Sol kept her gaze low even after hearing the exchange between Prince Roland and An. Rather, she would be questioning Prince Roland’s sanity had he arrived without contacting any other forces. His position was one where he was surrounded by enemies, Sol included.
Even so, Sol didn’t plan to turn the former Prince away. War was imminent and the time, short. Even if he held designs that strayed from the overall plan, she could trust the Prince to fight for his own benefits. As it stood, those benefits aligned with her goals.
“This Lady will place aside the Assembler matters. Have your forces already gathered, or is only a portion of them waiting outside the territory?” Sol jumped straight to the main topic while giving An a knowing glare.
“Around 70% of my forces have arrived. The rest should arrive within the week. I’ve ordered them to collect weapons and resources we hid away.” The former Prince seemed to gloss over what the hidden weapons and resources were originally for, however Sol had no intention to nitpick such things.
“What were your conditions?” She asked a moment later. “I have 3 conditions to assist the Lady and the territory. First, I want the throne and my brother’s head when everything is said and done. Second, my military will not be integrated into the Arcgate militias or chain of command. Finally, I wish to establish a treaty between Iridescent and the Reviarra family after everything is said and done.”
“Condition one isn’t a problem. This Lady has no desire for the throne. Condition two is problematic. The Duke will be commander in chief for this war. We require a unified command structure to properly react to enemy movements. The most this Lady can promise you is that your forces will not be assimilated into the native Arcgate forces, however they’ll still be required to follow our orders for the duration of the war. As to your final condition, you will have to discuss it further with this Lady’s father, however this Lady doesn’t foresee any problems with that so far.”
The former Prince appeared to have predicted most of her rebuttals and accepted the negotiated outcome rather easily. After finalizing a few more details, Prince Roland departed the Reviarra estate to meet up with his unit. With his departure, Sol assigned two Knights she trusted to work with him.
Despite the gentle wording, everyone knew the Knights were following to keep an eye on him. After Prince Roland left for his unit, Sol directly glanced at Dorothy. “Dorothy, may I ask you a favor?”
“What do you need?” Hearing her frank response, Sol forgoed courtesies and directly asked. “Can you keep an eye on the former Prince Roland?”
Dorothy’s eyes blinked in curiosity. “Are your Knights untrustworthy?” Sol only chuckled at her question. “It’s not a matter of trust. Those two men are competent and trustworthy, however they’re in the open. Lunar Supply might have been dismantled, but to grow to its peak, it required a clever mind directing it. I fear those two Knights are not his match.”
Dorothy understood her meaning and only nodded before her figure flickered from view. Upon turning away from the gate, Sol heard a yell from behind and glanced back. A scout was racing on horseback with a rolled document clasped in hand.
The moment the scout noticed Sol, he abandoned his initial goal since he understood the importance of the information in his hand and directly called out for the Lady. He hardly arrived in front of Sol when he leapt from the horse and genuflected in front of her.
“Lady Reviarra, word from the inner scouts is that Prince Elric has started gathering his forces together. His actions suggest he’s aware of Prince Roland’s defection and destination. Blonsall capital has been locked down and the Palace has started cleansing anyone potentially untrustworthy.”
He then passed the rolled document to Sol which had further details on the situation. Sol waved him away and immediately convened an emergency meeting. The contents of the meeting were rather obvious. Various representatives were gathered and the information was dispersed along with counterplans should anything unforeseen occur.
Two weeks later, another emergency meeting was convened. Unlike the previous few though, Duke Reviarra was particularly solemn. He glanced around at the members and took a moment before finally speaking.
“This Duke just received word that King Blonsall has officially passed away. Details are thin as the Palace servants have been filtered out, but this Duke trusts the intelligence of everyone here.”
As Duke Reviarra suggested, the members present understood the King’s death was far from natural. Despite that, the Duke’s following comment stunned all of them.
“Prince Elric and Queen Blonsall have issued public statements suggesting our House Reviarra perpetrated the assassination. They’re claiming poison and trying to link it with this Duke’s escape. Witnesses have been produced to support their claims and, it would appear, the Royal family has found their motive to assault Arcgate.”
Representatives exchanged solemn glances with each other. Preparations for war had already been hastened beyond the Reviarra household’s ability to sustain. Boosting it any further would be unrealistic. The men and women gathered in the meeting were responsible for different aspects of the war.
Their allegiance was without question and so their initial concerns revolved around the war effort. Duke Reviarra could predict their concerns and went to head it off.
“For now, continue your preparations for war. This Duke has already issued orders to disrupt Prince Elric’s military. If their army marches non-stop, the 3 day travel can shrink to just over a day. Those handling citizenry matters should issue warnings to the region. Those responsible for war logistics, stay behind. We’ll have to start prioritizing medicine and food. Engineering team, stay behind as well. All other, continue your duties. This Duke will keep everyone up to date as the situation evolves.”
The representatives left the room to adjust their respective areas of interest. As they left the room, a few members caught the shadow of Sol turning a corner in the distance. It was clear the girl overheard the meeting contents.
Indeed, Sol overheard the meeting. Her thoughts turned deep while her legs carried her to the training field. Dorothy was assigned to observe the former Prince and so Sol’s gaze landed on the boy training with Knights in the field.
Swift exchanges of fists littered with grapples and kicks described the training to a tee. The abundant sword rack warped under the weight of the piled weapons atop it. Sol patiently awaited An’s training session to end. Her eyes soaked up what they could of the combat while her mind simulated the movements.
Although he was in the midst of combat, An noticed Sol’s arrival from the start. He waved to the girl after advising the Knights. No courtesies were required between the two after knowing each other for so many years. She leaped straight into the main topic.
“An, I want to lead a team to distract Prince Elric.” Her intonation suggested the statement and order rather than an opinion. Hardly a moment passed before An responded. It was as if the boy predicted the situation already. “Sure. Has the foolish Prince already made his move?”
“Mhm. Prince Elric worked with Queen Blonsall to kill King Blonsall. The blame was pinned on the Reviarra Household. Prince Elric now has motive, ambition, and a public impetus. Father predicts a day and a half for the army at the earliest. Taking logistics and stamina into account, I believe 5 to 14 days is a more accurate prediction.”
An took a moment to take the timeframe in. A trace of testing flashed across his eyes. “What’s your vision of success look like if we go? How many men are we taking? How long do you plan on staying outside the Arcgate territory?”
Having already questioned herself on those topics, Sol was quick to answer. “The duration is malleable. Prior to leaving, I’ll leave father with a few dead drop locations to store basic food, weapons, and clothes. I intend to continue moving, so only 5 to 6 men should follow us. Our team will avoid direct assaults when possible and fight with asymmetric tactics. The only goal I hope to see from this is to buy time for Arcgate. 2 to 3 months is my target.”
“2 to 3 months?” An was flabbergasted at the childish goal Sol set for herself. With the paved roads, it only took 3 days of travel to reach the Blonsall capital. He found the goal of extending that to anything beyond 3 weeks a fool’s errand. Even so, the clarity he saw within Sol’s gaze was enough for him to know the girl was serious.
“Have you any ideas on how to do that?” He asked incredulously despite her serious gaze. “Of course. It’d be impossible if we were normal humans, but we’re not quite that… That provides us with plenty of options.” Sol’s mouth curled into a mischievous smile. Suddenly, An felt a bit bad for the ill informed army.
“Select 6 men you believe are qualified to travel with us. I’ll take care of identifying the resource dead drops. We’ll abscond this afternoon and father will be forced to support us.” Sol had already started walking away when she delivered the irresponsible line.
An shrugged his shoulders. The Duke was already tasked to his limit. An felt the news of his daughter absconding with a man would strike the man particularly hard. He chuckled a bit at the thought before calling over a few trusted Knights he felt were qualified.
Soon, a personal letter was delivered to Duke Reviarra. The courier nearly collapsed in fear after seeing the veins bulge around the Duke. Unwilling to risk it, the courier rushed out of the office on all fours.
