A Scouting Mission

Morgan set off at dawn the next day with two guards and a scribe. Her sister's message to her at the end of the council meeting had not been taken lightly and Morgan would do her best to report as much information as she could. The camp they were riding for was set out less than a mile from the village that had been hit the hardest by the so-called raids. The chief of this village had been informed that they would be coming to do an inspection of damage to send additional resources to the village to help with repairs and recovery. This was partly true. The rest of their mission was known only to Morgan's right hand, Captain of the guard Philip.

The forest nearest to the castle was patrolled regularly but the outskirts were rarely ventured into. It came as no surprise when the rustling in bushes turned out to be a child. Morgan dismounted her horse to check on the child but he ran away before she could say anything. The reason became apparent when two horses thuddered out of the bushes shortly behind him. Morgan lept back onto her horse before she got run over.

The rider raised the visor on his helmet and Morgan was taken aback but the familiar face of Elliot, Perwasia's captain of the guard.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Morgan turned her horse to fully face him.

He flipped his visor back down and started to go after the child, "That is classified and I am afraid I can't tell you that."

Morgan moved her horse to in front of him, "I cannot let you pursue the child without probable cause. They are a minor under the protection of the castle wind thus cannot be left to be hunted by you."

Elliot's horse reared up and he tightened the reins. "It is a need to know situation, Princess. You do not need to know so please let us pass before there is a diplomatic issue."

"You need to explain before you cause a diplomatic issue. I have no reason to let you pursue one of my citizens without cause."

One of Morgan's guards drew his horse up along side here and whispered in her ear, " Madam we have received word that there was a Vallsian spy among our citizens but that they have fled into the woods."

"What are the chances they were the child we just saw?"

"Pretty high, Your highness. No one else has been seen in this forest recently."

Morgan nodded and turned back to Elliot. "We shall accompany you on the hunt for this child. This way you can find them and we can make sure that if they are a citizen of Focaveh they are treated with the respect they deserve. Is this agreeable?"

Elliot nodded and they set off veered slightly away from Morgan's original intended path.

They were swift in finding the child but it was quickly determined that they were just a young adult working for Vallsia. No information could be taken from them though as they cracked on a tooth in the back of their mouth and died quickly.

Morgan and Elliot went their separate ways after Morgan conferred with her party and decided that accompanying the guards from Perwasia would not be worth their time. The village they needed to scout was much more important and so they corrected their path and continued on.

They reached the village by the end of the day and were unfortunately not shocked by the carnage they found. There were very few structures still upright that were not badly burned. It was easy to dismiss the damage as a raid gone horribly wrong but Morgan saw the discrepancies. Most bandits only went for homes because that was where the common folk kept their valuables and food. In this case, most of the homes were intact while the leadership buildings were burned as well as the defenses of the village. Astraea had been right, this was not a normal raid.

Morgan met with the village chief and he described the night the raid happened.

His voice was shaken when he started, "It was the dead of night when they came. The only reason people woke up was because the bells on one of their horses woke up a guard who could get to the village wanting bells in time."

Morgan exchanged a look with her second in command because bandits who wanted to be stealthy at night didn't wear bells. That sounded like a stuck up noble that wouldn't sacrifice pride and style for convertness.

The chief continued, "They didn't go for the homes. Most of our women and children were able to stay safe because of this. But the men that went to protect the wall and man our defenses didn't make it back. The bandits hit too quickly for our men to defend themselves or the village. They ransacked our biggest building before setting fire to them. A little bit perculiarnfor bandits to not attack home but we are grateful that most of us are alive."

"Thank you for your testimony, Chief. We will appraise the damage down here and then let you know the estimate of the support you can expect from the Capital in support funds."

Later in the evening, Morgan sat down at the desk in her tent. The Chief had been grateful for the support they could offer the village so Morgan had time to sit down and write a report for Astraea. She was worried about the suspicious chain of events the Chief had described, especially since the person riding with bells fit into Astraea's theory that bandits were working for a higher power. They would ride back tomorrow but tonight the rest of her party was celebrating life with the survivors of the village. Morgan had opted out to try and rewrite as many details as she could remember so that her sister would have a valid reason to start building troops. With the spy and the attacks, her beautiful home of Focaveh would soon be at war.