Chapter 9

After sitting in her little chair feeling sorry for herself for the rest of the day, Cassandra start to try and pull herself out of it. In fact she should be happy not having to worry about what they were going to do next. She smiled at this thought, it would be a relief not having everyone looking to her for help or ideas. She stood up and looked around the camp with new eyes, wondering what she could do to occupy her time now that she didn't have the camp to worry about. She could help out Red Sal, or maybe help with one of the other cooking ladies. She was happy to see everyone as they walked by and went about their individual jobs.

She was walking around looking to see who would need some extra help when Tobias came running up to her in a huff. "My Lady, My Lady. You must come quick. I know that we told Red Sal we wouldn't disturb you while you were healing with camp problems but you need to come quick." He looked at her expectedly and made shooing motions to the main camp building.

She looked at him confused, her heart sinking a little bit. She started towards the building and asked Tobias, "So Sal's the reason that I haven't heard much of what is going on then?"

Tobias nervously nodded, "Sal's probably going to kill me for asking you to come but we need you back."

"What is the matter?" Cassandra pressed.

"Just come and see." He answered.

She followed him into the Main Building, wondering what could be such a big problem to send Tobias into a nervous fit. She looked around the room and found everyone in the council sitting there waiting… just waiting… not arguing, talking, or even whispering. They were just sitting there… looking at her… smiling.

Scowling she asked, "What is going on here?"

"We thought you looked a little down this afternoon, so we thought we would give you some excitement." Patrick said with a smile and a gleam in his eye.

Cassandra gave him a dirty look and prompted, "Is that all? Because I have a feeling that there is more to this little gathering than making me feel better."

Patrick answered the smile still on his face, "Well, we are at a bit of an impasse. None of us have a clue what to do next. We were hoping you did."

"What is happening? You have to at least admit that I have no clue on what has happened these last few weeks." She answered.

"You can blame Red Sal for that one." Max answered, "We have been trying to get you back in action for at least a week now."

Cassandra made a face at them and patiently waited for one of them to continue, when nobody did she prompted, "So, what has been happening?"

"Well," Terry started, "The whole country side has been placed under Marital law. You must have special passes to travel, there are curfews, and a bunch of other stuff. The most pressing thing is that they are sending forces into the woods trying to find this camp." He said this lazily but she could see the tension in his shoulders.

She nodded her head as she sat down next to Patrick, forgetting any thought about not being in charge. "What action are you thinking about taking?"

"That's where you come in," Max said. "Nobody knows what to do, we were hoping that you had a plan of how to end this."

Sorrowfully she shook her head and replied, "I actually hoped that we would be able to take the king down before he even thought that I might be against him. I am afraid that I don't have a plan for this."

Patrick smiled and protested, "I told them so, but they wouldn't listen to me."

She smiled at him and answered, "But you are so convincing, I can't believe that you couldn't make them believe you."

He shrugged and smiled.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked.

Everyone grew somber and silent before Tobias answered, "We need to strike back."

She looked at him confused, "Usually you aren't this aggressive, Tobias. Do you have something in mind?"

"We need to start our raiding missions again. Let's see if we can make them mad." He answered.

She blankly looked at him for a moment before saying, "The King is already mad, I don't see how that would help."

Tobias shook his head, "No, I think if we start our raiding missions but this time spread it out across the country, he will be forced to spread his forces too thin, giving us a chance to fight back."

"What about the soldiers who are just following orders?" Patrick asked, when he saw John's smile he explained, "I told my sister I would at least ask the question." He said as he sent a glare over to his friend.

"Give them an option not to fight." Max answered.

"Is it really that easy?" Terry asked.

"Won't trying to spread his forces out, also spread our forces out?" Abram asked, talking for the first time.

Everyone attention was diverted to Abram's question, "It could." Tobias conceded. "But with every move he makes, The King makes more and more people against him, giving us more forces. I think with this we should be fine."

"That's a big risk, Tobias." Terry answered, "I am not quite sure if we can pull it off. But it is something that I bet my father wouldn't be expecting. He would not expect such an extensive counterstrike."

Cassandra looked around at the men on the council as they discussed this new possible tactic. She leaned over to Patrick and asked in a whisper, "You have contacts all over the country, How do you think they will respond to these attacks?"

Patrick gave her an assessing look before saying, "Off the top of my head, I can think of three who would think it is a great idea. Others wouldn't, one in particular would need a lot of convincing to do it. But I think we could manage to convince many of them."

"Are the people you are thinking about people who could lead a little band of raiders?" She asked.

He chuckled under his breath before whispering back, "Most of them already have a happy little group of some kind or other."

She smiled at him, "That's why I like having you around, Patrick. You know so many different people. How should we approach these happy little groups to ask for help?"

Making a face he shrugged, "Not quite sure, each one will want something different or approached in a different way." He looked around at the others who were still throwing ideas around, and saw Terry looking at them from across the table with an inquisitive look on his face. "Don't look now, but Archer is wondering what we are whispering to each other over here."

She gave a quiet laugh as she looked in Terry's direction and gave him a wink before whispering back to Patrick, "Should we tell our companions about this little conversation now, or do you need time to ask around?"

"Let's tell them now, I can guess what some of them will ask for in return for their help, and that needs to be passed by the council." Patrick said motioning her to get everyone's attention.

She sent him an annoyed look before saying loudly, "We have an idea to help boost the forces we will need for such a project." She paused waiting for everyone's attention to be on her. "Patrick knows of many little groups that people usually don't know of." She made a face as she said this before continuing, "We can temporarily make allegiances with them, causing us to have some more forces in different areas of the country."

Max, his face screwed up with thought, asked, "Is it wise to make such allegiances?"

"With some of them, yes, it would be. But we will avoid them. The others will ask for compensation for their help. Most of these groups will ask for supplies, some of the others I don't know what they will want." Patrick filled in.

"I guess since I am new, I am confused about this. What kind of groups are these?" Terry asked.

Cassandra looked over at Patrick and prompted him. He made a face and answered, "It depends on the area, some are smuggling groups, some are thieves, others are outcasts, and last bit of them are murderers. I recommend avoiding the last group but the others I believe are people who are struggling just as much as we are and would help."

"How do you know them?" Terry asked.

Patrick sent him a lopsided grin and remarked, "To know them is to be part of them."

Terry processed that remark and was about to ask another question when John interrupted him, saying, "It will help with this plan, if we can get their help, how should we get a hold of them?"

Cassandra leaned back in her chair and listened as they talked about getting a hold of Patrick's friends. She knew that once they started this strategy with the raids they would not be able to go back. It would cause too much of a reaction from the King. But there wasn't many options left for them.

It took two hours to decide on who to send across the country and contact Patrick's friends and organize a guerrilla group in that area. They made assignments and reorganized the patrols for the camp. As they did this Cassandra realized something she had never thought of before because she was too busy with being a spy at the castle, and that was she couldn't help with any of this. She had never learned any kind of weapon. Again she felt left out for the second time that day. Everyone got up to leave and she stayed in her seat and watched everybody leave, except for Terry. She looked at Terry confused, wondering why he didn't leave with the others. He sat down next to her where Patrick had been sitting and asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I am fine." She bluffed. "Why do you ask?"

"You have your ice queen face on."When she looked at him surprised he continued, "The blank cold face you always had on when you were at the castle. I haven't seen it since you came to the camp and now it is back. What's wrong?" He asked.

She looked at him stunned for a moment before she cracked a smile and laughed, "You're the first to ever catch me on that. You're more perceptive than I originally thought, My Pr….. I almost forgot, Archer." She finished with another laugh.

He made a face and then prompted, "What's wrong?"

Making a face back at him, she hesitated for a moment, before letting out a sigh, "I just felt a little left out at the end, you all are helping with the raids and patrols but I can't help because I don't know how to fight." The last part came out as a whisper.

"Hm…" Terry thought for a moment before continuing, "I doubt that anybody would let you even pick up a sword because of who you are. It also takes years of practice to get where you can defend yourself with a sword especially if you are up against a trained soldier." He continued his musings ignoring her startled looks, "but I bet if you practice you might become a fair archer. Archers tend to be back from the fighting giving you time to take aim before you shoot. Would you like to learn?" He asked finally looking at her in the eyes.

She just looked at him with a shocked look for a long moment, before answering, "Are you offering to teach me?"

Terry nodded his head and remarked, "I have two girl cousins who learned archery with me growing up, so I know that girls can do it, in fact I had to practice very hard in order to be better and Adele. She is very good."

"Well, then in that case, I would be pleased if you taught me then. " She replied back.

He smiled at her, stood up, and mockingly held out his arm before saying, "Can I escort you to the archery range, My Lady."

Laughing she smiled at him and replied, "Of course, it is not everyday a lady gets escorted to the archery range, to learn to be an archer by the Archer himself."


Author's note- yay, I have this chapter out of the way, I am hoping to update really soon, we'll see how much I can get written tonight.