Pain seems to coarse through William. I do not know the cause but he crumples up. I rush over to him and check his body over. Something is very wrong but I can’t find anything that is wrong. “Are you okay?”

“I can trust you so I will tell you but make sure nobody is around us.” I nod my head and look outside our tent. There are guards but they are too far away to hear us so long as we speak softly. “I can see the future.”

“What?!” I blink my eyes at him. I do not understand what he just said. The ability to see the future? That is absurd, who can do that? “I am sorry. I believe that I may be mishearing you. Did you just say that you could see the future?”

“I can see that you do not believe me. Very well, I shall explain it to you.” He heaves while trying to sit upright. I move over and support him. “It isn’t like I can simply will myself to see what I want but often I will see visions of the future.”

“Then... what did you just see?”

“We should avoid going back to Cerva. It seems the Aveven military has failed to take it.” I suddenly have a strong desire to smash all the items within the tent. I knew the idiot would screw something up. How hard was it to follow just a few simple instructions? That fucking idiot is worse than I originally thought. If I ever see him again I am going to murder him.

Just fucking let them starve and only attack when you breach a wall!

“I am getting a headache.” I begin to rub my temple. That is our plans out the window. Most likely we should make a run back to the mountains and cross them again. With them burning the farms and food supplies we will begin to run out of rations.

Once that starts happen we will be doomed.

“I too have a headache but for a different reason.” William laughs at my words. I have the strange idea that my headache and his are caused for complete different reasons. “We can’t just head back to the mountains, it would be too obvious what we are doing.”

“That means we are going to have to take a detour.” Most likely heading south will be the best solution but after that heading either east or west would need to be weighed. West might be easier because the number of troops in central Arria are bound to be less than the amount in eastern Arria.

“It seems you have already planned which route we will take.”

“Yes, take a look at this.” I walk over to the map and begin moving my finger over the general direction that I think we should take. I plan on putting a large amount of fear within the Arria people. To do that we will be visiting the capital, Belnuo.

“Daring, I like it. They won’t expect us to head in that direction.” I agree, to head into the interior when you are cut off would normally be a stupid idea but I think it is our only chance of getting out of here alive.

“Do you think the emperor has reacted?”

“Yes, he is certainly coming for us. You scared?” I scoff at his question. No matter how skilled of a swordsman he may be he is but a single person. I do not believe that he is really protected by God.

“If we meet in battle he will lose.”

“You are as confident as always. I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The soldiers that would be accompanying him would be the best of the best.” I guess that would be true. We would probably struggle in a head to head battle against him.

“That simply means we have to plan more than he does.”

I look at the map once more. It is a useful tool but it doesn’t show the terrain of Arria and that will make it harder for us to choose where to take battles and where to avoid them. I guess good scouting has worked out well so far. No need to worry about insignificant things like this.

“You are becoming lost in thoughts once more. Shall I leave you to it?”

“My apologizes, I will leave to my tent. Tomorrow I will discuss my ideas with you and we can figure out the flaws and improve it.” William nods his head and waves me out of the tent.

I walk outside and look at the stars. They seem foreign to me and yet at the same time... familiar. It is quiet out, unlike the battlefield there seems to be a peaceful atmosphere. I think back to those red eyes just staring at me.

The more I think about them the more they start to become judgmental.

I shake my head. This is war, one must do what is necessary in order to survive. Besides, I was simply following orders. I have nothing to feel ashamed about.