Following the battle, I was mostly laid up in the Citidel of Erengrad being fussed over by a number of maids and one grumpy Shallyan Priestess who my father had cajoled into healing my ribs. I could only get scattered reports of what the various Pulks were doing while I waited for my ribs to heal. As it turned out, what I had thought were bruised ribs actually turned out to be very slightly cracked ribs, a hairline fracture on my 1st floating rib from the force of the super-strength throw of that Javelin knocking me out of my saddle. I had been fighting through it off of adrenaline and the Blessing of Ursun and my Shallyan doctor, Sister Mariska, had routinely cursed me for my stupidity in continuing to fight and potentially worsening my injuries. I had tried pointing out that if I hadn't continued to fight, the city might have fallen to the Sarls, but she was having none of it. It was only through Ursun's blessing and some insane measure of luck that I hadn't had a bone shard from my fractured rib break off and impale my very valuable organs. Thankfully Sister Mariska was very good at her craft and high up in the esteem of her Goddess to boot. It would only take two weeks to heal up instead of the month or more it would usually take. I still hated being so inactive.
I had only seen my father a handful of times since the battle. Once when I had been brought into the Citadel, again when he brought Sister Mariska to tend to my wound, and once more before he left to go mop up what was left of the Sarl host near Emsk and to impress upon the young Lord Kmcic of Emsk the need for his actions to fall in line with his duty to the Oblast and his Lord. I read that as having an excuse to put an army outside Emsk's walls to humble the overly proud 13-year-old, after all, it wasn't like Emsk's garrison couldn't handle the remainder of the Sarl host without my father's pulk.
Of my army, I only had reports. My pulk and Lord Wolkowitz's pulk were being kept outside the city in tents after the detritus of the battlefield had been cleared away and the area around the former Sarl camp had been cleansed of taint by the Ice Witches. As of now, there was a rotating duty roster for both pulks that saw men rotate duties in the camp and then rotate off into Erengrad on leave. 4 days on, 3 days off was what had been decided upon. It was a good system, would keep the men sharp, and would allow for some much-needed leave time in Kislev's largest trading center, where the men could spend their pay in the various taverns, gaming dens, and brothels. I knew Otabeg had gotten particularly lucky at dice one night on leave and had amassed a sizable reserve of coin which was then used to purchase kvas and vodka for the entire household guard the next night. I knew this because the Commander of the Erengrad Watch came to see me about a full squad of my household guard sitting in his gaol after passing out drunk in public. I got the story from him, who got it from them after their hangovers subsided the next day. This happened about partway through my second week of convalescence, which let me know that the current duty roster would only hold for so much longer without incident. The men of my pulk were growing restless out of proper barracks and were using their leave to blow off steam. If things continued this way much longer, someone was going to knife some unfortunate bastard in a pub at some point. The men needed direction.
Fortunately, it didn't have to hold for very much longer as a mere 3 days later, Sister Mariska grudgingly pronounced my ribs as healed and I was able to leave the apartments I had been given in the citadel. The first thing I needed to do, was to go find Lord Stepan. We needed to have a chat about Lord Yusupov and the plan to out him from his seat in Pradeshynya for sponsoring brigands and generally being a bastard. He hadn't sent anything to Erengrad's defense either, which was also something that could be used as a pretext for a punitive campaign, even if he hadn't been covertly raiding neighboring lands with brigands that he sponsored.
I found Lord Stepan pouring over some aged yellow parchments in the citadel library. "Lord Stepan, what have you got there?" I asked.
"Surveying reports from a hundred years ago. My predecessors apparently saw no need for copies to be sent to Vitzy after the first attempt to take advantage of them failed due to stragglers from Asavar Kul's horde holing up in the Crags of Shargun. Those stragglers are long since dead now and I find myself intrigued by your own ongoing efforts to modernize the economy of your Voivodeship." He replied.
"Ah, that's right, Vitzy has mining rights in the Southern Crags, doesn't it? Have you found anything useful?" I asked.
"Copper, coal, potential traces of galena. Enough to fund a mining effort. I take it you did not seek me out to hear about my economic efforts, however?" He replied.
Galena was a lead ore that also had silver in it. If he'd found traces of it, then he might actually have the basis for a good mining economy even without the coal and copper. One discussion at a time, however, "No, it wasn't. I need to talk to you about Lord Yusupov." I said.
"Ah, the Brigand Lord. I take it that you wish to let me in on your plans?" He asked.
"I would have thought you'd be eager to get a little revenge on Yusupov yourself? Have I made an error?" I replied.
"No of course not, he is my neighbor just as he is yours, his Brigands have raided my lands as well, though not as much with the Deep Blight or the Crags between my lands and his. What do you propose?" He asked.
"We have the confession of one of his Brigand Officers that he is funding and arming brigands in the Blight to raid his neighbors deniably while taking a cut of their spoils for his own. Even if we did not, he refused to send aid to Erengrad citing brigands in the Blight that he himself controls. Either of these would be sufficient justification for a punitive attack on Pradeshynya. Both taken together, however? That's a pretext for a full-on invasion." I said.
"You seek to add his lands to your own? Bold, some might say too bold, especially as you are now the heir to Erengrad as well. Some would say that it would be concentrating too much power at the top of the Oblast. If they complained to the Tzar, he would have to listen." Replied Lord Stepan.
"The Tzar is currently preoccupied with his wife. I don't believe I've heard of the two not being together at court at any single point in the last 10 years or so. I do not think he will pull away from her for this, not unless Tzarina Kattarin allows him to." I replied.
Lord Stepan sucked in a breath as I danced around the issue of the Tzar being in the thrall of the Tzarina. It wasn't common knowledge that she was a Vampire, but it was common knowledge among the boyars that the Tzar was besotted with her to the point that he sought her approval on projects and had been for a decade now. "You are not wrong about that, but I would still not bring up the subject lightly." Replied Lord Stepan after a moment.
"We are talking about deposing a Voivode and divvying up his lands between ourselves, if this conversation is light enough for that to apply, then I believe we ought to rethink the definition of light." I replied blithely.
Lord Stepan inclined his head to acknowledge the point and said, "So we split his lands between us so as to diffuse the accusations of power concentration. In that case, I must ask which lands would be mine in this split. After all, much of the lands he controls that border my own are in the Blight."
"You would get those lands, true, but also the Bulk of the Crags of Shargun up to where the Lesser Lynsk joins with the Tobol. The more unproductive lands of the blight should be equalized by the mineral-rich area of the Crags you would get." I replied.
"Which would leave you with a small amount of Arable land along the southern bank of the Tobol, the western edge of the Crags, the Northwestern bit of the Blight, and of course Pradeshynya itself. It isn't the greatest of Voivodeships to divide, I must say." Said Lord Stepan.
"True, but it is the one we have the ability to invade. We must make do with what we have." I replied.
"So then, what is the plan? Are we to simply march on the City from two directions at once, take it, then oust Yusupov?" Asked Lord Stepan.
"No, that would leave some 700 brigands in various bands scattered throughout the outer Blight at our backs without a benefactor. They would ravage our lands for lack of other options. We clear them out, make a show of clearing them out, and get Yusupov to panic about his schemes being uncovered. If he panics, he may make a mistake, and that is when we attack Pradeshynya." I replied.
"A sound enough plan. When were you thinking of doing this?" Asked Lord Stepan.
"Summer is not the campaign season, especially not in a bog like the Blight. We both also need time to replenish our pulks from this campaign against the Sarls. I expect to need to absorb casualties due to the terrain of the blight and would not wish an already weakened pulk to be weakened further before we even engage Yusupov's pulk so that rules out fall. Winter is also not the campaign season, and I have outstanding commitments during that time as well. That leaves spring of next year. Say two weeks after Ursun's Waking. That should give time to properly enjoy the holy day and prepare for the campaign." I replied.
"Sensible. Very well, I will lend my aid to this. Yusupov has been a thorn in my side for some time, it will be a pleasure to see him gone." Nodded Lord Stepan.
Pact made, I headed off to the training yard to shake some of the rust off of my sword arm. While training, I noticed a rather cute looking Ice Witch watching me with an intense gaze. When I turned to speak with her after a bout, however, she flushed red and left before I could approach her. Odd. I didn't think I had done anything to gain a fangirl amongst the Ice Witches. I resolved to try and track down who that was when I had the chance.
For now, though, I just shrugged and went back to my practice