Read The Rebel’s Daughter for Free Online Page A

daren’t order his men across, and risk them
drowning.
    A murmur confirming that the pludgeon had
been located moved backward among the ranks, and Jonathan saw Wade
urging the men ahead.
    “ Thank
goodness for tha-!” A flash and a shot split the night. Jonathan
released a low groan, in the ensuing silence, hoping the discharged
weapon was a fluke and meant nothing. Maybe the sleeping troopers
had not heard.
    S houts and a rumble of drums started up in
the distance.
    The enemy was awake.
    A ripple of fear ran through him and his
thighs tightened on the saddle. Feversham’s men would be upon them
in minutes.
    A command to charge went up from the cavalry
ahead, followed by thundering hooves heading away from them at
speed.
    Jonathan cursed again, this time in
frustration. Grey had taken his cavalry forward too soon. They had
no infantry support - and Aaron was among them.
    “ May God
go with you, my son,” Jonathan murmured under his breath. He had no
idea where his brother was, but thrust thoughts of him away. Edmund
would survive, he always had.
    “ The
royal troopers have been alerted!” a voice to his left brought
Jonathan’s head round to Major Wade, who had pulled up beside him.
His face was little more than a grey blur, but he was recognisable
by the huge outline of his horse.
    “ That’s
obvious, man!” Jonathan snarled. “We’re too far behind. We must get
the men across the next ditch to back up Gray’s
cavalry.”
    “ We
cannot find a safe place to cross!” Wade jerked his panicked horse
round.
    “ We’ll
have to fire from this side of the ditch!” Jonathan yelled back.
“Battle orders! Start firing!”
    There was the click and slide of muskets
being loaded, followed by volley after volley as their shots sailed
across the moor, making no impression.
    “ Too
low!” Jonathan yelled. “Fire higher!”
    The men obeyed, and this time their shots
found their mark. On the other side of the ditch, men screamed and
fell. But there was no time for Jonathan to feel triumphant, for
just then a massive flash and boom rent the air.
    The royal cannon! Jonathan watched in
horror as the weapon carved swathes through the ranks of his men.
Bodies flew into the air or were cut to pieces, falling into the
mud to be trampled by others who filled the gaps.
    “ Keep
firing.” Fist raised, Jonathan rode up and down the line, shouting
orders and rounding up stragglers, his eyes growing accustomed to
the dim light.
    Instead of breaching the ditch, Gray’s
cavalry had split into two columns; one group had swung to the
right, moving steadily towards the distant glow of hundreds of tiny
lights coming from the direction of the town.
    Jonathan frowned, peering ahead at those
lights. Then he gave a loud, colourful curse, his guts cramping as
it occurred to him what he was really looking at.
    “ Runner!” he screamed, rewarded by a swift-footed boy who
hove into view.
    “ Get
over to my Lord Grey,” he ordered the breathless boy. “Tell him
those lights aren’t the town. They’re the matchlocks being made
ready to fire. Tell Wade and the others to train their muskets on
those lights.”
    The runner sped away and
Jonathan prayed he was in time. If the troopers fired first, they
would cut the cavalry to pieces and scatter them over the
field.
    The distant boom of cannon fire made
Jonathan smile, partly because it wasn’t in his direction. From the
shrieks that rose from the king’s troops, it was clear that
Monmouth’s Dutch gunners were wreaking havoc among the Dumbarton’s
Infantry; the indignant yelling of their officer to return fire
confirmed it.
    Gunfire screeched toward him, followed by
a thick plume of bitter smoke that drifted across the field. The
smoke stung his nostrils, engulfing the horses” heads as they
wheeled in fright, plunging backward into the upcoming
infantry.
    Jonathan urged Buchan to one side, out of
the way of the terrified horses, hoping Aaron had kept his seat,
and his mount Strider, on