They rode through the day, passing many caravans on the way.
Several stopped to stare at the strange sight of so many men who looked like hell galloping like there was no tomorrow.
Once night fell they stopped at a creek after veering off the forest path.
Once a campfire was started and guard shifts were decided they pulled out the rations they had brought from the manor.
As they dug into the food several stared into empty space, it seemed the battle had taken quite the toll on them.
Alex noticed this and said.
"Don't worry, you guys shouldn't have to battle for quite a while, you can leave that to the third division."
Many sighed after he said that and the atmosphere became noticeably lighter.
"My Lord, how many men are in the third division?" asked a guard near him.
"Well I wasn't specifically told how many, but I think it's a fair guess to say that there will be somewhere around 50,000 men."
"But sir, with all due respect to the king, isn't that not enough to face an entire kingdom?" asked Brandon, who had once again made it through the battle unscathed.
Alex gulped down his food and picked up a stick from the ground.
Drawing four circles on the ground in a square of sorts he said.
"You see, the Toryn Kingdom and the Royal Alliance are neighbors and we are neighbors with the Levantine Empire."
"Now I don't know much but here is what I know."
All of them turned their attention to his drawings as he drew several arrows.
"The Toryn kingdom began the war with a surprise attack; they penetrated through the Earldom of Nore in a direct collision to take Ewin,"
"Now, fortunately, we stopped that attack and forced them to widen the distance between their armies and the armies of the Royal Alliance."
"Once my father took over, he fought the Toryn Kingdom in several skirmishes resulting in many lost convoys of supplies on their side."
"What we and the third division should be walking into, will be several units of the Toryn Kingdom which are severely undersupplied and at this point are beginning to dig in and prepare for defense as the harsh winter will slow their advance."
"It seems they didn't expect the winter to be as harsh as it has been so far."
"Now, you may be wondering, what if the Royal Alliance sends aid or reinforcements?"
"Well, here's the thing."
"While I was imprisoned I talked with the guard and he said that the Levantine Empire is fiercely attacking their left flank, so the Royal Alliance has had to transfer most of their forces just to defend their left flank and is currently pushing into our kingdom from the right."
"I'm guessing they didn't expect the reaction from the Empire to be so strong as they have not made any contact in so long."
"My father is currently heading to engage the enemy on our borders and should be able to rout the enemy forces with the two divisions under his command."
"The other two divisions are currently separated with one defending the capital and the other defending our border with the Empire."
"In short, we can expect no aid however since the Toryn Kingdom's forces are separated and lacking supplies, we should be able to crush them quite easily and even push into the Toryn Kingdom."
They nodded at his explanation but some looked uneasy.
One of them spoke up and said.
"But sir, what if the Royal Alliance gives up their left flank and decides to push on the right flank?"
"Well normally that wouldn't be a problem as the Empire would simply attack them, however, we know almost nothing about the new emperor after they closed their borders 10 years ago, therefore we can be unsure if they will simply hold their position or if they will counterattack, if they do decide to hold, however, Well…"
"Well be screwed."
***
As they arrived in front of a giant camp, they were greeted by several knights who held their swords pointed at them.
"Name yourselves!" one of them shouted.
Alex got off his horse and handed the reins to one of his guards.
Approaching the knight who held his sword at the ready, he said.
"My name is Alex Rath, commander of this division, may I ask who you might be?"
The knights looked suspicious until the guards took off their cloaks and showed the crest of Rath.
After seeing this they visibly relaxed as they sheathed their swords.
They quickly saluted and stood at attention while the one who spoke said.
"My name is Colonel Hansen, your grace," he said as pride filled his face.
Alex only needed one glance at his smug face for him to guess that the man had never seen real combat and was simply promoted through the ranks due to his social status.
"So you're the commanding officer?" he asked.
"Correct sir!" said Colonel Hansen.
"Gather the men, I want to address them," Alex ordered him.
He looked confused but went off to deliver his orders.
Around 10 minutes later 50,000 men were gathered in front of Alex.
A table and chair had been provided for him but Alex neglected to sit in it.
Leaning against the table he crossed his legs as his guards gathered behind him.
The men gathered in front of him shifted uncomfortably wondering why they had been called to stand here as the hot sun beat down on them.
"I'm gonna guess none of you have seen combat before?" Alex said loudly so they could all hear him.
Nodding at a soldier at the front he waved for him to answer.
"No, sir!" answered the man sharply.
Alex nodded to himself, he had expected this.
"Since you're probably wondering what kind of commander I am, I'm going to tell you."
"You have been stationed here for a long time even before the war broke out, so I assume you haven't heard any news about the battles that have taken place."
Some of the soldiers in the front row nodded to this.
"Quite recently I faced 27,000 opposing forces in a surprise attack with a mere 15,000 untrained recruits," Alex said, gazing into their eyes.
Fierce muttering began spreading through the lines.
Alex ignored this and continued.
"As you can see by the men behind you, not many remained however those that did will be molded into warriors, true men, heroes, and maybe if they're lucky, Legends."
Alex noticed that he now had the full weight of their attention on him.
'Good, now let's break their spirit before building it up.'
"Brandon!" he called.
Brandon stepped forward and approached him before coming to a stop and saluting.
"Yes, sir!" he shouted.
"Colonel Hansen!" Alex called.
"Yes, sir!" he said walking over as he gazed at Brandon who was quite obviously a commoner from his tanned skin.
After all, commoners who worked in the field all day with the sun shining down on them tended to have tanned skin, whereas nobles who never left their castles and manors tended to have lighter skin.
"I want you to fight," Alex said.
Brandon nodded in acknowledgment before getting into position.
"Absolutely not! To fight with an untrained commoner? This is outrageous!" cried Hansen.
Alex had expected this and noticed that many of the men in the division glanced at the colonel with disdain, it was obvious that since he had never interacted with the commoners he had never voiced his opinions therefore there wasn't much hatred for him in the division, after all he was newly appointed and didn't have much time for his men to get to know him before the war broke out.
This was exactly what Alex was going for, he wanted to drive a wedge between Hansen and the army so that he could assume full command.
As the colonel was the division's commander he still had full command over it and therefore, doing this would solve unnecessary power struggles.
"Are you disobeying an order colonel?" Alex asked, voice dangerously low.
The colonel gulped at Alex's tone and got into a fighting position although looking quite nervous.
"Colonel Linden Hansen, trained by the Royal Knights Academy! '' said the colonel trying to sound brave.
Brandon snorted before saying.
"Brandon Evelyn, Farmer." and then he charged at the colonel.
The colonel panicked slightly at the charging man who emitted a deadly aura.
He quickly dodged the attack that swung down at him and rolled to the side.
"Hmm, not bad, I guess they teach you something at that fancy academy of yours!" taunted Brandon.
The colonel's eyes flashed with anger as his noble pride was insulted, quickly charging forward he let loose a punch towards Brandon's unguarded face.
"Hah! You're wide open!" he shouted as his fist barreled forward.
But suddenly the colonel was on the flat of his back wheezing.
"What happened?" whispered one of the soldiers.
"I think he punched him in the gut!" exclaimed another.
"I didn't even see it!" said another.
Quickly Brandon climbed on top of the colonel as he pinned him down and looked to Alex for orders.
Alex waved his hand and Brandon released the colonel and returned to his position behind Alex.
The colonel got up wheezing before glaring at Alex and moving to his position.
The soldiers' eyes followed the two as several emotions flashed in them, the key ones being fear and excitement.
'Perfect.' Alex smiled wryly.
"As you can see the difference between training and fighting on the battlefield is quite different."
"I assure you, if you rely solely on your training out there, you will die," Alex said, gazing at them heavily.
The excitement quickly left their eyes replaced by dread.
"Out there on the battlefield, there is no friend or foe, there is no hope, no miracle, there are only two things!" Alex shouted, getting their attention as they watched him hopefully.
"Death! And Survival!"
Dread quickly filled their eyes again.
"However!" he shouted gathering their attention once more.
"That does not mean you will die, I assure you I will do my best to make sure that each and every one of you return home a hero!"
"I'm sure you all would love that, wouldn't you?!? You come home a hero! Your wife loves you! Your children think you're awesome!"
Alex noted that many gazes in the crowd were already showing fervor at the thoughts he put in their heads.
"But you can only accomplish this if you survive!"
"And do you know how you are going to survive?" he shouted this question.
"No, sir!" they shouted back.
"By listening to my orders!"
"I guarantee if you listen to my orders, most of you will make it back alive."
"So tell me… DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?" he shouted.
"YES, SIR!" they shouted back.
"TELL ME DO YOU WANT TO DIE?"
"NO, SIR!"
"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SURVIVE?!?"
"BY LISTENING TO YOU, SIR!!" their voices roared.
Once their voices had faded out, almost all of the army was staring at him with fervor in their gazes ready to follow his every order, even most of the nobles watched him like them.
*** Dream ***
"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?" shouted Alex as he stood over the dying soldier.
"Yes, sir!" coughed the soldier as blood leaked from his lips.
"Then get on!" Alex said as he bent down.
The soldier quickly climbed on his back as Alex began running through the battlefield in the direction of the medical tent.
As he pushed through the battling men he was nearly knocked over many times and he was almost decapitated once.
Charging across the battlefield the soldier on his back swayed heavily to the side as they slid in the mud.
Splat!
Alex and the soldier fell in the mud.
Alex quickly scrambled to pick up the soldier again but just then several knights who were battling walked backward and tripped over the soldier.
Alex quickly jumped on top of one of them and shoved his dagger through the knight's throat.
Hopping to his feet he saw the other one embroiled in a fight with another knight who had also fallen.
Grabbing the soldier and hoisting him over his back which elicited a groan from the man, Alex began running for the medical tent.
Just as he was about to reach it, he heard multiple booms before a massive boulder came hurtling out of nowhere and smashed into the tent killing everyone inside.
Alex froze before sinking to his knees.
Turning to look at the soldier Alex saw that he already had a faraway look in his eyes.
"Hey! Hey! Stay with me! I'll get you help, just hold on!" he shouted at the man as he shook him.
The man turned to look at him.
"It was an honor serving by your side, My Lord." coughed the man as blood splattered his clothes.
"No, No wait!" Alex said quickly.
"My Lord, I can not hold on much longer, please kill me and spare me this agony." asked the soldier as tears leaked from his eyes from the pain.
Alex looked helplessly at the man.
"No… but I can still get you to help!" he said earnestly.
"There is no help on a battlefield, My Lord."
"Please have mercy on me and end my misery." begged the man.
Alex closed his eyes as he took long labored breaths.
Picking up a sword from the mud he raised it.
Lips quivering, he said.
"You served well, soldier!" he said through gritted teeth.
The soldier's eyes seemed to relax after he said this as a small smile creased his lips.
Thud!
The sword plunged through his chest ending his life.
The last look on his face was one of relief.
They say War is a beautiful thing.
But those who have been in it know better.
Every young soldier can't wait for their first battle, after all, they get to come back with glory and honor.
Most never return.
However every time this fact is swept under the rug as more soldiers are recruited with the promises of honor and glory.
In the end, most of those who survive, end up wishing they had died on the battlefield.