The thought surprised her; how quickly little Cerny had conquered her heart... Looking up again her eyes met Brando's, who just nodded, smiling softly, and she felt said heart blossom.
After breakfast she bathed with Brando again, and then it was time for the next council meeting. If their assumptions were correct the orcs had a nice head-start moving south, and they discussed possible routes to intercept them for a while. And then Marecomb shook his head, "We are planning army movements that could mean life or death for Nigawa, and we're basing them on the testimony of a young girl." Cassandra bristled, and Marecomb made a placating gesture, "I'm not saying she's lying. But can a young girl like her really see the difference between hundreds and thousands of orcs? I'm just saying we should check her story before we base our whole strategy on it."
Cassandra swallowed, Marecomb was right of course, "I'm sorry general," she said, "You're right. We should check our assumptions before we play our cards."
The general smiled, and then he looked around the table, "You'll have to excuse me gentlemen, but I also think this isn't the right company for determining the armies future actions... I think the actual planning should be done by the army staff, it's what they're paid for." He looked at Cassandra next, "I think we should have a staff meeting this afternoon, with you of course, and the few councilors that actually have some military experience. Once we have constructed a plan we'll then put it up for discussion with the council, so the other councilors can have a say on it before you decide what actions we're going to take."
She had already noticed they were basically wasting a lot of time discussing the useless ideas of councilors who clearly hadn't a clue what they were talking about and nodded her agreement, "That sounds like a good idea to me general." With the whole military discussion out of the way for now the only points remaining on the agenda were some issues of a more mundane nature, which didn't take long to resolve.
***
And so they managed to get back to her private chambers nicely in time for lunch. Denora stood up from behind the desk when they entered the reception room, "Would you prefer for us to have lunch in the living room with you milady?"
She smiled happily, "Yes, please, Denora," and then she hesitated, "I..., I would of course understand if the girls preferred to have their lunch in private."
Denora started to answer, but Leavy beat her to it from behind the reception desk, "The girls all love eating with you in the living room milady."
Denora nodded her agreement, and Cassandra sighed relieved, "That's great; lunch together in the living room then."
And so they had lunch just like they had breakfast, with Cerny sitting between Brando and her. After they had finished eating she addressed her assembled maidens, "From now on, unless I have to entertain guests, I would like to have my meals here, inside the living room, with all of you, if you girls don't mind..." None of them said anything, but they didn't need too, their happy faces told her everything she needed to know. Her maidens' reactions warmed her heart, and she smiled with gratitude, "Thank you, this means so much to me."
Cassandra left her private chambers feeling happy, and when she and Brando walked into the conference room again they found Burgon Magwick, Burgon Goban, and Marecomb and his staff waiting for them. There were three officers with him, all of whom she only knew by sight. They all greeted her and Brando, and then Marecomb gestured at the officer standing to his right, "This is Colonel Valco, my chief of staff." He gestured at the officer standing to his left next, "And this is Colonel Morvan." That left the younger officer standing next to Burgon Goban beside the table, whom he introduced last, "And this is Major Curdoga," he grinned, "who does all the real work."
All three officers bowed to her, "Please, as you were," she said walking up to the table.
On top of it was a huge topographical map of Nigawa. Marecomb gestured at it, "We discussed a plan assuming both orc armies effectively disengaged and headed south. For their eastern army this would be directly after their victory at Bagman's crossing four days ago, as the girl's testimony leads us to believe, and for their western army, more likely after we withdrew the bulk of our own troops back to Iriskan two days ago." He looked up, "But before we start moving our own troops we have to confirm these assumed orc movements."
He pointed at the Seven Pints inn, along the road to Cardogan, "In the east I propose we order Colonel Kiran to send a scouting party north to Bagman's Crossing, and from there eastward to the Trader's Inn, and then further on to Ovega. We should also send scouting parties from Iriskan, both to Merdion in the east, and to Luessio in the south east."
He pointed at Breza next, "Checking on the orcs' western army's movements will be more difficult, because it'll be next to impossible to send a scouting party after them from The Forks." He pointed at Olbio, located on the east bank of the Amunda further south, "So we'd better send a scouting party from Iriskan and have it use the ferry at Olbio to get across the Amunda."
Burgon Goban chimed in, "We are also going to have the internal security network coordinate with the scouting groups, so we'll get as complete a picture as possible about what the orcs are up to." He locked eyes with her, "I also have to inform you that our communication with the parts of Nigawa that are either under orcish control or got isolated by their advance, has been cut completely. So we have no idea whatsoever about what's happening, and has happened, in the northern shires for instance."
Cassandra thought for a moment, "Yes, the Amunda doesn't just stop orcs of course, so with all the normal crossings becoming inaccessible there's no news coming across it either."
Goban nodded, "Exactly your highness." He pointed at Olbio on the map, "We can work around the road system, which the orcs might or might not control, but if they take out the ferry somehow, we might find ourselves cut off from those scouts we're sending after the orcish western army too."
Marecomb shrugged, "Yes, that's a possibility, but if the orcs are doing what we think they are doing, something we can confirm by observing the actions of their eastern army, it won't matter much..." He gestured towards Colonel Valco, "That's your cue Colonel..."
***
The officer cleared his throat and then he put his wooden pointer at Windagon on the map, "The orcs first split their army here, and they are presumed to be splitting it up even further while moving to the five fortified cities guarding our southern borders." He locked eyes with Brando, "I was informed about your plans to reunite our army, and then have it head south to engage and destroy the much smaller orcish army groups one by one. In principle that's a sound plan, but I'm afraid the orcs have too much of a head start, and you won't be able to get at any of them before they start reuniting again."
Brando frowned, and Valco put his pointer on The Forks, and from there he traced the Amunda, south, all the way to Roha, and from there west to the Mercandon border. "But while both the western and eastern orc armies in themselves will be able to reunite again relatively easily, merging their western army back with their eastern army again will be more of a problem for them, because the Amunda is in the way. He pointed at Bulness on the map. "The bridges at Bulness were designed with wooden central spans, to be torchable in case of a Mercandon attack, and the local commander has orders to destroy them both at the first sign of orcs arriving."
Valco moved the pointer along the south bank of the Amunda to the area south of Roha, "This was done to prevent the orcs from taking this route and being able to attack Iriskan from the south." He placed the pointer on Roha, "That means that the bridge at Roha is the only way for the orcs to reunite their split up army again, without having to move all the way back up north to The Forks that is. Now the bridge at Roha isn't torchable, because it was never really expected to come under attack. Unlike the bridges at Bulness, however, it is part of the city's defenses, and as such, with the Amunda serving as the widest moat in the world, as good as untakable."
The Colonel grinned, "So if they want that bridge, their eastern army will have to take Roha from the 'dry' side, and Roha is an incredibly tough nut to crack. Unlike Windagon its defenses have been expanded on for centuries, it has layered defenses. So even with just their normal garrison, and we will be able to reinforce that garrison before the orcs arrive, they would already have their work cut out for them."
Brando nodded, "So with the western orc army incapable of crossing the Amunda we will have a window of opportunity to crush the eastern orc army between our own army and Roha's defenses."
The Colonel smiled evilly, "Exactly Sir."
Brando grinned, "And as far as we know their eastern army is being led by Bashuk himself... So by destroying their eastern army we'll kill their leader too."
Cassandra swallowed, "What if he decides to surrender?"
Brando blinked, "They killed your father..."
She nodded, "Yes, they did, and we killed all their women and children..." The men looked down, their faces ashamed. "I don't think they'll want to, but if they try to surrender, I want us to offer them the opportunity to do so."
Brando thought for a moment, and then he nodded his agreement, and so did the others. "You're right, losing our honor once was more than enough. But I don't think...,"
"Neither do I," she interrupted him, "But let's make sure we do not add more black pages to our history book, shall we?" The men all nodded, and she pointed at Olbio on the map, "So what happens if the orcs take out the ferry, and the commander at Bulness doesn't destroy the bridges in time?"
Brando pointed at Roha, "Should the army arrive at Roha before the orcs do, it will send scouts to both Sasua in the east and the Last Hope inn in the south. The latter would give us timely warning should the orc western army approach along the south bank of the Amunda. Should that happen, or should we find the orc armies have already managed to reunite east of Roha in some way, we will pull back to Nadrac. It isn't a fortified city, but like most cities it's walled nevertheless. He looked up at her, "But that's an emergency plan. If the commander at Bulness does his job as expected, the orcish western army will find itself marooned west of Roha."
