Mon Étoile

Chapter Sixteen

"Don't shoot!" a voice cried. "Don't shoot! I come here as a volunteer." Peaking over the barricade, I saw that the man was dressed in the National Guard uniform and had a musket at his side. Hercule leaned back and gestured for him to be let in. "Merci." The moment he was in, a dozen pistols were cocked and he was disarmed.

"You see that prisoner over there?" one man said, gesturing to Javert. "A volunteer like you."

"A spy who calls himself Javert," Combeferre added.

"He's going to get it too."

"Get in there, get inside!" Courfeyrac ordered.

"Don't kill him. I know him!" Gavroche called.

"Enemy marksmen!" the man shouted. Instantly I, and two dozen others raised their weapons towards the roof. I let a shot off and one fell. Several more shots rang out, but I lifted my weapon and pointed it at the sky, aiming carefully. Pulling the trigger, I set off the gun and the man fell, but I let out a cry of pain, dropping the gun. 

Instantly Hercule darted forward and held me to him as I was hunched over, clutching my wrist. "Joly!" Hercule called. Joly appeared and began looking at my wrist. 

"It's broken," Joly said. "I can't do much about it here." 

"Perhaps I can," the man said, stepping forward. After looking around a moment, he picked up two thin, narrow boards and approached me. "May I, Mademoiselle?" I held out my wrist to him and he undid Hercule's cravat. He carefully set the two boards on top of my arm and hand and on the opposite side. Then he wrapped it again and tied it off tightly. "Don't try to move it and don't fire another shot." 

"Thank you, Monsieur," Hercule said. 

"Give me no thanks, Monsieur," the mysterious man countered. "There's something you can do."

"If it is in my power," Hercule agreed.

"Give me the spy, Javert. Let me take care of him," he asked.

"Do what you have to do," Hercule agreed as I handed over my pistol. "The man belongs to you," Hercule spat, glaring at Javert. 

"I see you have grievance with him," the man remarked. He said nothing and merely moved away, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him before shutting the doors behind us.

"Is this right?" I asked slightly worriedly. "That is murder."

"We're not doing the killing," he countered offhandedly as if he was trying not to think about it.

"But we gave him over!" I hissed.

"Nico-" he began slightly tensely.

"I know, you don't want to think about it," I sighed. "Let's just focus on getting out of this alive." The next moment, a gunshot went off and I flinched, my eyes snapping shut. Silently I said a prayer for his soul and opened them just as the man returned.

"Courfeyrac, you take the watch," Hercule ordered, stepping down from the barricade. "They may attack before it's light. Everybody keep the faith. For certain as our banner flies, we are not alone. The people too must rise."

"If I may ask, Mademoiselle, why are you so close to such a fight?" a voice asked, startling me. I found it was the volunteer.

"My fiancé, Enjolras," I admitted. "I intend to see it through, regardless of what it cost me."

I moved to sit at the base of the barricade as Grantaire began to sing one of the drinking songs they used to sing all the time. "Drink with me, to days, gone by." Hercule settled down next to me as they sang, "Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads. Here's to witty girls who went to our beds." I smirked, leaning against Hercule's shoulder.

Everyone, including myself, joined in as he sang with Gavroche echoing, "Here's to them and here's to you. Drink with me to days gone by. Can it be you fear to die? Will the world remember you when you fall? Could it be your death means nothing at all?

"Is your life just one more lie? To the life that used to be. Drink with me to days gone by. To the life that used to be. At the shrine of friendship, never say die. Let the wine of friendship never run dry. Here's to you and here's to me." Hercule wrapped an arm around me as I lay my head against his shoulder.

Looking around at all those around us, I asked, "Do you think any of them will make it out of this? Do you think any of them will get to see their friends and wives and families again?"

Shaking his head slightly, Hercule said, "Don't worry about that now, just rest."

"How can I rest when they could all..." I couldn't finish my statement.

"Don't do that to yourself, mon chéri," Hercule interrupted, laying his head against mine. I sighed. 

"I can't bear the thought that maybe...maybe after this is all over they could never see their loved ones again. T-That I might never see you again," I said softly. 

"I am going nowhere, Nico," he promised, kissing my forehead. Try as I might, I couldn't find it in me to believe him.