Free Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) by Sam Ryan Page B

serious but not so much that we leave ourselves open to attack from other lords who may wish to use this time to their advantage and attack us. I know there are several lords that are chomping at the bit to take a bite out of us. I am assuming Gon wants us to march out as soon as winter is over. That should give us more than enough time to get ready.”
    There was a pause as the three all shifted uncomfortably.
    “It would seem,” Keo started throwing a glance at Alia. “Gon has already deployed their forces and they will be here in a matter of weeks.”
    “Wait. What?” Lymee nearly choked on her word. “How could they have gotten so far without us noticing before now?”
    “Quite simply,” Sai let out a shamed breath. “Because I was not watching for them. Once summer came to an end I did not think that any Dynasty would risk getting caught out during the winter and would not bother to make any kind of move against us. A mistake I now understand and fully regret.” She placed her fist on the table and bowed her head, her long ponytail flinging behind her a bit as she did so.
    “It’s alright,” Alia assured. “None of us thought they would make any kind of move this late into the year.” She reached out a hand intending to place it on top of Sai’s but she was too far away to reach with her confined as she was to the wheelchair. Alia paused for a second and started to withdraw her hand but Sai quickly snatched it, squeezing it tightly as she gave Alia a warm smile in thanks.
    “As such it would seem that Gon intends to have a winter campaign,” Keo stated.
    “She fears that if she delays until spring that the Empress will have too much time to prepare or make a counter offensive of some kind,” Sai stated looking away from Alia and back to Lymee but she did not let go of Alia’s hand.
    “Correct me if am wrong, but it gets very cold in those mountains during the winter,” Lymee said pointing to the large mountain range that dominated the area around the capital city. “Can our troops even survive a winter campaign?”
    “It would be very easy for them not too,” Alia said bitterly, withdrawing her hand from Sai and placing it back in her lap. It would seem that she did not like this situation any more than Lymee did.
    “Oh yeah,” Lymee grumbled to herself. “Let’s invade Russia during the winter. Because that’s always works out. For every, single, person, who’s tried.”
    “You are not the only one feeling apprehensive about this,” Alia said. “But sadly I fear that we have little choice in the matter. The Lord of Gon Dynasty feels that we must move before the Empress has time to mobilize her supporters. She has made her decision and we sadly are being swept away with it.”
    Lymee frowned as she recalled what Voss had mentioned in the carriage ride over. “If this battle was so close upon us, why have you not started to mobilize your forces yet?” Lymee asked glancing at all of them. “Even if you were still unsure how you were going to respond you had to have known you would need to mobilize your forces regardless.”
    “Because,” Alia paused her words dying on her lips. She clinched her fist looking down at her lap. “Because I did not want to make any kind of decisions on such an important matter without consulting with you first.”
    Lymee frowned. Where was this coming from? The Alia Lymee knew was deceive, always knowing exactly what to do. She was not the kind of person to hesitate.
    Deciding to worry about that later Lymee let out a long sigh focusing her attention instead to formulating some kind of plan. She leaned against the table hanging her head as she thought the situation over. “Sai,” she looked up at the woman. “What progress have we made on the carriages that we talked about?”
    “Well, acquiring the carriages was easy,” Sai said with a dismissive shrug. “As I told you before. It is getting enough horses to pull them is where we the trouble starts.