Michael
Michael very much preferred the comforts of a well-maintained home to the harshness of nature. It wasn’t like he hated being on the road, but a comfortable chair was still preferable, like the one he was sitting in right now waiting for the meeting to start. Tara was sitting next to him with a shit-eating grin.
“Do you have something to tell me, Tara?” Michael asked her with a slight smile.
“Nono, I am just gloating. Don’t even pay me any attention,” she replied. He had already received a punch in the gut from her the moment he told her the story. With that out of her system, she had turned to what she was doing now. It was neither nice nor mature, but Michael couldn’t blame her if it helped her get over the pain of the last two years.
“Alright, I will be ignoring you then,” he replied and turned back to the letter in front of him.
Tara seems to be happy with that. She had been jovial since her father and Michael returned as if a weight had dropped from her shoulders. It probably helped that Lord Grim had taken up his duties again in the last two days. It wasn’t only Tara either, the mood in the whole castle notably improved and even Aunt Helena had emerged from her chambers. She was cold towards Michael, for which he didn’t blame her either.
Right now, little of that mattered. He had already publicly admitted fault and from here the news would travel. Mending his private and diplomatic relationships would take time and effort. He would start right here in the meeting with Lord Grim, his knights, and nobles.
The room was strangely quiet as everyone who entered simply sat down and at most whispered with their neighbors.
“Let us begin,” Lord Grim spoke up and silenced the whispers.
He stood from his highchair and let his gaze wander over his vassals and allies.
“Firstly, we have confirmed that there is a credible threat coming from the Rangda. Through a hidden message, we have learned that the tribes are meeting to discuss a possible Kirhen, which is a unified attack on us.”
The nobles of Grent in particular seemed concerned about this news. Most of the rest knew already after all.
“We have a specialized team watching the enemy which will inform us about the enemy's decision and their movement. Nevertheless, we will have to start our preparations now and not later. It is vital that the information that we know doesn’t reach the barbarians so keep this information to only those who need it and can keep it.”
“What kind of strength can we expect from them?” one of the Grent nobles asked.
“That depends on how many of the bigger clans join. If they all come then we might be faced with two to three thousand warriors,” Lord Grim replied sternly.
The private discussions became louder until Tara asked, “How many do we have?”
Sir Helbrect cleared his throat to gain the assembly’s attention. “House Grim can muster around one-hundred-and-fifty men-at-arms and knights combined. We should be able to raise a few hundred more in militias and levies if we have to.”
It was a good number of trained soldiers, even with them certainly having had some losses recently. Both House Rowan and Grim could field many more than most other counts due to their military focus. Michael could even bring more than Duke Wallsten if they both only raised their houseguards.
He refocused on the discussion and just caught the tail end of a quiet discussion between the Grent nobility. A baron named Willbrok Namer was the one speaking for the rest. He was an older man, maybe in his late fifties, with greying hair and a determined face.
“The nobles can match that number, though with more parts levies than knights and men-at-arms,” he said. “You have our full support, milord.”
Lord Grim nodded in thanks. These men were used to aggression from the West and would not shirk away from putting their full weight behind their liege in defense of their property. At least now that he wasn’t an alleged kinslayer anymore.
“What kind of support can we expect from you, Lord Rowan?” his uncle turned to Michael.
“The knights I have already brought, of course. They will also help by hunting down monster nests while we wait and prepare. I have also already sent a messenger home to order my House guard to join us here,” Michael explained. His uncle knew all this already, so he was explaining it to the rest of the assembly rather than him.
“The number of men-at-arms that we can afford to send should be around three-hundred-and-fifty. Due to most of our augmenters being here, we can’t send more.”
“Those are all trained soldiers and not levies, right?” Lord Grim followed up.
Michael nodded, “Yes, if the situation proves to be critical, and if we have enough time, I will call on my banners and also raise levies to support. With us not even knowing if an attack is coming and how strong it will be, I can’t justify either to my nobles and citizens to call them to arms right now.”
There was also the point that he didn’t want his nobles to hang around here waiting and asking questions due to the Dittrich situation. Having a civil war right when the Rangda attack wouldn’t be optimal
“Releasing all your serfs must make it harder to raise levies anyway,” one of the nobles commented.
“It does, but it also means more money and workforce to raise men-at-arms,” Michael countered. It was somewhat a lie as the positive effect of releasing his serfs was still growing and the additional taxes didn’t have a huge impact on military spending.
“That won’t be nearly enough to face them,” Sir Helbrect concluded. “If we are generous, we will reach something barely over one thousand men, with levies mind you. It will prove difficult against an army of twice or thrice that size in hardened barbarians.”
“Our knights should outclass their augmenters in general though,” Sir Zeke noted.
“Yes, but they also have mages which will probably negate that advantage. I am aware that we will have two ourselves, but they will have multiple times that number,” the knight commander pointed out with a grim expression. “It would be a different story if we had some Idas Spellbreakers here, but the closest one would be the one stationed with Duke Wallsten.”
“Then shouldn’t we ask the duke for assistance?” Tara asked.
“Praanen is even farther away than Reen. It will take more than a week to get a messenger there, then a while for them to muster, and at least three weeks to march here on foot. We will of course request assistance but doing so preemptively without confirmation of an attack coming would cost our liege a fortune,” Lord Grim explained.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“But we are risking everything with hesitancy! Isn’t it better to be safe instead of trying to avoid some cost?”
“We are sending regular updates to Praanen, but how Duke Wallsten reacts to them is his decision. I am not saying that we do not want his support just that we can’t ask for it until we have a confirmed threat,” the count clarified, and Tara now seemed to understand. It was economics and politics. Vassals had the right to call on their liege for protection, but doing so without a threat manifesting could have dire political and economic consequences.
Michael of course hoped that Duke Wallsten would follow his example and preemptively come to their aid. He was pretty confident that the duke would come if the situation in his counties allowed it.
Sir Helbrect took up the conversation again as he turned back to Michael. “When can we expect your reinforcements, milord?”
“With the travel time of the messenger and the army, I would say three weeks give or take depending on the weather. It would help if you could provide some guides to welcome them at the border and guide them here.” The knight nodded appreciatively.
“That should be good enough if the Rangda are still deliberating.”
The meeting continued with strategy discussions, logistics, and similar things for two hours.
Tara yawned loudly as they exited the chamber together. “That logistics debate nearly put me to sleep,” she complained.
“Logistics is the most important part of any military operation. You can have a million soldiers but if you can’t feed them then you won’t have an army for long,” Michael replied while smirking.
“Yeah, sure but I would prefer it if I didn’t have to be there when they plan that,” Tara rambled on. “I really need to get some action. You wanna come along on a little hunt?”
That isn’t such a bad idea, Michael thought. He didn’t really have anything to do here anyway. His uncle was mostly busy catching up with the happenings in his land and reinstating his authority, but Michael was just sitting around and waiting for news.
“Sure, but we shouldn’t be gone too long. Also, I have one more thing to do before.”
“Yeah, fine. I am in no hurry,” Tara shrugged.
“Okay, I shouldn’t need more than an hour or two,” Michael agreed.
“Alright, I will get everything organized and we meet in the courtyard in exactly two hours,” Tara confirmed their plan and then quickly left him behind.
- Half an hour later in a remote chamber -
“He should wake up in a few seconds,” Pan explained and took a step back from the bed.
Michael looked down on Dittrich as he began to stir. The knight wasn’t bound but Michael’s guard stood around him with disdain clear on their faces.
“What? Where am I?” Dittrich groaned as he tried to shake away the dizziness of the alchemical concoction Pan had fed him.
“You are in Greyhold, Dittrich,” Michael said calmly from the foot of the bed.
Dittrich instantly tensed up as he heard Michael’s voice and blinked until the count became focused.
“Why am I alive?”
“Why shouldn’t you be?”
“Don’t play games with me, devil spawn!” Dittrich spat, which earned him a slap from Sir Zeke. He growled at the knight and wanted to get up, but a blade came to rest on his chest.
Sir Silas looked at him and said, “Give me a reason.”
Dittrich slowly eased back into the pillow with a hate-filled gaze at the other knights.
“Why am I still alive?” he repeated the question.
“Because you still have value,” Michael replied. “Arguably more than before you tried to kill me.”
“Now I have a question for you. Your father ordered you to kill me. Who else was part of that conspiracy?”
Dittrich chuckled dryly. “There is no conspiracy. I did all this on my own, out of my interests, and with no order from anyone. Wanted to kill you for years now and when I had the chance I took it.”
“That is a different story than you told me in the forest.”
“I never said anything else,” the knight reiterated.
“Playing it like this won’t save you nor will it save your house. Your family is done that is a fact, but you can still change your own fate.”
“They had nothing to do with this. I don’t know what you want from me.” Dittrich glared at Michael. He was surprised that the knight was denying everything, he would have picked Dittrich to be a person to flip on anyone to save his skin.
“Even if you were telling the truth, which you are not. I will use your attempt to dismantle the noble faction. Staying loyal to them is standing on the losing side of history,” Michael explained but the knight wouldn’t have it.
“You can’t do that! The other nobles will never accept such an act of tyranny!”
“We will see about that. Your assassination attempt gives me a lot of leeway but I think you will need more time to come to that realization. Either way, I thank you for your assistance, Dittrich.”
Michael turned around and walked toward the door.
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT! COME BACK HERE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”
His screams followed Michael as he left the room. It would take his guards a little effort to get Dittrich to swallow the next batch of narcotics and Michael didn’t have to see that.
- Later in the courtyard –
Michael stood in the courtyard and watched as the horses were being checked a final time by their escort. Tara was with her horse a few meters away, the animal looked quite skittish.
“Milord, I can’t say that I approve of this,” Sir Zeke said. Michael had decided only to take Silas and Erhen with him to the dismay of the veteran knight.
“So, you have told me. Having these two and the knight of Grim with us will be sufficient. I need you to organize our hunting expeditions.”
“At least take Sir Lance with you as well,” Zeke pleaded.
“No, we will be more useful joining the other knights,” Michael replied and this time the gave the knight a look that told him to drop it. He had his reasons for taking these two.
“Very well. Please be careful, milord,” Zeke finally conceded.
“I always am.”
Michael could see from the twitch of Zeke’s face that he didn’t agree as always. The young count smirked a little as he turned away to join his cousin by the horses. The knight was used to Michael being not the easiest person to guard when outside of the castle.
“Any specific target for our hunt?” Michael asked as he stepped next to Tara and her horse.
“Oh yes. We are going north. There is something I want to show you,” Tara replied, her eyes twinkling with excitement.
Michael narrowed his eyes at the happy girl with a follow-up question, “What exactly?”
“Would ruin the surprise a little if I just told you, wouldn’t it?”
“I do like surprises about as much as the next person but please don’t tell me it is something like a four-skull monster to hunt,” Michael groaned.
“Oh, nono. It is nothing dangerous. Well, at least if you aren’t being stupid, it isn’t.” Tara tapped her chin as if she was deliberating on whether what she wanted to show Michael was actually dangerous or not.
“This is gonna be great. Maybe I should take more guards with me after all.”
“Don’t be such a wuss, Michael! If we take too many people then we won’t see them,” Tara chided him in good humor, but all Michael could think was, Them?
“Fine, I am gonna trust you this once,” Michael teased her and began making his way over to his horse.
“What do you mean this once?” Tara called after him, but he simply smiled and kept walking.
Erhen and Silas were waiting for him on his horse. The younger knight had a bow slung over his shoulder and kept glancing nervously at Michael.
“Ah, I see you have taken my recommendation,” Michael commented, and Erhen nodded. Silas seemed to have no reaction to that and was mostly looking bored.
“Then let's get going,” Michael ordered and grabbed his saddle to sit up. This was when he noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of a saddle bag.
He pulled it out and quickly glanced at the content before anyone could notice.
Our operatives have gained entry into the enemy camp. Will continue to observe and report.
- Lynx -
So, they made it, Michael thought. This would have obviously happened a while ago due to the time the message took. Probably not as long as one would expect with Lynx’s mysterious ways of doing things, though.
Michael just hoped that everything would go well and that Eydis would manage to maintain her cover. Of course, there was also the part of him that was praying for her to remain loyal to him. He didn’t know if he could do it himself if he were in her situation, but he could wish for it, nonetheless.
“Come on, Michael,” Tara came to a stop next to him with her horse. “If you take any longer then we won’t get anywhere before it gets dark.”
Michael quickly swung himself into his saddle and motioned for her to get going.
This hunt would hopefully get his mind off Eydis’s situation and help him relax.
“May Idas, the Mother, and Father all be with you, my friend,” Michael mumbled under his breath while grabbing his sun pendant. It probably was in bad faith to speak of these different gods in the same sentence, but he wanted her to have all the aid she could get.