Firstborn: Return of the heir

“Sir, the troops will be ready in half an hour.”

The concentration point of Saulus’ forces was established in a small forest roughly an hour away from the city. With how important it was to keep the numbers of the rebellion hidden from the eyes of the enemy, this place was the best that the young general could find.

“Good. Make sure the fortifications are ready.”

Nodding to the messenger that came to report, Saulus waved his hand at him, giving the young soldier the signal to leave.

“Are you really that sure about this plan? If something goes wrong…”

While Gabriel was used to Saulus’ antics, it didn’t mean he could stomach everything he had proposed. Even if no one denied Saulus his military genius, this old soldier clearly had some trouble with accepting the plan.

“Trust me, I know that guy. If you think that calling him an impulsive coward isn’t enough, then how about learning that he was sacked from the seat of governance over the entire province? And guess for what… For allegedly sabotaging the war effort.”

Saulus shook his head with pity. Taking a sip from his water sack, he looked outside of the open frame of the tent. Contrary to how disorganized everything seemed to be in the cities and in overall safe areas, nothing of this kind was likely to happen right at the enemy’s doorstep.

“What did he do?”

The way in which the general left his officer hanging without telling the rest of the story was pretty annoying, but Gabriel knew better than to whine about it. Because what others might find surprising, was that this kind of moment was when most of the inspiration for the bright and daring ideas appeared in Saulus’ head.

“He was cowardly and refused to press the attack with his troops as a front guard. The resulting argument almost turned into a civil war back then… But some forces made sure that it didn’t happen. After all, I didn’t wish for any major bloodshed to start while we were still preparing for the uprising.”

Shaking his head with his mind still drifting amongst his memories, Saulus cast a long glance at the rows of hardened and sharpened sticks that were distributed among the ranks of the soldiers. This task was so crucial for his plans that nearly a third of the entire camp was dedicated to producing and distributing them.

Outside of the area where the soldiers patiently sat on the ground while resting against their backpacks, the lone part deprived of trees was filled with horses. Given how there was only one company of heavy cavalry and up to two companies of light horsemen, if one were to count all the scouts and messengers, he would get a number far smaller from the herd hidden in the forest’s clearing.

Because some of them wouldn’t be used to charge at the enemy ranks, but for something far more important.

“I know I’m changing topics, but I hope you won’t mind me asking. Are you openly at odds with Rena?”

Referring to the general and governor of Mengia, Gabriel’s eyes wandered off towards the city.

“Kinda. I always openly admired how his losses managed to be on the low end of the scale. Yet, when he fell out of the patriarch’s grace I had no other choice but to distance myself from him. Those damned court shenanigans… I really want to forget I had to dabble in that mess.”

Shaking his head to throw those boring memories out of his mind, Saulus looked towards the camp. With most of the makeshift pikes now gone, it was only a matter of time before someone would come to report the soldiers’ readiness.

“I think we will have to stop here. I might be the one to start the battle, but you will still have to run for a while to get there.”

Standing up from his chair only to approach a small stool as he spoke, Saulus grabbed an apple before throwing it playfully at his old friend.

“Sir. I will ask once again and I promise it will be the last time. Are you really sure that this plan will work?”

Catching the fruit mid-air, the old veteran put it aside. After all, anyone who survived their first battle and got lucky enough to see grey hair growing on their head knew that eating before battle was unwise.

“I told you, I know the man like the back of my hand. As big of a coward as Rena is, he isn’t a bad general. That’s why we are giving him the bait; to tickle his impulsiveness. I believe our people at his court did a good job of making him overestimate our forces. He won’t have any choice, all the while thinking that he came up with the one way to counteract our plan.”

Saulus responded before pulling out his own sword and saluting with his right fist to his chest, holding the weapon downwards. No more words were needed. This ancient salute was the greatest blessing that Saulus could offer to his officer.

“May the firstborns be with us.”

Nodding his head in response, Gabriel moved outside of the tent, approaching the very first group of soldiers sitting on their backpacks.

“Men, we are moving out!”

Hearing his subordinate casting successive orders, Saulus smiled before directing his steps to the other part of the camp. The chaotic mess of horses was already nicely organized in rows, with the battle-mounts at the front, followed by the quick horses of scouts and then by the carriers at the very back.

“Sir!”

Before Saulus could look around to locate his horse, one of his lower subordinates was already passing the reins to his hand. Taking the leather strip in his fingers, Saulus ignored the commotion caused by a total of eight companies of heavy legionaries, and instead focused on caressing the muzzle of his trusty mount instead.

“Men…!”

Only once the thunderous sound of thousands of feet devastating the top layer of the small forest’s vegetation passed away into the distance, did the young general turn to the soldiers beside him.

“Today, we ride.”