It had been necessary to give him command of the rear. A position mighty enough that it would seem as if he was giving the young General the highest of honours. It also gave him the chance to attempt to train those peasants of his. However, he didn't know how much he trusted the young man to retreat.
When he'd first given him the post, he'd been quite certain that, above everything else, Oliver Patrick would value the lives of his men. He wouldn't risk them for mere stone, if he judged that the city to be indefensible – and according to all reports, with an army of twenty thousand Emerson men marching, it was. Yet, increasingly, now that Blackwell had worries gathering about him like flies, he worried that Oliver would choose rashness in that as well.
