Around thirty people had gathered in the largest tent the Golden Company's camp could offer. Sitting on wooden chairs and benches, on one side wasValdora, along with roughly two dozen high ranking officers of the Company.
Sitting on the other side was Lagsan, dressed in the same uniform as Valdora and a handful of his men.
All the men behind Lagsan were the Lord Aeos' spies. Though only one or two of them ranked high enough to qualify to attend this meeting, Lagsan had brought them along so that the officers would see familiar faces among his group. The familiar faces would smother any kind of doubt if it appeared in the minds of others about their identity. He did not wish someone to doubt that he and his ten thousand men were not from the Golden Company and these 200 odd spies were the key to it.
Lagsan would have loved to bring more of the spies with him but that would have surely raised quite a few eyebrows.
Similarly, among the thirty men standing before him, five or six were actually Lord Aeos' spies and they had already been instructed to act in full support of Lagsan whenever needed. Even before Lagsan proceeded, he could not think of the ingenuity and the audacity of the plan that Lord Aeos had weaved.
The atmosphere inside the tent was thick, tense, and suffocating. Though their swords were still sheathed and their hands still away from the hilts, everyone present knew it would take only one wrong word, one wrong breath, before steel flashed.
"All high ranking officers are here," Valdora's voice finally cut through the silence. "Now tell us what happened."
"But before that," he added sharply, in a no nonsense tone, "introduce yourself."
The expression on his face and the tone in his voice made it clear that he would not tolerate this question being avoided any longer. Lagsan nodded as he rose from his seat, taking a slow breath to prepare himself for what was about to begin.
"As asked, I shall begin by introducing myself first," Lagsan said. "My name is Logan. A week ago, I was just a common sellsword in the Fifteenth Squad of the Golden Company."
Valdora's eyes shifted to the man seated at Lagsan's right. A familiar face.
"He speaks the truth," the man said. He was the commander of the Fifteenth Squad, the highest position any of Lord Aeos' spies had managed to attain.
"A week ago, you say?" Valdora narrowed his eyes. "And what are you now?"
"I will answer that after I finish recounting what happened that night," Lagsan replied without hesitation.
A frown creased Valdora's face, but he did not interrupt.
"It was the night everything happened," Lagsan began, voice heavy. "The night before we were supposed to march on Meereen and begin our siege."
"I believe not all of you are aware of a certain fact," his gaze swept across the room as he continued, "Although our official contract demanded that we besiege, invade, and sack Meereen, reducing it to ruins, Commander Harry Strickland had another plan. A plan of his own that would have transformed the Golden Company forever."
"How do you know this?" Valdora snapped.
Only a handful of officers, fewer than five, were aware of that plan. The rest, the ignorant, wore expressions of confusion, suspicion, and curiosity.
"Commander Harry Strickland told me himself," Lagsan replied calmly.
Valdora stared at him, shocked and deeply doubtful. Even so he did not interrupt. He had no ground and certainly no proof to doubt whatever this 'Logan' was saying.
"His plan was to take over the city once the forces and the administration of the Lord Aeos were ousted from the city. He would have waited for the Dotraki to complete their rampage and withdraw before executing this plan. He would have used this spare ten thousand army to secure the city."
"Commander Strickland was to transform this sellsword company into a city ruling force," Lagsan continued. "A proper army of a city. And hopefully, with the alcohol and the cement, bricks and paint industry intact of the regime of Lord Aeos, we could have basked in gold and wealth. No more dragging ourselves from one corner to another for every coin."
"But we never got the chance to execute this plan, because we were betrayed," Lagsan said, and a ripple of shock spread across the tent.
"Betrayed?" Valdora repeated, as though he could hardly believe what he was hearing. "By whom?"
Lagsan shook his head, and Valdora as well as the other officers took the gesture to mean that he did not know the identity of the traitor.
"Because of this betrayal, the magisters, whoever among them it was, learned of our plan. And what did they do? They informed the Dothraki and the other two sellsword companies. Without our knowledge, everything changed. Khal Gorro colluded with the commanders of the other companies."
He paused for a moment, letting the weight of his words settle.
"It all began after the meeting with Lord Aeos had been concluded," Lagsan continued. "Commander Strickland was worried that Lord Aeos had something up on his sleeve. I am not sure but I heard that he had acted very audaciously in the meeting and Commander Strickland became wary because of that confidence."
"He wanted to find out if Lord Aeos was up to something. Thus, a small group of soldiers, including myself, were deployed as scouts to check if there was any movement on Lord Aeos' side."
"I was returning from my scouting duty when I spotted a few figures, a few hundred metres outside our camp. Even in the darkness, recognising Khal Gorro was no difficult task. His tall and muscular frame was unmistakable. Along with him were the other two commanders. Not seeing Commander Strickland with them made me curious. For what I have known, it was our commander who was leading the campaign and was also the bridge between the Dothraki and the other two commanders."
"Using the darkness, I sneaked upon them and it was there I heard their conversation," Lagsan said.
"What did you hear?" Valdora asked.
"Their plans," Lagsan sighed. "The magisters had given them fresh orders. Once the city was besieged, they were to rampage and ruin the city but they had to do something else."
"Pressed from both the ends, the combined might of the Dothraki and the other sellsword companies were to wipe off the Golden Company clean," Lagsan said in a solemn voice. "Given that we would have been unprepared and flanked from both the ends, we would have been minced like sitting ducks between the Dothraki and the two sellsword companies."
The entire camp sat there in stunned silence.
"What happened next?" Valdora questioned, his voice quivering in anxiety, nervousness and anticipation of what was about to come.
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