Hey, I'm kinda excited about this, too excited to edit it again. So its safe to assume that the grammar and paragraph structure is absolute trash. This first part is going to be embedded somewhere to be used as foreshadowing and the second part is after the army has been formed. Let me know what you think!
“Stris, I need you to know something.” There was no levity in her voice, it was straight business.
“You have my full attention.” And indeed, she did. I was memorizing every facet of her face. Her full lips, her high cheek bones, the noble nose, and her piercing eyes – bluer than the sky itself.
“Some things I do are going to make you angry, they are going to seem reckless and stupid. And I’m going to need you to support me in them.”
“What do you mean?”
“At some point, someone may decide that they don’t want a woman to command them. Its not going to matter that I have been training my entire life – I am going to look incapable by the very virtue of my sex. The second I hear of it, I need to cut it out at the source.”
“But you are heir to the Deracose throne. Your entire legacy is war!”
“Doesn’t matter. I have fine features and a feminine figure. I may have to do things you don’t agree with and you’re going to have to let me.”
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Stris -
“Trouble’s come,” I said with a knowing look. I knew it had to be overcome, but that didn’t stop me from hating it. I had hoped the stories were going to be enough. Apparently, they hadn’t.
She cursed and swept out of the tent, still in her skirts.
It was deliberate.
I fell into step with her, her expression steely – with a barely contained fire in her eyes.
“Where?” she asked, her tone level and her voice soft.
“4th Company, Mog Ekhert’s his name. Captain Ollet sent it up.”
She didn’t say anything as we made our way through the camp, staring straight forward as she did so. I, on the other hand, could not help but feel the eyes on us. They followed us until we went into the trees.
We finally came to 4th Company’s clearing. The ground was soft from the rain the week before and mossy boulders lay scattered among the drying leaves.
A man with a remarkably square jaw walked up to us and offered Nati his arm. “Captain Ollet, your highness.”
She clasped his forearm and they nodded to one another. “Nice to meet you captain. Which one is he?”
“Your highness, he’s the burly one with the red beard, the Rondolvan.” The captain was a good-looking man, he was the perfect embodiment of a soldier. “I’ll take you.”
“Just point me in the right direction. Watch if you want, but I have to be in control of the entire situation. You understand? Also, Captain?”
“Yes, your highness?”
“‘Your highness’ is meant for the court. Here, it’s Commander.”
He cracked a smile, “Yes Commander.”
The men were all laying about. Not one of them had pitched their tents, no one was sharpening their blades or sparing with one another. Instead they were laughing about something and passing a wineskin back and forth. As we neared them, it became clearer who was the leader in the revelry.
He was gesturing wildly. With his back to us and with a mop of wavy brown hair, it wasn’t clear if he was the man we were looking for. But he certainly had the attention of the entire band. Each of his words got a rise out of the men. Some reacted with wolfish grins and others with nervous chuckles.
“- and I’d show her who should really be king. Royal or not, no bitch is going to be ordering me around, especially not the spawn of the Mad Whore.”
“Why are you fighting then, Mog? You don’t believe the queen was innocent?” One of the others said, a strong looking fellow with a ruddy complexion, rubbing down his knife with a rag.
Ekhert leaned in and sneered “I wanna stick my hands in some capital blood.” Everyone else was silent. “They’re living the high life while we’ve been living like dogs. This is just the fastest route to pushing over the court entirely. And on the way, maybe I’ll get the change to bend her to my will, eh boys?” he crowed.
He was expecting raucous laughter, but at this point, everyone but him had caught sight of us. Waves of wrath were pouring off of Nati and I could hear the faint tapping of her fingers against her skirt.
The air hung still for an agonizing second. Then the soldier who had dared push back against Ekhert leapt to his feet. A few of the others did the same, but most stayed on the ground with Ekhert.
He lazily turned to look up at us and it was clear that we had the right man. Ekhert was easily the largest man of the bunch. What he lacked in height, me more than made up with in width. If not for the beard, he would have would have been forgettable. But, as I was sure was the same for anyone, his thick bright red beard cemented him in my mind. His lip curled up into a cross between a sneer and a lewd grin as he looked her up and down.
I wanted nothing more than to loose an arrow straight through the throat.
“Well Jessimae bless me, it’s the –” He started.
“The ‘Mad Whore’s spawn’?” Nati cut him off, her voice low, almost conversational.
His face spasmed for a moment before receding back into the grin, showcasing his crooked teeth.
“Get up and do it then,” she said, her eyebrows lifted delicately, “bend me to your will.”
The great oaf threw his head back and bellowed, “You hear that boys, she wants me.” But he stayed there, propped up on his hands.
My own anger was growing with every second, reaching its boiling point. My head knew that she needed to handle this herself. My heart, however, made me want to forget my bow and plain knock his teeth out.
“I don’t think you’re man enough to do it,” she breathed. “I think you’re scared. You’re terrified, so you cover it up with big claims and fantasies of raping and pillaging.” There was power – no, cockiness pouring off of her. “The very pinnacle of a man.” She was wearing a sneer of her own. Her fingers yanked at the ribbon holding her skirts together and it fell from her in its usual spectacular fashion. She then removed her overjacket and handed both of them to me. She then unbuckled the harness that sheathed her daggers and her whip and handed them to me as well. That move, handing me her clothing, in any other context would have been salacious, at court would have been downright pornographic. But here, here it was a power move. She stood only dressed in her trousers, blouse, and corset. If not for her braid, she might have been mistaken for a boy. “Prove me wrong.”
A crowd had gathered, growing steadily. Squads and platoons had come over until the entire company stood in tense silence.
Ekhert slowly got to his feet, fiercely holding onto his own bravado. “I’m going to make you scream, princess.” He rolled his shoulders and his arms rippled under his shirt.
The tension was palpable – and the crowd had begun to murmur, it seemed to be a beast of its own.
Nati silently slipped her right foot back and rolled onto the balls of her feet. She pulled her right hand back, slowly in anticipation. She was going to need to take advantage of his weight.
While he looked much stronger than Father or I, I could tell he was much slower. If he got in a single solid strike, it would be over. “Where are your pretty – gck!”
A quickly as an asp, she struck his throat with her right hand and leapt to the left.
Ekhert choked. His eyes were watering as they burned in rage. He rushed her with his beefy fists swinging wildly.
She ducked under his left and slammed her palm against the side of his nose.
There was sickening crack and scarlet blood streamed down his chin. He shook his head and left his torso open and Nati made her first mistake.
She went for his ribs, she must have forgot how protected he was by his girth. For all it did her, she might have punched a bull.
He swung up with his right and caught her in the gut, she tried to defect it as much as she could, but his sheer mass was too much. Her feet faltered as she doubled over from the blow. His other fist came down on the side of her left temple and she slipped and fell face first onto the forest floor.
I could hear nothing but the rush of blood in my ears. I felt nothing but the weight of my quiver on my back. My fingers twitched from the need to nock an arrow.
But a calloused hand fell on mine. “She has to do it.” Captain Ollet whispered.
Ekhert lifted both arms above his head and brought them down with all his might, but at the last moment, Nati rolled out of the way. Instead of slamming his fists into her, they crashed into the moss-covered boulder where she had just been. He howled in pain.
She sprung up into a crouch before leaping into her favorite move, the move she had tried to teach me – the move had made me lose consciousness so many times before. She took advantage of his back and wrapped her right arm around his thick neck. She swept the left behind his head and hooked her feet into his thighs. To the casual observer, it would have looked as if she was a child, climbing her father’s back. To the more than casual recipient of the move, I could tell the fight was over. That and his face was turning purple.
“You have four more seconds until you pass out. Forty-five until death, yield.” She said, huffing slightly. For a split second, it looked as if Ekhert would stay defiant until the end. But the
anger in his eyes melted into resignation and he tapped her arm thrice.
She released him and kicked herself off, landing lightly on her feet.
He was not so graceful. He fell forward, wheezing the entire way down.
The men erupted into cheers. I wondered if they would have cheered regardless of the victor, but from their faces – this would be a turning point for her, for us.
She walked towards me, and that was it. I knew I would follow her anywhere. Despite the growing bruise on her temple, her bloody lip, and her hair escaping her braid in a wild, black halo, there was a twinkle of triumph in her eyes. In that moment, it looked as if the world was hers.
I thought that was the end of it. She had clearly won, there was nothing the hulk of a man could do. But, somehow, he had regained his breath enough to rush Nati again. He leapt forward with hands outstretched to choke her. I don’t know how she did it, if she felt the presence behind her or heard him, but she was ready for him.
She spun on her heel, dropped to a knee, and with an underhanded grip, grabbed him in-between his legs, and jerked upwards.
He stopped in his tracks and shrieked. Birds took flight. Every man in the clearing winced and reflexively moved to guard his own groin, myself included.
She released him and he fell to his knees. Then she planted her foot on his shoulder and kicked him over.
“No – honor,” he wheezed.
“No honor? Me?” Nati spat blood into the dirt next to him. “And attacking a comrade with her back turned is honorable?” She laughed harshly. “This ‘honor’ is petty rules made by men to protect their greatest weakness. A weakness I don’t have. To the three hells with your honor, I fight to win.” She looked at the rest of them, some with their mouths agape, eyes wide, others with panicked looks, and still others with the look of pride. Pride for their General. She gestured to all of them, “I suggest you fight the same way.”
“Real honor? That is in the respect you show for your brothers and sisters. Our foe are our countrymen, our neighbors, our families. We do not fight for the love of violence and want of death. We fight against the horrors committed against us and our allies, the lies told, and the stolen opportunities.” She swallowed hard and took in a deep breath.
“There is no place in this force for rapists and assaulters. If I even hear that you have forced yourself on a woman, I will kill you where you stand. Let me repeat myself, violation of our countrymen and women will result in execution.”
Time stood still. She commanded the entire crowd, but she was subtly starting to lean to the side. I took a step towards her, positioning myself just within reach.
“If our goals are not aligned, this is your final warning.”
Then, the soldier who had dared to question Ekhert dropped to his knee and closed his fist over his heart. The rest of them fell to their knees like Kento Tiles, all of them except Ekhert who as still laying on the ground, clutching his manhood. “We are yours to command,” the soldier said with steel in his voice and an earnest set of his jaw.
I could not see, but I imagined she smiled a little at him. “Rise. Training begins tomorrow,” she said, and with that she turned and we started back the way we came.
Once we reached the tree line and we were sure we were out of view of the men, Nati stopped and steadied herself against a tree.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
She waved me off, “My head is just pounding is all. That Ekhert can pack a punch, but I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t believe her, but I still handed over her weapons and watched as she reattached her sheaths with well-practiced movements. She then took her skirts and overjacket and refastened them. As if by magic, she looked like a village girl, the most beautiful village girl in the world, but a village girl all the same.
“You’re staring at me, is it really that bad?”
“No,” I breathed. “No you don’t, just a little wild.” Before I could stop myself, I reached out and swept the wisps from her face. Then I wiped the blood from her lip with my thumb.
“What are you doing?” She whispered and began to sway again.
I reached out to steady her, “Nati – I”
“I’m seeing stars, Kraio, I don’t feel right.”
“Nati, I’m Stris –”.
Her eyes rolled back and she fell forward, buckling straight into my arms.
“Nati, Natiselle! Wake up.” No. What was I going to do? I couldn’t just walk back to the command tent with the commander knocked out – they’d kill me outright. But we couldn’t stay here. If the men found out she’d fainted, she would lose all she had fought for. “Please wake up.”
There was no response but the gentle rise of her chest against mine.
“Gods help me,” I cursed, and I swept up the unconscious girl of my dreams off of her feet.
Her head threatened to loll over my arm, so I shifted and lifted her up close to my body, ensuring her head rested on my chest. This was definitely not how I had pictured this. Cursing and praying, I slowly began to make my way back.
The twilight air was cool against my face, but the heat coming off of her body warmed me and the steady sound of her breathing kept me from flying into a panic. I thought only of each step in front of me. If I paused to think of how close we were, of the feeling of her in my arms, the faint scent of vanilla from her hair… No. I had to think only of the steps.
