The metallic echo of hammers striking iron filled the forge of Hautterre. Since before dawn, blacksmiths and apprentices worked tirelessly—resharpening dulled swords, riveting cracked armor, forging new spearheads. The air was thick with smoke and sweat, and at the center of it all, Aldric watched in silence.
Since the ambush at Almenes, everything had changed. The soldiers looked at him with new eyes, and the servants treated him with more care. He was no longer just the youngest son of the feudal lord: he was a strategist, a leader. But the true game had only just begun.
Pierre arrived in a hurry, breathing heavily and holding a parchment.
—My lord, news from the northern border. Baron Glay has shut his gates. He says he won't take sides... yet.
Aldric took the message, read it quickly, and nodded.
—That means he's waiting to see who looks stronger. We must pressure him before the duke does.
—How, my lord?
—Diplomacy... and threats. We'll send a delegation with gifts, but also with maps of his trade routes and weak points. Let him understand we know his house as well as he does.
As the messengers departed, Aldric headed to the barracks. He wanted to see for himself the men who would fight. He walked through the ranks: peasants with spears, veterans with scars, young men hungry for glory. One of them, a boy named Hugo, stopped him.
—My lord... do you really believe we can win?
Aldric looked him in the eye.
—No. But I do believe we can survive. And in these times, that's already a victory.
That night, he gathered his closest circle: Charles, Pierre, and two of his captains. On the table lay maps marked with ink and blood, and over them, a new proposal.
—We'll burn the supply fields to the east. If the duke can't feed his troops, he'll be forced to retreat or act too soon. Either way, we win.
—What if he reacts quickly? —Charles asked.
—Then we strike from the south. The enemy can't divide his forces if he doesn't know where the blow will come from.
Charles narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He no longer underestimated him. No one did.
Two days later, fire lit the horizon. The fields burned like torches in the night, and with them, the enemy's sustenance. Spies reported the duke was accelerating his plans—just as Aldric had foreseen.
The next move was bold: sending a letter to the duke himself. Written with courtesy, but filled with double meanings.
"I trust the recent activity of bandits shall not tarnish our houses' desire for peace," one line read. "Hautterre remains firm in its will to negotiate... as long as firmness is not mistaken for weakness."
Pierre raised an eyebrow after reading it.
—Peace or provocation, my lord?
—Both. We'll keep him uneasy, always on the defensive. An enemy who doubts makes mistakes.
Meanwhile, Aldric trained. Not like a knight, but like a scholar who understood the utility of a sword. He was often seen in the yard practicing strikes, blocks, analyzing the weight of steel as if he were reading an ancient text. Charles watched from the shadows, not intervening.
One morning, Charles approached him with a sword in hand.
—Fight me.
Aldric looked surprised.
—A test?
—A lesson.
The duel drew the attention of soldiers and servants. It wasn't a fight between equals—Charles had strength, technique, and experience. But Aldric had something different: foresight. He anticipated movements, used the terrain, looked for patterns.
After ten minutes, sweating and with a shallow cut on his arm, Aldric yielded.
—You're better with a sword, brother... but I don't fight with just one weapon.
Charles smiled—for the first time in a long while.
—That... I'm starting to understand.
That night, Hautterre slept while Aldric wrote in his study. Not a battle plan, but a list of names: potential allies, likely enemies, future traitors. Each with a note, an observation, a weakness.
At the bottom of the parchment, he wrote:
"To know your enemy is the first step. The second… is to make him underestimate you."
The war had yet to begin, but the pieces were already in motion. And Aldric… Aldric was already playing three moves ahead.