Chapter 175: Vague Loyalties
Three days after the last ambush, Dominic and Princess Alexis were ready to head out again.
The locals had quietly collected the goods from the military convoy and disposed of the bodies. As far as Dominic could tell, they were more likely to be loyal to the bandits feeding them than to the Lords who claimed dominion over the region.
At least until the army showed up.
That was what the Natural Sons would be preventing today. The last convoy going missing had stirred up trouble within the camp, with many reports of random punishments and increased training. From the viewpoint of the scouts and locals, it appeared that the camp overseers believed the entire unit had deserted.
"Your Highness, we have confirmed, there were survivors from the attack, over twenty of them." Commander Dax reported.
Princess Alexis gave him a sly smirk. "Yet, the word never got back to the training camp that they were ambushed? Perhaps they aren’t wrong to say that the unit deserted. Just not as many of them as they had thought."
Then her face returned to her serious scowl, used only when doing strategic planning.
"As before, we will set up camp and pretend to be travelling nobles, but this time with a trio of guards. That should make it more believable. But this time we will attack in broad daylight, so don’t expect to be able to keep up the element of surprise as easily.
This is our target camping spot, just on the edge of a stand of trees, but fifty metres out, so it doesn’t immediately look like we’re trying to lure them in. I want fifty mortar men south of the road, hidden in the fields and hedges.
The remainder of the strike team will be behind us.