Chapter 159 - 106 : Year 11 - 19 War (2)

Chapter 159: Chapter 106 : Year 11 - 19 War (2)

At court, the accumulating reports gave the Crown a clearer picture of the kingdom’s military capacity. Numbers on a page, however, did not automatically become a functioning army. The Crown still had to determine how the forces would be assembled, where they would gather, which roads and strongholds would support their movement, and how provisions could reach them once they left their home territories. Every soldier required equipment and food; every mounted warrior required a suitable horse, and every horse consumed supplies of its own. A campaign could not be sustained by courage or numbers alone.

The preparations therefore extended beyond capable martial artist to the storehouses, transport animals, carts, craftsmen, roads, and officials upon which an army would depend.

As the fifteenth year drew to a close, the kingdom’s intentions became increasingly difficult to mistake. The frontier was being watched more closely, the noble houses were accounting for their military strength, and resources were beginning to flow towards the preparations. Enwitra had not yet committed itself to war, but it was arranging the means to fight one. The gears of the kingdom had begun turning, each order and purchase setting another part of the machinery in motion.

By the sixteenth year, preparation had become mobilization.

Royal orders began moving beyond the collection of records and the inspection of supplies. Noble houses were instructed to ready their contingents, confirm their commanders, and make arrangements for their forces to assemble when summoned. Garrisons received further instructions, supply depots began accumulating provisions, and routes leading towards the frontier were examined with the movement of men and equipment in mind. The Crown’s preparations were taking shape as a coordinated military effort, and the great houses could no longer treat their obligations as a distant possibility.

The anger that had gathered among Enwitra’s nobility was finding its answer in marching orders, loaded wagons, prepared weapons, and soldiers called away from their ordinary duties. The Potamini heir’s death had helped bring the kingdom to this point, but the consequences now reached far beyond one family’s grief. Enwitra was preparing to confront the kingdom it held responsible, and every passing day brought that confrontation closer.

War was no longer an approaching possibility discussed in royal chambers. The kingdom was beginning to move towards it.

Lucian was now forty-one years old.

For years, he had devoted himself to refining his body, gradually advancing through the stages of martial training until he reached the peak of Bone Tempering. There, progress became harder to achieve. He continued practising his forms, repeating movements until his body could carry their force with greater precision, and pushing himself through the demanding exercises used to temper his bones.

The Veymont family’s resources provided him with the medicines, nourishment, and guidance he needed, but they could not complete the refinement for him. That required years of effort, patience, and endurance.

Eventually, his efforts bore fruit. Lucian broke through into Blood Tempering before Enwitra entered the war.

The achievement carried considerable weight within House Veymont. Blood Tempering stood just one stage below Force Tempering, placing those who reached it among the highest-level martial artists of their world. Lucian’s breakthrough meant more than a personal advance. House Veymont had gained another powerful martial artist, one capable of strengthening the family’s martial standing for years to come.

Lucian had never been the most naturally gifted martial artist in his family, but he had never allowed that to decide how far he could go. Every stage had demanded more of him, and he had answered with the same persistence that had carried him this far. Reaching Blood Tempering was proof of what years of steady effort could achieve, even when talent alone could not make the path easy.

But there was little time to celebrate.

The royal summons arrived during winter, following weeks of reports and inquiries sent throughout the kingdom. The crown had already begun gathering figures on the military strength each noble house could provide, the number and quality of its martial artists, the soldiers it could raise, and the supplies and resources it could contribute to the coming war. With that information assembled, the kingdom could begin turning its preparations into a coordinated campaign.

The summons called the kingdom’s nobles of sufficient rank and military obligation to assemble in the capital. Knights, landed nobles, barons, viscounts, counts, and the greater lords were required to answer the crown’s call. They would gather to form a war council, where the kingdom’s military leaders and noble houses would discuss the coming campaign, determine how their forces would be deployed, and decide how soldiers, supplies, and responsibilities would be distributed across the war effort.

For House Veymont, the summons marked the end of preparation from a distance. The time had come to bring its strength before the crown and learn what part the family would be expected to play in the war.

Count Veymont travelled to meet Duke Vendettit of House Goth, one of the kingdom’s four great dukes and the overlord of House Veymont. Lucian accompanied his father, as did the retainers and officers required for the journey. Other counts and lesser lords under the Duke’s authority were expected to gather at his seat as well, bringing their own people before the assembled houses continued to the capital together. There, they would also meet the Count’s younger brother, the Viscount, who had returned to his border garrison after attending the birth of his grandnephew. His experience in military command would be valuable in the coming campaign, and his place among the nobles meant he was needed for more than his battlefield expertise alone.

The journey revealed how much the kingdom was preparing for. Roads that normally carried merchants and farm carts now saw mounted messengers, noble entourages, supply wagons, armed retainers, and soldiers travelling beneath different banners. At inns and roadside settlements, conversations increasingly turned toward the war, while the steady movement of men and supplies made it clear that the kingdom was preparing for a campaign on a scale few had witnessed in their lifetimes.

By the time the nobles reached the capital, the city had grown crowded with lords, officers, and their accompanying households. The royal war council brought together those expected to help shape the campaign, and there were many decisions to settle before the armies could march.

The crown needed to determine which nobles would command the larger forces, how the armies would be divided, and where each would be sent. Some forces would need to reinforce threatened borders, while others would be assigned to the main campaign.

Experienced soldiers and martial retainers would be distributed where their abilities could make the greatest difference, alongside infantry, cavalry, archers, scouts, and the other troops needed to support an army in the field. Roads, supply routes, provisions, and the movement of thousands of men all had to be considered together.

Yet military strength alone could not determine who should lead. A martial artist might possess formidable strength and still lack the judgment to command others. A noble might have considerable resources but little experience managing a campaign. Those entrusted with responsibility needed to understand strategy, maintain discipline, work with other commanders, and make sound decisions when events departed from the plan. The council would have to consider not only what each house could contribute, but also how effectively its people could serve within the larger army.

There was another concern behind every decision: the defence of the kingdom’s own lands. Noble houses could not commit every soldier to the war without leaving their castles, towns, mines, roads, and estates vulnerable. Each lord had to weigh the demands of the crown against the dangers of weakening the territory entrusted to him. The challenge was to raise a force capable of fighting the coming war without leaving the kingdom exposed elsewhere.

These were the matters the nobles had gathered to settle. The crown had counted the kingdom’s available strength; now its rulers and commanders had to decide how best to use it.

Once the council had settled the houses’ responsibilities, House Veymont prepared to send its contribution to the campaign. Its professional soldiers, cavalry, trained archers, and experienced retainers would march beneath the family banner, accompanied by martial artists and officers capable of leading the troops provided by its vassals. The contribution was substantial, reflecting the strength and resources House Veymont had built over generations.

Yet the Count could not send every available soldier away. His territory still needed protection, and the mines, settlements, roads, and estates that sustained the family could not be left undefended. A portion of the household troops remained behind to guard the castle and important fortified positions, while enough trained men were kept to patrol vital roads and protect the mines and surrounding settlements. The war demanded much of House Veymont, but the family still had to preserve the strength needed to govern its lands.

The contribution also extended beyond the men who marched. House Veymont committed money and provisions to support its forces, helping cover the cost of food, horse fodder, equipment, and the repairs and replacements that an army inevitably required. Its officers had to ensure that the troops departed properly equipped, while the household stewards arranged the supplies and funds needed to sustain the commitment.