Chapter 105: The Day Before the Second Hammer

Chapter 105: The Day Before the Second Hammer

The newest message from Northwatch reached the eastern command council just after midday, carried by a rider whose horse was too exhausted to continue beyond the outer courtyard.

The parchment had been sealed several days earlier, before the northwatch capital had fallen, and the wax still bore Governor Edric Vaelor’s mark.

By the time Governor Lucan Merrow of Valemar, Governor Seraph Dorne of Redhaven, Governor Cassian Holt of Stoneford, and General Orren Tal gathered around the campaign table, the situation described in the letter had already changed completely.

Seraph read the message aloud while Orren compared its details against the troop movements marked across the map.

Northwatch’s provincial capital was surrounded, the eastern gate had suffered heavy damage, and repeated assaults were grinding down the northern and southern walls. Edric requested immediate reinforcement from every eastern province still capable of sending soldiers.

Redhaven forces already approaching the city had been unable to enter because Viridian controlled the surrounding roads, and Edric warned that the capital could not endure the same pressure indefinitely.

Lucan folded his arms as Seraph finished reading. "The message is several days old. We do not know what the city looks like now."

"We know that Edric asked for help before this was sent," Seraph replied. "His field army was already destroyed, his capital was surrounded, and the first reinforcements could not reach him. Waiting for another message will cost us several more days."

Cassian looked toward the black marker representing conquered Eastwatch and then toward the northern roads leading deeper into Caldris.

"If Northwatch collapses, Redhaven becomes exposed. Once that corridor opens, the goblins can continue inland without another province standing between them and Seraph’s capital."

Seraph placed a finger on the road connecting Northwatch and Redhaven. "That is why I am sending another force north. If enough troops gather outside the encirclement, Vorak may be forced to turn part of his army away from the walls."

Lucan remained focused on the southern half of the map. Valemar shared a direct frontier with occupied Eastwatch, and Viridian still had large forces somewhere inside that province. The northern invasion had drawn the largest visible concentration away from him, but he had never accepted that the southern border could simply be ignored.

"The goblins inside Eastwatch have not disappeared," Lucan said. "Every formation I send north reduces what stands between them and Valemar’s capital."

Seraph turned toward him. "Your frontier has been quiet for almost two weeks. Northwatch has spent those same days losing towns, a field army, and now perhaps its capital."

"That silence could end whenever they choose."

"It could," Seraph answered. "We still have to act on what the enemy is doing, not everything the enemy might do."

General Orren Tal raised one hand before the argument could return to the same ground they had covered during earlier councils. "Our original deployment was based on uncertainty. Northwatch and Valemar were both reinforced because we did not know where the main attack would fall. Fourteen days have passed since Viridian crossed into Northwatch, and their actions have given us a clearer picture."

Lucan looked toward him. "Clearer does not mean certain."

"No commander gets certainty," Orren replied. "We have reports showing a massive northern advance, a destroyed field army, bypassed fortifications, and a siege around the provincial capital. If we leave the shared reserve where it is while Northwatch is being crushed, then the reserve serves no purpose."

Cassian studied the remaining markers. "Move most of it north, but keep enough inland to respond if the situation changes."

Orren nodded and began adjusting the pieces. The majority of the shared eastern reserve would begin marching toward the Northwatch corridor, while a smaller force remained farther south and west to preserve some flexibility.

Even that compromise shifted thousands of soldiers away from the area between Valemar and Stoneford.

Seraph issued his own orders soon afterward. Redhaven would send another substantial formation north, adding nearly twenty thousand troops to the forces already moving toward Northwatch.

Infantry formed the core of the column, supported by crossbowmen, engineers, medical personnel, and long lines of wagons carrying food and ammunition.

"If Vorak stays around the capital, then he will eventually have another army behind him," Seraph said. "If he turns to face us, Edric may gain room to breathe."

Lucan said nothing while more markers gathered around the northern corridor. The plan was dangerous, but the continued silence on his own frontier had made it increasingly difficult to justify keeping every mobile formation inside Valemar.

A fresh scout report arrived during the discussion. Viridian patrols were still visible opposite the Valemar frontier, yet no large army had crossed the border. No major siege train had appeared on the southern roads, and no obvious mass concentration had been detected near the frontier. The camps inside Eastwatch looked much as they had during the previous several days.

Seraph slid the report across the table. "This is not the first quiet report."

Lucan read it carefully. "It also does not tell us how many soldiers are sitting farther inside Eastwatch."

Orren leaned over the map. "How many troops can Valemar release without weakening the capital garrison or abandoning the principal crossings?"

Lucan glanced toward his officers. "Twelve thousand immediately. I can reach fifteen thousand if secondary road garrisons are reduced and militia replace them."

"Send fifteen," Seraph said.

Lucan looked at him sharply. "Those are Valemar soldiers."

"They are eastern soldiers while Northwatch is being destroyed."

Lucan remained silent for several moments before making the decision. "Fifteen thousand. The capital garrison stays untouched, and the main crossings remain defended."

Orders were written immediately. Roughly seven thousand infantry would form the core of the Valemar reinforcement column, supported by crossbowmen, cavalry, engineers, and several thousand troops responsible for logistics, escorts, and road security.

These soldiers joined the smaller formations Valemar had already released during the earlier stages of the crisis.

The commitment did not leave Valemar defenseless. Its provincial capital still possessed a substantial garrison, important bridges remained guarded, and militia continued holding secondary roads and towns. What changed was the location of much of the province’s mobile field strength.

Thousands of soldiers who could have met an invasion outside the capital were now preparing to march north.

Cassian Holt added a smaller Stoneford contingent to the movement. Engineers, crossbow companies, supplies, and several infantry formations would pass through Valemar before joining the forces gathering farther north. The decision placed even more military traffic onto the same roads leading away from the Eastwatch frontier.

By late afternoon, the consequences of the council’s decisions could already be seen across Valemar. Soldiers formed into marching columns outside barracks and provincial camps, horses were watered, and wagons were loaded with food, bolts, tools, medicine, and spare equipment. Roads normally used by merchants began filling with infantry, cavalry, medical carts, and long supply trains heading toward Northwatch.

Some Valemar depots released stores that had originally been held for local defense. Quartermasters complained that the northern columns were consuming carts and draft animals faster than they could be replaced, yet emergency orders overruled ordinary planning. Northwatch was assumed to still be fighting for survival, and every governor feared being remembered as the one who had kept soldiers idle while another provincial capital was destroyed.

Lucan watched one of the columns leave from a road outside the council compound. He had resisted sending a force of this size for days, but the silence on his own frontier had continued long enough to influence his judgment.

"They have had fourteen days," he said to Orren. "If Valemar were their immediate target, I would expect some movement by now."

Orren watched the departing soldiers. "Then we proceed with the decision we have made and keep the frontier scouts active."

None of them knew that another courier was already riding south with newer information.

Northwatch’s capital had fallen. Governor Edric Vaelor had surrendered. The northern and eastern gates were under Viridian control, and the provincial government district had already been occupied.

That message would arrive too late to stop the armies now leaving their camps. The eastern governors were organizing a relief effort for a city that no longer belonged to Caldris, and every hour of travel carried additional troops farther away from the frontier Rakhar intended to attack next.

The council continued planning around the assumption that Edric still held the city. Seraph proposed gathering the reinforcement formations outside the Viridian encirclement rather than sending small groups forward separately.

Once enough troops had assembled, they could threaten the roads feeding Vorak’s army and attempt to force him into a field battle.

Orren agreed with the broad approach. If the relief force became large enough, it could threaten Viridian supply lines while Edric launched a sortie from inside the capital. The idea relied on coordination that would be difficult across long distances, yet they had few alternatives if they wanted to break the siege.

By evening, the governors separated and their orders continued spreading across the eastern provinces. Valemar’s northbound columns were already moving, and some formations had traveled far enough that recalling them would require halting the entire column, turning supply wagons around, reorganizing marching order, and then beginning the return journey south.

Across the border in Eastwatch, Rakhar Veyr received his own reports from scouts watching those roads. Redhaven was sending additional soldiers, the shared eastern reserve had shifted farther north, and Valemar had finally committed another significant formation. Long lines of soldiers and wagons were now moving away from Valemar while more supplies followed behind them.

Rakhar stood over the campaign map and looked at the fourteen marks already placed beside the northern offensive.

The first invasion had begun fourteen days earlier, and Caldris had spent those days steadily pulling forces toward Northwatch.

Varek stood beside the southern arrow. "Valemar sent another column."

"Fifteen thousand, according to the latest count," Rakhar said.

Varek glanced toward the calendar. "Then the timetable remains?"

Rakhar nodded. "Tomorrow."

The southern invasion force had remained spread across Eastwatch throughout the northern campaign. Roughly eighty to ninety thousand troops occupied camps, depots, training grounds, road-security posts, and staging areas.

Caldris scouts had never been completely unaware of their existence, but they had failed to identify their purpose or the exact day they would move.

Rakhar now authorized the final preparations. Senior officers opened sealed instructions, supply wagons were loaded, engineers received assigned routes and bridges, siege equipment was inspected, and scouts were given the roads they would cross at first light. Units remained inside their existing camps through the evening so that no enormous concentration appeared near the frontier before the last practical moment.

Across that frontier, Lucan received another scout report before nightfall. The Viridian camps remained quiet, ordinary patrols continued along the border, and no large formation had begun moving toward Valemar.

The report reinforced the decision he had already made, and he allowed the northbound columns to continue.

He did not know that Edric was already a prisoner or that Northwatch’s government buildings carried Viridian banners. He also did not know that the soldiers still scattered through Eastwatch had received orders directing them toward his province at dawn.

As darkness settled across the eastern region, Valemar’s reinforcement columns continued marching north beneath the evening sky.

Across the border, Viridian officers completed their preparations inside apparently ordinary camps, while Rakhar placed the fifteenth mark on his campaign calendar and left the southern arrow untouched until morning.

At dawn, the quiet along Valemar’s frontier would end.