Lo Quen searched the camp once more before finally locating the armor.
Then, accompanied by Chai Yiq—who was still teasing the young dragons in the woods—he set out for the front lines.
The border between Tyrosh, Lys, and Myr lay in the valley nestled between the Lonely Hills and the Grey Mountains.
Thick forests blanketed the region, known collectively as the Three Daughters Woodland.
It was the only stretch of land through which the other two Free Cities could march an army into Tyrosh's territory.
Each of the three Free Cities had established its own outposts around the forest, watching and countering one another's military movements.
Jaelena was stationed at Tyrosh's outpost, known as the Watch Camp.
She had already pulled her forces back from Crown Town to this position.
Recently, the Lyseni had grown increasingly active.
According to Meizo's intelligence, several mercenary companies had appeared within the Disputed Lands under Lys control.
Lo Quen suspected these companies had been hired specifically to deal with him.
Two days later, Lo Quen and Chai Yiq led their army to the Watch Camp, where they joined forces with Jaelena.
With Chai Yiq's five hundred soldiers, her five hundred Dragon Soul Guards, and the additional three hundred Dragon Soul Guards Janice had assigned him, their combined forces now totaled seven thousand five hundred soldiers and twelve hundred Dragon Soul Guards.
Seated within his tent, Lo Quen studied a detailed map of the Disputed Lands.
To the east of the Three Daughters Woodland rose the Central Highlands, where the Myrish had constructed a fortified citadel.
Myr's craftsmen were unmatched, and its wealth far outstripped Tyrosh's.
Most of its estates were clustered along the banks of the Myr River in the northeastern highlands—the heart of Myr's economy.
To protect this vital region, the Myrish had built a massive fortress at the edge of the highlands, manned year-round by a garrison of slave soldiers.
To the southeast of the forest stood the Lysene outpost—the Sentry Tower—also guarded by a slave legion.
Any force attempting to invade either Lys or Myr would have to pass through these two strongholds first.
Fortunately, neither Lys nor Myr were known for military strength.
Their standing armies numbered only a few thousand poorly trained slave soldiers, armed and armored with mediocrity.
Lo Quen's gaze shifted southward on the map, to the endless peaks of the Grey Mountains.
It was control of the mines at the southern foot of those mountains that allowed Lys to wage its trade war against Tyrosh.
The most direct way to break the Lysene monopoly was to seize those mines.
After a moment's thought, Lo Quen decided to launch a night raid on the Sentry Tower.
The mercenary companies hired by Lys had yet to arrive in full.
If he struck swiftly—destroying the Sentry Tower, Lys's most crucial forward base—then pushed deep into their territory to seize the mineral veins of the Grey Mountains, he could seize the initiative on the battlefield.
With his decision made, Lo Quen began to mobilize his troops.
The soldiers ate their rations, checked their weapons, wrapped thick cloth around their horses' hooves, and waited for nightfall.
...
The Sentry Tower—a stone structure rising one hundred and fifty feet—stood on the northern slope of the Grey Mountains, guarding the narrow pass into the heart of Lys.
At the top, a Lysene slave soldier huddled in thin clothes, nodding off as he kept watch over the pitch-black expanse of the Three Daughters Woodland below.
Suddenly, something stirred at the forest's edge, like grass bending in a gust of wind.
"Hey! Look over there!"
The guard rubbed his eyes and nudged his drowsy companion, his voice uncertain. "The woods… something's moving out there."
Two more soldiers hurried to the edge of the tower, squinting into the darkness.
Down below, the ground patrol had noticed it too.
Silvario, the Lysene officer commanding the Sentry Tower, was a burly man with a thick black beard.
Cracking his whip sharply, he barked an order, sending a squad of nervous slave soldiers into the woods to investigate.
They stepped forward hesitantly, torches trembling in their hands, just as—
"Kill!"
The shout exploded like thunder, shattering the night.
A tide of black shapes surged out of the forest's depths, roaring as they charged.
The flicker of torchlight revealed rows upon rows of Tyroshi soldiers in gleaming armor.
Spears and blades flashed as they swept through the patrol and the investigating slaves, cutting them off and surrounding them in an instant.
"Wooo—wooo—wooo—!"
A shrill horn blared from the base of the Sentry Tower, slicing through the stillness of the night.
Enemy attack!
The Tyroshi had struck without warning!
The Lysene slave soldiers had never seen such ferocity.
Poorly armed, barely trained, and with no real will to fight, their courage collapsed under the onslaught.
Officers' shouts and the threat of whips meant nothing now.
Panic seized them. Screaming, they dropped their weapons and scattered like headless flies, fleeing into the darkness.
Officer Silvario, enraged, swung his whip furiously, striking the backs of the fleeing soldiers.
"Bastards! Pick up your weapons! Hold the line! Reinforcements will be here any moment!"
But the whip vanished into the panicked crowd like a stone sinking into the sea, powerless to stop the rout. Seeing more enemies pouring out of the woods, their formation tight and their killing intent palpable, he realized the situation was dire. He turned and shouted as he bolted toward the tower,
"Quick! Shut the doors! Hold the tower until reinforcements arrive!"
At that moment, Lo Quen emerged at the forest's edge, his gaze fixed on the chaotic tower ahead.
"Shield wall, advance! Fill the trench! Breaching team, move up!"
The disciplined Tyrosh soldiers sprang into motion. The front line raised their massive square shields high, locking them tightly together to form a moving dome of steel. Behind them, soldiers burdened with heavy sandbags rushed forward under the shields' cover, racing toward the ten-foot-wide trench encircling the tower like tireless ants.
A dense rain of arrows poured from the tower above, clattering and sparking off the shields, yet failing to halt their advance. In short order, several sections of the trench were filled.
Meanwhile, a breaching team of the strongest soldiers, hefting a massive iron-tipped battering ram, roared as they charged under shield cover toward the tower's heavy oak doors.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each thunderous blow landed like a war drum, pounding in the hearts of the defenders and on Officer Silvario's fraying nerves.
"Hold it! Brace the door!"
Silvario's hoarse voice echoed inside the tower as he directed the soldiers to barricade the entrance with their bodies and whatever debris they could find. But fear had already broken the slave soldiers' will to resist.
CRASH!!!
With a deafening roar and a burst of splintered wood, the tower's gates collapsed inward beneath the battering ram's impact.
"Charge!"
Lo Quen drew his sword, pointing it toward the gaping doorway. The Tyrosh soldiers surged forward like a flood breaching a dam, pouring into the tower's interior.
Resistance was almost nonexistent. Terrified slave soldiers dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, begging for mercy. The few Lys officers who tried to rally them were instantly swallowed by the human tide.
On the tower's second floor, the highest-ranking officer, Silvario, was tackled to the ground by several soldiers fierce as wolves. Bound tightly, his face twisted with disbelief, horror, and despair.
Within half an hour, the battle was over. Lo Quen had taken the Lysene outpost at minimal cost.