I figure they'll be repelled at Freelia and Sylvain but be permitted to mostly take Cadenza as the city is very poorly defensible and securing the area as far afield as Tarbes. (This will become their main foothold and will likely be the sight of a counter attack with possible help from Germania to drive them off)
And this sparked a snap-snip:
~Somewhere in Albion~
A Commoner, a Servant, a living, breathing and forever invisible part of his master's household Andrew might have been, but the elderly man was also curious as a cat and twice as nosy, which had served him well in fulfilling his duty throughout his years of service.
There were few matters that he didn't know or haven't heard of, either from his underlings or his fellow butlers or by virtue of his sharp, well-honed ears. And the
war council hosted by his Young Master away from prying eyes of men of
questionable loyalty, the likes of the followers of Admiral Blake for example, was indeed something he wouldn't miss.
"… hy balls of yarn?" an unfamiliar voice chuckled, making the elderly man-servant frown ever so slightly. The Tudors fell a bit too fast and loyalties had changed far too rapidly for him to recognize most of his Master's new best friends.
"Why not?" another chuckled, this time he recognized the laughing noble as Sir Graham, the fast friend and fellow Dullahan Knight of the Young Master, and loathed by the widowed mistress for his womanizing, drunkard ways and obvious bad influence, "They
are Cat Faeries, these Cait Syths. Quite animalistic from what I've heard from Germanian
traders, cat eyes, cat ears, cat tails. They even make this 'Nyah' noise. Wouldn't be surprise if by the time we start our attack they'd be too intoxicated by catnip and entangled in yarn to put up a good fight."
"Then we are lucky we won't wait for spring," snorted the Young Master, "else the poor common troops would have had to deal with all the
shedding I suppose. Served those Tristanian heretics right for not making their abominations off of perverting something more reliable… like dogs!! But then what do these heretics know of loyalty and honor anyway?"
In his hiding place behind an armor stand Andrew nodded approvingly. Regardless of what one thought, it was the official statement of Good Lord Cromwell's government that Faeries allied with Tristanians were perversion of God's blessed natural world and created by defiling Founder's holy teachings… and that was what a wise man would say when there are ears around.
And from artificially angry and indignant mutters of agreement it seemed the Young Master's friends knew this too.
"Does this city of cats have a name, Sir Graham?" asked another unfamiliar voice.
"Freelia." Replied the Dullahan Knight, "And from what I've heard, once it falls it would be serving as our Navy's forward base to support the ground forces in attacking the Faerie cities to north and south."
"You make it sound too easy, Sir Graham." The first voice cut in, "I've heard the Fourth Dragon Knights Squadron's entire force suffered heavy casualties trying to detain a handful of Faerie spies, and not only the Faeries escaped but also they burned a whole town to the ground."
"Don't believe whatever you hear," Sir Graham admonished, "The Faeries aren't all that tough or impressive. And if you are talking about the incident near Saxe-Gotha, you should check your sources. Firstly it wasn't the whole Squadron, it was just a group of Dragoons. Secondly, the Faeries had already burned down the whole
village before the Dragoons even arrived. And thirdly, whoever who told you this somehow forgot to mention the traitorous royalists helping the Faeries and how they were killed in the fire."
"And besides, think about it lads," he continued, "The Faeries are not even old enough to remember the last winter. Sure, they have blasphemous magics and monstrous strength, but they don't have the skills
or the experience. They are like beasts lads, and beasts are always tamed or
killed by their betters!"
"Well said, Sir Graham!" Declared the Young Master, "If I recall correctly the two Faerie cities you mentioned would be Cadenza, which is essentially some sort of circus and city of the faux
Elves," he spat the last word like the accursed thing it was, "Sylvain and it doesn't have any fortifications. I don't think our forces would have much trouble taking either."
"Indeed," Sir Graham agreed, "And they will not be our final goal. Once they are taken, I believe we would move toward two other Faerie cities of Tau Tona and Gaddan. Haven't heard much about these places, but from their positioning I believe we are planning to use them for the second stage of the war in the spring."
"By Winter we will have our forces stationed and rested there and when the weather starts to get warmer, we will stage a pincer attack from north and south and take both Tristanian and the Faerie's
capital in one fell swoop. Gentlemen, by the next year today we will be drinking finest Tarbes wines in Tristania as heroes, watching those sniveling Germanian commoners and that mad-king of Gallia coming there and beg to join our righteous cause."
Andrew shook his head when another round of applaud and cheers started. It all sounded well and good, but the old butler had not grayed his hair for nothing… wars rarely went as planned and young and ambitious men tended to find only a wooden box for their trouble.
Well… For now he would wait and listen, and if there was more to the Faeries of ALfheim than the Good Lord's office had said and they were indeed as terrible and powerful as his old friend's Master, a Knight stationed at York during the Tristanians' attack had said, well, good thing his predecessor had given him the secret recipe for that one medicine
just in case.
EDIT: Now, mostly awaken, I know how my Mostly-Asleep self writes.
on 3 miles above sea level and that it is the lowest
