The Fireseed Wars

There was a sigh of relief from several generals.

"As you can see, General Verkan who was badly wounded in Sashta has returned from the dead! Praise Galzar!"

Verkan rose to his feet and made a half-bow.

There was an enthusiastic chorus of hoots and cheers.

Uncle Wolf Tharses rose, saying a brief prayer of thanks to the Wargod for delivering their friend and ally when he was needed.

When he was finished, Kostran continued, "This winter King Theovacar entertained Great King Lysandros and others of his party. They will probably continue to send him enough fireseed to get the Grefftscharrer Army through the spring campaign season and aid King Theovacar in setting up his own fireseed production. Knowing Theovacar, I don't believe this means Styphon's House will be allowed to set up their own temple farms and production sheds. It's safe to assume that Theovacar and the Styphoni have worked out an alliance."

Kostran had to pause as a rumble of voices broke across the room. King Kalvan held up his hand to quiet the room down.

"The plan, as it was described to me by one of our agents, is that the Grand Host will attack Thagnor from the south, while the Greffan Navy will attack from the north and the Army will trek across the lower peninsula to hit Thagnor from the west. In return for his military support, Grefftscharr will be given full suzerainty over Thagnor once it's been conquered, with the addition of the Princedom of Gytha."

Someone whistled while others groaned.

"By Galzar's stones, he'll pay for that insult!" Sarrask bellowed.

The look in Queen Rylla's eyes would have frozen Theovacar to the floor had he been in the chamber.

"Does Lysandros or Styphon's House plan to stay in the Middle Kingdoms?" Phrames asked.

"None of my intelligencers heard anything regarding this issue. All we know for sure is that Theovacar and the Grand Host will be attacking Thagnor City in the spring."

"Thank you, Kostran, for verifying Theovacar's plans," Kalvan said. "We have our own surprise planned, but more about that later. First, a word from Grand Constable Leukestros regarding the melding of the Royal Army with that of Thagnor's and Gytha's."

Colonel Leukestros was one of Kalvan's Bright Young Men; one of half-a-dozen younger officers with potential that he had groomed shortly after his arrival in Hostigos. The Colonel was a tall man with a wiry frame and a bushy brown beard. He was now in his early thirties and had been a crackerjack artillery officer. Later Leukestros had taught at the University and had been responsible for training the new generation of Hostigi officers. Short of good staff officers, Kalvan had put him in charge of raising and training the new Army of Thagnor.

"Your Majesty," Leukestros said, rising to his feet. "Our attempts to integrate our former enemies into the Army of Nos-Hostigos have met with great success. The old Army of Thagnor was behind in its pay and morale was low. With the Great King's gracious offer to pay their back wages, we have been able to recruit over three thousand men from the old army who are ready to fight for their new Great King under the command of Captain-General Errock. We have also recruited another five thousand men, many of them former mercenaries or ex-soldiers who left the army previous to our invasion due to Varrack's policy of paying their wages only upon the wholesale threat of desertion."

There were snorts of derision from Sarrask and Captain-General Errock.

"In addition, we've added three thousand Urgothi irregulars from the captives that Captain-General Hestophes and Prince Phrames brought back from the Sea of Grass. Another thousand were of such quality that they were added to the King's regulars in the Royal Army."

"Aye, aye!" several cried.

"Most of the former Thagnori crossbowmen are taking well to musket practice and we've got more than enough pikemen. In Captain-General Errock we have a tested commander who has the loyalty of his troops. With more training, I believe the Army of Thagnor will be able to anchor any end of the battle with the Grand Host."

There was a collective nodding of heads and a chorus of "Praise Dralm!"

Kalvan still was dubious over the value of pike versus shot; however, the Hostigi pikemen had performed valiantly and, in several battles, had saved his bacon, so he was resigned to the fact that it would take at least another generation or two before they were obsolete. He doubted the Middle Kingdoms' crossbowmen would last anywhere near that long. Certainly, there would be none in the Army of Nos-Hostigos.

"Thank you, Grand Constable. Next, General Alkides is going to give us a report on the current state of the Hostigos Artillery."