Tattered Banners - War of the Last Day #2 [EXCERPT]

2. Self-exiled

They could see the distant mountainous Skandivian coast from the bow of the carrack. One more day on the sea, and they would be disembarking at the port of Kalensi. Nardine hadn't been to the capital of Skandivia before, and surely, neither did the Murasen princess standing by her side.

"I have always wanted to ask you: What do you think of Mother's plan?" Nardine asked.

"You think my opinion matters now?" Leila scoffed softly.

"Your opinion matters, and you know that." That was no compliment from Nardine. Actually, Leila's reaction worried her. Mother should have involved her earlier. "Now tell me: What did we miss?"

"Given our current situation, this is the best plan anybody can come up with," said Leila. "However, I'm afraid it's too ambitious. We don't have the numbers to build the large army she was talking about."

Nardine grinned. "You forget the thirty-five thousand soldiers we have on our mainland."

That didn't reassure Leila, it was plain. "Are you certain that we can rejoin them? That they still answer to your mother?"

That took Nardine aback. "Why wouldn't they?"

"You remember how yesterday's meeting went? Your mother struggled to persuade her vassals to fight," said Leila. "Imagine her doing that with the other lords."

The Murasen princess was referring to the lords who had revolted against Nardine's mother. "The other lords are under the command of Lord Yavier now. The loyalty of that man is unquestionable."

"Maybe he is loyal." Leila shrugged. "But he is also outnumbered."

He is only five thousand men short to match them, Nardine thought. "He is capable enough to keep them under his thumb." She was reassuring herself, not only Leila.

"You know your men better than I do." Leila nodded, gazing at the calm sea. "Hopefully, the Rusakians will come to reason and cooperate with us."

The Rusakians' cooperation? That was not something they should get their hopes up about. "If they don't, then we will deal with them accordingly," Nardine promised. "We are used to beating them in battle anyway."

Leila turned to Nardine. "The last thing we need before facing the demons is a battle that exhausts our already outnumbered forces."

Nardine couldn't help chuckling. "I thought you were a brilliant herbalist and chemist, not a military expert."

Leila gave her a faint smile. "I don't need to be a military expert like you to understand the numbers."

"A military expert like me?" Nardine scoffed. "If only Mother heard you."

Leila stared at her silently before she was back to contemplating the Northern Sea. "You and your mother seem to be on good terms."

"Do we?"

"She believes in you, Nardine," Leila replied, her eyes fixed on the blue horizon ahead. "That's something I never had with my family."

Mother believes in me? Nardine was delighted to hear that, even when she was certain it was not true. But who knew? Leila had surely said that for a reason. "What makes you think that she believes in me?" Nardine asked, curious.

"She had entrusted you with her plan before sharing it with her vassals," Leila said. "You shouldn't overlook something like that."

Honestly, Nardine was still astonished by her mother's gesture until this very moment. In a sudden turn of events, the woman who didn't allow anybody to enter her room, even her own daughter, decided to invite both her heiress and the High Advisor to discuss their next move. "Her plan was one of the rare subjects we didn't argue about."