Cassarah
The one benefit of being officially crowned queen is that I had a full schedule of things to deal with.
My feelings of being lost in how to move forward were pushed to the side with a knock on the door and a steward calling me to a meeting.
The viceroys were coming together in their last act in that title to give me all the reports and information I would need.
Of course, I’d already been going over them with the three men and Sal before the coronation, but it would give Lawrance, Mathew, and Eleazar closure after their many years of service.
While they were closing the door on one chapter of their lives, I was now starting a new one for them as my advisers.
“Your Majesty, we, the viceroys of Sheca, surrender our knowledge to you. May it help your reign be fruitful as you guide our people,” Lawrence said as the men set the leather-bound tombs on the conference table before me.
“I thank you for your many years of service to these people and the protection of the throne. Now that you have ended your terms as viceroys, I would like to extend the offer of becoming advisers to the crown,” I requested.
Mathew stepped up and bowed. “It would be my honor to advise you.”
Eleazar and Lawrance responded the same way, leaving Sal to answer.
He walked up and bowed but surprised me when he took my hand in his.
“Your Majesty, it would be my honor to advise you, but I feel I won’t be much use to you.
I don’t have the same knowledge as these other men do, not having lived in Sheca.
If you feel I will still be a benefit, I ask you to consider me as secondary counsel. ”
“If that is what you wish, then I accept your request,” I answered, covering his wizened old hand with mine. “You will always be a man I hold in high regard for his sound wisdom and logic. With the way my reign is starting out, I will need people I can trust to turn to.”
Sal kissed the back of my hand and stepped back with the others. I turned to the attendant in the room and signaled for him to let the others in. My men filed in along with Ballard, Alsten, and Crown Prince Phillip. To my surprise, King Thomas also appeared, taking a seat at the table.
“Your Majesty, while I am glad you are here, I hope you didn’t feel forced to leave your wife if you need to be with her?” I inquired.
King Thomas waved off my question. “She is sleeping peacefully thanks to your healers, and there was no need for me to be there when her personal maid is there as well. This will be good to keep my mind on matters where I can make a difference.”
“I’ll trust your judgment on that, and I’m grateful to have you here with us as we strategize,” I said, motioning for one of the other room attendants to lay out a map of the land on the table.
Another passed out paper and writing materials as well as refreshments. I didn’t see us leaving this room anytime soon and wanted everyone to be comfortable. While we couldn’t plan how I wanted to deal with the Lost King, other plans could be set in place to protect the kingdom.
“Alsten, what is our current situation with patrols?” I asked, getting down to business.
“As of right now, we have three dragon riders patrolling by air, each stationed at different points north, south, and east. They fly to patrol their section every hour and note any changes we might deem necessary,” Alsten answered.
“I’ve also sent out rotating groups of men in various places along the main pathway to the valley and surrounding mountain range. ”
While Alsten talked, I took notes, needing to see the information before me as I thought through everything else. “All right, that’s a good place to start. Do we still have eyes on the mountain hideout the mercenaries used?”
“We do, but there has been no activity,” he answered. “My thoughts on that would be they know everyone is here, so there is no need to infiltrate that location.”
“I would have to agree with him on that,” Ballard spoke up.
“We left nothing there for them to use or gain more information from. With the dragons’ help, we could remove all the written information we had in the Raven Rose clan and copies protected there.
It would be my suggestion not to waste people watching an area no longer deemed helpful to any of us. ”
Tapping my fingers on the table, I processed their arguments. “Ballard, how many dragons can comfortably stay in that area? I know it had its own roost, but I never was told how large it was.”
“I would say a hundred or so, your Majesty,” Ballard answered.
An idea was beginning to form as I wrote down more notes to refer back to. “Prince Phillip, Gavin, do you know how many dragon riders Norden had in their military?”
The brothers seemed to confer with each other for a moment before giving me their answer.
“There are roughly a little over a hundred dragon riders, but those who are female are not trained for battle like the men. They are more for correspondence between kingdoms, and in the case of a war, they would transport goods and information back and forth. So, with that being said, I’d guess somewhere around sixty to seventy dragon riders who could fight.
Many of which are on the older side. Previous generations had better luck with dragons picking a pair-bond,” Gavin answered.
“So we easily outnumber them, but what we don’t know is how many dragon riders there might be from the other kingdoms. King Thomas, was that something you had your spies keep track of?” I inquired.
“That isn’t something I asked them to look into, but my spymaster would get various reports and only share with me what he thought was important or the answer to the question I had them out there for in the first place,” he admitted.
“Paxton, in your work for Creisal, did you share that type of information with your spymaster? I am just trying to get a feel for if we went to them when we visited, would we even find the answer,” I explained.
Pax leaned across the table and rested his chin on his hand, thinking.
“Many of us reported things the spymaster didn’t always think were important enough to write down.
While we disagreed on things, many of us kept our own journals of information because there may be a day when they needed it, and we could sell it to the spymaster for a pretty penny.
It helped the spymaster save face and kept us on our toes, looking for information to trade. ”
King Thomas looked shocked to hear this, but it made perfect sense to me.
Having gone through my training with the mercenaries and being a strategist by nature, I understood the value of juicy tidbits of intel.
Spies were sent to gather information, whatever that information might be, and something else always landed in your hands along the way.
“So, if we called a gathering of the spies, there might be quite a bit of information we could learn,” I mused out loud. “Thank you, Pax, that was extremely helpful to hear.”
“Always a pleasure to be of assistance, my Queen,” Pax purred, winking at me.
I couldn’t help but smirk at his childish ways. Even if it drove others mad, it brought a smile to my face. Taking a moment, I looked over my information so far and made a decision.
“As long as Queen Catharine is up to it, I would like to leave for Creisal in the next day or two. There seems to be a wealth of information we can find there. I would also like everyone in this room to come with as well, except for Ballard and Alsten,” I announced.
“Ballard, I would like you to pick up your role as steward of the crown once more in my absence. Alsten, I would like to move some of our people around and double the dragon patrols, only further out from Sheca. On top of that, I would like a hundred of our dragon riders to move to the hideout in the Restless Mountains. I don’t want our military all in one location in case there is an attack. ”
“Your Majesty, while I understand your thinking, is it wise to move so many while you are away from the throne?” Alsten questioned.
“My choice would have been the same whether I was here or not. We need to send out some of our own spies to get a feel for what the Lost King is doing. We’ve been avoiding drawing his attention so he didn’t find Sheca.
Well, that ship has sailed. Now, we need to know what we are truly up against. I would also ask that one dragon rider be sent to Utros and another to Errit, taking stock of what is happening in those kingdoms while the Lost King is staring us down,” I ordered.
“These might seem like requests, but let me assure you, I’m not really asking for permission here. ”
Alsten flinched a little, knowing I was directing that at him. “It shall be done as you’ve requested, Your Majesty.”
“I do value your thoughts, Alsten, but when it comes to this battle, we need to be prepared for all the worst moments,” I pointed out.
“If the village gets attacked or, heaven forbid, destroyed, I need to know our people will live on. Those in the hideout will have the chance to fight if they can, but if it looks as if all is lost, they need to run to the Dragon Lands where they will be safe to hide until they can carry on. We’ve done it more than once, and I refuse to let this noble group of people be wiped extinct.
It might not be the outcome we want to hope for, but I don’t have the luxury of thinking things might not turn out so bad. ”
“Our queen is right,” Eleazar interjected. “The one thing our people have always done is prepare to have those who carry on.” He paused, letting that sink in at the table before turning to me. “How many are you taking to Creisal?”