The fallout of Zadkiel's words was a deathly silence so absolute, one would even hear the beating of a sparrow's wings. None spoke, simply staring at his satisfied face, before my uncle calmly turned around and began to quietly leave, but then he stopped again and said in a resolute tone, one that sounded like a grim promise "Your death will not be a slow one."
"We shall see." He snarkily replied.
But no further words were spoken beyond that, only the slow clopping sound of our horses leaving, which continued more than half way into our return journey. The melancholic air around my uncle, his air of gut wrenching grief silencing all, as he rode beside me, his head hung low, barring us from looking at his eyes, but then he spoke to me... or maybe he was just talking to his trusty horse, or it could've been just the lifeless rocks around us, I didn't know, but his words were barely more than a whisper "He was still a boy when your father took the throne. Too young to understand much of what was happening to the world around him. Too naïve to the daggers staring at us at that time. Too innocent to concern himself with the filthy world of adults. Where did it all go wrong?"
I had no answer for his sorrow, all I could think of is to tell him to pull himself together already, to shelve these painful woes to after we had won this battle, as I couldn't have one of my most critical generals out of commission at a time like this; but I couldn't, as I too had once felt the pain of losing your brothers. I more than most knew what form searing agony was befalling him at the moment.
Yet before I could think anymore, my uncle suddenly lifted his head, revealing his honest eyes that held a few unshed tears prisoner within, refusing to let them pass, as he balefully said, his all telling eyes showing not the despair that had ruled them for so long now, but an unwavering resolve and a restless fury "I will drench these mountains with their blood until the Vitar River runs red with their blood!"
I simply raised my hand and clapped my uncle's shoulder, and though their was no warmth in the action, as my gauntleted hand touched his pauldron, the message was clear, which earned me a small smile from him for the first time in months.
But then Isaac's voice called out, as he and Abraham approached us from our following retinue, who at some point made some distance between us and them "Your imperial highnesses, if we may be so rude as to intrude on your talk."
"What is it?" I asked, as we turned to look at them.
"His Lordship the Archduke had spoken of Zadkiel when they were young, but he is not the only one who still remembers those days." Abraham commented.
"Indeed." Isaac concurred, continuing "The young prince at the time was certainly too young to understand many things, but he was not without faults, as you describe him as. Even young the boy was always arrogant and greedy, always trying to take more sweets than his share when your late mother gave you a treat or when the royal baker made you your favourite snacks, ones he often didn't enjoy, and frequently even trying to steal one of your toys when you weren't watching."
"The boy also never knew when to offer proper respect, and when to expect it. He would often times pester the Palace Guard who were on duty to teach him how to fight, before quickly dropping the matter all together, as if his interest was never there, despite him already having a dozen imperial tutors ready to do just that." Abraham stated.
"We mean not to tarnish your fond childhood memories my lord Archduke, we only want to lighten your burden by showing you that the way he turned was no fault of your own, you did all you could to help your brother, but some men were just born with an avarice to the things they could not have. A disease that no mortal could ever cure or satiate even if you give them the whole world." Isaac said with as warm a smile as he could muster at the moment.
My uncle remained silent for a few moments, before saying with a lighter tone "Thank you my lords."
They merely bowed in response, before once again receding back to stand next to the others a few steps away.
The rest of the journey was a silent affair, but eventually we reached the crossroads were we must part, each man heading to his post. And only when my uncle had left and was beyond a shadow of a doubt away from earshot did Abraham, the only one among my retainers to remain by my side, along with my Palace Guard, trepidatiously said "My liege, is it wise to trust the Archduke with the ten thousand elite infantry?"
"Do you have so little faith in my uncle?" I jokingly replied.
"Ordinarily I would not speak such words, but the current him is distracted, with too many things clouding his mind. And I fear these things to make unsteady his sword in this battle, where such conditions is a death sentence, not only to himself but to the men he leads as well." He calmly answered.
'No, they will attack.' I thought, my eyes narrowed and my brows furrowed, as I continuously scanned the field before me, knowing by the sheer instinct and experience I had accumulated over centuries of war, that this was merely the silence before the storm, and the longer this silence lasted the stronger the storm will be.
But then suddenly a bright flame exploded above the mountains to the north.
"My liege, enemy attack to the north!" One man shouted as he gestured in that direction.
Yet before I could say anything, another exclaimed "Another in the central passes!" As a second signal was launched there.
"What of the south?" I asked.
"Nothing so far, sire." One man answered.
"Keep an eye on it, and order Leonid to double his vigilance." I commanded, before returning my gaze to the north, where Horus and Isaac held their ground.
"Get me the enemy's count immediately, and confirm if any of Maximillian's wives are present on the battlefield!" I hollered as the men rushed to transmit my orders. The once silent fortress tower was now a flurry of cacophonous noise and activity, as men rushed from one place to the other; much to the awe of my brothers and the officers, who felt their blood rush faster at this scene.
Within moments the report of the central paths arrives, and a few minutes later the one form the north followed "Nearly forty thousand have advanced through the central passes, while another thirty thousand attacked from the north." One man announced.
"Through which paths have they struck?" I ask.
"The green passes mostly, sire. But in the north they report some scattered divisions are moving through some yellow and blue ones too." He quickly answered.
"And Maximillian's wives?" I ask my most important question.
"No sight of them so far." The man answered with a relieved smile.
"I see." I said, slightly disappointed that that bored dragon hadn't deployed all his strength on the first day to quickly finish this battle. "Wait until they are fully entangled with our forces and then order Horus and my uncle to rip them to shreds." I command with chilling coldness.
"COUNTER ATTACK PROTOCOL." The man next to me issued the command, as the mages, drums and horns let loose their ear splitting symphony.
"Attack? But brother, aren't we meant to only defend today?" It was Cyrus who asked.
"Have you no never heard that a good attack is the best form of defense little brother?" I rhetorically asked, as a cunning gleam glinted in my eyes and a bloody smile emerged upon my lips "Besides," I continued "when we agreed on the rules of this game, if you remember, it was mentioned that the attacker would only initiate the day's battle, not that he only could attack."
My brothers seemed taken aback, along with the rest of the inexperienced officers, but the veterans and I quickly saw past Maximillian's clever words and noticed this hidden little loophole.