“Are there any crossing points other than the road from Wathamalin?” Braydon asked, it would not be good if they overlooked somewhere when planning. When it came to Duke Ryder, it was always best to assume that he would not overlook the mistakes of his enemies. Even if he did miss something, he had many competent advisors. Any flaws in their defences would be picked apart.

“From what I am aware, the other crossings are between Ryder and Burn’s factions. Duke Burn maintains a constant guard at those points anyway. There may have been others built that I am not aware of, however.” King Aled added that last point while looking around at the many lords in the room to see if any had actually done so. From the silence that ensued, it could be assumed that nobody had the time or money to build bridges when they had other things to be doing.

“Then we can focus our defences on that area. I want 2000 men guarding that bridge, do we have any volunteers to lead those men?” King Aled continued as he looked around the room to see many averted eyes. He did not really expect much better, nobody wanted to put themselves forward for a thankless losing battle.

It was at times like this that the King wished that he held more authority than he did. Since most of the lords here were only with them to face off Duke Ryder and not his actual allies, he could not just make a unilateral decision. A number of the men that would be used to fight were their men and if he was too biased in choice of leaders, there would definitely be more problems than he bargained for.

“Then does anybody recommend who the commander should be before I pick one.” The King got impatient at the continued silence and spoke once more. Upon hearing that, many of the lords became more animated. It was clear, though, that they were just trying to nominate their rivals. Speaking platitudes that they would never think of uttering in normal times. When he saw this, Braydon chuckled. ‘Well that was to be expected.’

“Fine, since it seems that there is no consensus, I will choose.” As the King spoke, the room once again quieted. Braydon was sure that he could hear at least one or two ‘tsks’ of disappointment from not being able to send their rivals off to an early grave.

Aled paused to look around the room as he considered his options. He did not want to choose someone with no prior achievements on the battlefield, that was far too risky. But on the same token, he did not want to send his most competent allies, they were far more useful by his side than being stuck defending a bridge. The problem was that who he picked would also be a statement on both of these points, it risked calling someone not competent enough to care about.

Not to mention that chance that they might die or be captured. Keeping Duke Ryder away with an army a fraction of the size was never a long term strategy. He would be able to cross the river at some point.

“If nobody else wishes to go then I will.” Before the King could make his decision, Cinar stepped up to the plate, drawing the shocked looks of most in the room. It was clear that Cinar would be considered one of the allies that the King did not want to risk sending, so offering to go was only hurting himself.

“Are you really sure about that?” Braydon asked, if Cinar left to guard the path from Wathamalin, then Lani’s visit to Nela would be too little too late. By the time that she returned, regardless of her success or failure, Cinar would no longer be in Braydon’s territory.

He was also worried about Cinar’s ability when commanding a battlefield. He was sure that the man had some skill after being a Marquess for so long, but that did not mean that he was necessarily a great general. And the relative lack of reputation as a great military mind that Cinar had suggested to Braydon that he was at most average as a commander. And to offer to defend against an army at least 15000 strong with only 2000 men? That was not a task that an average commander would be able to handle for long.

“Well there are a few things that I would like to request to aid me in my pursuit. To make commanding this force easier, I think that a more centralised command structure would help greatly.” When Cinar started talking, Braydon immediately eyed the King suspiciously.

Aled had been trying for some days now to convince the lords with little success to allow their troops to be under a more centralised command chain. This sounded a little too convenient to Braydon for Cinar to just offer to take command and then request that very same thing.

“...Well…If you wish to be the commander I have nothing to say against it, however I am not in a position to guarantee your request.” At the very least, the King looked surprised at Cinar’s offer. Though Braydon was not sure if that was an act or not. If there was one thing that he was sure that the King had learned from his years at court, it was to control his expression.

Now that Aled had not gone against Cinar being the commander for the operation, it was certain that Cinar would lead it. There was nobody else with a high enough rank to really stand against it. Cinar was the highest ranking noble there, with the exception of the King himself.

When he failed to glean anything out of the ordinary from the King’s expression, Braydon started paying attention to the attitudes of the various lords. With Cinar’s request and the King’s response, the ball was firmly in the various noble lord’s court. If they acquiesced to Cinar’s request then it was highly likely that the King could use that to get them to agree to it for the main army too. Now it all depended on how much Cinar’s influence affected the positions of the various lords.