Chapter 9

Year 163 – Summer – Quartus Mensis – 36th day

Tree-Fall Village, Velika Forest, northern Vale

The sun was high in the sky. The wind spread the smell of cattle shit across the whole camp.

In the homestead of the late mayor of Tree-Fall, close to 20 men were standing around a large table with a century-old map of the Vale.

Egmond –“My friend, my brother, I’ve brought you all here today to prepare for the most important assault of this year. In the time of the grandfather of the grandfather of my father, the Vale used to be ours, but our lands got stolen before we were even born. When our ancestors joined the Union, they relinquished their claim over the land of their ancestors, dooming the fate of their offspring to a legacy of frozen wasteland where winter last six of the eight months, making the sea barely navigable to fish. We got pushed back into the rocky mountains of the North where nothing grows. Generation after generation, we remained under the inexorable mercy of the Union’s trade as they kept abusing our need with higher and higher price. Many of you ended up thieves and sellswords, but I know why you did it and I now resent the Union with the same anger as you do. My father, Sigmund Der Stolze, was too weak to fight, but I fought in the East by your side, and I would give my life for all of you because each of us, no matter our descent, are Kalator in our blood.”

A man with a stiff beard and short brown hair applauded, and half the men under the roof followed.

Egmond – “My brother, Bjarne, is in Rust-Fell with Trygve, taking care of the rock needed for the siege, but they will join us once we reach Avem. We’ve made an outpost of Tree-Fall, and we’ll restore the village with our banners, so our wounded may rest even if the siege lasts until winter. Seizing Avem won’t be as easy as overtaking the Frey. The town is large and protected by the river. Most of them are farmers, but their numbers are similar to ours. I know we will achieve victory, but a victory with the death of your brothers is no triumph. I will do everything in my power to reduce our casualties to the minimum.”

A tall man with a fat belly coughed.

The tall man – “My lord?”

Egmond – “Yes, Roberht?”

Roberht – “The girl is still missing. Did she betray us?”

The man with the stiff beard – “She was supposed to arrive today. She might just be late.”

Egmond – “Mundric is right. We will wait for two days before deciding her fate. Until then, she is still our ally. Besides, we need her sorcerer.”

Atilos – “I don’t really see why . . . Some of our men are getting sick because of all the shit he made us carry around.”

Roberht – “I have to agree with the seagull over there. Being sick won’t help us in a siege.”

The man with the eye patch made a rictus.

Atilos – “It’s so surprising how a bag of shit can still find his companion disagreeable.”

Roberht – “Who are you calling a bag of shit?”

Egmond – “ENOUGH!”

Both turned toward the lord and silenced themselves.

Egmond – “I haven’t brought you here to kill each other. Can we please place our bickering aside and try to cooperate for the good of our people?”

Roberht – “Thss... Sure . . .”

Atilos took a knife out of his pocket and made a small incision in his left hand to let some blood flow.

Atilos – “I pledge with my blood that I will cooperate with Roberht Turin for the Kalator’s cause!”

He approached Roberht and held out the knife.

Roberht – “What the actual fuck are you doing?”

Atilos – “Are you afraid of some blood?”

Roberht – “Ah, shut up.”

The tall man took the knife and cut his palm before holding his former opponent’s arm in a blood pact. At that moment, Ludger, Egmond’s adviser, arrived at the council.

Ludger – “I don’t want to go against your pact, but you should heal these wounds if you don’t want them to get infected.”

Egmond – “You arrived in time for my actual request, Ludger.”

Ludger – “I’m quite pleased to hear it, but I can’t stop myself from noticing that the imposter of Aya isn’t here. Did she finally receive the punishment she deserves?”

Egmond – “For all I care, she’s not an imposter; she’s a mercenary, a sellsword, and we treat sellswords with the same respect as with our people.”

Ludger – “But her name is a blasphemy.”

Egmond – “Then you’ll take care of it once I’m done with her services.”

Ludger – “What was your request?”

Egmond – “The Velika Forest is a wood farmland. They know this place better than any of us. If we take a look at our old map, there’s a mountain on the west side and the rest of the land is rocky. They could easily ambush us in the woods and make us suffer many casualties. We cannot suffer an ambush after a long day of walking since we carry our supplies. We cannot suffer a night attack, as our men will be tired. And beyond any of that, we cannot leave our supplies unprotected during the night. If they come set our arrows on fire, we will have to postpone our siege until next year, and the Union will have the time to regroup its forces. We will move our supplies from fort to fort until we get there.”

A man with a rough voice interrupted Lord Egmond.

The man with the rough voice – “How do we pull this off without wasting too much time?”

Ludger – “Varok, would you please?”

The man raised his hands and bowed his head in silence while waiting for an answer from the lord.

Egmond – “We are going to send three of you out there to scout the area and build a fort large enough to place our arrows and grain every day. We will begin moving our supplies two days from now, so if a fort gets compromised, we will see each other in the previous one. Who’s willing to go?”

The man with the stiff beard – “I, Mundric, will go with my men!”

After his declaration, a silence reached the rest of them.

Mundric – “Are you all cowards?”

Varok – “This is taking too long. No one wants to risk his life and the lives of their men for that suicide mission. If they do ambush us, it will mean a certain death.’’

Egmond – “You are right, but we cannot afford to lose more soldiers in an ambush.”

Ludger – “Perhaps a reward might convince them. Don’t you think, my lordship?”

Egmond – “Well, let’s ask them. Who’s willing to risk their life and the life of their men to become an official general of the Kalator army?”

The men swivelled their heads back and forth to confirm in the eyes of the others that they heard Egmond correctly.

Roberht – “What’s the wage of a general?”

Egmond – “A thousand Utos per month.”

Drazen – “No way! I just get 70 per month.”

Varok – “Cause that’s what your men are worth . . .”

Drazen – “You don’t gain much more, if I recall.”

Varok – “Listen closely, Drazen, and the same goes for every young man who hasn’t met the other world yet. This is not a mission where you will come back alive. The Valmai are known to be among the most trained soldiers of the Union. When the ambush occurs, and it will occur, your friends and brothers will die! The reason why Edmond asked for three groups is to be sure that at least one will come back alive to relay the information.”

Roberht – “I’ll do it. I’m not a coward like someone I know.”

As Roberht looked toward Atilos, he stepped forward.

Atilos – “I totally agree with you, Roberht. Varok is a coward. I’m in!”

Roberht – “Ahahahahha, you just dug your own grave out of pride, Atilos!”

Egmond – “It seems we have our future war generals to salute. You can depart as soon as your men are ready. We will take the Velika road tomorrow, and I expect to find a fort every day.”

Atilos – “Avem and soon the whole Vale shall be ours!”

Egmond – “Mundric, Roberht, Atilos. I wish you luck.”