Page 14 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“Send three units with him... no, behind him. Tell them to not bother him, just clean up the mess if they can.”
“Should we tell them to hunt with the Commander...?”
Tievin scoffed.
“They can try, but then you might want to warn them they are at risk of losing a limb. For the smartest ones of the bunch, tell them to simply collect whatever the Prin–the Commander leaves behind. We can always use more furs and leather... Make sure to do a rough inspection of the surroundings while you’re at it. The Commander’s presence will probably chase any of those barbarians out of the woods and back into their mountains, so capture them if you see any. Who knows, it might not be too late for an exchange...”
“What about... the dragon?”
Tievin grimaced.
“If you think that thing is near, stay behind the Commander. Never, ever get between him and his dragon. And don’t run,either. It excites that stupid thing. Make sure someone reports to me as soon as the Commander is back.”
“You’re not coming along, Grand Intendant?”
Tievin glanced at the man as if he’d said something completely stupid.
“What for? To get drenched in inches of snow and watch the beast butcher whatever crosses his path? No thanks. I’m going to go to my tent, work, and finally have my breakfast.”
“You haven’t eaten yet, Grand Intendant?”
Tievin sighed but turned around with no intention to respond. No, he hadn’t. He would have been an idiot to think it was smart to have anything in his stomach before confronting the beast... He slowly walked back to his tent, taking a detour to inspect the camp. Things were rough, as usual. The winter was getting into its worst part, meaning the snow was piling up, the prey was getting harder to hunt, and the men were getting restless, exhausted by the biting cold. The good part was that they would look forward to the next fights, anything to provide them excitement and a good occasion to warm up these days. Tievin took note of a tent that needed to be repaired and then glanced back at the mountains behind them. Those things were like a long stone wall they had pushed as close to as they could, but the North Army could go no farther as the tribes would fight fiercely. What had the Emperor thought, to send his reckless brother here? Although he had been there to listen to this nonsense order, Tievin himself was still confused.
Pacify the north. That was the only order the Emperor had given his younger brother. It was an order, a punishment, and a challenge all at once. A way to send his troublesome younger brother away from the Capital, to the cold, bitter north where the Wild Prince would be able to fight and kill to his heart’s content. And kill he had. In just a couple years’ time, the North Army had gone further north than ever before, forcing the Northernbarbarians to hide in their mountains and only come down for desperate attacks against the camp. Now, it was like they were trapped in the fight, both opponents stuck where they stood. The barbarians wouldn’t leave their mountains, and the North Army couldn’t risk going up. The Prince had pushed the North Army as far north as he could, but what could possibly come next? Hence why Tievin thought the Emperor had given him a cruel order. There was no easy way to end this battle that had already taken place for centuries. The mere word “pacify” could mean a lot of things, so it was up to the Wild Prince to come up with a means to end this war. Either that or they would stay stuck in the north forever... What a scary thought. He shivered and resumed his walk. Perhaps that impossible dragon would somehow manage to kick the barbarians out of their mountains, who knew. If only that wretched thing could be tamed...
Tievin went back to his tent, and by the time he got there, he was freezing and mentally complaining about the cold. He couldn’t help but think his father had somehow punished him too by sending him to this hell of a place with the Prince... As soon as he was back, he tried to get the fire going again and wrapped himself in new, dry fur coats before sitting down to have breakfast while going through the paperwork. Still, they weren’t short on materials or provisions, and wouldn’t run out any time soon. The Prince had made sure they were well stocked before the worst of the snow arrived. The Northern Forest was full of creatures that had roamed freely for decades, and thanks to the long hours Kassein had spent hunting to his heart’s content, they had enough fur, leather, and meat to trade and use. Whatever they couldn’t use here was sent to the closest villages and sold for what they couldn’t hunt or find. The mere presence of the Prince in the Northern Region had improved the quality of life of all the nearby villages. He didn’t keep anything he didn’t need for himself, nor sought merit. He always did a lotby himself without requiring assistance, and he didn’t order the men around needlessly. He was extremely cold and unforgiving, but he wasn’t unfair. This, among other things, explained why the Wild Prince was popular despite his horrible temper. He was both feared and respected by his men and the locals, a necessary quality for whoever was in charge of the cold north. In the North Army were only the best soldiers, or the worst people. It wasn’t rare that criminals were sent here to serve their sentence, by fighting without pay for the length of their punishment. They were clothed, fed, and provided shelter, but their lives belonged to the Wild Prince. Due to that, it took an inflexible man to lead the camp, nip rebellions in the bud, and maintain order. Fights were common within the ranks, but no one was stupid enough to do anything to provoke the Commander in Chief. They knew there was never a second warning.
Thanks to that, even frail and harmless Tievin could carry out his tasks with relative safety. As the closest aide to the Prince, he was an untouchable weakling whom even the generals respected, and he was content with that. In fact, although he couldn’t carry a sword, he was somewhat respected for the simple fact that he could endure the Wild Prince’s temper.
A couple of hours passed while Tievin was holed up in his tent, finally able to warm up a bit. He had one of the largest tents in the camp due to his status, with plenty of room to himself, but most of it was occupied by paperwork, account books, and chests filled to the brim with documents. One table was buried under his collection of fur coats, as he had no shame changing as soon as the previous one was soaked by the snow. They didn’t dry fast enough either, so he had conscientiously saved a few. If he was going to suffer in the north, he should at least do his best to make his stay as comfortable as possible... Comfort was the best. This precious little pile of warm, nice, and fluffy coats he had bought was probably his most cherished belonging here.
“Grand Intendant,” a man called to him from outside. “He’s back.”
Tievin sighed, but put down his pen. He got up, stretched, and carefully selected another coat before going out.
“I’m listening,” he told the soldier while they began walking in the snow.
“No injuries to report, sir. As you instructed, three units followed the Prince and returned. Do you want the hunting list?”
“No, I’ll go and see what he brought back once it’s all... taken care of.”
Tievin hated the sight of blood, so he usually waited until the soldiers were done cleaning the hunting trophies and organized everything before he went to see it for himself.
The Wild Prince went hunting so often that some units of men had become almost specialized in taking care of his prey upon his return. In a matter of a few hours, no matter how many, they would be carefully skinned, the fur washed, the meat set aside for the camp to have within the next couple of days, the bones would be washed to be sold, and the claws and fangs would also be put aside. Nothing went to waste. Although most of the Empire didn’t have any need for fur given its warm climate, the regions most north had begun to take a liking to those, and they were popular in the area. Tievin was also responsible for making sure they could still use those while keeping them at a high selling price. While some fur could be put on the soldiers’ uniforms or used as extra blankets, there were still too many most of the time. Thus, he had spent some time making sure those would become a trend in the Capital as well. Now, the supply was matching the demand, so the Commander’s hunts were also a nice source of income for the North Army, which was vital.
Sadly, no matter how wealthy the North Camp became, it wasn’t enough to bring a solution to this war. The soldiers mayhave been more comfortable, but they were still stuck in the coldest region of the Empire to fight a battle that never ended.
“Any sightings of barbarians?”
“Just from afar this time, sir. We spotted a few of them, but they were on high outposts in the mountains, watching us. None came down to fight, though, and they disappeared before the Commander was done with his hunt.”
Tievin wasn’t surprised or pleased with that information. The barbarians had learned to recognize the Commander in Chief, and stayed away whenever he was close. They knew they didn’t stand a chance if he was there, so they would stay hidden in their mountains, and only come down if some of the North Army’s men were visibly alone.
He sighed and crossed his fingers, thinking. Was there a way to end this war? It was like fighting an invisible enemy. The mountains were a nightmare to climb, there were far too many, and they were mostly unexplored by the Empire. The bits they knew had come solely from watching those barbarians. They figured there were a few hiding posts the barbarians used, and they could travel from one mountain to another quickly. From their attire, they’d also realized there was likely more than one tribe, half a dozen at least. Moreover, there was no telling how many people were actually hiding in those mountains. The only map they had that was possibly accurate had been drafted long ago by one of the Prince’s ancestors, a predecessor who’d been in charge of the north just like him. It was enough to understand that there were more mountains than their eyes could see from down here, and possibly a lot more barbarians hidden in them. Hence, the status quo was persisting to this day; even for someone like the Prince, it would have been madness to go into those mountains they knew nothing of, to fight an enemy on their own territory when there was no telling how many of themwere hiding up there. The only way that made sense would have been with the help of a dragon, but that too was impossible.
“Alright,” he said. “What of His High–I mean, the Commander?”
“He’s gone to the training grounds...”
