Summoning America

Chapter 29: Blending In

Author's Note:
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November 8, 1639
13 Miles Southwest of Le Brias

After defeating the Altaran Royal Navy and the Altaran Wyvern Corps, the Parpaldian fleet landed on an unnamed stretch of beach, close to the capital city of Le Brias. Landing craft shuttled back and forth from troop carriers, offloading men and supplies along the uninhabited and undeveloped strips of beach. Warships and wyvern lords patrolled the perimeter, a precaution against any attempts to deny the construction of the Parpaldian base. Curiously enough, the Altarans never struck.

The rising sun illuminated the newly established tents of the Parpaldian Imperial Army, bathing them in a soft golden glow. The calm sea breeze swept through their encampment, contrasting greatly with the ferociousness of yesterday's combat. From his flagship, General Cius observed the deployment of his troops, reviewing strategic plans as he did so. Behind him, his officers analyzed their current circumstances.

"The wyvern lords haven't found any sign of the Altarans?" One man asked, his outfit identifying him as a commander.

"No," a similarly clothed man replied. "There is no enemy presence from here to the capital itself. Their army seems to have consolidated themselves around Le Brias, and are preparing for combat."

"Troop count?"

"30,000 men, looks like."

"But our intelligence departments said 20,000. What's with this significant deviance?"

Knight Captain Shalsas budged in, describing the information gathered by his scouts, "Le Brias has a garrison of 20,000. They seem to have been preparing for this war for quite some time now. Some of my men have spotted supply caravans traveling from other roads — from nearby cities."

"So then," one of the commanders began, "These cities should be weakly defended. I propose an assault on these cities to starve out the Altarans before we lay siege to their capital."

Another commander scoffed at the idea. "Oh, bother. That would be a sound strategy if we actually needed to weaken the Altarans. Our forces are more than enough to claim their capital; spreading them out would only leave them vulnerable to being picked off."

"With my strategy, we can reduce our total number of casualties! We can deploy our scouts to ensure that our units don't get surrounded!"

The debate heated up as the other commander discarded the proposal. "What scouts? We have lost more than 80% of our wyvern lords, most of them due to some unknown sea monster. Our cavalry units are too few in number to reliably protect our troops from ambush!"

"Enough!" General Cius commanded. "Both of your plans have merit, but unfortunately, the Emperor demands immediate results. We will set out for their capital once all troops have disembarked from the fleet!" He declared with fiery determination.