"So, I will bear that burnt." he continued. "I want to know what all of you think about surrendering the city to Lord Aeos?"
One of the Magisters finally gathered enough courage as he stood up.
"Surrender," he said. "Undoubtedly, to surrender and hand over our city to an outsider is indeed a shameful thing. Anyone who even considers such an option is thought to be committing a betrayal. He is thought to be a dishonest man."
"But sometimes we have to rise above our dignity and respect and think of things in a practical manner. As the First Magister said, it would surely be in the minds of almost all the Magisters present here. At least, it was in my mind, and I am not hesitant to admit it."
"But as was said, practicality is different from idealism. No one would want to hand over the power and privileges they have enjoyed for their entire life on a platter to someone else. But circumstances sometimes actually force you, when protecting one's life becomes more important than one's dignity."
"I will be very honest," he continued. "If Lord Aeos had turned towards Lys with his full force, then I would have seriously considered the option of surrender. I would have at least stayed alive. But now, with the move he has made, he has given us a beacon of hope to repel his attack and save our city."
"And if we are actually able to save our city, it would be a historic and legendary event. It will be talked about for ages to come."
"But," he added, "I also make another suggestion:. That we wait for Lord Aeos' strategy to unveil itself. And whenever that strategy is revealed, if it looks as if we have no chance of repelling him, that fall of Lys is inevitable, we must at that time consider the option of surrendering."
"Not only will this save our lives, but it will also protect our wealth and a little bit of our influence. Lord Aeos, until now, has not treated anyone who has surrendered to him in an ill or discriminatory manner."
Small murmurs of agreement and disagreement spread equally through the hall. After this particular Magister, quite a few others also spoke. Most of them were indirectly or directly giving their concurrence to whatever had been said, even to the proposal to keep the option of surrender open. There were also a few who were extremely hot headed, and they did not even consider surrender to be an option. They were more ready to die than to surrender to an outsider.
"We should move forward," the First Magister picked up the conversation once again. "And we should talk of the strategies we are actually going to deploy on the battlefield."
"We have a little bit more than eight thousand men and more than enough ships for them to ride," he continued. "But we have two options in front of us, and it is the most important thing that we have to decide."
"The first option is that we load our ships with men and engage in a direct conflict with Lord Aeos' navy in the open sea," he said. "It has its own set of advantages and disadvantages."
"The advantage is that we would be excluding the land forces of Lord Aeos that he has sent from the battle, and the biggest disadvantage is that we lose our advantage of being in the defensive formation in our home city."
"And in such a battle in the open sea, a lot of things depend on luck. If they or we anyhow are able to sink one or two ships of the enemy, the tide of the battle would turn in a matter of moments. A difference of one or two thousand men does not really matter in a naval battle."
"The second option is that we remain on the land and we engage them as soon as they land on the coast," he continued.
"The advantage in this matter is that we would be able to maintain our defensive positions on our home turf, and it will highly boost our chances of victory. But the disadvantage is that, if the forces of Lord Aeos are actually able to secure a strategic advantage after landing, their ships would be free to fetch the men from the mainland."
"And in a scenario where they are able to bring the men from the mainland, we will lose the battle."
"Do we have any idea about the number of men that would be assaulting Lys?" A Magister questioned. "Infantry coming from the mainland and the naval forces combined?"
The First Magister shook his head.
"We do not know," he said. "I do not know how, but no spy is able to get close enough to the marching army to estimate their numbers."
"The moment they get too close to a certain perimeter of the army, they are eliminated. It is as if they have something that allows them to instantly find that someone has entered their perimeter."
"And as for the navy, they are still undivided, but we can expect the exact number of ships heading our way in a day or two."
A solemn silence settled in the hall. It was a very important and strategic decision, and though all of them were seafarers, there were no military minds to dwell on such things.
The First Magister too realized the same thing.
"I think we should ask the military commanders of our forces their opinions before we arrive at a decision," he said, and all the Magisters nodded in agreement.
"But there is an equally important issue, in fact, it might be more important," he continued. "The people of the city, and even the men of our forces."
"We must remember how the gates were opened for Lord Aeos in Meereen and Yunkai. The news of his arrival caused such a fervor among the crowd that it was they who began the battle for him. And a lot of soldiers too switched sides. If anything like this happens here, we are doomed."
"We, anyhow, have to control the commonfolk and not let them affect this battle in any manner," he said.
"True," another Magister interjected. "If need be, we must execute a lot of them to make examples. Anyone showing empathy for him must be dealt with harsh punishments and made into an example."
The rest of the Magisters agreed with the suggestion, and they too had a lot to offer on how to punish the smallfolk; all the suggestions were duly noted.
It was not only in Lys that such meetings were being held. Similar meetings were being held in Myr and Tyrosh too, and everyone was just waiting for the final few chapters of this magnanimous attack that Lord Aeos had begun to unfold. And it was coming closer and closer with each passing moment.
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