Path of the Greatest Empire-Chapter 12: Eve of the Upcoming War

After the declaration of eternal loyalty and obedience, the leader of the prisoners made, Lander, on Suthrath's instructions made arrangements for them to join the newly formed army barrack.

Even so, Suthrath made it plainly clear that, these 27 people will form a group of their own and on the battlefield Suthrath will have a separate purpose for them.

"Lord," Lander asked in hesitation. "Are you sure, this is the correct way to deal with them?"

He added hastily as not to cause any misunderstanding, "I am not doubting your judgement but this does not make sense."

Suthrath shook his head in smile, "The judgement is absolutely correct, councillor Lander."

"On the battlefield, these people will be our fiercest battling force," he said. "The chance they have got... they will cherish it... they will try and fulfil their purpose at any cost."

Suthrath continued after a pause, "And in a way, it was not their fault."

"It was not them who choose to oppose me... it was councillor Equro. They were merely following his orders."

Lander nodded in understanding as they walked towards the damaged section of the wall.

Suthrath took a detailed understanding of the geography of the settlement and the area surrounding it.

As stated previously, on the western side of the lake was the western settlement i.e., the lake was on the east, just across the damaged section of the wall, of the western settlement.

The distance between the walls and the lake was around 4 km.

The lake was vast... its width was greater than that of the settlement walls. Thus, to arrive western settlement from the eastern settlement, one would have to traverse along the either the northern or southern edge of the lake and then take a turn towards the western settlement.

In the north of the western settlement, the lake and the eastern settlement was dense forest- a massive forest spanning for immeasurably vast distance. This was the forest which served as a major sustenance for both the settlements- wild fruits, wood and meat were the major collectible items from the forest.

And at the northern end of the forest was tall humongous mountain ranges. These ranges were covered in snow and as far as Suthrath knew, no one from his settlement had ever been to the mountain. No one even knew, how much was the distance between the settlement and the base of mountain ranges.

And from the forest emerged a large river. The river first flowed southwards as it emerged from the forest, west of the western settlement and then it took a curve and turned eastward and flowed in the south of the settlement. The minimum distance between the river and the settlement at any point was not less than 25 kilometres and thus it was not a viable source of constant fresh water.

Ideally, the population should have emigrated much closer to the river but why had they not done so, Suthrath had no idea.

Along the course of the river, around another 40 kilometres away was the located the town where Suthrath and his settlement would go for selling their produces.

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The rest of the day was spent in formulating the strategies and guiding his men in how to implement them.

With numerical advantage the eastern settlement had, only a much superior military strategy would make Suthrath win.

Fortunately, for him military and battle strategies had not been too well developed in this part of region. Suthrath had a lot of options to use in the battle and he was going to do so.

The bow and arrow squad of volunteers he had ordered to be formed had also been formed and the volunteers had done a splendid job in crafting the wooden bows and the arrows.

And Suthrath had seen a familiar face in the squad- Bella. When she had learned of volunteers being required, she had offered to be one and had been selected.

According to Lander, a very large number of people had come forward as volunteers and thus the best among them had been selected.

And ironically, of the 100 volunteers, almost half were women.

It was evening and Suthrath was heading home for a much needed rest when a group of men blocked his way.

They were around two dozen people and their age ranged from around 16 to 27 and 28.

"My lord," the oldest of them bowed. "We have a request to make..."

"What is it?" Suthrath asked with raised eyebrow.

"My lord," the man said as his face resolved. "We know that we do not have a proper training to fight a war... but this is our land too."

"We know that our settlement is at disadvantage..." he said. "And in such times how can we hide behind these walls while you and our brothers and uncles and fathers fight for us."

"We pray that you allow us to participate in the war," he pleaded with fierce determination in his eyes. "We will kill or be killed. We will fight till out last drop of blood."

Suthrath looked at the faces of the two dozen men in front of him and all of them were having the same steely expression on their face.

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This kind of sentiment was good for Suthrath. This showed that there was no discontentment among the general population and if need arises, he could take some tough decisions easily.

But placing these men in the battlefield was not a wise decision. Thus, Suthrath shook his head shattering the hopes of these men.

"I am grateful that you all are willing to sacrifice your lives for this land," he said. "And I respect and acknowledge your emotions and sentiments."

"But I cannot allow this," Suthrath said and the faces of the men standing before Suthrath fell.

"But I assure you that I have full confidence that we will emerge victorious," Suthrath declared.

The men were really disappointed but Suthrath's next words lit a hope for them.

"But respecting all your sentiments and willingness, I have something for you," Suthrath said.

"You all can form a spare squad of men," Suthrath continued. "And though you will not be directly allowed on battlefield, you can do a lot of axillary work."

"Also, if my plans and strategies fell," Suthrath said in low tone. "You all, most probably, will need to pick up the weapons."

"Yes, my lord," the man bowed with a determined face.

Suthrath walked close to him as he patted the man's shoulder and gave the rest of all a nod of acknowledgement.

"I will inform councillor Lander of the decision. You all should contact him," Suthrath said as he walked past them.

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