Over the next few days, the army under Prince Jason's command continues to move west. The Prince learns some very disturbing information...

Over the next couple of days, the troops continue to move west.

Prince Jason's decision regarding the fate of Sir Denric Tahlane surprised the captain-commander of the elite royal bodyguard, as well as many of the court dignitaries accompanying the Prince.

Now, in accordance with the Prince's orders, Sir Denric is one of Jason's bodyguards and advisors.

All this, of course, does not eliminate gossip and disdainful glances from more noble and arrogant persons...

But, so far, the situation with Sir Denric has not led to unpleasant consequences...

Numerous detachments of mounted knights and foot militia continue to move along the road in a westerly direction. This road is called "Thicket's Road" and leads to the settlements of the western forest region of the Kingdom of Eborvair.

Looking out of the windows of his luxurious carriage, Prince Jason sees vast fields, pastures for goats and sheep, and the squalid huts of poor settlements of plebs.

There used to be more forests here…

The prince remembers that in the books about the kings of the past, it was mentioned that many forests were cut down in recent centuries to give space and resources for agricultural settlements.

But the name of the road remained the same…

Thicket’s Road.

However, the western part of this road still runs through forested terrain.

This is the same area that is now under aggressive attack by the cruel orcish tribal union “Spinebreakers”.

After two days of travel, the prince notices that groups of plebs are walking along the road towards the troops.

These people look dirty, tired and… scared.

Very scared.

Jason understands that these persons are refugees from the western forest region.

In addition, the prince becomes a witness to an argument between several court dignitaries, captain-commander Richard Einkirsh (he leads the detachment of the prince's elite bodyguards) and sir Denric Tahlane.

It is... an unpleasant argument, accompanied by mutual insults.

"Why didn't you even send mounted scouts ahead?! What the fuck?!" - sir Denric's voice expresses a mixture of surprise and indignation.

"Don't forget about courtesy, sir! Together with our mighty army, the best representatives of the noble knighthood of Kingdom Eborvair are going to battle with the vile savages-orcs! Two hundred of the strongest mounted knights will easily trample all the green-skinned bastards!" - one of the group of noble court dignitaries, dressed in a luxurious silk doublet, looks at sir Denric with an arrogantly raised chin.

"Fuck this shitty "courtesy"! Don't you understand that we are taking a huge risk if we don't know in advance what awaits us in the area ahead?! Don't you even understand what the word "war" means?!" - Sir Denric expressively waves his fists, almost touching the shoulder of this court dignitary.

"I would not advise you to continue this **** and these unworthy insinuations, casting a shadow on the honor of the persons present, sir... Otherwise, even the favor of our merciful prince Jason will not save you from a natural ending..." - the hoarse voice of captain-commander Richard clearly contains a hint of the possibility of a challenge to a duel.

It seems that among the courtiers the attitude towards Sir Denric is not at all friendly...

They perceive him as an insufficiently noble rude-parvenu, who is not trained in graceful court manners and is too straightforward in expressing his emotions.

Prince Jason intervenes in the conversation to prevent the worst consequences.

A challenge to a duel...

Now that would be extremely amiss...

"Gentlemen! We must all remember that our primary objective is to ensure the safety of the realm and defeat the bloodthirsty hordes of vile orcs. Let us concentrate on this task and not be distracted by irrelevant... events caused only by unfortunate mutual misunderstandings..." - the prince looks each participant in the verbal skirmish in the face.

Each of them bows.

Captain-Commander Richard and a group of court dignitaries spur their horses and move forward, overtaking one of the foot columns of militia warriors.

"Find reliable people... I give you permission to scout the area ahead..." - the prince says these words before Sir Denric has time to move away from the carriage.

The knight smiles and bows before galloping forward on his horse.

The next day, groups of plebs-refugees traveling along the road to the east are becoming more numerous.

Prince Jason's soul is growing anxious.

It is only towards the end of the day that Sir Denric Tahlane returns with a small detachment of mounted scouts.

The Prince does not fail to notice that the experienced knight has one more scar on his face.

It looks like an arrowhead has torn off a small piece of skin on the right side of his forehead...

However, the blood in the wound has already dried...

"Have you learned anything important?" - the Prince asks the knight.

Sir Denric Tahlane looks gloomy.

"Your Highness... What I feared has happened... You will have to hold a war council... Right now..." - the hoarse voice sounds anxious.

The Prince gives orders regarding the halting of the army to prepare for a night's rest.

An hour later, the most influential noble persons who command individual military units in the army gather in Prince Jason's luxurious marching tent.

"So, sir Denric wants to tell us all the information he, on my order, found out..." - the prince looks around at everyone present.

At the mention of sir Denric, many of the court dignitaries exchange ironic glances.

The sound of whispers...

Denric Tahlane, ignoring court etiquette, simply approaches the table and hits the wood with his chainmail-clad fist.

"I ask for everyone's attention! Tomorrow our army will meet the enemy... In order not to die, we must prepare and come up with a plan of action. Look what I managed to find out..." - he places a dirty piece of parchment on the table, on which some primitive map of the area is depicted.

The whispers intensify: "Tomorrow?! But we haven't entered the forest region yet..."

"Damn! I know that we are not yet in the territory of the forest baronies of the western region! Fuck... I myself would like for our affairs not to be so shitty... But the enemy did not wait for us, simply doing nothing... What a surprise - isn't it?!" - in the knight's voice there is sarcasm mixed with bitterness.

"Sir, I would ask you not to express yourself so rudely... After all, next to you is a person of royal blood..." - one of the court dignitaries reproachfully addressed sir Denric.

Denric... simply ignored this phrase.

"Weren't you bothered by the fact that the number of refugees fleeing to the east on the road was growing every day? Together with a small detachment of mounted scouts, I found out what awaited us ahead... Tomorrow, our army will reach the edge of the forest... But the problem is that not a large part of the region of the western forest baronies is occupied by orcs - but the entire region! Fuck! The orcs have occupied the entire western forest region of the kingdom! I interrogated several groups of refugees and can reliably say: Fort "Old Elm" has fallen under the onslaught of the orc army! Our last major fortress in the western forests is now under enemy control!" - the knight's words cause some confusion in those present.

Fort "Old Elm".

An important fortress in the west of the kingdom.

Residence of the richest of the local baronial families - the Kayburn family.

"These are cowardly peasants... It would be reckless to trust rumors told by some pathetic plebs... Out of fear, they can come up with any nonsense..." - says captain-commander Richard Einkirsh, stroking his small chestnut-colored beard.

"I saw with my own eyes groups of orcs yesterday, coming out of the edge of the forest onto the plain... Look at the map..." - says sir Denric Tahlane tiredly.

The prince and some of the other persons present peer at the primitive images on the dirty parchment.

"The further we go west - the more refugees on the road... The problem is that the orcs move faster than the refugees... The orcs are already coming out of the forest onto the road... I saw it... Tomorrow we will see how Thicket's Road will be a bloodbath... There are already small orcish camps north of the road. Tomorrow even more greenskins scums will come there from the forest. Further north, on the edge of the forest, there is a small fardenian monastery. Monastery of Saint Lothar. According to the testimony of refugees and observations, the monastery is already besieged by orc troops…” - synchronously with the explanations, the knight shows the corresponding symbols on the map.

Among other things, the map shows the approximate deployment of enemy forces and the approximate location of the eborvairian troops (by the middle of tomorrow, if the usual pace of movement is maintained).

“Sir Denric… But all this is terrible… What you said about my family’s residence… I do not believe that this can be true!” - the young knight, dressed in a silver-colored cuirass, says the words in a voice trembling due to grief.

“And what you said about the plebs-refugees… Are we really going to give the orcs a chance to simply chop these people into pieces tomorrow and fill Thicket’s Road with blood?! These people are our subjects! We must protect them!” - continues to speak this young knight with short blond hair.

The prince remembers who this noble knight is.

Neil Kayburn.

Heir of Baroness Leora Kayburn, the richest among the royal vassals of the western forests region.

The words about the fall of fort "Old Elm" under the onslaught of hordes of orcs are actually words about the fact that the family of this guy and his hereditary lands found themselves in a very... bad situation.

Neil Kayburn brought with him a detachment of mounted mercenaries.

Neil has been traveling through the eastern lands for the past few years, being seized by the spirit of chivalry and the desire for exploits.

He returned to the capital of the kingdom not long ago and joined the army as soon as he learned about the threat of orcs from the west.

Alas, it turned out that the threat was more dangerous than initially expected...

His blue eyes look at the prince and he says with hope: "Your Highness... Our army has two hundred mounted knights... We must strike with all the cavalry in the southern direction and secure the refugees... We will crush the vile orcs with a powerful cavalry charge of the knightly cavalry!"

"Your Highness... I dare to suggest you a different plan: we should direct the main attack of the knightly cavalry to the northern direction of the battlefield. The monastery of Saint Lothar is located there. If we hurry, we can prevent the orcs from taking this fortified point by storm. In the monastery, we can find provisions for the army, which will be useful to us in the future..." - respectfully says captain-commander Richard Einkirsh.

"Don't you see?! We must divide the enemy army into parts... We must use the mobility factor of the knightly cavalry and the power of its onslaught... The main direction of the attack should be in the center of the enemy army!" - emotionally shouts sir Denric Tahlane.

So, now Prince Jason must make an important decision regarding the question of in which direction the main attack should be made during tomorrow's battle.

Will the knights strike the orc troops from the southern direction in order to save as many plebs refugees as possible?

Or will the onslaught of the knightly cavalry from the northern direction allow the orcs to lift the siege of the monastery of Saint Lothar, and this fact will provide advantages for the further military campaign?

Or, during tomorrow's battle, should the knightly cavalry attack the enemy in the central sector of his troops in order to divide the enemy forces into several parts?

However, perhaps the prince himself will be able to come up with something besides these three plans, or will supplement any of these three plans with his own ideas.