Brightening 10, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas
In the city of Auster, Chargul awoke, knowing that the construction there would take a bit more time to fully complete. He'd pass by again on his way back to Everdark Keep, but he was certain that the troops stationed there could effectively fortify themselves and improve the condition of the ramparts.
He gave order for his guard from the 9th to accompany him. The 500 soldiers from the 9th regiment were to escort him to Daittern, where a company from the 7th and 9th were waiting for further orders, having been sent there from Everdark Keep. Clearly, Chargul was a busy man.
Brightening 11-13, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas
Employing the existing roads between Auster and Daittern, Chargul himself travelled on horse, which simply meant that the rest of the company wasn't slowed down by his physical weakness. Having already spent a day on the roads between Auster and Daittern, Chargul hoped to reach Daittern the next day without delay.
Unfortunately, heavy rain slowed them down considerably later on the 12th brightening and they were forced to camp. On the 13th, Chargul pushed the soldiers hard until they could see Daittern on the horizon. They had to be quick about it.
Brightening 15, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas, in the Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XV Post Fractum
Rising early in the morning, as always, he ordered the troops to close in upon the old ruins. Upon approaching Daittern, Chargul noted the wall that was slowly being consumed by nature. Furthermore, he could see the many old and abandoned structures that had yet to be used for anything effective. This was going to be a good place to build a southern rally point for the imperial legions coming from the sea.
He had a thousand men to work, but no construction supplies as these had been left behind in Auster. Though he expected more supplies to reach him from Taralon when available, there was a priority to consider and Daittern wasn't very high. Fortunately, that wasn't going to be an issue.
Meeting up with the 9th Regiment already stationed there, he realized their defence was unnecessary in this location. The 8th with the existing regiment stationed there would be adequate the defend the city from invaders and Auster remained a more important line of defence against the orcs. Thus, he ordered the existing section of the 9th Regiment to move to Auster, whilst his personal guard of the 9th stayed with him, as he would be needing them later. Besides, they could use some rest. Naturally, they took up residence in the camp already set up by the part of the 9th that was leaving to assist in the defence of Auster.
That left him with his personal guard of 500 from the 9th, a 1000 from the 8th and 5000 from the 6th. Naturally, they needed more workers to at least get the city walls functioning again, so Chargul decided to order three thousand from the 6th Regiment to function as workers, whilst his own guard and 2000 from the 6th would maintain sentries, patrols and fortify themselves.
Chargul proceeded to mark out houses for demolition. Houses that were considered effectively destroyed needed to be taken down and their stones used in repairing the walls. Houses that could be restored to serve as command centers, barracks, armories, supply depots and such were also marked. This was obviously going to take about a cycle to do, what with all the houses in Daittern to mark, but Chargul figured he could cut the time down to about three brightenings by only investigating part of the northwestern section of the city.
The order was given for all the walls to be rebuilt. The gate also needed some polishing and a messenger was sent to Everdark Keep, asking for some supplies that weren't available in Daittern, such as additional chains, bells and containers (boxes and barrels).
Meanwhile, when Chargul had free time before the sun set down completely beyond the horizon, he worked furiously both on the blueprints for a keep that was to be based on a number of run-down mansions in Daittern and for the border forts. On his way back to Auster, he'd have to give a lot of blueprints out for the border forts, so that the groups stationed there could do more than merely fortify themselves in simple camps and palisades.