With your back now secure from any potential backhand blows. The elves weren't going to help the Svengalians; that much was certain. The logic was clear now: you would march upon the Svengalian army and destroy it. Besiege the remaining castle of note, and consolidate the island. From there you would either sail on to the next island or sue for peace, though you were more partial to the former than to the latter.
Morale was sky-high. The mood around the army camp was one of jubilation and excitement.
<span class="mu-i"> ''Well, lads, our king has been good ta us; that daughter of his does all the foighting for us, it would seem.'' </span> You overheard someone say in the camp.
<span class="mu-i"> ''You were always a slacker, Heinz; she can't be everywhere. And we'll still be marching about in full armour and pack. </span>
<span class="mu-i"> ''Shut it, Fritz, you spend the entire siege napping and, a-a-and eating all the rations!'' </span> Another voice chimed in, speech slurred by drink. The banter of the common soldiers was as vulgar as ever. But never mind that; you had things to do and places to be.
You continued on your way, ignoring the bickering behind you. Tomorrow morn, you would have them march upon the enemy; it would perhaps be the first proper battle of the war. How would this war even be called? The Svengalian-Greifswalder war? The war or conquest of the isles? It probably depends upon the outcome of the war itself. That would most likely depend on how many of these islands you would be able to conquer and occupy.
The following morning, you had your prisoners stripped of most of their arms and armour, primarily the arms and metal parts of the armour, as the cloth was still needed to keep warm in the evening. You then had them dispersed in groups to be let back onto the countryside; without their weapons, they were less likely to cause trouble, and if they were from around these parts, they would simply return home, you hoped.
You were soon on the march back south once more, past the village you had gone through earlier. You would come for them near the harbour town you had intended to land by.
They were first spotted as you had the cavalry scout out some advanced position on the road. For the most part, they would seem to be local militiamen, with a nucleus of proper men-at-arms amongst them. They lacked cavalry, it would seem, though they compensated with the size of their footmen and their contingent of archers and javelin throwers.
They had dislodged themselves quite neatly in between a set of trees, with some extra infantry to keep the flanks concerning the other gap in trees checked.
You had your army column broken and turned into ranks, facing the enemy. They had positioned themselves well, though there would seem to be some lack of proper coverage; they wanted to create a choke point, but they seemed to lack the proper manpower to actually cover both of the gaps that were in the treeline.
