A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 973 - The Verna Army - Part 5
973: The Verna Army – Part 5
973: The Verna Army – Part 5
To their left, Captain Hawthorn stood up, and grunted, apparently having seen enough.
General Karstly changed his tone to something a degree more cheerful and acknowledged his departure.
“Oh, have you seen enough, Captain?”
“I have, thank you, General,” he said gruffly.
“There weren’t too many men for your liking?” The General asked.
It seemed innocent enough, but given the conversation that they were just having, Oliver thought it to be a probing line.
“That many men is always going to be impossible to count,” the Captain replied.
“My job is simply to cut through what you tell me to, General.
Now that I have seen my foe, my purpose remains the same.”
It was with a great effort that the General tried to make himself look nonreactive, but he couldn’t quash his pleased look entirely.
“Very good, Ser.
A valuable trait for a soldier,” the General said.
“Whoever else is next?
Hawthorn has made room for you.”
He motioned to the next man, wearing the same forced smile on his face.
“If you were to say that, General,” Oliver said, continuing their earlier conversation in a low voice as Karstly turned back to face him, then I would have to ask a man that I trusted to confirm my suspicions.
He eyed Verdant, and as loyal as ever, Verdant voiced his thoughts without hesitation.
“A low estimate would be eighty thousand, my Lord,” Verdant said, speaking to Oliver instead of the General, as if he had no place in their conversation.
“Eighty thousand, General,” Oliver said.
“Is this information you wish to be kept hidden?”
“I would not label it information when I have acknowledged it to be truthful,” Lord Karstly said.
“I would not doubt Verdant’s eyes,” Oliver said.
“…” A silence stretched between them, as the strange General stared the youth down.
“You wished for someone to see,” Oliver prodded.
“Else, why would you invite us to this hill, to look upon what was supposedly intentionally concealed.”
Only then did the General’s smile broaden.
“Very good, Patrick.
Very good.
I suppose I will be forced into a degree of admission.
Perhaps it is the case that I indeed wanted you to see.
Why would that be, I wonder?”
“I know why you’d want to hide it.
Fifty thousand is enough already.
I suspect the matter of eighty thousand is news even to you, though Lord Blackwell did mention it was not impossible for the enemy to have more than we supposed,” Oliver said.
The General shrugged.
“I have good scouts.
It is not as much news to me as I suspect it was to you.
What of my initial question?” freēwēbηovel.c૦m
“I have no idea,” Oliver said.
“Good,” the General said.
“I would hate to be seen through so easily.
It would be a degree creepy, even.”
He made to rise, apparently not wishing to explain himself further.
“General, how are you planning to break through?” Oliver asked, stopping him.
“I understand our reason for pausing here.
You wish to make use of the tree line.
But how are we going to break through when they have so many horses with which to pursue us?”
A quick glance down at the army had told him that much.
They’d brought many things with them.
Mountains of supplies, just like the advance force had, but so too had they brought many horses, and contraptions along with them, similar to the ballista that Oliver had seen on top of the Verna castle walls.
“Very good,” the General said, pausing just for a step.
“At least you see that much.”
That was all he said, however.
He did not turn around, nor did he offer any room for further explanation.
He simply moved to rejoin his retainers, just beyond the bushes where they had to stoop to see the enemy.
Oliver sighed.
He knew he’d been pushing his luck with his questions from the start, but he’d hoped to at least get some form of answer.
How was he meant to form his own stratagems if he didn’t know what was going on?
The answer, again, seemed to be within the question – he wasn’t.
It wasn’t his job to.
He just needed to obey, and cut down what was in front of him, like Captain Hawthorn had proclaimed he would.
“Have you seen all you need to, Verdant?” Oliver said.
He trusted his retainer’s eyes and the information that they recorded more than his own.
“I have, my Lord,” Verdant replied.
“Blackthorn, you take a look as well, even if you’ve no interest in it,” Oliver said, motioning with his head for her to join him.
Listlessly, she stooped down.
Even with the black tea, she seemed to be having trouble staying awake.
Oliver watched her reaction, and he saw her eyes widen.
She glanced back at him as if to confirm what she was seeing.
He nodded.
“So many…” Lasha murmured.
“How are we going to..?”
That was the question.
The better question would have been ‘How are we going to defend against that?’
If not for Lord Blackwell’s strategy, they would have had no hope at all.
They would have been surrounded, and through the Verna’s siege weapons, their castle walls would have been destroyed and they would have rooted out and slaughtered.
Then, their short viewing window was over, and they were pushed aside for the next Captain.
Though they had more information now, Oliver was left with even more questions.
From the top of his hill, he could see their own men as well, the great line of them snaking down the hillside.
They were a grand sight and they were overwhelming even then, after Oliver had spent a while getting used to such numbers – and still against the likes of eighty thousand, they were hardly more than a drop in the bucket.
Out of the five thousand, Oliver’s gaze narrowed on his own men – those that he had gotten so used to.
He saw that Firyr had forsaken his position so that he could talk with Jorah.
Somehow he’d put Karesh in a headlock, and was rubbing his fist aggressively on the boy’s head, laughing all the while.
Both Kaya and Jorah wore meek expressions, putting up with the Syndran until one of his Sergeants went to drag him back.
