Chapter 6: Tactical Lessons

Victoria had watched with amazement as the army prepared to break camp. Everything was done with measured efficiency. She had expected to take half the day before moving but things were finished by the time she concluded her breakfast.

It brought something to her mind that didn’t fit. She decided to approach Genrico for the answer.

“Lord Larchman,” she said as Genrico supervised the disposition of the forces that would remain behind, “I have a question.”

“Go ahead,” he offered.

“King Joseph’s army has been in place for several days,” she said. “I suspect that you were in place even earlier. Yet you’ve both sat in your camps without attacking. For what do you wait? You could have overrun the manor at any time with these forces. You could have presented the manor to King Joseph when he arrived. Yet you have remained idle.”

“Not idle,” Genrico corrected. “We have been gathering information and ensuring a supply line if an extended battle ensued. We knew of the Caliph’s assistance. He is an able tactician. He is not in King Joseph’s class, and probably not in yours, but he is able enough. We have spent a week trekking through the woods and around the mountain to make sure he didn’t have the same plan we have in place. We also have watched the manor house to see who comes and goes. It speaks well for you and your sister that we missed your first exit. I knew someone was tracking us but the first I knew of you for certain was when King Joseph identified you to me a few days ago.”

Victoria nodded but Genrico didn’t think she understood fully.

“Victory is not just about lining up your men against your foe’s men,” he said. “If you were to backtrack King Joseph’s route through the country you would see he has someone in each town or village who can get him a message if necessary. He has arranged for supplies to be brought forward if we require a siege of the manor. None of us had been in this area previously. Even when Joseph was the prince, he didn’t travel here – or if he did he didn’t recall it. My men are trained to live off the land if necessary. We prefer to have a base of supplies but we can subsist without it if we have to. What we cannot do without is communication and information.

“I have had messengers travelling back and forth to Joseph’s command for the past two months. We took a different route here – through the mountains – and avoided all contact with civilians. We sometimes had to take a two-day detour around an outlying farm. It was necessary that we arrive in the rear without anyone being the wiser.”

“Which you did,” Victoria agreed. She was getting a better understand of overall strategy than the tactics books she read had given her. “That still doesn’t answer my question about why you waited. If I may be blunt, King Joseph’s army was completely unnecessary.”

“From a military standpoint I agree with you,” Genrico said, smiling at the young woman. “From a political standpoint I couldn’t disagree with you more. Joseph – when he was Johan – cared little about how a battle was viewed. Now that he is king he has to consider such things. This is his first campaign as King of Azkoval. His army has men and women from every single land holding now that you and your sister have joined us. When we attack Lord Wellington it will not be some mercenary army doing his bidding. It will be the lords and ladies – the men and women – of Azkoval that defeat him.

“This land has seen a decade of hard times. When King Joseph defeats your father, Azkoval will be united for the first time since The Fall. When his army disbands, they will go back to Burbridge and Tolliver with tales of their time campaigning with King Joseph. The men from Symonds will share something with the men from Halversham. Men with little in common will find common ground when they come to court in a year. They will talk of the men and women from their holdings who rallied to support the king. That might lead to nothing but it also might lead to them working out an arrangement that benefits both holdings and Azkoval as a whole.

“Joseph replaced 16 landholders when he took over as king. Many of the new gentry came from outside of Azkoval – me, for instance. But the entire country has rallied for a common purpose and it is necessary for Joseph to lead the army that accomplishes that purpose. Otherwise he is not a leader. He is simply a man who can hire an army to do his bidding.”

“Like my father,” Victoria said with a grave nod. “Lord Wellington will not be on the field when battle comes. He will cower in his manor, surrounded by a dozen men sent from Creight to protect him. The same reasons Wilhelm was never viewed as a worthy king apply to my father’s bid for the crown, as well. You know that was his goal, don’t you?”

“I have nothing to base that belief upon,” Genrico admitted. “From what I’ve learned, Creight supported the usurper’s bid for the throne. They provided money and men to the cause. It seems unlikely that they would do so much for someone they planned to replace.”

“Wilhelm was of King Welton’s bloodline,” Victoria said. “I understand that you hail from Denaya. That might not be as important there as it is here. I know little of that country. Wilhelm had the backing of the church and the Caliph’s father could not go against them and still have influence. The old Caliph planned to wait two years and then replace Wilhelm with my father. He died just after Wilhelm took the throne and it took many years of bloodshed in Creight for a new Caliph to take command. By then Wilhelm was ensconced and all the plans had to be reworked.

“Then Joseph returned from the dead and plans changed again. I will admit that I do not understand politics any better than I do overall battle strategy. I will learn both, however, if you are willing to help me.”

“Let us get through the campaign,” Genrico said. “Joseph issued an edict just before he left for the trip. Either you or your sister, whichever is the oldest, will be heir to the holding once the battle has concluded. He has made women eligible for land holdings and inheritance. You will have many options.”

“I am the older but I will pass on the holding,” Victoria declared. “I wish to see more of the world than the trees and mountains of Wellington. Julia will not take it either. We have spoken and we will leave with the army when it debarks. One of my father’s many bastard children can claim the land if he or she wants it but I do not.”

“Let us see what King Joseph has in mind before you make a decision,” Genrico offered. “He might be able to convince you to stay and command an army here to ensure Creight remembers its proper place. I’m certain that might interest you.”

The long summer hours aided the movements to new locations. The fictitious search for Gabrielle Burbridge pushed back Joseph’s start, but they made camp just before nightfall. Genrico’s forces had farther to go and Victoria stopped several times to point out potential ambush sites for the groups left to hold the mountain passes from Creight.

They skirted behind a mountain – bypassing Azkoval’s boundaries that had been unguarded for a century. Genrico dispatched a small group to patrol the border with orders to retreat to the ambush sites if a Creighton expeditionary force appeared. Victoria had said that the Caliph was expected sometime during the summer to aid Lord Wellington (and to collect the man’s daughters as payment for the assistance).

She said her father seemed to be expecting the Caliph and his troops to arrive early enough to assist in the battle with King Joseph’s forces.

Creight shared only a small border with Azkoval and that border was mountainous and forested. The only passable route consisted solely of a rocky pass between two mountains. Smaller than Azkoval, it took less than two months to travel from border to border. The Wellington region was of little relative value. It had been won in a war with Creight almost 400 years earlier, although no one could remember why the Azkoval king had wanted it.

The region exported lumber but that was about the only product of worth to come from the three southernmost lordships: Wellington, Rickard and Kendall. The few farms in the Wellington region paid exorbitant taxes to the landholder, often with the farmers going hungry to feed the Wellington family. Many tenants had fled the region in the previous decade, forcing those remaining to work doubly hard to meet the increasing desires of Lord Wellington. Many of the men and boys conscripted into Wellington’s makeshift army were distraught at the thought of having their farms left untended for the weeks they had been forced to train and await battle.

The lord had promised grievous retribution to the families of any man who fled the fight – and the men knew all too well that he would follow through. Almost every man between the ages of 13 and 45 had been dragged to the manor and forced to take up arms.

The Wellington forces sat a quarter day’s walk – through heavy woods – from the manor house, led by a group of 50 professional soldiers brought over from Creight. Wellington expected reinforcements from Creight in the coming days. He was heartened when his daughters had reported that no sign of the king’s army had appeared. He had told them to range farther out – to sleep in the forest if necessary – until they located them. He needed them back in the manor – and dressed in their finery – when the Caliph arrived but he didn’t need them underfoot until then.

The sun was low in the sky when Victoria directed Genrico’s troops off a mountain path and through a thick strand of trees. The commander’s own scouts had preceded the troops and had left markings to indicate safe passages. Genrico was relieved, not only for his army but for Joseph’s, when Victoria’s path mirrored those recommended by his men.

“Will you attack in the morning?” Victoria asked when the group settled down to a cold camp. There was distance between the two armies but sound and light carried far in that area. The enemy’s fires could be seen from the mountains and the clearing where they camped was layered with a thick haze from burning green wood.

“It will be a few days,” Genrico answered. “We probably will wait for the next rain to ensure we can get through the woods silently.”

“Why?” Victoria wondered. “You’ve flanked them. My sister has the King’s troops between them and the manor. If you wait too long, the element of surprise will be lost!”

Genrico smiled slightly. He had been impressed with the woman during their trek. She was skilled in the woods and she knew to keep silent as the army moved. He had found most young women to be flighty and unfocused. That’s the only reason he didn’t snap at the scout for questioning the group’s plans.

“I gather that your tactical knowledge comes from reading,” he said. Victoria nodded.

“Take a look around you,” he said. “Do you see words on parchment? These are men. They have walked for almost seven months. We have climbed hills and forded rivers. We have subsisted on berries and twigs more often than I care to admit. Joseph is in the same situation. His troops are green. He will rest them for a few days and go over the plan of battle. He will do everything in his power to make sure the plans allow most of the innocents in your father’s army to walk away unscathed. That is just as important to him as relieving your family of its holding.”