An Angel Called Eternity

The Field Rat's Banquet - Lykourgos V: The Road to War

Lykourgos V: The Road to War

The Twenty-Fourth Day of the Ninth Moon, 872 AD.

Southern Einar, Central Teleytaios, Klironomea.

Usually, night marches are difficult. Entire companies can lose sight of those in front of them in the black of night, leading hundreds of men miles off course. Some stories from the prince's childhood told of entire armies blundering straight into an enemy force, where free-for-alls dominated the coming hours and no man was sure if he had just stabbed an enemy or his brother. Last night's march, thank all the Angels, seemed to be an exception to the rule. Careful planning, clear routes, and stringent safety measures, largely thanks to the Lieutenants-at-Arms being exceedingly dutiful in maintaining order, meant that come the end of the march there had been no major incidents. Camp had been set less than five miles from the enemy so that the men might snatch a few hours of rest, tents were set in neat rows and columns with a firepit for every four tents, waiting to be lit in the morning. By his side was Dreamwulf, who still had yet to sleep. Lykourgos, Nasos, Ilias and Eros had all asked him to stay behind and rest, but the newly assigned bodyguard had been resolute in his refusal.
"I've been named the prince's Personal Champion. It's my duty t' remain at his side throughout all battles. Besides-" he continued, gesturing to a still-injured Lykourgos, "with how your hand is, I don't reckon we'll be in for much of the fightin'."
Lykourgos had grinned despite himself. Here was a man of duty.

One thing that had limited the potential for a disaster was that the army had been split in twain; Ser Romanos had departed from the main column with almost every mounted combatant falling under his command, and they were now headed some twenty to thirty miles west to a rather insignificant little village called Suthenfordeinar. He had instructions to pivot south at daybreak, since he claimed he could reach the village by sunrise, and smash into the flank of the levies in the late morning. Assuming the intelligence Elikoidi provided was correct, and he hadn't given the prince reason to doubt him thus far, Marshal Harran would doubtless prove a mediocre commander at best. He would have learned the aspects of command and tactics in theory, but putting them into practice? That was something else entirely, as Lykourgos learned in the Twilight Rebellion, so named for it being the last time the high nobility would be able to ride in force against the crown. Apparently, the young Marshal hadn't seen the need for a full command staff either, relying on an extremely small circle of nobles and knights to act as his lieutenants, instead of actual trained officers.
He smiled at that thought. In other circumstances this would be a learning experience for the young commander, but Lykourgos highly doubted he would be leaving the field to ruminate on his mistakes.

"Your Grace!"
The voice of his young cupbearer cut through the stillness of the camp. The only activity aside from that of his cupbearer were the Lieutenants-at-Arms eating with the prince in the officers' mess-tent, making polite chatter and generally shrugging off their drowsiness. Those amongst the twelve gathered quickly quelled their noise at the arrival of the newcomer, as their prince's voice rose above their own.
"Ilias! I see you've decided to join me at last!"
The cupbearer's face was beet-red. He'd looked so peaceful sleeping that the prince was loathe to wake him that morning... actually he just wanted to embarrass him a little at mess, but he didn't need to know that.
"I- Apologies your Grace. I fear I am not yet used to marching so far in such a short time. I shall endeavour to correct this flaw in the future."
His voice became composed and cold, to an almost unsettling degree. The prince frowned. He hadn't intended to actually hurt the boy's feelings. He nodded once at the boy, smiling slightly to hopefully convey his intended playfulness. His cupbearer moved to sit beside him when the prince patted the bench and moved up, spearing a choice piece of ham on his dirk and grabbing a fresh roll for the young servant before depositing them on a plate in front of the lad.
"Eat up, come on. We've got a long day ahead of us and you could do with a few more hot meals. The rolls are fresh, and damn good."
The cupbearer nodded and dug in, breaking his fast, as the prince cut open another roll and spread butter throughout. It melted almost immediately and smelled heavenly. He broke from his actions when he heard the noise of contentment from his left, and saw the cupbearer frozen mid-bite, before a lazy grin appeared while he scarfed down the rest. Lykourgos placed the second roll on his plate with a conspiratorial wink and a grin, for which he received a happy smile. I think he accepts my apology for embarrassing him.
The prince picked up a plum from the plate in front of him and dug in, enjoying the satisfying taste of the fresh fruit, letting the juice run down his chin before wiping it away. The men outside would not be enjoying such luxuries, though he supposed that very few of them would be awake this early, save the sentries and scouts. It was somewhere between the fifth and sixth hour of daybreak at the moment, and the men would be roused at the sixth. They'd only had a few scant hours of sleep, which may hamper their performance somewhat, but with any luck a full breakfast and morning preparations would wake them up. After all, nothing quite made one alert like the prospect of heading off to battle.
Lykourgos made conversation with the men around him as Ilias ate, and listened in to other men's conversations when he wasn't.
"The new provisioning system seems to be going well, your grace."
Lykourgos nodded. Even if they'd only been on the march for a day, the men had still needed to eat in the weeks prior as they drilled at Aenirhen, and with summer behind them there were few who wished to see twelve-thousand men gorge themselves on the town's winter stockpiles.
"Indeed. My compliments to you Lieutenant Isen for the idea. The men may have grumbled at the increase in their kit's weight, but I don't think any of them will be complaining when they're hungry and cant find enough to forage."
Another Lieutenant, older and more experienced, weighed in.
"Aye, and its stops the green boys from seeing the veterans foraging and thinking they know how to do it. If I had a crow for each man I watched go paralysed eating what he thought was cow parsley, well, I wouldn't need to be in the army anymore."
Lykourgos and the younger Lieutenant laughed at the elder's joke, and the prince turned himself back to his cupbearer.
"So, how has everyone been keeping since I left for Anaria?"
Ilias swallowed his food, and turned to look at the prince.
"Your retinue, your grace? We've been keeping fine enough, Elikoidi was odd though."
Lykourgos smiled.
"Oh, how so?"
"Well, he kept asking me random questions about people in the company we travelled with to the Horndaal. Their names, ages, professions, skills and the like. I guess he must have been pleased with me, cause he ruffled my hair with his gloved hand and walked off."
"He was testing you."
Ilias blinked.
"What?"
The prince nodded once, to confirm his own statement.
"Elikoidi wanted to see if you could be trusted, and more importantly, if you had the right skills to be permanently given the role of my cupbearer. Whether or not he thought you were good enough I would've kept you on anyway, but you've impressed the most dangerous man on our side as well, so good job!"
Ilias was a whirlwind of thought, that much was clear just from how his facial expression kept shifting and changing.
"I... I've done well enough to stay in your employ?"
The prince smiled and nodded.
"Definitely. Like it or not, you're stuck with us now."
Ilias smiled at that, and the two of them returned to comfortable silence. Lykourgos watched, bemused, as Ilias somehow managed to snag an entire block of cheese and devoured it all.
"I suppose I had better ask if there was anything you needed to tell me, you know, any ravens find there way here, messengers on horseback, the like?"
The boy shook his head as he finished eating, and moved to wash his hands in a washbasin.
"So, there was nothing urgent you needed to tell me, Ilias?"
The boy shook his head.
"No, your Grace. Only a message from an Armsmen that he believes in you, but nothing official."
There was a small spark of warmth in his words, and the prince continued smiling.
"Well, let's hope we do right by him, hmm?"
There was a mischievous glint in Ilias' eye.
"I mean, I guess if you get lucky you could, but I think he'd have been happier if you offered him a raise."
The prince grinned at him and ruffled his hair, much to the boy's chagrin, but he smiled happily nonetheless.