The larger the group traveling, the longer the travel time.
Moreover, when Kael saw the Second Princess's squad, they were still a day away from reaching the town.
If they rested in the town for two days, they should travel around seventeen to nineteen days from there to here.
In short, subtracting the nine days it took Kael to get back to the capital and the distance to the town on the day he saw them... he had nine to eleven days to prepare.
Thinking the worst, Kael made a plan that they would arrive here in nine days.
So...
First, he took a carriage with him. Then he filled it with lots, and literally lots, of plants.
Each one had a different effect.
But they had one thing in common... they were all poison.
All of them.
Some were lethal, some hallucinogenic, some messed with the digestive system, some made it impossible to sleep.
He knew what they were all for. And he was going to use that.