“I know that our capital has been burned!” Elden slammed his mug of beer back down onto the table. “But there’s nothing we can do about that now! Our best hope is to make the best worst strategic choice, which is to burn their capital! Vabesh must fall, if it falls, the rest of the whole blasted alliance between Ovaria and Vabesh will fall apart!”
The captain in front of him bowed nervously and scuttled out of the tent before Elden smashed the mug down on him! Elden sighed. He had had anxious and nervous captains and generals coming and asking why they were continuing their invasion of Vabesh when their home had been burned. The tent flap parted, and Elden glanced up, ready to bite the head off yet another captain, but he found an oddly dressed man standing in front of him. He wore armor decorated in a forest motif, his helmet slanted into a tree on the top, and he wore a green and gold tunic.
“King Haro,” Elden nodded. “Come in, please. I’m sorry for the mess. It’s been… a most depressing day.”
“Aye,” the king nodded settling himself into a chair. “I heard the news of the capital. I am sorry, for your king, for your family, for your wife.”
“Please,” the old soldier, shaken at the mention of all that he had lost, held up his hand. “Please… we must talk about our strategy. You are sure that the knights and armies of the south will come to our aid?”
“Aye,” Haro nodded and got up to point at a map. Our soldiers have come up the strip of land captured by your army and the young water master and will close in on Vabesh from the south. My army and yours will attack it from the north in a perfect pincer movement, cutting off all hope of escaping. We will burn it to the ground and execute the king, of course setting up someone to reign in his stead lest the power vacuum create yet another war.”
“Very good,” Elden observed. “But this leaves none to deal with Ovaria.”
“Aye,” Haro nodded. “Unfortunately, none of our armies have enough horses to send a force sizable enough to contend with them, but the Ovarians do. They could be scarce hours to us and we would never know.”
“I will send scouts so we will at least now when if they attack us at all,” Elden said, squinting at the map. “Though Drake is a good commander, he knows the alliance will fall apart if Vabesh falls, leaving his county stranded. They couldn’t possibly hope to defeat us unarmed.”
“Vabesh will be a tough nut to crack,” Haro warned. “None of our forces have any experience in the desert, or in war at all in fact. Vabeshs soldiers are more, better equipped, and better trained. It is only because of the water master that we were able to flank them, forcing them to retreat. All our hopes rest on him.”
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