Chapter 14

"I Will Not Leave My Kingdom!"

Ever since he had turned down Napoleon's demands, King Hubert had found him in a predicament: that he would not evacuate from Marsellies into the safety of the British Empire. In fact, he was ordering his troops to prepare for an attack from Napoleon's army. But, that was not how my father-in-law would have thought about it in the first place.

"Ingrith, I hope you know what you are doing," Hubert sighed as he turned to face his wife, the Queen of Marcellies while watching his forces mobilize around their kingdom from his quarters.

"Oh, I know what I am doing, Hubie," she replied in a silky voice. "All I can say is that we have too much pride to surrender our kingdom to Napoleon. After all, isn't that what your friend, Stefan, is planning to do?"

"He's doing the right thing by fleeing to safety in England and we should be doing the same, but you refuse to flee."

"But isn't that what you want? To fight? And you call yourself a king?" Ingrith remarked. "Here you have the mightiest force in France and yet…you don't want to fight Napoleon? He's a dreamer and you are bowing yourself to a dreamer."

Hubert was not going to stand for it and decided to leave his quarters as his wife followed him down the stairs towards the castle entrance hall.

"Ingrith, you are having us play with fate here," Hubert warned. "Napoleon is dangerous and you treat this like a game. It's not a game, it's survival. Our son…"

"Will fight the enemy, but under Stefan's hand…don't you see? Your son has a desire to fight much more than you."

Hubert said nothing as he approached the main entrance hall. He again had to remind himself that this wasn't a decision he took lightly. He had been influenced by his wife.

"The British Ambassador is here, your highnesses," said a major domo bowing to him and Ingrith. The Ambassador came in and bowed to the king.

"Jeremy Bretham, your majesty."

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," said Ingrith. "Please inform…"

"Ingrith, please!" interrupted Hubert, turning to face his wife sharply. "My mind is made up…we are going to evacuate our kingdom."

Ingrith growled at her husband's suggestion.

"You have no spine," she seethed as Hubert looked back to the ambassador.

"You'll have to excuse the queen," he said. "She would much rather fight the enemy than abandon this kingdom. Is Gibraltar prepared to take us?"

"They are, although I regret to inform you that their forces are weak at this time. My recommendation is that…"

"We stay and fight," demanded Queen Ingrith.

"I highly advise against that, your majesty," warned Bretham. "Napoleon is growing stronger and stronger by the day and your safety is all that matters right now."

"Safety is nothing when we have pride to look after," thundered Ingrith. "Any of our subjects who are thinking of leaving will be considered treasonous."

This made Bretham cross.

"My dear, what is the matter with you?"

"It's her pride to fight," sighed Hubert. "Her kingdom is amongst the mightiest in France…the kingdom of Bordeaux."

"Of course, we can use your forces in our fight against another enemy…Spain."

"Spain isn't important!" retorted Ingrith.

"It is important to defend, your highness," cried Bretham. "If Gibraltar were to fall to the Spanish, then who knows what will happen. The Spanish will be free to send their ships for a full invasion of England most likely."

Just then, a page stepped into the room with a message.

"Forgive me your highnesses," he said, bowing in respect. "News from Toulouse, King Stefan is evacuating to Gibraltar."

A smile came onto Bretham's face, knowing that at least one of the kings was going to help in the defense. Now it was a matter of Hubert doing the same thing.

"If Stefan is going to fight against the Spanish," Hubert declared, looking intently at his wife. "Then, so will I. Ingrith, we are going to join our son and his family in Gibraltar."

"Then, I'm staying here to fight for our kingdom," Ingrith said, a sound of bitterness in her voice. "You are a fool to abandon your subjects."

Huffing, she stormed out of the hall leaving Hubert alone with Bretham.

"Then our subjects will have a choice," he said. "Fight with me in Gibraltar or stay and defend Marsallies. The choice is theirs. Ingrith will stay here and I will go join Stefan in Gibraltar."

"Very well, your majesty," replied Bretham, bowing to him. "I shall make preparations at once."

"Then you may go," Hubert said and Bretham left. He then turned back towards his wife, who had not fully left the hall. "This is for the best, Ingrith. For our son and for our kingdom."

Ingrith said nothing and went up the stairs, leaving her husband alone in the hall.

…

Meanwhile, a coach was waiting at the head of our small army to transport my father and mother down through Spain to Gibraltar. The rain was coming down hard and time was of the essence. You might say it was a sign of things to come. Wearing my peasant dress and riding a horse of my own, I joined Phillip and Samson.

"You should be in there with your parents, Aurora," Philip said. "The journey will be dangerous."

"Out of the question, Philip," I replied firmly. "Where you go, I go."

Philip felt that what I was doing was against my better judgement, but I wasn't one to pick a fight and once my parents were in the coach. Philip gave the signal for us to move away from Toulouse.

"I just hope my parents made the right choice," Philip thought to himself as we left. He was right, the journey would be dangerous through Spain. But we had to take the risk that laid ahead of us. We were leaving Toulouse behind and who knew when we would ever return.

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