A day later more news from Brando arrived; the first orcs had arrived at the bridge across the Neva, the most northern of the three Forks bridges, and started probing the Nigawan defenses. The next day two couriers arrived, the one coming from her father reporting the orcs' arrival at Bagman's Crossing and that they had deployed but weren't attacking yet, and the one coming from Brando reporting that the orcs had attacked the Little Fork bridge without success. Apparently the orcs had attacked without support from their vaunted war-beasts, and were also clearly struggling with the swampy terrain, just as her father had predicted they would.
By this time she had already started to get used to leading the daily council meeting, though the same couldn't be said for a couple of the councilors, who clearly struggled with accepting orders from a twenty one year old girl. That was their problem of course. To her surprise Marecomb had proven a solid supporter, and she wondered if it had been her actions at the parley with the orcs that had earned her his respect. The following day again two couriers arrived, the one from Brando reporting that the orcs were still attacking without much enthusiasm nor much success, and the one from her father reporting that the orcs at Bagman's Crossing still hadn't moved to attack.
Her father had also observed that the orcish war-beasts were missing. He suspected the marshes along the riverbank had slowed the heavy beasts down more than the troops on foot, and that the orcs were now waiting for their support to arrive. Brando had also reported the orcish war-beasts missing, but had concluded it was due to the swampy terrain directly surrounding the bridges. The courier ended with telling them the main concern was to ensure the reserve army deployed in the hills north of the crossing remained undetected by the orcs. The courier from Brando brought a personal note also, this time a sealed one. When she read it, after she had returned to her chambers, she felt her ears warm, and her pussy tingle; such a naughty betrothed...
***
Cassandra had trouble sleeping that night, and not because of Brando's naughty note, but because something was nagging at the back of her head, something important, but she just couldn't come up with what it was. Around noon the next day she was leading the council meeting when a courier from her father arrived. She let him make his report at the meeting, which would spare her the trouble of informing the councilors later. It wasn't good news... Apparently around ten in the morning of the previous day, roughly half the orc army had, rather suddenly, moved north, into the hills. Her father had assumed that his worst fear had come true, and that the reserve army had been discovered.
So he had activated the emergency plan, devised the previous day when it became apparent the orcs weren't going to attack immediately, which greatly increased the risk that they would discover the hidden threat at their backs. So the roughly twenty thousand men in the Nigawan eastern army had attacked the roughly five thousand orcs still holding the northern side of the crossing, which was actually a maze of fordable streams of varying wide and depth. Faced with the Nigawan quantitative superiority, the orcs had withdrawn under the pressure, but very slowly, and it had taken hours of bloody fighting to take the crossing.
And then the orc forces that had moved north earlier had returned, now accompanied by their war-beasts, signaling the destruction of the reserve army, and the tide of the battle had turned. Now it had been the Nigawans slowly withdrawing under the pressure. The courier had left early in the afternoon, with the battle in full swing, and the outcome still undecided. Her father had concluded that the orc war-beast force had probably come down the road from Cardogan, discovered the reserve army, and then managed somehow to coordinate their attack with the orc army at the crossing. Cassandra remembered pointing the route over Cardogan out to her father, and realized that while their foot army was traveling along the river bank they must have sent this smaller and much faster force over the route through Crows Pass.
A feeling of dread descended on her, "I need a map!" She said it loud enough to cut through the hubbub of the councilors discussing the news. Marecomb locked eyes with her, frowned, then turned and walked over to one of the large cabinets along the walls. He returned a minute later, with a large topographic map of Nigawa, and spread it out in front of her atop the large table. He then looked at her questioningly. She put her finger on Windagon, then traced the road up north to Shandra's Haven, then west to Wik, a small village functioning as a relay, then traced the road further west, over the Sable Pass, to Koban. From Koban there was a road leading even further to the west, but she traced the one leading to the south, to the bridge across the Neva, the bridge of the Little Fork, the bridge Brando was defending.
She locked eyes with Marecomb, "Could the orcs have sent their war-beasts along this route too?
Marecomb frowned again, "Yes, but then they should have already arrived, and we probably would have had word from Sir Boruga that the orcs were now reinforced with war-beasts."
She nodded thoughtfully, then retraced to Koban, and from there across the Neva along the road further west to Grak. From Grak she traced the road south-east to Suwal, and from there east to Breza and the southern bridgehead of the Little Fork bridge. She looked up at Marecomb, saying nothing, and watched the general's face turn white. She could almost hear the cogs in his head turn, then he looked up, alarmed, "Tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow."
Casandra felt an icy chill run down her spine, it looked like the orc war-beast force belonging to the western orc army was going to attack the defenders of The Forks from the rear. Her voice sounded icy too, "Get a messenger to the Little Fork to warn Brando, now! And make sure they have ample spare horses. There's thousands of lives depending on this, maybe even the entire future of Nigawa, so they can ride them to death for all I care." Marecomb said nothing, just turned and hurried out of the conference room.
Oh gods, I hope that messenger gets there in time,
she thought.
***
Cassandra left the meeting in a daze, worried sick, and feeling powerless. She walked out of her father's quarters and took the spiral stairs to her own quarters located one floor up. The doors leading from the public hallway into her quarters' hallway were guarded by two royal guards, and so was the second set of doors, some twenty feet down from the first. Having guards at the second set of doors wasn't normal procedure; they were only there because Nigawa was at war. The entire castle was on a war footing, with guards visible everywhere. Yesterday they had even tested the centuries old hydraulics of the elevated entrance to the central keep.
The vast stairs leading into the keep looked like solid stone, but were actually floating on water, and could be lowered into a subterranean basin in case of an attack, leaving behind a large pit at the foot of a twelve feet high sheer wall. It was a reminder of a past in which such measures were deemed necessary, a past in which wars with Nigawa's southern neighbors were frequent. The keep provided all the comfort of a palace from the first floor up, but the ground floor and the basement were built for war. And she had no illusions; the only reason neither the Lorasians nor the Mercandon had ventured into Nigawa the past decades was Nigawa's strong defenses.
But those defenses had been stripped bare of men now, and it would be just a matter of time before their friendly southern neighbors would notice, and get adventurous again, no matter if they were going to win this war with the orcs or not. So they didn't just have to win this war, they had to win it without losing too much of their army, or it would just lead to another invasion. She neared the third set of doors, a good forty yards past the second set, the doors leading inside her private chambers. The two Royal Guards posted at them saluted her, as had the others. They were the most loyal of loyalist troops, loyal to the Abbadon dynasty, loyal to her father, and to her herself. She smiled warmly at them as the two guarding her private chambers opened the doors for her.
The doors lead into the reception room, and she noticed two heads above the reception desk, one auburn and one raven black. That meant Denora and Syldan were 'manning' it. Both looked up from their reading at the same time. "Welcome back milady," Denora said while Syldan just smiled.
She acknowledged the greeting with just a nod of her head, and proceeded towards the doors leading to her private chambers' hallway. Entering the private hallway she turned towards her living room, and her favorite comfy chair, but once there she walked on towards the bedchamber. Cassandra sat herself down on the edge of the large bed, and then leaned back onto it. She closed her eyes and let her worries finally consume her. Worries about the two men closest to her heart. Her father had joked about it, but it was a fact that he wasn't a young man anymore. Brando was a young man, but if the orcs managed to surround his position, it just wouldn't matter.
***
Cassandra felt the bed move and knew whose face she would see before she opened her eyes, "Hi Denora..."
Her maiden locked eyes with her, her face showing concern, "Is everything alright milady?"
She shook her head, "I don't know, my father's army is fighting for its life, and if Brando's not warned in time he might be in serious trouble too." Denora looked questioningly, she sighed, "My father's plan went awry, and I noticed the orcs were probably going to attack Brando's forces from behind. We sent a messenger to The Forks to warn him, but he might not get there in time."
Denora raised her eyebrows, "
You
