Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Plays And Counter-Plays

“They have stopped moving, Sire.” The scout reported. 

“Stopped moving before or after they entered Boshil?” Duke Ryder asked, it was the most important part. Whether the Royals decided to enter the city walls meant that he would take one of two very different actions.

“They are about half as far from the capital as we are.” Came the response. The Duke did not let his expression change, none of the other lords could tell what he was thinking and he liked it that way. He may not have been as skilled at scheming as Duke Burn but he didn’t need to be. So long as he could keep his thoughts private that was enough for him.

“So he wants to fight me with Duke Burn.” He had known as much for a while, but actions spoke louder than words. And the King’s men not entering the city showed his determination. Had the King entered the city, Duke Ryder would have known that it was all a bluff. And so would Duke Burn.

“Do we still plan to march on Burn’s men now?” One of the other lords asked. They all knew that the King would not try to fight them without Duke Burn at least being nearby, and none of them were stupid enough to think that they could out run the King’s army. They would only fight the Royal faction when the Royal faction wanted to. It had been that way since Duke Ryder had made the decision to pull back from the Harmony.

“How long is it until the foreigner meets up with him?” The Duke asked instead, he knew all too well that Duke Burn had help arriving. He would have attempted to smash the King and his allies in the east already if it had not been the case. But with these late entries into the conflict, there was no way that he was going to leave them be as he fought a weaker opponent.

“At most a week, more likely a few days.” The same scout reported, those working for the Duke had long since learnt that he liked to deal with things all at once. Hence why only the scout captain came to report, only when it was truly something urgent would that change.

“Then we had better get moving tomorrow.” Duke Ryder announced. He was not going to allow any delays.

“We are fighting Duke Burn?” One of the lords asked, they knew that the King was not going to let that chance go. And a battle like that would not look pretty.

“No you imbecile, we are going to make sure that pair of meddling idiots learn to stay out of Fiverian affairs.” Duke Ryder responded irately, ignoring the fact that he had teamed up with outsiders to get the civil war started in the first place. This was different. This time the outsiders wanted a piece of Fiveria. He would not allow that, not if he was to become King.

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“My liege, it appears that we have a letter.” A knight walked into the great hall, addressing his lord. 

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“Let me guess, Aled sent his regards.” The man sat on his ‘definitely not a throne’ responded. A smile graced his face, he had been waiting for word to come and it had finally arrived. 

“Indeed it is a letter from him.” The knight responded with an equally knowing smile. He was one of the few people that his liege put his full trust in. Many lords speculated about the ambitions of his liege, but he knew the full extent of them.

“Then let's see what he is offering.” The man received the letter from his knight before opening it immediately. He could already guess it’s contents without having read it but he wanted to see it with his own eyes. He doubted that somebody like King Aled would make a move without having considered it first, so he was almost certain that he would like the contents of the letter.

“Is it how we expected, Sire?” The knight was curious when there was a lack of response from his lord. At the very least he did not seem shocked or angry, which could only be a good thing. But for there to be no response, it was sure that Aled had offered something that was not quite expected.

“It is even better. This man is more of a schemer than I gave him credit for.” The man laughed, it felt like things were going to go his way regardless of if he did anything or not.

“Oh, how can it be better than what we had predicted? There is no way that he would just name you his heir if we helped out.” That was about the only way that the knight could see that Aled could give them a better deal than what they had been expecting.

“No, he did not offer me that. I would question his sanity otherwise. Instead he has offered me something else. And it has more security than if he had offered what we thought he was going to.” It was obvious that the man was teasing his knight by not just saying it out right. Not that it angered the knight, his liege only acted like this when he was truly happy.

“Then put me out of my misery, Sire.” He was sure that he was going to be told, it was just a matter of how long until his liege stopped his own little celebration. He didn’t have to wait for long.

“Just read it yourself. It is better than what I had hoped for.” The man handed the letter back, and once the knight read it a smile also spread across his face. He had to agree with his lord this was definitely better than Aled promising to end Duke Rotleach should he win, an offer that was good but highly subject to the outcome. The offer that had actually been proposed was much more definite. And that was more than enough to make up for the additional request that had been made.