85 Partings (1/2)

Two thousand horsemen were passing in front of them one by one. There were still noticeable flaws in the way they ride their mounts which showed their lack of proper training. Nevertheless, their current performance was a far cry from their performance in the battle of Knightsend.

Henry's guidance works, Timothy thought. Even though the Knight had encountered difficulty at first in gaining the trust and respect of the men, he was able to train the two newly-built Western Castonian Cavalry Cohorts. Even though the Leons were still better riders in Timothy's opinion, his cavalry were not far behind. He even predicted that one day, Castonia will have a cavalry matching that of Tulosa.

”You don't look nervous” King Edmund commented beside him. The King was also on horseback like Timothy.

”I am nervous. Nothing is for certain after all. I just don't want to show it in front of the soldiers. My confidence will give them strength.” Timothy answered.

”Sometimes I wonder if you're secretly an old man, Timothy. Your words are too advanced for you age.” King Edmund chuckled. ”But I admire that about you”

”Thank you. But don't give me your full admiration yet. I'm still not sure of our success. My cavalry is still untested.” He looked at King Edmund. ”But I will do my best. This is for our shared future. I'll leave the rest in your hands.”

King Edmund patted the armor of his horse. The reflection from its gold coat was blinding. ”Yes” he nodded. ”Leave the rest to me. I may not have experience when it comes to battles, but I think even a fool can do my part. I'm surprised though, I thought you will come up with some complicated plan like what you did in Knightsend. This feels too simple”

”Simple is effective.” Timothy said. ”People often associate simple plans with incompetence. But that's not true. The simpler the plan, the better. There's no need to complicate things.”

Their plan was as what King Edmund said, simple. Since Ivan wanted a fight, then Timothy will not give him a fight. Ivan knew his strength. Timothy's brother knew that mercenaries were unreliable. This was the reason why Ivan rushed to attack Timothy. He saw an opportunity.

This was the price Timothy had to pay for reinforcing Greenwater. He was now separated from the rest of his elite soldiers in Solon. Ivan will surely catch them halfway through the city.

But Timothy had no plans to give Ivan a battle. He would lose if he did that. According to reports of the scouts, Ivan had twenty thousand men, five thousand of which were Wismarines. The fifteen thousand mercenaries and two thousand cavalry he had were no match compared to Ivan's force. If Timothy was foolish and met Ivan in the field, the mercenaries would buckle leaving his poor cavalry at the mercy of Ivan's army.

So Timothy will not give Ivan what the latter wanted. He will avoid battle at all cost and will rely instead on harassing Ivan with his cavalry. Timothy's two thousand cavalry were superior compared to Ivan's and he will use them to slow the enemies down. He would cut their supply lines, raid their camps and use hit-and-run tactics. By the time Ivan catches the mercenaries, his army would have already been weak enough for Timothy to accept battle.

Timothy himself would lead the cavalry while King Edmund would be in charge of leading the rest of the army towards the safety of Solon. Normally Timothy doesn't want to get involved in battles but he lacked good leadership in his ranks. He missed having a capable second-in-command like Erik.

King Edmund remained silent after that. Timothy had been with him long enough to know that the King was thinking about something important. He had the urge to ask but King Edmund talked first.

”I saw you enter my daughter's tent last night.” He said with an expressionless face.

Timothy's heart raced after hearing him. The King's lack of expression further increased the tension. ”Yes, I did enter her tent” Timothy admitted.

Kind Edmund straightened his posture and sighed. ”You know, I don't really have any qualms about it. Both of you are old enough to think about your future. Also, I know the feeling. When I was your age, I even did those things with multiple women. One of those women was Arthur's mother, my current wife.” He paused and frowned. ”But having a child now will be hard for the two of you. You are fighting a war and that will make things difficult for my future grandchild. I'll give the two of you the freedom, but please heed my advice.”

It seems King Edmund had the wrong idea of what really happened. Well, he was not entirely wrong though. Something did almost happen last night.

”Nothing happened between us. Your daughter is a virtuous woman” Timothy smiled. ”And yes, we will heed your advice. There is a right time for everything.”

”Thank you. And if that time finally comes, I would prefer a granddaughter.” King Edmund said with a grin.

”A granddaughter?” Timothy was surprised. ”Why?”

”Although it will probably ruin your succession in the future, that's you problem.” King Edmund patted Timothy's shoulder and laughed. ”I just wanted another Lucia in this world”

Timothy also laughed. ”That would be quite good. A granddaughter it is”