On the day Zaos and his unit were supposed to arrive at the Western base, he noticed something. He didn't find a single soldier in the villages and towns along the way. He couldn't believe that those places had been abandoned or the soldiers who were supposed to protect those had deserted. It wouldn't be weird to hear about desertion, but he was almost sure the commander had called everyone to protect the western base. After all, once they lose that, they wouldn't be able to recover anytime soon, and a good part of that region was as good as the enemies.

  Around noon, Zaos and his unity finally could see the western base, and it was weird how much the place looked like the base in the north. It was basically a copy… Zaos never got that interested in the history of those places, but now he was pretty sure that they had been built in the same period and, most likely, by the same king.

  After riding for another hour, the group finally reached the base, and even though the guards didn't try to stop them, Zaos decided to stop and jump from his horse.

"I am Zaos Sielders, and I was sent to help the commander of the base," Zaos said.

  The guards evaluated Zaos with their eyes. They had heard of him and knew that he was coming. While he wasn't like they had imagined, they realized that the rumors about him weren't exaggerated. That being said, they didn't look particularly excited about the reinforcements.

"You can find the commander's office in the center of the base," One of the guards said. "I will guide your men to the stables where they will be able to let the horses rest. You can go ahead."

  Zaos nodded and then let Cohnal take care of Moody. His horse made some noise at first, as if he was complaining that it was time for lunch. While Moody was right, they would have to wait for a while.

  Just as Zaos had imagined, the base's interior was packed with soldiers, but many of them were wounded and won't be able to fight for the next weeks. He assumed that only half of them would be able to fight… which didn't seem like a good prospect since the mercenaries had the numerical advantage.

  When Zaos found the commander's office, he nocked on the door, but he didn't hear anything coming from inside. He tried to knock again a bit louder and then he heard the voice of someone suddenly getting up. It seemed the commander fell asleep… it was a bit soon for that, but Zaos could understand that he probably didn't sleep all that well in the last few days.

"Come on in," The commander said.

  Zaos opened the door and then frowned at a dark-haired man who seemed to be in his thirties with disheveled hair and an exhausted expression on his face. He was pretty young for a commander in one of the most important bases of the kingdom, and he didn't look strong like commandant Ruvyn, so Zaos almost frowned.

"Sir, I am Zaos Sielders," Zaos said. "I received orders to help you and follow your commands while we fight to fend off the enemies."

"Hahaha, hello there, you are much more polite than I imagined," The commander laughed a little and then said.  "I am Brien, current commander of the Western base of our kingdom. Thanks for coming to help so fast, Zaos. Sit down. We have a lot of things to discuss."

"Yes, sir," Zaos said and then sat on the chair in front of the table.

"I am sorry to say this to you as soon as you came to help us, but we are in a really bad spot," Brien said. "We lost around five thousand men in the last months. We have six thousand wounded, and around three thousand them deserted to the enemy side. So, we only have six thousand soldiers that can fight in the next weeks, counting with your unit. We have five hundred more, but I can't see a way out of this mess."

"Our soldiers defected to the enemy?" Zaos frowned. "The mercenaries accepted them that easily?"

"Usually, everyone would think that was just a trap to slaughter our men, but several years ago, a certain man deserted from this base and joined the mercenaries," Brien replied. "Now he is back, and he has his own army, and he is welcoming everyone and promising them money and the power to enslave whoever they want."

"It is hard to imagine that a deserter would make a name among those mercenaries," Zaos said. "I fought against them a few times, and I can say that they are good fighters."

"That guy is also a good fighter. He deserted because he got sick of being just an ordinary soldier," Brien said. "He wanted more freedom, and he found it in the enemies' side." 

"I see," Zaos said. "Anyway, what are our orders, sir? In two days, we should be able to fight without any problems."

"I am glad for your enthusiasm, but I already decided that we will defend the base here," Brien said. "Meeting them in the field when they have five times more soldiers than us is a suicide, and while we don't have much advantage considering the terrain, we don't have any other option."

"Are you sure that we can win considering the enemies' siege weapons?" Zaos asked. "I am assuming that they brought many of those since they also brought thirty thousand soldiers."

"Yes, our walls won't last for long, but at least we will take as many as them down before falling," Brien said. "They lose many soldiers, and they will be unable to advance or even hold the base for more than a few months."

  Zaos wanted to sigh. Brien was nothing like Commander Ruvyn. He already thought that they couldn't win, so he is planning to sacrifice his soldiers to make the king's life easier. He probably knew that the towns and villages in the area would suffer a lot, but he already accepted that.