Knight Commander Arlen

Knight Commander Arlen sat in the center of his tent, hunched over the old map on his desk, which had several places marked with pins. It was not the only copy they had but it was his copy. There was no need to mar it by marking its surface with ink.

His frown deepened as he glanced at the scout reports he'd arranged around the map. 

The latest message was no better than the last. More sightings of barbarian scouts just outside the hills. Not ordinary scouts but Druidic scouts. Too many to be dismissed. There was also the fact that some of their own scouts... had simply never returned.

No one knows if they were dead or had been captured. This had never happened before. Not once in the decade he'd been a Knight Commander. The barbarians didn't scout or patrol. They only raided and retreated.

The canvas flap of his tent was pulled back, and a young soldier stepped in, saluting. "Commander. The supply train just arrived."