The Fields of Death

by Scarrow, Simon

  Once the inspection was over, Napoleon returned to the stairs and began to award the promotions, decorations and prizes to each of the recipients called out from the ranks. Each man approached the Emperor smartly, stood to attention while his citation was bellowed out by General Rapp, and then received the appropriate reward, together with the profuse congratulations of his Emperor. But all the time, Napoleon’s mind flitted from one preoccupation to another.

  Foremost in his mind was the coming confrontation with the Empress Josephine. His heart felt heavy with remorse at what he must do when he returned to Paris. France needed an heir to the throne. Only royal blood would do, since it would make it impossible for rival rulers to deny that a child of Napoleon lacked the breeding required to rule as the equal of any other emperor, king or tsar. Even though the logic of his decision to divorce Josephine was unassailable, still he felt the sour grief of being forced to act contrary to his will. Despite all the infidelities on both sides, and his frequent despair over her profligacy, Napoleon loved her as no other. It was as if their hearts and minds were bound together, and the prospect of her enforced rejection crushed almost any notion of pleasure in his life.

  Once the last of the guardsmen had received his award, General Rapp ordered the soldiers to shoulder their muskets and then, as the band struck up, the battalions marched off the parade ground. As the last company passed by the civilian sightseers began to spill out across the parade ground. Napoleon turned to Berthier.

  ‘How are preparations for the army’s departure progressing?’

  ‘The last two corps are ready to march. The imperial baggage train is packed and can leave at any time. There’s only one issue to resolve.’ Berthier paused. ‘That’s the sale of surplus supplies, ammunition and equipment we captured from the Austrians.’

  ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘The Austrians refuse to pay the price agreed when we signed the treaty.’

  ‘What are they saying?’

  ‘They’ll pay thirty million francs, sire.’

  Napoleon shook his head with a dry laugh. ‘Thirty million! They must think me a fool. No, the price is fifty million, as we agreed. If they don’t pay up then tell that fool, Prince Metternich, that we will not leave Vienna until they do.’ Napoleon’s resolve hardened even as he spoke and he thrust a finger into Berthier’s chest. ‘You also tell him that if we are not paid in full by the end of the year then I will regard the treaty as having been broken, and that means war. You tell him that!’

  ‘Yes, sire. As you wish.’

  ‘Austrian bastards,’ Napoleon hissed through gritted teeth. ‘They brought this war on themselves. Emperor Francis is in no position to change the peace terms. I will bring them to heel, whatever it takes.’

  He turned away and made his way down the steps to head back across the parade ground to his quarters in the palace. As he did so a young man stepped forward from the milling crowd of awed sightseers and strode towards him. Napoleon noticed him at the last moment and drew up with a scowl.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘Sire,’ the man said, eyes wide and staring.‘I bring you a petition from all Germans.’

  Napoleon glanced over the youth. He was blond-haired, blue-eyed, and broad-shouldered beneath his plain black coat. Napoleon shook his head. ‘You must take it to my clerks. They deal with such matters. Now, then, if you would step away.’

  ‘No, sire. You will deal with it now!’

  The youth lurched forward. There was a dull gleam and General Rapp cried out, ‘Sire! He has a knife!’

  Napoleon stared at the youth, frozen where he stood. Then Berthier grabbed his arm and pulled him back, stepping in between his Emperor and the youth. There was a blur of blue uniform and gold lace as Rapp threw himself at the assassin and both crashed down on to the parade ground. Rapp clasped both hands around the wrist of the young man’s knife hand and bellowed, ‘Guards! On me! On me!’

  The soldiers who had stood guard on the staircase came dashing over. The youth balled his free hand into a fist and smashed it into Rapp’s face, at the same time kicking out at the general with his feet. But Rapp rolled his weight over the youth’s chest, pinning him down as he held the weapon hand away from them both. A moment later the guardsmen reached the spot, and while one forced the youth’s hand open and took away the knife, the others dragged him to his feet. General Rapp rose to his feet, hatless and breathing heavily as he glared at the youth.

  Napoleon pressed Berthier aside and took a step towards the German. ‘You mean to kill me.’

  ‘Yes!’ the assassin shot back.

  Napoleon shook his head. ‘Why?’

  ‘You are a tyrant. Enemy of liberty. Enemy of the German people.’

  ‘Enough of that claptrap!’ roared Rapp as he threw a punch into the youth’s midriff. The young man doubled over, as far as the soldiers holding him allowed, and groaned as he gasped for breath. Rapp turned to Napoleon. ‘What shall I do with him, sire?’

  Napoleon stared at the youth for a moment, still stunned by the suddenness and surprise of the attack. It was not the first time that someone had tried to kill him, but in the past his would-be assassins had used bombs, poisons and other methods of the coward. This was different. A direct attack on him with a knife, by an assailant little more than a boy who had no hope of escape whether he succeeded or failed in his attempt.

  Napoleon cleared his throat nervously. ‘Take him away. Have him questioned. Find out who else is involved in this conspiracy. They will all be made to pay dearly for it.’

  Rapp nodded, and gestured to the guardsmen.‘You four, take him to the cellars and wait for me there. The rest, stay close to the Emperor. If anyone else comes too close before you reach the palace, then shoot ’em.’

  Napoleon set off, his guardsmen closed up around him, cautiously watching the civilians milling around the parade ground. Those who had witnessed the assassination attempt looked on in silence as the French Emperor and his escort hurried by, and then turned their attention to General Rapp and his small party as they dragged the young man away.

  ‘Death to tyrants!’ the youth cried out. ‘Death to Napoleon!’ Rapp leaped to his side and smashed his fist into his jaw, silencing him.

  A short distance away, Napoleon glanced back at his assailant, and then noticed that his hands were trembling. With an angry frown he clasped them together behind his back and strode towards the palace.

  Late in the evening Napoleon descended into the cellars of the palace. General Rapp had taken his prisoner to one of the empty storerooms beneath a little-used section of the palace. There Napoleon found him, with three burly sergeants of the Old Guard, stripped to the waist as they sat on stools around the youth, who was tied into a chair. His coat had been removed, and his white shirt and breeches were spattered with his blood. Rapp’s men had beaten him severely about the face, and by the light of a lantern hanging from a beam above him Napoleon could not recognise the features of the man who had tried to kill him earlier in the day. His lips were cut and swollen, his nose was broken and bloody and his forehead was grazed and cut in places.

  Rapp and the sergeants rose to their feet as their Emperor crossed the room towards them, his footsteps echoing off the cold flagstones.

  ‘Well? What have you got from him?’

  ‘Not much, sire.’ Rapp pursed his lips. ‘My boys had to work him over before we began to loosen his tongue.’

  ‘So I can see.’

  ‘He says his name is Friedrich Staps. He’s from Saxony.’

  ‘Who sent him to kill me?’

  Rapp shrugged. ‘He says he was acting by himself.’

  ‘A likely story!’ Napoleon snorted. ‘Someone sent him. Someone who was too cowardly to face me in person. This boy must have had accomplices. I must have their names.’

  ‘He denied there was anyone else, sire.’

  ‘Then he’s lying.’

  ‘I don’t think so, sire. He was questioned for over eight hours.
If he was trying to hide anything he would have said something by now that would have given the truth away.’ Rapp paused and regarded the youth frankly. ‘He stuck to his story through it all. He says he acted alone.’

  ‘I see,’ Napoleon mused. ‘What else did he say?’

  ‘He is a clerk in a trading company. He believes in a greater union of the German states, and he accuses you of standing in the way of the destiny of the German people.’

  ‘What about his family? Did he confess any links to the Prussian court?’

  ‘Hardly, sire. Staps says that his father is a parson.’

  ‘Then he did a bad job of teaching his son the ten commandments.’ Napoleon stood in front of the youth and shook his head slowly. ‘Whatever happened to “Thou shalt not kill”, eh?’

  Staps swallowed the blood in his mouth and raised his head to look squarely at the French Emperor. ‘You tell me, sire. After all, I have attempted to kill one man. You have killed tens of thousands.’

  Napoleon was silent for a moment. ‘That is different. That is war. What you tried to do was murder.’

  ‘That’s a matter of perspective,’ Staps replied.

  ‘Really?’ Napoleon smiled faintly. His curiosity was aroused by the young Saxon. He turned to Rapp. ‘Is he securely bound?’

  ‘Yes, sire. I checked his bonds myself.’

  ‘Then I want your men to wait outside. You stay.’

  ‘Yes, sire.’

  The sergeants picked up their jackets and bowed their heads before marching across the room to the door of the storeroom. Napoleon waited until the door had closed behind them and then took one of the stools and dragged it round and sat directly in front of Staps. General Rapp stood to one side, behind the prisoner, ready to intervene should he try anything, even tightly bound as he was.

  Napoleon stretched his shoulders, easing the strain, and then leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs and clasping his fingers together. ‘Young man, surely you can see that what you attempted was evil. Not only evil, but irrational. You could not hope to escape.’

  ‘I was not concerned by that,’ Staps replied, licking his lips and wincing at the pain this provoked.‘I merely wanted to kill you. Nothing else mattered.’

  ‘That is absurd,’ Napoleon countered.‘You were prepared to commit suicide?’

  ‘I am still alive.’

  ‘For now. But not for much longer.’ Napoleon tilted his head slightly to get a better view of Staps’s eyes. ‘You must know that you face execution for what you tried to do.’

  Staps shrugged. ‘Of course. I expect nothing less.’

  ‘Then why do it? Suicide is not the act of a sane man.’

  ‘I beg to disagree, sire.’ Staps eased himself up, straightening his back so he could face the Emperor squarely. ‘I did not happen upon this course of action by chance. I am not inspired by madness. I believe that the German people must be freed from the shackles imposed on them by you. I considered how best this might be achieved. Clearly one man alone cannot take on an empire and win. However, one man might take on an emperor alone, and vanquish him.’

  ‘And if you had murdered me, do you think that would have won you freedom for your people?’ Napoleon shook his head. ‘If I had been killed, France would still hold sway over your German states.’

  Staps smiled. ‘It seems to me that France is a monster with but one head. Remove that and the beast is beaten.’

  ‘You flatter me.’

  ‘No. I see things clearly enough, sire. You are a great man. Like all tyrants. That is why killing you would have changed everything.’

  ‘But you did not kill me. Nothing has changed, and you have wasted your life without purpose.’

  ‘Perhaps. But there is a chance that my death might inspire others.’

  ‘Inspire them to suicidal attacks?’ Napoleon laughed drily. ‘What makes you think that I have not learned from today’s attempt? In future it will be impossible for a man like you to get close to me.’

  ‘Impossible?’ Staps pursed his swollen lips. ‘Not impossible. Only more difficult. In time, another man . . .’ he paused and smiled faintly, ‘or woman will get close enough to you to make another attempt, and succeed where I failed. The odds are against you in the long run, sire. Surely you must see that?’

  ‘Supposing it is not a question of odds, but of fate,’ Napoleon countered. ‘Some men are chosen by fate for greatness, and fate alone decides when their time is over.’

  ‘If you believe that, then what need have you of bodyguards? I suspect that you have no wish to put it to the test.’ Staps looked at the Emperor shrewdly. ‘There’s something else that worries you, sire.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘The fear that stalks all great men. You believe in your greatness, and the thought that a man of no consequence, such as I, could put an end to your life is an effrontery to your sense of that greatness.’

  Napoleon stared at him fixedly for a moment, and Staps stared back, unblinking. After a moment Napoleon smiled and patted the young man on the knee. ‘There’s some truth in what you say. Yet now it is you who diminish yourself.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘My dear Staps, you are no common man. What you did took great courage. I recognise that. Surely such dedication to your cause must be most uncommon amongst your kind.’

  Staps narrowed his eyes momentarily. ‘My kind?’

  ‘Those who believe as you do. The comrades who share your beliefs and work with you to oppose me.’

  Staps shook his head wearily. ‘I told your interrogators, there is no one else. What I did, I did alone.’

  ‘But you say you did it for all Germans?’

  ‘One man may act for the benefit of all.’

  ‘But surely it is arrogant for you to assume you know what is of benefit to all? That is if you are speaking the truth about acting alone.’

  ‘It is no more arrogant for me to assume that than for you to assume that you rule for the benefit of your subjects, and all those who live under the sway of France. Who is to say that one man knows better than another, be he an emperor or a humble clerk?’

  Rapp stirred at the last remark and bunched his fists as he took a step towards the prisoner. Napoleon glanced at him and waved him away, then leaned back and thought for a moment.

  ‘If I accept that you did act alone, now that you have been apprehended the threat to me has ended. Provided that I do not make a martyr of you.’

  Staps looked at Napoleon curiously. ‘You would let me live?’

  ‘I could,’ Napoleon replied. ‘Provided that you made a public apology for your act.’

  ‘An apology?’

  ‘You would have to admit that what you did was wrong. An act of temporary madness perhaps. And now you have seen things more clearly you realise that your action was foolhardy and without just cause. If you would say that in public then I would spare your life and have you returned to your home to live out your life in peace.’

  Staps laughed, then winced and coughed, spraying flecks of blood across Napoleon’s breeches. A minute passed before the pain subsided enough for him to speak again. ‘And you would make an example of me. Living proof of your magnanimity.’

  ‘Why not? That’s what it is,’ Napoleon replied tersely. ‘I offer you life.’

  ‘You offer me shame, sire. You offer me the coward’s way out. I would rather die.’

  ‘Then you are a fool indeed. Where is the logic in choosing death over life?’

  ‘I did not act from logic, sire, but principle. Where is the value of principle if a man refuses to place his faith in it, come what may?’

  Napoleon raised his hands. ‘Enough!’ He paused and took a deep breath before he continued in as calm a tone as he could manage.‘Staps, I must tell you that you have impressed me. You have as much courage as the bravest of my soldiers. I do not want to put an end to a life with as much promise as yours. It would be a waste. All I require is an apology. Here and now. I will not even ask for y
ou to make it in public. Then you can return to your home.’

  ‘Sire, I am honour bound to tell you that I cannot return home. Not while you live. I do not want your pardon. I only regret having failed in my attempt to kill you.’

  ‘Then you leave me no choice,’ Napoleon replied in frustration. ‘I must have you executed. But know this, it is by your will that you shall die. If you truly desire death, then death you shall have.’

  Staps leaned forward with an earnest expression and a fierce light burned in his eyes. ‘Sire, you must believe that I want to live. I want to live, and find love, and marry and have children, and die in peaceful old age. As do other men. I can assure you I choose death as a last resort.’

  ‘Then choose life instead, you young fool! I offer it to you, here and now. What more would you have of me?’

  Staps leaned back in his chair and was silent a moment before he continued in a flat tone. ‘I will choose life, if you promise to free the German states. If you swear, by all that is holy to you, to end your wars in Europe.’ Staps raised his chin. ‘If you agree to that, then I will accept your pardon.’

  Napoleon’s jaw sagged for an instant before he recovered from the young man’s hubris. ‘You will accept my pardon? Well, that’s uncommonly generous of you, I must say.’ He turned to Rapp and asked rhetorically, ‘Did you hear that?’

  ‘I heard, sire. Obviously my lads have failed to beat the spirit out of him. Let me try to teach him some manners, sire.’

  ‘What is the point? He is mad. Quite mad.’

  Staps shook his head. ‘Not mad, sire. What other reasonable course of action is left to a man when he is opposed by such might as you command? I have committed my life to ending yours. Nothing will change that.’

  Napoleon sat back and stroked his cheek wearily. He could not help admiring the strength of the young man’s convictions, however much he disagreed with them. The youth was attractive and obviously thoughtful and intelligent. Not so intelligent, however, that he could be swayed by Napoleon’s offer to spare him. It was a tragedy that the qualities that most recommended him were the very ones that now condemned him. Napoleon sighed.