"And then Lord Aeos made his entry," Lagsan said.
A ripple of unease passed through the tent. His voice carried a strange mixture of shock, dread, and awe enough to make every man present lean forward.
"What did Lord Aeos do?" one officer asked, unable to hide the tremor of curiosity and fear in his voice.
"Lord Aeos," Lagsan exhaled slowly, shock still present in his voice. "He did something incredible. Something extraordinary. Something no ordinary man could even imagine doing."
"He was riding a horse," Lagsan continued, "and behind that horse he pulled a carriage."
"It looked like any supply cart we ourselves use, except that it was slightly larger and made of iron. Wooden planks were strapped around it to disguise it as an ordinary wagon made of wood."
A few officers exchanged uneasy glances.
"And he was not alone," Lagsan added. "Behind him came more than a thousand such carriages. Those carriages surrounded the chaos ridden camp from all sides. Some of the carriages were so large that four or five horses were needed to pull them."
Valdora snapped, "What was in those carriages? And how have you and the other scouts not spotted even a single one of them?"
"We had spotted them," Lagsan replied. "But only as merchant convoys, small groups moving harmlessly across the region. We never imagined they were connected to Lord Aeos."
"And the larger ones, he likely hid them deep inside forests, off the main paths. Impossible to detect unless we were specifically looking."
"Were soldiers hiding in them?" another officer asked.
"No," Lagsan said.
Several officers with sharp instincts stiffened. Their faces paled. They had begun to guess.
"Lord Aeos gave a signal," Lagsan continued, voice tightening. "And the riders of the carriages pulled the activation ropes. One entire side of each carriage burst open."
"And from those carriages erupted animals. Dangerous beasts and predators."
Gasps echoed in the room.
"Wolves. Lions," Lagsan listed grimly. "Dogs. Hyenas. Scorpions. Manticores. Snakes. Every dangerous creature the deserts and wilderness could offer. Thousands of them."
"He must have kept them hungry, probably sedated too, just enough to transport them without trouble," Lagsan explained. "Because when those animals burst out, they were pure rage. Mindless fury. Wild beyond control."
"And there, trapped between all of them, was our camp."
"And that," Lagsan finished heavily, "is everything behind the rumours you have been hearing. That is how the slaughter began. They ripped apart in the chaos struck camp."
"It was a slaughter. A massacre," Lagsan sighed. "Very few managed to escape, mostly Dothraki. For everyone else, it was death. Nothing but death."
"The riders of those carriages, those one thousand men, were soldiers as well," he continued.
"They killed many who managed to stagger out of the encampment. Most used bows and arrows, shooting down anyone who fled."
As Lagsan finished his tale, a suffocating silence settled over the tent. The officers of the Golden Company stared at him, faces pale, minds reeling. They were hearing the unbelievable, something no one in Essos had ever imagined possible.
"How much time would he have spent capturing those beasts?" someone muttered, almost to himself.
"A long time," Lagsan answered. "Months of hard work. He must have prepared for this well in advance."
"He was no fool. He would never have allowed his cities to remain defenseless while sending his entire army away. He was the mastermind. He fooled us all."
"All that effort for a single war," another officer whispered in awe. "All those traps, all those animals, for one battle."
"A battle that shook Essos to its core," Lagsan breathed. "A war that will be remembered for generations. It is far more important than a single battle. It is a battle that will be remembered for ages. The Battle of Caged Beasts."
"With this battle, he has made absolutely sure that he will be able to successfully capture whatever free city he wishes. There is no stopping him now."
Silence reigned in the tent. These men were hardened warriors, men who had faced death countless times without flinching and yet now they were confronted with something beyond battle. Something they had never seen, never imagined. Unbelievable. Unnatural. Ingenious.
And none of them knew that the real ingenuity was unfolding right there, inside their own camp. The ploy of Lord Aeos was unfolding.
"There is another matter that needs to be addressed," Lagsan finally said, breaking the suffocating quiet.
"What?" Valdora questioned, his brows furrowing.
"The issue of the traitor," Lagsan replied calmly.
"The one who leaked our plan to the magisters?" Valdora's eyes narrowed.
Lagsan nodded. The air in the tent grew even heavier. Very few officers had known of Harry Strickland's secret plan, meaning that the traitor had to be among them. The realization settled like a blade at every throat.
"What do you have?" Valdora asked, voice low and taut.
"I remained at the battlefield long after the fighting ended," Lagsan said. "I stayed until the last of the Dothraki and Lord Aeos' troops were gone. I was searching through the bodies, hoping to find Commander Strickland, to give him a proper funeral."
He sighed. "I did not find his corpse. But I found something else."
"What?" an officer asked.
Lagsan did not answer verbally. Instead, he reached into his breast pocket and withdrew an old parchment. It was torn in several places, half of it soaked in dried blood.
Valdora extended his hand to reach for the parchment. But Lagsan ignored him completely and handed the parchment to another officer.
Tension spiked instantly in the tent. Valdora's jaw clenched, but he stayed silent.
The officer who received the parchment began to read and his eyes widened in disbelief. Instead of passing it to Valdora, he quietly handed it to another officer. Then another. And another.
Each man reacted the same. Shock, horror and understanding and yet none looked toward Valdora.
Finally, unable to control himself, Valdora snapped.
"What is that you cannot give to me?" he demanded.
Silence answered him. And at last, the parchment was placed in his hand. Valdora began reading. As he read, his face drained of all colour. His breath hitched. And then he exploded.
"No!" he shouted, stumbling back. "This is false! This is completely false!"
But no one spoke in his defense. He reached instinctively for the hilt of his sword and that was all the opening Lagsan needed.
His hand blurred. A dagger flashed. And with a sickening thud, the blade sank straight into Valdora's heart.
Blood gurgled from the wound as Valdora staggered, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Ah!" he gasped.
Lagsan stepped forward, catching him almost gently as Valdora collapsed against him. He leaned in close, whispering softly into his ear.
"Sorry, Valdora. I had no wish to kill you. But with you alive, I could never take full control of the Golden Company."
He paused, then added with a faint smile. "Oh, and my real name is Lagsan. Commander Lagsan."
Recognition flickered across Valdora's dimming eyes. He understood. He finally understood and with that understanding came a faint, incredulous smile.
"What a genius the man is…" he murmured weakly.
And then Valdora's body went limp, collapsing onto the ground as the officers watched in stunned silence.
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