Chapter Thirty Three
'It's been two months since Father has passed away, approximately five months since my 15th birthday where I became engaged to Prince Halt. I haven't been able to write much as so much has been happening, but it does feel good to put pen to paper once again. Who would have thought that writing would become my greatest solace?
I move into the palace next week. There I will be reunited with my betrothed and continue the lessons needed to prepare for becoming queen. I am actually looking forward to them. The lessons have proven to be a useful distraction so that I don't think about Father. I miss him terribly and practically cry every time I think of him. The entire world just seems emptier, lonelier, without him. I can only guess as to how Mother must be feeling these days. For all her faults, I know she loved Father very much.
As for my fiance, I have not seen him since the day we were promised to one another, but we have exchanged many letters in the last five months.
Halt is…the very last thing I ever expected. He is very practical and concerned for his kingdom. I can tell that he loves his family very much, especially his siblings. His entire world seems to revolve around his little sister, Caitlyn. He's written so much about her that I feel as if she and I have already met.
It makes me nervous. Halt has a wonderful family and a great life. What could he ever want with me? How can I possibly fit in there? How could I possibly be good enough for the future king? He has everything he could possibly want, how in the world could I fit into his life? I just know he's going to end up hating me, maybe even call off the marriage. Then I would never be able to fulfill Father's final wish.
Even though I am eager to arrive at the palace, I am also incredibly terrified. I just know I'm going to mess up somehow. Mother's often said that I'm a farm girl in a noble's disguise. What if the royal family thinks the same?'
'We arrived at the palace to one of the biggest celebrations I had ever seen and, to my complete surprise, it was for me! Practically a parade to greet the future queen. I was so overwhelmed, I had no clue what to do or say. Everyone seems to expect so much of me, I just don't want to disappoint them.
Reuniting with Halt was perhaps the most awkward moment of my life. I swear I must've flounced around like a fish out of water.
But, in all honesty, he didn't seem to do much better? Prince Halt could barely get a word out without becoming a stuttering mess. I couldn't have been the reason he was so nervous, could I? Whatever the reason, I found it to be oddly endearing. It is strangely comforting to know that someone so impressive and important isn't completely perfect. It almost makes him seem more human.
I won't lie though, my favorite part of today was Princess Caitlyn. She greeted me like a long lost friend, gushing about how excited she was to finally be getting a sister. Her excitement and happiness can only be described as contagious and I felt instantly at home. She's only a few years younger than me, but Caitlyn already has such a commanding presence, not to mention an attitude! She told off both her brothers for not greeting me properly (according to her standards) and then Halt again for not offering me a complete tour of the castle right away! Life will certainly never be boring with her around.
My lessons begin in earnest tomorrow, starting with language. I'm already fluent in Common, Gallican, and Hibernian, but my new tutors insist that it is not enough. My days sound like they will be so busy that I wonder if I will ever get a chance to settle in here.'
The first thing that Gilan did when he saw the Herons at the pass in the mountains was breathe a huge sigh of relief. Most Skandians didn't know him, especially on sight, and there was no guarantee they would've believed him and then let him go on towards Hallasholm. The Herons being there was a stroke of luck.
Gilan crept forward, sticking to the shadows and watching curiously as Hal set up what looked like a giant crossbow on one of the ledges overlooking the pass. Lydia, Stefan, and Thorn also watched from a few feet in front of him.
"Do you really think that two will be enough?" Lydia was asking.
"Hal said so," Stefan answered before jerking a thumb over his shoulder to the entrance of Fort Ragnak, "Besides, he wants to set up that rock slide trap in case they get through."
"Aye. If that happens we'll lose the Fort, but that trap will buy us enough time to get reinforcements." Thorn agreed.
"Either way, we'll be able to stop them here." Stefan said reassuringly, patting her on the shoulder.
"I don't think we'll have to worry about them coming to Skandia anytime soon." Gilan said, stepping away from the shadows.
The response was immediate, the three Herons spinning around and drawing their weapons all in one movement. When they saw it was him though they visibly relaxed, lowering their weapons.
"Gilan!" Lydia yelled out, rushing towards him. Gilan barely had enough time to lift his arms up before she had him grasped in a tight hug, almost knocking him over, "We thought you were captured!"
He scoffed, "A Ranger, get caught?"
She rolled her eyes and let him go, "It's good to see you."
"You too." he smiled, turning to face the others too. Hal was smiling down at him from the ledge and Stefan was waving over the other Herons. The rest of the Skandians looked a little wary of him, but the archers behind them looked relieved at seeing the Ranger.
"Did you find anything out?" Lydia asked him.
He nodded, the smile dropping off his face, "They've left Skandia alright, but their new target isn't gonna be prepared at all. I've got to get back to Erak so we can send a message to the other countries, let them get prepared."
"Prepared for what?" Ulf, or maybe it was Wulf, asked as they got closer.
"The Temujai are moving towards Nihon-Ja." Gilan said solemnly, "I heard it at the border. Logically, they'll attack in the spring, but they could spend all winter gathering their troops."
"We thought as much." Thorn huffed, "We got a message a few days ago from Arrida. They were asking about where the Temujai soldiers were and figured that with our new archers, they'd go east instead."
"It still doesn't make sense to me." Lydia said, furrowing her eyebrows, "They were so close to successfully invading Skandia, thousands of soldiers were here. Why suddenly turn around and head for Nihon-Ja?"
"I don't know and I don't like it either, but at least we can send word to Nihon-Ja."
"Any warning is better than none." Wulf, possibly Ulf, agreed.
"Frankly, I'm just happy they did turn around." Jesper said, "From the sounds of it, they had us outnumbered at least four to one."
"Not really," Gilan corrected with a half-shrug, "Almost half of that group were cooks, doctors, or servants. I'd say it was closer to three to one. Once you factor in the archers, light armor of the Temujai, and the forcefulness of Skandian fighters, it's more like two to one."
"We've had worse odds." Stig joked.
"I still say it's not much better." Jesper grumbled.
"Well, once the last of our ships dock for the season, we'll be standing pretty with our numbers." Thorn stated bluntly, clasping the young thief on the shoulder. The boy stumbled at the impact, almost losing his footing, much to the amusement of his shipmates.
"I should start heading towards Hallasholm, let Erak know." Gilan said, still smirking from Jesper's stumble.
"Wait a day, we'll go with you." Thorn said.
Gilan thought about it and then shrugged. One day wouldn't change anything and he'd enjoy the company.
It took almost three days for all of them to return to Hallasholm. Hal had wanted to finish setting up the crossbows before they left, letting the Araluen archers practice for a bit before he felt confident enough to leave them be.
The trip itself wasn't very eventful, save for the arguing from the twins and the sarcastic comments from Thorn. And, as much as he loved traveling, Gilan was incredibly grateful when they caught sight of Hallasholm as it meant a warm, dry bed that night. It had started snowing just after lunch that third day; huge, fat flakes that he hadn't been wanting to sleep in.
From there, Hal, Thorn, and him made their way immediately towards Erak's Great Hall, leaving the rest of the Herons to unload the supplies and take care of the horses.
(Gilan had tried very hard to not laugh at the sight of the crew on their slow riding ponies. He wasn't always successful. Luckily Thorn hadn't seen, which was the important part. Gilan didn't want to know what the seawolf would do if he caught Gilan laughing at him.)
The Oberjarl was more than happy at seeing them return, eager for news, both about the Pass and the Temujai.
The four of them huddled around a fire, each nursing a drink, ale for Erak and coffee for the others, while they swapped stories and news. Gilan wrote out messages to the other countries while they chatted, getting ready to send them out and spread the word as quickly as he could of the proof of the Temujai's next move.
"What I don't understand," Thorn said as Gilan finished scribbling the words down, "Is what they gain from going against Nihon-Ja so soon. There are better targets!"
"As much as I hate to admit it, they'd have an easier time invading Skandia." Erak grumbled.
"But they turned right around. This doesn't make any sense, or match at all with what they used to do." Gilan pointed out, still very frustrated by the mystery despite the days he had spent mulling it over.
"We've got to be missing something. Some small piece of information that ties it all together." Hal said thoughtfully, "Exactly how many Temujai are going to be marching against Nihon-Ja?"
"For it to be successful? At least 30,000. Probably more if they are recalling every spare soldier possible."
"And how many soldiers does Nihon-Ja have?" he asked.
"That's where it gets tricky," Gilan sighed, "The Hasanu have almost 15,000 and Shigeru says that they are incredibly strong warriors, but Shigeru himself has less than 10,000 Senshi. The non-Senshi class outnumber them at least three to one, but they don't know how to fight."
"That's why we sent that Toscan general there." Erak huffed.
"True, but there's no knowing for certain how everyone in Nihon-Ja is going to react to that." Gilan reminded him, "They've all but announced an official civil war. If the Senshi revolt before the non-Senshi are trained, then there's nothing Shigeru can do, Temujai or otherwise."
"I thought that everyone loved Shigeru?" Hall asked, confused.
Gilan shifted in his seat a little, thinking over his answer before responding, "From what I understand, that's true for the most part. Everyone sees him as an overall fair ruler and agree with most of his policies, but most of what he's suggesting goes against centuries of traditions and beliefs. The Senshi aren't on board with that because then they'd lose most of the power that they think they are inherently born with."
"No one ever wants that." Thorn rolled his eyes.
"Very true." he responded with a dry chuckle.
"Think that they stand a chance?" Erak asked him.
"I don't know." Gilan shrugged, "But I've learned not to bet against Will and Horace when they want to help someone."
The story of when they had assaulted Macindaw, almost without Halt's help (or approval of the plan), flashed through his mind. Honestly, the things his little brother got himself into, it was a wonder that neither he nor Halt had been scared into an early grave yet.
He shook his head to rid himself of the memory and waved a servant forward, handing off the finished messages for all of their allies. They may have already known about the Temujai's plan to invade Nihon-Ja, but having it confirmed and letting them know about the almost invasion of Skandia would be helpful.
Gilan drained his coffee, accepting the refill that Hal offered.
"Is there any possible chance that the Temujai have heard about the alliance and what we're doing?" the skirl wondered.
"It wouldn't surprise me." Erak answered. "It wasn't really a secret, especially now with the added forces in Toscana. Wouldn't take a genius to figure it out and from there? Well, word travels quickly."
"Too quickly." Gilan grumbled, leaning down to pick one of his bags off the floor. Inside was crafting supplies for a new bow, a project that he had started after reuniting with the Herons. He'd worked on it for an hour or two every night after dinner. "That's probably why they're moving soldiers through the winter, so we'll have less chance to counter it."
Hal watched him as he started to work on the bow again. He knew a lot about building boats and crafting tools and certain weapons, but hadn't had the chance to watch a master bowman build one. His curiosity hadn't been able to resist, but Gilan had been happy to answer all of the questions he'd had. Being able to dedicate a couple hours every night to it had let him make a lot of progress on the weapon. Right now he worked on the arrows, carefully gluing the fletching feathers to the end of each one.
"It's risky making a move this size through the winter. They'll lose a lot of soldiers to starvation or freezing to death."
"They must be confident they can take Nihon-Ja then." Thorn said, not looking happy at the prospect.
"The hardest part of this alliance is how spread out we are. If we were grouped together, we could make a more effective defense." Erak muttered.
"Wishing isn't going to help matters."
Erak rolled his eyes at his old shipmate, choosing not to respond to that comment, "All I know is that the sooner we figure out the next step, the better I'll sleep."
"You aren't the only one." Gilan sighed.
Professor:
Random Arasel Tidbit:
They actually have the same birthday. Same exact day, just 5 years apart. They laughed really hard when they found that out.