CHAPTER TWENTY
Altfor watched men gathering on the fields before the castle, the encampment turning into a second settlement around the first. There was something strangely satisfying about watching men and horses gathering, ready to fight on his command.
On his uncle’s command, he reminded himself, and that thought was like a speck of grit in his heart. The only part that made it feel better was the thought that he had already taken the first steps to making the men loyal to him. Persuade enough of them, and perhaps his uncle would find himself surplus to requirements.
Just because he’d survived one battle, that was no guarantee that he would survive this one.
The men continued to gather, weapons shining as they scoured the rust from them, banners flowing in the wind with his house’s
