They Counted Me Like Cargo, So I Took the War novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Map Table

Thirty red cloaks lay in a heap on the floor of the command tent, still stinking of smoke.

Corvus's officers stood around the map table and looked at them, and then at Seren.

There were nine of them, colonels and captains, and the broken-nosed captain from the cook fire stood at the end.

Nobody had offered the prince a stool.

He took one anyway and sat at the corner of the table, where the Wend ran down the middle of the map in blue ink.

"He doesn't sit at this table," a grey colonel said.

"He sat at it yesterday," Garrow said.

"Yesterday he was a prince."

The colonel looked straight at Seren.

"Your own brother struck you off. Whose lord are you now, boy? You're a Caerwen nobody in a borrowed shirt."

Nobody argued with him.

Seren didn't either, because the man was right.

"The truce is broken," another colonel said. "It broke the minute they stitched our horse on their shoulders. We cross tonight, while the regent's grain is still on the road."

There was a growl of agreement around the table.

Corvus stood at the head of it with his bandaged hand flat on the map.

He hadn't said a word.

"You'll lose," Seren said.

Nine faces turned to him.

"You won't lose the battle. You'll lose the war."

"Explain that," Corvus said.

"My brother has a council of eleven lords. Seven of them wanted this peace. Some of them quote my letters at supper."

Seren put his finger on Highcourt.

"Cross the Wend tonight, and every one of those seven stands behind Aldric by morning, because Varra broke the truce. That's what Hollin was for. It was bait."

"So we sit here and let him burn villages?"

"He can't. It didn't work."

Seren leaned over the cloaks and pulled one out.

← Chapter 5 · All chapters · Chapter 7 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend