Chapter 45 : Falling Apart

I barely got any sleep after I returned to the tent. My mind spun with all sorts of possibilities and questions I didn't plan to ask. I knew though, that as far as sunrise was concerned, I needed to call a meeting first thing in the morning with my captains.

I summoned a messenger from one of the nearby tents and had him work through the network of messengers to make sure that anyone who would need to know anything would be at the meeting in the morning. I laid awake and pondered how I would explain what was happening to my men, and I had to accept that they may just have to trust me.

There were plenty of men who believed I was still young and untested. That felt ridiculous after a century at the helm, but compared to some of these ancient warriors, I was a young buck. I hoped that at hundreds of years old, I would still be that fighting fit, but their experience meant that they liked to push me at every turn and force me to explain every choice and call I made.

Sometimes, I just