Ch.14 But it is my job.

After King Foust gave out the orders to lay waste to the Kingdom of Ash, everyone in the throne room gave a salute or bowed then left to make their preparations. The only two who remained in the throne room where the tow guards that were stationed at the door. Elric and Blaze and gone back to their Dragon's Keep to make sure everything was in order should the king give them the order to ride out at a moment's notice. King Foust, Odis, and the generals left the throne room as well, they left for the war room.

By the time all of them got to the war room, King Foust's other advisors had gathered there, and were spreading a large map on the center table. As King Foust and the others walked in the gathered advisors bowed to the king. After they all bowed, they got back to work laying out the map.

With the map laid out on the large center table, King Foust motioned for every one to gather and be seated around it. He sat at one end of the table with Odis, and the other advisors to his right, and the head general to the left. After everyone was seated a maid served every one a cup of mild red wine. Once she was done serving them all, she left the war room with the guards stepping outside the door as well locking it behind them. Six guard where stationed on either side of the door along the hallway back to the throne room.

Now that the war room was under lockdown Odis started to place flags and small figures on the map. The flags marked the location of all the kingdoms located on the continent of Fargo, while the figures marked out the location, amount and type of troops based on the latest know information. While some of the locations and amounts may be a bit off for some of the kingdoms, The numbers and locations of Foust and Ash were spot on. This was because a few of the scouts had sneaked into the Ash Kingdom once they were believed to be behind the kidnaping of Princess Aalis.

Unless the Kingdom of Ash was smart enough to hide some of its army units outside of its own boarders they currently had two hundred carvery knights, three hundred knights on foot, one thousand foot solders of mixed ranks ,and only seventy archers. This small kingdom could not even afford horses for all of its knights. The army it could muster if the numbers were accurate was not even a third the size of just one of Foust legions. Each of the one hundred publicly know legions of Foust had a total of three thousand to ten thousand men. In total Foust Kingdom's standing army was over six hundred thousand on any given day. Two thousand full fledged knights served under Captain Davis alone. There were two other legions under the direct order of King Foust that did not report to anyone else, their make up, numbers, and existence are only known to him and the members of those to legions.

Any random legion of Foust army could crush the Kingdom of Ash. However as a show of force King Foust and those gathered in the war room were planning on using the full army. This show of force was not only to force Ash Kingdom to think wisely, but to act as a deterrent to other kingdoms having thoughts to aid Ash Kingdom. After all Foust Kingdom was the third largest on Foust, but had the largest standing army by far. Only the two secret legions and royal guard would not deploy. This was because unless it was an emergency, King Foust "special forces" would not openly be used. This would also allow a defense of the capitol city should someone attack while the main army was crushing Ash Kingdom into dust.

Odis and Head General Patton came up with the plan. The knights under Captain Davis would ride out along the main road between the two kingdom's capital cities causing the Army of Ash kingdom to think this was all that was going to be sent. While the rest of the Foust forces would come from all directions at once surrounding Ash Kingdom two days later. Each legion would then send out divisions of six hundred men to each large village or city it past on the way to join Davis at the capital. If word was not sent within three days of the main force reaching the capital city that Crown Princess Aalis was safe and secure within the army's camp or on her way back to Foust Kingdom the units sent out would start taking over by force. By the end of the week the only thing left of Ash Kingdom would be fields of ash and an enslaved population should Princess Aalis not be by her father's side.

With a plan set and everyone in agreement King Foust ordered for the doors to be unlocked and dismissed everyone except Odis, Head General Patton, and Captain Davis. He wanted their input before he made a decision on whether or not to send out Elric and Blaze. Along with if he was to send them should it be ahead of all the others, with Captain Davis, or as backup not that that was really needed.

**Dragon's Keep**

Elric was in his keep at this time gathering his spare armor and swords. He had one of the local blacksmiths make him a few spares in case he damaged the ones he had been gifted while out on patrols. It was thanks to Captain Davis' training he thought of this. One of the first things he was taught was: One sword is as good as none, two swords are as good as one, and three swords are as good as two. Basically this meant that in the heat of battle one could lose or break ones weaponry, so it was better to be prepared and carry a spare.

Blaze was already fitted with her saddle and a set of plate armor that Elric had requested be made for her. This turned her into the Zania version of a main battle tank. Elric filled the saddle bags full of dried meat to act a rations should he not be able to eat in the army's camp or buy food off locals. All Elric would need to do should they be ordered to set out was grab his pack at attach it to the back of the saddle before setting off. With everything in order the two of them were going to get some sleep even though it was early, in case they were ordered to set out in the middle of the night. Just as He and Blaze got comfortable a knock on the front door of the dragon's keep sounded.

It was one of the king's royal guard. "Protector Elric Vellen please follow me to the King's war room." said the royal guard member. "One moment, we will be out in just a second." Elric said as he got out of bed. Elric made it to the door with Blaze right behind him. When he open the door He and the royal guard gave each other a knight's salute. The royal guard then led the two of them to the war room. Upon entering Elric sounded off saying," Reporting as ordered your majesty." He did now bow as it was the custom of the war room only to bow when the king entered, and not when reporting.

"Elric, We have came to the decision to not order you to ride out ahead of the army to the Ash Kingdom, or along with the main forces. You and Blaze are to remain here and patrol the kingdom to guard against any possible threat of hostile forces within your capabilities." said King Foust.

"But it is my job to protect Princess Aalis Your Majesty." Elric said in response. "Should I not ride out an burn the Kingdom of Ash to ashes until they return her."

"If you were older I would not hesitate to send you out to do so. As it is part of me still wants you to do just as you said. However you are still young, and at first your appointment to be the protector of the princess was mostly symbolic because of this fact. You have cence proved that you are more than capable of protecting Princess Aalis under most circumstances despite only being ten years old." But I would be a barbaric king to even think of sending a boy to fight a war. You and Blaze are also way to important to the princess, myself, and the kingdom to risk losing. If something were to happen to either one of you Princess Aalis would never forgive me." King Foust said.

Elric said that he understood the king's words as he turned to leave. Blaze snorted at the king and lit a chair on fire in the process before leaving as well. Truth be told Blaze barely fit in the room with her horse like size. After the two left Odis said, "You do realize that he may try and sneak out, it looked as if he had even stuffed saddle bags full of food and was only awaiting your orders to leave."

"I know."

"Should we try and stop him from doing so?"

"No."

"But your majesty, Did you not order him to stay and patrol the kingdom to keep him safe?"

"Odis, that may have been the words I said, but you should count your days as my Grand Advisor."

"WHAT?"

" What I am saying is the boy might have understood the meaning behind my words better than you. The true meaning behind my words was that I as King could Not order a ten year old boy to go fight a war. To do so would make me out to be a monster not fit to be a king. I never said that I would stop him from going. I even went as far as to say he was more than capable of protecting her. This would imply that; he with Blaze is strong enough to rescue her or at least take part in her rescue. If he were to stay he is only proving his loyalty by following orders to the letter even though every fiber of his being is telling him not to."

"I think I understand Your Majesty, you told him in a way that would not be understood by others, and that if he was fearful he was given an out that would not cause him disgrace. You also told him to be safe and not over do it and place himself in danger. That if he could not save her on his own to hold fast until the army was in place to back him up."

"It looks like you also understand what i said without saying. You only needed to be told that there was a hidden message. Your job is safe for now I guess old friend."

"So I take it you expect him to "seek out" tonight?"

"Yes, I almost fell sorry for the people of Ash Kingdom as at his age he may not be capable of sparing them from his wrath. As for that third prince, it is only a matter of how many pieces he ends up in before finding himself in the belly of a angry dragon."

" I will write a letter of apology to the people of Ash Kingdom and offer to help bury their dead." Odis added.

That night around two a.m. Elric and Blaze "snuck out" of the castle. If he was not hell bent on getting Princess Aalis back no matter what or older he may have noticed to lack of guards out on this particular night. After leaving the capital city Elric had Blaze run at top speed, dark of night meant nothing to the eyes of a dragon. Even though Blaze was not an earth dragon, her running speed was still several times faster than any horse could ever dream of being. If she ran without stopping the two could make it to Ash kingdom shortly after sunrise and the gates of their castle in time to ask what was for lunch. Even though he was in a rush he still made sure to part any road bandits he passed with their lives.