Sweet Waters Throne

189 Chapter 18The men were ready to fight, yet Aprophil still hang on to Lord Balrus’s plans and so did Amabel and Katarina. Katarina said if there was an easier way to win the throne, then they must take it. They thought Prince Ambrose took the wider road they expected and he must be in Stonedance now, they had sent ten of their best riders to look for them in the open battlefield.

Amabel was certain Aryan would fight his uncle soon and destroy his army in Stonedance, he was just waiting for reports to invade the capital. But when the riders came back with reports that they have seen neither Prince Ambrose’s army, nor Aryan’s in Stonedance ─ he wasn’t so pleased.

Aprophil advised him to remain calm, and he assured him things will go as planned. “What if they don’t?” asked Prince Amabel while panicking.

His mother quipped in, “You need to remain calm Amabel, wars aren’t that easy to win” she told him. Then Katarina looked at Aprophil, “We will go with plan B if plan A doesn’t work out”

“What’s plan B?” Amabel panicked even more, he was never told about this plan B.

Aprophil held his shoulder, “Calm down young man, everything will go as planned” he said to him.

But it seemed things were far from going as planned, two of the riders arrived where they were discussing and announced they have seen an army making it’s way towards Snowspell, meaning towards them and they were close.

Prince Amabel panicked even more, he asked straightaway. “What’s their sigil?” with his eyes popped up and his heartbeat racing.

“An orange fire with a sun on top Your Grace” replied one of the riders.

.....

Now this did not shock only Prince Amabel, but also Katarina, Aprophil and six generals who were present in the conversation. All of them knew the sigil of House Taelin, Amabel had shown them before he decided to abandon it and form his own. It was the same one which the rider had just told them.

It was at this time Aprophil closed his eyes and sighed, they were trapped and there was no way out. They had to fight Prince Ambrose in the snow and somehow if they manage to defeat him, they will be the ones marching to Raven exhausted and worn out, and possibly reduced in number of men. Then they will be butchered like chickens by Aryan if they even dare to take the Silver throne from her, the fairytale of winning the throne was over ─ he knew it right there where he stood.

Katarina also knew it, “It’s him, he found us” she said.

“Wasn’t he supposed to take the open roads which would lead him to Stonedance?” The lead general asked, he was a decorated knight with war experiences and professionally trained to fight.

“Yes, he was” replied Aprophil. “But somehow he must have noticed the danger of travelling in such open roads, hence he decided to take on the more discreet routes and that’s how he found us” this time he paused and looked at Katarina, he saw how scared she was.

But this wasn’t a time for them to be scared, or to panic and lose their morally for fighting.

The lead general noticed how the young King had suddenly changed, and he decided to ask the rider. “How many does he have?”

“I would say seventy, or close to eighty thousand. We were up the hill and we saw his whole army”

The lead general turned to Aprophil, “Eighty thousand should we say so?” he asked him. Aprophil nodded without saying anything, he wasn’t in the mood to say anything especially after he knew the war was lost. “Well, we have one hundred thousand and more, we can defeat them. We only have to ambush them, let’s say during the night when they are asleep.”

Prince Amabel interrupted, “What if they know that we are here?” he asked.

“I doubt it, if they did they wouldn’t be aiming towards us. They don’t know that we are here, so I say we turn back right now and meet them when it’s dark. Ambush their men and kill them on their sleep, by thousands” The general tried to convince everyone standing while looking at him that he was right and his plan was the best.

But he was met with total silence from even the young King, and he decided to raise his voice. “If anyone has better plan they may have to start talking, time isn’t in our side anymore” and he meant it. It was either they move or they waited to die.

Prince Amabel quipped in and supported the general. He also thought this was a good plan, to attack the enemy when he least expects it. The other five generals agreed to, and then Aprophil gave his vote on the ambush and he even volunteered to join the men on the fight.

However, Prince Amabel forbade it. “No you won’t go Lord Aprophil, I won’t risk my Lord Hand today” he said with pride.

Aprophil was stunned, “Me, your Hand?” he asked.

“Yes, I had a moment to think it thoroughly and without you all this wouldn’t be possible. So there’s only one man whom I’d rather rule with, and that is you my Lord”

“You honor me, Your Grace” this time Aprophil knelt down with one leg as a sign of respect. Amabel helped him rise and they hugged tightly, the brotherhood between them was strong as if they came from the same womb or shared the same father.

Fifty thousand men, that meant half of Prince Amabel’s army were chosen to attack Prince Ambrose’s men during the sundown. Ten thousand were archers who can throw their arrows even from far distance and kill their target, Amabel made it clear to them, “You must be able to shoot in the dark” when he was making his choosing.

The arrows were laced with strong venom and Aprophil assured the archers they only needed to pierce the enemy’s skin, the venom will do the rest. Each archer had ten arrows and a bow, hence that meant there were one hundred thousand arrows laced with venom. This is what the soldiers who fought the War of the Kins wrote on their chronicles and journals, and this just showed how well equipped the men belonging to Prince Amabel were.

The rest forty thousand men were knights, sell swords and slaves who were supposed to be silent as they ambush the tents of their enemies. They weren’t supposed to make a sound when they attack, the Lead general took out this task of leading these men and the archers towards Prince Ambrose’s camp. Meanwhile, Prince Ambrose had no idea as to what was coming to him, and he had no clue that his nephew was just a day ride away.

After one day and a half, finally Aryan arrived in her palace to find Sir Thomas burdened with matters of the war. The council was bleeding him with complains which they were getting from the good folks in several villages who complained their food and their animals were stolen by Prince Ambrose as he passed through their villages and small towns.

Especially Lord Howsley who wanted the Prince to be stopped from where he was before he reaches the capital, to which Sir Thomas didn’t accept it since he only had twenty-five thousand men. He explained the situation to the Lord, but he was yet to understand. So when Aryan arrived in the capital unexpectedly, somehow Sir Thomas felt a relieve. “I thought you were never going to come back” he told Aryan.

“Why is that so?”

“Because of…” Sir Thomas stuttered. But then he stopped talking altogether and let Aryan have her seat in the council table. As soon as Aryan sat, she went straight to the point, “I saw the Taelins marching towards our city with an army of close one hundred thousand” she said and then exhaled softly. “But, his nephew, my…” she paused because she wanted to say my husband, but then it sounded so uncomfortable to say so.

Hence she settled with, “The young Prince is also in Prophis, and he has taken Snowspell. Prince Ambrose won’t be able to get to us without passing through Snowspell, and these two have been at war with one another for quite some time now” Aryan took a breather and watched as her Lords digested this info which she had just learn.

“I say we bar the gates of our city and all small tunnels and secret exits, the harbors must be stopped form conducting the trade for now and I want them guarded day and night by two thousand men. We lay low for now and let the War of the Kins take place, whoever wins will have to face us and we will be fresh and ready” she finished with a smirk.

It was at this point Lord Howsley wished he could pull Aryan in for a hug, he felt so safe with her tactics and words. Sir Thomas had already panicked and he was lost of words, but then Aryan came back and showed everyone there was still a reason to live.