While she did not think herself even half the genius of her father or mother, that still left her, in her own opinion, as someone more competent than most. However, she did not rely on that in her plans.
So it came as a surprise when her performance at the celebration had produced a more immediate result than she had thought.
“Sir Michel, my apologies I could not meet at a sooner date,” she said, then gestured at the food on offer. “Please, do sit. I hope my guests would forgive if I may have a snack here and there. It is, well, Bavaria does not offer its usual hospitality at this time.” She finished with a smile, into which she snuck a small cracker with cheese.
Michel chuckled and, shaking his head, gave the young man at his side a hearty pat on the back. “No apologies necessary. May I introduce My Lady to my nephew, Heinrich, though we have taken to calling him Henry after his time in England.”
“A pleasure to make sir’s acquaintance,” she said to the man, bowing her head.
He replied in kind, an accent to his voice and a bit of a rasp.
“My sister’s son,” Michel said. Leaning forward, he paused to try a cracker himself. “Scrumptious. As I was saying, my sister’s son. She met an English mercenary while in France and, well, such stories are as old as time. Once he passed, she returned with Henry and I took them both in. My wife has only given me daughters, so I rather took a liking to the lad, haven’t I?”
Henry gave a half-hearted smile. She didn’t think it insincere, noticing instead how tense he seemed.
“My condolences for sir’s father,” she said.
He went to speak, then caught himself, a second passing before he said, “Thank you.”
While no time-frame had been given, she suspected this was a rather recent matter and that he likely knew German from his mother’s upbringing, perhaps otherwise preferring English. It then followed that he likely had little exposure to this kind of formality, technically not even of the nobility.
However, such a thing did not bother her, instead considering why Michel would present him and coming to two conclusions—one of which she hoped Michel not foolish enough to propose. What she didn’t have to consider was the preparation of her scone, such an intricacy second nature to her.
“Mr Henry, would it be that you rather admired your father?” she asked.
He warmed up at the question, answering with a nod before he then found his voice. “I very much did, madam,” he said.
Immediately, Michel chuckled and gave Henry another heavy pat on the back. “That would be My Lady.”
She waved him off, giving a wry smile. “Pray do not be too harsh on him. This is a good opportunity to practise, not easy to be a man of standing. Besides, if I am correct, would he not soon be calling me ma’am?”
The conversation pivoting, Michel’s reply died on his lips as he instead nodded. “Indeed, My Lady certainly knows how to pick up on things,” he said, ending in a chuckle. “What my nephew lacks in manners, he makes up for in strategy and tactics. Isn’t that right?”
What relief Henry may have felt by her mercy, he now lost, once more the focus. He held his tongue for the moment it took him to produce an answer, and she patiently waited.
“I cannot rightly say I know enough to make up for it, but I did often speak with my father,” he said.
“He sells himself short, My Lady,” Michel said, still with a light tone that sounded as if on the verge of laughing.
She politely smiled at him, then focused on Henry for a moment, only to then call on someone else. “Sir Ludwig, if you would join us.”
From beside the doorway, the knight walked over and, at her gesture, sat at the last seat arranged around the table; while that happened, she snuck in a nibble of the scone she had been preparing as they all spoke.
Once he had sat down, she turned to the guests. “Sir Ludwig has been talking me through some matters of strategy and tactics over the weeks to pass the time. If I may question Mr Henry?” she asked, directing that question at Michel.
“Of course! I am sure he will prove himself,” Michel said, grinning.
So she turned to Henry. “That is, would it be better to win a battle decisively, running down or capturing near enough the entire enemy army, but at the cost of half of your own army; or would it be better to win a convincing battle, taking out half of the enemy’s army while only losing a quarter of your own.”
Although Michel made some movements as if in thought himself, her focused stayed on Henry. As uncomfortable as he had looked from her gaze a moment prior, the question ensnared him, bringing his eyebrows together and a pout to his lips, his own gaze slipping away to an empty spot.
Then there was her knight, who hadn’t remembered teaching her much of anything over the trip, yet found the question quite interesting.
Eventually, Henry gave an answer. “Without an army, the enemy can only ask for peace, My Lady, so I would say that. My father always said that the loser of a war is the one who first asks for peace. In doing so, they show their weakness.”
She showed no answer but for keeping the same gentle smile she had shown before. “That is indeed a wise answer, wouldn’t Sir Ludwig agree?” she said, turning to her knight.
Pausing with a cracker a hair’s breadth from his lips, he nodded. “A mercenary captain, was he? It rather sounds like his ability may have been wasted, My Lady,” he said, then popped the cracker into his mouth, trying to eat it as quietly as he could.
She noticed how Henry smiled at the praise for his father more than he did at her own praise for him. Also noticing that Michel had something to say, she said, “Another question.”
Michel held for a second before deflating.
“Would you rather defend a hill or a river, and then which would you rather attack?” she asked.
Again, Henry fell into thought. This time, she caught up on snacking while she waited, paying little attention to him until he finally spoke.
“It seems all too obvious that it is easier to defend a river and attack a hill,” he said, then belatedly added, “My Lady.”
Although she smiled, he couldn’t meet her gaze. “Of course. Yet, how often does one see a castle built by the river, and how often does an army cross a river compared to besieging a castle?”
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He gave an empty laugh and started looking away, only to catch sight of his uncle and so focused his gaze on somewhere closer to her. “My Lady is right, I didn’t consider that at all,” he said.
Fidgeting in his seat, Michel said, “It was rather a trick question, wasn’t it?”
“It is not that Henry’s answer is lacking. Indeed, he is correct if we are talking a battle. It is that, as Sir Ludwig told me, a battle and a war are similar, but different. These questions can be thought of as seeing whether Henry thinks in terms of battles or wars, which would suggest the better position for him.”
The knight once more showed no surprise at being a supposed font of wisdom, instead having another cracker, the first rather delicious.
Meanwhile, Michel was suitably subdued by the answer. Henry, though, seemed conflicted.
She did not care about that at this time. “A last question,” she said, pausing for a sip of tea. “What is the purpose of a cavalry charge?”
Her question hung in the air, even her knight falling into thought. It had the feeling of a trap with the answer dangling right in front of their eyes, especially with the last question taken into consideration, this not a simple question.
However, Henry could only answer it. “To win the war.”
“I would say a cavalry charge could only lose the war, given that the ruler or heir could be among those taken prisoner if a charge went awry,” she said lightly, then settled down with her hands together as they rested on her knees. “Every action should be taken with winning the war in mind; however, its purpose is the intended reaction it produces in the enemy.”
She stopped there, as if giving him another chance to answer, yet he felt like she was simply giving him another chance to make a fool of himself. “Then it is to break the enemy,” he said without much thought.
“One would certainly hope so,” she again said lightly, as if mocking him.
His hands clenched and his tension now had nothing to do with feeling uncomfortable.
“Alas, if winning a battle was as easy as being the first to the cavalry charge, wars would look much different. Sir Ludwig put it this way: we should first assume our enemy will react well before we hope they react poorly. In the case of a charge, we should assume it will force the enemy to take up a defensive position, such as forming a pike square. These positions tend to be compact and immobile, which renders them vulnerable to archers.”
Henry could only keep his head bowed, while Michel clapped his hands together. “My Lady understands these matters so well, I feel a fool to bring my nephew before you,” he said, still with some humour in his voice.
“Nonsense, Sir Michel. I would not expect Henry to have the same experience as a knight,” she said, pausing to give a nod to Ludwig. “Similarly, I am sure his father understood his role rather well. That is, I should apologise, perhaps asking inappropriate questions. I would quite like to find someone suitable to take leadership over the militia and Henry is certainly too inexperienced for this. If he would be willing, we could see about a captain’s position? Or is Sir Michel intending to contribute a knight?”
Michel waved her off, shaking his head. “I thought to give the lad some experience, My Lady, that his mother would not let him join his father’s company. Of course, if he has the talent for it, we may see,” he said, ending in a lopsided smile.
“Very well,” she said and, seeing no reason to continue on this topic, moved on.
With the knight retreating back to the door, the conversation meandered for a while longer before her guests excused themselves. Once they left, shown out by the butler, the knight returned to the table, albeit staying on his feet this time.
“Please, Sir Ludwig,” she said, gesturing at the chair as she had another nibble. “Pray tell, what are your impressions?”
Hesitant, he asked, “Of Mr Henry?”
She nodded.
“He seemed not entirely hopeless, albeit lacking in a more refined education. I dare say a mercenary would impart questionable wisdom,” he said, scratching his head.
She dabbed at her mouth, then put the napkin on her plate and pushed it away. Almost instantly, a maid picked it up, her footsteps the only sound in the room. Once that sound died, Julia spoke.
“I would guess that Sir Michel has not treated him well since his arrival, which has likely been compounded by how Sir Michel speaks of Mr Henry’s father,” she said, pausing for a sip of tea. “If put in charge of any number of men, I should think Mr Henry would seek to make a name for himself to vindicate his father. Alas, I fear the only name he should make is the one upon his headstone—unless he is suitably broken in.”
“My Lady learned so much?” he asked, a genuine spirit of praise to his words.
She held open her hands. “Perhaps, perhaps not. It is my duty to understand the nature of those who would serve me, is it not?” she asked, a humorous hint to her tone that did not go unnoticed by him.
“Ah, yes,” he mumbled.
“So it is that I try to pick up on these things. While I may be wrong, it is better to be wrong than to not think at all. Anyway, I have asked a dull question, so let me ask a more interesting one. Sir Ludwig, how would you have answered my questions?”
He stilled, put upon the spot after earlier thinking himself lucky to be the spectator in this matter. However, he had been asked, so he could only answer. “The first—it was about the preferred victory, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed.”
“Honestly, I have no particular reason to disagree with his answer…” he said.
She waited a beat, then asked, “However?”
“If I consider when I would have this choice, well, it would be when the enemy is already breaking, is it not? At such a time, I would not be thinking of the war. That is simply the moment when one must charge.”
She nodded along, then said, “A fair assessment.”
Yet such words struck his pride heavily. “If I may, what answer would My Lady give?”
Not an unexpected question, she didn’t hesitate, speaking her mind. “I could conceive of situations in which one or the other is preferable. However, what is interesting is that such situations are not at all relevant to the battle itself. That is, whether or not one should commit to breaking the enemy completely should be known by the commander ahead of the battle, rather than decided in the moment.”
A surprisingly deep answer, he mulled it over and found it in line with what she had mentioned earlier: that she sought to fill a position of leadership.
Which flowed into the second question. “What does My Lady have to say about attacking and defending hills and rivers?” he asked, hoping to get ahead of her with this.
She gave a humoured smile at his antics, but indulged him. “I suppose my earlier thoughts are not enough? Well then, it is again the case that, going into war, it should be known which of these must be done by ourselves and by the enemy. For example, in the case of the late Duke Bohemia, it could be seen which path he would take so many years in advance that Lord Bavaria’s predecessors built such sturdy fortifications. Rivers are much harder things to fortify, yet certain points may be fortified to influence the enemy to cross at a more preferable place. On the other hand, knowing where our enemy has fortified, we may decide which points we would prefer to attack. In particular, we would seek out how we may avoid the most costly sieges.”
Again, he found that her thoughts, while certainly more detailed this time, truthfully did still follow what she had said earlier. However, he did not have long to linger on this as her expectant gaze fell upon him.
“I feel as if anything I say adds nothing, My Lady,” he said, bowing his head.
“Then I would have sir answer the last question,” she said with a knowing smile.
Not for the first time, he felt as if he had walked into her trap, even such candid conversations not spared her wit. “My Lady sees the battlefield more clearly than I. Truly, I would have given a similar answer to Mr Henry. My experience is rather limited.”
She waved him off. “Please, do not think poorly of yourself over this. After all, at Grosburg Castle, I had yet to grasp this either. Horses have always been such skittish things to me that I had Lord Bavaria’s cavalry placed too far back. If the mercenaries hadn’t routed, the charge would have done rather little since our forces had pushed them together.”
After thinking this over, he asked, “Did Lord Bavaria not consider this, My Lady?”
“Lord Bavaria had shown me deference as the one commissioned by the King. If I had given him authority over the siege, it likely would have gone much differently. However, in this matter…” she said, then gave him a thin smile.
Not a dim man, he had long since noticed the timing of certain events. “My Lady knew he had little time to waste?”
She bowed her head. “Does sir think me deceitful for my actions?” she whispered, an unusual frailness to her voice.
He went to speak, only to think better of it and instead took a moment to carefully put together his answer. “My Lady has such responsibilities I cannot begin to consider. There are certainly those who would judge My Lady for what she has done, yet I would look at how things have turned out and consider them for the best. The late Duke Bohemia succumbed to his own treachery and I bore witness to the choice you gave Lord Bavaria.”
“Thank you. That means more to me than you could know,” she said. “If you could give me some privacy? It has been a long journey.”
“It has,” he said, bowing, then left the room, no more need for an escort.
Once the door closed, she straightened up with a blank expression on her face.