“What are they doing?” I ask Luca. They seem to be patiently waiting for us to make the first move. It unsettles me. We can lead them around all day and steer them clear of farms and other vital unguarded areas but this waiting is causing the generals under my command to grow anxious. They are beginning to itch for a fight. 

“What is your plan, your majesty?” Luca asks me. 

I look down at the map. I am not sure I know what to do. Perhaps trying to force them to move south would be best. I have been slowly pushing them north as that is away from major population centers but at this point they will soon enter the major road and that might be a worse position to be in. 

I do not believe there are any major cities or forts strong enough to stop an army between Casterso and Belnuo. They have slowed down their pace massively from the earlier months. Perhaps this is to show how tired and exhausted they have become. 

“Push them south along the Anziano river.” I answer his question long after it left his mouth. 

“Wouldn’t we need to get precariously close to the main road?” His question mirrors my own worries. Most likely nothing will come of it but a part of me doesn’t want to risk the chance he can siege Belnuo. There is just too much I could lose if he does. 

“We would have to find a point of crossing before we reach the mouth of the river.” I tell Luca. Not a particularly hard thing to do. Suddenly a messenger enters the tent. I look over at him and glare. This had better be important. 

“Your majesty, I was merely here to inform you that the Allonians have been becoming more and more audacious. They have begun to accept our skirmishes.” He informs me. I wave for him to leave. This is hardly something out of my estimates. This, however, doesn’t mean I should take out my anger on the messenger. He is merely doing his duty. 

“Do you think that they are testing the water?” Luca asks me. 

“Who knows.” I answer him with the only answer I can give. They might want to engage in an important battle soon in order to push us off of them. Upon winning they will likely make a mad dash for something. 

That would explain why they have been relaxing recently. 

The question would be what is their target? What would they aim at taking? My blood begins to boil but I fight the urge to just rush in. That didn’t work last time. No, it failed miserably. 

It will follow me for the rest of my reign. Even if I win against William and the people love me for it I will never forget. It has been a harsh lesson and reality. To underestimate somebody is a deadly mistake and the price is blood. 

“I think we should actually avoid bridges.” I suddenly announce. The thought came to my head and nearly caused me to begin to beat myself up. If they burn a bridge either we have half of our army separated from us or we will have lost valuable time as we look for another bridge. 

Valuable time that the enemy could use to create distance between us. 

“If you think that is best then I will follow your judgment.” Luca responds. 

His faith in me is misplaced but in a way it is kind of gratifying. I guess nobody is perfect, even I am only human. But at least I can learn from my mistakes. I am not blind. 

“It is growing late...” I begin to say but quickly trail off of my initial line of thought. 

“Shall I allow you to retire?” Luca asks me. 

“Yes,” I answer him. These last few days have been long and hard. I have been doing a lot of self-review after my lose. The answer still remains the same. I was simply arrogant and didn’t think things through as much as I could. 

Luca says goodnight and leaves the tent. I blow out the lantern and sit down in my bed. Tomorrow will be another day of skirmishes and watching over them. People may complain about there being no victory but that is better than another grievous defeat. 

A/N: Been super busy lately as this is finals week. That means I will keep this short. Got a lot of stuff to do. 

As always, thank you for reading.