“Glad you could join us on shorter notice than I would have hoped.” Braydon thanked the leader of the mercenary company that he had hired. He had only sent his letter to the man the night before but the entire company was already in Cliforge from Wathamalin by noon afternoon the next day. Paying a premium to hire such a large company was already paying dividends.

“Well it is not every day that we get paid to go where we were already headed, that and it has been a while since the boys saw action.” The captain replied with a slightly excited smile. Braydon did have to wonder if that was for the amount of money that Braydon represented for a relatively short mission or if he was genuinely excited at the prospect of battle. Probably a mixture of both.

“I am not sure how much action you will see but I can guarantee that there will at least be some.” Rather for once, Braydon was hoping that there would not be as much action. If there was, he was more than likely not going to be the victor with how many men he was bringing. Regardless of how battle hardened they were. Any other time he would have more than welcomed the challenge, but not when he actually had great interests in winning and even greater chances of something going wrong.

“Haha, no need to fret, you have paid us well enough not to be that unruly.” That is what he said but that could only be proven when it did or did not happen.

“Good. Rhydian, are the rest of the men ready to move?” Braydon looked to Rhydian who had been managing the other mercenaries and the training of the new levies. Unlike the last few military actions that Braydon had taken part in, Rhydian would not actually be going out on this one. It was partly due to him wanting to see how well Roan would do on the actual battlefield since he had only acted as a glorified border guard up until this point. Now that the King has sent a letter there was also the added factor of having Rhydian be there in his place should the King send people to talk to him when he did not reply to the letter that he had definitely not read yet.

“As ready as men with two weeks of training can be. I already sent those that were not training to the border with Roan. He should have some scouting information by the time you arrive.” There was also the unspoken part that Rhydian was not comfortable having Braydon travel with solely mercenaries that they had just hired, even if it was his own lands. Hence holding back a similar number of men to be Braydon’s escort along with the mercenaries should they try anything funny.

“Then we shall be on our way, I want to see our first castle by nightfall.” It would be a stretch to start attacking by then but if they were quick, then it would not be too hard to reach the nearest castle on the Shuluk side of the border by day’s end. It would be the following day that his campaign to control a significant portion of Shuluk’s westernmost lands would begin.

“Then may Elanitia be in your favour.” Rhydian nodded as Braydon and the mercenary captain mounted their horses. If all went well Braydon would be on his way back in two weeks. If not it could be either much later or much sooner than that.

“Your lands look relatively prosperous, that eager to make war?” As they were approaching Roan and the rest of Braydon’s forces the mercenary captain looked to him and queried. They had not talked much whilst traveling through Braydon’s villages on the short distance to the border and even the mercenaries that the man led had been equally silent. Braydon was increasingly impressed with the quality of the mercenaries that he had managed to hire. If all of the mercenaries operating in Ciai were this good then it was a terrifying place for any warlord to try and establish dominance.

“This place was a forgotten territory with no prospects a year ago, it is only through conflict that I have managed to make it grow so fast.” Braydon countered. Not entirely true but definitely not wrong. Without the wealth and manpower he gained from Mapjess and the rest of the former three baronies, even if he had the mine in Cliforge it would have taken significantly longer for him to turn around the prospects that Cliforge faced when he inherited it.

“Do not forget that war is both a great opportunity but a great destroyer. It only takes one loss to turn to rubble all of the building that you have done.” The captain said in much more seriousness than Braydon expected from a mercenary. The profession that he was in was not exactly known for their great efforts in building things up.

“I suppose you have seen a lot of that in your time in Ciai.” Braydon had only heard a small amount of the tales of what happened between the many warlords and petty Kings in Ciai but he could guess. With each one of them trying to reforge the great empire of old it was no surprise that they were both trying to build up their own lands and destroy that of their neighbours.

“More than most. You might be surprised to hear that there have been several that got very close over the years only to be torn down by their foes at the last moment. They are the almost great men that nobody remembers.” The captain continued. When he thought about it, what the man said was not all that surprising since the Ciai empire fell to internal divisions some two hundred year ago, but that did not mean that Braydon was not shocked to hear about it since there had been no mention of such things from the merchants that traded with the coastal cities of the dead empire.

“When was the most recent?” Braydon’s curiosity got the better of him.

“Not five years ago. I was under the man’s employ for a time. He managed to bring nearly half of the old empire under his wing before he died. He fell like most others before him did. Not on the battlefield against many foes but stabbed in the back by one of his ambitious generals. Naturally everything that he had conquered shattered into infighting amongst his sons and the commanders of his armies.” The mercenary captain said that with the utmost lack of passion in his voice. That kind of thing was just too common in Ciai and it would likely happen multiple times again in the future.