The Phoenix King

A once mighty ruler plans his return to power.

He was staring Northwards as the sun was starting to set. The whole sky was orange, the sea was a deep purple and the waves gently stroked the shoreline before returning to the great mass from whence they came. The island was silent, except for the sea and the sound of a few sea birds making their way back to their nests for the night. The temperature was still warm, which was to be expected in the Mediterranean, and the heat felt comforting like a blanket on the skin. Yes the island of Elba was a tropical paradise for anyone who came to visit, not for him though, this island for him was a prison. He had been banished here three hundred days ago that day and everyday felt like a twist of the knife that had been lodged right in his back. He clenched his fists at the thought of it. He then lifted both hands up on the balcony and started to restlessly move his fingers. It had taken the whole of Europe to overthrow him and even then it was only when his own forces had turned against him that he had fallen to the allied powers. He smirked, It was the sixth time they had all had to group together before they had managed to take me down.

 

He had managed to build a larger empire than his hero Charlemagne, the largest in the world until now in fact and if he had just stayed out of Russia he would still be on the throne in his one true love of his life, Paris. He looked down and bit in to his bottom lip. How could he have known that they would have played such rotten tricks on him and his men; they more or less committed economic suicide to stop his men from taking their country. As soon as they had crossed the Russian border there was almost no one to be found. Crops were burned before them and the water had been made undrinkable. Disease had broken out amongst his men and had decimated them. Every morning before they left off they would attempt to bury the dead, well the ones that had not been ravaged by wolves during the night anyway. He shuddered at the thought of it. They could barely sleep anyway because during the nights there would be random attacks by several Russians, before they would return in to the shadows. They were nothing but rats, dirty stinking, wretched rats. He banged his fist against the balcony railing in an angry out burst. “It had the men all worked up. They would never have had the courage to face me directly; they knew he would have torn them all in half.”

 

He said to himself quietly. He had made his way across Russia so fast his men had to even pour water on his carriages wheels to stop them burning up. That was unknown in the world of war. Even when they had stormed the capital they had been basically handed it on a silver platter. There was no fighting at all and he had even slept in the Kremlin that night. It was only when he had let his guard down that the rats once again came out of hiding and struck, burning all their food storages to the ground and destroying their means to get water. The fires were so many and so bright that you could have read easily without use of a candle. It was utter madness. He had many of the caught arsonists tortured and interrogated but no matter how many of them they caught the next night there would be more fires still. They would have rather all starved than let us take the city. He had to give it to those Russians. They were courageous. They were only there for a few weeks before they had to give up and go home. His soldiers were starving in the streets and there was no way they could have kept it. He had gone on ahead back to Paris, just in time as it had turned out, and that was when the real killing had begun. Russians had chased his men out the country. The ones they had captured burnt or skinned alive. The lucky ones were just left naked in the snow to freeze to death. If only his countrymen have even attempted something like that when the allies had stormed in to Paris, but no. They had basically just let them in hassle free. They may have well even laid a carpet down for their entry. If he hadn’t led his army on the offensive after the revolution France would have been preyed on by the other countries like lambs by wolves in its weakened state. He knew he should not have been too harsh on them; many years of war can do that to a populace. They had just become tired of it all. They must all be realizing their mistake of failing him now. From what he had heard the new Bourbon on the throne had been done nothing but piss off his subjects. Stupid inbred twit he thought as he spat on to the ground. If that Louis didn’t watch out he would end up with his head off like the last king before him. France is like a beehive and you only have to push it so much before the bees would strike. He had even heard that he had cut the Military’s pension. How stupid can you get when you start pissing off the only people that stop your head getting sliced from your neck. He was doing it all wrong. Why would he even think of going back to the “good old days” when they had resulted in so much bloodshed.

 

He looked around. Yes he had done so well with Elba. He had turned the place around since he had got here. He had got the place working like clockwork and the people here adored him. It was easy though this place was a playground compared to when he had to run the whole of Europe. The allies had given him the title of emperor of Elba to ridicule him. He had become a laughing stock since his defeat, but he knew he was going to have the last laugh soon. When he had first arrived he was hoping that his wife Marie Louise would have joined him here with his son, but the letters had stopped coming and last he had heard she had been sleeping with the Austrian general Count Von Neipperg. He had fought against him before on the battleground where he had lost an eye. If he knew what the future had for him he would have ordered his men to take the other one too. He missed his son. He was supposed to become the next ruler of his empire after he had gone. Marrying Marie, who was Emperor Francis of Austria’s daughter, was meant to have kept an alliance between them both if things were to go sour but even he had turned against him when the allies came towards Paris. Yes he was in a sad state of affairs now that he had no one. He didn’t even have Josephine to console him now that she was dead. He had forsaken her and cast her aside for Marie. In his defense he needed an heir and Josephine in her age had become barren and unable to do so, but without Josephine his luck had changed. When he was with her there was no battle too tough and no enemy too rough, he was unstoppable. She truly was his good luck charm. She had died of pneumonia the poor thing after he had been exiled here. He wished that he could have told her his true feelings before she went. That would eat at him for the rest of his days. A tear started to trickle down his cheek and he grabbed a handkercheif and he hastily mopped it up and started to pace back and forwards around the floor.

 

He felt like an animal in a cage. He almost wished the poison he tried to take back in France had worked; anything would be better than the way he was feeling now. He had always kept the poison on his person since he had a close encounter to being captured in Russia, but overtime it had lost its potency. He had been found lying in a heap and had been brought back from the jaws of death to be sent to this hell hole. The perfect death for him would have been in battle, then he truly would be remembered as Napoleon the great. His last few battles he had been reckless trying to achieve his death in combat, but no matter what he did the bullets would always just miss him. Several times cannonballs had wiped out men either side of him leaving him unharmed. It gave him the feeling that god was on his side and that he must still have plans for him as of yet.  He had no one left in the world. Even his siblings never came to see him. He turned and made his way back inside where he picked up a bottle of wine from his cabinet and poured himself a glass and took a hearty mouthful. He grimaced at the taste of it. Such horrible quality he thought to himself. They just don’t make half as good wine as they do back in France. He would have had some imported but money had started to get pretty tight. He was promised a pension if he abdicated but since he had arrived in Elba he hadn’t seen a single franc. He had kept his end of the bargain he would have thought they would have had the common courtesy to keep theirs. They must truly not think of him as a threat anymore in that case. They had sent a British officer Neil Campbell to look over him while he was here. A nice man but he was a bit simple. He always asked him questions about his time being emperor and battle strategy. Napoleon imagined he must have been told to snoop and get as much information out of him as he could. It was probably the only reason he was kept alive in the first place. A brain like his only comes around once a century or so. On the battle field there was no one that could have a slightest chance against his genius. He missed the battlefield, that truly where he belonged; not here in Elba getting fat of commoner food and terrible excuses of cheap wine. He breathed in through his nose and could almost imagine the smell of gunpowder again. While Neil Campbell had been getting information of him Napoleon had been doing some fishing of his own. He knew that there were hardly any British naval ships in the sea between here and France. As dim as he was Neil had picked up at some point he had given away a bit too much information and would hardly answer him now.

 

There was only one person he had seen from home, Tellyrand. He had come over unexpectedly to see Napoleon a couple of weeks ago to tell him that the country had gone to crap in his absence. Napoleon had always despised Tellyrand and thought of him as a human incarnation of a snake, lying in wait to strike when it was most unexpected. Napoleon had been betrayed by him many times in the past, so always took what he said now with a pinch of salt. A s**t in silk stockings he had called him once. He chuckled at the memory. He admitted it was very unwise to have messed with him in the end. While Napoleon was out of Paris Tellyrand had been making deals with the allies. Napoleon supposed that it must have been a case of the grass always being greener on the other side and now that he was dwelling in Loui’s pastures he now figured out that they were not so great after all.  Tellyrand had said it to him several times in his visit that the French people needed him. Napoleon never said anything at the time because if he were to pull this brilliant escape off he would need as much of the element of surprise as he could possibly muster. Neil had gone across the sea to Italy for business. Napoleon had taken it that business was in fact a secret mistress he had over there, but who knows; it could have been both. It didn’t matter though, the fact of the matter was that he was now left unguarded. Now was the perfect time to make his escape, soon his empires eagles will once again be flying on his flags. This thought sent a jolt of energy through his body and he downed the last of his wine and slammed the glass on the table. There was no time to lose. He raced down the corridor and took a sharp left and banged hard against a wooden door in his staffs quarters. After a while a tired looking man opened the door while yawning. “Yes emperor?” The man asked.

 

“Yes Joseph come with me now on some urgent business and I mean now.” Joseph nodded and closed the door and a few seconds later the door was reopened and he stood fully dressed in his guard uniform. “Good Joseph, great time, now follow me.” Napoleon said.

 

“Where are we going sir?” Joseph enquired.

 

They both arrived on the harbor. It had been a long run to get there and they were both out of breath. “Are you going to tell me what you want yet sir? I can do many things, but sadly reading minds is not one of them”.

 

Napoleon pointed at the largest ship at the dock “I want you to rally the men. I want this ship disguised to look like a British ship by the morning. I even want you to bring me the largest Union jack flag you can possible make to wave from the mast.”

 

 Joseph had a look of confusion on his face “Whatever for sir?”

 

Napoleon smiled cheekily and said “Because Joseph, We are going to take this ship straight past the British fleet and dock in the Southern most part of France. Then I will march on Paris and re take my throne.”

 

Joseph’s face dropped into one of a mix of horror and disbelief and he shakily said “No way sir? You must be mad.”

 

Napoleon threw his head back, laughed heartily and said“ No Joseph, I am your emperor.”