The Warrior's Pet(50)

"Warriors meet head on till one attains victory. It is the honorable way to do battle. Only a coward strikes an opponent in the back." Dagaa stated.

"Yes I agree to a certain extent. But you cannot look at waging war on a grand scale the same as you would an honorable fight between two warriors." Giselle tried to explain.

"We will not be dishonorable as Vigdis was." Dagaa countered vehemently.

"War is not honorable. It is by its nature the very opposite. I am not saying kill the innocent. I am saying you must learn to attack his armies in more ways than just going in head on and duking it out. The goal is to finish this right?" Giselle tapped her fingers. This was hard, she wasn't a general. "You must use strengths and weaknesses to your advantage. Vigdis tried to make you weak with his attack to bring you to where he was strong."

"Yes I can see that now." Kagan took Giselle's hand and brought her fingers to his lips.

"We had a man in our ancient times, a scholar in the art of war. I was studying him when I was taken from my home." Giselle replied as she stroked Kagan's stubbled cheek. "His methods were even used in business and trade as means to approach an adversary."

Kagan and Dagaa looked intrigued.

"For example there is no honor in crushing Vigdis' army when severing the head will do. You remove his people's support and you will have your victory. The best offense is foiling Vigdis before the battle even begins and lives are inevitably lost."

"Yes but how?" Kagan shook his head. "This is the problem Vigdis is constantly surrounded by an army of his men and his people are too afraid to go against him."

Giselle understood that. Vigdis has killed a village of his own people without blinking an eye, of course they were afraid.

"I don't know. I don't have all the answers. I just know that going to meet him in battle as things stand will end in a Pyrrhic victory at best." Both warriors tilted their heads in confusion. "It means you may win but the amount of loss is tantamount to defeat."

"This is why we are going instead to Nazario." Kagan stated.

Giselle breathed a sigh of relief. The worry that Kagan would get himself foolishly killed had been gnawing at her.

"Little warrior we leave tonight for the city. As we travel, you can tell me more of this scholar's teachings and the knowledge your people have gleaned over the centuries."

Giselle nodded as Kagan and Dagaa made preparations to head to the decimated city.

She hadn't expected to have the discussion they just had. She recalled that Kagan had wanted to discuss something more personal with her till this nasty business got in the way. Giselle needed to understand where she stood in Kagan's society. She felt like she was in some sort of limbo. Kagan and even Dagaa seemed to value her opinion, and she was an equal behind closed doors, but in open company it was different. She had to walk on eggshells for fear of bringing shame on Kagan. That sucked hard.

More importantly Giselle wished she knew what she was to Kagan. She wanted to be more than a beloved pet that he fucked in the privacy of their tent and gave more leeway than others believed prudent. She wanted something more. Giselle may have lost faith in ever going home, but she had held on to the aspiration that she might somehow find a special connection with a kindred spirit. She felt such great potential in the spark that blazed between Kagan and herself. There was a thread of hope that she let bloom inside telling her she wasn't the only one to feel that way.



Kagan quo Rordan

Kagan felt awful leaving Sabin behind with the soldiers camped along the border. Despite his guarantee they would send for him in a few days the child was distraught at being abandoned. Kagan just couldn't bring himself to let the boy witness what they were marching into, not after what had happened in Sabin's village.

Giselle's eyes had watered as she hugged the boy practically breaking him. Kagan would've considered leaving Giselle to tend for the boy but he trusted no one but himself and Dagaa to treat Giselle kindly, and they both were making this trip.

"So tell me more about this scholar who wrote about war." Kagan asked after they had ridden in silence for a bit, the sun drifting low on the horizon.

"I do not recall verbatim but there are some key things I have gleaned. As the commander you must consider several things before going into battle; is it right morally, is the timing right, what is the disposition of the battlefield who are your leaders and how do they lead the men." Giselle replied as she sat in front of Kagan on his manx.

"Very logical." He replied considering the basic points.

"I think so and I don't doubt that you do these things. I think though that breaking the reasoning down and defining its parts is much like training with a sword. You must understand it fully and practice doing it so that in the heat of the moment it is second nature."