Divided Nation

The Woods

A thick fog had settled across the plains. Following the intense rain, fog had settled so deep that we literally couldn't see 5 feet in front of us. Isiah ordered torches to be lit, but even they couldn't penetrate the fog. The barges were still constantly bringing troops there and back across the river, but one of them had crashed and had taken the entire crew down with them. There were also some soldiers that had rode back into the forest to try and get some wood to construct new barges.

      Unfortunately, there were 2 major flaws about that. One, we didn't bring any axes or construction materials with us, so the best we could make was a floating log that we all clung onto. And two, even if we did construct a suitable boat, it probably wouldn't last long in the river, which was still roaring as loud as ever following the rain.

     Another bad thing about the river was that it was situated in a valley of sorts, where all the water from the surrounding areas drained into. The river had grown so much since the storm that people were saying that it could permanently be a new major river. 

      "Hayden, is it?" Isiah said, galloping up to me on his horse. I nodded. "You fought exceptionally well yesterday during the battle. Except for bringing me those arrows."

     My face reddened as I remembered that occasion, "Yeah, let's not talk about that. What brings you here, commander?"

     "I was wondering if you would like to take a walk with me," Isiah chuckled, "I have something I need to show you. Privately, of course."

     Nodding, I mounted my own horse and rode alongside the general. We were walking parallel to the Rapids, heading back from the way we originally came from, back into the forest. The ride was done in complete silence. Isiah had brought nobody with us and I thought it would be pretty embarrassing if we were ambushed by bandits or Regime soldiers.

     Even though it was early afternoon, the sun still didn't show in the sky, which was covered by the fog. The ground was still wet, from the storm the day before. An ideal condition for attacks, I gloomily thought.

     As we rode on, I thought about the situation at hand. The White Kingdom had substantial men to complete the encirclement, and so did we. We had already knocked out a major army and commander at yesterdays battle. 

     However, the Sands were still occupied and they could withstand a long enough siege until help arrived. No, a siege wouldn't work. We would have to storm each castle, one by one, losing many men in the process. No, I doubt storming would work either.

     The biggest issue, was simply that we didn't have near enough manpower as the Regime did. Their population accounted up to almost 5 million. Their military was probably added up to more than 1 million soldiers now. The Sea States and the White Kingdom had a combined total of 250,000 population. Even less than 6,000 were soldiers. Harold had essentially brought the entire army to the Outpost and probably 1,000 had perished when the Sands were taken.

     From what I had heard, the White Kingdom's soldiers were formidable. Their capitol was on a small island surrounded by rivers. Woodford Keep, it was called. The island was supposedly full of woods and the castle was hard to find and even harder to attack. 

     A raven from yesterday updated us on the news on how the White Kingdom was doing. It had swept aside what little resistance it had found on the Pinchers and cleaned the river out of any enemy galleys. Amerbstone Hall, which was lightly guarded unlike the Outpost, was easily taken. Their general, Bryden, also called the White Hammer, had led the armies along the North Pincher, now meeting up at Birches Hill, where we were suppose to meet.

     Once we had met up, the Regime would have trouble crossing the new river called the Rapids on our side and it would be near impossible to take the North Shield. The only possibility of them crossing would be storming Birch Hill, and we would fortify it to make it a fortress.