Chapter 95: Chapter 95

THAGHIT Camp

"Your Grace, The main troops of the Manrast army are located thirty miles away from here, they have chosen a small village as their camp, the village is close to the river and has excellent access to the main roads and paths, there are almost eighty thousands men in their army, ten thousands of them are cavalry, five thousand archers while the rest are infantry, their main weapons are swords but they are also known to be good with spears, they have brought enough supplies for the next two months and even secured a safe path to get more from the nearby towns and villages, the magistrates of those towns were given orders to prepare wagons filled with goods and wait for the orders to send them, As for the time of the attack, We don't know yet, they appear to be waiting for something." The young shadow demon informed Henry, taking advantage of the thick forest that bordered the camping village to sneak closer without being notices.

"You said their main troops are in this village, are there any other troops?" Henry, who was busy staring at the map in his tent surrounded with his generals, asked the young demon without lifting his head, trying to gather the pieces of the puzzle to better understand his enemies’ plan and come out with a befitting counterattack that would guarantee their full annihilation, he wasn’t a bloodthirsty man who liked to kill others, but the things those men did to his people were too horrible to be forgiven, and only their blood could pay for their crimes.

"About that, Your Grace, our eyes stated clearly that no less than ten thousand calvaries had left the Manrast capital before the main troops but did not join the later, not to mention that the Katara army that should be joining the Manrast main forces are instead gathering in two other villages on each side, twenty thousand in each..."

"They plan to ambush us, attack us from several fronts while we are busy fighting the main forces..." One of the generals concluded with a knowing expression, it was not a new war technique, especially when two kingdoms were allying against one.

"Not just that." Henry added with a deep frown, the one he usually wears whenever he is in deep thoughts, "I believe the Manrast king is not planning to share the goods, he is planning to play dirty.", Henry sounded as if he was talking to himself, his voice was low as each though led to another, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made, Manrast was contributing with ninety thousand soldiers while Katara only had forty if not less, Manrast was always stronger than Katara, with a better economy and far more lands, not to mention that they were proud people who looked down on others, so for their king to share the victory he contributed in the most, it didn't look like an idea that would just sit peacefully in his mind.

And the fact that the Katara army was divided only proved his theory.

"Spread the word about the ten thousand cavalries within the Katara army, tell that the cavaliers s are planning to take down their capital while they are busy fighting on the front, tell them that the Manrast king will use the Katarian army, bleed it out, but when the time comes to share the goods, Katara would get none. Spread the word about an upcoming conspiracy, make sure you do so through their spies".

"Do you think that is what the Manrast king is planning to do?" one of the generals asked Henry who was still staring at the map, more precisely at the two capitals of the two invading kingdoms.

"Are there any news from the shadows’ lord and the ice queen?". Instead of answering, Henry asked, the decision already being made in his head.

"Yes, Your Grace, they are in their position, waiting for the signal.".

"We will move once the commander of Katara’s army receives the juicy gossip, tell all troops to get ready."

KATARA CAMPS

The news about the possible conspiracy being weaved by the Manrast kingdom against Katara was not hard to spread at all, The kingdoms had a long history of conflicts during Taghit's golden era, Once the Major General of Katara's army received the word of his spies, he didn't waste any time to send them to his king back in the capital, Sadly for him, the pigeon he sent as well as the rider were both ambushed by the shadow demons, Causing the Katara capital to be oblivious about the scheme.

The Major General and commander, Aisso Tomi, was an old and very experienced military man, and despite his age, he was rather strong and active, back in his golden days he was considered the Katarian warlord, and even though his hands were not as good with a sword as they used to be, they were still enough to not have him underestimated in combat, not to mention his wisdom and long sight when it came to the art of war.

Aisso was always against an alliance with Manrast though, Back when the Taghit Kingdom was untouchable, it was Katara who was the subject of the Manrast assaults, many battles started and many lives were taken, some of those lives were none other but his sons, all four of them, The old man's grudges never subsided but only increased with time as he grew older and lonelier, his daughter instead of honoring her house by accepting to become the prince's concubine and giving him the grandchildren he always wanted had instead ran away with some peasant, and no matter how hard he tried to look for her, he was never fortunate enough to find her, maybe for her and the peasant she ran away with good fortune, The Katarian people were very strict about their women and such actions were punished by death, so even if his daughter was alive somewhere she was dead to him, leaving him all alone with his dying glory,  Thus, when the king first informed him about the alliance with the kingdom that killed his sons, he was fully against it but when his daughter's sin was brought up as a card to play against him, shame him into accepting the alliance, he had to submit to the unwise orders as he saw them, but with the news about the conspiracy, and the confirmation he got from his personal spies about the existence of the rumored calvary, the General found himself with more loath towards the traitors and three theories in head.

Either those cavalries were riding toward Thaghit capital to take it down while their army was busy fighting at the borders, the rumor has it, the demons were back to their lands, and the once almighty Thaghitian army was mostly lost in that stupid ungodly expedition towards the center of the world, the Taghit king has brought all of his armies with him leaving his capital unprotected, not that he could spare any men, with the combined armies of two great kingdoms, their chances were very slim already and couldn't bear to leave any forces behind, of course, Taghit kingdom king's best chance was to stay in his capital and protect it but everyone knew what a stubborn and irrational lad the young Henry Yoren was.

If that happened, and the calvary took over the capital, then they would force the Yoren lad to submit to the Manrast king who would have all claims on the lands of Taghit, They would steal the victory for themselves and only spare Katara some crumbs from the feast.

The second possibility was that the cavalry would join the late battle, with this being the case, he should have been informed at least to place his troops right where they can trap the Taghit army, not being informed about the existence of these calvary led him to think that they were not just there for the Taghit army, but for his as well, the Manrast kingdom could be planning to take down both of its opponents at once, and instead of having half of Taghit kingdom as they previously agreed, the Manrast Kingdom would have it in totality with Katara at the side.

The third proposition, the one that scared the old man the most, was that of the cavalry riding toward Katara kingdom's capital while their main forces were at the front, there were about five thousands soldiers left in the capital, and they alone will not be able to defend it, not against ten thousand cavalries, if their capital fell, he would have to submit as well, and again, Manrast would have both kingdoms and be the new strongest human kingdom in the world with the rest of the kingdoms too weak to defy it, This possibility grew even bigger in the old man's head over the days while waiting, especially that no word returned from the capital and no declaration came from the Manrast commander, leading the fears and suspicions to grow until they got the best out of the very experienced katarian warlord.

MANRAST CAMP

"My Lord, we spotted some weird movements among the Taghit army lines, They seem as if they are securing a passage for a retreat." The soldier informed the Manrast' major general who was sitting on a large leather chair behind his desk, the empty cup in his hand was being refilled having his drink by a skinny girl in rugs, bruises covering her pale skin as her hands shivered while pouring the red wine to the terrifying man.

the old man frowned and waved his hand for the servant girl to retreat, the poor thing did without a sound careful not to do anything that might anger her master, he had whipped her last night and made her sleep with the hounds just because his food was a bit saltier than the norm, of course, telling the General that she wasn't the one who made the food but only brought it to his tent didn't help her in any sort but only got her some extra whiplashes and a night with the scary beasts instead.

"Who do you think it is for retreating?" The General asked no one in particular, he was only voicing out his thoughts in order to get a clearer one, he never felt the need to be advised or counseled by others anyway, he was The Manrast major General and prince, his status was the highest after his half-brother, the King of Manrast himself.

If the retreatment was obvious enough for his troops to notice, then the logical explanation would be that the person retreating is so important that his safety needed to be protected at all costs, There was only one person that important in the Taghit army and it was none other than King Henry Yoren himself.

Prince Ramez tried to figure out the motives of the king's sudden retreat, of course, it was unwise of him to show up in the battlefield in the first place, It gave his opponent the upper hand on the fight, The prince wasn't reckless but all the odds were on his side, The Taghit army was drained from the expedition towards the center, the demons were back to their holes like the worms they were, King Henry was all on his own with few thousands following him, but instead of staying in his capital to defend it, he came to the borders acting blindly and foolishly heroic, the Prince was happy with this news though, if only he could capture the king alive then the war would be over with victory claimed by him, he will use the Yoren rat to twist the arm of his sister and make her willingly surrender to him, doing so we will not have to worry about the Yoren loyal dogs who might resist him or revolt against him in the future, King Henry's arrival to the battlefield may have been unexpected but was definitely welcomed, and him leaving wasn't in the Prince's best interest therefore he had to make his move, fast.

"Light the signal, we will be attacking Now" The prince's orders didn't need to be repeated twice, the soldiers had been waiting restlessly for that moment, the signal was for both armies to lunch their attacks from two sides in order to trap the Taghit army and kill every one of them but their king, of course, Prince Ramez had something else in his sleeve, his precious Cavalry, the ones he selected and trained himself, unlike the rest of his army their loyalty was his and not his brother's, The king wished for them to stay in the capital and protect it but the prince didn't want to have the tables flipped over in case some demons decided to join the fight, He also wanted to make sure both the other armies are wiped after the battle so he can establish his own kingdom after invading the weakened Katara, Ramez was never the kind to take orders and only did because he loved his older brother, but it was time for him to go on his own way and he was already making plans for it...

The army didn't need more than an hour to line up and march forward, the Katara army had already lit up their signal which meant they are on the move as well, it felt like they were on a race with time, capturing the Taghit king now would save them so many extra trouble, Prince Ramez stood on his horse on the hill, not far from his camp, there was nothing he wanted more than to swing his sword over some Taghitien necks, but he needed to stay behind in order to command the cavalry, the orders to interfere needed to be given before it was too late and that is why he, two minor generals and two soldiers stayed behind, waiting for the right moment to pull the strings.