The Army suited them better. They were fit and restless and too intelligent for their own good. The Army had harnessed that energy and capability, pushing them into the Royal Corps of Engineers and shoving a bit more training down their throats before flinging them out on the battlefield.

For the most part they'd had as good a time as one could in a war. They'd managed to explode a healthy portion of Napoleon's artillery and supplies — done with more naughty glee than with serious patriotic fervor, but the munitions didn’t know the difference. Good fun, all in all.

Until this nightmare of a siege. Lord Wellington wanted Burgos Castle taken intact, for it was strategically placed in the supply line for the troops. That meant Lysander and Theo couldn't simply plant charges and run laughing into the night.

Instead, they'd been ordered to tunnel beneath the walls. The first two tunnels had collapsed, losing even more men. Lysander and Theo had tried to explain to their superior that the soil was all wrong. Burgos, built on the convergence of two rivers, had fine waterborne soils, loose and gravelly. However, their immediate commander, Lieutenant Colonel Whitson (a man who had purchased his commission and had likely never touched any tool more common than a fine riding crop) informed them if they knew so much they should take themselves off to the tunnel and supervise the ignorant miners, who were likely doing something wrong, the simpletons.

Down into the tunnel they went. Their commander clearly thought them to be indolent dandies, and that a little dirt would serve them right for arguing his orders. Frustrated but without recourse, Theo and Zander had grabbed shovels and descended.

Theo's had broken on the damp soil and now they shared Lysander's, working side by side with miners, lads sent to the Corps of Engineers for their experience in the mines of Northern England, in Staffordshire and Yorkshire and the like. These stolid fellows were better company than old Witless anyway.

Theo was panting. He tossed the shovel back Zander's way. "I'd swear this soil is getting heavier by the moment!"

Heavier? Zander pressed a palm to the earthen wall of the tunnel. His hand came away wet. He looked at Theo with a frown. "I think it's raining again."

Normally, the officers of the Royal Corps of Engineers would note dangerous weather and pull the men from the tunnel. However, this time two of the three remaining officers were in the tunnel.

Theo swore. "Bastard! What, is it time for his bloody nap?"

Zander wasted no time damning old Witless. He turned and called down the line. "Out! Fast as you can, lads! Run!"

They ran, slipping in the muddy water swiftly accumulating in a widening stream down the tunnel. They weren’t fast enough. With a sickening, sliding rumble, the tunnel began to collapse.