War of the Winds, Book 1

by EarthBorn93

At the Battle of Nightfall the White Walkers were defeated. Later on a surprising reconciliation was attained, the world shifted, and a new age began. That was eight years ago. Yet all is not yet well in the new Twin Kingdoms. From the edge of the world rival empires emerge, looking at a weakened Westeros with hungry eyes. The War of the Winds begins, and all will change with it.

21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20; Our plans of action;

Characters of the chapter

Aldéric Chaput, Ambassador on behalf of the Circles of Magi

Alexander de Rozien, Chevalier of Orlais, Marshal of the Grand Army of Orlais, supreme commander of the Orlesian invasion of Westeros

Andharr Kronos Lord of the Upstart House Kronos

Deniel Fabre, Master Engineer of the Orlesian military, head of the field engineering corps assigned to the Grand Army of Orlais

Gilbert Gagnon, Spymaster for Marshal Alexander de Rozien, liaison on behalf of Marquis Briala

Hannah of Starkhaven, Ambassador on behalf of the College of Magi

Michel de Chevin, Chevalier of Orlais

Ynessa des Montagnes, Chevalier of Orlais, Duelling Champion to de Rozien, Chosen Sword of Orlais

Cursive/Bold text is in Orlesian

"…You are hereby sentenced to be hanged from the neck, until dead." An Orlesian soldier finished reading from a scroll. He was standing on a wooden platform, and next to him four prisoners were standing, dressed only in dirty white shirts and trousers. The prisoner's hands were bound behind their backs, and thick ropes were around their necks, connected to a wooden beam above their heads. The Orlesian soldier turned to a man with a black mask shaped in the appearance of a grinning skull.

"Proceed." The soldier said.

The executioner nodded and pulled a lever in front of him. The floor before the prisoner's feet gave away and they fell down until the ropes caught their fall, snapping their necks. The execution was a clean one, none of the prisoners were left to be strangled. Their dead bodies twitched for a time, then were still. The crowd that had gathered to watch slowly began to disperse, in utter silence.

"What did they do?" Ynessa asked Michel de Chevin. The two had been on their way to a meeting the Marshal had called, until the execution had caught her interest, having just had time to witness the conclusion.

"They raped a few locals, so I believe. As you know, the Marshal has given strict orders that the local population is not to be harmed unless he commands so. For defying his orders there is only one possible response." Michel answered. "You seem troubled?" He then noted.

"I know they did wrong, and that they had to pay the penalty for that. And I certainly wouldn't want what they did done to me or anyone I know. As such I don't pity these guys. But… these things happen in war. You know it, I know it. Odds are others will do what they did. Will the Marshal execute them all? If he does can we deal with the loss in manpower? Whatever they did, they would also have fought with us in the next battle. If the Marshal wanted justice, could he not have waited until the war was done, take the maximum benefits out of scum like this, then execute them if they still happen to be alive at the end." Ynessa explained.

"Waiting around just sends a message that this kind of behavior is acceptable. The Marshal hopes that a public execution now will function as a deterrent against other incidents like this. You know his mindset about this. Brutalities like this only strengthen the will of the locals to resist us and he will not lose what we win in our conquest during the occupation. The risks of such resistance far outweigh the loss in manpower." Michel countered.

"I suppose you're right." Ynessa agreed. "But what if the locals lied about what happened, just to get us to kill off a few of our own soldiers? It is not beyond the realm of possibility."

"The matter was investigated. Spymaster Gagnon was quite satisfied with his findings." Michel said.

"You know, him being satisfied is not exactly comforting. That guy creeps me out." She said.

"Huh. Didn't expect to see you spooked by anything." He said.

"Not by battle or anyone I might meet there. And the emotions of battle are more of a thrill to me, something to be enjoyed. Feelings of fear then are just a spice without which life would be considerably blander. But the spymaster has something broke inside. No sentimentality I can see. No attachments. No emotional investment for or against anything. Just cold, hard efficiency. The emotions I live by he seems to reject altogether. That's the part that spooks me. It's just not natural for a person to be that way." She said.

"To tell you the truth he makes me uncomfortable as well. But from what I can see that state of mind is common with a lot of the more high ranking spies. In that line of work showing emotions or having attachments can kill you. So a lot of the good ones either don't have such things or they have long since learned how to hide them when not in the company of people they trust. They leave nothing for their enemies to exploit." He said.

"I wonder why anyone would choose to live that way?" She said.

"Not all do, for some that life chooses them. And others are simply cut out for it, and nothing else." He said.

"I suppose you would know such things. You have been in the Imperial Court after all. Unlike me." Ynessa mused.

"Yes, I would. For all the good it does me." Michel replied. "But now we really should get moving. Otherwise we'll be late." He then added.

Ynessa nodded and together they hurried to the command tent, not wanting to keep the Marshal waiting. Once they reached the tent they announced themselves to the guards by the entrance, then went inside and took their place on the edges of the tent, alongside other officers. Both she and Michel had command of a regiment in the army and had been frequently assigned command of larger sections of the army as field commanders, so they did have a place there. Even so the Marshal would be busy with higher ranking officers and representatives, so unless he wished to speak with them directly they were only to observe the meeting and listen for the Marshal's orders.

Even as Ynessa was taking her place along with Michel, Alexander was eyeing the gathered crowd, waiting for his officers to gather.

"Good. Let us begin." He said finally. He was speaking in the common tongue so that Lord Kronos, who was also present as the representative of the Upstart Houses that had sided with the Empire, could understand what was being discussed. The said Lord was currently leaning over the map on the table, studying it intently.

"Perhaps we might start with you, Messere Gagnon? What news from our operatives?" He told his Spymaster.

"Of course my lord." Said the Spymaster, his back ramrod straight, arms folded behind his back, dressed in black boots, a wine red coat, a pair of glasses sitting atop his nose. He had been a more or less permanent fixture in the Marshal's briefings since the Grand Army of Orlais had first begun forming in the Corridor. He was the local ranking commander in charge of the Orlesian spies in Westeros and as such was in many ways the eyes of the army. He was also here to speak on behalf of Marquis Briala, a person that was not officially the leader of Orlais, but at the same time was so influential she could not be ignored either.

"Unfortunately I have to report only partial success from our infiltration missions. Some objectives were achieved successfully, strategic locations captured and enemy soldiers dispatched. Additionally several local nobles either captured or killed as per our threat assessments and our future objectives. I do have to report an incident at Riverrun, where Lord Edmure was apparently killed contrary to given instructions, our agents either misinterpreting their orders or unforeseen circumstances arising. I'm still somewhat confused as to what exactly occurred, but naturally I will enquire." He said.

"Later, if it proves to be important. For now continue your report." De Rozien said.

Gagnon nodded again: "Despite the issue I spoke of our greatest success was undoubtedly at Riverrun, which is now under the control of our agents and military elements from House Kronos. Given your victories on the field Marshal I think it safe to say we have removed House Tully from this war for good. In the Vale the Bloody Gate is ours for the moment, though the enemy forces may be intending a counterattack, so I cannot confirm that it will remain in our hands for long. Nevertheless Lord Kronos tells me that House Blackstar has managed to deploy a force of cavalrymen to raid the territories of the Vale and keep the local forces occupied. But at other locations local forces prevailed. Most critically it appears that our attack on Winterfell has failed, since I have not heard back from any of the agents sent there. Highgarden and the Eyrie were also failures, although at the Eyrie at least heavy casualties were inflicted before our agents were killed off. And we also have control of some of the fortifications leading down from the castle, preventing the remaining enemy garrison from leaving."

The Marshal sighed. "At least there are results, but nowhere near as much as we had hoped for. I do hope this was worth it. I shudder to think of the cost in money it must have been to bring all these spies into Westeros, and to keep their existence a secret all this time no less. Not to mention the number of bards we have gotten killed in this action."

"Aye, the cost has been heavy. But at the same time our gains have been undeniable, even if total victory was denied us. I cannot claim to be an expert in military matters, but I do believe that the efforts of our bards have made this war easier for our side. That said I do agree with you that we should be aiming for greater gains than we have now. As such I was hoping you had reconsidered targeting the King and Queen. Simply give the order and I'll assign some of my best to the case." The Spymaster said.

"No." De Rozien said with a sharp shake of his head. "It's too dangerous for us to try this now. The bards managed as well as they did because the Westerosi were caught unawares. They do not typically wage this kind of warfare, so most of them could not conceive being attacked in this manner. But now that window of opportunity has closed. Word will have gotten out of our other incursions. The King and Queen will be increasing their security measures to such levels that no assassin alive will be able to get to them, as will all enemy nobles that remain alive and free. And if we try to kill them and fail we will enrage them to the point where they will refuse to negotiate on any level, and then the war will only end with the utter annihilation of us or them. I would rather not have them fight to the bitter end."

"Even the success of such a mission contains some risk." Lord Kronos joined in. "If they die their kingdoms will fragment, and then we will be facing half a hundred smaller wars rather than just the one. No doubt the Orlesian army could overcome any one of such smaller foes, but even your armies can't be everywhere at once, and where you are not they would simply raise themselves in rebellion again. It would be a war without end. Overtime it would sap our strength. I say let them live until they can use their authority to issue a call to surrender and the Empire's rule over these lands has had time to stabilize."

The Marshal nodded. "Sending bards to attack Winterfell was risky enough. The only reason the Emperor approved of that plan was because it offered an opportunity to take a strategically important location from the enemy and a chance to eliminate Lady Sansa, one of a handful of individuals influential enough to organize large scale resistance once King Jon and Queen Daenerys had been neutralized. And having the Crown Prince on hand would have admittedly gone to great lengths in convincing the King and Queen to stand down. At the time the potential returns outweighed the risks. Now that our attempt has failed the legacy of it has become a considerable burden to our efforts. I will not add to those burdens by creating more provocations than we are already causing. I believe the rulers of the Twin Kingdoms are angry enough with us as it is."

"Understood my lord. We shall leave them be then." Gagnon said. "Should you come to a new conclusion later on…"

"You will be the first to know." De Rozien said.

"Perhaps we might move on? Where are the royalist forces now?" He asked then.

"Since our defeat of the royalist force during our previous battle the survivors that evaded capture have retreated to the Twins and are preparing a defense there. South the Royal Army of Queen Daenerys is moving northward with the clear intention of engaging us. My sources suggest that forces from the Stormlands have already joined with hers and further reinforcing armies are on their way from the Westerlands, the Reach and Dorne. Currently the only thing in her way is the army of House Blackstar, which according to reports from Lord Kronos has managed to slip around the Queen's army and make it across the Trident River. Meanwhile in the North King Jon has finished forming his army and is moving eastwards towards the Dreadfort, likely intending to destroy House Warblade." Gagnon reported.

"Lord Kronos, do you have anything to add on behalf of our allies?" De Rozien asked.

Lord Kronos nodded and directed everyone's attention to the map:

"As you directed Marshal my son has moved the army of House Blackstar to defensive positions at the Ruby Ford to block Queen Daenerys's army from crossing the Trident. His army is miniscule compared to the Royal Army of the Queen, but he does have a plan that he hopes will negate a portion of the enemy's numerical advantage, maybe give them a bigger fight than they are expecting. He will not be able to hold though. Not against such numbers. Not against a dragon." He explained.

"He is not meant to hold indefinitely. His orders are to delay the Queen's advance and give her forces a bloody nose if possible, then stage a fighting retreat. As such you may wish to call your son away. The situation is likely to get rather dangerous." The Marshal said.

"He would not leave even if I tell him to. He is a stubborn lad, and he will not abandon his army even if the situation would warrant it. There is nothing I can do about that except hope that he survives." Andharr replied.

"I do hope you understand that the orders you have given will get a lot of his soldiers killed. Perhaps all of them." He added.

"I do understand it, and I do find the loss of good people regrettable. But their loss is necessary for us to conduct our plans. You will understand the reason shortly. But first I would like to hear what the other New Houses have been doing." De Rozien said.

"Very well." Andharr said. "Further south House Sea is maneuvering to engage the Lannister army as they exit the Westerlands. If they manage to surprise the Lannisters I believe they have decent chance of winning. Should they emerge victorious they will then move to cut the Kingsroad between the Queen's army and King's Landing, depriving her army of supplies and preventing reinforcement from Dorne and the Reach. If not they will retreat to Riverrun to support our forces and make their stand there. Meanwhile House Warblade is aware of the movements of the King's army your Spymaster mentioned. They are in the process of evacuating the castle. They will be trying to escape the King's army and make it to allied forces, either to your fleet or down the Kingsroad to your army if the King has not yet locked down Moat Cailin."

"Rallying with the fleet would be the more beneficial direction considering our upcoming strategy." The Marshal said.

"I will relay that recommendation to them. Hopefully it will find them in time." Lord Kronos said. "Beyond our armies our peoples are working their utmost to keep all our armies supplied, though I foresee the enemy making moves to complicate that fairly soon. Fortunately the enemy main focus has been on defeating our armies rather than taking the lands we hold, which does give us some room to maneuver. Even so I wouldn't think it wise to rely on the New Houses for supplies overmuch. The enemy will likely be looking to interfere with our shipping, both overland and at sea."

"The pirates we have recruited to our cause may prove useful in this regard. I'm not suggesting that we use them to escort our transports. I don't quite trust them enough for that. But they will be engaging enemy at every opportunity and hopefully that will help keep them off your backs. And supplies they capture will be either sold to us or brought to us directly. That will help to alleviate any shortages." The Marshal said.

"So long as they know not to attack us." Andharr commented dryly.

"They have been given clear instructions not to. If they ignore those instructions we will interpret it as a violation of the deal we made, and then they would forfeit everything else they would have had from us. The ships of our allies will not be targeted." Alexander assured him.

"How secure are you people? Can you hold on to your territories?" The Marshal asked then.

"The New Houses have most of their assets on the field to support you. We have enough troops left in our territories to deter small scale raiding, but that is it. If anything larger comes our way we will be losing territory very rapidly. Actually a lot of us have been removing anything of value from our homes, just in case the enemy comes after us with larger forces than we can contain and we have to abandon our positions." Lord Kronos said.

"Understood." The Marshal said grimly. "Hold on to your territories for as long as you're able. We have need of them. We do have a supply line of our own of course, but it has to travel all the way from Thedas. Few locals would agree to sell to us and I'd rather not start raiding the locals for supplies, again because this would disrupt our plans to win the locals over and have a peaceful occupation."

"We will do what we can. But our resources are not infinite. This was never a fight the New Houses could win on their own. It is up to the Empire to make up the difference." Andharr said.

"And so we shall. The time has come to execute the second phase of our invasion plan." De Rozien said.

"The second phase?" Lord Kronos asked.

"The first phase was to make a successful landfall, securing a foothold in Westeros, in so doing driving a wedge between the North Kingdom and the South Kingdom. Also to establish contact with you and the rest of our allies here and win a few early victories to get things off to a good start. Meanwhile our infiltrators caused as much chaos and disruption as possible before the enemy had a chance to assemble their full strength against us." The Marshal explained.

"Our second phase will be to hold that foothold as the bulk of our forces uses our ships to move to a new location to conduct the war in." He said then.

"Will you be moving against King's Landing?" Lord Kronos asked.

Alexander shook his head. "To the North. Of the Twin Kingdoms the North is clearly the weaker of the two. And so we will go there, destroy the Northern army and claim that kingdom for the Empire. Meanwhile the Queen's army will be held below the neck so she cannot interfere with our efforts. Once we are done the Twin Kingdoms will have been severely weakened, and we will be well positioned to continue the war. Then it will just be a matter of applying pressure to the South Kingdom until the Queen chooses to capitulate."

"That could take a very long time. The Queen has a reputation of being rather stubborn. Based on what interaction I've had with her that is not an unfair assessment of her." Andharr said.

"She will do so eventually, as one side inevitably has to do in every war. In her case her need to do so is more pressing, since we are not her only enemy in the world. If we cause her armies enough damage during the second phase she may even do so as soon as the North Kingdom falls, if reason should prevail over a stubborn nature." De Rozien countered.

"To that end I have the following commands: First a force of one thousand riders under the command of Colonel Leclerc will move to the Twins to limit the zone of conflict to the eastern side of the Green Fork, and prevent the enemy from sending forces to flank us. After that they will move to support your son. Don't worry, the command will remain his. Just do tell him to use that regiment carefully. Cavalry units are valuable, ours more so than most."

Andharr looked confused. "A thousand men cannot take the Twins my lord. And how in the name of Andraste do you propose to take the castle quickly enough to then have time go to reinforce my son?"

"We have no intention of laying siege to the Twins." The Marshal corrected him. "We have a weapon you see, an explosive of sorts, based on a formula we uncovered some time ago. Single use only, but very potent. Powerful enough to destroy the bridge spanning the river."

"You intend to destroy the Twins? What if we need to cross the river later on?" Lord Kronos asked.

"Then I will trust our engineers to construct another bridge in a timely fashion." The Marshal said.

"Your trust is well placed my lord. I'm sure many of my colleagues would appreciate the challenge." Said Master Engineer Deniel Fabre, the head of the Grand Army's engineering corps, an older man with grey hair and a stubble, who somehow managed to look shabby no matter what he did with himself. For an Orlesian it was a very unfortunate state of being, one that he was painfully self-conscious about every time he was in the company of the mighty. But, as he himself liked to say, he preferred to make up for his unkempt appearance with hard work and skill. He was something of an inventor, always designing new weapons and siege methods. The Field Engineering Corps which he led was a new innovation by the Emperor, born out of his Majesty's desire to have the best military the world had ever seen. They were a group responsible for the construction work the army needed as well as the assembly, maintenance and use of their arsenal of siege weapons. Under their banner they had also a group of alchemists and specialist assault troops developed by the Master engineer for this campaign.

"I will also need you to send a few people to go with Colonel Leclerc's men to oversee that the weapon is properly deployed." The Marshal said.

"That goes without saying. I would not permit anyone but my people to handle this. Far too dangerous." Deniel said.

"The rest of your people will be divided between our army elements as we carry on to our objectives." Alexander then added. "I'm dividing the army. A smaller force of some twenty thousand men will be heading up the King's road. Their objective is to seize Moat Cailin. The rest of us will be returning to our ships, then making landfall south of White Harbor in the coastline between Oldcastle and Ramsgate. Since the bulk of our fleet remains in the Bite, our relocation should be fairly quick. Afterwards admiral Baudin will move her fleet to take White Harbor. Taking that city will cut the enemy access to a significant portion of their trade and give us a good harbor to land supplies and reinforcements in. Since the fleet of House Manderly has already been defeated or driven away upon our entry into the bite she should have clear access to attack the city. What enemy ships remain in the harbor will not hold long." He said.

"Lord Kronos, I would like you to manage the defense of the stretch of Kingsroad between the Ruby Ford and Moat Cailin. When the Queens army arrives you are to resist them. You don't have to destroy her army, odds are you won't be able to anyway. But you can tie up her resources long enough for us to do what needs to be done. Fight with care and conserve your forces. They will be needed. I'd suggest that you favor harassment tactics and ambushes over a head on confrontation with her forces. If necessary you will be allowed to call for reinforcements from the force attacking Moat Cailin, but do so only if absolutely necessary. Their mission takes priority, yours is to only buy time for them to succeed. Once Moat Cailin is taken you are to disengage immediately and retreat to the North." He told the upstart Lord.

"Very well." Lord Kronos said, nodding. "Although… I believe I should warn you my Lord. Moat Cailin has never been taken form the south side. Not by direct assault at any rate. The approach is simply too narrow. And with the Queen's army bearing down on us the time to lay siege will be very limited. I will do everything in my power to buy more time for us, but even that might not be enough to take the castle. If we are not careful we could end up with twenty thousand men trapped in a narrow lane with nowhere to go. Then there is the issue of the Crannogmen. They are a people living in the marshlands around Moat Cailin, aligned with the North since long before the Twin Kingdoms ever existed. As your army advances toward Moat Cailin, they will doubtlessly engage your forces. As I understand it they are not exceptional warriors, but they are good at hit and run tactics, make use of some very nasty poison arrows and know their homeland very well."

"With engineers and mages supporting our units I believe there is a good chance of taking the castle. If necessary we can send a supplementary force to attack from the south side, once the northern army is defeated. As for the Crannogmen, we have our own plans for the region that could double as a means of dealing with them." The Marshal replied.

"Major General Robespierre!" De Rozien called out, and officer walked out of the crowd, standing before the Marshal.

"You will have command of the force sent against Moat Cailin. Take the castle as fast as possible, as intact as possible and prepare it to be defended afterwards. Spare no effort in taking the castle. Understand this: By the time the Queen's army reaches the marshlands Moat Cailin must be ours. That place is the lock of the North. We will seize that lock and turn it against her army, keeping the door closed while we deal with her allies." Alexander told the officer.

Robespierre saluted, then returned to the crowd. The Marshal then turned to another person attending the meeting. "Ambassador Chaput. Once Moat Cailin is taken the device is to be installed there. You and your mages responsible for the installation will depart with the Major General's army and see to it. Before that you are to assist in the taking of the castle."

"Of cource my lord. It will be done." Answered a man in flowing robes of white and dark brown and a neatly combed, pointed black beard decorating his face. He was Aldéric Chaput, an Orlesian native, here as a representative of the Circles and Lady Vivienne. Aldéric was a staunch member of the loyalist fraternity, one that had opposed the mage rebellion from the beginning, a great supporter of Lady Vivienne's policies. Before the Mage-Templar War he had been in the service of some Orlesian nobleman whose name Ynessa didn't recall. As such he was a fairly accomplished player of the game, apparently enough so that Madame de Fer had felt confident in sending him here to represent her. Of course there was also the fact that he was a countryman to the Orlesians, which Lady Vivienne doubtless considered an advantage.

"What device?" Asked Hannah of Starkhaven, a short woman with wavy dark brown hair, wearing a turquoise dress Ynessa thought was slightly too small on her. She was Aldéric's opposite number, an ambassador on behalf of the College of Magi. She was a veteran of the mage uprising in Kirkwall and a bunch of other hard clashes during the Mage-Templar War and the Breach War that had followed. Serving in those conflicts had made her a highly experienced battlefield mage and an outspoken supporter of mage freedom, both of which had likely been factors that had gained her this post. Her differing stance on mages meant that she and Aldéric were in a constant state of rivalry, seemingly incapable on agreeing on anything. At first Ynessa had thought this to be a case of professional jealousy, seeing as both were here as representatives of rival organizations that were both competing for the Emperor's favor. But overtime she had learned their mutual animosity ran far deeper than that. Aldéric thought Hannah a dangerous renegade and likewise she thought him a traitor to the people of them both. Truly there was no pair that better epitomized the new divide that existed between Thedosian mages south of the Tevinter Imperium.

Aldéric smirked. "Only the means by which we shall negate the advantage the dragon affords Queen Daenerys and win this war for the Empire. It was commissioned by the Emperor around a year ago. But the theories and designs that were adapted to it are of somewhat older origin. They were begun in the old Circles, and resumed after the mage rebellion ended. It was an easy enough task to adapt those plans for the device needed in this war, although I'll admit the construction was time consuming."

"And why wasn't I informed that you had this? It seems straightforward enough? Wouldn't this have been important enough for me to know?" Hannah asked, directing her words to the Marshal.

The Marshal was about to answer but Aldéric made it there first. "It was no concern of yours, rebel. And I for one would not see you trying to destroy or seize this vital device to further your order's position. It would not be the first time you rebels did something irresponsible. But perhaps you would have known of it had you not made such poor life choices. Who knows, you might even have been helping to build it. Alas, you chose treason instead."

"Messere Chaput, that's quite enough. Enchanter Hannah, I do apologize for the secrecy, but the Emperor decided that it was best to preserve the surprise element of this thing and the fact that an invasion was in the works. We do not mistrust anyone here in particular, but the fewer people know of this, the smaller the chances of the wrong kind of ears hearing of this." De Rozien said, trying to diffuse the situation.

Hannah narrowed her eyes at the other mage, ignoring the Marshal's words altogether. Ynessa winced, realizing that the College mage had swallowed the bait hook line and sinker. "Name calling? That's what you have been reduced to? Seriously? I would think that man who claims to be as refined as you would at least try to do better."

"I do hope that you know what you are doing, trusting this… creature… with such a critical component of your plan. With the Circles behind the construction work… well one can only hope it will work as intended." She said to the Marshal.

"Enchanter, do I detect a note of jealousy? Perhaps you realize that your precious college could not replicate our feat? Perhaps you are concerned that on the account of that the world will realize that you and yours are simply unfit to speak for the mage community. Perhaps the best course of action for you would be to accept reality and cede authority to a more competent institution." Aldéric said smugly.

"I have had enough of you!" Hannah exploded. She pointed her finger at the other mage. "You will cut that attitude at once, or I swear I'll…"

"ENOUGH!" Alexander barked, shutting both of them up. "This is my war council, not yours, and this army has more important things to do with its time than to listen to your verbal duels."

"The plan will proceed as I have outlined." De Rozien continued his briefing. "While you are away messere Chaput, Enchanter Hannah will have command of the mages with the main army. Including those originating from the Circles."

It was Hannah's turn to smirk. Aldéric meanwhile could have been slapped by the Marshal and he would have looked less stunned.

"What…what? My lord, with respect this is not a good time to make jokes." He stammered.

"Agreed. But I did not make a joke. I need a senior mage directing the others. Since you are absent, she will be given temporary command of Circle mages as well, so lines of command are preserved. Of cource, and I do stress this, the measure is only temporary. Once your duties permit you to rejoin our main army the command of the mages will be repartitioned between the two of you based on their original allegiances."

"My Lord, I cannot permit this! My people will not follow her orders!" Aldéric protested.

"They will follow MY orders, as this is MY army they have been assigned to. And MY orders are that she be assigned overall command on a temporary basis while you are not here." The Marshal countered.

"She is a loose cannon! A renegade! She will use the people in my care irresponsibly! She will put them in harm's way just to further her own agenda." Aldéric argued back.

"One could be forgiven for thinking that the real worry from you is that we will outshine you by taking the accomplishments of Circle mages for our own." Hannah said.

"You're damn right I won't let you have the credit, bitch. I won't sacrifice my people's lives just to fuel your vanity." He shouted at her.

"You would rather have them serving yours?" She said in challenge.

Aldéric turned back to De Rozien. "Marshal, take personal command of my mages, or give temporary command to one of the Circle mages under my command, anything but this. I will not…"

"I do NOT have time to micromanage the mages, and none of the other Circle mages are experienced enough that I would give them overall command. And now you will both shut up and listen, or by the Maker you will both be strung from the nearest tree by your arms, left to starve. This war will not miss two mages." Alexander cut him off angrily.

The Marshal glared at the two mages for a moment to see if his words had had the desired effect or if he would need to carry out his threat. Then he spoke:

"I am not interested in the political difficulties of mages. And I have just lost the patience for it. I am not here to babysit either of you. I am here for a singular purpose: To lead a war. I have given my commands and I'll hear no more arguing about the matter. If you are unable to carry out your orders I'll have both of you removed from your posts and your mages placed under the direct control of my officers. Neither of you want that to happen, because it will reflect very poorly on your performance, both to your superiors and to the Emperor. I'll make sure of it. Your mutual rivalry will not continue in my presence, nor will it cause any more complications to my army. Am I perfectly, crystal clear?"

"Yes ser." The two mages said in unison, with forced calm, still seething at each other.

"Good." The Marshal said simply. "With that my commands are given. You can expect more detailed instructions to be delivered to each of you shortly. This meeting is adjourned." He then told his officers.

"My Lord, I believe there in one more concern we should discuss." Gagnon said as people were beginning to file out of the tent.

"What is it?" De Rozien asked.

"Now that the decision has been made to install the artefact at Moat Cailin, our army will be left vulnerable to the dragon. The device is the only one we have after all." Gagnon said.

"The device will be more useful to us at Moat Cailin, Spymaster." Alexander said.

"I know. I do not contest that. With some fortune the Queen will not realize our vulnerability, or that we will be able to kill her dragon if she does. But given the stakes I do not think we should rely on luck. I think we should consider seeking alternative methods to deal with the dragon, simply as a precaution. With your permission I will begin directing my resources to finding such alternatives." Gagnon said.

The Marshal considered. "I does no harm in being prepared. Very well. You have my permission to pursue this mission, and we shall see if actual need for the effort arises. I hope not." He then decided.