General Graten sat down next to Charles. “I understand you’re a fighting man,” he said in a low voice.
“I was the captain of the guard,” Charles answered.
“So you know how to fight?”
“I do.”
“And you have a taste for it?”
“I don’t like unnecessary violence,” said Charles, wary about where this conversation was going.
General Graten pretended to be appalled. “Unnecessary violence? I abhor it myself. But,” added the General, slipping back to his normal voice, “you wouldn’t shrink away from a fight if one arrived.”
“I would not.”
“So, I’ve been doing some calculations,” said General Graten. “With Carlyle and Midor and the rest on that quest, it means that Catherine has lost her vampire.”
“Aefar has gone with them, yes.”
“Okay, so that’s one less on Catherine’s side. If it was to come to a fight.”
“And three less on our side,” Charles pointed out.
“Yes, well Midor’s no good in a fight. I’ve seen him before. And as for Henry, Henry’s worse than no good. Henry’s a liability. If Henry’s trying to fight with us, then I’m going to be distracted trying to stop him from killing himself. As for King Carlyle…” General Graten shrugged, “...I guess as a Winged Lion he could potentially be useful to us. If he’s figured out how to use his new body, that is. I’m told it takes some adjustment to get used to a new transformed body like that.”
“Okay, I’ll grant those points,” said Charles.
“So what fighting men do we have?” asked Graten.
“Well, all the princes and princesses of Tauna are trained in fighting,” said Charles. “It’s all they do really is just train themselves. So Vivian, George, Rufus, Penelope, Helen--they’re all trained warriors. The same is not true about their wives and husbands though. Sarah and Charlotte are simply housewives. They’ve never held a sword in their lives. As for Jason, he can fight, if he has to, but he’s not a true warrior. He’s more bookish really.”
“He is more bookish than he is a fighter, I agree,” said General Graten. “But I’ve seen him in action. He can fight well enough. What about your children? They’re also princesses of Castle Tauna. They’ve been trained as well.”
“If there is a fight, I don’t want to involve the children,” said Charles. “They handled themselves well enough before, but before was unplanned and spontaneous. If you’re talking about planning something, I’d like to get all the children out of the castle and to a safe place.”
“If that’s what you want,” said General Graten.
“It’s what I want,” said Charles. “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, General. We still have the same obstacle we’ve always had. We can’t fight against Catherine. She’s too powerful.”
“The next time the monsters emerge,” said General Graten. “She’ll be distracted.”
“The next time the monsters emerge, she and Vivian will cut the monsters down right outside the castle walls,” said Charles. “The monsters don’t pose the same threat to them that they used to.”
“Very well,” said General Graten. “What if we were to surprise Catherine?”
“Good luck with those creatures guarding her all the time,” said Charles.
“Yes, I see what you mean,” said General Graten. “It is quite difficult.”
“If you can come up with a plan to attack, General, then we may have something to talk about,” said Charles. “Equally, we could just as easily wait until Carlyle and Midor and Henry come back. I’m in no hurry to start a battle we can’t win.”
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