Part 12, Chapters 9-16 Summary

Pierre is taken to a guarded room and treated with hostility. On the following day he finds out that all the prisoners, including himself, are charged with arson. More fires break out and the prisoners are moved. Walking through the streets of Moscow, Pierre can hardly breathe, so suffocating is the smoke. The prisoners wait four days in a coach-house, possibly for execution. Up to this point, Pierre has not revealed his name to his captors, but he finally does so when he's brought before Davoust, who recognizes him. Pierre is to be condemned to death. The prisoners are taken to a meadow to be executed. Eight of them are shot, but the soldiers doing the executions can hardly do it. The sharpshooter who is to shoot Pierre is very young, and he gets sick and weak before he...