Book excerpt: BOOK TWO OF THE WYNFIELD SERIES From the chaos of an extensive slum known as Bermondsey, Wynfield finds himself in the Crimea where he experiences a military campaign that makes Bermondsey look orderly. The spring of 1854 was filled with violence, deceit, and bereavement, and marked the end of Wynfield's reign as the king of the Bermondsey slums. His memory shattered and his perception of reality distorted, he falls under the influence of an unlikely patron-the ruthless Lord Lucan. Known to his Irish tenants as "the exterminator," Lucan plans to mold his ward into a brainwashed ally for his upcoming Crimean campaign. While in the company of some frightfully incompetent and arrogant generals, Wynfield travels to the Crimea as a junior officer in the British cavalry. There he catches a glimpse of the personal war between Lords Lucan and Cardigan, which results in the blunder known as the Charge of the Light Brigade, and discovers the darker side of the saintly Florence Nightingale. Short-lived alliances with comrades who would never make it home to England, and haphazard sexual encounters with women he would never see again, challenge Wynfield's innate sense of loyalty. Having seen so many heroes trampled and so many cowards exalted, Wynfield must choose sides and, in so doing, shape the course of the rest of his life.