“You will really let us go free?” One of the guards asked, getting a shout of resentment from the boy in the process.

“You can go where you like but the boy, as much as he is annoying, stays.” Braydon hoped that his hostage plan worked fast because he did not want to be stuck with a child shouting at him for longer than he had to.

“See if my father lets any of you live if you flee!” The boy’s tone was slightly more panic stricken once he heard Braydon’s words. It was one thing to shout at Braydon if he was guaranteed safe passage to leave, it was another to be doing so if he were going to be a captive of the same person he was cursing at.

“Is there not another way?” The boy’s guards were clearly not quite on board with just leaving him behind to the tender mercies of a foreign lord. Braydon would have been surprised if they did not have anything to say about it.

“I do not care for the boy, only what he can get me. And what he can get me is my army into that town. Unless you know of a more effective way, then no there is not.” Braydon did not care for a ransom when he could just use the boy to take the town now. No matter how much he was worth to his father, Braydon doubted that he would be able to gain Damaz as a ransom.

“I am sure that we can come to an agreement with the town garrison about that, there is no need to go to such lengths.” The guard tried to plead with Braydon. There was no way that they would be keeping their jobs if the one job they were given, protecting the boy, was failed.

“Well then come down here and see if you can come to an understanding.” Braydon knew that the town garrison would not budge unless he had leverage in his hands. Leverage in this case was a certain foul mouthed child. It would do him no good to threaten the town with a child that was still behind castle walls even if he could take the castle easily.

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“Roan, good to see you.” Braydon greeted as he was having a rest from looking after the most annoying brat that he had ever met. As much as he wanted nothing to do with the boy, he was still a noble and could not be treated like a common prisoner.

“Sire! I hear that we have a hostage?” Roan saluted before asking about said annoyance.

“Indeed we do. As it would happen, the lord of Damaz left his son in the castle rather than in the town and now the boy is in our care. At least until Damaz is in my hands.” Braydon did not add the part that he would rather freely let the child go once he got his hands on the town.

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“And the garrison has still not come to talk to us?” Roan was confused about that. The garrison should have sent someone to negotiate if the heir to the lord was being used as a bargaining chip.

“I was waiting for your presence first. Now that they have seen that we are getting reinforcements, they are going into this on the back foot.” Braydon wanted to demoralise the enemy before dealing a blow such as revealing that he had the boy in his hands.

“With the amount he is cursing, they might think we are mistreating him too.” Roan noted the shouting child that he could hear in the background.

“If he keeps it up, I might end up mistreating him before he is let go.” Braydon had managed to shut the boy up with that threat at first but once he realised that Braydon needed him to pressure the town garrison that was it. He was straight back to his prior performance.

“That would probably not end in your favour, Sire.” Roan knew that Braydon would not do it but he still reminded him nonetheless. The garrison might have something to say if the boy was handed over to them in a state any less than perfect health.

“Well let's get to parley. I want that town as fast as possible.” Braydon’s entire invasion was based on momentum. He could not be slowed down for too long. If he was caught without a castle to defend himself with once the rebelling lords returned to defend their land, he would likely be done for.

“They might have heard him shouting by now.” Roan shook his head as they headed outside of the tent and made their way to the front of their camp to call forward an enemy to parley.

“I demand that you send a representative to parley!” Braydon was getting pretty used to shouting at enemies from the bottom of a wall at this point.

“What have you to say that you could not have said over the past two days?” A voice returned from the wall as the person in charge stepped forward.

“You would have to be blind to not notice what has happened over the past few days.” If they had not noticed the reinforcements that had just returned in the past hour then Braydon did not know what to say to them.

“What are a few more corpses at the bottom of these walls?” It was clear that, even with the reinforcements that Roan brought, the guard captain was confident of holding. But Braydon had just the plan for that.

“Indeed, what is another corpse at the bottom of your wall? Would your lord agree if that body was that of his son?” Braydon returned as he had his men bring out the unruly child, shouting all the more loudly now that he could see the garrison on the walls.

“You are a dirty man!” That got a reaction. It was clear that the guard captain was incensed that he would use the child of his liege as a hostage.

“All is fair in war!” Braydon was unfazed by the man’s words.