‘We don’t fight duels, Monsieur Infantry Officer; we make art! Very well, we’ll be on our way. Tell your friend Relmyer that we’re looking for him. He will easily find us in our respective regiments. Explain that I would be very much obliged if he would respect the order of hierarchy in his encounters with us. The highest in rank first, of course.’
The warrant officer was last to leave. Just before he did so he threw out: ‘Please say hello to Antoine Piquebois for me.’
His finger traced the length of one of his scars, running diagonally
through the chequered pattern of the welts. Margont suddenly remembered him. In 1804, Piquebois, then a hussar, had floored him with a sabre stroke. Officially it had been recorded as a training accident ...
After the hussars had gone, Lefine announced: Tm going to try not to get too close to Relmyer. That way I won’t be too grief-stricken when they bury him in two or three weeks’ time ... because even if he succeeds in knocking off those four strapping fellows, there will be more, and still more. For Antoine, all that calmed down after he was wounded at Austerlitz, because he changed completely after that. He’s no longer a swashbuckler ready to fight at the slightest challenge. Except when he sees Relmyer! But Relmyer, he does everything to attract the calamity that is duellists!’
‘He doesn’t mean to. He has only one idea in his head: to find the man he’s looking for. Look how little he takes Luise’s feelings into account, even though he regards her as his sister. And that fortune that he spent to be able to examine the archives at the
Kriegsministerium. Imagine what else he could have done with all that money? No, he attracts death without even being aware of it.’ Lefine was appalled at this.
The problem is that death is blind,’ he declared. ‘It’s stalking Relmyer but it could just as easily get us by mistake!’
‘Relmyer is tied to his past. He won’t really start to live until he has broken the ties.’
‘There are other ways of freeing yourself from a rope than tugging to make the bulldog attached to it come and bite you.’
‘He only knows how to do it his way.’
‘Listen, about that dog ...’
Pagin galloped over to them. As he felt he was not getting there fast enough — the world turned too slowly for his liking - he was gesticulating. That would have saved time had anyone understood what his waving arm signified. He brought his sweating horse abruptly to a halt, causing it to whinny.
‘Captain, Sergeant: Lieutenant Relmyer wants you to know that he’s found what he’s looking for in the registers. He’s going to try to find the person concerned. If you want to go with him, you will have to follow me immediately.’
CHAPTER 18
RELMYER was everywhere all at once. He had gathered a dozen hussars from his squadron and he walked from one to the other, checking their arms and giving orders. An Austrian peasant, unwillingly forced to be their guide, sat stiffly on a mount controlled by a non-commissioned officer. Relmyer, already overwrought, grew even more excited when he saw Margont. The latter had seen similar expressions in hospitals when a victim realised that the bullet inside them was about to be extracted. In certain cases, the relief caused rapture.
‘Here you are at last!’ cried Relmyer to Margont and Lefine, shaking them by the hand. ‘We have a lead! We have a lead!’
He held out a letter written in German. It was dated 3 May, just before the French had occupied Vienna. Relmyer did not have the patience to wait for Margont to decipher it.
‘It’s the copy for archiving of a letter written by a certain Limbsen to a secretary at the Ministry of War called Homkler. Look here, and there!’
His excitement was making him confused.
This Limbsen explains that he has been put in charge of an internal inquiry concerning the military registers. One of the men responsible for keeping the documents in good order had noticed the anomalies in the lists of effectives of the Infanterieregimenter 20 and 23! Those were the regiments that Mark and Ernst were supposed to have served in!’
Becoming more and more agitated, he raised his voice. ‘Limbsen verified the relevant registers. He suspects a certain Johann Grich of being responsible for the errors. In this letter, according to procedure, Limbsen asks Secretary Homkler - Grich’s superior-for authorisation to question him. We don’t know if Limbsen ever did so. I would imagine not. The Austrians have had other things on their minds since our troops arrived in Vienna.’
‘Why does he suspect Grich?’
‘That’s not made clear in the letter.’
Margont was finding it hard to believe in this miracle.
‘Where did you find this document?’
‘In the chaos of the archives. I told you we had to look there! Now, we’ve wasted enough time, let’s go! Let’s pay Johann Grich a visit. According to the letter, he lives in Mazenau, a hamlet a few leagues north of Vienna.’
Lefine was suspicious.
‘Lieutenant, why all the hussars and a guide?’
Relmyer spoke calmly, as if he had inadvertently forgotten a minor detail. ‘I found out a bit about Mazenau: it’s in a forest.’ In the face of Lefine’s fury, he immediately added: ‘It’s on the French side. If Grich had lived on the other bank, everything would have been more ...’
Lefine shook his head at this. ‘Because you would have gone there anyway?’
Pagin brought his horse closer to nudge the flank of Lefine’s mount.
‘Infantrymen only know how to advance in line, in their thousands, elbow to elbow, once the artillery have carefully prepared the terrain. Let’s proceed as normal: let the hussars do the work and then join us in a week when it’s all over. We’ll tell you—'
Lefine was not amused.
‘Insolent at seventeen, dead at twenty.’
Relmyer was worried. His eyes searched Margont’s.
‘You are coming with us, aren’t you? Having you there is very important to me.’
‘I’m coming. I’ve promised Luise I’ll look after you, and I have decided to help with this affair until it’s resolved.’
Lefine grunted his agreement. Relmyer bounded into his saddle with the dexterity of the hussar. Margont held out his arm to calm his impetuosity.
‘Allow me to warn you that you are in great danger: four hussars are searching for you to fight duels with you.’
‘Only four?’joked Pagin.
Relmyer greeted the news with equanimity. He was used to it, and in any case, he had somewhere to go and the rest of the world was irrelevant to him at the moment.
‘Is it because of my duel with your friend Piquebois? Unfortunately it’s just like that.’
‘Just like that?’ choked Margont. ‘Everywhere, all around you, people are pointing sabres in your direction and ...’
He could not even finish his sentence, he was so put out by Relmyer’s calm.
Lefine leant towards him. ‘Methinks we have been taken for idiots.’
Three of the four hussars in question had just appeared behind them, sneering. The hussar from the 5th Regiment rode out in front. The two élite troopers were behind on either side, ready to encircle Relmyer should he try to escape. Adjutant Grendet was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was lying in wait nearby or perhaps he was looking for Relmyer elsewhere. Lefine felt like a hare that, believing he has escaped a hunter, now sees the snout of the hunter’s dog ferreting around its form.
‘They followed us and we didn’t notice anything! But I’m usually so careful!’
‘What is this nonsense?’ fumed Relmyer.
‘You’ll leave one for me, won’t you, Lieutenant?’ asked Pagin, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Lefine was already moving away.
‘Hussars are as twisted as their sabres!’
‘Remember your promise,’ Margont said fiercely to Relmyer. Relmyer was very diplomatic. He explained his proposed expedition without going into detail about the reasons for it and insisted that it could not be delayed. He won
himself a reprieve but the three hussars insisted on coming with them, which Relmyer agreed to. The hussars were convinced that Relmyer was trying to escape them and did not intend to let him out of their sight. Relmyer, smiling again, set off, indicating with a sweeping gesture that everyone should follow. Three duels were hanging over him, but he paid them as little heed as if they were three specks of dust on his pelisse.
CHAPTER 19
THE little troop made its way north. They skirted Vienna before plunging into the forest. Margont lost all sense of direction and had no idea where they were. He had deployed some of his men as vanguard and some on the flanks. He scanned the area, his gaze seeming to slide through the foliage. The green and scarlet troopers were redolent of drops of bloody sap scattered over the vast vegetation. The trees, giants weighed down with leaves, seemed to crush them in their vertiginous grasp. They formed a sort of palace of alarming proportions. Had it not been for the war Margont would have liked to lose himself here.
The three duellists followed Relmyer. The two élite troopers never spoke to the hussar of the 5th Regiment. They only knew each other because of the magnetic draw of Relmyer’s blade to theirs. Yet Margont told himself that he was hardly less idiotic than they were. Had he not become involved in this business for complex motives, which he couldn’t share with anyone else? Twenty men
found themselves united here but for very differing reasons. None of them belonged to the same world.
‘Is it much further, Lieutenant?’ asked Lefine.
Relmyer asked the guide in German. The guide’s back sagged as if the officer’s questions were blows.
‘No, a little more than two leagues, Monsieur,’ he replied fearfully. Margont spoke quietly. ‘Is it really impossible to avoid those duels?’
‘Clearly I won’t be able to escape them. As soon as we’ve finished questioning this Grich, I will have to fight them.’
‘What?’
Relmyer spread his hands slightly. ‘They will never leave me alone unless I agree to fight them. We will fight at Mazenau, which will suit everyone. We won’t lose any time and they will get what they want in a quiet spot. On the Isle of Lobau, we risk being disturbed by a superior officer opposed to duels, or by the imperial police with their excessive zeal. I remember the promise I made you but this is not a situation of my making.’
In spite of the shade, Margont was sweating as if he was under a midday sun.
Three duels ... The first will perhaps be one. But if you’re wounded the second will be a murder, an execution!’
‘Not at all. If I’m hurt we’ll examine the wound together. If it’s decided that the wound is superficial, my adversary will be declared winner and I will go on with the next duel.’
Margont interrupted with a gesture. He could no longer bear these rules and the logic that conferred an illusion of rationality on the madness.
However, Relmyer, caught up in his explanation, continued: ‘Of course, a serious injury would mean the end of fighting, but there would be a problem if the wound was disputed. If a unanimous view cannot be amicably reached, we will have to ask the opinion of a doctor whose word will be final. Exhaustion postpones the duel by one day, a serious injury postpones it to the day following complete recovery.’
‘But why? Why take still more risks?’
‘You’re asking that question because you don’t understand the life of a renowned duellist. Of course he attracts other duellists avid to fight him. He’s famous and everywhere he is feared in the same measure as he is admired and envied. He makes money giving lessons and winning duels that are wagers he gambles on. He progresses rapidly up the ranks. Without my sabre I would not be a lieutenant. Lieutenant at twenty years old! Certain women - superb ones, I can tell you - are ready to do anything to have a well-known swashbuckler hold them in his arms.’
‘And all that’s worth risking death for?’
‘It’s worth risking death ten times over. If any one of these sabre-fighters succeeds in piercing my chest, that life will be his. Take Pagin, for example. A few months ago he was afraid of everything and everyone. His apprenticeship with the sabre has transformed him. Look at his assurance today, his joie de vivre ... that’s why he’s always dashing about the place: he is catching up the years that he lost in inertia, held back by his fears.’
Margont chased away the flies buzzing round his horse’s head, endlessly irritating it.
‘You are just like him. Pagin is “fortifying himself with iron” to confront a nameless danger that torments him. You’re acting the same way. Except that you have a clearer idea of the threat you’re confronting.’
‘Yes and no. Only in part. I was damaged by what happened to me. My sword is my crutch: take it away from me and I’ll collapse. I am grateful to it for helping me to walk again but at the same time it reminds me of the past and it attracts duellists.’
Margont looked at him with a mixture of compassion and fear: in his eyes, Relmyer was suffering from a malady that was little by little increasing its stranglehold on him.
‘You started to train with the sabre to learn to defend yourself. But arms are like wine - in the end they take you over. Lukas, you have become the scabbard of your blade.’
‘As long as this investigation remains unresolved, I will not be able to give it up. Afterwards, I will try ...’
Warrant Officer Cauchoit rode closer.
‘You’re making it too complicated. Better to have ten days of glory than ten thousand of mediocrity.’
‘What a magnificent epitaph,’ replied Margont. Then, turning to Relmyer, he added: ‘Let’s suppose that you win these three duels: how many duellists will be attracted by that triple ... success?’
‘All of them of course! My duel with Piquebois is not the only reason for this situation. My reputation carries weight. It’s not very easy to—'
To chase away the flies Relmyer’s horse had just lifted its head when part of it burst open under the impact of a shot. Margont, his face splattered with blood, saw the horse collapse on its side as Relmyer was thrown to the ground, a leg and a stirrup in the air, his hands pulling on the now useless reins. This first bullet was immediately followed by a concert of detonations. A hussar in the vanguard, mown down, fell backwards, while the mount of his companion collapsed along with his trooper. Clouds of white smoke appeared everywhere: in the thickets, behind the trees ... A grey silhouette took aim at Margont but Lefine immediately fired his pistol, catching the figure in the thigh.
‘It’s the militia! Death to the Landwehr!’ cried Cauchoit.
Sabre in hand, and dragging his trumpeter friend and some hussars in his wake, he charged straight at a mass of infantrymen that had formed in front of them. These Austrians were not professional soldiers. They had thought that the surprise and success of their first volley would send the French into disarray. The thirty amongst them who had just made themselves defenceless in order to adjust their sights were struck head on by the troopers. The warrant officer moved as if in a trance. His sabre attacked furiously, wounding, killing, killing, wounding ... The trumpeter aimed his blows exclusively at faces and throats, leaving nothing behind him but dead and disfigured bodies, dehumanised corpses. The troop of militia disappeared beyond a clearing; the carnage had sewn confusion amongst the Austrians. Although they were still more numerous, and for the most part sheltered behind trees, many of them fled, vanishing through the vegetation. Others continued to riddle the French with gunfire. The poor guide they had
pressed into service was taken for a traitor and received two balls in the back. The hussars plunged at a trot into the wood, laughing in the face of their fear. They passed no one without mowing him down with their pistols or laying him out with their sabres. Relmy-er, already on his feet, having freed himself, but covered in his horse’s blood, feverishly scanned the thickets. He paid no attention to his men or to the battle that raged around him. He pointed in the direction of the shot that had killed his horse.
‘It
’s him! He killed Franz! Him!’
Such a coincidence was impossible. Had Relmyer been driven mad? Or had they been betrayed? In the woods, the officer Relmyer was pointing to detached himself from the combatants to take flight. The Austrian wore a grey coat with red cuffs and lapels. The elegance of his uniform contrasted with the coarse coats of certain of the militia. Light brown hair could be seen under his black bicorn, braided with gold. Margont briefly caught a glimpse of the man’s face. He seemed to be in his forties. Relmyer had launched into the woods in pursuit, his pistol in one hand, his trusty sabre in the other. All about him there was carnage. The hussars, although very much inferior in number, definitely had the upper hand over their adversaries. They attacked and charged at anything that moved. Their horses plunged into groups of militia, knocking into bodies, and the troopers wielded their sabres as though they were mowing the grass. Margont found himself facing a wave of Austrians in disarray. How many were there? Dozens? He thought he was going to be slashed to pieces but his very presence exacerbated the panic of the fleeing Austrians. But the tide of humanity ricocheted around him and the militia scattered in other directions. Margont wanted to pursue them, but hands were raised all around him. He had just taken fifteen prisoners. A hussar burst out of a thicket brandishing his sabre. It was the trumpeter from the élite company. He whirled like the wind into the midst of what he took to be a pocket of resistance and launched an attack towards the face of the horseman he took to be the leader of the rabble. Margont scarcely had time to duck down by his horse’s neck. The point of the sabre pierced his shako. He wanted to cry out to
set the trumpeter straight, but he was long gone, chasing other moving figures. Had he really been mistaken in all the confusion? Margont seized one of his two horse pistols and had to fight against the urge to shoot at the horse of the madman. Pagin arrived in the meantime, his sword bloody, his face scratched by branches. He looked in astonishment at Margont and the captives.
‘Victory!’ he bellowed, standing up in his stirrups, his sabre pointing towards the sky.
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