Page 145 of Promises to Keep

“Yes, fully working, there are kids, there are wounded, it is—”

Lady Mairead said, “He is a monster.”

I said, “There is nae path forward without endangering those lives?”

General Wallace shook his head. “We have yet to find one, but I have gathered the commanders, we will come up with a new plan.”

I said, “Off the top of yer head, a new plan would mean...?”

“Commander Richardson was there when I heard the news, he believes we should move forward anyway. He is developing a plan in which we disregard this information. He will present it at the meeting.”

I scowled. “This is... This would make me a monster as well.”

General Wallace said, “I will be recommending we turn around.” He pointed tae the region behind us. “We would reconvene here, near the port city, resupply, move up through the west.”

I said, “How much longer would we be at war?”

He exhaled. “I will need to work the numbers and—”

“Guess, I winna hold ye tae it.”

“It will take months.”

Lady Mairead said, “That is it! This is enough. We must end this—”

“But he winna surrender!”

“I ken!” She jabbed at a letter. “He has refused yer demands, with insolence, I remind ye, and so we must take it tae the next level. We will demand an arena battle!”

My eyes widened. “Now ye are takin’ the other side!”

“A woman isallowedtae change her mind, based on the information at hand… we will challenge him tae the arena and once the battle is won, ye will—”

“Ye think twill be easy as that? I daena see how he will allow himself tae be challenged. This man winna surrender, he will put a hospital in front of an army — what will make him willing tae lose a kingdom at the end of a sword?”

Lady Mairead said, “Magnus, ye hae brought him tae his knees, most of his men hae left him, he is beaten—”

I waved her words away. “I ken all of this aready, but yet, now, it seems I must turn around.”

I asked Colonel Quentin, “How many men did we lose in the last offensive?”

Quentin said, “Hold on, I’m new here… but…” He held a command screen and scrolled through information. “…it looks like your army took a lot of casualties... I do know, from interviewing soldiers, that morale is low. I’ll speak with Captain Burton about the details.”

I waved it away. “I daena need the details right now, I was interested in the idea of it, there are ‘a lot of casualties, morale is low.’ This is the information I wanted.” I exhaled. “Yesterday we were winnin’ the war, now we are expected tae turn around and lose ground?”

Lady Mairead incredulously put out her hands. “This is exactly why we need tae challenge him—”

“What would make Ian accept our challenge?”

Colonel Quentin said, “Any man who would put hospitals in front of an advancing army knows he is losing, and doesn’t want to look weak. You are winning. He’ll want an out. I say challenge him publicly. He will look weak if he doesn’t accept.”

“Ye agree with Lady Mairead?”

“Yes, it makes me uneasy, but here we are.”

I turned to General Wallace who had begun the war under Ian and had come tae my side early on. He had more knowledge than many of us about Ian. “What dost ye think, Wallace?”

“Ye mean whether he will take a challenge?”

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