86 Time is of the essence

Aden's study,

Greenfields.

…

Aden sat at his table, his eyes stared down at his finger which drummed impatiently against his table's lacquered surface, his expression solemn.

By the windowsill, Levi stood with a very contemplative expression on his face. His face was scrunched up in a rare expression of confusion.

Princess Iris sat in front of Aden with Lancelot standing by her side, both of them displayed a certain degree of worry.

The door opened and Sir Carter walked in. With a bow, he asked.

"You sought my presence, My lord." The Lieutenant asked with a baffled look on his face.

Aden looked up at Sir Carter who just walked in and gave a slight nod.

"I did. Redwater was attacked and captured last night."

"Attacked?" Lieutenant Carter was appalled. "By whom, My lord?"

Aden's sighed before speaking.

"Bandits."

"Bandits?"

"Yes."

The Lieutenant's expression was one of bafflement.

"And they managed to defeat the soldiers stationed there my Lord?"

"Yes."

"But that's impossible!" Sir Carter said. "If I remember clearly, it was Staff sergeant Juvile deployed there most recently. I personally evaluated the three squads under his command and can say they were among the most disciplined of our men, with their weapons and sir Juvile's command, unless they were besieged by significantly more men it should have been impossible to defeat them."

Aden sighed again.

"They were. In this letter personally written by Sir Juvile, he mentioned they were ambushed around midnight by at the very least a several dozen bandits." The Duke said as he waved a bloodstained slip of paper that was crammed full of information.

"At the time of the writing, they had already lost three men and two more, Sir Juvile included had been injured. Thankfully, they managed to retreat into the administrative building and are attempting to hold the fort till we arrive with aid."

"The bandits, is there any other information on them?" Sir Lancelot asked as he rubbed his temple with his fingers.

"No. Other than the fact that they are suspected to be bandits, we have no other leads as to what their identity is." Aden said as he passed the slip for Lancelot to read.

"We can't even be sure exactly how many people at in this said group."

Aden glanced at Levi who was still contemplating in the corner and spoke.

"We are deploying soldiers to investigate this issue immediately. We can't leave Redwater in the enemy's hands for too long, especially not after everything that has been invested into that place."

Aden turned back to the three standing in front of him.

"The stronghold is this town's life vein. Leaving it in the enemy's hands would deprive us of access to our trade routes with Quilton and potentially expose us to the eyes of the rest of the world. Hopefully, this is not the result of some noble's scheming and the town was simply captured by some over-ambitious bandits."

"I am going along." Levi finally spoke turning to Aden.

"No, you are staying here."

"But-"

"No. I am not sure, but if this is an elaborate scheme to get us to move our soldiers out of the Greenfields I need someone reliable enough to defend this place in my steed. No arguments this time Levi, I have made up my mind."

Levi hesitated before relenting with a sigh.

"Fine, but only if we can maintain a stable communication. I want to be updated on everything as soon as possible, no compromise."

Aden didn't hesitate as nodded.

"No, problem."

Aden turned back to Lieutenant Carter and spoke.

"Lieutenant,"

"Yes, sir?"

"Assemble a platoon of eighty men, ten horsemen and two two-pound artillery to deploy tomorrow afternoon. All necessary logistics and supplies should be prepared before today's sunsets."

"But my lord, isn't this too rushed?" Sir Carter asked worriedly.

"It is, but we don't have a choice. The only source of intelligence we have in the stronghold is facing a severe scarcity of supplies and the longer we wait the more the enemy entrenches itself. If we don't go now things might end up getting blown out of our control."

Aden turned back to Levi.

"You probably know what you should do. I am granting you full authority over Greenfields, do as you see fit and if anything is challenging you to remember to seek Lancelot's or Iris's aid. While it may not seem like it, the princess is well versed in managing affairs such as this."

The Duke stood up and straightened his coat.

He walked to the shelf in the corner of his study.

There he pulled out a long sheathed blade, his greatsword, alongside 'The messenger' given to him by Levi.

His eyes flashed eerily.

'I didn't think I would have to use this so soon.'

The duke turned to face the individuals in the room, his eyes held a steely gaze.

"Time is of the essence."

"You may leave."