“Urg look at them all” Isabel said to Ulf as she looked reluctantly out of her carriage window. Isabel had just arrived in Nyhem and had decided to go on ahead of her brother so as to get the keep as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for her the quickest route to the keep required travelling through the slums of Nyhem. The slums were a mess of derelict buildings and narrow streets. A single wide road had been carved straight through the middle of the slum so that rich could pass through it in their carriages and avoid the risk of being robbed. Ulf, her bodyguard followed her glare and smirked. Ulf was a monstrously large man who was over two meters high and was only barely able to fit inside the carriage. He was bald with a sprawling mess of a beard. Outside the carriage were some slum children, pleading for money and covered in dirt. 

“These children should go and do something with their petty lives instead of asking us civilized people for money” Isabel said. Ulf nodded like he did to all of his mistress’s complaints. 

“Yeah, surely there is some road kill or dead rats they can feed off” Ulf said as he laughed cruelly. Isabel hated being in the same area as common people. Though it was hardly a surprise considering she despised nearly everyone with the exception of herself, her brothers and Ulf. For her the carriage walls were not a strong enough separation between her and the commoners outside. The dark little box was turning into a sauna and with her crushing corset it was becoming difficult to breathe, but she still found it preferable to opening a window and having the smell of the slum fill the carriage. A man’s shouting caught her attention as she glared out of the carriage.

“The snake’s siblings have finally arrived” he shouted “the traitors have all decided to meet in one place, Leplo have mercy” A few other people in the street laughed at his jeering while Isabel’s face filled with rage. Like her brothers she did not take well to her family name being insulted.

“Stop the carriage” she shouted as the carriage came to a sudden halt “Ulf get out and make them pay for their insolence” she shrieked. Ulf nodded as he existed the carriage with a sadistic smile on his face; it had been a while since he had last satisfied his bloodlust. As soon as Ulf had marched out the carriage the jeering man soon realised his mistake. Before he could attempt to run away Ulf had already grabbed him by the neck with such a force that it choked him. The children whom had been begging earlier had run away in terror while everyone else simply looked on in shock. Ulf looked gleefully at his victim as slowly unsheathed his great sword with his free hand.

“ULF STAND DOWN” The voice spoke with such authority and forcefulness that it was enough to cause Ulf to snap out of his bloodlust state and drop the man he was holding. Isabel looked out of her carriage to see who dared to defy her orders only to have her anger quelled by the sight of her brother, Patrick De Reimer. Patrick had decided it would be best that he caught up with his sister in case she did anything rash. Afterall it wouldn’t be the first time she had acted out of anger against the common people, and unlike in Cawaport, it would be near impossible to cover up the incident here in Nyhem. Considering the situation, it turned out that he was right in his judgement. He rode a black horse with several of his bodyguards riding beside him, among them was his personal bodyguard Evennis. Patrick rode up beside Isabel’s carriage gleaming in his battle armour.

“Brother that man insulted the De Reimer name. He…” Isabel protested

“Enough” Said Patrick, though he didn’t raise his voice, there was enough authority in it to silence his sister. “We will discuss this matter further when we reach the keep”. With that, Isabel paused for a moment before nodding at Ulf, signalling him to come back to the carriage to which Ulf begrudgingly obeyed. Once Isabel’s carriage had started to move Patrick signalled for his troops to move on with him keeping closely behind the carriage. As Patrick looked behind him he noticed that the man who had been strangled by Ulf had finally stood up again. The man staggered off into one of the slums side streets grasping his throat, it would be unlikely that he would be able to speak again any time soon.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“What were you thinking!?” Duncan shouted “our reputation here in Nyhem is bad enough without you going around killing its citizens”. Duncan was standing in the council chambers along with both his siblings. All but three of the chairs had been removed from the room and a large map of Formaroth lay on the council table.

“He insulted our family name, was I just supposed to let the filth get away with it” Isabel snapped back “If they don’t fear us then the people of this city will believe they can walk right over us”.

“Enough” Patrick bellowed, before almost immediately lowering his voice “Calm yourself Duncan. The man was a slum dweller, his words are meaningless and nobody of importance will listen to him. Besides we have more pressing matters to attend to”. He finished as he looked over to the map on the table.

“Agreed” Duncan said “We are at war and bickering amongst ourselves is the last thing we should be doing”. The three siblings all moved over to the table as they crowded around the map. Duncan was the first to speak.

“As it stands at the moment House Manshrew and its allies has declared Andrew as the new king of Formaroth. They have denounced my claim and are now at war with The Imperial Concord. They are the most immediate threat. I would recommend sending troops to reinforce Orog, considering it borders house Humber and is completely cut off from the rest of The Imperial Concord”. Duncan explained as he pointed to Orog on the map.

“Indeed” Patrick replied “Which is precisely why I plan to remove the entire military force from Orog”. Both Duncan and Isabel looked at each other with shock before turning to face Patrick.

“But why”!? Isabel exclaimed “Why would you sacrifice an entire kingdom to house Manshrew?”

“Because Orog will fall regardless of what we do” Patrick continued “Even if we were to send reinforcements I do not trust house Greensworth to lead them to victory. Instead we will divert the forces of House Greensworth to invade Ralda. House Anjervine will invade from west while Greensworth will land in Sypius and invade from the east. House Mazeltof will be unable to fight a war on two fronts and will succumb to the invasion. Furthermore I plan to reinforce Cawanor and Telmarion with our forces in Sypius”. Once again Duncan and Isabel looked at Patrick with confusion.

“But that would leave Syipus undefended” Duncan said.

“Not quite” Patrick said “Unless if one of the kingdoms bordering Sypius falls the enemy can only invade from the sea. The Imperial Concord’s fleet will patrol the coast of Sypius and will intercept any ships that attempt to land troops in Sypius. The spies we have placed in the various kingdoms should give us advanced warning should anyone attempt a naval attack giving us plenty of time to prepare”. Duncan was impressed. The plan that Patrick had created was somewhat risky but if executed correctly would be devastating for the enemy.

“There are still two matters that need our attention” Duncan said “The first being house Greensworth; they will not be happy that they have to abandon their lands. The second is The Soldier's Entente. Though they may have declared themselves neutral in this war, they are a threat that we cannot ignore”. Patricks face remained as calm and as confident as it had before.

“I’m sure you will find some way to appease house Greensworth. Afterall appealing to nobles is your speciality. As for The Soldier's Entente, I have already formulated a plan to use them to our advantage” Patrick said smugly.