The Prince had been studying the map intently as well, however, he had said not a word during the entire deliberation.

Liliandra watched and waited for the ranger to respond, "Please tell us what you remember and I will either agree or give you an update, Wil."

"Yes? Oh!" The Prince came out of his thoughts and smiled, "Please forgive me, Lili, I was merely taking my father's advice with regards to matters of state. He always told me that a good leader should be silent, listen to all opinions and thoughts around him, consider what is being said and speak only when a question needs to be asked or when a final decision needs to be made. He always believed this way of decision-making inspired trust among his subjects."

Willow continued, "But in answer to your question, Irzen and Alyson, my father always believed that infantry at the capitol had to be strong. When I left, the king could field a one-hundred thousand infantry to defend the capitol."

"A hundred thousand?!" Irzen whistled in pure disbelief, "That is impressive. I didn't known Elven armies could number so many?"

"You are correct, Willow. Your father always made sure that that number of defenders never decreased." Liliandra nodded, "They are the best in all of Northaven and with your elder brother, Prince Ash ready to defend or drive back any foe that dared to threaten our kin."

"That is good to know," Willow acknoweledged with a firm nod.

"They can when you marry your sons into neighboring Elven kingdoms and bind those marriages with war pacts designed to assemble such armies overnight," Willow responded honestly, "My brothers' marriages did far more than merely bind four kingdoms into one empire, they also gave my father an army worthy of an empire."

"So, I would take a guess the reason why the emissaries were sent out was because of the neighboring cities, your people, supplies, and with the hopes of preventing any enemy from getting that close." Lazheros studied the map again.

"You are correct, Lazheros," The Prince admitted openly, "My father has never been known to wait to the last minute to defend his kingdom."

"Besides the Southern Valley, are there any other trade routes that your people traverse, Willow?" Alyson asked the ranger.

"Well, there is the--" The Prince began to reply.

"EUREKA!" Irzen cried out, "I'VE GOT IT! I know how we can beat Gruumasht."

The elementalist suddenly grabbed a hold of the bronze man from the swordsman's outburst. "Gah!!!"

Lazheros glanced down at Alyson briefly shaking his head and turned towards Irzen, "Well what is it?"

"We have four options: Encirclement, Press Attack, Siege and Retreat," The Swordsman began as he addressed everyone while occassionally pointing at the table to reinforce every point he would make, "Option one: Encirclement. There is an open plain that leads to the capitol city. That plain is big enough to house a horde as large as Grummasht's army. However, that plain also sits on a valley floor with at least five different mountain passes leading into it. We know Grummasht's forces are marching up from the Southern Valley. What I propose is that we take your father's infantry, line them up a mile outside of the city make them two rows deep and as wide as the valley walls themselves. The horde will come directly at them. When they do, we move our cavalry through the passes and encircle them on their flanks. As they press forward towards the city, the infantry will give a little ground to them but not fully break ranks. By doing so, we will create a circle of death which we will close with our cavalry and infantry. And then the fun will begin! We can strafe them from the air with dragon fire while our Hill Dwarven and Gnomish allies act as sappers and dig holes in the ground beneath the horde. And while that is going in, the Archers from the capitol will rain arrows down upon them in wave after wave after wave. The good news is that if we employ this strategy we will avoid civilian casualties and Grummasht will be unable to offensively use the bulk of his army which will be bottled up inside the circle. Another bit of good news is that he will not expect this attack because he has probably planned for a siege instead. The bad news is that our military casualties are going to be very high. Even if we win, our victory might be a Phyrric one at best."

"Option two: Press Attack," Irzen continued unabated, "We keep half the infantry and all of the archers behind the city walls. The other half of the infantry and the entire calvary will flank the horde from the mountain passes. By getting behind the horde and along its sides, our forces will press and drive the attack against the Orcs until their backs are up against the city walls itself. We still strafe them from the air with dragon fire. And we still let our sappers do their work. But the focus of our attack will be to break their ranks against the walls of the city like waves crashing against the rocks of a reef after a storm at sea. The good news is that this strategy will reduce the number of military casualties we will suffer. The bad news is that everything will depend upon the strength of the city's defenses. If the horde has siege engines and they breach the gates or the wall, the battle will be over and we will lose everything. Another downside to this strategy is that civilian casualties will be high."

"Option three: Siege," The Swordsman added, "We pull all of our forces back to the capitol, lock the gates, man the walls and force Grummasht to lay siege to us. We can still strafe his horde from the air with dragon fire and have our sappers lay traps throughout the plain. But this strategy is nothing fancy or new. We wait Grummasht out until he gives up or retreats. The good news is that this strategy offers a maximum level of protection for the denizens of the capital. The bad news is that both civilian and military casualties will be high, we have no idea how long a siege would last and if the wall is breached then we could lose everything. It's an all or nothing strategy."

"Option four: Retreat," Irzen confessed, "We empty the capitol and let Grummasht take the city. We have all civilians go north while our military will take the mountain passes and double back on the Orcs. When Grummasht's forces have taken the city, we have our sappers set traps throughout the capitol and set them off when he and his Orcs arrive. As they are dealing with our traps, we can have our dragons strafe the entire city until not a single stone stands. Then our forces will attack Grummasht's guys on their flanks and rears and sweep up those who survive the destruction of the capitol. The good news is that we would avoid any civilian casualties. The bad news is that our military casualties could be high and Northaven would lose its capitol. Sustained dragonfire on the order of what we would need to cook Grummasht's forces inside of the city would turn the capitol into a smoldering ruin."

"We can win with any of the strategies that I have just mentioned," Irzen concluded, "Or you can come up with one of your own. But you have to select a strategy that you feel comfortable employing and I leave that decision up to you and your king."