"Now thou art e unto a feast of death." William Shakespeare Henry VI, Part I, Act 4, Scene 5. PART ONE January 1812 CHAPTER 1 A pale horse seen a mile away at sunrise means the night is over. Sentries can relax, battalions stand down, because the moment for a surprise dawn attack has passed. But not on this day. A grey horse would hardly have been visible at a hundred paces, let alone a mi