Suddenly, the palace doors were gently pushed open, then quickly shut again.
A commander, dusty from travel and with scorch marks across his armor, strode in. It was Leon, the commander responsible for the eastern Twin River City front. He came before Harald's couch and dropped to one knee without hesitation, his voice heavy and earnest: "Your Majesty! You must take care of yourself! Sauron's heavens need your support, and countless subjects need your guidance! This time... though we suffered a minor setback, we also inflicted no small number of casualties on Karl! Roderick's vanguard must have been Carnford's battle-hardened elite. After this battle, Karl too has lost troops and generals, suffered grievous damage! Our army's strength remains intact. There will be time enough in the days to come!"
Leon's words sought to find a sliver of comfort in the crushing defeat. He exaggerated Roderick's force into Karl's trump card, hoping to ease the crushing weight in Harald's heart.
At those words, the corner of Harald's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly—a "smile" full of bitterness and self-mockery. How could he not know that while Roderick's men were valiant, they were by no means among Carnford's most vital trump cards?
Karl had used merely a detached force to nearly wipe out the main vanguard Harald had so carefully prepared to besiege one point and draw reinforcements in, and had made him pay such a horrific price... The gulf between them chilled him to the bone.
He did not refute Leon's well-intentioned lie. He merely slowly straightened up, striving to drive the phantom image of that fluttering military banner from his mind for the moment and pull his attention back to the battle before him.
His voice was somewhat hoarse, yet it had regained a trace of a king's composure. "The Twin River