Chapter 97: The Eastern Question

"In the end it still happened." Aled said with a sigh as he looked back at the ongoing battle. He was not sure if Duke Oakley had survived but at this point it did not really matter. His forces were decimated and no matter who came out on top between Casburland and Duke Ryder, it was not a good thing for him.

"Your majesty, we should make haste. If we can meet up with our allies, we can reform and attack again." Aled turned and looked to the baron who had spoken, behind him were several other barons who showed signs of agreement.

"That just will not work, unless we can meet up with Duke Burn and make a combined attack we will not stand a chance. And if you did not notice, he is several miles west with a battlefield in between us." Aled's words left the barons slightly despondent. They knew that what he said was true but did not want to go down without a fight, they had stayed loyal to the king all this time. They did not want to just let their enemies fight over which one of them would take Fiveria.

"What about if we rally the rest of our men?" Another asked. The barons did not have much individually but there were quite a number of them, and most of them had left the majority of their armies back in their fiefs. That was what had been agreed upon after all.

"And which of you holds land in the east of Fiveria?" Aled almost sighed again when he was asked that. They had been on the left flank of the army and had been forced to retreat to the east. It was one thing to go to the west, but to go to the west and gather all of their men? That would take days at least and a couple of weeks at most. Either one was more than enough time for Duke Ryder to march back down south and defeat them all.

Duke Burn was in a similar situation but he was at an advantage, while Duke Ryder's land was in the south and southwest, his was in the south east. And there was a massive river to guard his land, guarded by his private navy. Even if Duke Ryder had a larger navy, it would take him much longer to defeat it and march on Duke Burn's land. He would have enough time to gather his men in relative peace. And if Duke Ryder was smart, he would know this and leave Duke Burn for last. And that meant one thing, their land would be first.

"What about the independent nobles?" One of the barons finally asked a worthwhile question. The attitude that the eastern nobility took would be critical if Duke Ryder won. If Casburland won, there was no point speculating. They would take up arms. The problem was that the eastern nobles had largely stayed out of the factional battle to see who would come out on top. And if it was Duke Ryder's army who came south from the battle, they might well side with the obvious winner.

"They wouldn't side with a traitor right?" The same noble asked when he did not get a response from the King, who was still thinking about the possibilities. That was the key. If Duke Ryder had just started the civil war in earnest and beaten Duke Oakley there was no question that they would side with him. But he had betrayed the kingdom whilst everyone else was unified in fighting Casburland, Fiveria's great rival.

It was well known that there were many among the eastern nobles who hated Casburland with a passion. Over the generations, the eastern nobles tended to be the ones to suffer the most from the wars with Casburland. They almost always contributed the most men, with few exceptions. And when Casburland won a battle, they were often the ones who would be looted due to there not being any powerful nobles in the region. And now the kingdom had been plunged into civil war at such a moment?

It was likely that they would not take fondly to the man who had done just that. Though assuming the support of the eastern nobles was a dangerous thing to do. Even before his father had let the kingdom fall into the state that it was, the eastern nobles had been the most autonomous nobles in the kingdom. A lack of any major cities, strong nobles or significant amounts of crown land had meant that they were much harder to bring into line, by the King or any noble seeking their support. How to get the support of the eastern nobles was such a pressing issue for FIverian Kings that it had long since been called the eastern question.

"I am not sure how they will react but it would be best that we do not assume we have their support if we want to survive." Aled decided that being conservative was better than being liberal in his assumptions. If just one of his assumptions turned out to be wrong it was likely that he would find that his head would be disconnected from his body. And he had grown a fondness for his head.

"Your majesty! A significant contingent of men is approaching us from the south east." As the King was discussing the future with the barons, a knight came to report.

"From the south east? Are they independent nobles?" He could not think who else would be coming from that direction, after all everyone else who had taken part in the battle was west of them. While there had been some independent nobles that had taken part in the battle, this was one of the rare cases where most had refused to take part in a war with Casburland. He presumed that it was in protest to the bold statements that Duke Oakely had made at court. After all they were essentially being told that their efforts in the past had not been good enough and that the Duke could do it better.

"Possibly but it looks like they are trying to hide who they are, they are not carrying any banners." The knight replied, though it was obvious that he did not think it was the independent nobles. And if they were hiding their banners then Aled agreed. The eastern nobles may be comparatively weaker than the factional nobles but they were every bit as prideful. There was no way that they would hide their identity.

"Men stand your ground! Let's see what they want." Aled knew that this was risky. If they were Duke Ryder's men, then it was likely that they were just going to stall for time until the battle at the border was over. But since they were coming from the south east, there was a likelihood they were friendly. The the eastern most of the border castles that his allies had been assigned to was nearby. 'I hope that this is Cinar, may Elanitia help us if they are not.'