Fostering Faust

by Randi Darren

  Thats odd. Bringing your daughter along to a war.

  Duke Ranulf’s son was slain last year during a border skirmish with Duke Gaelis.

  The line of succession now falls to his oldest daughter and last living child.

  Ah. That makes more sense. And also why I was being targeted to marry. A matrilineal marriage to me would have given our children two titles to work with.

  That or I’d be dead as soon as the first child was born.

  “I accept the invitation and will be there,” Alex said bowing his head.

  “Perfect. We’ll sup at the sixth bell. I can’t imagine any more of my vassals arriving today, so it’ll just be you, my daughter, and I. No need to bring any guards; I’ll have my own people on hand,” the duke said. Turning his horse, Lord Tanulf left, dismissing Alex without a word.

  “I don’t like him,” Carla said under her breath.

  “And yet, I cannot decline without putting us at risk. It’ll be fine; it’s just dinner. Worst case scenario, they ask some uncomfortable questions,” Alex said. Then he smiled and turned to Carla. “And isn’t today the first of the new week?”

  Carla shook her head with a growl.

  “Fine. That’s the deal I made; I’ll be waiting for you,” she said. “Come to bed early at least?”

  “I’ll try. As soon as the dinner ends, I’ll join you.” Alex paused, unsure if he wanted to ask her the question that was at the forefront of his mind. “You won’t be drunk this time, will you?”

  “No. On duty tonight. Can’t.”

  “Good.”

  At least he could look forward to having a sober Carla go down on him this evening.

  The bodyguards she’d tried to hire hadn’t shown up yet, and she was supposed to meet them here in the field no later than tomorrow.

  Carla’s deal however, remained in place.

  She’d forced it on him, without any input from him, and he wasn’t about to let her out of it.

  Getting head was worth her bad attitude.

  ***

  Dressed in finery, Alex showed up right as the sixth bell chimed. He’d made sure to time it precisely. If he was neither early nor late, there was nothing that could be said.

  Keeping everything as tight as he could and as close to the vest as he was able, Alex would be able to keep the duke out of his life.

  “Count Brit, the duke is expecting you,” said the guard outside the pavilion. “Please proceed inside. Dinner will be served promptly.”

  I would hope so.

  Alex entered and found himself in front of a house servant.

  “After me, sir,” said the man in Tanulf livery.

  Feeling a bit ridiculous following a house servant deeper into what essentially was a giant tent, Alex said nothing.

  Two turns later and he was standing in front of a small dining table with six seats.

  Two were already accounted for by the duke and his daughter, with a third set and empty.

  The duke looked up and gave Alex a once-over, then nodded his head.

  “Precisely on time. Thank you for joining us,” the duke said. He was dressed much more simply than Alex, but he was also the host. That sort of thing was forgiven more often than not.

  “This is my daughter, Regina,” the duke said, indicating the young woman.

  She wasn’t as pretty as Anna or Riley, or as pleasing to the eye with her figure, but she hadn’t missed the genetic lottery either.

  Prettier than Carla and Holly, and probably even Valeria.

  Her hair was brown, a medium length, and her eyes brown as well. With a fair complexion, she would certainly fetch suitors.

  Alex just happened to already have a couple women who were far and above the norm around him. It made most other women pale in a comparison.

  Thinking back to the duke, Alex couldn’t deny that once upon a time, Tanulf had probably been a handsome man.

  “Lady Regina, a pleasure,” Alex said, ducking his head to the woman.

  “Count Brit,” she said with a smile.

  Taking his seat, Alex looked to the duke for direction.

  “We were just talking about the reason we’re here,” said the duke. “I haven’t shared it around much, but I might as well start with you. You’re the least likely to know the details, so you might need more information.”

  “That would be greatly appreciated. Indeed, I’m afraid I don’t know the specifics.”

  “We do have a valid casus belli for this. My goal is to imprison the duke of Gaelis. I’ll not take his life, but I will keep him in a dank cell until he dies.”

  Casus what?

  Casus Belli, a justification for war that meets the requirements of the peerage and honor.

  Valid casus belli for declarations of war must be approved by one’s liege lord.

  Forbidding a vassal to go to war who has a valid casus belli creates a casus belli for the vassal to go to war with their liege lord, and invalidates their oath for a period of one year.

  Well, that’s dangerous. In a world where an oath is loyalty, invalidating that oath creates some scary concerns.

  In fact, I could think of a number of ways I could use it to my advantage.

  “—uld have spared my son. He chose not to. I have proof of it and gave it to our king, who honorably approved my wish.

  “I’ll have Gaelis rot in life, and then in death. Without him, his vassals will run rampant through his entire duchy,” Tanulf said with some heat.

  “Truth be told, I feel the cold hand of death on me at all times these days,” the duke said, his volume dropping off rapidly. “Soon Regina will succeed me as the duchess. This will probably be my last action as the duke.”

  Alex smiled politely and nodded his head.

  “I can certainly understand. I would ask what you would have me do to support you, my duke?”

  Tanulf gave him a wretched smile, his head bobbing slightly.

  “You’ll be holding the left flank, Count Brit.”

  From his memories came the concept that in historical battles, the right flank was where one put their elite troops. To try and turn the enemy’s flank as quickly as possible.

  In return, one put their worst troops on the left flank, and hoped they could hold long enough to turn the flank of the enemy first.

  In other words, the duke planned on sacrificing Brit to the last man if it came down to it. Or see him be routed and run, at which point he’d work to revoke his title or some other suitable punishment.

  “I understand. Any particular orders, or just hold the flank, sir?” Alex asked, unperturbed.

  Having hired Bulwark, he’d already set up an existing strategy for himself to utilize. He’d rely on his people heavily.

  Professionals who lived the life of war and had a high number of veterans.

  Alex was going to be able to handle this. Maybe if he got lucky, his opponent would under-estimate him. Maybe even give Alex a chance to earn some glory.

  “Just hold the flank long enough for us to turn theirs. That’s all,” Tanulf said evenly. “Though if it comes down to it, I’d say dishonor before death is the better option. I’m sure we’d be able to work something out that would restore your honor.”

  That leaves me open to interpret my orders fairly cleanly, so long as I hold the flank.

  In fact, I could justify that as being nothing more than an end result, couldn’t I?

  “I understand. I’ll be sure to hold the flank,” Alex said.

  “Count Brit, I’m curious about a few things,” Regina said, getting his attention.

  “About what, dear lady?”

  “Your county has recently undergone some very… interesting changes. I’ve even had the good fortune to know what your taxes are, as Father shared them with me after we received your vassalage from the king.

  “The county of Brit is rather well off,” she said.

  “We’re definitely doing very well. I make sure our taxes are well documented so that there’s no cau
se for concern. Though forgive me, Lady Tanulf, I did not hear a question in there.”

  “Too true. My apologies for not being direct enough. My question is how did you do it? I didn’t see any massive sweeping changes put forth to the king. He would have told us.”

  Alex smiled, unable to help himself. His answer to those who didn’t know was rather simple.

  And as misleading as he could make it.

  “I stopped wasting all of Brit’s income on myself, and grew up,” Alex said. “After that, it wasn’t hard to achieve.”

  The duke said nothing, watching him, and Regina gave him a large—and, Alex thought, very predatory—smile.

  Chapter 19

  Alex had barely gotten ten steps beyond the pavilion before his people fell in around him. Carla on his right, Max on his left, David one step beyond that.

  “We’re to hold the left flank,” Alex said immediately.

  Everyone around him seemed to take that without a concern. Internally, Alex imagined they were annoyed and worried though.

  They’d undoubtedly be going up against the best the enemy had.

  “Max, David, spread some money around and see if we can’t dig up where the duke wants to hold this battle,” Alex said once they were out of earshot of anyone else.

  “Two, if you catch someone sneaking around my tent, bash their head in first and ask questions after. David, Max, it’s up to you to let your people know not to come around in a sneaky way. They need to be obvious and direct if they don’t want their skulls smashed in.

  “I’m going to tell your partner the same thing,” Alex said, deliberately not naming Three. “In fact, triple the guard on our supplies. Give the men an extra ration of ale later on to keep them happy.”

  “You suspect trouble?” Max asked.

  “Not really. But I wouldn’t discount it. I’d rather pay the men extra beer than lament my losses,” Alex said with a shrug.

  “Once we figure out where the battle will start, I want to know the entire layout of the battlefield. Terrain, elevation—every detail and anything that stands out. I’m sure Duke Gaelis is well aware of the fact that we’re here and probably even knows where we’ll fight. So whoever you send, be sure they’re on guard.”

  “Elevation?” Max asked dubiously.

  “Yeah. Elevation. Hills, depressions, sunken roads, anything that would change the height of the battlefield,” Alex said.

  Memories of long-forgotten games flitted through his mind.

  My dad always beat me so bad. Let’s hope I remember enough to not make a complete ass out of myself.

  Wish I had paid more attention to those war documentaries he watched, too.

  “Gonna reward me if I kill one?” Carla asked.

  “Definitely. You brain one and I’ll pay you a week’s salary as a bonus. Catch one alive and I’ll give you a month’s.”

  Carla grunted at that, her blood-lust palpable.

  Leave it to the bandit to get worked up about killing someone for pay.

  “Anything else you all need?” Alex asked.

  “No, sire.”

  “No, sir.”

  “No, Master.”

  “Great. I’m going to turn in for the night. You all get to your jobs and be ready to roll out as soon as we get an idea of where this battle is taking place. I have a plan.”

  Max and David fell away from him as soon as they made it into their camp.

  Carla stayed at his side.

  Smiling to himself, he remembered what he was in for tonight.

  “Stop smirking,” Carla grumbled.

  “I can’t help it. Tonight just got so much better.”

  “Fucking bitch isn’t even here yet and I’m taking one for her,” Carla muttered.

  “In the mouth, no less,” Alex added in helpfully.

  “You really are too much of a smart-ass, Master.”

  “Don’t forget you said you’d swallow.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. I’ll also try not to forget to be careful with my teeth, Master.”

  ***

  Max delicately smoothed the map out with his hands.

  It had a weathered look, as if someone had stuffed it into a saddlebag.

  Small markers had been penned throughout the whole thing. There were a number of different levels of penmanship, as well. As if it had passed hands.

  One spot even looked as if it had been done at a full gallop.

  “Did they have problems?” Alex asked.

  “Some. You weren’t wrong about Duke Gaelis being aware. The countryside is swarming with scouts. We didn’t lose anyone, but it was a close thing.

  “Made confirming the location easy though,” David said, pointing to the left side of the map. “It’s a fairly flat plane here. As far as we’re aware, Duke Tanulf plans on taking this position.”

  Max indicated the spot on the map for David, since he was a little out of reach from his side of the table.

  “On our side is some rocky terrain and a small gulley. An old road a bit closer to where the battle will probably be, but that’s it.

  “As far as we can figure, Tanulf plans to hold the center right there in the middle of that flat as a board plane.

  “For all the vainglorious reasoning I’m sure he has,” David said with a sneer in his voice.

  “Not our problem. What’s out on the left flank? Anything we can use to our advantage?”

  Max scratched at his chin, as if considering the question.

  David huffed and then indicated a section of the map that had a series of numbers and what looked like a hole from a pen stabbed into it.

  “This seems like it’s a rocky hill. Not too high, but certainly not at the same level as everywhere around. The problem is it curves backward instead of falling out in a straight line,” David said.

  “So, it kinda hooks like this?” Alex asked, picking up the quill and carefully drawing in what it looked like the scouts had been trying to.

  Max watched silently and David nodded his head.

  “That’s about right, sire.”

  “Alright, so let’s get some men up there and start working the position. Preferably under cover of night and without making it obvious.”

  “Sir… you want us to… dig in?” Max asked.

  “Yep. Dig in. Move those rocks if you can to provide a wall, or put them lower on the hill as a way to break up their formations. Just enough to give us a foot or two over our opponents.”

  “Sir, if we keep the line, we’ll end up moving down the hill,” Max interjected.

  “Why the fuck would we hold the line? Put us in a hook, curling with the hill,” Alex said, indicating the very same hook he’d just drawn. “It’s not as if they won’t try to flank us and roll us up anyways. Right?”

  David frowned at that, crossing his arms in front of himself in a defensive way.

  “You’re not wrong but… it isn’t very…”

  “Very what, fair? Sportsmanlike? Pah. This is war. I plan to kill as many of them as I can and get as few of us killed as possible. Make sure we get a platform put up at the very least for the archers to fire downhill from,” Alex said, tapping the center of the area.

  “What do you want us to do if someone tells us to move?” Max asked.

  “Ignore them. Or kill the messenger, I don’t care. Don’t move though,” Alex said with a shrug of his shoulders. Both men stared at him as if he’d grown a second head.

  “This’ll be the spot where we hold our ground and have them break upon us. They’ll be expecting to roll right through us. We know their tactics in that case. Let’s use it to our advantage.”

  Carla grunted at that.

  “Good. That makes it easy. What else? You said you had a plan. This… is good, but not like you to stop there,” she said.

  “Am I that obvious?” Alex asked, grinning at her.

  She didn’t respond; instead she just stared at him.

  Still hasn’t forgiven me for making sure she swallowed by ope
ning her mouth to show me.

  “I want to purchase two score horses. I assume we have at least forty men who can ride?” Alex asked, looking to David.

  “Easily.”

  “Good. I want forty men to be trained up as mounted infantry. They’re going to have a different job during this first battle.

  “The enemy isn’t going to expect anything from us. Other than to die miserably. Even with our emplacements, they’ll think they can waltz right over us.

  “I want those mounted infantry to move out the day before and to go very far afield. Far enough that no screening force or picket would find them,” Alex said, gesturing to the far left side of the map.

  “And?” David asked, unable to wait for Alex to continue, it seemed.

  “When the battle is fully joined, I want those forty to ransack the enemy headquarters and camp. I want them to take all the coin they can, to burn everything they can’t take, and to capture any nobility or generals they find.

  “I’ll pay twenty gold a head for a nobleman or noblewoman, and thirty for a general. Any coinage they find and bring back, they can keep twenty percent of it shared amongst themselves. Any uniforms they can steal would be great as well,” Alex said making a vague gesture at where the enemy would probably set up camp.

  “You want to attack… their general directly?” Max asked.

  “Uh huh. And whatever backers they have over there. And when you get them back here, make sure it’s in secret, if possible.

  “Prisoners aren’t shared with a liege lord, as there is always the case for a ransom, but I’d rather not tip our hand if we don’t have to.”

  “This is… very unconventional,” David said softly.

  “I’m no patriot. I’m not even a general. I’m no son of a duke. I’m a damn count dragged into a war I had nothing to do with.

  “If it means we’ll catch them off guard, then I’ll do it. And if you bring me a number of prisoners and money, all the better.

  “Oh, and I really do mean torch everything you can’t take. If you can find their food stores, set them aflame.

  “Standing fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of mankind. Any defense can be overrun given time and manpower. We’ll use that to our advantage. They’ll pile everything up in one spot.”