Sharpe's Enemy

Sharpe's Enemy: Richard Sharpe and the Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812 is the fifteenth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1984. The story is set in 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars. Plot summary In the winter of 1812, a band of deserters from all the armies of the Peninsular War - French, British, Spanish and Portuguese - descends on the isolated hamlet of Adrados, on the Spanish-Portuguese border, led by Pot-au-Feu (Sergeant Deron, formerly Marshal Soult's chef). They slaughter the residents, sparing a number of women on pilgrimage to a convent in the village, including Lady Farthingdale and Madame Dubreton, the English-born wife of a French colonel of cavalry. Major General Nairn sends Richard Sharpe, recently promoted to the rank of major by the prince regent who had followed his exploits with admiration, to deliver the ransom demanded for Lady Farthingdale. Upon reaching Adrados, they encounter French Colonel Dubreton and his sergeant on a similar mission, to free Dubreton's wife. When they meet with "Maréchal" (Marshal) Pot-au-Feu, Sharpe is appalled to discover that Obadiah Hakeswill, his longtime bitter enemy (beginning from Sharpe's Tiger), is Pot-au-Feu's "colonel". They see both ladies are safe and deliver the ransom, but Hakeswill informs them that the money only safeguards the women's virtue, and that they must continue making payments. Colonel and Madame Dubreton are careful to conceal their connection from the kidnappers. Sharpe notes that Adrados is extremely defensible, with a castle, a watchtower and a convent. Madame Dubreton gives Sharpe a clue that she is being held in the convent. Sharpe proposes to take the Light Company and two companies of the 60th American Rifles to make a sneak attack on the watchtower and the convent to free and protect the ladies until Colonel Kinney and his 113th Fusilier Regiment arrive to capture or kill the deserters. Sharpe chooses Christmas Eve for the attack, as the gang will almost certainly be drunk. Nairn foists Captain Gilliland and his unwanted troop of "Rocket Cavalry" onto Sharpe. The Prince Regent thinks rocket artillery is a marvelous idea and wants it field tested; Sharpe finds the rockets to be wildly inaccurate.