What Lurks Behind The Trees

An unplanned plan

"It seems like Osledel is in havoc at the moment," Queen Evidelia said when they all gathered.

"Precisely, the king is gathering an army, all the masters of Osledel are siding with him, except Cruin and Lakewood," Dyron said.

"We have the master of Cruin, Cedric Reid as an ally, my men have gone to speak with the master of Lakewood, Elias Chambers," Venkalth said, crossing one leg over the other.

The Queen gasped suddenly and everyone turned to look at her.

"This is worse than I expected, my spies in Osledel have told me that the king is going to lay siege on Cruin, now it's clear why he is doing that," she said, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. Venkalth rubbed his temples anxiously.

"We had no idea," Dyron said, his face twisting with worry.

"Wait, that means we can assemble there, near Cruin," Julian said.

"You're right, we can use this as an opportunity to not only save Cruin but to also carry out the battle there, away from the capital and away from any city. The king will be vulnerable in this situation if we surround them," Raymond said.

"I agree," Alan said.

"How many men do you have?" Dyron asked.

"The Queen gave us three thousand men and Serlon gave us one thousand," Aden said.

"We have all the magician army, which is around five thousand," Venkalth said. "and two dragons,"

"We have Cedric's men, around six thousand and we're still waiting for Elias's help," Dyron said.

"That won't be enough if the king has all the kingdom's support," Evidelia said.

"Let's not forget he has a dragon and the creatures in the forest," Venkalth said and almost at once, the men gasped and groaned.

"I knew it! I knew it was his doing!" Aden slammed his fist on the table.

"It's his fault Gregor and Finn are like that!" Gil said.

"All the more reason to fight him, to avenge our dead brothers who died in the forest and get rid of him once and for all," Vince said.

They all nodded and hummed in agreement.

"We have something in the way of our plan." Felton broke the silence, "The forest, we have to cross it again,"

The men shivered at the thought, they could never go through that again.

"We have birds, a lot of them, they won't be able to carry the entire army, but at least you can use them to fly over the forest." The Queen said.

"Thank you my queen, but half of the army will be lost if the cross the forest," Raymond said.

Evedilia smirked "Don't underestimate my men, they are stronger than bulls,"

"It's harder than it looks my Queen, we cannot risk it," Julian said.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"She's right, there is no other way, we have to move fast before the King attacks Cruin. Dyron and I will fly back to Osledel, we will advance to Cruin first, you follow after us, we have no time to meet in Osledel except on the battle ground," Venkalth said.

"What? We're going straight to Cruin? We have no plan!" Julian said.

"Son, the king is fully prepared, he's going straight to Cruin to lay Siege, we have no time, by the time we get to Cruin, the King would have already started attack, he's not patient enough to sit by and watch them starve, he has the men and the power to start the attack," Dyron said.

"Very well, then we'll catch up with you right away," Raymond said.

"At sunrise we fly back to Osledel, you're army crosses the forest, that alone takes days, even weeks, and you fly over the forest where you will keep an eye on your men, aid them if needed," Venkalth said.

The men nodded at the command, it was finally happening, by sunrise they will move, by sunrise their fate will be decided.

------------------------------------------------------

It was funny to Gregor how the world seemed at peace from this balcony, how the snow settled beautifully over the uneven land, how the moon shone over it making it seem even whiter than usual against the black sky. Gregor found it funny because he knew that calamity was falling upon the kingdom on the other side, slowly but surely everything and everyone will trip over a pile of misfortune, they will fall into it and drown beneath its weight. This war was bound to bring disaster, even if they were victorious over the king, many will lose their lives and many more will mourn, it will take them years to recover and centuries to recover financially.

"Gregor, I can see a dark cloud over your head," Dyron entered the room and chuckled "What's got you in such a mood?" he stood beside Gregor and leaned on the balcony.

"Nothing, I was just wondering if I was ever going to eat the delicious berries of Aigronyth again," Gregor smiled.

"I'm sure you'll have the chance son. Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Yes, months of preparing, I'm definitely ready...to fight that is, not to see my loved ones die." Gregor said in low voice. "It's happened before, I can't afford to go through that again, but I'm not so much a cry baby as before," Gregor grinned.

"I can see that, you've grown so much I could barely recognise you, your mother would be so proud,"

"Did you speak to Julian? He had been dying to see you all," Gregor said, looking from one star to the other.

"I spoke to him for hours, what a brave man he's become," Dyron smiled proudly.

"Father, there's something you need to know about me,"

Dyron turned his head to look at him.

"There was this time where I completely lost control... I was a monster for a while... like a Night Slayer," Gregor said.

"Oh, son, how I wish I could take all your pain away," Dyron placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"I don't know if it can happen again... but if it does happen on the battlefield... I want you to kill me father."

------------------------------------------

WHAT?! What do you think he means by that? 

I appreciate all the support, thank you to everyone who is taking the time to read this mess of a story, hopefully when I finish it and edit EVERYTHING things will become clearer! 

Vote, comment and share!