"Wizards and cannons?" Daemon repeated without stopping walking around the table in the center of which Gaia's eye was projecting Septimus' shape.

"Exactly. We knew that General Montgomery was not naive, but perhaps we still underestimated her."

"Is the estimate of enemy forces confirmed?" asked Richard

"Three legions plus some auxiliary and volunteer units. No mercenaries, but that doesn't surprise me. General Montgomery always considered them unreliable."

"How many losses did you suffer?" Adrian asked

"They have destroyed the most exposed fortifications, but they are advancing with difficulty. And the further they advance, the longer their supply lines become."

"How long do you think you can hold out?" Daemon finally asked

"If they maintain this pressing we can give them a hard time for at least three weeks, beyond which I don't feel like making any predictions."

"I understand. Keep it up. If there's any news let me know. And remember the promise you made."

"Of course. See you soon."

At that point, everyone's attention returned to the map.

"Okay, for now we have solved the problem in the west. But let's not fool ourselves, that was the easy part. Now we have to worry about the bulk of the enemy forces."

"If General Septimus was telling the truth, we're talking about seven legions headed our way." Athreia said worriedly

"According to the latest reports, Aria and her army are here, just south of the border, advancing towards Bedburg. Now, look carefully. I think it will go like this. Within a couple of days the news that the attack in the west has stalled in Jovtan will reach Aria, who will then try to open a new front. For this reason, once it reaches Bedburg, the eastern army will split in two. Aria will lead most of her forces eastward along the Via Altinia, towards Faria. A second, smaller army will head west along this road to attack Grote Muren. Jack's Army Corps arriving from Mablith will have to advance in this direction. Once the commander of the second army knows this, he will order to accelerate the pace, to intercept Jack on favorable terrain. Instead, we will be the ones to intercept him. Right here, on this plain."

"But this way we will find ourselves right in the middle, with an army on the right and one on the left." Natuli objected

"Central location." Adrian replied with a knowing smile. "You want to hit first one and then the other."

"Aria will need at least a day to turn around and come back towards us. This will give us ample time to defeat the secondary army, establish new defenses and wait for her on favorable terrain. She will come to us on her own, eventually."

"What do we do if she instead decides to continue towards Faria, taking advantage of the fact that the city will be defenseless?» Scalia asked

"If she did so, she would always have to watch her back during the siege; with the risk of finding herself between a rock and a hard place should he fail to take the city immediately. She will never take such a risk, not if she's sure to defeat us."

"I hate to play the part of a jinx, but I fear that this time it will be an almost impossible task." Oldrick observed darkly. "Even if we manage to reunite with Jack we only have four Corps at our disposal. Even counting the cavalry, if this plan were to fail and the two enemy armies reunited we would find ourselves faced with an army almost three times larger than ours."

"I know we're taking a huge risk, but on the other hand it is the only solution we have. I admit that I never expected Saedonia to get this far. Ademar wants to sweep us away. But we will show him that strength is useless if there is no ideal to support it."



It was incredible how easily Daemon managed to undermine everything that the art of war had taught kings and generals of all Erthea up to that point.

In every single military academy, teachers used to repeat that it was impossible for a commander to master attack and defense to the same level, no matter how skilled he might be.

Instead Daemon had demonstrated with facts that it wasn't true; first he had conquered not one, but two entire nations in less than a year, so despite the short notice he had successfully organized an effective defensive barrier that kept half of his dominions safe with a minimum effort of men and supplies.

Clearly, there was no room for indecision against such an adversary, and in fact, the first thing Aria had done upon taking command was completely overturning the chain of command. No more generals in command of the legions, replaced by the old position of Legate, and the appointment of a war council with herself in the role of Consul and the Generals Orestes and Basilius as deputies, each in command of their own army.

As already happened in the clash with the Barons, Aria had also taken steps to set up a system of relays and messengers to maintain contact between the armies, always reiterating the order that except in exceptional cases the approval of every decision regarding maneuvers and movements passed from her.

Once beyond the borders of Eirinn Aria had led her army southeast along the Via Altinia to Bedburg, and then she ordered Basil to proceed west towards Grote Muren. This theoretically had the double purpose of opening a third front and at the same time bringing assistance to Orestes by threatening the Free State from two directions, and it would have isolated Daemon and the bulk of the army from the rest of his domains.

There were so many things to do that Aria could barely find any time to sleep, knowing that lack of sleep was the worst enemy of a leader and its brain.

Most of the time she slept on horseback during the march, while Eilon faithfully watched over her and rode alongside her.

After a few days the main army had come within fifty miles of Faria, and Aria was surprised that Daemon had not yet done anything to try to stop her.

Nonetheless, the news that a messenger brought to her camp that evening left her and all of her advisors speechless.

"The enemy army intercepted Basil eighty miles from here, in the plains."

"Why did they move away so much? Basilio had orders to proceed at a marching pace."

"We had learned that enemy forces based in Mablith were advancing against us. The General hoped to intercept them before they reached the hills."

Aria and the others didn't know what to find more disconcerting, the fact that a veteran like Basil had been outwitted or that Daemon had managed to slip more than half his army between them completely undetected.

And unfortunately the second messenger who arrived shortly after with the report of the battle had even worse news.

"The secondary army has been defeated. We lost more than fifteen thousand men."

"For Gaia. Consul, that's more than half the army."

"What happened to Basil?"

"He is injured, but he survived. Now he is marching eastward to reach the mountains safely."

"We have no choice. We need to turn around and go there."

"Consul, if I may. If the enemy has really moved almost all the forces at its disposal, it means that Faria is defenseless now. We could take advantage of it."

"We don't know how many troops remain in the city. The risk is to find ourselves trapped, with the walls of Faria in front of us, and Daemon's army on the back. If it's an open field challenge he wants, he'll get it."

"In that case, where do you plan to deal with him?"

Aria consulted the maps.

"If we try to cut off his path to Faria, we risk ending up in the middle. Going back the way we came, and assuming he decides to come towards us, we can intercept him here. Just west of Bedburg. Messenger!"

"Consul?"

"Inform General Basil. If he is still able to fight, I need his troops to converge on Bedburg."

"It will be done."

"If I know the General, he will get there at the cost of bursting the lungs of his men. Inform the legates. We'll break camp before dawn."

"Yes, Consul!"



Once, while eavesdropping on the speeches of some soldiers, I had heard them say that their Emperor won battles using not the arms, but the legs of his army.

As far as I was concerned, I had always been sure that knowing how to maneuver an army was as important as using it in battle, and in this way in my old life I had won a large number of battles without even having to fight them.

A night's march had been enough to pass under Aria's nose, reach the pre-established place and attack her secondary army when no one expected it; and the outcome of the battle had been even more satisfactory than I would have expected.

I had heard of Basil. He was a veteran, but also a hothead, who if he saw an opportunity he would jump into it without even considering the idea of falling into a trap.

This is why I was sure of the success of my plan.

Now he was on the run, stripped of half his men and striding toward ruin; I just had to give him the final blow, and above all make sure that he didn't emerge again at the worst moment.

"Did you want to see us, Commander?"

Atheria, for heaven's sake. I've told you a thousand times, there's no need to be so formal.

"You and Natuli, take the cavalry and go west. I want you to follow Basil, preventing him from reorganizing or reuniting in any way with the main army."

"Are you sure it's a prudent choice to deprive yourself of chivalry like this?" Natuli asked

"I can handle it. Jack will be here by this evening, and then we will move to meet Aria."

"I thought you wanted to wait here for her."

"Circumstances have changed. Our first victory was more decisive than expected. If we manage to defeat even the bulk of the enemy army, we could put an end to this war even sooner than expected. On the other hand, if Basil reorganizes he could still become dangerous. Go."

"Yes sir. As you wish."

Soon after Athreia and Natuli left, Scalia arrived and placed a long, narrow wooden box in front of me.

"What's this?"

"Happy birthday, little brother. I, Lori, Septimus and everyone else had prepared this for you some time ago, before... well, before this new war broke out. I promised him I would give it to you today."

Damn, it was true!

With everything going on I had completely forgotten what day it was.

To be honest, now that Scalia was reminding me, I would have liked to spend that day in a very different way, also because my birthday now coincided with the start date of the Revolution.

"Incredible, it's already been a year." I said sincerely, almost not believing all the things that had happened.

I was used to achieving great results in a short time, but I was the first to be stunned by what I had accomplished. In twelve months, I had led a revolution, built a state, repelled an invasion, conquered and raised another nation, and now I was once again in the midst of a new conflict.

"So? Do you open it or not?"

Even though she had worked with wood all her life, Scalia was a terrible artisan, and other than a spinning top, none of the handmade toys she had given me for past birthdays had lasted more than a few days.

I was expecting yet another oddity for which I would have to perform the most fake of thanks, but instead I admit that what I found upon opening the box left me genuinely amazed.

"It looks like my sword..."

"Old Zypax had kept the molds and blueprints you left him. But he said he improved it. Now it is lighter, more manageable, but also stronger."

"... Thank you, Scalia. Later I will thank the others too. And I promise you that as soon as possible we will celebrate the anniversary of our Revolution as it deserves. Now please call the Generals. I have some important information to share. And order the men to start breaking up the camp."

"At your orders."



When spring took the place of winter it was quite common for the eastern wind to bring sudden storms in northern Eirinn.

The two armies had to march in pouring rain that penetrated the body, soaking even the bones, converging on the plains just west of Bedburg a few hours apart.

By managing to arrive first, Daemon had occupied the most favorable position, on top of a slight slope and with the road to Faria behind him.

But taking a look at the sky, the good news ended there.

"It will continue to rain all night." Richard said during the last tactical meeting. "At this rate the ground will be a swamp tomorrow morning."

"Which means no artillery." Adrian said

"It won't be the first time that the terrain is hostile to us." Daemon replied. "We will position the guns in the front line, on the left of the deployment. They will provide cover for the advancing infantry. We know that Aria also has cannons, but in the mud and sloping terrain, they will be more useless than ours. She will deploy her legions in a single line, from southeast to north-west, to maintain control over the village and attempt to box us in. To prevent this from happening, once the advance is covered, the artillery will target the enemy flanks, while our army presses on the center. If we manage to create an opening the flanks will be exposed and vulnerable to an attack from behind."

At the same time, a tactical meeting was also taking place in Aria's tent.

"What news about General Basil?"

"He is moving through the region, always pursued by the rebel cavalry. So far he has managed to avoid the clash."

"Is he doing as I suggested?"

"According to what the messenger said, yes. But with the rain and mud it's not sure he can get here in time."

"The important thing is that he sticks to the plan. Daemon will try in every way to maintain control of the road, to keep the path to Faria open. If we can prevent him from leaving the position in which he has barricaded himself, we could achieve a decisive victory."

"This won't be a problem. Only a madman would get down from up there. It's the best position possible."

"But if he gets wind of what we're planning, our entire operation will fail. It is essential that his attention is diverted as much as possible towards the battle. For this reason, it will be necessary to provoke him with continuous changes of position and strategy. We'll give him so much trouble that he'll never take his eyes off his spyglass."

"What do you have in mind, Consul?"

"Daemon has a sharp mind, and never uses the same tactic twice. In Mistvale, he tricked my brother by creating a fake weak point and taking advantage of the fog; in Alois, he created a diversion by attacking the weakest point first and then the strongest. Since this time he cannot count on either cavalry or artillery he will probably try to split our line in two by attacking in the center. That's where we will concentrate the defense. If we prevent him from succeeding, we might even win the battle before General Basil arrives."

When the meeting was over Eilon came to bring her mistress dinner, but Aria knew her attendant well enough to understand that something was bothering him.

"Is something wrong, Eilon?"

"Today I spoke to some villagers. It seems that there is a garuda among the rebels. They couldn't tell me his name, but from the description they gave me I think I know who he is. Zypax."

"Do you know him?"

"... He's my father."

Aria flinched.

"Haven't you seen each other in a long time?"

"Last time has been while I was still a child. We were both slaves to an old blacksmith. When our master died, they locked us up in different ghettos. I didn't even know he was still alive."

"... If he were to be captured I will try to ensure that he is spared. Unfortunately I can't promise you more."

"Thank you, My Lady."



The next day the rain continued to lash the region, and the two armies took even longer than usual to take up positions on the battlefield.

With the sole exception of the Twentieth Legion, all of the soldiers under Aria's command were veterans of the Barons' Revolt, the same ones she had led to victory at Hoselveck. The formation was very similar to that of the previous time, a long, thin line of heavy infantry with the most experienced soldiers lined up in the center and supported behind them by a good reserve of auxiliaries. The cavalry was on the right, in front of the rebel guns, ready to charge them as soon as they became a threat.

The Grand Army too was arranged in its standard formation, with the First Corps in the center, the Fourth on the right, the Fifth on the left, and the Third behind acting as a reserve.

Given the pouring rain and the unfavorable slope, the imperial army had finally decided not to deploy its new cannons, opting instead for the standard siege weapons, ballistae, catapults and scorpions.

Aria was riding her horse in the center of the formation, while Daemon had taken his place under a canopy, in front of a table and surrounded by his generals and collaborators, as well as the Great Guard.

"It begins."