The King produced a faded piece of parchment, unrolling it and pointing at a spot. “Commandeered from Xerion’s own private libraries. The script is a little faded, but they seem to think there was a settlement called Boradar or something like that. That’s where we’re headed.”

Keld stared in disbelief and shook his head. The entire settlement could have burned to the ground or fallen into ruin decades ago. “Your grace, perhaps you could enlighten me on what you intend to do once you retake it?”

The King puffed his chest up, throwing his shoulders back and looking out into the wide expanse of open field in front of him, “Why settle it of course. Why do you think we’re bringing all of these supplies? This will be the first of many victories, as soon as we clear the thing out, we’ll immediately have our carpenters work on repairing the quarters and begin sowing crops. This shall be our foothold as we go throughout the old realm taking back city after city. Have you heard the tales about the spires of Dun Murduun? I’ve read they go into the clouds themselves, bigger than anything we ever managed to erect in the capital. But we’ll no longer need to read about them in some decaying tome. Very soon, we’ll be seeing them for ourselves.”

Keld was about to reply but found himself interrupted as a young stallion blew past them, atop it was a golden haired whelp of a child screaming as he brandished his practice sword hacking away at some of the underbrush. Not far behind on a small brown pony was a sheepish looking child with brown curly hair and freckles. He looked uncomfortable in the carapace of thick training armor as he tried to practice with his own homemade bow and arrow, shooting at some small animal that went rushing through the grass, but the arrow fell woefully short and landed somewhere in the tall grass. “There’s another issue that deeply concerns me; I understand why you’ve brought masons, carpenters, and farmers to settle, but I do not believe it to be the wisest course to have your entire royal family along for this, especially given the dangers it poses in terms of the line of succession.”

The King brought his horse to a halt scraping up the grass with it’s hooves. “I’d suggest you chose your words carefully. Are you implying that I’d ever let my children fall prey to any of these shambling monstrosities?. Have you never seen me in at tourney? If no man can best me in combat, I can’t imagine the dead will do much better. Besides this is a day that will be recounted in song for eons to come, what fool would deny his children their place in history?”

Gritting his teeth, Keld apologized, watching the King’s children at play. “I’m sorry, your grace. I’m sure you’ve no mean skill when it comes to fighting another warrior. This campaign will be spoken of for years to come.” He silently amended that he still was unsure that any of them would be alive to see it though. The whole campaign smacked of a political ploy, and a foolish one at that. It didn’t surprise him King Gerrard’s reign had been far from a prosperous one. Forced to use the same farmlands for so long the once fertile lands had become a dust bowl of pestilence just as deadly to plant life as the blight had been to the living.