Mageborn The Line of Illeniel by Michael Manning (interesting novels to read .txt) 📕

Dorian’s brow furrowed in concentration, “Well... I’m not really certain.”

“A rough guess is all we really need,” I assured him.

“A little over a hundred trained men at arms I think, and maybe a hundred more when he calls for his levies,” Dorian replied. “But that’s a very rough estimate.”

“Do you have any idea what Baron Arundel might be able to bring to the table?” I asked.

“No more than thirty men at arms, perhaps close to a hundred if you include his peasant levies,” Dorian supplied. “I don’t know the man that well though. That’s based purely on what my father told me a few years ago.”

“He doesn’t have a castle if I remember correctly... is that right?”

“It’s more of a fortified manor. There’s no room for his people if he’s besieged, not that it would stand any sort of organized assault,” Marcus put in.

I thought for a moment. Cameron Castle was very nearly the same size as Lancaster Castle, despite the smaller size of my lands. Gododdin’s army would have to pass through my lands before reaching Lancaster. “I think we should consider using this castle as our first strongpoint. If we fail here we can withdraw to Lancaster. The enemy would be foolish to bypass us and leave us behind them.”

Cyhan spoke up, “They will have a considerably larger force than ours. If they assault us here we will probably be encircled, a successful withdrawal will be unlikely.”

“If we withdraw to Lancaster at the start James will be overwhelmed with too many mouths to feed and shelter. The enemy will gain an excellent staging area, and Lancaster will be encircled just the same. If they lay siege to us there our combined forces and civilians will be easily starved out,” I responded.

The large man’s eyes focused on me for a moment. Until then I suspect he had seen me as no more than a stubborn peasant suddenly thrown into politics. I couldn’t really blame him though; he had had no evidence to suggest otherwise. “That is true, but either way we face a crushing defeat. The only difference is in the time and place. In one we die more slowly as he isolates us from our allies, in the other he will be able to starve us out more quickly.”

“How many men do you think Vendraccus will be able to field?” I asked.

Marcus and Dorian both shrugged but Cyhan spoke again, “If history is any example it will be over ten thousand men. In the last war between Lothion and Gododdin, King Gelleron brought nearly twenty thousand against us.”

“But Lothion won that war didn’t it?”

Marcus answered first, “Barely, they smashed and burned their way almost to the capital itself before they were stopped.”

I had paid little heed to our history lessons when we were younger and I regretted it now, “That war was over a hundred years ago. What happened to Lancaster then?”

“To put it succinctly,” Marc responded, “my great great grandfather spent the next twenty years rebuilding Lancaster and Cameron took even longer.”

“As much as I’ve enjoyed rebuilding this castle, the idea of rebuilding the entire county is even less pleasing,” I mused out loud.

“You really don’t have a choice,” Cyhan stated bluntly. “There aren’t that many people in your entire county anyway. You should pull out and join the king’s forces.”

“And lose everything? Just give it to them?” I asked.

“Not everything, you’ll still have your lives. If you stay you won’t be around to rebuild, nor will any of your people,” he countered.

“There is a third option,” Penny said. It was the first time she had spoken and everyone’s eyes turned to her. “You could capitulate. Put up a token resistance and surrender when he encircles the castle. If we’re lucky Vendraccus might leave you your lands and move on with his campaign.”

That started an uproar as everyone began arguing at once.

“I’m not suggesting we actually do that!” she had to shout to be heard, “I just thought we should be clear on all of our options, even if some of them are distasteful.”

“She is correct about that,” Cyhan added and she gave him a look of gratitude. My chest tightened at her expression.

“I am not willing to consider that as an option,” I said forcefully. “I would rather die first.” I met Penny’s eyes as I said it. We hadn’t looked directly at one another in almost two days now, and I wondered what I would find.

She showed no sign of worry on my account, instead I saw disgust written plainly on her face. “What of the women and children, what is their choice? Will they die for your honor too?”

I could feel my face turning red, “I was thinking we would send them to Lancaster. We could house his troops here and concentrate most of the civilians there.”

I saw her nostrils flare as her breathing quickened. “How many more widows will you create before you’re satisfied?” she challenged.

My temper snapped, “I can think of at least one woman who won’t be a widow!” I was standing now, shouting across the table at her. I don’t think I had ever been so angry before.

“I’d rather be dead than be your widow!” Penny yelled knocking her chair back as she stood up. She was leaning toward me, her hands gripping the table.

“You will be dead if you don’t undo this ridiculous bond!”

“I’d just as soon beat you to death first! Then we’ll both be free of it!” She was gripping the wood so tightly that the edge of the table broke away under her hands. For a moment it seemed she might try to carry out her threat then and there.

“Dammit calm down!” my father said. “The two of you are fighting like cats and dogs. We’re here to make decisions, not bicker.” Looking down the table I could see everyone agreed with him on that point, though none of the others wanted to get in the middle of