“Have we gotten any positive responses back yet?” The King asked, they had been waiting for a week for the knights that had been sent out to return. And now the first few were beginning to come back after visiting the lords that they were tasked with convincing.

It would take time for all of the knights to return, the north east of Fiveria was a large area with few major roads. The river Harmony was usually a better method of travel, but there were not many places north of Wathamalin where ships could dock. And none of them were particularly closer to Kirton than the others. For a lot of the territories north of the river, it was quicker to get to Duke Burn’s lands than it was to get to Braydon’s.

“There have been a few knights that have returned, but most will take more time. Though of those that have returned there has been one or two that have accepted. Rhydian has brought good news from Viscount Ellis, the highest ranking lord to agree so far. Not that it means much when we have not received any knights who went to see an Earl yet.” Braydon responded, things could be going better but they were not too bad. Though there was a lot of room for that to change, not many responses had reached them yet after all.

“How many of them completely rejected us?” This was what the King was more concerned about. Fence sitters could be convinced if they saw a number of other lords joining their cause but if there was a lot that flat out rejected then it would not bode well.

“So far we have only one rejection, but he is a relatively unconnected baron. We do not really need to fear that he would convince his allies to not join us when he has few to begin with.” Braydon also suspected that this baron was one of the proxies that Duke Ryder had long since paid off to try and influence the region. This was why they were always certain that there would be a number that would not join them. If a lord had already secretly been on the side of another faction then it was unlikely that he would want to help the King, even if it was not Duke Ryder that they had been paid by.

“Then that is good.” King Aled could not find anything more to ask about since they would have to wait for more knights to return before they could see a clear trend.

“If I may, do we know what is happening with the dukes?” Ethan entered the study that Braydon and the King had been talking in. Since Braydon rarely spent long stints of time in Mapjess, it had mainly been used by Rhydian and Corban as a storage for any important military documents. Parchments now almost filled the bookshelves that had been emptied when all the books had been transferred to Cliforge.

“We do not know what Duke Ryder has done yet. Our scouts have not sent back any news yet but it is likely that we will get reports on his movements in the next few days. As for Duke Burn, I have been told that he is staying around Earl Blake’s faction. It could be like Cinar speculated that he would do. Though that also means that Ryder has not yet made a move on Earl Blake if he intends to.” King Aled responded, it was not the first time that Ethan had asked that in the last few days. After hearing Cinar’s speculation, he had been worried for his land that he had taken great effort to rebuild after inheriting. His father had been an ally of Earl Blake, and that meant that his lands were also very close to where the action was likely to happen should Duke Ryder attack.

“Has anything happened?” Braydon asked Ethan, though he often asked about the situation he would not have come to the study without something more to discuss. He just often took the opportunity to ask.

“I almost forgot, there is an important visitor.” Ethan said, trying to keep them in suspense. It was something that Braydon found that Ethan liked to do when talking about something new. The best way to deal with it was to either know before him or not react otherwise it would drag on for several minutes.

“So Lani has arrived then.” In this case, Braydon already knew he had received word from Lani almost as soon as they had arrived in Mapjess. He suspected that her ability to know about almost anything going on in Fiveria had something to do with her ability to stay neutral when her land sat between Duke Burn and Duke Ryder.

“Tch, you’re right. How did you know Countess Graham was here already?” Having had his bit of fun spoiled, he wanted to know why Braydon already knew. 

“Because I received word from her a week ago. Not to mention that this is my land, do you really think that I do not keep tabs on what happens here?” Not long before Ethan had come to see them, a soldier had come to report that a small army was approaching from the south. When they had settled down, Braydon had sent troops to the borders of his land as an early warning of any approaching army. It was mostly a fail-safe for if an enemy had gotten close without them realising. But it also had the side effect of letting Braydon know everything that was going on before Ethan did, side stepping minutes of pointless guessing.

“Fair enough. Cinar should just hurry back, how long does he need to visit his daughter anyway?” This was the main reason that Ethan still tried to pull the suspense game on Braydon. Not two days after coming to Braydon’s territory, Cinar had left to go see Nela in Cliforge Castle. Though Braydon wondered if it was just to let everyone else deal with all of the hard work of managing a massive army.

“Probably because Nela is an active person, I doubt that she was even in the castle when he arrived. She was probably somewhere in my territory managing one of her projects.” Braydon knew exactly what Nela would have been doing when they arrived in his territory. She was likely accompanying Father Odom to oversee the school project that they had been so excited to start. And considering that it had been about three weeks since he had left for the northern border originally, it was likely that construction was already well underway.

“How much like her father does she have to be?” Ethan complained, causing Braydon to shiver. If Cinar had been as clever as Nela was then Braydon would not have coped. That was not to say that Cinar was dumb, not at all, just he was not the master of reading people that Nela was. Though Braydon could agree that they shared an unending supply of energy when they had a task that they were pursuing.

Darkwood

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