AISLIN | I

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

TEN LARGE, square towers dominate the skyline of this massive castle and are connected by giant, solid walls made of red stone.

Wide windows are scattered here and there around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry, along with small holes for archers and artillery. A regular gate with giant metal doors offered a warm haven within these cold, isolated lands and it's the only way in, at least without taking down the castle walls.

Remnants of broken swords and shields litter the fields outside of the castle and the Kingdom, a painful reminder of a past war. This castle and the town were relatively new, but so far it stood its ground with ease and it'll likely do so for ages to come.

The large gates opened upon my arrival and I walked along the dark stone path that led to a pair of large steel doors in the wall of the castle. The ground trembled as an army of 90,000 men moved forward. Every step fell in perfect harmony, drowning out all other sounds from the vicinity.

Up close it's the sound of heavy armor clashing together which overpowers all other sounds. The creaking of metal of the siege engines can be heard only faintly and the sounds of the war mounts are all but drowned out completely.

Despite all the noise, the soldiers are talking and laughing with each other, many eager for the battle ahead, at least for now. As silence fell, the entire army became one body, one collective mind with a single goal: Defeat the enemy.

The different divisions were divided for training exercises. Eager foot soldiers armed with maces, axes, spears, and large shields stood in battle formation practicing maneuvers. Mounted cavalry armed with spears, shields, and swords sat astride their mounts practicing charges. One group stood apart from the rest, although they were physically in the middle of the controlled chaos.

Elite foot soldiers armed with katakana and daggers stood in a circle around two sparring members. Their technique revealed pieces of Aislin's training from years ago. Kingsley was carrying on the tradition of selective training that Aislin had always emphasized. These warriors may come in handy later.

Many other regiments filled the training area, including what appeared to be mercenaries in various armors and uniforms, allied soldiers sporting the colors of neighboring Kingdoms, allied cavalry units, allied defensive units yielding shields almost as big as themselves, various flanking units, and various mounted and foot archery units. August's attention was drawn to the ranks of archers, jealousy directed at the mounted troops. He was amazing with his recurve bow, but he was terribly unsteady on horseback. It was a significant weakness, at least in his own eyes. He could feel himself slowly falling out of practice after long days on the ship.

Aislin surveyed the ranks of soldiers carefully and noted with joy that there were almost as many women among the ranks as there were men. They all wore identical uniforms and all had their hair pulled into a tight knot at the top of their heads so they were difficult to distinguish, but there were definitely women kicking butt and taking names despite this patriarchal culture.

I felt Evander stiffen beside me as he realized just how much of the army was composed of the female sex. I heard him mutter something that sounded like disdain at the thought of women fighting along men and distinctly heard a comment that sounded seriously like "Who cooks and bears children if all the women are going to war?" I bit my tongue. I knew there would be someone to set him straight soon enough. I just had to bide my time.

Leland was visibly trying to restrain himself from laughing at Evander's reaction. I guess he came to terms with the fact that women make good soldiers.

I crossed my arms with pride and as I scanned the training grounds. I couldn't help but smirk at the woman who was standing her ground in the sparring ring. She was holding herself back, trying to teach her partner to anticipate attacks more effectively. Aislin caught her eye and the girl paused, almost letting her partner land a blow on her shoulder, barely dodging at the last second. She excused herself from the ring and ordered another soldier to replace her as the student bowed respectfully.