droned on for some time, listing nearly a hundred small nobles and knights along with the number of their expected levies. Eventually he came to the end of that and then began a briefer explanation of the standing army’s forces and which lords would be organized into which divisions. Will did his best to absorb everything, but he knew he would need to refer to the written document for serious study later. Lustral finally came to the actual summary. “All told, Terabinia will be able to field an army of thirty-two thousand and four hundred men organized into six divisions. Sub-Marshal Nerrow will lead Divisions Five and Six, with Division Six being under the command of his assistant, Commander Lambel. Sub-Marshal Spry will lead Divisions Three and Four, with Division Four being under the command of his assistant, Commander Bradshaw. Sub-Marshal Nicht will lead Divisions One and Two, with Division Two being commanded by his assistant, Commander Hargast.”
That delineated the majority of the command structure, with Will as Royal Marshal and Lustral as Field Marshal being in overall command of the three sub-marshals and their commanders. Will was curious which division his friend Tiny and his cousin Eric were in, but he was almost certain that it must be either Division One or Division Two, since those were under Fulstrom’s command.
Viscount Bradshaw cleared his throat, causing Lustral to glance at him, annoyance apparent in his features. Will took note of the expression. Is Lustral one of those that doesn’t get along with Martin? If so, it meant that the viscount had a powerful enemy. Will nodded at the nobleman. “Go ahead, Lord Bradshaw.”
“While our numbers are impressive, I’m not certain we can support that number once we cross the mountains into Darrow,” advised the viscount.
The new Baron Fulstrom spoke next. “If we can feed them here then we obviously have the food. Why can’t we feed them there?”
Martin Bradshaw played with his moustache. “It’s a matter of supply lines. The farther from home we go, the more wagons, horses, and men we have to dedicate to transporting food and supplies. This is complicated by the fact that everything must travel along a single pass through the mountains, and once past that we have to deal with the limited number of bridge crossings over the River Tyrafel. Currently we don’t control enough wagons to support a deep foray into Darrow, at least not with that many men.”
Duke Lustral spoke up. “Once we cross the pass and take control of Klendon our numbers will be diminished, both because of losses and because we will have to maintain a defense of Klendon. The same river you mentioned will make defending our rear supply line easier.”
Martin shook his head. “Even if we lose a quarter of the men, which I don’t like to consider, we still wouldn’t have enough wagons.”
Will hid a smile, thankful once again that he’d married the smartest woman in the kingdom. “Lord Nerrow, your daughter is a key leader of the Mothers of Terabinia, is she not?”
His father looked at him with faint surprise. Curious, he answered, “She is. Why do you mention it?”
Will began to explain, “They’ve devoted a great deal of their resources to creating their own logistics network to move food and supplies to parts of Terabinia that were worst hit by the last invasion—”
Duke Lustral interrupted, “Not a bad idea. You think we should ask the king to seize their resources for the war effort?”
Will frowned. That hadn’t been his idea at all. “No, simply that we can coordinate with them. They will be moving food and supplies in the same direction. Our forces will require more early on, which they can help with. Later they can redirect more of their efforts to feeding the dispossessed.”
“There won’t be any dispossessed in Terabinia,” countered Lustral. “We are the invaders this time, not the reverse.”
“The Mothers of Terabinia don’t confine their charitable goals to just our borders,” Will replied.
Baron Hargast seemed shocked. “Do you intend to let them feed our enemy?”
“Women and children are not our enemy, Lord Hargast. In fact, the opposite is true. The purpose of this campaign is to reunite our two nations into one. We speak the same language and share much of our history. Assuming we succeed, the people you propose to starve will be the citizens of a larger Terabinia.”
“They won’t be citizens until they’ve tasted our boot leather for a few generations,” said Duke Lustral, disgust obvious in his tone. “They