Decisions, Decisions.

Jyonahal looked up grimly at the darkened sky as though perhaps he might scare it away. “This weather isn’t going to help once it starts storming.”
With a yawn, the other rather tired and carefree recruit, Gaeljwen, looked up and studied the black clouds. For the past couple of days on the march, those threatening clouds had been there, occasionally thundering far in the north and blowing chill winds their way. Tugging his fur cloak a little closer around him, he nodded.
“I’d rather have them storm already and have it done with.” He commented. The other grunted in reply and looked back to the road.
The two boys, hidden and unknown in the middle of the hundreds of older veteran men that marched in front of them, really didn’t stand out much…they never did. Every man, except for the high huscarls themselves, was outfitted with the same shield, axe, spear and armor, all bearing the insignia of Vadirska on them. The symbol of the House and its Countess, a blue banner with a white, six-pointed star upon it, even now flew waved in the high winds over their heads, held up by the rear standard bearers.
“The general said that we’re within two days travel of Kire’falraedis itself.” Gaeljwen murmured, quietly so that not too many of the surrounding men would hear.
“A general will say a lot to keep his men’s morale up.”
To this, his friend shot him a black look. “Not Huscarl Aaron! He won’t tell a lie to save his life!”
Jyonahal chuckled, his light brown, clear eyes amused. “No, I suppose not…even if he is a grumpy sort of man mostly, he’s a good one. A strong and true one.”
“Without a doubt.” His blonde-haired companion replied. They marched in silence for a moment.

So far, the small but tough force of the Vadirska guards had been marching for over a week, in one small, winding column that had worked its way up the riverbank and eventually cut off to the northwest. For the past four days they had wound their way along some of the lesser traveled roads, bordering the dark, snowy fur wood just south of the mountainous border. The edge of Savarica and the civilized world was towering over them, the mountainous walls to the north that made up the borders. Its silvery and white peaks, ice and stone, stood impassively watching the men trek below. And as always, on the slopes and foothills, the heavy growth of snow-covered pines and furs made a dark edge to the jagged mountains. Occasionally, a lone troll or perhaps a gang of goblins would haunt those woods, so they were always regarded with a little dark suspicion, especially so close to the border.
But yesterday, six days after leaving House Vadirska, the army of men had come upon something that unsettled them all: an empty, abandoned village. A very recently abandoned one.
When the force had seen a few houses in the distance, Aaron had sent scouts up, who came back quickly to report the village was empty. And only yesterday the people must have run, for food was still set at tables and hearths were still black from yesterday’s fires.
A bad sign indeed. It got worse though, to see what appeared to be a jumble of tracks, not all human, covering the snow in and about the small town. With a grim stare, General Aaron had wisely passed the army around it, not stopping. He also doubled the speed to Kire’falraedis.
Worse still, later that same day, towards evening, they had stumbled across what appeared to be a trail in the snow of hundreds of footprints, though hardly recognizable, all running to trekking west. Again, Aaron had urgently sped up the pace.
Someone had broken through the borders.

With the dark, snowy line of trees to their right, up on the foothills and gentle slopes that led up into the border mountains, the army trekked on across the plains of snow. It seemed like evening, almost, like an unreal twilight due to the black clouds above them that blocked out sunlight. The battles songs and talk had ceased a few days ago, when the men decided to save their breath for the constant hours of marching. With all of them on foot, except for a few officers like Aaron himself, horses being so rare in those far northern realms like Savarica, they were quite tired at the end of every long day. The white expanse of snow and gentle, rolling hills to the south and west never ended, though the general promised they were close. Few doubted his word on it. With only the wind and the clanking and jumbling of metal to break the silence, it was a slow trip.

“Huscarl General, it will matter very little if we get to the Spire to find that it was abandoned weeks ago! If this enemy went west, we should follow the trail and blast Kire’falraedis for the time being! This is a breach in our wall, and the unknown horrors of the wild north will come pouring in if we don’t stop them!”
Riding in front of the column, banner over his head as he rode beside two or three of his officers, Huscarl General Aaron turned to study his commander darkly.
“Which is exactly why we must get to Kire’falraedis! To fill in the gap!” The general growled, his light hair blowing unkempt in the wind. “If I just march the army off and chase after every force I find, then more will just come pouring in! We’ll reach Kire’falraedis, assess the situation where it stands, and set up a forward outpost if we have to, but the main priority is still there! To make sure nothing ELSE leaks in from the north!”
The other officer, a slightly older campaigner with graying hair and a firm jaw, grunted with disgust and turned back to face the road in his saddle. Aaron sighed.
“Huscarl Fraeduin I know how you feel, I don’t like the thought of hundreds of only God knows what evils raiding as they wish across our north borders, but I even still dislike more the idea of hundreds more filtering in behind us. I’ll send ranger scouts to the west and south to warn and be our eyes, but before anything else, we have to get to the Spire and set up defenses. No telling what will try to come pouring in next.”
The other commander, the one Aaron called Fraeduin, shook his head. “I know it, Aaron…we should set up a perimeter there at least.” He looked up again with gray, fiery eyes. “But shouldn’t we at least send a small force to give chase? Perhaps even just a score or two to get on the trail?”
“No, absolutely not.” Aaron returned bluntly, turning to look ahead also. “We have small numbers as it is, just over six hundred. It’s too risky to split up the army even smaller now, commander. At least until Countess India or Sesircas sends reinforcements.”
The other shrugged. “As you wish, general.”
“Yes, just that. As I wish.” He cast another warning glance over at his chief commander. “I don’t like it either, but those orders will be obeyed. We’ll camp tonight and reach Kire’falraedis by tomorrow evening. And find…” He paused.
“Whatever’s there to be found, no doubt.”
“Yes, I suppose so…”
“Sighted to the northwest!” A officer behind him suddenly barked aloud, causing everyone to jump. His heart stopping for a moment when he heard it, Aaron whirled about frantically to look southwest, narrowing his eyes.
He scanned the horizon a moment or so before he saw them as well. Not an army or anything of the kind, but what looked like a few men, women, and children in the snow, struggling towards them.
Both of the commanding officers in front visibly relaxed. “For a minute I thought…much worse.” Fraeduin chuckled hoarsely. Aaron smiled faintly and nodded, also hugely relieved.
“Come, we’ll ride up and speak to these people.” Aaron decided quickly, beckoning to Fraeduin and his standard banner on his left. The three horsemen, the banner of Vadirska out in front, suddenly kicked their horses into a gallop and raced ahead of the army, towards the coming people.
They came close enough, pounding across the snow, to see that it was in fact about half a dozen people, a few men and women and one small child even. They were dressed raggedly and struggling across the snowy plains, and on seeing the approaching army and riders, one of the men in particular raised his hands to flag them down wildly, as if they hadn’t already seen him.
“Ach, thank God!” The man in front gasped out gratefully as the three riders came to a sudden stop before him, throwing up snow. Pulling up, Aaron looked down at the man and his small group for just a moment. Dressed in ragged clothes in the snow, and one younger man even having what might have been a bandage around his waist as he was supported by another woman, the huscarl realized quickly that these were refugees.
He leaped down from his horse and ordered his two men to do the same. Scanning the poor band, he stood in front of this older, heavyweight man who was nearly sobbing to find he had signaled down a huscarl general.
“What in blazes happened? Who are you?” Aaron asked briskly, suddenly stripping off his fur cloak to put over the shoulders of a young woman who stood by shivering, near the wounded man. His two men followed suit.
“My general, please!” The older man started quickly, as Aaron turned to him. The Vadirska banner fluttered overhead, still in the bearer’s hand. “Listen! Something has happened to Kire’falraedis! Snow elves and orcs have crossed the borders, and are ravaging the countryside! You must…!”
“You’re a bit late, man!” Fraeduin spoke up grimly, helping the wounded man by inspecting the wound as he listened. “We march to Kire’flaraedis as we speak!”
“Thank God for that also, then!” The elderly leader replied wearily, gasping. “My name is Elder Ganarset, from a village on the river three days southwest of here…” He paused, “A village that was overrun with elves and trolls four days ago!”
Aaron looked up sharply at this. “How many?”
“I don’t know, hundreds, maybe thousands.” The other replied. The wounded man, still leaning on his wife, groaned as Fraeduin meddled with the bandage. “It was a massive army.”
“A day or two before it happened, a collection of wild, horrified soldiers rode through our village, claiming they were from Kire’falraedis and begged us to flee south.” The woman whom Aaron had given his cloak spoke up quietly. “We didn’t believe them of course, and they went madly on. Two days later…” She shivered.
“They literally overran us. Elves, white snow elves riding on silver wolves and snow trolls with massive hammers, went through the village and slaughter almost all. We were thankfully out fishing on the river when it happened. They could not hurt us from out in the water.” The elderly man grit his teeth as he looked up at General Aaron. “After they had gone, south towards the Lake Japhethis, we landed again…and struck off this way in hopes of finding help.”
“We didn’t dare for south towards the lake towns, following after that…that mass!” The woman commented again that was holding up the wounded man. After a moment, Commander Fraedruin took the man from her, picking his thin frame up and bodily heaving him up on his horse.
Aaron nodded grimly. “And this was three days ago?”
“Three wretched days ago, yes.”
“Aaron.” The commander shot Aaron a meaningful look.
“I know.” The huscarl general replied. He sighed grimly. “If they were close to the Lake three days ago…”
“They’re going to House Kairok.” The banner bearer, young as he was, saw clearly as the rest. A silence settled over them at this news.
“And they have a three day head start.” Aaron went on, gritting his teeth. “We’ll never catch them in time to stop the attack on House Kairok!”
“No, but we can give chase.” Commander Fraeduin answered. Another meaningful look was exchanged between the two.
“If you mean to send aid to House Kairok, you’ll have to break west immediately!” The ragged village elder suddenly spoke up. “We are of House Kairok lands, I beg you! Send aid! Kairok is ill-prepared for an invasion, much less a surprise army of evils of the north!”
Aaron had to think fast. Considering all the options, his mind worked frantically. He could just forget and leave the massive gaping hole in their defenses in the north! But then, he couldn’t just leave House Kairok, a close ally, to burn either!
“Blast…” He spat, shaking his head. After a moment he looked up.
“Put these good people on our horses, commander! And point them south towards more of the Vadirska towns. We may be able to share a little food with them also.”
“But what of the enemies? Are we going to go after them!?” The commander pressed.
“I don’t know!” Aaron grunted, helping the old village elder onto his own horse. “We MUST at least send SOMEONE to fill the gap, or see what happened! At LEAST!” After a moment, he reached his decision.
“Fraeduin.” The huscarl general spoke suddenly. Fraeduin looked up.
“We’ll go after the host that attacks Kairok, for the moment.” He sighed in frustration. “We cannot just leave our allies in danger like that. But…I’ll send a small band to go to Kire’falraedis. Someone has to go.”
“A small band?” The other’s eyes narrowed.
“Perhaps half a dozen men to go to the Spire.” Aaron went on. “I’ll pick them.”
After a moment’s thought, as they helped the last civilians onto the horses, two each on one horse, it dawned on Fraeduin what his general was thinking. “You’re going to send that boy, aren’t you?”
“I’ll pick them.” Aaron repeated again, stopping the questioning.
The six refugees, thankful but nearly too tired to say so, were sent off moments later, galloping southward towards Vadirska land. Aaron watched them go, disappearing across the snow, before he turned to look behind him. His army was coming up quickly behind him.
“We’ll be marching with the rest for a while, it seems. More exercise.” The general smiled grimly.
“Not that we need it, I’m sure.” The other grunted. Aaron chuckled.
“Well let us return. We have to march yet faster…and I have to pick a few scouts to send to Kire’falraedis. Time is going to go very fast, I fear.”
“Especially when this horde of creatures goes looking for the next House in line to attack.”
Strangely, as the Vadirska army was nearing its commander who had ridden so far ahead, it was then that the important question suddenly came to him.
Aaron looked over at his advisor. “…Who leads this invading army of combined elves, trolls, and goblins?” He asked.
Fraeduin’s eyes narrowed. Who indeed?