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He made the call to Carl Rondel next. He was relieved to hear that Ravi had kept his word.

<"Yeah, I just heard,"> said Carl. <"I'm mobilizing my forces now. How long you can get here?">

"To Riverton, P.J.?" said Hector. "I'm not sure that's where I should be going."

<"Hmm? You have somewhere else in mind?">

"Not yet. But I doubt Abolish would hit the capital first. And if all our forces are consolidated there, then our response will be equally slow whenever they do show up."

<"You planning to just sit on your ass in your castle, then?">

More biting words as usual from Mr. Rondel. Hector almost wanted to retort immediately, but he caught himself.

He wasn't obligated to tell Mr. Rondel anything about his plans. And in fact, he didn't even trust the guy all that much. It might've been better to keep his own movements to himself. If Abolish somehow found out that Hector wasn't at Warrenhold and decided to attack it while he was gone...

Well, that was a worst-case scenario that needed to be avoided at all costs.

But he also didn't want to outright refuse to say anything, either. That'd be unnecessarily hostile towards a potential ally. Maybe a little white lie would be better, then. "Yes," said Hector. "For now, I'll continue to wait here and observe. If P.J. gets attacked, I promise I'll dispatch reinforcements immediately, but I expect the first place that needs help will be somewhere else."

<"Hmph,"> was all Carl said.

Which was a bit surprising, actually. Hector had expected the man to give him a piece of his mind. "Any word on extra reinforcements from your end? Like from Jackson?"