Chapter 188: Leave At First Light
"We should sleep early so that we can get moving at first light. The road is good, but it is a long way to Albroles City." Prince Alex insisted, changing the topic.
"Then we will see you in the morning." Alexis replied, before she gave him a hug and dragged Dominic back to the truck to help her get ready for bed.
Alex shook his head as he watched them leave. Of all of his brothers and sisters, he had never seen one of them so eager to get married and start living a dostic life. Well, to begin living whatever twisted version of dosticity they had co up with between them.
Most of his siblings spouses hardly tolerated each other for the first few months until they got used to each other’s presence.
He had at least known his wife before they were betrothed, but none of the Royals had married a childhood friend or frequent acquaintance in this generation.
That was deliberately done so that the attempts to embed lovers into the lives of the Royals didn’t give any of the upper Nobles a leg up. But he knew that there were a few playboys and anable ladies who had been recomnded by other siblings as a marriage match.
So, it wasn’t a total failure.
For a mont, he considered saying sothing. But the entire Regint was used to their arrangent at this point, so there wasn’t much he could do now except hurry the wedding along when the war was over.
Before dawn, Dominic was awake, setting up a shower tent with a campfire under the water tank, so that the Princess could get a properly warm shower before they headed to the City.
After an extended deploynt, it took at least two showers to get yourself slling pleasant again, so starting this morning would save ti on evening preparations after they arrived in Albroles.
Assuming that it didn’t imdiately turn into a battle, that was.
Dominic helped the Princess into a fancier dress after breakfast, and the convoy set out west down the highway.
The first few hours were quiet, with nothing moving in their scouting range. Only after they had stopped for lunch did the convoy first encounter anyone, and that was a Dagos Army unit headed the sa direction that they were.
The scouts returned to the Regint, and the flags of a diplomatic envoy were raised.
Everyone had their weapons ready, unsure how the Dagos Army would respond.
The Cygnia force pulled up beside the Dagos soldiers, who moved off the road, and sent an officer to greet them.
"Commander, might we ask which Envoy you are representing?" The officer asked as Commander Dax stopped in front of him.
"The Second Prince of Cygnia, Prince Alex. His honour guard is escorting him to Albroles for the coronation event in three days." Dax replied, while trying not to make it obvious that his hand was resting next to his revolver.
"I see. Which coronation are you to attend?" The Officer asked.
"We received ssages from both Viscount Boscom and Prince Kaizon. We are eager to see how the situation plays out." Dax replied.
"We will accompany you to the new Capital. For your safety." The officer insisted after a mont of thought.
"Certainly. Lead the way, we will follow your pace, as we have no infantry." Commander Dax agreed.
The Dagos army didn’t have anyone on foot, but their infantry transports were not made for high speeds. There were four long benches on a truck bed with a canvas sun shade, and the soldiers were packed tight, with their gear at their feet.
It was a rough and uncomfortable ride, with terrible suspension.
So, the Cygnia convoy slowed their speed to match as they rode through the afternoon, and then made camp two hours before sunset, when they t with another Dagos Army convoy headed for Albroles.
Princess Alexis stayed in the carriage with her brother while Dominic went out to get them dinner and et with the Dagos leadership.
He was in his best Sorcerer Robes, with a hat on and his hood up, despite the late afternoon heat, so it seed safe enough to talk for a few minutes and make sure he wasn’t a strange face to the soldiers when they arrived at Albroles.
"Sir, how might we help you?" A camp guard asked as Dominic approached the edge of the Cygnia camp.
"I just ca to make introductions. I am Royal Advisor Dominic, if your officers have any requests, they can co to
instead of the unit officers. More efficient that way. However, I do notice that your unit is serving beans and rice for dinner, and I have a peace offering, of sorts."
Dominic took out one of the cured hams, forrly from a Dagos military supply shipnt, but stripped of its packaging.
"Split it among your n. Who knows when they’ll get another shipnt." He offered.
"Thank you, Advisor. You didn’t hear this from , but lately, only certain units have been getting properly supplied, and a suspicious number of them have gone missing afterward, along with the soldiers carrying the supplies." The Officer whispered.
Dominic nodded, then turned to return to his camp. So things couldn’t be said too loudly, but the officer had confird that the desertion rates and lack of supplies were becoming an issue for Dagos.
Dominic joined the Cygnia soldiers at the cook fire as the officer subtly cut the ham in half and sent half to the other unit camped near them.
The rest was mixed with the rice and beans, and the camps settled in for a tense night.
There was no trust between Dagos and Cygnia. But curiously, there wasn’t much more between the Dagos Regints.
"They’re not sure which candidate for King the other officers support." Commander Dax whispered as Dominic prepared plates for the Royal siblings.
"The Viscount said that most of the army supported Prince Kaizon. Could that be why so units haven’t been getting supplies? They weren’t loyal enough to the Prince, so his cronies cut their support?" Dominic asked.
"That’s our theory. We can’t prove it yet, but it is the most likely case." Dax agreed.
"So, we might not be walking into a succession battle but day one of a civil war." Dominic realized.
"And we may be the deciding factor in who gets support for the throne, as Cygnia’s Armies are overrunning the nation." Dax added ruefully.
"I hope you brought more rum."
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