[center][h3]MUDDY HELL[/h3][/center] Cenwulf sighed, watching his army crawl in the mud that used to be a road a few hours ago. There was a lot of noise – horses and oxen pulling the carriages were making desperate noises, as their hooves slipped in mud. Cenwulf cursed and spurred his horse towards a carriage that was completely stuck. [color=f26522]“Hey!”[/color] he yelled on one of the passing soldiers. The man almost snapped at him but seeing that it is the general he quickly raised his hand to salute. [color=f26522]“Get two other men and come help me,”[/color] Cenwulf continued as he jumped off his horse. The soldier quickly came back with some others and Cenwulf directed them behind the carriage and stood next to them, putting his hands on the dirty planks on the side. [color=f26522]“All right, on three, we pull up! One, two, three!”[/color] The men groaned and growled, trying to lift, but the thing was stuck deep and the mud was like a slippery glue. [color=f26522]“Damn this!”[/color] Cenwulf knew he can curse all he wants, but they need to get this carriage at least out of the way, so others can pass. [color=f26522]“Again!”[/color] Finally, the mud squelched and the wheel was free. The coachman whipped the bulls and the carriage moved forward. Cenwulf was leaning against it and as it moved, he lost his balance and ended up lying face down in the mud. He just growled resignedly. He got up and unsuccessfully tried to wipe some of the dirt off his face. A rider was moving amongst the soldiers. [color=6ecff6]“The general! Where is the general?”[/color] Cenwulf waved at him. [color=f26522]“Over here. What happened now?”[/color] The messenger looked suspicious, the man covered in mud apparently didn’t fit into his image of a general, but he handed him a sealed letter. Cenwulf raised his eyebrows when he saw a royal seal. The letter stated that the princess disappeared, and he was to assign some men to help find her. He rubbed his forehead, thinking what to do. He wasn’t about to send a squad of soldiers back through this muddy hell, especially when they were finally close to the city of Watford. He walked over to his horse, took a piece of paper and a quill from the saddlebacks and quickly wrote a response. [color=f26522]“Take this to the commander in Leighton, he will give you all the men you want to help with the search,”[/color] he said, handing the message to the man. [color=f26522]“Good luck with it, I hope the princess is found soon.”[/color] Messenger squeamishly took the letter, trying not to get the mud from it onto his clean clothes. [color=6ecff6]“Yes, sir.”[/color] He turned the horse around and rode off, splashing the damned mud around. Cenwulf sighed. Can’t at least one thing go as planned? He saw Osmund amongst the men at the front of the convoy and rode towards him. [color=f26522]“How far to the city?”[/color] [color=82ca9d]“We should be getting to the edge of the forest, sir. We should see the city soon.”[/color] [color=f26522]“All right, I want you to go to the city and tell the council that we will be arriving soon. Tell them to prepare supplies for us at the clearing near the western gate – especially clean water and some warm food for the men.”[/color] [color=82ca9d]“Yes, sir,”[/color] the boy nodded and sprinted forward. Cenwulf heaved a sigh of relief. He was exhausted. He hoped that the new raiders haven’t arrived to the outpost yet and the army will have an easy task of storming it and burning it down. But his men needed to rest at least a day before they could even march, let alone fight. Cenwulf himself felt like he could sleep for a week and still wake up tired. [hr] It was nearly dark when the camp finally seemed to be set up to Cenwulf’s expectations. He was in his tent, watching maps and listening to reports of the commanders. It seemed that two carriages with supplies didn’t survive the journey, but the men were able to salvage the cargo. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad outcome. [color=82ca9d] “Sir?”[/color] Osmund peeked to the tent and disrupted Cenwulf’s thoughts. [color=f26522]“Come in,”[/color] Cenwulf waved to the boy to come closer, his mood dropping, when he saw boy’s facial expression. [color=f26522]“And here was I thinking that things are finally going well. What is going on?”[/color] [color=82ca9d]“The raiding party had already arrived. We have some spies watching them, for now it seems they are keeping to their side of the river, although some are wandering around, probably scouting the area.”[/color] Cenwulf nodded. [color=f26522]“Great. Edward!”[/color] he shouted and another men’s head appeared in the entrance to the tent. [color=f26522]“Double the number of the men on watch, especially on the north and western sides. Any man caught sleeping on the watch will be whipped in front of his unit. We cannot afford someone sneaking up on us.”[/color] [color=8882be]“Yes, sir,”[/color] man nodded and disappeared. [color=f26522]“Keep scouting on the Norsemen and try to figure out what are they planning and when, but be careful.”[/color] Cenwulf sighed. [color=f26522]“I don’t have that many good men to be able to afford losing them.”[/color] Osmund smiled. [color=82ca9d]“Don’t worry, sir, I am always careful.”[/color] With a salute he left the tent. Cenwulf stared at a map for a while, frowning at the spot where the raider outpost was marked.