Divided Nation

The March South

"We lost over 200 men in the battle yesterday," I started, "Along with one of our best generals."

     We were sitting in an improvised war council in a tent. We were currently situated on the south bank of the Rapids, with the Regime army to the north that was growing stronger by the day.

     "And how many men did the Regime lose?" One of our commanders replied, "Counting the Battle of The Rapids and yesterdays battle, they must have lost tens of thousands of soldiers over our couple of hundred."

     "Yes, but don't you see?" I said, standing up, "The Regime has an endless supply of men. We don't. We'll get burnt out eventually. We're repeating history if we keep on going like this."

     "So what do you purpose, King?" The same commander said, stressing the word 'king'.

     "We march south," I said, ignoring his disrespect, "Half of our forces will go forwards and meet up on Birch Hill. From there, they'll scatter along the Rapid and garrison it, holding the Regime back until further help arrives."

     "The other half," I continued, "Will march south. To the Sands. From there, we'll be joined by soldiers from the East Turret along with fresh troops from the Purple and Beige Kingdom. We'll figure out what to do next once we have taken the Sands back."

     "And all this who'll we be following?" The commander said, also standing up, "You?"

     The table started to chuckle and I realized that they weren't taking my plan seriously at all. A bunch of old men anyways.

     "Yes, me," I said, drawing my sword and pointing it at the commander. The entire table got up, reaching for their weapons, "I'd like to remind you that I'm the crown prince of Gala. And if you won't follow me, I'll consider it treason."

     I turned around and stormed out of the tent, sheathing my sword back in. Harold would have known what to do in that situation. Or even Isiah. Too bad they weren't with me anymore.

     As I walked out of the tent, I surveyed our camp. It was neatly made, still around the same place where the Battle Of The Rapids had taken place. On the North side of the river however, was the Regime army. They had set up a camp similar to ours, but was much bigger and in disarray.

     New troops were reported to be arriving from the Garrisons everyday. They had started construction of barges and even war galleys to go on the river, but the main threat was the bridge they were constructing.

     It's framework wasn't even complete at the moment, but once it was complete, it would be wide enough to carry the whole army across in a couple days. Luckily, it was made out of wood, meaning it could be blown apart if they attempted to cross.

     The bad part was though, the Rapid was huge and there was no way we could cover every bank with cannons. The Regime would eventually find a way to force the crossing or construct a bridge where we weren't guarding. 

     Or the most likely chance was, I assumed, would be that they would attempt to take Birch Hill. Although it was heavily defended right now by the White Kingdom, and would be even stronger once our soldiers arrive, it could be stormed if the Regime had enough men. 

     "So how'd the meeting go?" Alexia asked as she came up to me. She had left the Outpost when new of the battle reached and came here within the day. Harold had been sent back to the Outpost where he'd then go on a ship to the Sea States.

     "The people didn't like the plan," I replied, "Thought it was a joke. Maybe I should start executing anyone who laughs at me again. That'll teach them a lesson."