“They were marching on Despair,” frowned the Federation general, “but I stopped that. If Emperor Jaar is not going to honor our agreement, and he will certainly not if he is dead, there is no reason for my troops to go to Despair. I turned them around and headed them towards Ramaldi Pass to aid in the liberation of Vinafor.”
“We should get to the meeting and let the others know that the war is coming sooner than expected.”
“There is more,” warned Clint. “The Federation has continued to grow their army. It is hard for me to get accurate information as I am not supposed to be in Despair, but the best estimate that I can come up with suggests that they have added another sixty-thousand troops.”
“Sixty-thousand?” gasped the king. “Are they coming here?”
“I can’t be certain,” answered Clint, “but I suspect that they are not. There has been no formal announcement of the new armies, and the new generals seem interested only in training their new troops.”
“They are for crowd control,” suggested the Alcean spymaster. “Whoever is planning on taking over the Federation is gathering the armies to ensure that he is not foiled in the attempt. If I am correct, expect to see those armies stationed in the major cities of the Federation, especially Despair.”
Alex nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense, Zack. The usurper is planning to seize control while the bulk of the Federation armies are in Alcea. The new armies are to counteract any resistance from the home guard.”
“And that is why they needed to replace Jaar,” agreed Clint. “It does make sense now. Jaar had gotten out of hand, and they could not afford to attempt a coup with eighty-thousand loyal troops in Despair. Those troops would unerringly follow the heir, but I suspect these new troops will be under the control of Grand General Kyrga. The new generals will owe their allegiance to him alone.”
Alex paced wordlessly to the window and stared out at the blustery winter scene. The others turned and stared at his back, wondering what he was thinking about. The king opened his mouth to ask that very question, but the queen stopped him with a slight touch on his arm and a shake of her head. The room stood in silence as Alex pondered the ramification of the new information. Eventually, he sighed heavily and turned to face the others.
“Do not send your troops into Vinafor, Clint,” commanded Alex. “They may be needed in eastern Zara.”
“What do you mean?” scowled Theos. “The liberation of the western countries was promised. You cannot just walk away and leave those patriots under the heel of the Federation.”
Alex looked the Tyronian mage in the eye. There was no reprimand in the gaze, only sympathy. “The western countries must all fall in succession, and they will, but only when success is assured. We are now facing one-hundred-forty-thousand troops when we expected only eighty-thousand. Even that lower number left us woefully outnumbered. Now we are facing odds that require a reassessment of our strategies.”
“If the liberation of the western countries is timed properly,” suggested Zack, “some of those new armies would be forced to respond. Perhaps that might be the key.”
“Clint?” prompted Alex.
“General Tauman would probably be the first to respond,” declared the Federation general. “The 1st Corps is considered to be the finest army in the Federation, and Camp Destiny is close enough to arrive in Vinafor quickly.”
“He wouldn’t leave Camp Destiny unguarded, would he?” asked Wylan.
“That depends on timing,” answered Clint. “As long as he thinks the Doors are still working, no, but if he discovers that he is guarding nothing important, he would eagerly respond to an uprising. He certainly will not keep his army tied down in Camp Destiny if it is worthless there.”
“Which also makes him a threat to any action we take in the eastern countries,” stated Alex. “Tauman and the 1st Corps have to be neutralized. Can you accomplish that, Clint?”
Clint frowned heavily. “I am proud of what I have made the A Corps into, but they are not Alcean Rangers. 1st Corps outnumbers us five-to-one, and they are far better trained from what I have heard.”
“Can you do it?” pressed Alex.
“We will do it,” Clint promised, “but I don’t know how just yet.”
“Station the A Corps close to Camp Destiny,” instructed Alex. “I will let you know when all of the Doors have been neutralized.”
“You two can work out those details later,” interrupted King Arik. “We have a room full of people waiting on us. Let’s get that meeting over with so they can all return home and prepare for this war.”
The discussion ended and King Arik led the group out of his study and into the meeting room. General Gregor was addressing the group and King Arik nodded for him to continue as the smaller group filed into the room.
“The holding pens need to be dispersed,” instructed the general. “It is dangerous for them all to be located in the same place, and it is not wise to have them near the capital cities. The maximum number of prisoners in any one pen is to be one-thousand men, and that should be broken up into smaller segments if possible. Remember, the purpose of these pens is to keep the enemy from regrouping and causing havoc after they are captured, so keep the locations of pens secret. If any one pen is compromised, it will be easier to handle if they cannot help others to escape.”
“Transporting large numbers of prisoners will not be easy,” complained Governor Mobami of Sordoa, “especially if we are still engaged with other prongs of the attack.”
“Each prong should have its own cadre of citizen militia for this task,” offered Bin-lu. “That way we do not take valuable resources away from the army. The militia need not be made up of warriors. They only need to be proficient enough with bows to keep the prisoners under guard. The prisoners will already have been relieved of their weapons, so the greatest threat is escape. In Lanoir, we have already created these militia and the holding pens. I can share with you the problems we encountered if you are interested.”
“Mention the transportation problems, Bin-lu,” suggested Colonel Gregor. “If anyone needs to hear more, he can get with you after the meeting.”
The Knight of Alcea nodded. “Transportation will be a major problem because the pens should be located well away from the city. It is safest to move the prisoners in a contained fashion rather than have them march to the pens. In Lanoir we are using wagons and ships. This means that we need to have the wagons and ships available for use without their importance becoming noticed by any spies in the area. Governor Za-chan has accomplished this by requiring every cargo ship in Lanoir to be inspected before the first day of spring. The harbor of Ongchi is already crowded with ships, but the inspections have been delayed for some strange reason, so none of them have left yet.”
Many in the room laughed at the wily methods of the Lanoirian governor.
Bin-lu smiled and continued, “A side effect of this slow inspection process is that the streets of Ongchi are overcrowded with wagons. Most of the wagons arrived in the city with cargoes for the ships, but the ships are not ready to leave because they have not been inspected. So we have the wagons and ships ready for the transportation of prisoners without letting any spies know their true purpose.”
“Clever,” commented General Gregor. “I think that is enough about handling the prisoners. I will turn the meeting over to King Arik.”
“Thank you all for coming,” opened the king. “I have just received news that the Zarans have started to move their armies towards the portals. While we do not have an exact date for the start of the war, it is estimated that we have two weeks before the first Zaran troops arrive. That is a little bit sooner than we had planned on, but the timing is not under our control. General Fernandez, I think this affects Cordonia far greater than the others. You need to start moving the Cordonian army to Targa immediately.”