The Emperor And The Knightess

At the Acreian military strategy meeting...

The scouts were able to gather some information on the Yapa castle. They asked the various Bikpa n.o.bles and knights who have been inside the castle to get an idea of how to attack it effectively.

What they knew so far were presented as followed.

First, the castle had its own separate water source. This meant that cutting off or poisoning the nearby water wasn"t going to work. Secondly, it was very likely that they had more than enough food to last a long time, so waiting for them to starve was out of the question.

"This is going to be tricky," Lucius the First murmured.

"And attacking them straight on was never going to work."

"How about that rocky mountain behind the castle? Can we climb it and attack from there perhaps?"

"We got a couple of good climbers to try, but it was not possible, your highness."

When the castle was being built, the rocks from this mountain was used. The architect who designed it made sure to cut the rocks in a way that made the mountain impossibly steep.

A siege was a game of patience. Normally, the attacker would cut off the supplies into the castle and wait for starvation to take place. Whoever gave in first was the loser of this battle.

And in this case, Gali the Third had a clear advantage. Since he had plenty of both water and food, all he had to do was wait it out from the inside in comfort.

Lucius the First then asked, "What is your best guess with respect to his food supply?"

"We can"t be completely certain, but based on our rough calculation, we believe they should be able to last at least 5 years…"

"That"s not good."

Only a small number of n.o.ble families, high-ranked knights, and royal families hid inside the castle, which meant they could last a very long time even with a moderate amount of food.

In many siege cases, hunger and thirst would take place inside the castle rather quickly. The longer they waited, the more people ended up dying. There were some desperate instances where cannibalism occurred.

The problem here was that Lucius the First believed that the Yapa castle could last the next 10 years. It was an impossible task for the Acreian army to attack it head-on, and Gali the Third knew it. This was obviously why he hid in this castle as quickly as possible. His loyal and cowardly cohorts were only happy to follow him.

From time to time, Lucius the First noticed messages being sent from the castle via pigeons. At first, Lucius had them shot down, but after a while, he left them alone. He saw that the birds headed towards two directions; Oz and Mongsheim. Gali the Third was obviously asking for help from these neighboring kingdoms.

Lucius the First asked his knights, "Any movements from Oz or Mongsheim?"

"No military movement, your highness. But we just heard that there have been some activities in the Kopi army."

Oz and Mongsheim were their closest kingdoms, which meant that they were the most likely going to be attacked next and yet, they weren"t reacting at it in any way. This could only mean that there was some kind of an agreement between Kopi and Bikpa. But why now? When Bikpa was first attacked, Kopi refused to help. So what made them change their mind? Lucius the First contemplated.

"Hmm… This could be a trap. Perhaps Kopi is using this situation to their advantage. Using Bikpa as bait while they prepare their military."

"Then how about we do something unexpected? Attack either Oz and Mongsheim?"

"But what if we move away from here and Bikpa comes after us from behind? We could get surrounded by Bikpa on one side and another kingdom ahead of us. Or they could even cut off our own supply from Bebero somehow. We can"t take that chance."

"Gali the Third isn"t trusted anymore by his lords that remained outside of this castle. I doubt they will support him if he attacks us."

"We can"t count on that. Those lords may still feel obligated to follow their king even if they don"t want to."

If they didn"t, they wouldn"t have let Gali the Third take the supplies from them in the first place. Inside the tent, Lucius the First looked around the men and asked, "Any ideas? I don"t care if they are stupid or crazy. I want any and all suggestions from you."

No one answered their emperor. Lucius the First looked at each man. When his eyes reached Poliana, she lowered her face in shame. She was lucky enough to help the emperor in creative ways recently, but for this situation, she didn"t have anything helpful to offer. Lucius the First nodded understandingly at everyone and consoled them, "I myself have no solution for this problem. It seems that all we can do is wait for now. What happened to the messenger we sent to Gali the Third?"

"He refused to even open the gate. We are certain that he is waiting for military help from somewhere."

"Were you able to shoot down any messenger pigeon today?"

"Yes. You ate it for your breakfast, your highness."

Lucius the First remembered the pigeon roast he had this morning. It was too chewy. He said quietly, "I prefer wild goose over pigeons."

"Wild geese aren"t used as messengers, your highness."

It was true that wild geese were bigger and tasted much better than the pigeons.

Lucius the First then ordered, "Send another message to Gali the Third. Tell him that if he surrenders now, he and his men will receive fair treatment from us." When the message was written, Lucius the First pointed at Sir Rabi, who saluted him confidently.

"Sir Rabi, you have a good strong voice, so please read us the terms of surrender that are to be sent to Gali the Third. I want to hear it to make sure it"s correct."

"Yes, your highness!"

When Sir Rabi began to read loudly, those standing near him feared that they might lose their hearing.

***

Poliana was recently moved to the infantry division under the leaders.h.i.+p of Sir Rabi. This change happened right before they reached the Yapa castle. She has been a.s.signed with 100 men and one personal aide. Her reputation among their men wasn"t bad, especially after her role in conquering Bebero, so those men under her supervision seemed ok with having a female knight as their leader. Poliana also got along well with Sir Rabi.

Sir Bentier was the deputy commander but the soldiers seemed to prefer Sir Rabi. Both of them were from well-known families in Acreia. The difference, however, was that Sir Bentier was from a n.o.ble family while Sir Rabi was from a family with many generations of famous knights.

Except for his shocking loud voice, which became handy when he reprimanded someone, Sir Rabi was a good superior. He was a born leader and an excellent soldier, perhaps it became that way because he grew up in the family of many knights. He was also much better at understanding and empathizing with other soldiers compared to Sir Bentier, who clearly was a n.o.bleman before he became a knight. Sir Rabi was also undoubtedly brave and incredibly strong. He looked like a "pretty boy," but he was a man"s man. Because of this, many soldiers considered him their role model.

Poliana missed Sir Baufallo, who was kind to her, but she also felt very fortunate to have Sir Rabi as her new superior.

Her first meeting with Sir Rabi, which took place at the Koemong River, made her initially believe that he was an impatient and violent man, but she quickly realized that she was mistaken. When Poliana was a.s.signed to his division, Sir Rabi treated her with respect. He treated her like he would treat any of his men, which meant that he made her work incredibly hard. He swore at her just as he would to his other knights and yet, he respected her personal s.p.a.ce and time as well. Poliana could understand why he was loved by his man.