Novel - Day 30 - 1,286 / 23,612

“Lieutenant, come in here.” Voler yelled.

A man ran in from the other room, “Yes sir?”

“Lieutenant Epier, we need to finalize our plans for the capture of the Capital City. When we march on Capital City, I will enter the city with a few select officers who will help me to put needed pressure on the right people. I am also going to be sending in several ‘expendable’ soldiers to help scout the city. If needed, I will use them to fight but, if all goes well, we will not need to resort to those actions. Those soldiers’s duty is to enter the city unaware and to become, as easily as possible, a part of the townspeople. Much like we have done with the other town’s we have taken over. However, this will be to a much larger scale and therefore, much more difficult to pull off.

I have selected you to organize not only our men but also the reinforcements which will be arriving shortly. It is your job to seal off the roads from the Capital City, at the proper time; not letting anyone through and capturing anyone who will try to escape. Before you leave for Capital City, this town will need to be fortified; this will become our prison if enough people attempt to leave Capital City.”

Epier nodded in understanding.

Voler stopped and thought for a second and then laughed. “Seal off all the roads from Capital City except, do not seal off the road that leads to here. The people trying to escape Capital City will only find one exit which will lead to here. The people trying to flee Capital City will believe they are safe and they will walk right into our prison.”

“How will we know when to seal off the roads?” asked Epier.

“I have not decided that as of yet, although we will find a way to notify you. Once the roads have been sealed and people stop trying to escape or they realize that it is futile; you will come with our reinforcements and flood the city with solders. At this point we will have complete control of Capital City and the country. The only thing to do at that point is to strengthen our hold.” Voler explained.

“When do we march on Capital City?” Epier asked.

“By the beginning of the week Reinforcements should arrive in a couple of days and we should be prepared by the beginning of the week. It would have been sooner except for the chaos that overcame this town. If I discover what or who caused that … I will KILL them!” Voler screamed slamming his fist on the table.

“Until then Captain?” Epier asked.

“I want you and your men to prepare barracks for the reinforcements. Commandeer houses and property if you need to. Also, begin securing the town to be converted into a prison; but try to keep it so the townspeople don’t begin asking too many questions. I don’t want a revolt on our hands before we pull off our attack on Capital City. I would hate to have to kill all of the people of this town.” Voler said with a smile.

“Very well Captain.” Epier said as he turned to leave.

“Lieutenant” Voler called as Epier was leaving, “Also select the men who I can use to send into the city to spy for me.”

“As you wish Captain” Epier said as he left.

Creance stared into the water flowing through the streambed, remembering. “We were kids. At the time we didn’t think so but now, looking back, we weren’t nothing more than a couple of kids. By this point, your dad knew what he was chosen to do, and like you, he was reluctant. He didn’t want to take on the role of the leader of the Network. He couldn’t see the good that the Network did and felt that they needed to take a more proactive role in protecting the country, ‘Show some force’ was what your dad would say. Your dad was in his rebellious stage. Me, I was just looking for adventure.

As part of his rebellion, your dad decided to start his own army.”

“His own army?” Kiri said.

“Yes, his own army. He felt that it was his right as the chosen leader of the Network. He planned to model it after the Network but to use force if it was needed. He was able to quickly convince me to join him; I felt that this was my opportunity for adventure. So he took his sword, which he felt was still his birthright; this very sword that lays here wrapped up.” Creance said pointing to the sword.

“We were soon able to gather others who were like us and convince them to join our cause. Most of them were looking for adventure as I was but many just felt that it was fun and games and didn’t realize the extent to which your dad wanted to grow this army. Without much of a plan, and the opportunities for adventure being few, most of the people we had convinced to join us lost interest and left. Although a few stayed, two of them in particular, who were also involved in the one real adventure that our small army did have. The others were Voler and Epier.”

“What!” Kiri exclaimed, “Voler and Epier?”

“Yes, they were two of the original members of our little army it is also how I am able to put my trust into Epier. For I have known him for a long time and I understand the control Voler can have over him.

We lived near a small fishing village at this time. Most of the boats that would come into our harbor were either fishermen or boats that stopped to re-supply. We began to have mid-size boats that had a small crew which would stop and they would ravage the town and steal anything they could and leave before they were caught. We decided that we should do something about them, so we waited. One of the boats pulled into port and as some of the men left to ransack the town, we went on board and killed the ones who had stayed with the boat. As the others came back on board, we cast off and as we headed out to sea, we took care of the others.

Your father ordered Voler to go back to town so we could return the things which had been taken. Voler didn’t want to hear about it, he worried that we would be blamed for the thefts and even for killing the thieves. But Voler even wanted more, he wanted to find others to ravage and kill. He wanted to keep the boat and sail to other towns and pull off the same scheme these thieves were doing. Your dad wouldn’t hear of it. A big fight broke out between them. Which is how Voler got the scar on his face, your dad gave it to him with this sword. Epier and myself were trying to stop the fight. Voler was ready to kill your father, so I pushed your dad over the side of the boat. Voler turned on me, with hate in his eyes. I grabbed your dad’s sword and jumped overboard after him.

We learned later that our adventure was in haste and the killing was useless. The Network had planned to take control of the boat and its people and discover who was in control of it, something we had overlooked; without any bloodshed. Yet we had acted in haste.

We learned many lessons from that night’s adventure.”

Creance fell silent.