“Other than coming here to terrify us, is there something else that brought you away from your men?” Cinar asked. Braydon had not even mentioned why he had come to the front yet. If there was nothing that he wanted to discuss, he would have likely stayed where he was, with his own men, until someone asked for him.

“I wanted to talk about what we are thinking of doing once we defeat Duke Ryder.” Braydon said matter-of-factly, it was a serious topic and he at least wanted to know what the King’s thoughts on the matter were. Since Braydon was the man with the closest territory to Duke Burn, with the exception of Lani, it was a more pressing issue for him. He doubted that the Duke would let him keep his position having taken a different side if he won. He was a bit too close to the Duke’s main powerbase for comfort.

“Well, in a word, winning.” Ethan said as if it was obvious but Braydon was not so sure. He would rather have a more concrete plan than ‘Step one, defeat Duke Ryder; step two, win’. There was no doubt that that was missing a few steps.

“And what about Duke Burn and his new friends?” Braydon was almost certain that things would not go to plan. Just because they wanted to use Duke Burn as the meat shield in a fight with Duke Ryder, did not mean that it would play out like that. He was sure that if the Duke would get away with it, he would try to use his allies to fight for him. Either that or the Duke was planning to use the Royal faction in the same way that they planned to use him.

“It is a bit of a concern.” Rhydian nodded, seemingly having put some thought into the matter. If they got that far, he would likely be the one to deal with whatever Burn would throw at them.

“I wondered if Your Majesty has any thoughts on the issue?” Braydon asked, he had taken his conversation with Gerald a few days before to heart. It was very likely that the King did have some spies in neighbouring courts. If a ruler did not do that, Braydon had some serious questions about their ability. Knowing what a neighbour was thinking was paramount, especially when it came to preparing for war.

“I do not think that we should worry about it too deeply.” The King gave his piece. Braydon had expected that the King would say more but it was apparent that he had said all that he was going to say. ‘He knows something.’ Given the confidence with which the King said not to worry, Braydon was sure that the King knew something that he was not sharing. He just didn’t know why the latter did not want to share.

“Then I am hopeful that all goes well.” Braydon decided not to carry on. Any more questions were likely to not gain him much. Braydon hoped that the King might mention more in a private situation, but with so many lords around he at least had a guess about why the King did not want to say much. It was also the reason why Braydon himself did not explicitly mention the King having spies in the ranks of the Twin Duchies. It was one thing if everybody knew it to be the case, it was another to admit that it was.

“There is no need to worry too much, Duke Burn would want your head regardless of if you had land so close to his own or not.” Cinar laughed, diverting the conversation a little. He had already read between the lines and tried to steer it in the direction of something that was less important.

“I think that he would want yours off before he wanted mine off.” Braydon retorted, playing along. It helped that what Cinar said was true. Braydon could be counted among the king’s circle of allies, there was no way in hell that Duke Burn was going to let him keep his position if he came out victorious.

“Would it really matter if I lost my head before you if you still lost yours?” Cinar asked slightly theatrically.

“Oh it would make all of the difference.”

“You were right.” Braydon said as he made his way back to his men’s position in the caravan. It took Gerald a moment to think of what Braydon was talking about before a look of realisation came over his face.

“And?” Gerald asked, hoping to know more. He had just as much interest in knowing about how things were going as Braydon did. Even if it was not his own territory and head that were at steak, it was not much difference to him. They were still Braydon’s concerns and that was enough.

“And nothing, the King said that he didn’t see the need to worry. He was confident too.” Braydon commented, giving Gerald as much pause for thought as the King had given him when he had said as much to Braydon.

“Nothing else?” Gerald asked, hoping that there was something more concrete to go on.

“In front of everybody?” Braydon was hoping that the King might say more on the topic to Rhydian. That way the information would eventually pass to him, just more secretively. If that did happen, then the King was fine with him knowing about it. There was no way that the King did not think that anything that Rhydian knew was going to be told to Braydon at some point.

“Fair point.” Gerald might not have the most strategic thinking in the world, but he at least knew that keeping secrets was a very useful thing when it came to war. Generally the more you knew than everyone else, the better off you would be by the end.

“It will be, what, five days before we get anywhere near Duke Burn?” Braydon asked, he knew that he was being optimistic with that estimate. An army marching was much slower than a carriage. They would be lucky to have passed the capital in five days.

“If the Duke decided to head east without stopping then that would be about right.” Gerald answered back. They could both tell that if Duke Ryder decided to stay quiet, this would be a long week.