Needless to say there was a heated debate. Bianca, Torm, and their sergeants had tried to keep it quiet, but soon both companies were whispering amongst themselves, and the men had even mixed, some groups of cavaliers and outriders forming small groups to discuss the merits of stalling the rendezvous to perform an ill-advised and untenable coup for a dark witch in the hopes they are rewarded gratefully. Torm wasn't necessarily against it, but when Bianca began to turn in favor, he started listing off all of the reasons for how inadvisable it was. After verbally jabbing at one another, Bianca brought up that Torm simply did not like she was from his home principality, and despite his groan of denial, he had to admit that was a small bit of the truth. 

While there were plenty still against the notion, Torm throwing his hands up at that was like a signal of defeat, which was not the effect the Commander wanted nor intended, but by the time he realized it, everyone had tentatively reached the conclusion that they were going to accept her vague offer, and that set the stage for their furiously laid war plans. Calliope was more than willing to help, taking juice from a strange local fruit and drawing them a basic map of the city state, Shendi-Nugata. To Torm's surprise, it looked like a great circle, bisected by a large river. Bianca and Calliope swapped a few words as Torm studied the map, and he was confronted by the two of them after his contemplation. 

"What?" He asked. 

"We have come up with a plan," Calliope declared before Bianca could open her mouth. The scout commander glared at her, and Calliope shrugged as if to say 'I'm the employer, after all.' Calliope bade Torm to follow her, and Bianca tailed them until they were at the opposite end of the Temple, in what appeared to be an old shrineroom. A dogheaded daemon figure upon a central dias. One of Jemel-Sha's many pets, she casually explained after they gave it a curious look. The entire temple complex was disconcerting to Torm, but Calliope's plan was far, far worse... 
[hr] 

Torm rode at the head of a thee man column, the knights, cataphracts, and mamluks under his command with their lances held high in parade fashion. They only had two banners, and so Equites Artabazos and Sir Rüdiger held the standards aloft, flanking Torm as he led the men up the dirt road toward the magnificent walled city of Shendi-Nugata. As soon as they had left the treeline, Torm had been idly watched by the southern continent's equivalent of serfs tending the farms of wheat, maize, rice, and millets that surrounded the central hub. In the distance, black smoke lazily wafted from Shaudee-Khai, the local volcano. Its tip was just visible over the tree line, being rather short and stout for a volcanic mountain, Calliope informing him it had grown fat from the many sacrifices over the years. 

"I'm no farmer, but my father was." Torm breathed, raising an eyebrow. He was the only man without his helmet, to signify his status as the leader, if their formation didn't give it away. "I didn't think this soil would be arable for long term use in a jungle like this." 

Small streams that looked almost natural snaked out from under the walls to give the fields a verdant river-valley look, but looking longer than a short glance showed it was all cultivated by man. Oxen with immense horns lumbered across the field to his left, pulling the iron plows, guided by the peasantry as other men and women walked amidst a half flooded field with their pants legs rolled up, picking some arcane crop Torm was unfamiliar with. 

"A gift from Shaudee-Khai," Calliope whispered from behind him. Torm glanced behind his armored shoulder to see the woman's glittering eyes from beneath the shadow of her cowl. The slim beauty still unnerved him, but he was not about to let her out of his sight and infect his men, so he insisted she ride upon Lycurgus with him. "The volcano enriches the soil. The earth is young, and easily cultivated. There is always a method to the madness of myths." 

"So you don't believe in the spirit of the volcano? The daemons and gods?" He asked her. 

"I did not say that..." She remarked, as a half-naked man sprinted across their vision, heading for the front gates to announce the arrival of the iron-clad northerners. Torm just hoped Bianca and her scouts were performing well on their end. 

"Now is the time, sir Draufkrieg." Calliope told him, and he sighed, before he reached down and took the auroch horn he kept to signify his command, and placed it to his lips. The horn sounded, and a loud, reverberating boom echoed across the fields. Even from a kilometer off, Torm spotted the figures of distant archers on the wall. The walls themselves were colored clay orange, his noted, and even they were adorned with jewels. Far above the reach of a man, of course. 

"Not like the parade grounds back home," she teased. 

"Shut up... m'lady."