Chapter 90: Chapter 90: A Threat from Behind?

“So you are saying that we are going to be sat in a castle, miles away from the battle, watching from the side lines?” Braydon asked, he knew that he should be happy about this, but he couldn’t. A fondness of battle was one of his weaknesses, one kept in check by Rhydian. And had Rhydian not been stood beside him, Braydon knew that he would have tried to get himself on the battlefield in any way possible.

“I know that you might not like it but we need to have countermeasures in place should Marek decide that going around our army and attacking our castles is a good idea. Having some of our forces in the nearby castles will deter him from doing that. My informants tell me that he is doing the same thing as well, so the idea has definitely occurred to him.” The king had come to Braydon’s camp, after visiting Cinar, to ask that his be one of the groups that defended a nearby castle. In his disappointment, Braydon had already forgotten the name of the place.

“Then I accept my duty, your grace.” Braydon took a step back and made a bow, he knew that Rhydian would stop him from arguing any further. Since he was not going to get what he wanted, then there was no point in antagonising the King. 

“Then I will be heading back to my camp, you were the last person I needed to visit. Three of the border castles will be defended by our people, the other two will be defended by Duke Oakley’s supporters. Make sure that your men are ready to leave by tomorrow, we are on a tight schedule right now.” With that King Aled left for the central camp. 

“He didn’t mention anything about Duke Ryder. Not two days ago he was complaining about him being late, and he is still not here.” Braydon stated, for someone who had held out against the scheming of strong factions on all sides for years, this oversight was too unlikely. Aled might be a weak man but at the very least he was an observant man.

“Then something must have changed. What, I don’t know, but something has changed.” Rhydian also felt that something had happened, but there was nothing they could do in their current situation.

“Then we should find out what it is, we may be a part of his faction but that does not mean blindly following what the King says.” Braydon did not like being kept in the dark, he would much rather face his problems while knowing what they were.

“But the only person who will know is the King himself. At least the only person that we have any chance of getting an answer from.” Rhydian responded, Duke Burn and Duke Oakley might have an idea of what had happened; but if the king wasn’t going to say, there was no hope of getting that information from those two.

“Either way, we have to head out tomorrow, we can assess the situation when we meet up with the garrison.” Braydon doubted that the castle garrison would be any great addition to his strength. They might be war hardened veterans but the castles on the northern border were small, there was just not going to be any significant numbers to the garrison.

“Then I will go and get our boys ready, it would be best if we headed out earlier rather than later.” Rhydian said, partly as a statement of fact and partly to warn him that he would have to wake up even earlier than he had been over the past week.

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“It’s really odd.” Braydon said as he looked out from over the castle wall. He was right, the garrison was small. 30 men small. But that was not what he found odd.

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“He doesn’t intend to fight at all.” Rhydian also felt it. There was no way that the King’s actions showed that he was seriously making preparations to fight what should be his ‘greatest rival’.

“He has put three of his strongest vassals behind castle walls, of course he doesn’t intend to fight. If I were to guess, the King has also stationed the rest of his strong supporters on the flank.” Braydon’s guess was pure speculation but from the suspicious actions of the King Aled, he could only presume that he was trying to avoid taking any losses. 

Other than himself, the king had stationed both Cinar and Earl Fornton in castles. The late Earl Fornton had once been a supporter of Earl Blake but had taken huge losses in the war against Leigh, his son and successor had decided that it was not worth it to support Earl Blake, who did not have the capability to help him rebuild. Instead, he tried to hop sides to Duke Ryder but was met with distrust, finally moving to supporting the King. With the King’s wealth as support he had managed to rebuild his territory and army to its former size, making him one of the strongest supporters of the King. In the years since, the King’s investment had proven worthwhile, with many disaffected nobles in the west joining his side after the war with Leigh.

“Something must have happened with Duke Ryder for this to happen.” Rhydian said once again, echoing what he had said the day before. Only this time they both knew that the situation was more serious than they had first thought. It was one thing for the King to ask one of his strong supporters to sit this one out as a precaution, but to have all of them either sit it out?

“We should contact Cinar, he should have some idea of what is going on but it would be better to know what each other is thinking.” Braydon realised that being sat behind a castle wall was not going to save them if things went south. They would only stand a chance if they took action before the action started.

“I will send out scouts as well?” Rhydian stated, getting a confused look from Braydon.

“North?” They already knew where the enemy was and the majority of the Kingdom’s forces were keeping them busy.

“No, south.” As soon as  Rhydian said that, Braydon knew what he was thinking.

“Good idea, now let’s get this show on the road. We only have a few days at most, less than two at worst.” Braydon said as he made his way towards his room, there were letters that needed writing.