After spending a day organizing and drilling the household guard and archers gathered from Starfall's direct demesne, Arthur led the army toward the Mountain Corps encampment.
Four hundred guardsmen clad in chainmail with longswords at their hips, and three hundred archers with longbows and bulging quivers, marched out of Starpost Keep at the break of dawn. They crossed the Torrentine River and marched along the newly paved stone road.
Facing the threat from the Red Mountains, Arthur had no intention of adopting a defensive posture or waiting for the levies from the vassal houses to finish their training.
Times had changed. Arthur would not allow savages to raid the lands west of the Torrentine—lands he had spent two years painstakingly developing. Nor would he repeat the strategy of two years ago: scorching the earth, hiding behind the river's natural defenses, and waiting to strike only when fully prepared.
With the high-altitude reconnaissance provided by Sharpwing and the tactical advantage of his [Mountain Raider Tactics], the Red Mountains were no longer a treacherous natural barrier to Arthur and his army.
He had realized this fully after leading the regular mountain infantry to crush the bandits within Starfall's territory with overwhelming ease.
"My Lord!" A scout galloped up to the column, his armor slick with morning dew. "Urgent report from High Hermitage. House Blackmont is raising levies. Their excuse is defense against the wildlings of the Red Mountains."
Arthur's lips curved slightly, a cold glint in his eyes. "Keep watching them."
By mid-morning, the Mountain Corps encampment came into view, bathed in the morning light.
Located near the quarries and iron mines, the camp had no shortage of stone. Over the last two years, it had been expanded outward from the training grounds, transforming into a formidable fortress that blocked the pass between the Violet Gorge and the Red Mountains.
Stone towers stood tall and imposing, and walls lined with scorpions rose like a staircase, connecting all the way to the walls of Ironrock Keep halfway up the mountain.
Before Arthur even entered the main gate, Ser Bard, accompanied by Gerold and the others, was already lined up to receive him.
"What is the reaction from the tribal chieftains?" Arthur swung down from his horse, his boots crunching crisply on the gravel road.
"Over the last few days, six chieftains have sent their sons as wards. We've also had several hundred individual free folk come down to surrender." Ser Bard's face didn't show the heaviness of impending war; instead, he looked somewhat relieved. "I was worried about spies mixing in, so I've concentrated them in the labor camp next to Ironrock Keep, under the supervision of Stone Drum."
Arthur frowned slightly. "I recall there were fifteen tribes in the Red Mountains, correct?"
"There are only nine left now," Ser Bard explained. "The Stone Sheep and Stone Bear tribes have submitted to us. Four others suffered such heavy population losses that they were either swallowed up by the tribes from the upper Torrentine or merged into other groups."
Led by Ser Bard, Arthur walked through the garrison to the war room in the main stone tower.
He took the seat at the head of the table naturally. His gaze fell upon the map of the Red Mountains spread out before him, which clearly marked the locations and spheres of influence of the various tribes.
"So, you're saying only two tribes have openly joined the Vulture Tribe in rebellion?"
He noted the three red circles marked on the map. "Only two on the surface," he corrected himself.
Jimmy couldn't help but interject, "I reckon they're terrified of the name 'Sword of the Morning.'"
Bear Di nodded in agreement. "My Lord, Jimmy speaks the truth. We free folk respect strength above all else. It is the only way to survive in the Red Mountains."
His father, Bear Ni, had seen the unstoppable rise of Starfall, which was why he had pushed against the opposition within his tribe to move his people into the Violet Gorge, integrate into the life there, and bend the knee.
Arthur nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
He had anticipated something like this after the Stone Bear Tribe surrendered almost entirely, but he hadn't expected the will to resist to be quite this low. To date, not even half the tribes had openly rebelled.
It made sense, though. His previous agreements with the wildlings were designed to slowly assimilate them—like slowly heating a pot of water until the frog boils to death without realizing it.
Now the water was boiling, and it was time to reduce the sauce. No matter how much the frog kicked, it couldn't escape the pot.
"Why don't we order the other tribes to send troops to attack this Chian?" Jimmy suggested. "Let them bleed each other first, and then we follow up."
The eyes of the men in the room lit up, nodding in approval.
Arthur had considered this, but he had quickly dismissed it.
"Those chieftains aren't fools. They sign pacts with Chian with one hand and send their sons to the Violet Gorge with the other. They are clearly sitting on the fence, waiting to see who wins so they can back the victor."
"So, I must give them the space to remain neutral. If I force them to attack Chian now, I might push them right into his arms."
"By the same token, Chian sees them playing both sides but dares not touch them, for fear of pushing them to our side."
The group realized the complexity of the situation. Jimmy clicked his tongue. "I didn't realize there were so many twists and turns in this."
"It's just a tacit understanding between parties." Arthur turned to Ser Bard. "What is Chian's current strength?"
"According to the free folk who surrendered," Ser Bard replied, "Chian, son of the Vulture King, commands three tribes with just over six hundred fighting men."
"Aside from Chian, the wildling tribes coming from the upper Torrentine are said to be answering to Kara of the Mountain Shadow Tribe. They number at least a thousand."
Hearing that Chian only had six hundred men, Arthur felt a twinge of disappointment.
He remembered the previous Vulture King commanding over five thousand wildlings. Back then, Arthur had to muster all of Starfall's strength and use every ounce of wit and courage to secure victory.
"Kara of the Mountain Shadow Tribe..." Arthur mused. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"He was the champion of the melee at the tourney," Jimmy reminded him. "He walked away with seven thousand of our gold dragons."
Just then, Gerold pushed the door open, having finished settling the troops from Starpost. He caught the tail end of the sentence. "Then we'd better ask him where he hid that gold before we chop his head off."
Once all the key commanders were present, Arthur assigned duties and finalized the plan to strike directly at the Vulture Tribe's main settlement.
The final deployment was as follows:
Arthur would leave one hundred and fifty archers under Ser Bard to garrison the Mountain Corps base.
Gerold would command seven hundred armored infantry.
Jimmy would command two hundred archers.
Arthur would personally lead a shock force of one hundred and seventy elite mountain troopers. Commanding small, highly specialized elite units had always been Arthur's element. Besides, in the rugged terrain of the Red Mountains, having too many men could actually make deployment difficult.
The battle plan was simple: Strike the Vulture's Nest directly.
If Chian chose to abandon his tribal lands and flee to avoid battle, his already scant authority would vanish completely.
In that scenario, Arthur would occupy the Vulture Tribe's lands and, with the momentum of victory, summon the fence-sitting chieftains and force them to choose a side.
If Chian chose to fight, Arthur would show the savages of the Red Mountains the true power of the Sword of the Morning—and the terror of his [Mountain Raider Tactics].