“Your Highness, there is significant movement amongst the rebels.” An advisor said after he entered her study.

“They are pulling back some men?” Alima looked at the advisor completely unsurprised by the news. She had already received word from Braydon over two weeks prior that he was going to start moving in to ‘secure his stolen iron’. If anything, she was surprised that it took this long for any kind of response from the rebelling lords.

“It is as you say. A number of their lords have portioned off some of their men to return home. As far as we can tell no lord has decided to completely abandon their position in favour of defending against Earl Fiton.” The advisor proceeded to inform her of the more intricate details of the rebel movement. It was not hard to see that few of the rebel lords thought seriously of a single Fiverian earl with the number of men that were being sent back. 

“So they are sending at most 5000 men to defend. And I presume that a number of them will be returning to defend their castles rather than actually fight the man.” It was typical. The only reason why they were putting on such a united front against her was because if they did not they would all be wiped out sooner or later. Whilst there were many people who supported her as the regent but not the monarch on her side, their manoeuvring was purely political. But the rebels? They could not even agree who they wanted to be the new Grand Duke apart from that it would not be someone related to the former Grand Duke.

“It is likely as you say. Though there will be some that will attempt to face Earl Fiton down, since their lands will have already been captured. I doubt that the others will want to join their cause. Not whilst we are the main focus.” The advisor thought about as much too.

“Now how about we show them that they are right to focus on us more than Earl Fiton? I want to attack every position that has  removed more than 100 men and is not ridiculously defended.” Alima knew that if too many men went to attack Braydon too early, then the diversion he was causing would be quelled too quickly for her to take meaningful advantage of. Sure the rebels would be pushed back a bit but they would not take the losses that she wanted to inflict in the process.

“Still skirmishes, Your Highness?” The advisor asked just to be sure. The rebels might have withdrawn some men but it was not enough to be appreciable on the scale of the entire war.

“Just enough to let them know that I can see everything that they are doing.” That would hopefully buy Braydon just enough time to do enough damage to the rebels from behind that they would be forced to move in large numbers to stop him. It was then that Alima wanted to make her killing blow.

“As you say, Your Highness.” The advisor nodded before leaving the study once more.

“How much has Earl Braydon already taken?” Alima asked to what seemed to just be a curtain.

“Do you really think you should still have those who wish for your downfall as advisors?” A voice returned as a seemingly unimpressive man dressed like a regular servant stepped out from behind the curtain.

“You know that I would have removed your head a long time ago if you were not so good at your job.” Alima both loved and hated this man. He was the one who oversaw all of her spies throughout the Grand Duchy and the few that she had placed outside of it. 

“And I know that you will not remove my head for a long time to come.” He was right. Alima did not have many people that she trusted, fewer still that were competent and unknown by her enemies.

*sigh*

“Just answer the damned question.” Alima did not have the time nor the energy to argue with him. It was not like he was wrong. Most of her advisors had long since been part of this or that lord’s faction. They had been since her husband was alive. That was not going to change any time soon, however. Not if she wanted to be on the winning side of the civil war.

“By the time the rebels even reacted he had taken two castles and besieged Damaz. If I were to guess, by now he should have taken the town and moved on.” He stated.

“And that is all you know?” It was not like him to know so little.

“The nearest spy we had was inside Damaz, if I were Earl Fiton I would be keeping a close eye on what goes in and out of the town regardless of if I had captured it. Once he besieged the town the closest person I have is placed in Sherat.” That was disappointing. Sherat was in the opposite direction to where Braydon had told her he would be moving. Sherat was to the south of Cliforge and Braydon was moving north. It would be odd if his men were seen in the area near the city.

“And you already have people on the way to see what is happening?” More a statement than a question but Alima would not be impressed if he said no.

“Why of course. I have multiple people in Serchi. I sent two south on two different routes last week.” Serchi was the eastern most border city with Serhesh, hence the large number of spies placed in the city. Unlike Fiveria, they had no embargo or current truce with their northern neighbours and the border was mostly open terrain or forests. In normal times there was simply far more interest in what Serheshi crossing the border were doing than what Fiverians not crossing the border were not doing. This was one of the times that it was not the case.

“Good, I want to know everything that everyone is doing.” Alima was more than happy to work with Braydon to get an advantage in her civil war but if he folded too quickly or was more successful than expected, then she would need to do something about that.

“No you do not, but I understand the sentiment.” The man said as he changed his posture to that of an actual servant and left the study.

“That man will be the death of me.” Alima really wished that he would do something about his attitude but he was simply too valuable to force him to change.

Darkwood

Hi Hi. 

I have cobbled together a map of Braydon's territory and the surrounding area using my limited skills. The different colour sigils show the rank of the title, Red for baron, blue for viscount, grey for earl. It is viewable both on my discord and on my kofi as always if you wish to go back and see it again.

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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