"Your Grace. A message has arrived from Prince Ivan." Alexei lifted his head and looked at the messenger with a tired eye, but he held his hand out, taking the note.
'Father. I need you to trust me when I ask you to do this. Alfred has suggested something quite interesting.' Alexei got a shiver reading the first line. His son always asked for the worst things. Closing his eyes, he saw Ivan writing the note with a wide grin.
'I need you to begin a large mobilisation of troops by the river that is separating Nogrovod and us. We need to stage what looks like an imminent attack. I will be returning soon to take over, but this has to be done before I arrive. Burn this after reading. We can't have anyone knowing.'
