Page 14 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
He finished reading the parchment, taking notes about this and that, and when he was done, he put it on the pile of priorities.
His tent smelled like parchment paper because of the numerous piles sitting in every corner.
Even his bed was only taking a small corner of it, while his desk sat in the middle, facing the fire and surrounded by more columns of paperwork.
The only other furniture was the two chairs, one behind the desk and one in front of the fire, and the shelves that held more paperwork, ink bottles, and spare feathers.
He didn’t have room for any guests to stay, and his precious bottle of wine was saved for his personal use, hidden on top of a shelf with a little box of biscuits for the days when the paperwork got too overwhelming.
As he stood up, changing coats for the fifth time today, his eyes went to the one letter that had remained unopened.
The one with the Imperial Seal. He sighed.
Not even he dared to open it, but he also didn’t have the guts to burn it.
Thus, he took it and put it in a box by the chimney that contained two dozens of similar letters with the same seal.
The Prince strictly and stubbornly refused any contact from his family.
The Emperor was using a different type of letter and seal for Imperial Orders, so those had to be a family matter.
They could have come from one of the Prince’s siblings or his parents, yet they were all the same to him.
Since his exile to the north by the order of the Emperor, he had never opened any of them.
Even Tievin, who was perhaps the one closest to the Prince, couldn’t tell if it was out of anger, resentment, or shame.
Prince Kassein was a difficult man to understand, and no one was daring enough to push him for answers.
Gathering all his willpower, Tievin walked out of the tent, immediately slapped by gusts of frosty wind.
He grumbled and began walking in the snow, keeping his precious coat tight around him.
It was cold enough already by day, but the temperatures fell even lower during the night.
Windy nights were the worst, and they were always cautious to never put the soldiers on evening rounds two nights in a row as it was hard to endure for anybody.
Even with his boots, scarf, hat, and thick coat, Tievin found himself shivering all the way to the kitchen and then to the Prince’s tent.
Many times, he’d considered having a soldier do this instead of him, but there was no way.
Especially after a brawl with his dragon, the Prince was unapproachable by almost anyone but Tievin.
Most soldiers were replaceable, after all. He wasn’t.
“D-dinner,” he announced between his chattering teeth as he stepped inside.
As always, this place was in the dark and not lit by any fire, but it was still better than being exposed to the cold outside, and after taking a faint sniff, Tievin noted that it had indeed been cleaned earlier that day.
Despite the lack of response, he put the tray down by a table near the never-lit fireplace and walked to the darkest corner of the tent.
He could only locate the Prince by his faint breathing and once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he spotted him on his bed, an arm over his eyes.
He glanced down. He smelled like blood, but the scales were mostly done healing him.
They hadn’t worked their magic fast enough for the sheets to be saved, however.
He’d have to send someone to change them whenever Kassein left his tent the next day. ..
“Because the defense wall was damaged, we will have to increase the night watchers,” Tievin said.
“The damages are about as bad as usual, which means it’ll take a week or so for the repairs.
Your dragon was spotted going north, so hopefully it’s gone to hunt in the mountains and will stay out of sight long enough.
We will also have to send men to the nearby villages to buy what needs to be replaced.
I expect the tribes will notice and look to cause trouble once they have.
A preventive attack to dissuade them might be a good idea. ”
“...Tomorrow morning,” the Prince grunted.
Tievin frowned.
“So soon?” he asked. “...Are you sure? It can probably wait a bit. They won’t notice until–”
“I said, tomorrow morning,” Kassein grunted, suddenly moving his arm to glare directly at the Grand Intendant.
Tievin immediately averted his eyes, nodding.
“Tomorrow morning, it is,” he sighed. “I’ll inform the General to have a few units ready for a raid.”
At least, a few men were going to be thrilled about the news.
Most of them were dying for any kind of action that didn’t include facing a dragon, and the hunts weren’t enough to entertain soldiers who spent the rest of the day cutting wood or peeling potatoes.
.. The raids in the mountains, hunting for barbarian warriors to convince them not to dare get down from their mountains was the real thrill.
The main issue was that they would have to be ready to go first thing the next morning, as Kassein woke up early and would not wait for them.
He was a Dragon Prince; he could definitely do those raids by himself and come back unscathed.
Tievin nodded; he had no doubt he could find a few units of soldiers crazy for action that would be fine with waking up at dawn to follow their leader.
Despite the risks, despite the biting cold and how dangerous those mountains were, the men would definitely be excited for this.
Fighting barbarians was their reason to be here, after all.
Tievin briefly finished reporting what he had to and then left the tent, leaving the Imperial Prince alone.
He wasn’t worried about him; the Commander in Chief would be healed by the next morning for sure, and even if he wasn’t, fighting with the barbarians was probably nothing compared to an actual dragon. ..
Protesting the cold once again, Tievin found two soldiers that were still out and had them send one of the generals to his tent.
No way was he going to chase after people in this cold!
Luckily, it didn’t take long for a general to present himself in his tent; meanwhile, Tievin was already back in his chair and wrapped in yet another fur coat.
Explaining the situation took no time either, and as expected, the General was just as excited as his men for some action.
He promised he’d have half a dozen units ready before dawn, and Tievin chased him out.
The General was definitely going to work tonight to prepare his troops for the raid, but not him.
He needed his sleep, and while he didn’t care for the raid, he too would have to be up the next morning to watch them go, check the details of who was going with what, and be there when they would get back.
Tievin was getting a headache already. If only the Prince had agreed to let him rest a bit and focus on the repairs first!
There would be a lot to be reported to him the next day, and even after those partaking in the raid were gone, he was going to be busy all day long supervising the repairs after that crazy dragon had made such a mess. ..
The next morning, he did not enjoy being woken up before dawn.
A soldier had to call him four times before Tievin extracted himself from his cozy, warm bed and pile of soft furs.
He grumbled, but got ready in a hurry anyway; the Prince wouldn’t wait for him to leave.
Once he got out, with his favorite snow leopard fur wrapped around him, carrying his notepad, he was escorted by two soldiers to where those participating in the raid were preparing.
It was at the edge of the camp, not far from the destroyed barricades.
As the General had promised, there were men gathered in more than half a dozen units.
A regular unit was composed of six men, yet from what Tievin could see, there were over forty men there. He glared at the General.
“A lot of them insisted,” he explained. “Plus, I swear these men are among our best, and deserve to be there!”
“Fine,” Tievin grumbled, “but any deaths are on you, General Kauser. And I want a detailed list of every soldier sent, their units, and details.”
“You’ll have it, Grand Intendant.”
Mad. They were all mad and in a hurry to go and get themselves killed.
.. Tievin glanced around, but the men were visibly excited indeed, all gathering their weapons, packing up, and exchanging cheerful laughs.
A lot of them would be disillusioned once they had achieved that raid.
The mountain was much more difficult than it let on.
To start, they would have to climb narrow, unstable paths just to get to the first plateau.
It was going to take them over an hour of difficult walking uphill, and they would have to actually climb some parts.
That was just the easy part. After that, the mountain wouldn’t give them any breaks and they would have to split up, as every way was too narrow and certainly wouldn’t allow forty men.
The quickest and strongest would be able to follow their Commander in Chief, but the unlucky ones would be on their own if they met any danger.
And the danger wasn’t just the barbarians; they could also meet other dangerous mountain inhabitants like the snow leopards, raptors, or rarer, mountain bears.
There was also the risk of slipping and breaking their neck on a sharp rock, if the rock that’d kill them didn’t actually come from the sky after some landslide above them.
Really, Tievin couldn’t understand those men’s hurry to meet their deaths.
.. He glanced up at the mountains and shivered.