"I agree with the lad... I also think I'd be better to raid enemy camps up north than to run with our tails behind our legs!" A Noble vouched for Duke's idea.
The Noble who vouched for Duke was Titus Broderick, the very same person who suggested fortifying their positions.
Titus was normally the brash and abrasive sort, but as a veteran commander, he could also be thoughtful and solemn when it was required of him, and he saw the virtue behind Duke's suggestion.
"Aye, it would indeed be more honorable than retreating after getting beat up once!" Hernando Vazquez also agreed, much like most of the Nobles in the room.
Even the cautious Servian Rochard somewhat agreed to Duke's words: "Indeed indeed, it is the most logical choice I guess... But nevertheless, it's still a huge gamble, isn't it?" Servian asked everybody in the room, hoping to hear Alexei's thoughts on the matter. Sadly he was quiet the whole time.
"T-That's right! We don't really know the enemy's numbers! It's more dangerous to just leave the decision-making to someone like Duke!" Seeing the opportunity to attack Duke, even more, Darius shouted after Servian spoke of his doubts.
It seemed as though everybody was about to agree with Duke's suggestions of going further north. To the already tired and afraid Darius, wanting nothing but to run back to his safe comfy fief, Darius feared that this 'failed' expedition would continue.
Darius' words incited the other Nobles who wanted to return home to squabble.
"We still have a lot more to prepare and to take care of if we want to win this War! And we still haven't even buried our dead yet! I suggest retreating first..." One Nobles who wanted to return home made excuses.
"Yeah, I still need to bury my brother back to his homeland!" Another noble shouted as the crowd became rowdier in their arguments.
Seeing the opportunity to make the best decision he could, Alexei finally shouted:
"Enough! Enough! Everybody shut yer crap and listen up! Since everybody can't come to a consensus, we'll do a vote then... Those in favor of Duke's suggestion go to the left, and those in favor to retreat go to the right!"
Alexei ordered, immediately quieting everyone down as the people in the tent split themselves into 3 parties, 50% of them agreed with Duke, while 30% agreed with Darius to retreat.
Though a surprising 20%, which included Rochard Servian, stayed in the middle, imploring Alexei that:
"We will follow your orders, Lord Commander!" Servian, who represented their group, stated as he bent one knee in front of Alexei. Pushing all responsibility, decision-making, and blame onto the Lord Commander.
[Bah, this sly old fox!] Alexei thought to himself as he shouted:
"GOOD! Now everyone, hear my decision! I too believe Duke's suggestion to be too uncertain to follow through. But seeing that the majority of everyone here wishes to continue north, then we will do so as the majority wants! If anything wrong happens, you have no one to blame but yourselves for this decision! All of you decided after all... I don't want to hear anymore blaming after this!" Alexei grinned, dumping all fault and responsibility to the group, instead of just Duke or himself.
"But Lord Commander!-" Darius wished to implore Alexei as he thought Alexei was on his side.
But before he could speak, Alexei continued: "And of course it wouldn't be fair to those who voted to regroup, now is it?" Alexei grinned, specifically choosing the word to regroup instead of retreat or run away as he would normally do.
"Those who wish to report back to the Capital, I won't force you to come with us to the north, make sure to implore Varhys (The Emperor) for more reinforcements, Gahahaha! That is all, everyone dismissed!" Alexei smiled as he looked at Darius, the former thinking the old man favored him.
Darius and Deacon grinned as they were basically given permission to head home and run away from the war.
And with one hand wave, everybody dispersed to do their own preparations. Duke on the other hand stayed as he was called over by Alexei.
Seeing the young man obviously perplexed by his decision, Alexei asked: "Don't you have anything to ask me?" Alexei grinned a teasing grin as if saying that Duke was still too young to understand.
"I just don't get why you'd split the army..." Duke rubbed his chin, deep in confused contemplation.
"If you wanted to follow my idea, you wouldn't have to go in a roundabout way like this right?" Duke continued.
"Aigoo. Young man, you are still too new in leading a large group like this, aren't you?..." Alexei continued his explanation:
"You know, leading different groups and leading just the Pendragon Knights are quite different!
For one, those who wanted to retreat have already made up their fuckin' minds... If we forced them ta' stay, sooner or later they might incite even more cowards to retreat with them!
This time was just a few cowards lost, but if we waited, even half our army won't be left intact... Not everyone is as loyal as those old Knights you lead, ya know... I always knew Pendragon Loyalty was fierce, but your people are basically cult members at this point! Gahaha" Alexei grinned, showing off his impeccably white shiny teeth, despite his age.
"And besides... who was going to divert the enemy's attention down south while we raid their supply lines?" Alexei grinned, but this time, it was a more sinister grin than before.
"If we can't use them as soldiers, they can at least buy us some time am I right?" Alexei ended the conversation, giving Duke chills that ran down his spine. Not chills of fear, but instead, chills of awe and respect at the old man's merciless cunning.
[The Great Bastard indeed...] Duke thought to himself as he saw the grinning conniving old man in front of him.
And with that, the next day on the morning of the 27th of Craving, the Reinforcement Army was split in two.
5000 of the troops, including 3000 men from the Caravans headed North where they planned to disrupt more of the Northmen's advance.
While the remaining 2000 troops on the other hand, including 1000 Caravaneers, decided it would be in their best interest to retreat back to Brune.
And as Alexei expected, the 15000 enemy warriors awaited them on the shortest route to Brune, ambushing them on their way...
Except for a lucky few who were enslaved, most of the people there were massacred by the Northmen, their bodies fed to the hungry wolves the barbarians had brought over from their homelands.
"H-HEY! UNHAND ME BARBARIAN! I am a Marquis of Brune! How dare yo-" Darius shouted as the grubby hands of the Barbarians captured him and swiftly gagged his noisy mouth with one of their dirty and soggy underwear...
"Bahaha, a 'noebel' (Noble) he says?! This one will fetch us a good ransom, ey boys?!" One of the Wolf Rider captains, wearing a Spangenhelm helmet and a full mail cuirass, laughed in his native tongue as he stepped on Darius' obnoxious face.
The captain understood some of the foolish idiot's Brunish dialect as the Danemen and Normen peoples commonly traded for food with the northern people of Brune when they weren't at war or when they weren't raiding them.
In times of peace, they were traders and in times of war they were warriors, such was the average life of a Northman.
"""BAHAHAHA!""" The other Northmen, dismounting their large wolves laughed along with the captain as the rest of the Northmen soldiers gathered around a large and black wooly mammoth that was mounted by their Konungir (their lord), crowding the area and preparing it to be their temporary encampment.
These men had to dismount their gigantic wolves early as it was quite hard to control the wolves in tight-knit spaces. Despite having a reputation for being tall and gigantic, in truth, the average Northman was basically no different from an average Brunesman, just a little taller maybe.
The only real difference between them is that the average Northman's life was far harsher, and they had to endure far more hardships due to the cold and unforgiving topography of their homeland. Hence making them better suited as warriors than the average Brunish peasant, living in his somewhat arguably warm and comfier farm...
Ignoring the fact that a Brunish peasant also had to pay 70% of his grown wheat as tax, and maybe a few kidnapped daughters here and there to appease his Nobility overlords, the Brunish peasant had it quite good in comparison to the poor and destitute Northman, who had to hunt bears and raid villages for his daily meal... How the Northmen successfully conquered much of Northern Brune, I'll never understand.
And so, handling wolves, bears, and especially mammoths that were far larger and wilder than them was no easier for the average Northman than it was for another human being in this world.
The only reason Northmen even have beast riding and taming as an integral part of their culture was solely out of desperate necessity and the lack of hospitable grazing areas for horses in their frozen lands.
If it were up to most of the Beast Riders here, in their youths, before becoming the fierce riders and tamers they are today, most of them would probably have chosen a nice docile horse to ride like any sane normal person would do, that is of course if horses could even survive the numbing cold of their homelands.
Sadly, horses can't, and so the poor Northfolk are stuck with mounts composed of deadly giant beasts that can maim and kill their enemies faster than their riders could with a spear.
But with all that sarcasm aside, the Northman Beast Rider is a good example of humanity overcoming its weaknesses and turning it into a strength.
But of course, even this strength isn't perfect as can be seen here whilst the Northmen soldiers were getting encamped for the night, one young teenager accidentally angered one of the Mammoth Jarl's Wooly Mammoths, and was mercilessly crushed to death by the beast's enormous legs.
"SON!" The Jarl, an officer just below Ulfskad in rank cried out, jumping from his mount to hug the crushed body of the boy.
In a cruel twist of fate, the foolish boy that angered the Mammoth he was riding on turned out to be his son whom he had brought along with him to this expedition.
[Bahahaha! What stupid idiot!...] Ulfskad laughed to himself as he quickly shooed his hands, shouting: "Get that idiot out of here, hurry! He's ruining the mood..."
Ulfskad jerked himself up from the half saddle-half throne he had on his black Giant Wooly Mammoth and shouted: "Tonight, thanks to the victory I delivered... we FEAST!"
Quickly making the rest of the troops shout and cheer for their victory, ignoring the man who had just lost his son.
Such was the cutthroat atmosphere Ulfskad had made within his troops, where only the strong and talented could celebrate.
The soldiers, more specifically the non-riders who were of the lowest rank within Ulfskad's army, quickly set up the tents and the large bonfires from which people could gather, eat, and drink their worries away.
They also untied the prisoners and locked them up inside empty beast cages for better security. While the average and poorer soldiers were mercilessly killed and disposed of, the captured Nobles on the other hand were a little bit luckier as they were ransomed off for a large and lucrative amount of gold, sparing their cowardly lives and enriching the enemy barbarians.
Thankfully enough though, these Nobles weren't fully useless and Alexei's tactic worked, as the Northmen barbarians mistook the 2000 retreating cowards as the full remainder of that night's ambush.
Foolishly thinking to themselves that they had already fully annihilated the whole of the Reinforcement Army.
"GAHAHAHA! Do you see that men?! I told you these Brune Cowards would retreat fast after seeing the might of my great army beasts!" Ulfskad roared as he rode on a monstrous black mammoth. Even as the party continued, Ulfskad ate and drank on top of his black mammoth.
***ROAR*** ***HOWL*** """GAHAHAHA!""" A little further away, gathered around large bonfires, his Beast Riders and their mounts (mostly only wolves and bears as the mammoths were too large) roared and laughed around him as they shouted:
"As expected of our Konungaz! He had the enemy right in the palm of our hands!" One Beast Rider shouted, kissing up to Ulfskad. Everybody here knew that Ulfskad liked being complimented.
"GAHAHAHA, you should've seen them run when they saw our beasts! They looked at us as if we were demons! BAHAHAHA!" Another roared as he playfully boasted in front of the other soldiers, putting two index fingers up his head, pretending as if they were the horns of a demon.
"Even heard a bunch praying to their Gods to liberate them, not much they could do now could they?! Gahaha... Should've prayed to Tyr instead!" A Northman shaman, wearing a ceremonial mammoth's skull on his head and a robe made from mammoth fur bragged... oddly enough, the large mammoth skull didn't seem to inhibit his ability to drink.
Contrary to common belief, fur was worn pretty scarcely within the barbarian army, most of the poorer soldiers wore leather or cloth instead. If one was a little lucky, some of them also managed to salvage some torn furs and used them as scarves.
The party continued like this for a while with most people either bragging about their achievements or honoring the vain Ulfskad.
But then, one of the Northmen Bear Thanes suddenly came dangerously close to discovering Alexei and Duke's plan as he pointed out:
"Hey... Don't they seem fewer than the ones who escaped that day?" The Northman stroking his bear shouted in front of everyone.
"I mean, what if some of them escaped up North-" But before he could continue, an ax came hurling fast, burying itself inside his head, shocking no one who knew of Ulfskad's dangerous behavior.
"Ahhh~, another idiot trying to ruin my mood..." Ulfskad angrily grumbled.
"Clearly what you see here is the last remainder of their food!" Ulfskad roared as he mockingly put up a drumstick that they've looted from the retreating Brunesfolk.
"This stupid attention-seeking idiot, if they did what you think they did, then why 'give' us this perfectly good meat?!" Ulfskad pointed at the already dead Bear Rider, mocking him of his supposed 'stupidity' whilst still holding the drumstick and laughing away his annoyance...
Of course, much of the men here didn't really care about who died as they all laughed along with Ulfskad's twisted sense of humor.
"""BAHAHAHA!"""
And just like that, just as Alexei planned, the Northmen were luckily tricked by the 'voluntary' decoys he had sent out, and the Reinforcement Army was finally free to wreak havoc on the enemy barbarians in any way they wanted.
Oddly enough though, one Caravan from the 1000 Caravaneers successfully slipped through the Northman lines as their leader insisted they part ways with the retreating army, and instead took the long route to Brune, where fewer Northmen Riders were assigned... successfully informing the whole of Brune about the devastating ambush that had just happened.
Two days later, when Alexei was finally sure that the Northmen were no longer following their trails, he quickly called the whole army for a meeting to address them about something important.
Most of the soldiers there just thought Alexei was about to give them some snappy speech to lift their spirits or something like that.
But most of their preconceived notions shattered when Alexei immediately started with an uncharacteristic apology instead.
"I'm sorry..." Alexei said as he faked an obviously fake saddened face... The old man didn't even try to look truly sad to be honest, as he nonchalantly continued:
"Because of my incompetence, more than half of our troops have either died or fled... Due to this, I, in good conscience, much to your dismay, can no longer lead you as Lord Commander of this expedition..." Alexei spoke as he continued to make his fake sad face that convinced absolutely no one. Heck, some of the soldiers even thought Alexei was doing it on purpose to mock them!
[[[Some thing smells fishy!!!]]] Everybody listening thought to themselves.
"And so, I thought it would be a good idea to appoint Duke here instead!" The old man peppily announced.
"Okay~? No objections? That's good, everybody democratically accepts then! That is all, everyone dismissed! Shoo shoo, Duke here and I still have some plans to discuss" Alexei quickly ended the meeting before anybody could even say the 'I' in 'I object'... Leaving every soldier there speechless at the old man's utter shamelessness...
[[[The Great Bastard indeed!!!]]] Everybody there simultaneously thought.
Only Duke was left to think: [Huh?! Lord Commander...] "Me?..."
"Yes, you..." Alexei grinned a big ol' grandfatherly smile as he patted Duke on the shoulder.
Duke knew this old man was about to drag him into a hell way worse than what he was already in... sweating profusely, Duke hoped his body was at least somewhat intact after this whole ordeal.
And so, with that sudden announcement, on the 29th day of the month of Craving, Duke Pendragon who started out with only 200 troops at his command, suddenly found himself leading a 5000 strong army.
Not bad for someone who accidentally found his way here due to an argument with his wife...
If you can even call her that...