As they were making their way to Marquess Burgess’s camp Braydon spent more time inspecting the camps of the other nobles that had arrived before him. And one thing stood out in particular, nobody had brought very many men at all. Barons and viscounts were not really expected to have many men to begin with, but even the earls had at most brought about as many as he had. Although looking at the size of the camps was not the best indicator, it was still easy enough to get a rough estimate of the number of men in them.

“Nobody really has many men do they? Shouldn’t Oakley’s allies have brought more troops? It’s their own lands that they are defending.” Braydon asked Rhydian, if anyone were to know about odd situations on and off the battlefield, it was this man. He had simply been on too many battlefields. Braydon’s father had been quite active whenever it came to military campaigns and was not afraid of sending his knights out. In the end most of them died alongside him in the war with the Grand Duchy.

“We can just ask, there are people in our faction here, no need to speculate unnecessarily.” Rhydian surprised him with that answer but he was not wrong. Now that this had something to do with the battlefield, Rhydian was more about getting the right answer in the most efficient way. In this regard, he was quite similar to his attitude towards training. The most efficient way wins wars. Incompetence loses them.

“It is good to finally meet you, Viscount Braydon!” As they approached the camp, Marquess Burgess came out of the main tent to greet them. And it was in much more gusto than Braydon thought he would receive. He was also glad to note that it was at least becoming common knowledge in his own faction that he didn’t like being called by his family name. Either that or Nela had mentioned it in a letter.

“And you too, I have heard good things about you.” Braydon replied though not with as much force as the Marquess. He wondered how someone getting on in years could still look to be in such fine spirit. If Nela’s recount of seeing him work flat out as she grew up was anything to go by, he should be on his last legs by now.

“Then you must have only asked my daughter. I couldn’t imagine many others giving me great compliments.” Apparently he was well aware of how much Nela looked up to him as well; at least based on first impressions, Braydon was impressed.

“You’ve got at least one loyal supporter in her. I assume you have at least met my knight, Rhydian, once. He was once a personal guard of my father.” Braydon confirmed as he and Rhydian got down from their horses. His men were already a little bit away setting up his camp.

“Indeed we have met before, but it was a long time ago now. It is good to see that you are alive at least, you had quite the reputation in your early days.” Marquess Burgess gave them both a firm handshake, considering he was of a higher rank, this was a considerable sign of respect.

“Well then, no point standing around here. Why don’t you come inside with me while your camp is being set up? And you can call me Cinar, no need to be so formal, you have done me a great service in looking after Nela.” Cinar said as he motioned to the main tent from which he had emerged earlier.

“So how long have you been here already?” Braydon asked as they made their way into the tent. There were not many luxuries in this tent, something that Braydon liked already. There was just some basic furniture and a large table in the centre. He could already imagine several of the other nobles treating this like some kind of holiday, decking out their tents with luxury rugs and drinking expensive wines.

“I’ve been here just over a day now, others are slowly arriving but I wouldn’t expect many of them to bring an actual army if I were you.” They took their seats around the centre table, Rhydian also taking a seat this time. He was the commander of Braydon’s army, so at least on the battlefield, he would get the same respect as the nobles. Of course, it would be different if he were a commoner and not a knight. Rhydian was very much aware of all of the rules surrounding his station, his time serving Braydon’s father ensured that.

“I was wondering about that when I was coming over, if Casburland sees us as weak they will definitely attack.” Braydon still could not fathom why there was nobody with a significant army here. His was one of the largest and he was only a viscount, there were a number of earls with armies equal to or smaller than his. Everyone knew that they all had more men at home than they had brought but a distant well doesn’t put out an immediate fire.

“You might not have heard about it since you don't need to go through the capital to go north from the east but, it is because of the bold claims that Duke Oakley made at court. He was partly showing off and partly nudged into it by Duke Burn.” Cinar sighed as he recalled what went down.

“He didn’t claim that he could fight them all on his own did he?” When he heard what the Marquess had to say Braydon was aghast. That would be more than a bold claim, that was a death wish. Sure he was strong but that was largely due to his faction. He was nowhere near on the order of standing up to the entire Kingdom of Casburland with a single duchy.

“Not quite but not far off, he said so long as everyone else brought a minimal force, his men would make up the core of our combined army. At least he managed to talk Duke Burn and Duke Ryder into sending men too, otherwise there would be no hope of him winning this.” Even with the additional explanation, it was a risky proposition. If the southern factions actually sent token forces it would make up for the shortfall in men but there was not an easy road ahead for Duke Oakley by any means. If he was successful in defeating the Casburland force like that, it would dramatically swing the balance of power in Fiveria in his favour. But the Casburland army was going to be the same size or bigger than the Fiverian one, and anything less than a crushing victory would not bring him decent rewards for his troubles.

“Does he have some trick up his sleeve that we don’t know about?” Brayond asked and the serious look on the other men’s faces said that they also thought it likely.

“That is what everyone is thinking, and it is why the other factions have been more than willing to go along with his shenanigans. The King is unsure of what to make of it either.” For now they were at an impasse until a meeting with the other nobles happened. They would all have to gather to talk about strategy for the upcoming battle, it was likely that Oakley would reveal more of his plans then.