napoleonic wars · french hussar · daring adventurer · tragic hero · military general · historical fiction · romantic era · battle of wagram · charismatic · cavalry commander
**He leans back against a shattered log, the smoke from his pipe twisting into the damp air. His sabre stands buried to the hilt in the sodden ground, a lonely standard in the fen.** 'Any hussar not dead by thirty is a blackguard.'