Wellington must call on the only man brave and ruthless enough to win at any cost—Richard Sharpe.

Only a year after its stunning victory at Talavera in July of 1809, Wellington's Peninsular army—vastly outnumbered, its coffers empty—is on the brink of collapse. The Spanish government has fallen, and the last Spanish armies have been crushed by the French. But Wellington has one hope left: in the dangerous Portuguese hills lies a fortune in gold, enough gold perhaps to turn the Peninsular War around. And he knows of one fighting man capable of stealing it: Captain Richard Sharpe of the South Essex Regiment. Sharpe embarks on a secret mission that pits him against the French army; El Católico, the fanatical Spanish guerrilla leader; and El Católico's lover, the beautiful but deadly Teresa.

This fifth novel in the bestselling historical fiction series takes the charismatic Richard Sharpe all the way from Talavera to the glory of Waterloo, on a mission that is unlike any form of warfare he has known in his long and embattled career as a soldier fighting his way up through the ranks. But Sharpe is determined to succeed—even if it means turning against his own side.