Chapter 15: Civil war (4)

Hearing no more scream, I call back the wolves. My hot temper starts to decrease, breathe deeply, my mind becomes clearer, seeing the dead body of Stannis Pyrell, I sign. I give the order to my knights:

- Collect the bodies of the enemies, and wrapped them with a cloth or something similar. After we get inside the city, we'll give their families them and held a funeral for these men as warriors. About this guy, wrap his body with silk and prepare a funeral for nobles.

- But you said you want to decorate the gate of Kursk with his head, Milord. If we do that we can show them our strength.

- I've changed my mind, we have wiped out nearly their whole army. That's enough to show our strength. When the Royal army arrives, I don't want to face a peasants uprising.

- Your orders will be executed, Milord.

Get away from the battlefield, I go to the meeting area, my officers and generals are already there. I see both respect and scare in their eyes. That's good, respect will make them work harder and scare keep their loyalty. Sit in the distinguished seat, take a refreshment, I speak:

- I want a report about this battle, our and their casualties, how many captives. Moreover, if you have news about the movement of armies in this kingdom, speak.

As usual, Sir Manual stands up and begins to report, although he is in his 40s, he is still a capable man.

- Your honor, we lost no men in the battle last night, the enemies who manage to get out of the camp are killed or surrender after facing our spearmen. 897 Pyrellian soldiers have been captured. Sir Charles has taken the army and sent a messenger to inform us two hours ago, Milord.

- Take all of the captives' weapons and armors and then release them, we need support from the people of Kursk if we want to stay in this city to face the Royal army. How about house Pyrell?

- They are our prisoners now, Milord. Except for Mandred and Duke Pyrell, all house members of the house Pyrell have been captured.

Laugh comfortably, that's out of my expectation, I think they've run already, but luckily, they didn't expect to be sneak attacked right after Stannis left the city. They'll be valuable hostages, even son of Mandred is in our hand, so it'll be useful in further negotiation. Mandred the Bone Crusher, that's what people call him. Similar to me, he has a blessing. He can multiply his power by ten times, so no doubt he is a medieval tank and if we fight him with our current army, we'll suffer heavy casualties.

- Have house Rosewood move their army? And have house Crayton answered our message.

- Lord Rosewood has lead 6000 men to attack the territory of house Aetherwolf, Milord. But house Crayton decides to side with the Royal Family and 4000 Craytish men are marching toward house Aetherwolf's territory.

- That's very bad, send a letter to Lord Rosewood tell him about the Craytish men. Even the main army of house Aetherwolf is with the Royal army, they'll still have 3000-5000 men as garrisons. Moreover, order Kruger and Impetus to force March here, we'll need any soldiers we can to face the Royal army.

- Yes, Milord.

- That's all for now, we'll ride to Kursk now.

********

Charles greets me at the gate of Kursk, he bows his head:

- Your honor, the city is yours.

- Good job Charles, you've never made me disappointed .

Side by side with Charles, I ride toward the castle, which yesterday was still the accommodation of house Pyrell. The main road is maintained in order by my samurais, who wear demon masks similar to the Demon Reapers. All of them are masters in swords and trained harshly, too, so in terms of fighting on the ground, I believe they somewhat are superior to the Deamon Reapers. These samurais and Demon Reapers are my strongest fighting force for the current time. But I only have 500 Demon Reapers and 1000 samurais for now, since it takes time to train them, and making their equipment is somewhat complex.

The castle of Kursk is beautiful, as far as I can see. The castle is how house Pyrell shows their riches, but their castle is in my hand, so their property is mine now. Get inside the office, I start to work with the paper, which is necessary if I want to govern this land.

Meath has a population of about 70000 people, which has dropped off recently since Duke Pyrell is very greedy and raises taxes every time he can. So without Stannis, who acted as the steward of this land, house Pyrell would have faced with rebellion for sure.

Nonetheless, Meath has silver mines, which bring huge profits to the region. That's good, money is what I need to increase the size of my army. To the south of Meath is the land of the Royal Family, to the east is Oceanhall, which is by the sea and ruled the house Rosewood. Of course to the north is Iceland, my home region. However, similar to Iceland, to the west of Meath is the Heathen Kingdom. My sources of information say that Khal Kjartan is wounded, so I won't have to worry about any trespassing from them at the moment.

I send one of my bodyguards to find Charles and order him to bring the Pyrell family to me. I don't have enough men to march to the capital at the moment, Impatient can bring destruction to me and my men, like the ambush in the forest yesterday. The door is opened and about 7 people, all are women and children. They are terrified after seeing my wolves groaning and roaming around the room, the children cry and get close to their mothers. Haizz, killing them is not an option, I can't feel good about killing women and children. So exchange them for peace with the Royal Family might be an option.

Charles gets to my side and introduces them:

- Your honor, two blonde women are wives of Mandred Pyrell, while the black one is Stannis'. Three boys are sons of Mandred too. About the girl, she is Stannis' daughter, Milord.

The oldest one is no more than 7 years old. I straighten up in my chair and think about how I can use them to obtain several years to increase my influence in Meath. The children here are the heir to house Pyrell. But it's not enough to convince the Royal family to withdraw. I'll need a decisive win to show them my strength. I ask the first wife of Mandred Pyrell to come closer, she hesitantly comes to my table. I take out a pen and a little ink with a piece of paper and hand them to her:

- Write a letter to your husband about your current condition, you had better think of your sons while writing it.

She starts to write the letter. I observe Stannis's wife and daughter, although the daughter seems a little terrified but her mother doesn't, she gives me a hostile gaze. She is a brave woman, huhh.

After the wife of Mandred finishes the letter, I order my men to accompany them back to the house arrest and double the guards there. They are too important to be neglected.

I start to write other letters, one is for my uncle, Lord Rosewood and one for Kruger. I intend to send 500 Demon Riders to unite with Kruger's men and together, they'll go to Oceanhall to help Lord Rosewood with the Aetherwolf and Crayton. Cavalries won't help much in a siege battle.

After finishing the letters, I pick my bow and ask several guards and my wolves to accompany me to the training ground. I need to lighten my muscle a little bit. Many days riding makes my body feel uncomfortable.