ahead was one of the best they would see, being paved and wide enough for two wagons to pass abreast, for it was the main thoroughfare that ran all the way to the capital of Myrsta.
Laina rode beside him, as before, and Darla trailed behind a short distance. His sister looked over and asked, “What happened to the Darrowan army?”
Of course, he’d been getting regular scouting reports since the day they had taken Klendon. “They withdrew after we destroyed the bridges, and they’ve been steadily retreating toward Myrsta ever since.”
She frowned. “They’re just ceding ground without fighting? That doesn’t seem sensible.”
“From all the intelligence, we outnumber them almost two to one at this point. Fighting on open ground would be a disaster for them, so their only choice is to pull back,” he explained.
“And then what?”
Will shrugged. “We’re far from home and getting farther, so we’re reliant on our supply lines. This is their home. The longer they can drag things out, the better it will be for them. They can raise more troops, and it will be easier to support them. They just need to find someplace they can defend and try to delay us. Either that, or they need to come up with a new plan to sever our supply lines, but that will be nigh impossible since we took Klendon.”
Laina looked thoughtful. “Then shouldn’t we be speeding up?”
“We’re twice their size—that makes it harder to use our strength,” he answered. “They already had a week’s head start. Even if we could catch them, I’d have to send lighter, faster elements ahead, and they’d be outnumbered before the rest of the army could arrive. Depending on what their commander decided, they could be most of the way to Myrsta already. Or, alternatively, they could have some other fortified position along the way. No matter what, I’m confident they’re planning to fight us from a very defensible position where they can make us pay the largest cost in men and supplies.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t seem very worried about it. Why?”
In truth, he worried constantly, but not over that point, for he’d planned for it. “Because we won’t follow their plan. If their strength is in Myrsta, or somewhere along the way, we’ll hit them elsewhere, where they’re weak.”
“But you can’t take Darrow without taking the capital.”
Will projected confidence, partly because he needed the practice for when he dealt with the senior officers, and partly because he knew it would annoy her. His expression was smug when he replied, “Can’t I?”
Laina glared at him. “I hope you plan on explaining what you intend.”
He dropped the act and gave her a serious glance. “Not here. Not now. Maybe tonight, with the proper spells to prevent eavesdropping.”
She nodded. “Fair enough. Though how anyone could eavesdrop while we’re riding out in the open with no one close enough to hear, I have no idea.”
“The longer I do this, the more paranoid I become,” he admitted. A messenger rode up then, reporting the latest from the scouts, and their conversation came to an end.
That evening he didn’t find time to explain either, as the usual arguing session, also known as a senior staff meeting, went on longer than usual. Field Marshal Lustral seemed intent on debating every minuscule issue, even when he agreed with the decisions being made. It had the effect of causing Will to doubt himself to a certain degree. Do I show enough interest in the minor details, or is it Lustral who spends too much time on minutiae? Will preferred to think it was a problem with the nobleman, but he couldn’t discount the thought that maybe he was simply biased.
Maybe he wasn’t doing enough. His doubts nagged at him constantly.
After the staff meetings, he had been spending a certain portion of time in the astral plane, and since Klendon, Will had a more focused plan concerning where he spent his time. He still checked on Selene nightly, but he managed the rest of his time observing his officers. Lustral’s private behavior didn’t change, but Will was made even more curious by the fact that Bradshaw, who remained in Klendon, had taken to using a force-dome at certain intervals during the evenings.
Of course, that was what Will often did, to prevent being spied upon, but it made him suspicious. Nerrow frequently did the same, but Will wasn’t inclined to doubt his father. Will also wondered why Lustral never used the spell. Did the man simply have nothing to hide?