The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 294: Plans for war (2)

"We’ll rest here," Rafael ordered the knights.

"Finally," Logan sighed in relief. He was ready to jump into water to wash away his sweat. "Are we staying here till night, or is this a short break?"

Rafael slid off of his horse. "The horses need a break. Fetch some water and let them graze on the grass. Do not unpack. We will leave in an hour to head out to where we have to set up camp for the night. We need to reach the border tomorrow." freēnovelkiss.com

"Got it. Michael, go order the men to get water for the horses and let them feed on the grass," Logan said, passing on the message to Michael so he could go find water. He started to take off his armour after getting off his horse.

"So we are not getting to eat?" Michael asked, hoping they could get a small snack.

Christian hit Michael on the back of his head as he walked by him and said, "You’ve been eating from the moment we left Lockwood. You could not be hungry. Go pass on Rafael’s message to the men."

Logan looked to his right at Rafael who walked away from them to tie his horse to a tree. "You should wash up too, Rafael. It’ll help cool you down. I will have a group watch out for the first half and those washing up will look out for the other half. Though I don’t see anyone attacking us here."

Rafael pulled on the rope to see if it was tied correctly for the horse to not get away. "What is it you really want to bother me about, Logan? Is it Annalise again?"

"Since you brought her up-"

"I don’t want to hear it," Rafael said, leaving the tree to search for water that should be nearby. He travelled around the kingdom many times after becoming a knight to have mapped the land in his head. "You are forgetting that we are diving straight into war. Your focus should not be on a woman. Especially mine."

Logan placed his hands in the air to show that he was not a threat. "Easy there. I don’t want your woman anymore. I agree with Michael now that is a little scary."

Logan followed Rafael despite Rafael not wanting to talk. "It is not about you two getting married or making fun of your kiss. I really believe it is too soon for you two to be getting married. Not because I’m jealous, but I have always said you need to spend a lot of time with someone before proposing. I’m here to talk since you seem on the verge of snapping."

"I wonder why," Rafael answered. "The problem is curious about my problem."

"You know, sometimes I really hate you. I’m trying to be a good friend here and ask you what is on your mind. We liked the same woman at one point, but that doesn’t mean I can’t offer you some advice about her. Tell me, what’s bothering you? Need a hug since you feel alone?"Logan asked, opening his arms for Rafael to come to him.

"The fact that all of you are asking about something that is none of your concern when we have something important to do is bothering me. Thank you, but I do not need your advice right now. Annalise has gone to see her parents and I am here. What do I need to speak about?" Rafael asked, genuinely wanting to know what Logan thought he was going to confess was bothering him.

Logan scratched the back of his head. "Well, I just thought that you were missing her. Maybe you think you two will not see each other for a long time, and she will move on. Maybe her parents will not want her to leave because they found someone for her to marry-"

"You are terrible at cheering someone up," Christian said, interrupting Logan. "Thankfully, I am here to save you, Rafael. He doesn’t want to speak about her and frankly, I had enough of speaking about Annalise for the day. I’m more interested in this fight awaiting us. Have you come up with a strategy for how you will claim the border for the king?"

"If all of you would shut up, I would have one already. I don’t have a lot of information on how their attacks are now. We need to get that first before we agree on a strategy, but most likely, we need an attack from a long distance. When my father fought at the border, he found that they coated their weapons with poison," said Rafael.

He had some knowledge thanks to his father and access to the palace records about the border, but that was years ago, so they might have new ways of attacking along with poison.

"So we need to put our best archers to start off the attack. They will also have archers with them to attack so we need to make use of our shields," Christian said, helping Rafael with a plan.

"This would all be made easy if the king would allow us to use guns. How long have we been hearing of him having guns brought into the palace for his guards to learn how to use them? I doubt those barbarians have ever seen a gun. Fire one and they will retreat," Logan said, slamming his balled-up right hand into the palm of his left hand. "The war is over."

"We are not men who use guns. We’ve all trained for years with swords. If you need a gun to win a fight, you need to stop being a knight," said Christian. For as long as he lived, he would stick with his sword. It had never failed him in every fight he took. "And personally, I don’t want to be anywhere near guards with guns in their hands. I’d rather we get more catapults."

"The king is not passing the law for guns to be used yet for a good reason. They make it easy for someone to die. We also have no training using them, so we might end up hurting more of our own than the enemy. Some doctors are still trying to learn how to treat the wounds caused by guns. We won’t resort to guns," Rafael said, dismissing Logan’s idea.

He had the gun Edagar gifted him, but it never crossed his mind to bring it with him. It would certainly give them an advantage, but he couldn’t bring himself to try using it just yet.

"It is important we find the leader. We are to try reasoning with him once more, but if he is not willing to talk, we must kill him. While we march toward where their warriors await us, I want another group trying to find another way to where they reside. We need to find a path they wouldn’t expect us to come from," said Rafael.

"The leader will be at the front of his men once they hear of us joining the border guards. I say we have one of our archers aim for him when he rides out front. A nice shot to wound him, but not kill him," Logan suggested.

Bringing the leader back to the palace would get them more rewards and praises. Their names would be added to history for doing what many of the king’s men could not.

"If we manage to get the leader in our hold, his people will stop-"

"No," Rafael disagreed. "Haven’t you listened to the stories? They fear nothing. If the leader is close to being captured, they usually take their lives so their people wouldn’t stop fighting to save them. A nearby leader would come out to take his place. A sibling or a child."

Christian folded his arms as he tried to think of another way. "If we shoot an arrow at who we assume to be the leader and a new leader comes forward, they won’t give us the chance to take out the second. Do you think the guards at the border would know if there is a chance there isn’t someone ready to become the next leader?"

"They won’t know. It is still our best bet to take out the current leader and prepare to attack as the next leader comes forward. We can have a victory if the group sent out manages to attack from behind. Our biggest concern is still getting the men at the border to listen to my plans," Rafael said, knowing they would not want to follow his lead.

"Would it be bad if we kill anyone who doesn’t follow your command? The king has placed you in charge. Anyone going against the king’s order should be silenced," Christian suggested, hoping to be the one to do the silencing.

Rafael didn’t disagree with Christian since the border guards were usually stubborn. The only way to get them to listen would be to give an example of what happens when you test his patience.