Shades of the Past_ Book Six of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [71]
“My Lord,” a grey haired officer says as he gets to his feet, “shouldn’t we press our advantage? With the help of Black Hawk and his mage ally, wouldn’t this be the best time to drive out the Empire?”
James notices several heads nod in agreement. For over a year these men have accomplished little to remove the Empire from their lands. Rather, they’ve been pushed back as town after town falls to the enemy. Brothers, sisters, mothers, all have been taken as slaves into the Empire and they feel it’s high time for some good old fashioned retribution.
Lord Pytherian turns his attention to the officer and replies, “Black Hawk and his force will be leaving us in the morning.”
“What?” one young officer cries.
“You can’t be serious!” shouts an older soldier, a member of one of the alliance’s factions from the north. A general murmur spreads throughout the conference room as they comment to those sitting next to them on what they just learned.
Lord Pytherian lets it run its course for a few moments then raises his hand, at which the room becomes silent once more. “He and his force are leaving in the morning, that’s true. However, they will be forging on into the Empire. They plan to cause such mischief as to force the Empire to draw a portion of its army home to deal with them.” Glancing around the room, he sees many heads nod in understanding.
“During which, we will be coordinating with our armies to the east and west,” he continues. “We still have two sizeable forces, one at the base of the Silver Mountains to the west, and another to the southeast. Our success here does not mean victory until we have dealt with those.”
“Wouldn’t it be wiser to consolidate our forces and strike at the force at the base of the Silver Mountains in one fell swoop?” a cavalry officer asks from the back of the room.
“To do that,” explains Lord Pytherian, “we would have to take all but a small force from Lythylla. We dare not risk leaving our capitol open to the enemy. If they were to get wind of it, they could come and raze Lythylla to the ground.”
“So what are we to do?” comes from the side of the room.
“We let Black Hawk do his thing,” he replies. “You’ve all heard of his exploits in the War of Barrowman’s Field. He will do that once again, though this time he doesn’t go alone. James the mage, as well as the brothers of Asran will accompany him.”
“They’ll be slaughtered!” a younger officer hollers out from the side. At that, many of the old timers who had been around during the War of Barrowman’s Field give out with guffaws. “Hardly,” and “Not likely,” are the responses some of the other officers give to the young man. They remember what Black Hawk had accomplished before.
“We let them soften up the enemy,” Lord Pytherian says when the assembled officers quiet down, “then we take the battle to them up here. No reinforcements will be on the way, they’ll be too busy hunting down Black Hawk. There’s no way they’ll allow him to once again roam free, burning and destroying their towns.”
“They have a lot of confidence in our ability,” James comments to Illan who only nods in reply.
For the next several hours, plans are made, changed, then revised again detailing various strategies to be implemented once the effect of Black Hawk’s push into the Empire is felt.
While the meeting is still in full swing, Illan, James, and Brother Willim leave the meeting once it’s clear what is being planned will no longer include them. Brother Willim takes his leave and goes to see about the brother who Miko had healed. He tells them that he and the others will meet them in the morning before they set out.
Back at the plaza, they find the new recruits badly shaken by the death of Orry. He was a favorite, always with a smile and never complained. As they approach the plaza, Devin comes forward. James can see his eyes