Finally Found

Chapter 42 - Lilas

"General Asaroth has just begun his second month of sieging Mar but the castle is still holding strong. He reports that they must be smuggling food in through tunnels but he has yet to find the tunnels himself." Lord Hess informs us after reading through the latest report sent from Asaroth.

"Gods, if there's tunnels then who knows if it's just food coming in. They might be reinforcing troops using the tunnels and even if he launches an attack any important hostages could escape before he gets there." Kavarthon groans slumping back in his seat.

"I'm sure that he'll find them soon and knowing Asaroth he'll turn them to his advantage. Our soldiers could use the tunnels as well to enter the city unknown catching the enemy by surprise during the night." I reply trying to stay optimistic because the war has dragged on for longer than we thought it would.

It's been nearly three months since Nazeph was born and around a year since Bel and Kor left. The war hasn't made much progress though despite the army's recent efforts in sieging and capturing castles in the hopes of finding Rhistel. There had been great hope that he was in Mar but recent reports indicate that he isn't there, he's proven to be incredibly difficult to find.

"Perhaps the commanders of Mar, when captured, will be able to provide us with more information on where Rhistel is." Quillon our new vampire councillor suggests, "The reports we've been getting from our scouts and spies are conflicting as to where he's holed himself up."

I'd ended up dismissing Raziel as a councillor a few weeks after Nazeph was born. It had been discovered that he was stealing food and weapon supplies that were meant for the border, he'd then sold them privately for his own benefit. I suppose we'd been lucky that none of the stolen goods had ended up in enemy hands and that was the only reason I didn't have him executed. Not wanting to leave his seat empty for too long Quillon was appointed the next day to replace him and so far he's working out well.

"Should have known that Rhistel would prefer to hide like a coward rather than fight us properly. I just wonder what he could be up to while he's in hiding." Magor comments shifting through the reports in front of him.

"Whatever it is lets hope he doesn't get the opportunity to put what he's planned into motion. Now lets go over the armies proposed plan to retake Nerkise's capital city, they've begun making plans but don't want to act on them until we've given our opinions. Even then they will likely wait until Rhistel has been caught otherwise his influence will continue but he'll go back underground." I reply turning their attention to the report I mentioned.

We spend hours debating the report picking holes in their attack strategy and coming up with as many contingency plans as possible. The five of us work through lunch but eventually we come to stop after finally reaching a point where we'd gone over every possibility we could think of and developing a solid plan for each one.

"Let's call it a day, I'll see you all tomorrow. Have our plan sent to the scribes to copy and send to the army. They should also make copies for each of us here just in case we need to review it." I state standing and biding farewell to the rest of the Council.

"Good day your Majesty." The others call out as I leave the meeting hall. Having to attend all these Council meetings on my own makes me long for Kor and Bel's return even more. At least then we can split these meetings up or at least not attend on our own, sharing the pain of them might make things better. Sure I talk things over with Emmy but lately she's been tired out from caring for Nazeph all day and I don't want to make her more stressed.

Arriving back home I can immediately hear Emmy and her ladies talking in the drawing room which has become their habit ever since they first came over to meet Nazeph. True to Lady Nimel's words at the end of the first meeting they've been back every day since to spend time with him, taking almost as much delight in his progress as Kor, Bel, Emmy and I are. Having all of the ladies here everyday has proven very useful though as they help Emmy with the baby and Lady Pyzitt it turns out is a skilled artist so she's happily been providing drawings to be sent to Bel and Kor.