Fierce Loyalty by Toby Neighbors

Author:Toby Neighbors [Neighbors, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Mythic Adventure Publishing
Published: 2013-04-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Prince Wilam was exactly where he’d always dreamed of being—at the head of an army. As a young boy he’d learned sword craft from the finest swordsmen in Yelsia. He had been tutored in tactics by his father’s generals and given squads to lead, then centuries, and finally his own legion. He’d fought in some minor skirmishes with Shirtac raiders, but he’d never led an army to war. It had always been his dream, since he was little and could read the histories of the great conflicts of the Five Kingdoms. His father had sent him to Osla as the ambassador to the high court of the Five Kingdoms to learn how to deal with political maneuvering. Now he was back in Osla, not as a king or at the court, which had been razed by the troops he now led. Instead, he was the commander of Gwendolyn’s army, and although his mind was still entranced by the witch, he was very aware of how fortunate he was.

The army he led was not as grand as the one he’d dreamed of as a boy. There were only two centuries of cavalry, and the rest were foot soldiers, but they were anxious for a fight. It seemed that Gwendolyn’s spell brought most men to the precipice of violence. The prince himself had killed on other occasions, including King Oveer and two his closest generals. He doubted that the troops he now led would even care that their sovereign ruler was dead—they would probably be glad there was one less person to vie for Gwendolyn’s affection.

Prince Wilam had spent days leading the army along the northern road that led from the Grand City up into Falxis. The terrain was flat for the most part, with short, stunted looking trees. He could see for miles in every direction and had scouts out looking for any signs of the invading army. He had hoped to find a hilltop to direct the fighting from, but hills of any kind seemed few and far between, as did water and fresh supplies. Prince Wilam had finally decided his best bet was to camp his men next to a good supply of water and food.

He put his engineers to work building him a tower. The army tore down barns and even a few homes to salvage enough wood for the project. It was a simple wooden structure, with a staircase that wrapped around the heavy timber beams. It was sturdy and three times the height of a man. Prince Wilam positioned the best archers he had to the tower with him. He had four legions of troops and four generals, three of them newly promoted. The plain where Wilam expected the battle to take place was a wide, grassy field that he hoped would keep the dust to a minimum. His greatest fear was that he would lose sight of the battle by the dust of thousands of feet tramping hard upon the dry ground.

“Sir,” came a shout from one of the lookouts posted on the tower.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.