A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 972 - The Verna Army - Part 4
972: The Verna Army – Part 4
972: The Verna Army – Part 4
“Might I also intrude, do you suppose, Colonel?” Verdant said with the utmost politeness.
The Colonel scowled heavily.
The refusal seemed very much on the tip of his tongue.
To allow Verdant would be to indulge Oliver… But still, Verdant was the Idris heir, and as Queen Asabel’s Pillar of Coin, he – and his house – had grown immensely close with Lord Blackthorn, as he assisted the man in his duties.
Lord Blackthorn would not have been happy to hear that the Colonel had snubbed his son.
“You have my permission,” he replied stiffly.
“But it is the General himself who will decide.”
He said that all as he parted, washing it away as if it was someone else’s concern.
“Very well, we’ll leave the men in your care, Jorah,” Oliver said.
“If it comes to it, take command long enough to see the men sensibly in formation.
We should be back before then.”
He said that, knowing full well that it was unlikely that anything would happen.
The only reason that Jorah nodded in agreement was because he believed the same.
“Very well, my Lord,” he said, wincing.
Jorah could see Firyr out of the corner of his eye.
He dreaded to think what would happen if battle were to break out and Oliver wasn’t there to rein in the overeager Syndran.
Over half an hour had passed since the army had been forced to a halt.
Oliver felt almost bad for the infantry as he passed them atop his horse, flanked by Blackthorn and Verdant.
Even the men that feared fighting the most would have preferred to have something to do, rather than nothing.
Most of them were stiff from extended alertness.
No one had yet told them that they needed to stand down.
They only had their own assumptions to operate on.
With Oliver, there came four other Captains and their retainers.
Only one of which was not a Blackthorn man, though Oliver wasn’t sure what House he served.
They made no comment to him as they rode together towards the crest of the hill.
They seemed intent on making a show of discipline before they showed themselves to the General.
“Ah, Captains,” General Karstly said, turning on his heel.
“If you would dismount there, I would be grateful.
My men will tend to your horses whilst you steal as much of a glance as you wish.”
The General was all but ducking behind a particularly high section of foliage.
Oliver couldn’t see anything yet, but it seemed that the man was taking every precaution necessary.
Oliver dismounted with an eagerness, and allowed Walter to one of the General’s retainers.
“Crouch now, Captain Patrick, if you would,” the General said.
“Even if they cannot see us in our fewness from such a distance away, they might catch a glint of your armour in the sun.
I am casually cautious, you see?
I do not believe we can be seen, but I am reluctant to take too many unnecessary risks.”
“Very well,” Oliver said, ducking down.
He was no stranger to crawling through the mud, and he didn’t at all mind that his knees nearly brushed the moist ground that already clung to the sides of his boots.
“Just over here,” the General guided him.
There wasn’t an awful lot of space offered by the collection of bushes that the General was using, but given that his retainers were standing off to allow room for the Captains, it was enough.
“You ought to be able to see through the branches if you part them a little, just like this…”
He gave a demonstrative little motion of his hand, for both Oliver, and the Captain that had rushed behind him.
“If you would like to go first, Captain Patrick… Perhaps we can squeeze you in next to him, Captain Hawthorn?” The General said, parting another section of branches just a distance behind.
Verdant and Blackthorn crouched behind Oliver, looking through the same section as him, though it was clear that the levels in their enthusiasm were rather different.
“Gods be good…” Oliver muttered.
It took a slight bit of effort, as though he was looking through a telescope, as there were numerous bits of vegetation obstructing his vision.
He had to align his sight perfectly, but once he had, the view was both immense and outrageous.
It afforded him a good view of the Verna forces, but that was also the problem.
For the standard soldier, a view of that many men would not be a good thing.
Even Oliver found himself involuntarily drawing back.
From this sort of distance, with the broad view offered by their hill, the Verna seemed like a black mass sprawling out across the green landscape.
Like a plague that had come to wash all signs of life away.
It was only when his eyes adjusted that he began to make out units and some sort of separation in the sprawling mass.
It would be hard to call their procession organized, but there were just so many of them.
“General,” Oliver said.
“I would rather you not speak it aloud.
If you must say it, whisper it, and I might listen,” Lord Karstly said, his voice dropping a dangerous octave.
Oliver narrowed his eyes, but leaned in to say it quietly regardless.
“That is not fifty thousand men.
Even accounting for the supplies that they’ve brought with them, and the taggers on… that is not fifty thousand.”
If Oliver had noticed it, then it stood to reason that Verdant did.
Overhearing what they said, Verdant gave a silent nod.
“What if I were to tell you that the Verna bring an unusual amount of people with them for extended conflicts?
That their army is not simply composed of warriors, but of farmers, of merchants, of women and of their logistics and engineering squadrons.
They were once a nomadic people.
That they would take so many with them when they move ought not be surprising,” General Karstly said.
