Enemy does recon.

Both Cassandra and Helinda from their positions looked out over the terrain from the direction of Talia and they both saw the same thing. Dust rising up in the distance coming towards the ravine. Now if Cassandra had been with Chasin she would advise that they halt and set up camp as night was drawing in. She would also advise sending out scouting parties to check the ravine to see if it was clear. Lucky for Cassandra her troops were great at concealment and also great at not leaving any traces. Then they saw what they were looking for a group of women in armour riding horses towards the ravine. They were the scouts from Chasin's army heading to scout out the ravine and then report back to Chasin. Cassandra and Helinda signalled their warriors to remain concealed. This was where the leader of the scouts who was experienced made her mistake and allowed the new scouts to check out the ravine. The scouts entered the ravine and check the floor and found no tracks and no sign of activity looking upwards to check the ravine walls they decided it was pointless climbing them. They failed to notice the rocks held back by the ropes of Cassandra's and Helinda's troops.

Cassandra watched as the scouts left the ravine and reported to the senior scout then they turned their horses and returned towards the east. Cassandra noted that the dust had dissipated and guessed they were setting up camp. Helinda came over to Cassandra's side of the wall and they had a chat " Helinda our orders are to hold this ravine until we are relieved. Hold back your most experienced warriors as they will have more arrow discipline" After the chat Helinda returned to her troops. Cassandra ordered Juliana her head scout to go scout out the enemy and to be careful that she was not seen. She then rested as Juliana headed off to the east on foot to keep down the dust cloud. By the time she reached the camp night had begun to fall so she sneaked in undercover. She made mental notes of the troops and estimated how many tents surrounded the royal tent which she guess was also the command tent. She listened to the warriors chatting and discovered that not all of them were happy to be heading into battle. She could tell these were seasoned warriors who regretted that they may be killing fellow sisters.

Arerto and Freya along with Jasmine and the rest of the army were headed eastwards to the ravine but they would not get there before tomorrow afternoon. This meant that a single company would have to hold up Chasin's army which could number ten thousand if she had sent her whole army. Arerto was now second-guessing herself she should have sent more than one company to secure the ravine. She along with Freya had decided they would move quicker if they left behind the trebuchets and ballistas which required several warriors to actually use. They were siege engines and this would not be a siege. In her mind's eye, her warriors would deploy with arrows first which should thin out the first wave of any troops that got through the ravine. Then it would be down to close-quarter battles which would get bloody and nasty and cost a lot of brave warriors their lives. If she was honest she did not want this fight. Amazons against foreign enemies were one thing but Amazon against Amazon was something else and it would be sister killing sister.

Juliana got back to Cassandra just as she was waking up the next morning and reported that she estimated that Chasin's forces numbered between eight and nine thousand. They had cavalry and war elephants with mounted archers but they had few wagons so they were basically marching on empty stomachs. She also reported the **** of some of the warriors to fight against fellow sisters and also she had not seen Chasin but she could have been in the command tent. Cassandra thanked her and then briefed Helinda who replied "One hundred and twenty-two against nine thousand wow. I guess surrounding them is out of the question then." Cassandra could not help but laugh at this levity as Helinda made her way back to her troops Cassandra dressed in her armour and headed to her spot atop the ravine and waited for soon the enemy would come and they would come in great numbers.

Katherine stood on the stern of her flagship which was at the head of five more ships and the two transport ships sailing towards Talia. This was Arertos hail, Mary. Katherine and her sailors would capture the port and Thadens crack troops on the transports would land and head into the city and capture the palace. If Arerto was right there would only be the palace and city guards to overcome as the rest of the army would be at the ravine. The plan was that once Arerto had hopefully defeated the army and word got back to Talia then resistance would crumble. No one was certain whether Chasin was with the army or at the palace but neither mattered as she would be dealt with either way. Katherine had been given a personal task by Arerto to find Lady Cressida and arrest her. She was not allowed to escape as Arerto suspected her duplicity in events that had transpired while she had been away fighting and being captured. The next few days would be hectic.