Page 205 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
“We need to change tactics,” I said, surveying the map once more before turning to go.
Our focus on minimizing casualties was not, in fact, minimizing them, nor was it gaining us nearly enough ground, but I wanted to take a look at the battlefront myself before I decided what direction to shift things in.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours to finalize a plan for going forward.”
The men stood at attention, nodding in deference as Rowan and I left the tent. The camp was organized chaos, wounded men arriving with corpses in tow while more soldiers rode out to replace them.
After we were situated in our tent, I made my rounds through the soldiers’ tents. The men stood straighter when I arrived, shoulders visibly sagging in relief that we had brought reinforcements.
They treated my presence like their own personal salvation, and I told myself it was enough to know the sacrifices wouldn’t be in vain as long as we had a plan. Because this war was far from over.
And these men were far from saved.
For all that we were technically winning, it sure as storms didn’t look that way from the front lines. I forced myself to look past the lifeless faces of the soldiers—my soldiers—and focus on the fighting itself. The specifics of the terrain, the forces, the style in which they were attacking.
My father’s lessons resounded in my mind, even as I wondered how my wife would feel about me employing the same tactics that had gotten her family killed.
There was no room for sentimentality in war, though, not when the people under my protection were dying faster than I could keep track of.
The sun had fallen by the time I returned to camp, bathing the icy grounds in a silvery glow. The groans of the wounded anddying carried across the still night air, punctuating the need for urgency as I made my way into the command tent.
Wordlessly, I moved the pieces around on the map, deliberately forcing away thoughts of the bolstered soldiers while I moved the small black figures into a more coordinated assault.
One that was sure to be deadly for the men those black pieces represented who were serving as a distraction, but was also the only way to save our forces down the line.
A muscle ticked in my jaw, my stomach churning with the choices I was forced to make, always, for the sake of my clan. Rowan thought she was a monster for torturing a single heinous woman, but the real ruthlessness was here, in the clinical decision to sacrifice a small number of my men to bring the majority home.
“Ready the troops accordingly,” I said flatly, gesturing to the map.
Then I spun to leave without another word, having no desire to see the looks on the men’s faces when they came to terms with the cost of holding our ground.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN
Iwasn’t sure what I had expected Rowan to actually do at the warfront, but she surprised me by lending her assistance with the wounded, something I only knew because one of the healers came to the command tent to make his displeasure known.
I didn’t bother looking up from the missive I was reading, nor did I bother keeping the substantial bite from my tone when I responded.
“Am I to understand that you walked away from the loyal soldiers who needed your care to complain about an extra set of hands?”
The man audibly swallowed. “It isn’t proper, Your Grace, not with the men in a state of undress.”
It was a ridiculous argument when the village saunas were not split by gender any more than the ones at the estate were.
“I’m quite certain they would rather be alive than modest,” I said shortly.
He sucked in a breath to speak before I cut him off sharply.
“Dismissed.”
He left without another word, and I returned to my report. We were still short on the numbers we needed. I needed to seehow many soldiers the local lord had maintained to guard his estate, and those taking refuge within it.
Then I needed to decide if I was willing to risk his estate falling, along with all the women and children it housed, for the sake of the strategy that was working thus far.
Though there wasn’t much choice there. If the line didn’t hold, his estate would be the least of our problems since it would surely be forfeited if that situation came to fruition. As I walked through the estate in question, my mind all too easily conjured images of each child I passed bleeding out in the snow around us.
And still, I didn’t hesitate to commandeer the soldiers stationed there.
I would tally the marks against my tattered soul when this war was over. Until then, all that mattered was making sure we were on the winning side.