Chapter 7

"Foots over Fencibles"

In the British occupied Gibraltar, Henry Fox had a mission assigned to him: defend and protect Gibraltar at all costs with his life and those of his Fencibles that served under him. As he inspected his army of fencibles and armed citizenry, he was watching to see if they would still continue to fight if needed.

"Button up your tunic, soldier," he barked to a Fencible, directing him to the open button on his tunic. "Straighten yourself out, McCoy!"

A Fencible with a slightly obese frame was ordered to tuck in his gut.

"Thomas, did you refill your pack as ordered?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, then there won't be any problems."

Once the inspection was complete, he faced his men.

"Now, I'm sure you are all aware that the false emperor, Napoleon, has ordered the kingdoms of Bordeaux, Bretagne, Toulouse and Marsalie to swear his allegiance to him. Of course, that is not the case! We are to take in the rulers of Toulouse and possibly Marsalie."

Some of the soldiers nodded and murmured in agreement.

"To this end, we are also monitoring growing threats from their allies, Spain, who is seeking to take Gibraltar for themselves. But, we can defend this island ourselves, yes?"

"Sir!" cried the Fencibles and the Armed Citizenry.

"All right, company, dismissed!"

So the army disbanded back into the Gibraltar town square and Fox soon discovered that he wasn't alone. Just behind him was another commander, slightly older than him in terms of seniority.

"That was a very interested debriefing, Henry," said the soldier, walking over to him. "For an army that are just nothing more than undisciplined drunkards."

This made Fox cross.

"Nelson, don't tell me you are going to start that bloody nonsense again?" remarked Fox. "How many times must I tell you that our forces are strong enough to deal with the Spanish?"

"I know the Spanish when I see them, Henry. I've warned you time after time that Foot soldiers are the only true defense of this territory right now!"

Fox drew his sword and directed Nelson to the Fencibles walking through the town, passing by citizens of women and children.

"They look to my men as the saviors, Andrew. Foot soldiers are overrated to me."

Nelson said nothing and briefly turned away from his subordinate, turning his back towards him. He had the right reasons to be concerned about the forces they have, but Fox refused to believe it.

"Well how about this, Henry? Do you know what the Spanish forces are made up of? They not only have infantry, but also artillery and cavalry. I swear that if my foot soldiers don't take command of this territory, then the rulers of Toulouse and Marsalies will have nowhere to go."

"Shall we discuss this over gin or rum?"

"It's early in the day, Henry."

"It gets a man's heart started in the morning, Andrew."

And so the two men went to the town's tavern to continue their conversation. By this point, Nelson was already growing impatient with Fox's overconfidence of their forces.

"Fox, I want what is best for this territory," Nelson said, eating a breakfast of meat and eggs. "As well as giving their highnesses from the French kingdoms a chance for sanctuary. Do you even realize that if the Spanish were to come to our front door, they will just barge in?"

"The defense we have will be strong. The citizenry will be in some of the farmhouses on the edge of town and they can fire at will and…"

"The armed citizenry are poorly equipped to fight and they don't have enough ammunition. I mean, what else do they have in those packs? Tell me."

"They have more than enough to fend off the Spanish. As for the Fencibles, they can form square and take out the cavalry horses. In fact, we've been holding military drills to teach the men how to form square."\

"Foots are the only ones who can form square," Nelson protested, looking down to his plate of breakfast. "Take this pork bacon, for example and have the eggs be the interior of the square. The commanders of foot soldiers will have the strongest leader. Eggs contain cholesterol, but the cholesterol can only work if it's done properly."

"Are you seriously considering that my men will give this territory cholesterol?"

"I'm only saying that foot soldiers will give us better portion control," Nelson answered firmly. "Fencibles are just eggs and too many eggs produce nothing but cholesterol…a heart attack waiting to happen. The foot soldiers are the pork bacon and will provide the healthy balanced portion. If we go in just as eggs…"

"Nelson, that's enough!" cried Fox, taking a huge bite of the eggs in front of him. "The fencibles are the pork bacon and the armed citizenry are the eggs. As for your foot soldiers, they are just potatoes."

Feeling insulted, Nelson got up from the table and left his subordinate to finish breakfast on his own.

"Don't forget to tip the business," he said, muttering under his breath. "Foot soldiers are potatoes, my ass!"

Stepping out of the tavern, Nelson refused to believe what had been said and decided to do things his way, whether Fox liked it or not.

"Corporal," he barked to a foot soldier.

"Sir?"

"Have companies 1 and 2 assemble in the barracks courtyard in 20 minutes," he ordered. "We are going to show that fool, Fox, what happens when we get too big for our britches."

…

…

Meanwhile, in the enchanted forest near Arendelle in Norway, its ruler, Queen Anna rode in a sleigh driven by her consort, Kristoff and pulled by his reindeer, Sven. She had a mission to seek out and it wasn't an easy one.

"Are you sure we have to do this, Anna?" Kristoff asked. "Ask Elsa to resume the throne?"

"Kristoff, I can't do this alone," Anna said. "If we are to quell any threat against Arendelle, Elsa's ice powers may come in handy. Besides, she will do anything for us."

"But what if she likes it here and doesn't want to leave?" Olaf the snowman asked. "Besides, whoever this Napoleon is is probably far away and will never come here."

"Everyone is pitching in to stop him, Olaf," said Anna. "Even us. If I had a choice, I would say no. But, I don't want Napoleon harming us or our friends in Denmark."

"Yeah," added Kristoff. "Especially since they are more naval than land based."

"Which is why Elsa needs to help us, if only temporarily. I just hope she listens to reason."

Soon, they arrived at the edge of the forest preparing to offer their proposal to the abdicated queen turned forest protector, not knowing how this latest reunion would turn out.

"Yeah," remarked Olaf. "After all, the cold never bothered her anyway, right?"

…

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