"Reunited..." - Chapter Forty-Six

Reunited...

Chapter Forty-Six

By Douglas E. Gogerty

Naturally, Princess Angelina heard about the death of King Thorbjorn. Since that day, she got reports of the civil war that raged in Lakeland. While Prince Bjorn claimed the throne, his many siblings were angry at his actions. They did not appreciate the fact that he had taken it upon himself to kill the King. Moreover, many would like to be in his position. Thus, the various children of Thorbjorn broke into various factions. It seemed that each son, no matter where in the line of succession, wanted the kingdom for himself.

When she heard about the ambush, she was impressed with Bjorn's foresight to wait until the King entered Lakeland. If the ambush had occurred on her land, she could consider that an attack on her sovereignty. It could have drawn her kingdom into the war. However, the restraint made the incident an internal affair for Lakeland.

In addition, the Princess did not hear what happened to Prince William. She knew he was traveling with the King at the time. Of the reports she received, none mentioned Prince William. She thought that perhaps he had also died in the ambush. She felt bad about not granting him an audience. Further, her harsh actions made her sad -- about not seeing the Prince. She did not feel the same for the King. In fact, she was somewhat glad that King Thorbjorn was dead.

However, she would now need to negotiate with whomever ended up reigning over Lakeland. Naturally, she could not get any treaty signed until a successor was determined. This could take quite some time. The brothers would not yield to each other easily.

Another worry was that the civil war could spill across Lakeland's borders. With the fighting raging, one of the armies may wish to reclaim her kingdom. With the unpredictability of the situation, she did not wish to see the war spill into her lands. Thus, she would have to do the prudent thing and mobilize a force along the border. The task of this force would be to prevent incursions into her land. They would also handle the refugees.

Thus, once again, she let the unimportant aspects slide. She did not fill in minor posts, and she had not named her kingdom. Those things would have to wait. There were much more important things to worry about.

She immediately appointed some trusted advisors to command the army she would raise. She gave them strict orders on what to do with those seeking asylum. The refugees would swear allegiance to Angelina and be welcomed. However, the army had full reign to deal with anyone who caused trouble.

She allowed her advisors the ability to decide what to do with the stream of people crossing the boarder. However, she did not want them to wander far from the Lakeland border. She knew that they remained Lakelanders despite the war in their lands. They would likely wish to return home.

In her efforts to recruit more for the protective service, she went to the citizenry. In each town she visited, the townspeople gathered around her. Without much trouble, she could raise a substantial fighting force. In fact, she turned many down so they could continue to raise food.

Moreover, it seemed that her entire kingdom was willing to fight for her. She enjoyed such support from her people, that they appeared ready to do anything for her. However, she knew that maintaining such a large standing army would be expensive. She knew that someone had to continue to raise food to keep them fed. Hence, she rationed out the honor of service.

She did note to the ones that remained out of active service that their rolls were just as important -- if not more so. She had read that an army travels on its stomach. Hence, she emphasized that growing food was just as important as fighting. She promised that there would be great rewards for providing a bounty to the army.

She knew that without peace in home, there would be no need for a military to worry about other kingdoms. Thus, she assured everyone that they were an important part of her kingdom. It appeared that her people were grateful to have such a generous leader.

Occasionally during her recruiting tour, she would visit the already gathered troupes. During these visits she received dire reports from Lakeland. She would hear of the atrocities going on in the north. She learned of Prince Bjorn's cruelty. The reports told how he would punish harshly anyone who disobeyed him. Further, with every defeat, the refugees would report of great retaliation. They told stories of how Prince Bjorn was not only harsh to one of his enemies, but was cruel to his own army. Everyone spoke of the would-be-king's tirades.

Many of the soldiers remarked that there leaders were not incredibly bright. In fact, they said that Prince Bjorn's own incompetence caused many of his own defeats. He would rush into battle when his men were not ready. He would call for battle when his opponent had a far superior position. He gave little credence to tactics.

These former soldiers believed that Prince Bjorn felt that he was infallible. Thus, any defeat, he believed, was his army's fault. He believed that his soldiers did not fight hard enough. He would harshly punish his army upon any major or minor defeat. Thus, the soldiers deserted in vast numbers.

However, they reported that it was not much better for the other armies. If a soldier would surrender to one of the other armies, they would never be trusted. Even if they swore fealty to the leader, they would be assigned to POW camps. The conditions at these camps were awful. The fighting men received most of the food. Thus, the prisoners had very little from which to survive. Starvation was common.

Therefore, instead of surrendering to another army, the soldiers would come south. In addition, with rumors of the welcome in the south, soldiers, farmers, and many others and their families began streaming across the border. The Princess did her best to accept anyone crossing the border.

After a few visits with the refugees, she realized that food was going to be an issue. Hence, her recruiting tours turned into pep talks to the farmers. She wanted to make sure everyone knew that their parts were just as important. She wanted to keep morale up for those behind the lines. The Princess did her best to make sure that as much food could be sent to the refugee camps. She wanted everyone to be happy.

However, there was a down side for all of this. The sons of Thorbjorn noticed the increasing army on the boarder of Lakeland. The army had more than doubled in a very short time. This type of thing would not go unnoticed.