Comparisons

Not that they had anything to worry about from just the one camp. The fort's garrison was small, but thanks to the efforts of Henri and the first men he trained, the majority of the men were competent archers as well as footsoldiers. The clearing surrounding the fort made for an excellent field of fire.

According to the information from their now-deceased spy, the guerrillas mainly carried swords and polearms, there wasn't many archers among them. Astra's guards during her brief captivity were among the few exceptions. The spy had also revealed that the guerillas knew such an assault wouldn't work, from news received from messengers about attacks on other similar forts. They would gather as many men as possible, and instead of attacking the fort directly, would starve out the defenders.

But defence wasn't the reason why the captain wanted more men. To go on the offensive, as his standing orders meant he should, he would have to attack the guerilla camp with all his men, leaving no-one literally holding the fort. Losing the fort would be a major blow, and it would mean the guerillas would have got their first proper foothold in the province of Kandaver. The sad thing was, there was no shortage of men available. The capital alone had twice the number of soldiers needed for proper defence. It just seemed that the government was downplaying the actual threat the guerillas posed, no doubt thinking that they were an ill-trained rabble that their highly-trained forces could easily put down. An extra three hundred men would be all he needed, that was all. The government would have none of it.

He told Astra he had friends in the Helsingdon military, and contemplated trying to contact them to see if they could offer any covert help. It was a known fact that the Helsingdon military used dragons, non-magical ones, as an aerial attack force. Just one of those dragons would probably be able to take out the guerilla camp. The only problem would be if they were found out. It would probably damage the relationship between the two countries, as officially Helsingdon looked down at all the cloak-and-dagger type of shenanigans.

1. Astra offers to try and get in touch with the captain's friends, though she doesn't have high hopes of him agreeing.
2. The Captain's friends try and contact him.
3. A messenger arrives to tell them Helsingdon has declared war on Esputa. Apparently, some guerillas accidently attacked one of their trade routes.

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