Bhaltair raised a hand, stopping less than halfway to me before pulling it back, turning to the table, "Ok. Until we have orders, we are to defend the city, so we have to assume the worst case scenario and develop a countermeasure for three things. The first is the empire's magic users, most notably the siege master. Her magic is apparently now even strong enough to shatter the northern wall with one strike… From what I understand though, that's both incredibly draining and time consuming for her. The city has an outer and an inner wall. If we sacrifice the outer wall and charge with cavalry during her weekend state, there's a chance to take advantage of it."
"Right… Normally, I'd agree… But the empire's fourth star may be with her… And then what?" Tbernath said calmly, leaning forward and staring down at the map, adjusting the pieces.
"Then… I suppose we hope for the best… My men and I can at least last awhile in a fight. So we could go in two groups, I would keep him occupied while Philly… You and your faster horses would go for the mage."
She nodded. "It wouldn't be the first magic user we've hunted down like steers."
Al lowered a hand from his chin and moved a piece on the board. "That's fine if it works… But in the last war the empire regularly deployed soldiers atop massive spiders that could easily scale our walls in mass. Furthermore, they wield long weapons that are more than dangerous."
'They have what…' I pushed, blankly staring at the table as they added more cavalry pieces… That apparently didn't resemble horsemen…
"They make for easy targets for my archers, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to spread my unit out atop the walls… But if they have as many troops as is said, or they are heavily armored, it might not be as easy as that."
Elianara moved a few more pieces outside the city walls. "Having people atop the walls is ideal… But I could strengthen your position more by having mine in front of it."
Bhaltair nodded, giving his approval before turning to Tabernath. "There's just one more problem right?"
"Right… Magic is a coward's weapon… But they use it well… Even if we successfully repel their siege mage, they will have others that can still cause a lot of problems…"
Philly slowly grabbed one of her arms, rubbing her shoulder. "If our horses get frozen in place then we'd be screwed."
Another long silence.
"Their fire is too weak to burn us, and their water is too dull to cut. Throwing rocks won't leave a scratch either, all we have to worry about is the ice slowing us down…" Bhaltair said, slowly turning and looking at me, but staying silent.
I sighed. "I know I said I'd wait… But… I mean… What are the odds our horses could get frozen in place… Have you seen our horses? And… We have war beasts, don't we? Those definitely wouldn't get frozen."
Tabernath glanced at Philly. "How many war beasts?"
"Between the three stables and all five of us? 23"
"How many can move."
"15 kittys."
He lowered his chin back to his hand and once again stared at the board. "Then we lead the charge with war beasts and follow behind with the cavalry… I'll station my unit here…" He moved a piece to the road between Kasesh and Skorth, the two capitals. "This will allow us to gather more information while waiting, and should Kasesh be attacked. I will circle my unit through the forest here, and hit them from behind once the fighting starts."
Elianara growled. "Attacking an enemy from behind… Is a coward's way to fight…"
"If they turn their backs to me just because they are besieging a fort it's their own problem. They should be expecting reinforcements anyway."
He growled again but conceded upon realising no one else cared.
"Siya" He continued. "I'll leave 20 men with you in case you need help with the city's infernal affairs. You will stay here and make sure there are no threats from within once that is taken care of. Two days from now you will leave before the fighting starts, escorting the children south east to the port town of Elana. From there you will officially be in command and wait for orders from General Prince Rokai."
'That sounds an awful lot like an order… They never were planning on letting me speak were they…' I stepped forward and looked at their battle plan. 'It's not half as bad as I thought it'd be…' I glanced at my brother quickly before turning back to the map. 'Although I still hate it… If not just because he came up with most of it.' "There's still a pretty glaring issue though…"
Before Elianara had a chance to yell at me again, Tabernath groaned. "You noticed too."
"Uh… Yeah. The whole plan relies on Hara using her ultimate spell and draining all her manna… So… What if she doesn't do that? She used it on the black gate because she had to get the first battle over with as fast as possible… It was a strategic maneuver, not necessarily her standard go-to plan. They won't be in a hurry to take Kasesh… So she very well could just not use it, and they could siege the castles with a battering ram, or other ways."
"And charging into her with her at full strength would be suicide…"
"I mean… There is one way…"
Everyone intently stared at me. "We kill her before the battle… Either from a long ranged arrow from behind, or we send an assassin at night."
I thought for sure they would be outraged, but instead there was a solemn sadness that overtook them. "No… We won't do that…" Tabernath said slowly.
"Right…" I muttered. "I figured as much… The next best option is to just let me fight her then…"
"We can't do that either…"
"My dragon scales make me virtually immune to magic, and I'm stronger than any of you… If I want to fight her, do you really think you can stop me? I doubt she holds a candle to a demon of combat or a ghoul…"
Tabernath stood up from his seat and leaned forward on his hands, staring deeply into my eyes. "Do you really think you can fight all of us at once…"
'Wait… That's not how this works, is it? Was this a democracy the whole time? Ugh… I hate this culture so much…' I felt my face begin to scowl as I crossed my arms. "I bet I could take three of you… Does that give me a majority?"
He let out a heavy sigh, sitting back down. "Tell us your plan then… We will vote and determine how many of us you have to fight to get your way…"
I rolled my eyes. 'So if they don't like it then I have to fight all of them? What kind of chain of command is this…'