Diversion Tactics III.

When the cities in the coast of the Gestares fell victim of Alexander surprise attack, the Sorhian army was forced to retreat to avoid fighting in unfavorable conditions due to the lack of supplies. It was only thanks to the experience of Gerios that he could stop the advance of the enemy from reaching deeper into the Dynasty's soil, stoping them right at the border of Gestares with Dornam, and using the tylus river to keep them away.

The conflict so far has stagnated, with few skirmishes a day, in an attempt of the karg Kingdom to sound the defense line in search for a weakness. Of course, the guys at the top in the city of Sepharit, capital of the Sorh Dynasty weren't very happy with the current state of the war. Some of them even began to question Gerios actions, trying to pin the blame of the incident to his name, attempting to turn him into a scapegoat so they can wash their hands off the matter.

Under extreme pressure from both the nobility and ministers alike, the current monarch, king Torim the "farsighted" sent an urgent message to admiral Gerios, ordering him not to engage in battle with the Karg Kingdom by requesting a cease of fire until his envoy reached the frontlines. The objective of the crown was clear, they were going to compromise and start negotiations, basically the war has been deemed as a lost cause and they were trying no minimize the losses.

When he recibed the message from his majesty in the comunication sigil, he dared not to refuse, but his pride was deeply hurt.

(If only i had more troops, a could easily make a comeback) was what Gerios thought.

But he also knew that it was nothing but wishful thinking to be asking for more men, the Dynasty's had his hands tied, and the men under his command were the only ones available. The war with the Karg Kingdom was but a minor conflict in the eyes of the Dynasty, with 5 different wars for territory in the south and more than 10 nations involved, the resources of both the army and the country itself had been spread thinly.

In the main camp right now, the total number of troops amounted to 80k directly under gerios command, with 15k more divided among the different post through the northern border with the Karg Kingdom. But even Gerios knew that these numbers weren't nearly enough to launch a counteroffensive, while the national strenght of the Sorh Dynasty eclipsed that of the karg Kingdom, Gerios was fighting the whole force of an enemy nation with only a fraction of his.

Gerios knew that at most he had around a week tops, before the royal envoy reach the main camp he has to do something, otherwise, no matter the outcome of the negotiations, the Dynasty would have lost, and neither he nor the soldiers fighting would be willing to accept such outcome.

In his study, looking at the the map of the northern border, Gerios was analyzing it in search of possible measures he could employ to turn around the situation, or at least diminish the advantage of the karg Kingdom.

"With the gestares region now in the hands of the enemy, our access to the Antana continent and the trading rutes in the north had been cut off" said Gerios outloud, across his desk at the other side of the room, the four commanders under him were also present.

"The higher ups in the capital had spoken, the gave us an ultimatum, the army will remain in position until the royal envoy sent by his majesty reaches here. Once the negotiations start, the war will be over. That's why, in the little time we have left, i plan to strike at the weakness of the enemy, so we can use it as leverage when the representatives of each side sit to discuss"

"That'll prove to be difficult, sir. The main army of the Karg Kingdom has occupied the Gestares region indeed, but both the regions of Kandria and Lornne are also heavily protected. With our already small numbers, by sending a portion of our troops to attack their rear we'll be under the risk of fighting them in unfavorable circumstances" a half-elf[1] of young appearance in military uniform responded, he was Sorem Littos commander of the magic troops.

"Lord Sorem is right! We don't possess the forces to fight the Karg Kingdom, and our orders were to wait for the envoy" another one of the commaders spoke, agreeing with Sorem. This one had an even more striking appearance, sporting ashen gray skin and pointy ears with piercing red eyes, his hair was completely white also, obviously he's also a a half-elf, but his appearance was that of a middle aged man.

Gerios didn't try to stop them from voicing out their opinion in this matter, he just waited until they finished and said:

"I understand your concerns" his eyes never leaving the map, always looking for something he overlooked, scrutinizing even the most minimal detail.

"But, although we're currently at a disadvantage, that is no motive for us to surrender" said gerios with confidence.

"In all my years under the service of the crown, I've encountered simmilar circumstances in many occasions. From these experiences I've learnt that there's no such thing as one true answer" as he spoke, his hand continued to move across the map from right to left, only to suddenly stop.

With a victorious smirk in his face he said:

"There it is!"

" Ummn, sir, this is?" Asked Sorem, not quite catching what Gerios said.

"Our answer, right here! In Dragon pass" said Gerios, tapping repeatedly at one location in the map, beyond the north-west border.

"....!"

"But... Sir, Dragon Pass is crossing the territory of the Astoria kingdom. It'll be impossible to mobilize our army to reach there without being spoted and alerting both nations, moreover Astoria is a neutral nation which the Dynasty has good relations with. Although they don't have the strenght to oppose us, it wouldn't leave a good impression in the surrounding kingdoms. It'll be unwise to provoque them" Said Commander Sorem in a hurry.

"We don't need to mobilize a big number of troops, we could send a small company of elite soldiers and some combat mages to attack Dragon Pass, given their numbers and with some special equipment, itll be easier to travel through Astoria without being discovered" replied Gerios, dismissing Sorem's comment.

"The high mobility and great strenght of our elites are definitely out of tye question, moreover by sending some of our mages with them we will be adding to the probabilities of success" convinced that he just found the answer to their dilemma, Gerios strated design a plan according.

"We'll be launching an assault in the rear of the enemy while most of their forces are in the battlefield" lifting his gaze from the map, he looked at his commanders and asked:

"You have to understand that the situación we are facing is a serious one, you are aware of that, right?"

As Gerios ended his question, some seconds of silence that seemed to be longer than a thousand years passed.

"...."

"...."

None of the four commanders said anything, and the tension in the room was almost visible tonthe naked eye, exterting a great pressure over their minds as they waited for Gerios to continue.

"I'll take your silence as a yes" seeing that none of his subordinates dared to answed, Gerios simply lowered his gaze once again before saying:

"Cyllos, right now you're on the western front, I'll have you keep an eye on the movements of the kargian troops in the Kandrian region, contact me inmediatly if you notice anything suspicious"

"Shouldn't i be assembling the strike force for the mission?" The man named Cyllos responded. He was a human man in his early 30s.

"No, any sudden move of your is gonna attract the enemies attention. Moreover the amount of troops under you is barely enough to hold the north-west border. Leave the gathering of the troops to me" answered Gerios.

"Understood!" Said Cyllos in a serious tone.

"The same goes for you Noitus, you're in charge of the northern border" said Gerios. The man named Noitus was simmilar in appearance to Sorem, clearly a half-elf also.

"Yes, sir!" Noitus said bowing slightly, he looked like a teenager with blond hair, pale white skin and green eyes.

"For the assault force, we'll be taking in units from the main camp, Saulos will be in charge of scouting for the elites. As this will be a covert operation, we need soldiers who have proved to be absolutely loyal to the crown and can keep a secret" said gerios while looking at the man who agreed with Sorem's comment earlier. "Death bringer" Saulos, a talented dark-elf who greatly excels at hand to hand combat.

"While Saulos is doing that, Sorem will be in charge of recluting the mages. As the amount of people we'll be sending over is gonna be around the 300-400, we won't be needing unranked combat mages, but instead only those mid ranked and above, they ability to use healing magic will definitely prove to be useful. Also make sure to at least get a couple of master level mages, as they are needed to guarantee the success of this operation"

"You bott have a maximum of 3 days to gather all the troops and fill them in with the specifics of the mission, did i make myself clear?" Said Gerios to both Saulos and Sorem.

"YES, SIR!(x2)"

"Now, before we end today's meeting, let me say this first" once again lifting his gaze, and by putting both hands over his desk, Gerios proped himsel from his seat before saying:

"Wheter the mission is successful or not, we'll be in disobeyance of our superiors, so I'll be the one to take all responsability. Later I'll contact with lord Horan for permission. You're dismissed" Gerios face was resolute as the comunicated his decision to the other 4 in the room.

All 4 commanders, without saying anything bowed in Gerios direction, and while Saulos and Sorem made their way out, Cyllos and Noitus silhouettes vanished in light particles that gathered in a strange box like artifact in the ceiling.

*Sigh*

Once alone, Gerios leaved out a sigh and plopped in his seat. His current actions are akin to a gambler who's about to loose more than just the little money he had. He was risking more than just his military position, even his life isn't out of the question, but that was just the type of person he was, even in the face of adversity he'll risk it all for the chance of victory.

[1] when i refer to someone as a half-elf, if i don't make further focus in his appearance, it means is someone who's half human and half elf.