A tired-looking Alaric greeted me when I entered the command tent. Dawn was coming and the men started to prepare for their missions.

"You look exhausted. Try to get more rest", I advised.

"And who should take my position when you are away? We have no alternatives. I will pull through, no worries", Alaric replied as he put down the feather. "There have been several minor raids during the night. We also caught one of the enemies spies as she tried to infiltrate the camp."

"Check the prisoners, they may be hiding further spies. We will catch everybody that tries to hide among our legionaries. That is the advantage of having foreign troops", I ordered and Alaric nodded.

"Your personal guard is ready to move out. One hundred heavy minotaur cavalry lead by Cycnus himself. Another two horses for you and Lithia are already readied as well", he informed me.

"When will the other groups head out for the surrounding towns and villages?", I asked as I checked one of the reports from this night. Two soldiers lost three injured. One enemy dead.

"Shortly after your departure. They can be used as a buffer to buy time if the enemy tries to go after you personally", Alaric remarked. I felt uncomfortable when he spoke about sacrificing the lives of others to ensure my safety. Particularly when I knew he doesn't care much about them.

"Don't make that face. Your life is the most important thing to protect in this camp", he said. I quickly corrected whatever face I had been making.

"Make sure to avoid engaging the enemy as planned. We should stick to small skirmishes until we gathered more information from our surroundings", I reminded Alaric. "Try to not lose the war while I am away."

"Try not to get shot into the shoulder", he countered.

I left the tent smiling and headed to my bodyguard. They were standing near one of the encampments exits. Lithia was present as well, already mounting her horse. Cycnus wore his full body armour except for the helmet. Their horns were always a problem when putting on the helmets.

The horses of the minotaurs dwarfed my and Lithia's mounts. They are a special breed from Syria and replacing them would be impossible for now. At least every warrior had one spare horse waiting in the camp for them.

I climbed on my horse. A brown one. I didn't know its breed. I rode to the front of the group with Lithia to my right and Cycnus to my left. My captain was already shouting at the others to get ready for departure.

"What will you do if your father continues to stay on the wrong side?", I asked the woman. She looked back resolutely. We were headed to the town of Matheola. Her father’s holding.

"Then I will force him to make the right decision. There are many paths into the city and I know them all", she stated.

"And what if he uses force against us?", I inquired further.

"I will do what is best for the house", Lithia said and sounded a lot less confident of her determination.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to it", I reassured and turned around to Cycnus. "Are the men ready?"

"Yes sir, Lord!", Cycnus exclaimed loudly.

"It is my prince or my lord. Not sir", I quietly whispered to myself. "We depart! Lithia, guide the way."

The horsed galloped and headed west of the city of Bari. Tension accompanied us on our way. Several times enemy scouts were spotted and they spotted us. Both sides would question what the plan of the other was. Still, nobody dared to attack. Not with the big difference in numbers.

"How long have they been following us now?", I asked Cycnus. A group of twenty to thirty riders were following us while keeping a certain distance. The minotaur turns around for a moment before answering.

"We spotted them a few hours ago, but they may have been tracking us for longer", Cycnus said. "Those puny riders will stand no chance against my mercenaries."

"My mercenaries. They won't fight us, but I worry about possible reinforcements", I shared my concerns, but they fell on deaf ears.

"No matter the numbers we will still kill them one after the other. They stand no chance against our might!", my captain proclaimed loudly.

I decided to change my conversation partner and sped up to align my horse with Lithia’s.

"How much longer to your town?", I asked.

"We are near. Another hour and you can see it. Then we should reach it shortly after", she answered.

I continued to speak with her for the next hour and found more out about her house. Her family received the title of Baron after they killed the former lord for tyranny. They had been commoners before and many noble houses didn't respect them fully because of it. The town's population though loved them for that.

Her father, Soteris Betto, was a man of two worlds. He had taken a commoner as his wife to gain favour with his citizen or because of love if Lithia's words were to be trusted fully. Her father continued to make policy for the commoners while trying to not piss off the other nobles too much. Soteris was balancing between two factions and did so successfully for several years.

His luck was about to change though. This time he had chosen the wrong side. I interrupted my thoughts as we neared the city gates. The gates were closing and the guards were getting ready for combat.

Lithia rode forwards without further protection and I followed with a bit of distance. Cycnus with a massive shield was my protection. We came to a stop five meters away from the walls. The rest of the troops stood fifty meters further back.

"I am Lithia Betto and command you to open those gates!", she shouted up the walls. The guards recognized her. Otherwise, they would be shooting her, right?

"The baron has instructed to let nobody in without proof of his allegiance", one of the guards answered. He had a few badges on his front and was probably the leader for this section of the wall. Or even the commander himself.

"My allegiance is with my people. Open the doors!", she said, but the gates were kept closed.

"Get me, somebody, from the house", the captain said to one of his guards.

We stood there in silence until the man returned with two persons in tow. One was an old bearded man and the other was a woman cladded in a blue toga. Her mother and father I supposed.

"What is going on?", the bearded man shouted at Lithia. He looked disappointed and a bit surprised. "Why are you here and not with your fiance? And who are those soldiers?"

"Those are the enemies that have landed here. Your daughter went missing during a naval engagement. And it seems she switched sides, didn't she?", the woman next to the man remarked. Probably not the mother then.

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"Please father let us talk this out. This war is madness", Lithia tried again.

"The day when I surrender our lands to a tyrant or foreign invaders will never come!", the man shouted back. This was getting us nowhere.

"And how about speaking with the heir of your rightful liege?", I interjected. The man looked puzzled as he turned his attention to me. The woman eyes went wide and she grabbed a loaded crossbow from one of the guards. The bolt flew and impacted the shield of my bodyguard. The minotaur lowered the shield and pulled the bolt out.

"Thanks, Cycnus. Is that your answer baron?", I asked. The guards had restrained the woman and the baron was staring at me with mixed expressions.

"We will talk then. Open the gates!", Soteris ordered and the gates opened. "Your soldiers will stay behind."

We trotted forward to the gates. When we passed it I nodded to Cycnus. He jammed the gate with a sword. The guards immediately tried to close the gate. Others raised their weapons and aimed for me and my bodyguard. They started to panic.

I shoot a bolt into the next wall and all attention turned to me. Lithia's and her father's included.

"I am not here as a conqueror, but you can be sure that I won't enter this town without my guard there to protect me", I said. The tension remained and the baron looked at me with fury. He opened his mouth only to close it as the first riders entered the town.

After ten had entered the guards lowered their weapons. When it became twenty they laid their weapons on the ground. They went back into their barracks after forty. Leaving the weapons and the baron, as the woman who had tried to shoot me, behind.

"I thought your father was admired by the common folk?", I asked Lithia.

"Not enough to risk their lives in a hopeless battle", she answered. "Nor do they want to be traitors. You could execute them and all their families as well."

"Didn't they just betray your father, a noble?", I asked further with a smile.

"Father is not the one with one hundred armoured soldiers", she answered.

"And who are you?", I asked the woman with bound hands.

"None of you business!", she shouted back.

"She is all yours Cycnus. Ten of you come with me. The rest is to secure the city and the cooperation of the commoners", I ordered loudly. "Now let's have that talk."

The woman protested as she was pulled away. The baron was 'escorted' by two of my guards to his mansion. Lithia and I followed closely. We ended up in the dining room. On one side of the table sat the baron and a woman joined him after a few minutes. This time I was sure it was Lithia's mother. They looked alike. Lithia and I sat on the other side. The guards stood against the walls.

"You said you wouldn't conquer the city! What you just did was just that!", the baron shouted before a hand on his shoulder from the baroness calmed him down.

"I have liberated a city. Now the question is what do I do with the lords that rose in rebellion against my house? You know what happens to traitors", I asked and ignored the frantic looks of Lithia.

"What do you want?", the baron asked. He looked calmer now. Maybe he just realized what was at stake for him. For his family.

"I want your help in ending this rebellion", I stated. "Supplies from your town, making this town into a military outpost and information on the surroundings."

"And what do we get in return?", Lithia's mother finally said something.

"You will be pardoned for your crimes and rewarded for every merit you perform from now on", I answered.

"Then we accept", the woman said.

There was a short discussion between the couple before the mother and Lithia managed to convince the baron to change sides. I didn't trust either of them, but with the town under my control, it wouldn't matter.

An agreement was signed. I pardoned their treason and they promised to help me. Lithia would also lead the house for the duration of the rebellion. I trusted her more than her parents. She would know what crossing me would mean. The woman had experienced that herself. The treasury of the city would be administered by one of my guards until somebody from the legion arrived to take over.

Eighty of my man remained inside the city. The former guards were tasked with further fortifying the town. The new militia would be loyal to the ones that paid them and that was now us. House Betto would help in convincing other noble houses to change sides and undermine the support of the count of Bari. They would also be sharing information on the nobles participating in this rebellion.

The woman who had tried to shoot me turned out to be an agent of the count to oversee what his allies were doing. She would accompany me back to our camp. There were more professionals there to get information out of her.

We spent the night in the city and the next day I rode back with twenty men and Cycnus. Lithia and the second in command from my guard, Deimos a close friend of my captain, as he had told me himself, would oversee the defence of the town.

We didn't saw any of the enemy troops on our way back to camp. The group who had followed us earlier must have reported back after we had entered the town.

The camp still stood when I came back and I couldn't see any signs of a major battle. I entered the command tent. Alaric was sitting behind the desk. His head laid on it and he was snoring. I knocked twice on the wood. Alaric woke up and stared at me for a moment.

"Sorry. I must have dozed off", he said. Alaric looked even more exhausted than before.

"Get some rest. I will take over. Has anything urgent happened during my absence?", I asked.

"No nothing major. The reports of the scouts are on the desk. How did your mission go?", Alaric inquired.

"We have brought the town under control. I will discuss the details with you tomorrow. Now get some sleep", I explained. Alaric went out of the tent and I took his place.

The rest of the day was spent reading through the reports. The enemy was strangely quiet and that would mean they would act soon. Probably a full-scale attack. They had enough time to gather information on our army’s size.

The villages in our surroundings had not attacked our scouts. They also had no supplies and were starving. Also, all men and women who could fight were drafted for the count's legions. The other two towns near the city of Bari had kept their gates shut. No matter what the scouts told them.

What was the count planning? When would he attack?

I rolled out a map of our surroundings and put down red coloured wooden piece everywhere where enemy troops had been sighted. Blue ones were placed where my scouts had gone to. The resulting picture didn't tell me anything, except that the enemy had tracked every one of our moves. I collected the pieces in my hand and started to think about a plan. A plan for the upcoming battle.

Different scenarios played out in my head as I simulated the battle with the coloured pieces. Defeat and victory played out on the desk before me. Several plans were discarded and I felt my frustration rise. No matter what I did the enemy would be able to counter it. At least that was what I would do in response.

A tucking on my bond interrupted my fruitless planning. He was heading north. Quintus was heading north. The joy quickly disappeared as realization struck. He would need days, if not weeks to reach me. And I couldn't and shouldn't rely on him to fight my battles. He was not invincible.

I stopped trying to create a foolproof plan and instead started to form a strategy to use the strength of my legion in this upcoming battle. We had mostly better equipment and better training. We lacked numbers and actual battle experience. The latter was true for our enemy as well.

Our cavalry was stronger. The infantry and skirmishers were the enemy’s backbone. They should also break more easily. Peasants don't have the best morale.

I went to bed around midnight after instructing my commanders to implement the necessary changes for my strategy. I fell asleep with determination. We would win this battle. We need to win it.

----------------------------------------

"We need to win this battle", the count of Bari said. "Jagu's heir is leading this legion. We could win the war if we capture him. Why are we waiting to strike?"

The other men in the room were silent. They were all soldiers or nobles with military experience. The count continued to complain about the lack of initiative. A general finally decided to answer his liege.

"We are not sure if an open battle would be in our interest", he said. "They have no supply lines. We can just starve them out."

"No. Messana's siege could be broken anytime. We need to act now and put a stop to this. We can't allow for more delay. The clock is ticking", another one interjected.

"We need to do something. They managed to capture the town of Matheola. The other two towns are still controlled by our troops", the general informed them of the new situation.

"You said we should wait. We did and the enemy grew stronger. Now is not the time to wait, it is time to act", a noble said. "Count please remove this man from leading the legions. I will lead us to victory. Let me destroy that boy tomorrow."

Everybody stared at the count and waited for him to make a decision.

"I will give you command over the legions. However, I expect you to work with the generals. They know more about battle tactics than you or me", the count answered.

"I understand my lord", the noble said. Sounding displeased and pleased at the same time. The generals started at the map before them with mixed expressions.

"Now that that is decided how will we defeat him?", one of the other nobles asked.

"First we lure them out of their encampment. Then we use our superior numbers to encircle them and crush them", a general suggested.

"We need to use our numbers. They can't hide in their camp if we keep shooting at them. I approve. Several smaller contingents could harass them", a noble said.

"I disagree. Let us keep our troops together. We can't risk them breaking through our formation while we try to surround them nor being picked off one for one", another general interjected. "We need to be careful not to underestimate him."

The nobles and generals kept planning and discussing possible strategies until they had settled for one. The battle of Bari would conclude the next day.