The Last Primal

"I believe they are preparing something. We should be ready for anything, sir!"

The words of the lieutenant finally earned the attention of her captain. The man, stopping in his tracks, looked at the woman, genuine surprise written on his face. He placed the quill back to its holder on the side and straightened his back.

"That is indeed an interesting conjecture, and you have even made correct guesses based on the little information you could listen in to hear and there…"

Lieutenant Sievul shook in fright at the words of the General. 

"I… I didn't mean to… General… Sir… I apolo-"

"There is no need for that, be at ease, Lieutenant!"

Seeing her fidgeting and overall just she was a nervous wreck, General Dorian had the urge to burst out into laughter. Still, he constrained himself, keeping up his majestic outlook, and only allowed a small smile to reveal his true emotions.

Sievul however, due to being already deep in the dredges of her trepidation, mistook that genuine smile as a sneer, a show of the man's annoyance at the woman's disrespectful actions.

Thinking that she was in deep trouble, she hurriedly knelt down on the ground. Forcing her face plastered on the ground she begged, barely being able to hold her tears.

"I apologize, G-General! I did not mean to… I just… I merely wanted to h-help! Please don't pun-"

"I said…" The robust man's deep voice stifled the words into her yet again. His large, hard palms reached down, grabbing the woman's trembling shoulders, he pulled her back up. Looking into her eyes, General Dorian smiled as he spoke. "I said, be at ease, Lieutenant. You are not in any sort of trouble at all."

The man sighed, letting go of the shivering, trembling woman, and took a step back to create some meager distance between the two.

"If anything, I would like to hear more about what you think! Hmm… You know what?" The middle-aged man pondered for a brief moment, before suddenly turning around and walking back to the map he was busy with just a moment ago. He motioned for the woman as soon as he got back. 

"Come here, Lieutenant! I would like to hear your thoughts regarding the matter and the proposed plan of attack." 

Lieutenant Sievul was shocked and consequently stunned yet again after hearing her General's tone. She could hear that there was no malice, no contempt, nor any disdain as he called for her. His eyes showed a genuine interest, a growing curiosity as he looked at her.

This, however, didn't ease her worries but instead served as further fuel to throw her mind into a state of chaos. Her heart was beating erratically, she was stunned, paralyzed. She couldn't respond, not even a nod as she looked back at the man with a pale face and wide eyes.

"Don't worry, I only wish to hear your thoughts on the matter. There are no wrong answers here, and nobody will say anything. It is only us two." Seeing the state of the woman, the old man sighed, finally allowing a genuine hearty smile to spread on his wrinkled face. He beckoned the woman once again to come over, trying his very best to seem friendly and not whatever she was envisioning.

Eventually, Lieutenant Sievul managed to break from her reverie and calm herself just enough to force out a timid head nod, before meekly walking over, taking her place at the General's left side. 

"Look at this map, Lieutenant." As the woman got to his side, General Dorian spoke up. 

He pointed at a cliff at the far left side of the hand-drawn map. 

"This is where we are. Our current camp we set up. In front of us, to the east… this line here marks the border between our Empire and this so-called Kingdom." He pointed out the clear details first. 

Pointing towards the north of the city, he moved his index fingers beyond the map as he spoke.

"My brother's two armies will be invading to the far, far north. One of them will be crossing through the mountain ridge, while the eldest will most likely circle around it, and will come from the north. I bet they are aiming directly for the capital, fighting against each other to score higher in father's stupid list…" The man sighed, shaking his head freeing it from the frowning wrinkles as he got back to the task at hand.

He pointed on the two rectangles he had drawn one straight in front of the city whilst the other, somewhat smaller drawn as to go around, and join the battle from the south. 

"With the information we have, the most guarded entrance is at the far side of the city, far away from us." He explained. "Separating our forces into two armies, we would send one half, roughly with 60-65% of our numbers directly assaulting them in a frontal assault. This would force most of their forces to concentrate and shift to defending from the west, allowing the second force to sneak in from the south, hopefully flanking the defense."

General Dorian spoke, explaining the currently drawn-up segments of his battle plan. Reaching the end, he coughed, he looked at the woman, and asked. "So what do you think, Lieutenant? Should it work, or is there some insight you could add?"

Listening intently at the General, Sievul was fidgeting in her place, not sure of if she should really speak up or not. After a few sighs, however, she decided to give it a chance.

Pointing at the smaller, southern battalion, she looked at the map and spoke in a whispering, powerless, timid tone of voice.

"Uhm, General, Sir… I think… I think that maybe a few extra steps could be taken to further enhance our chances and lower the possible casualties… sir…" She spoke, not daring to look up at the man, afraid of his reaction. Would he be offended that a woman, a subordinate spoke up, defying him? Would she be punished for her insubordination? 

She was like a little lamb, frightened as she was pushed into the den of a predator. Her previous pride, and haughtiness as she fearlessly faced off against the royal guards stationed outside was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes? What do you propose, Lieutenant? What should be changed?" However, instead of being mad, or offended, the old man showed genuine curiosity to her. Feeling no anger in his tone, gradually Sievul began to calm down. Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she pointed to several spots of higher ground places as well as the large surrounding forest around the city.

"I believe that we should make a few smaller, specialized groups and station them here… here.. Here and here in the edges of the forest as well. Going in head first against those walls would just increase the difficulty of the entire assault… I think that…"

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