanish and the British. Occasionally, he even cursed Delfina. Anyone who had raised his hopes and then crushed it. His options seemed to consist of ending a dead end career by dying in a futile campaign or being withdrawn back to barracks to eke out his existence as an ageing unpromotable lieutenant. Neither appealed.

His mood was not improved by a British cavalryman, a hussar, trotting down the street towards him. He noticed the sergeant's stripes on the man's sleeve and felt no inclination to move aside for him. "Get out of the way,"he snarled, keeping his head lowered as he forced the sergeant to guide his horse to one side.

"Mister Sharpe?"came the bewildered response. "It is Mister Sharpe still?"

Sharpe spun round at the familiar greeting and looked the sergeant in the face for the first time. "Eli?" A burst of shame went through him as he reached up to shake the man's hand. Eli Lockhart. He had last seen him five years earlier on the ramparts of Gawilghur, after they had killed the traitor William Dodd together. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm with the 15th Hussars now. Lord Paget." Lockhart examined Sharpe's uniform. "You're with the rifles?"

Sharpe nodded. "The 95th."

"And still an officer?"

"Full lieutenant."

"Good work, Dick."

The name struck Sharpe as strange, since it was so long since anyone had used it. Officers called him Sharpe, men reluctantly called him sir. The few friends he had called him Richard. When he had met Lockhart he had been newly commissioned, not quite used to no longer being Sergeant Dick Sharpe, not used to sergeants calling him sir. He had told Lockhart to use his old name. He hadn't expected to hear it again.

Lockhart seemed to realise his faux pas. "Sir,"he amended quickly.

Sharpe gave a nod of gratitude. "I'm the battalion quartermaster,"he admitted.

Lockhart grimaced. "A waste, sir."

"Thanks, Eli." Sharpe struggled to recall the woman he had left with the sergeant. "Clare?"

"Back in England,"Lockhart replied. "Waiting for me."

Sharpe smiled but felt jealousy. No woman waited for him. Except Delfina, of course, but he sensed she tired of him, as Clare and a dozen other had done before her. Then a thought struck him. "You ride out?"

"Sometimes."

"If you do it again, let me know. I might need to join you."

When Sharpe re-entered his rooms, he found Delfina fastening her shawl. He was not pleased. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

She glared at him defiantly. "Out."

The answer was deliberarely and maddeningly vague but Sharpe knew what she meant. "Outside the city?"

"Is there a reason why I shouldn't?"

"The French!"

Delfina glared at him with anger. "Yes, I heard about what you saw. The French are here. And what do you intend to do? Do you intend to hide in this Spanish city?"

Sharpe felt his frustration mounting. She was saying much the same things he had thought himself but what could he do? He might be an officer but he commanded nothing. He wasn't a gentleman. He couldn't lead a charge against the French. "It's not up to me!"he protested, the words sounding pathetic even to him.

"If you don't make a stand, the French will keep going,"Delfina persisted. "They'll keep going all the way to Portugal! What was the point of driving them out if you're just going to let them back in?"

Sharpe cursed her stubbornness. "So what are you going to do? Go out there and fight the French? Or maybe you think I'll bring men to rescue you?"

"I'm not expecting anything from you, Richard." She headed out of the room and down the steps. Sharpe chased after her…and then they both ran into Dunnett.

"Sharpe,"he said, more an observation than a greeting. "And the lady under his protection. Where are you going?"

"Outside,"Delfina replied rebelliously. "Is that allowed?"

Dunnett smiled broadly. "Of course! You're not prisoners here. Are they, Sharpe?"

Sharpe wanted to argue but he was caught in a trap. "No, sir."

"Thank you, Major,"Delfina said stiffly before heading towards the gate.

Sharpe glared at the smiling Dunnett then headed up to his room.