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Chapter 27: Quiet before the storm

Closer to the evening, Gianni\'s forces stopped for a camp near a bridge over a river. There were a couple of hours of sunlight still left, but soon after the bridge, the road to Rocca Albornoziana entered a forest. This was the worst place to build a camp at, when your opponent already showed no qualms about using treacherous tactics.

Putting a camp where his sentries won\'t be able to see what hides behind the next bush would be just inviting Ginevra for another night attack. Gianni\'s scouts could only trail her from a distance, but from them he knew Ginevra stopped on the other side of it, likely planning to attack Albornoziana the very next day.

Risky, with Gianni\'s army right behind Ginevra\'s. But this was just the surface of Ginevra\'s plan, he was positive.

It was during this evening Gianni felt it—the warmth of the most important Sending Amulet on his person at the moment.

"Hold that thought," he said to Ignazio. "Write the list of magic arrows your arches have. Maybe you should share some of them with mine."

Ignazio opened his mouth, clearly to protest, but Gianni already walked out of the command tent, marching straight to his personal one. There, he pulled the amulet from under his armor and rubbed on the softly glowing glyph.

The message appeared in his mind—not a voice or a text, but a pure thought.

*Father, I couldn\'t answer your messages later, but if you didn\'t hear it from Ginevra\'s bird yet, know that I\'m fine. All extremities intact. Please, be careful! Her advance on Albornoziana is a trap—obviously. And I fear her forces would destroy us even with no traps involved. At least, Ginevra looks sure of it, and she seems very… competent.*

The message stopped there, and Gianni used the pause to send back his own. He was glad that Sending Amulets didn\'t transfer his voice, or his anxiety.

*Cael. Tell me… where do they hold you?*

Maybe he could give Ginevra a taste of her own medicine. He had men who could sneak around. Cael could be freed during the night… But what if the scouts failed? Cael would be the one to pay for it.

*In one of the supply wagons. Listen, I think Ginevra only used me as a bait for you. I don\'t think she would hold a knife to my neck to force you to put down your weapons. She\'s just… I don\'t know.* There was a long pause, though the message kept going on. *I think she feels like it would be pointless, and she doesn\'t look like someone to do pointless things.*

Gianni frowned. This information calmed him down, if only a little. But it brought him more questions.

*What makes you so confident in this, son?*

*I\'m not confident, Father. But I urge you… Forget about me. I will be fine. I know you don\'t have reasons to believe me when I say this after being caught so foolishly, but it\'s true.*

Gianni huffed. This boy!.. Recklessly heroic again.

*Just keep still and don\'t provoke Ginevra\'s ire. I will solve this.*

*Father, you— Ah! Have to hide the amulet. But please—!*

The message was cut off. Gianni grasped it in his fist until his knuckles turned white and grit his teeth.

Ginevra better pray to die on the battlefield, because if he captured her, he would skin her alive. Not only for her father\'s secrets, but for this.

"Captain," someone called out from outside the tent. "Baron Silvio di Vinci had arrived! His forces wait outside the camp."

Gianni\'s eyes widened. He almost stopped hoping for the man to come, especially after his last letter, which had more water than substance.

This was great. In this fight, every advantage counted, and Silvio was a powerful ally despite being only a baron.

When Gianni went outside to meet him, he saw that Silvio brought a group of heavy infantry with him. Which explained his tardiness. The man himself already dismounted and now stood, propping himself on his walking cane. His Mage\'s Mark with two pearls was embedded into its top.

The rest of the man was just as refined as this cane. Even in a military campaign Silvio wore dark clothes fine enough to fit for a party, and not a single gray hair left his immaculate bun.

At Gianni\'s approach, Silvio bowed slightly—like an equal. Even though they weren\'t, in fact, equals.

"Greetings, signore Gianni Oliveira. Or should I call you Commander Oliveira? I hope I\'m not too late to join your campaign. Would\'ve been a pity to travel all that distance and miss all the bloodshed. Will you invite me and my soldiers in?"

"You may address me as Captain while you follow my commands," Gianni said. "Come in. There\'s some time left for your soldiers to settle in before sunset. And you are just in time to discuss the tactics for tomorrow; unless you are too tired."

Silvio threw a few commands to his soldiers and turned back to Gianni.

"My body may be tired from all that riding, but my mind, I assure you, Captain Oliveira, is as energetic as ever." Silvio smiled. "And Enzo had been a threat to us all for far too long. It\'s time to change that."

Gianni nodded and turned towards the command tent. Silvio fell in step with him.

"It is, signore di Vinci. We will need a good plan, though, to deal with his pet hound. A good plan, and I think I might have one…"