Chapter 53: Bushwhacking Mad: (Chile Bruin)
"How much longer must we spend cutting brush and marching through these thick forests? Fighting off wild beasts and subhumans who think they are our equal because they believe they know these lands? How much longer, Euron?" Chile Bruin says as he sits down. The march has been a long one and in no way easy, as the weeks on Jali had been war in its own way for the troops assembled for the advance into the jungles. Heat, poor supply lines, and wild remnant beasts and peoples native to the island nation prior to the occupation and conquest by the Bruin forces had flung traps and themselves upon the people fighting their way deep into the heart of the island under the guidance of Euron with the lead of the journals of Tertull Morningsong.
"My lord, please hold your complaints. We are closer each day, closer to a power that is beyond even what the best alive can conjure. Better than perhaps even Reto and Scythe." Euron speaks smoothly but also lets slip a small smile on his face, which he realizes and then seeks to conceal before discovery. Though it is seen by Vespasian Bruin. However, the intent behind it is not discerned. The heir to the Bruin throne shakes off the notion and moves to sip on some tea.
"We have lost men both here and abroad, Euron. The last few birds that have come through have spoken of the fall of Conner Bolden and the remnant of his force holding Jule in a flailing effort. We have heard of the expedition force into Archana having no survivors. The army under Varus, while gaining control of Valor and decimating the military of the Valtrex house, fell in combat and only managed to kill their lord, Fulcrum."
"Yes, yes. I know all of these things. I also can tell you something you have not heard yet but undoubtedly will. The city of Madrol has fallen to the rebel forces."
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"WHAT!! How do you know these things, magician?" The Bruin lord rose from his chair. All of these conversations were taking place inside the luxurious travel tent of the Bruin lord while Rhein Bolden and his troops and slaves took the front to bushwhack and uncover the old pathways that had long since been overgrown with random brambles, trees, and other things of the woods. The slow pace of advance in these settings was unsettling to the Bruin nobility, but not enough to force the lord to spend himself to further propel the effort along, yet.
"I have my spells to see things elsewhere… in a way." Euron walked over to Chile and placed his hands inside the lord's thigh, a symbol of submission and deference to the lord Bruin. "Please, though, trust this process. Right now, you have to toil under the power of armies to advance yourself and your ruling. Yet, when this is finished, you will no longer need massive amounts of men to force the realm to submit in loyalty. And besides, with all these battles, we are ridding Wiera of all its fighting men anyway. Doesn't that sound grand to have any that could rival you simply kill each other in pointless brawling?"
"But many of these that are falling are my own subjects."
"Many of the greatest enemies come from the same roof, my lord." Euron's words hit home, and Chile calmed himself as he pondered the advantage of seeing so many able bodies torn asunder. How the Naudiz tribes suffered such great losses. How the major houses have become fully in disarray, and how the region as a whole is unstable with the conflicts and battles popping up all over.
"Fine Euron, we will keep on this path, but I need you to do what you can to ensure that our forces all about have what it takes to fight better and actually stand against the enemies so beating us."
"My lord, we are nearing a cold season, don't you know? You cannot feel it here on this island, which seems to be forever in a summer's heat, but soon the warring will cease for a time. Or at least slow down. The point is that we have the forces spread about to continue weakening and splintering the fighting men of the realm."
"And what of Yannis? What of the highland kingdom to the West?" Chile asks, as that kingdom had so far been mostly uninvolved in any of the battling across the world.
"I have plans in place… plans aided by the rebellious ways of Lady Mert herself." He chuckles while moving to a map to show the Bruin lord what is planned for the western kingdom of Wiera in the days ahead.
