Almost since the start of the war between the Kingdom and Kerrat, a joint force of Crimson Knights and House von Adlersflügel had been on the march through the eastern parts of the Kingdom.
Despite the fact it was difficult to keep their forces supplied with the mountains and desert in between commander Skaie, nicknamed ‘The Eagle’ for his killer's glare, had pushed his vision on warfare through and had fought no major battles yet.
Rather than relying on supplies, he raided the Eastern towns and villages, convinced this would break the people’s faith in their King.
The smaller villages were devoid of the leadership of the Bloodguard for the King had only so many relatives, and so far the local commanders had been unable to find an answer to Skaie’s fast, well-executed attacks.
Aware of the enemy’s strength, the King had sent the Water Demons to face this threat already during the first council of war he had held. That there had been no confrontation yet, much to both sides’ surprise, was because of Skaie’s ability at outmanoeuvring his Water Demon enemies, who had little tactical sense when it came to playing hide and seek and found their only true worth on the frontlines and watery areas, which Skaie chose to avoid.
Despite his orders Skaie had recently also begun to raid the weakened and disorganized Bull lands for resources. Whereas Junatan believed this would make the Bulls disgruntled and rowdy, he had found the Bulls were strangely loyal to the King from the start, and would not be turned.
Even the mighty Marshal Marnix of the Bulls had been unable to stop him; this was mostly due to a severe lack of troops.
So Marnix had attempted to take out the Eagle himself, on numerous occassions, but Skaie had proven himself to be a splendid warrior on top of a cunning commander, and Marnix' equal.
But the reign of terror might have reached its end, for they were about to get some very undesired company…
“Lord Fabian! I’m surprised to see you on the front! Did you come all the way from Kerrat by foot?”
“Spare me your insolence, cur! Me and my guards were ambushed by Bulls on our way here! You must have overlooked them! Luckily I managed to fight them off or I wouldn’t be here right now! Unfortunately, none of my men made it.”
Yeah right.
“Lord Junatan is displeased, Skaie! I’m here to remind you of your orders! You’ve not even gained a foothold in these lands yet or gained a major victory! Without the spoils of war, this is costing us a lot of money! Our supply caravans have started disappearing occasionally and Starkeep has been put under siege by forces you shouldn’t have even let slip through, so our caravans now have to take the dangerous path through Lionmaw, where the necromancer’s magic still corrupts the land! Before long, you’ll have run out of supplies and will have lost this war by attrition! All because of your incompetence! Do you take the position you’ve been given for granted? Remember you are not even of noble blood like I am and even worse; a weird ‘offspring’, if that’s the way to put it, of a mage who fought for the tainted White Dragon Knights when they were still lead by that traitor Garth! We hired you to do our bidding, and so you shall.”
I see. He doesn’t care how many of his men get killed achieving what he wants. Replacing the dead costs just as much to him as paying the troops I’m keeping alive. It’s going to cost you a lot more if you don’t let me lead them the way I want to, you fool, and even more if you keep yapping at me like that. The bastard just doesn’t see I’m preparing and weakening the area for our total invasion, is he? If he knew a thing about Cassandra or her Crimson Knights rather than doubt them simply because he sees them as contenders to his licking up to Junatan, or the fact the Golden Lions don’t even have a proper commander to lead them, he wouldn’t be so worried about the ‘siege’ of Starkeep. I let those troops slip through because they won’t stand a chance against the Crimson Knights… and Cassandra would’ve had my head if I hadn’t because she’s getting bored up there. But all this would be wasted on this failure of a display of aristocracy.
“If I kill him right now and tell he fell in the ambush, do you think we could get away with it?” Skaie said softly to Laura, the army's mage.
“Not a chance. The troops will follow who’s paying them.”
“By attacking the Bulls against Lord Junatan’s orders, you’ve crossed a line, Skaie! I hereby relieve you of command, and will assume command myself! Were you sightseeing all this time? What did you think this was? A vacation? This is war! Now lend me your steed. Part of your punishment shall be that you will have to walk from now on.”
“Men, we’re moving out! The city of Gelron lies but a few days' march from here, it is rightly ours to take!”
Gelron? But that city has water all around it! Does he even know what we’re up against? Damn Junatan for sending me this upstart, and damn those Bulls for failing to kill him in their ambush.
This means war, is what you were trying to say, I believe, thought Skaie grimly, though managing to keep a crooked smile on his face as he pictured his nemesis swinging from a tree, though the hatred he felt for Lord Fabian alone was enough to make adrenaline throb through his veins.
