Preparations
Ian Reinmaker pov:
As we got closer to the city of Rougat the road has become more unstable and narrow, there wasn't much sight seeing as everything was surrounded by giant boulders and mountains.
"MhmmmMhmmmMhm." Mesze and Margaret were happily humming together.
I only left with three hundred soldiers which mostly consisted of cavalry as we have supplies top carry towards the city, the rest of the army was on standby.They were Instructed to wait for further instructions and while at it supplies were being collected and more soldiers trained and recruited.
"You both have been humming the whole journey, are you two ever gonna stop?, It's starting to get annoying.
"Mhmmm!Mhmmm!Mhm!" they hummed louder.
It took almost a month to get to the city, the surrounding area around it was surrounded by tent and the hustle and bustle of a an army.As we got there I looked at the city but it just looked like Numes but a little bit bigger and under maintained, you can see the patchwork of repairs and people repairing other areas of the wall.
I looked beside me and Mesze had the biggest smile on her face, I guess I never realized how much she really missed her family.
Maybe I though that I should really pay more attention to her and actually set some time for that to happen, I decided as the opportunity arise I will do exactly just that.
"Halt!" A guard stopped us.
"OUT THE WAY DOOFUS! IT"S ME!" Mesze kicked the guard in a playful manner.
"I just wanted you to halt so I can look at you lady Mesze" The guard blushed at Mesze
"Halt! No!" Why sister yelled at the guard, pulled her horse beside her and chimed Mesze to continue on.
"You are my sister in law, you are not allowed , nope" he started pestering Mesze , looked at each other and both girls started laughing then looked back at me.
"Why didn't you say anything?' Mesze asked in a quiet tone of voice.
"And you call yourself the storm bringer" my sister stared at me and then at Mesze and then they both laughed again.
"Why do I always become the joke when they're both around? , it must be a woman thing I though and I'm just happy I did not get berated by these two.
When we got into the Drakks house I was mercilessly pulled or I say forced into the house.
"Son in law here sit I cooked dinner for you" she shyly spoke
"MOM!" all the three Toroch girls started throwing stuff at her.
So this is where she gets the throwing tantrum from , that actually explains a lot.
We all sat at the dinner table and a full roasted goat was place along the table with the sides of potatoes, bread , fruits and wine.
Our lunch was eventful, the girls argued and made up and talked about their daily activities that I was pretty sure was the same but it still made everyone happy, they talked about the new fabric, clothes , the kind of wine that was good , the make-up they never wore but would if they weren't always training.
After lunch we all sat in the studies and we got into the business at hand, but it was Mesze that started it.
"Mother we have brought you everything you asked for food,medicine and weapons, there are two hundred cars full of them and my husband has set his army on standby" she readily reported to her mother.
"WE ARE NOT MARRIED YET!" I wanted to yell at her but decided to give her this one.
"Son-in-law thank you for everything" she stood up and gave me a peck on the cheek.
I think she was trying to make her daughters jealous this whole time
"STARE" I felt a cold tingling sensation once I was done smiling at Gene.
"I...." babbled
All the girls just stared at me.
"MMMMM" I cleared my throat.
"So why do you need and extra army?" I asked gene.
"We need more people to fill our ranks, were gonna attack villages that are full of Torni and make the submit" she answered.
"What?! , that is crazy!" I jumped up readily to leave but Mesze put her hands on me stopping me.
"Look, they have a lot of gold, iron, food plus wouldn't you want some Torni on your side as soldiers?" gene explained to me
"How about you negotiate?" I implied
"We really don't negotiate, remember how we always reacted towards you?" Gene shrugged her shoulder wondering why I looked so confused.
It might not be a bad Idea I though, throughout the night we planned the raid and in the morning we left to ready the army.
The Toroch and their people were really nice to us apparently that is how they treat family.
The way home was almost uneventful until Mesze pulled her horse beside me.
"Thank you" Mesze blushed as she said it and rode away.
When we got back to Rougat I sent a message to the Isaccs to see if they wanted to be part of this endeavor and they happily agreed, I also sent people to Numes to buy all the requirement that we would need for the journey such as more food, medicine, clothing , carts and so on.
I also posted a notice to hire people that would help us carry the equipment , around five hundred joined with mules in tow but not including our own. On the last day we that we set off we had four thousand soldiers which consisted of three hundred ballista, seven hundred horse archers , a thousand spear horsemen, seven hundred hundred archers , two hundred cross bowman and one thousand one hundred spear-man.
I looked over the rising sun and with awe that I could never get tired of looked at my army.
"Sound the horn" I yelled
"TROO!" A captain blew the horn and the army became like a wave of ocean.
As my army marched in front of me I looked into the rising sun and I wonder what awaits us up north.