"Reunited..." - Chapter Fifty-Five

Reunited...

Chapter Fifty-Five

By Douglas E. Gogerty

Princess Angelina spoke with her many advisors. The invasion had caught them by surprise. The three kingdoms had as many issue with themselves as they did with Lakeland. It was nearly unthinkable that they would cooperate on anything. Thus, Lakeland had not prepared for such an event. Lakeland was quite capable of taking on any of them singly, and they knew it. However, it was quite another thing to take them all together.

Some advisors had experiences with a neighboring kingdom. In this way, the Princess's advisors each offered different advice. Depending upon how it went, they would either want to invade one kingdom or another first or last.

There was talk of divide and conquering. That is, fight the middle kingdom first, and divide the opposing forces. The Kingdom of Nunu was the weakest of the three. Thus, most of the advisors believed that it would be the easiest to defeat.

Nunu had once contained several of the most prosperous and powerful cities in the world. It was a powerful place in Morica. However, these cities were destroyed in the great war and other natural phenomena. The place was a minor shadow of its once greatness.

A ruler would rise up and promise the return to prosperity for the kingdom. However, if it did not happen in any sort of reasonable timeline, a civil war would break out. Eventually, the sovereign would be deposed. Hence, with its internal strife, the kingdom was unable to build anything meaningful, like economic prosperity or a large standing army.

However, the Princess and others thought attacking Nunu was foolish. After all, when the defeat of Nunu occurred, the Lakeland army would be then fighting on two fronts. With their forces depleted as they were, they could not afford to divide their attentions. While attacking the weakest kingdom had its merits, the Princess did not think it was the best option.

That led to discussions of either going north or south. The Maritime Kingdom consisted of a number of of a number of islands and section of land connected to the mainland. However, it could only be reached by land from Lakeland through Nunu. It could not be reached by any other land route.

The Maritime Kingdom was a seagoing people. They owed their prosperity to the sea. They also had plenty of natural resources like iron and timber which they shipped worldwide. Generally, they were a peaceful people, but they wished to gain more farmland. They had to trade for much of their grain as the climate was not conducive to much farming.

Without a land route, it would be foolish to attack them first. Lakeland would have to assemble their naval forces. Also, they would have to take attack Maritime in their strongest defense. Their powerful navy would certainly take its toll on any Lakeland advance. They were much more vulnerable by land. Hence, the logical option was to begin in the south and work north.

The Kaanfed Kingdom was just north of the Pirate Peninsula. It was the most balanced of the three kingdoms. It had a prosperous textile production facility. Their farms produced more than enough food for its citizens. They traded their surplus abroad. It was ruled by the brother of the king of the Maritime Kingdom. The two kings' lifelong feud normally kept them from cooperating. Thus, they did not trade, which would have been beneficial to both kingdoms. Thus, their trades were more costly than need be.

It was decided. Princess Angelina gathered her forces and began heading south. They hoped to avoid confrontation until they entered Kaanfed. Lakeland had suffered enough in its civil wars. Any further conflict could damage the already fragile existence of the citizens. Hence, they sent scouts to look for the enemy in an attempt to avoid them.

The caravan moved slowly. However, it was able to move both day and night and in any weather. When the storm began raging, the Princess's thoughts turned to Prince William. She wondered where he had gone. She would have liked to see him again, but she understood how he felt. Her thoughts soon drifted on to other things.

The storm raged for most of the day, and slowed the movement of the army caravan only slightly. They could not use the suncars, so the animals got extra duty. With the rain, there was little chance that these animals would overheat. They would also have plenty of water. The caravan would need to stop and feed them, but they could go great distances without rest.

The scouts reported in regularly. They discovered that the invaders had taken several cities. Thus, the caravan would need to avoid the cities. The Lakeland plan was to enter the Kaanfed capitol. If they could do that with little fighting beforehand, this would force the Kaanfed troops to withdraw to protect their homes. In this way, they would fight on Kaanfed land rather than Lakeland.

However, this had its drawbacks. First, they would have to not engage the enemy. That was going to be quite a task as the locals would want the invaders off their land. Further, they could be easily surrounded by the enemy. The Kaanfed troupes in the Lakeland cities could follow behind. Once the Lakeland army engaged with the Kaanfed army, they could have the Lakeland army surrounded.

Nonetheless, the Princess and her advisors believed that while the plan was daring, it had the best chance of success. If they could take the Kaanfed capitol, they could use its defenses against its own army. Further, they would have negotiation power of the king -- if he was not in his castle.

The army kept moving. The roads were quiet as they moved. It seemed that everyone in Lakeland was marching towards Kaanfed. It was amazing that they avoided conflict with anyone until after they left their kingdom. However, when they marched into Kaanfed, everything changed.