“Do you not believe that your attitude is a bit too brash to be leading the Kingdom’s army?” This time Earl Downs himself asked a question. Unlike his allies, he was more respectful about his questions but it was clear that he agreed with their sentiments. Making big moves was too risky.

“I may take a harsher attitude, Sire, but that does not mean my attitude is unjustified. What use is our strength if we never use it until it is too late? We do not have the luxury of time on our side, something which you should be aware of. We should act when we choose to, not when we are forced by circumstance any more than we already are.” Rhydian countered. For Braydon it was quite surreal watching as Rhydian made the aggressive argument. 

In all of the years that he had known the man it was usually Rhydian making the more conservative point when he wanted to go all out. Though Braydon was sure that it was from a place of experience that Rhydian was now making such arguments, unlike himself who had all too often been too ready to go all in. Braydon was glad that in recent years, Rhydian had less of a reason to try and reign him in. It showed that he had made some improvements, even if he was still a bit too happy to rush in.

“Let us move on from this point, since we have all seen your stances on our immediate concerns. I will put it to both of you, what of Duke Burn? What should our attitude towards him be should we manage to defeat Duke Ryder?” King Aled, moved the discussion on. Whomever was chosen to lead the army would have a large say in what they did when it came to the last remaining faction besides Duke Ryder. It was important to know their attitudes before one was chosen.

“I would say that it depends on what state both of our sides end up in after the inevitable struggle with Duke Ryder.” Rhydian was much more conservative when it came to dealing with Duke Burn than Duke Ryder. It was clear that he did not want to pick a fight they could not win unnecessarily. But that was only one possible scenario, he did not want to commit to saying one thing if a different scenario played out.

“And yourself, Earl Downs?” The King then looked to Earl Downs for an answer. Since the earl was a northeastern noble, he did not expect him to want to fight Duke Burn if he did not have to. Most everyone in the royal faction expected the same. It would be much easier for such independent minded lords to maintain their quasi-autonomous position if there was another powerful player at court by the end of the civil war. It would take the crown’s attention away from trying to reign them in with no other factions to take into account.

“Well there are two approaches that I would think of taking, depending on the position that Duke Burn would take. First, if he does not attack us, we have no reason to attack him. Since he technically is fighting on ‘our side’ and could claim as much. Not that I see him doing that if he comes out stronger than us on the other side. I am sure that everyone knows of how brutally he is treating Earl Blake right now.” Earl Downs elaborated much more than the King had expected. Or anyone for that matter

“And what would be the other option you are thinking of?” King Aled was now curious about the other idea the Earl had. The first one was very much in line with what a typical northeastern lord would suggest. But he had said that he might consider doing something else. And this would likely be what he truly thought.

“I find it very likely that Duke Burn has it in mind to wait until everyone else is exhausted to make his move. As much as it is possible to do so. It would be very much in line with his usual modus operandi, his actions surrounding Earl Blake seem very much to be the exception rather than the rule. If we are to make a move against him I would suggest it be before he is ready to strike us.” When he brought this idea up, almost everyone in the royal faction looked at Earl Downs as if he had suddenly turned into a ghost. That a northeastern noble was making this kind of argument was unheard of. 

“If we were to find ourselves in such a position, I would have to agree with Earl Downs. Duke Burn is someone too dangerous to be completely left alone without scrutiny. Had he not previously been kept in check by Duke Ryder, I find it likely that he would have been leading the strongest faction instead.” Rhydian spoke up again, making it clear where he stood on the matter of Duke Burn.

“So it seems that on the latter point we are all in agreement. No matter what happens, if we defeat Duke Ryder, Duke Burn is next.” King Aled looked around the room for any hints of disagreement but none could be found. A rare sight, certainly not one that he had expected from the northeastern nobility in any case.

‘Just what has Duke Burn done to anger them so much?’ Braydon thought to himself as he watched the proceedings. Normally, the northeastern lords were happy to remain neutral on almost anything that did not directly affect their interests. And from what he had seen, Duke Burn had not done that yet. But, even still, they were more than happy to face the Duke in battle? 

“Then I think it is time that we wrapped things up and chose who should lead the army into battle.” The King decided. Since it was clear that the main point of contention would be on how they faced Duke Ryder, there was a clear reason to choose one of the two men other than based on factions. It would come down to if the various lords agreed more with earl Downs or Rhydian.

“Those who would support Earl Downs, stand by him. And those who would support Sir Harvey, stand by him.” The King said with a neutral face, if things went well or him it would be the last time that he had to do things in such a roundabout way. If they won the war, he would immediately gain much more authority. He would be able to act like any other King would, rather than be beholden to the nobles to such a degree. Otherwise, he would be dead and not have to worry about anything.

Darkwood

Hi Hi. 

I am going to put a poll at the end of this chapter asking about early access to chapters for people who support me on Kofi. I am asking this to gauge how many people would be interested since to have subscriber only content on Kofi requires me to pay for Kofi Gold and I am not about to waste money if nobody is interested.

Put simply, would you be interested to pay, say £1 (or $ what ever currency it is), monthly to see the next chapter in advance of the release on SH?

Come join me and others on my discord server and have fun chatting together! You can come and talk to me about my thoughts on the novel or point out any mistakes I made in my chapters. Or if that doesn't suit your taste then just talk about whatever random stuff is on your mind.

And if you are willing and able, you could always show me some love by contributing to my snack fund over on Kofi. =P

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