“Have our scouts found where Duke Ryder is hiding?” Braydon asked Rhydian. They still didn’t know if Duke Ryder was truly going to try and pull something but the actions of the King did not inspire confidence. It was better to be safe than sorry here.
“Nothing yet. If he is going to make a move then it will be on the day that war truly breaks out, we should know by then at the very latest.” Rhydian was not pleased that they couldn’t be certain of what would happen but that would not stop him from acting calmly in the face of unfavourable conditions. That was something that Braydon was thankful for, he knew that if it had just been himself then he would not be so collected at that moment.
“Have we received any word from the King?” Braydon shifted topics, there was no point lingering on the matter of Duke Ryder if they didn’t have any new information. The past two days had been long enough for speculation about that. Nor would speculation about the enemy behind them make the enemy in front of them disappear.
“Yes, he has sent a message saying that there is more activity than usual from the enemy camp. It is likely that they will move out tomorrow… If we are going to make a move then now is the time to do something.” Rhydian added the last part after pausing to think for a few seconds. If the enemy was making preparations the day before, then it was likely that they wanted to move out in the morning. And if Braydon wanted to make his move, then starting to do so in the morning would be too late.
“Then we should also start preparing, if Duke Ryder is truly coming from behind, then I do not want to be trapped in this castle when he comes knocking. We should move out under the veil of night, lest we give ourselves away before we are prepared.” Braydon was not about to wake up to a siege in a castle he did not own for a battle that would not benefit him. He only enjoyed sieges when he was the one besieging, not when he was the one being besieged.
“Then we should probably send word to Marquess Burgess and Earl Fornton. Only if all of us gather our forces will we be in a position to have agency; otherwise, even if we bring the garrison here with us, all we can do is run away.” Rhydian was using it as an example but he doubted that the garrison would come with them. They were not Braydon’s men and taking Braydon’s orders based on his speculation was not likely to happen.
“Then I will send word, you prepare the men to move. We need to make sure that we are out of sight before sunrise, otherwise our moving out will only make us more vulnerable.” Braydon knew that Rhydian knew that better than him, but he was not able to keep as calm as Rhydian was. Even if he had a calm exterior, he was still tense on the inside.
He had never felt this when being on the battlefield before, even when the odds had been against him. But that was when he was not a lord in his own right, he did not care all that much if his father lost a battle. It was George’s inheritance anyway. And Braydon was more than happy to see George’s interests harmed. But now it was different, every man that he lost would adversely affect him. He was no longer fighting for a family that he did not like but for himself, and Braydon himself was the last living member of his family that Braydon liked.
“Are you sure it is ok to leave the garrison there? They are nominally loyal to an ally of Duke Oakley after all.” Braydon asked Rhydian as they sat on their horses, watching his men leave the castle. News of them leaving would reach Duke Oakley, and by proxy everyone else.
“Even if Duke Oakely finds out, it should still take a while. And by then it would be too late for any spies to send news to people we don’t want to know of our movements.” Rhydian was not really worried, spies might be good but they were not omnipotent, even if it felt like they were omniscient. And the time frame that they were working on meant that it was not likely that Duke Ryder or King Marek would find out about their movements in time.
“That’s good, then all that we have to do now is meet up with Cinar and Earl Fornton.” Braydon was relieved that they shouldn’t be found out but he was still tense. This was a risky operation that they were pulling off and they still didn’t know where Duke Ryder and his men were hiding, if at all. It was still quite a surprise to him that they had not located Duke Ryder’s army, most of the region was a relatively flat plain.
“Sire, we have located an unknown army camp. It is likely that it is Duke Ryder.” As Braydon was thinking about where Duke Ryder could be, a scout came up to them to report on exactly that.
“Likely that it is Duke Ryder? How can you not tell?” Rhydian was more astute and picked up on the most important part of the report. They had found an army camp but they could not confirm who was in it?
“They were not flying any banner or standard. Any attempts to get close were unsuccessful, there were many patrols and if we pressed further then we would have been discovered. Based on the size of the army, it should be Duke Ryder and his allies. Nobody else could manage to get an army that large this far into the interior of the country without being stopped.” Both Braydon and Rhydian were inclined to agree, there had been an agreement made at court that Duke Ryder would send men to help out during the war. It was only natural that he was not stopped when travelling through. But there was still one thing that stood out.
“Why did it take so long to find his camp?” Braydon had to ask, there were not many places to hide an entire army in the north of Fiveria. The majority of it being flat land, and most of the geographical features that could be used to hide were too far away from the battle to be used.
“They hid in plain sight. The camp was in the most obvious location but that meant that we overlooked it when searching for where it could be, because we thought that the Duke would not pick it for the same reason.” When the scout said that, Braydon knew where the Duke had placed his camp. In fact, he had passed through the area when travelling north because it was the quickest route.
“He is camped on the fastest route to the battlefield isn’t he?” Braydon asked but he knew the answer before the scout even answered in the affirmative. And the scout did answer in the affirmative.
“Well now that we know where he is, we can meet up with the other two with more confidence. Move Out!” Rhydian accepted the information quickly before shouting an order to the unit that had now fully left the castle and was ready to march.
