Mira
“Deep breaths, Mira. Remember, people take you more seriously if you are calm and polite,” Mira said to herself while standing around the corner to Duke Wulfen’s office. She did just that and then turned around the corner with a confident stride.
Two knights of House Wulfen stood guard, and their eyes locked on the princess the moment she came into sight. After bowing the one on the right asked, “The Duke has been expecting you, Your Highness.”
Mira nodded, doing her best to appear regal.
“I will announce you. Please follow me,” the knight replied, bowing again and then vanishing into the office.
“Wait here,” Mira ordered Sir Antreos and then entered the office.
The office was a large room, one side covered with shelves, the other by a large tapestry depicting a map of the kingdom. A seating area with a small table and two couches stood to her right and a fine carpet covered the ground.
None of this was of much interest to the princess though, she had been in this room before if not that often. She was much more distracted by concentrating on her expression and stride toward Duke Wulfen.
The man was standing behind a massive oak table. It was filled with paperwork and letters but still orderly. Behind him was a large glass window that let light into the room.
The knight quickly announced Mira and then left as she crossed the room slowly.
Duke Wulfen gave her his full attention from the moment she entered. As she approached, she could see that he had an unfinished letter in front of him, but it seemed forgotten now.
“Princess, I thank you for taking some time for me,” Duke Wulfen started as she sat down.
“Of course. In my brother's absence, you keep the kingdom running, and I assume this is important,” Mira replied with a polite smile.
“Oh, it isn’t very important, I am sorry if I have worried you, Your Highness. I was just wondering about the multiple messengers that have left the palace in quite a hurry in the last few days. The guards told me that they had permits granted by you, so I thought it might be something important after all,” Duke Wulfen mirrored Mira’s smile.
Of course, he would like to know. The news of the impending Rangda invasion had reached them two weeks back but all the council was doing was deliberating. Unluckily Zen had gone on a pilgrimage with their mother in their allied Perios Kingdom and would only return in a couple of weeks, so Duke Wulfen had been given the authority of regency.
Mira knew that the chancellor couldn’t just raise the banners and march down without a plea for help but that didn’t stop her from doing anything.
“Just some letters to some friends,” Mira said.
Duke Wulfen sighed and looked at the map of the kingdom.
“Let’s not start lying to each other, Your Highness. From the direction the messengers left the city from I would assume that these letters went to Duke Greeich, who returned home while the king is gone, and House Mandale in the south-east of the Duchy of Regia. Both quite good friends with Count Grim if I am not mistaken,” he deducted.
Mira said nothing and simply waited for the duke to continue. She had known that her actions wouldn’t go unnoticed but there also was nothing wrong with them, so she didn’t really care.
“It is quite a good move if you allow me some judgment. If the royal family intervened, it could be seen as an insult or overreach but if friends of Count Grim stepped up then no one could complain.
“I just wished you had informed me about this then I could have added my signature to give your plea more weight.”
Or delay it for a little longer, Mira thought while thinking about what to say.
“My apologies, chancellor. I felt like expediency was more important in this, especially since I feel like the confidentiality of my mail has been questionable for a while. Waiting for the whole palace to know of the letter would have given interested parties more time,” Mira explained innocently.
She was pretty sure that most of her letters were being read by someone before being delivered and even though she suspected the duke, she couldn’t be sure it was actually him. There were many different political camps in the capital after all.
“That is quite disconcerting to hear. Have letters gone missing or been changed?” Duke Wulfen asked while frowning.
“They have not. I do believe that some have been read by someone who wasn’t the intended recipient.”
“Hmm, I can organize additional security around your mail if you wish.”
“That is very kind of you. There generally is nothing too important in them but should I need it I will let you know.”
The duke had shown no inclination of knowing about this subject, but he was an experienced politician. Which meant that Mira didn’t know more than before.
“Was that everything you wanted to talk to me about?” Mira asked.
“It was. I do wish you would trust me more. It is quite difficult to keep a government going when people keep secrets,” he replied.
Mira rose from her chair and nodded, “Of course, chancellor.”
This meeting was a warning that Mira’s actions were being watched and she somehow got the feeling that the duke had given it for her benefit. Duke Wulfen wasn’t the only one watching after.
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Michael
Another day, another meeting. This one was different from the dozen he had been in since arriving at Greyhold, though. It was already past noon because most of the attendees had to nurse their hangovers from last night's feast.
They were a much smaller assembly this time though. Besides the obvious attendees, Lord Grim, Tara, and Michael, were Geron and Sir Helbrect as the commanders of the knighthood, Baron Willbrok for the Grent nobility, Samuel Ragar for him and Richard, Kiran for magical expertise, Sola and the house priest of Grim a man in his thirties named Ned, and lastly Irem Stanes and a veteran called Dellan for the men-at-arms.
There was such a vast amount of military knowledge gathered around the detailed map that Michael couldn’t see how they couldn’t find a solution for their current predicament, namely, how to deal with an army that outnumbered them three-to-one.
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“As all of you already know, we are facing a Rangda attack on a scale we have not yet seen. Our sources speak of three thousand warriors or more. Our goal today is to decide how to deal with this threat,” Lord Grim explained.
“We have already requested aid from Duke Wallsten, and we expect him in two weeks. We do know that the Rangda are gathering a little under a day's march from the border in the former winter quarters of the Rescar Clan. At least a thousand warriors have already arrived, presumably more.
“In total, we have a little over a thousand men-at-arms and levies, and forty-five knights. Even with Duke Wallsten’s reinforcements and Lord Rowan’s remaining vassals, we will be greatly outnumbered. I can’t guarantee victory in an open battle.”
The lord of Grent let his gaze wander over all those present. His expression was hard and even if his words didn’t invoke certainty his eyes screamed with determination.
“Now, let us begin,” he finished.
“What about royal reinforcements, milord? Or Duke Greeich? Have our neighbors been informed?” Geron was the first to speak up.
“We have sent situation reports to the capital, but I am afraid that they won’t be able to send aid in time. We expect the Rangda forces to be ready in a week or two. Even reinforcements from Duke Wallsten might be too late,” Michael replied.
“To add to this is that the king is currently on a pilgrimage and not in the capital. Duke Wulfen is in control in his absence, which doesn’t fill me with much confidence for any assistance,” Lord Grim added.
“If the kingdom gets threatened then he might help. At the latest once we request aid. I can’t see him deny that,” Michael disagreed.
“Hmm, be that as it might. There is little chance that any reinforcements will arrive from the rest of the realm before the clans get here.”
“There is always the possibility of holding out in our castles until aid arrives,” Dellan, the commander of the House Grim men-at-arms, said. “I do not like it, but someone has to add that option to the discussion.”
“That would mean the devastation of the entire countryside,” Baron Willbrok pointed out.
“And it might even spill over into the neighboring counties,” Samuel added with a concerned expression.
“I have of course considered this as well,” Lord Grim said. “The surest way to win in a battle would be to wait for reinforcements from either Duke Greeich or the king. But as you said, they would pillage every village and town from one border to the next and then simply leave once their scouts spot our reinforcements. Which means that we will have to come up with another plan if we do not want to be forced into this one.”
He allowed them to think for a while until Sir Helbrect gave the first suggestion. “We could try to ambush them once they enter our territory. They will not expect our increased numbers and if we plan our ambush well, we could mitigate their advantage.”
“We would need to know their exact route and timeline though,” Commander Stanes argued. “They would also be on guard while moving in so the advantage might not be as great as we need.”
They might be able to pull it off with the information from the Officio Umbra but the fight that would result from this might still not go their way when outnumbered this badly.
“We could stretch the ambush out. Multiple smaller attacks starting in their territory. Make every step hurt and once they are weakened enough, we can consolidate and hit them with everything we have,” Geron suggested.
“I am not sure if we are able to achieve the mobility for that, the oathbound would catch us. The knights might work out, but we do not have enough of those to whittle down an entire army,” Dellan dismissed that idea.
Oathbound was the term the Rangda used for their high-level augmenters, basically the same as Telios did with knights. It came from them swearing oaths of allegiance and protection to their clans.
“So, if using normal soldiers for hit-and-run tactics won’t work then why don’t we just use the knights? I do agree that we do not have enough to deal enough damage before they reach Grent but we could evacuate the border regions and pull most soldiers into the castles. With the knights out and about, the barbarians won’t be able to fan out to raid as much or risk their smaller groups being caught,” Samuel explained, gaining more confidence as he spoke. “It would still mean devastation, but it would reduce the damage that the county would take while increasing the enemy attrition.”
They argued over the plan for a while until finally, Lord Grim interrupted them again.
“It is a good plan, but it is not one planning for victory. It is one planning to mitigate our defeat,” he said calmly.
“Is there a path to victory, milord?” Sir Helbrect asked. “Do you have a plan already?”
“I do. I wanted to see if anyone would come up with anything I had overlooked without being narrowed in by a sense of hierarchy preventing anyone from voicing a differing plan to mine,” the lord of Grent explained while rising from his seat at the head of the table.
“I like the ambush plan because it is proactive, but why wait for them? I suggest we attack them where they will never expect us.”
Lord Grim took the small wooden figurine that symbolized the combined troops gathered at Greyhold and slammed it down next to the Rangda army.
“You want to ride out to fight them on their home soil?” Count Willbrok exclaimed. “We are struggling to find a way to win against them here where we have the advantage.”
“But we are planning with the full three thousand enemies,” Michael said while inspecting the map. “If I understand correctly, you are planning to hit them as soon as possible before they can assemble?”
“Indeed. Our last intel tells us that not even half have arrived yet. If we march on them now, we will fight not with three-to-one but more like two-to-one at most. We will also have the element of surprise on our side which will deny them the time to get organized and make up a battle plan,” Lord Grim confirmed.
“We won’t be able to ambush them though. They will notice us at least a few hours before we get there. So, it will be a contest of strength,” Sir Helbrect said. “It’s probably the best we are gonna get though.”
“I think so too,” Lord Grim said and the others agreed one after another.
Michael though was still focused on the map. His eyes began to shift out of focus as a picture got shoved into his mind.
It was dark but he could hear slight movements. A single glint of metal reflected the scarce light of the moon. He heard a hushed order then everything returned to the silence.
Michael blinked as the vision or memory or whatever it was left his mind. He knew that it wasn’t his own but it also didn’t feel like Ferrekxan.
Thank you, old man, Michael thought internally and then returned to the discussion.
“The clans are not a coherent army. Many groups have been forced together before a real chain of command could be established if we attack them like this. Even if they see us coming, they won’t be able to coordinate enough, so we might be able to scatter them,” Lord Grim said.
“What if they didn’t see us coming?” Michael asked and everyone turned to him.
“That would be a slaughter, but I don’t see a way how we could ever get our whole army through all of their scouts, hunters, and patrols without being spotted,” Geron replied.
“I think it is possible,” Michael said and that caused multiple people to frown while others looked at him with curious expressions. “You did it before, uncle.”
“They didn’t expect us then, and it was in the middle of the winter so few were outside of the village who could have spotted us,” Lord Grim replied.
“They don’t expect us this time either and the time we need to get there is much shorter because we do not fight through the snow. Now the only thing we need is fewer patrols. So, we march at night,” Michael explained with a smile on his face.
“March through the night and hit them shortly before dawn. That could actually work and if the first inkling of what is happening is the screams of dying men, then our victory is basically assured,” Commander Stanes said while inspecting the map.
“Stumbling through the dark is bad enough but doing so in enemy territory while trying to avoid detection with be damn near impossible,” Baron Willbrok said, he sounded more like he was thinking about how to do it rather than arguing against it.
“We need to send advanced units anyway to eliminate any patrols or scouts that remain even after dark. They can mark the path for the main force,” Sir Helbrect suggested.
“If they catch wind of this we will be in a horrible position. Caught in unfamiliar lands surrounded by darkness,” Samuel noted. “We also won’t get reinforcements from either Duke Wallsten or the nobles of Reen and Emall in time.”
It was an unlucky happenstance, but it couldn’t be changed. Michael would have loved to call his banners earlier, but Lord Plon’s plot had made that impossible. Right now, everyone thought that Dittrich was out on a long-term scouting mission, and no one had questioned that. But if his father arrived here and started getting suspicious that his son might have already tried his luck then Michael would have a civil war at hand very quickly.
Now it was too late, and they would have to make do with what they had.
“We will need to be careful and decisive at the same time. Our forward squads will carry the weight of this whole operation, it seems,” Kiran sighed, knowing fully well that he would be a part of that.
A loud laugh pulled them all out of their contemplation and everyone looked over to Lord Grim who was grinning broadly.
“This is our path to victory. It is risky but this is war and those who take no risks have already lost. Brace yourselves we have a lot of planning to do and not a lot of time,” he announced loudly.