A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind)

"I'm afraid so General, but it's worse than that. The Attorgrons have disclosed the other passes through the mountains by which travel through is possible to the Zoarinians. All of those passes except for one are currently open. The main force of six hundred thousand will march upon the walls of Kingdom Pass and set up a siege against it. They are prepared to lose upwards of two hundred thousand troops to take the city, but their attack is only a diversion from the real attack. The Attorgrons will use their knowledge of the mountain passes and come down behind our lines and attack Kingdom Pass from the rear. I don't need to tell anyone here that this city was never designed to be attacked from two sides. Our army will be trapped in between two armies greater than our own and we will be summarily destroyed. Kingdom Pass will fall and the rest of the Valley Lands soon thereafter. Our great wall cannot protect us in this scenario."

Councilman Oswald broke into the moment that formed at the conclusion of my words, "It seems obvious to me what our most probable strategy should be!"

I looked back at him steadily, "Oh and what would that be councilman?"

Turning to General Santaran Councilmen Oswald asked, "How many men can we field General?"

The General looked morosely at the table for a moment and then said, "We'll be lucky to find a hundred and twenty thousand experienced troops and perhaps another fifty thousand boys and older men that are capable of holding a sword and mounting a fight. I would say that would be an accurate assessment of the force that we can hope to raise."

Oswald continued on practically not waiting for the General to finish talking, "This is what I think would be our best strategy. We defend Kingdom Pass temporarily with just forty thousand of our most battle ready troops and we send the remaining eighty thousand warriors or so to wait for the Attorgrons and cut them down in the passes. After they cut the traitors down in the passes they can return to Kingdom Pass and ensure the continued security of it against the siege of the Zoarinians upon it. Our wall will hold just as it has in the past."

General Nadero looked like he was about to object to the strategy, when I caught his eye and shook my head imperceptibly. He noticed it and stopped what he had been about to say as did the other two generals.

Head councilman Romnan interjected his way into the conversation, "Obviously that is the only strategy that has a chance at working given the superior numbers of our foe and the fact that we cannot allow ourselves to be surrounded here and hope to survive. Now I believe it's time to let the generals formulate the necessary battle orders accordingly. Let's leave them to their work shall we. Fellow council members, Thaddeus Ta'lont has something to show you in the council chamber that I believe will be of interest to you concerning the two ships housed within the shrine along the northern shore."