Chapter 22: The Golden Stallions War Council Part 2
THE MONTH OF NINSUM DAY 26 YEAR 675 OF THE SECOND HOLY CALENDAR
Flickering torchlight was the only illumination as the war council gathered again for the second time since the campaign had started. But the atmosphere was very different. The expectation of certain victory and lackadaisical atmosphere had completely vanished. Depression and a desire to retreat were in place. Depression came from the Antlatur officers, and the desire to retreat came from the Affiliated kingdoms. The Affiliated kingdoms had only come to fulfill their contract with Antlatur, and they had no desire to continue the war now that they were losing.
The council members were also different: Thomas Emmon, Zach Pickett, and Niances Ortomio were all in the southern southern camp. However, the other missing member, the queen of Esterberg, and her son had both gone missing following the attack on the camp. Many bodies had been charred in the attack on the camp, so it was impossible to tell if they'd been captured or killed. The fate of Rickard Cabela and the Cabela forces currently unknown, and with the Kingdom of Unica currently guarding the Black Valley fortresses, it left only Stephron Monica and Cleos Hayton representing the Affiliated Kingdoms in attendance.
In hindsight, leaving behind 10,000 soldiers to guard the Black fortresses was a mistake. It could have been done by 5,000, and we would have had those extra 5,000 soldiers. Linnea thought bitterly, but that was only in the power of hindsight. Despite the fate of every invasion of the Kingdom of Black always ending in failure, regardless of the difference in numbers, they had somehow thought that they were different, they were special, and that they would succeed where everyone else had failed despite having no proof to back that up. “I suppose that's the folly of youth.”
In hindsight, everything felt obvious, and both Linnea and Andrew felt like complete idiots. The ambushing knights that attacked their Camp from the rear had been hiding in a small copse of trees. Like most plants and vegetation in the Black Knife River Valley, saying that it was a copse of trees was a bit of an understatement. In reality, it was closer to a couple of scraggly branches connected by trees without much green on them at all. Linnea genuinely wondered how anything in the Black Knife River Valley even grew. Sending a single soldier to poke around would have been sufficient to drive off any knights.
It was a by-the-book tactic during sieges if you had enough soldiers to send them to hide and attack the enemy from behind during a crucial point in the siege. Linea and Andrew had simply not thought of it. It was so by the book that this was the first time anyone had tried it in years. They never thought the Kingdom of Black would have tried something like that, leaving them completely defenseless when it did happen.
Although they were still piecing together exactly what happened, it became clear with a bit of investigation. The soldiers in the mist had worn Esterberg uniforms and then repelled down ropes or came out of portcullises. They mixed in with the Esterberg soldiers, and once they had infiltrated the formation, they'd blown themselves up with magic scrolls. Magic Scrolls stored single spells. Although they were one-use items, they were useful for people who couldn't use magic, as anyone could use a magic scroll. The one problem was their price tag. Not only would you need to have a mage put a spell into it, but the higher the tier of the spell, the higher the scroll material you would need.
Although this tactic succeeded, Linea and Andrew were disgusted by it. All commanders would have to order a soldier to face almost certain death, which was simply a part of being a general. However, sending a soldier to face almost certain death and face certain death or two different things. Veronica Black had sent her soldiers on a literal suicide mission. The whole purpose was to die blowing themselves up just to kill a few enemy soldiers and cause chaos in the ranks. Although they were discussed, it was still a successful strategy in the camp battle, the assault on the walls, and the false flag strategy. Over 20,000 soldiers from the alliance had been killed. It was, to say the least, a devastating loss.
Andrew would put his elbows on the table and thumbs under his chin, staring at everyone around the table. This war council had been called so that Andrew could justify to himself for retreating. It was their only option. They'd been cut off from their supply lines. Most of the half of their existing supplies had been burned in their camp, and 20,000 soldiers had died. Even if they wanted to take Lapetra by storm, they couldn't, as most of their battering rams had been destroyed.
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However, Andrew still didn't want to hear that they had to retreat, so he called the war council so that they could all tell him the exact thing: that they needed to retreat immediately. The Affiliated Kingdoms just wanted to get out with what soldiers they could, and the remaining officers weren't stupid enough to advise him to continue attacking. Even Philip Westedale, who was burning with the desire to avenge his nephew, had already advised Andrew to withdraw. That's what they had spent the past half hour trying to do. Linea honestly just wanted this day to end. She had to watch the deaths of countless soldiers, save her brother from an attempted assassination attempt, and just go through a roller coaster of emotions, feelings, and surprises. She didn't even want to fuck before she went to sleep which had never happened in the past 5 years ever since she flowered.
She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray without missing a beat. Christopher offered her a new one but politely didn't put it in her mouth for her. When she took it, he lit it without missing a beat. She started puffing away on her cigarette as the tent remained eerily silent, with only the occasional popping from the torches. Everyone had already made their arguments. Andrew was just sitting in silence, stewing about the reality of the situation. This is getting seriously pathetic, and Linea decided to interject to save her brother's image and the minds of the Affiliated Kingdoms. After all a king wasn't supposed to be so small-minded that after hearing the truth, he sat in silence for an hour.
“Elder brother, everyone here wants to sleep, and we need to start preparing to withdraw, so give your orders and dismiss the council.” She felt the wordless looks of gratitude from everyone else there. They couldn't exactly say that to his face as they would risk his wrath, but she could as they were family.
“Oh, I didn't know you were appointed the Supreme Commander. I must have missed the memo,” he said sarcastically. “Only I can give the order to withdraw. Not you, me.”
She didn't waste a second in firing back. “Well, if you want to order us to assault the city instead, I'll just go ahead and kill myself. I don't want to give Veronica Black the pleasure of doing it.”
Andrew ground his teeth for a minute before finally dismissing the council. She stood up, eager to leave, until Andrew stopped her. “Not you, Linea. You stay as well, Lucas.” She sat down bitterly and grabbed Christopher before he could leave, and he gave her a questioning look.
“You're fine with him staying right, Elder brother.”
“Him, sure, why not,” he responded casually. She was slightly relieved that if he allowed Christopher to stay, then that meant it wasn't anything too important, and hopefully, she'd get to sleep in the next hour.
After a long moment of silence, he finally started talking. “You're going to need to take responsibility, Lucas.” He just nodded at his head. After the crushing defeat of his wing, anything less would have the soldiers' families up in arms. He would need to take responsibility for all, partly to cover for Andrew.
“All right, good. Now, on to the next matter, Linea. I need you to leave the Vanguard on the retreat.”
“Why are you specifically mentioning that.”
“You saw their behavior in here today. I mean me, the Kings of the Affiliated Kingdoms, who knows how many of them are already planning to betray us, especially when the news gets back to their Homeland. They don't follow us out of loyalty. They follow us because they fear us and respect us appropriately. But now we've been defeated. How do you think that they'll react.”
She took another drag on her cigarette before responding. “Start plotting to betray us if it comes down, but the Kingdom of Jax is busy, so the only real threat is Triton.”
“You're forgetting the Kingdom of Green Towers to the east. But what I am most worried about is the Kingdom of Esterberg and the Kingdom of Cabela. That old bastard of Monica held out on us in this war, and he probably will celebrate when he hears of our defeat.”
“Well, I suppose that's true, but still, it doesn't explain why you want me to lead the vanguard.”
“You need to gain achievements.” He said simply, “If you show off your military prowess, people will start to look at you and fear you. Previously, I held that role, but now that we have lost, a lot of my military prestige will vanish.” That was, sadly, how people operated, especially ignorant ones. They wouldn't look how Andrew had gone further in his conquest of the kingdom of black than any of his forbearers had. They would only see the fact that he'd failed. Linea couldn't help but be inwardly impressed by her brother's cunning. He intended to put her up on the pedestal to make her the stick that keeps the Affiliated Kingdoms in line.
“Sure, I'll try my best, but for all we know, the kingdom of black will just let us run away.”
“That will never happen. Valerius Black will surely come from us, and we'll get revenge at that time.”