Loyal Servant

Chapter 1

The tapping sound of the two people walking through the white decorated hall; the walls were adorned with beautiful designs that matched and expanded through the entire building. Statues and suites of armour were placed in order from the entrance to the end, and vases filled with diverse flowers placed on small square tables in between the pillars while the long red carpet below their feet added the final touch to the design of the interior.

The leading person was a short black-haired woman, donned in formal military wear. Her torso imitates the heavy armour of the elite infantry but in leather form, the insignia of her unit, a flower with three petals, was placed on her chest. Her skirt that lengthens to her knees was brown in colour but the pants that were worn inside the skirt were white. Straps were on both of her shoulders and her waist to lock the leather armour in place, a clean, ironed, and decorated uniform with three lashes of cloth on her shoulders and skirt coloured: Red, white, and brown. Her official's sword hanged from her left side of her waist.

Behind her was a man, wearing long dark green robes that extended to his calves, the inside of those robes was his normal wear, A light torso and a sash around his stomach, grey in colour and blank with no decorations. His black hair that reached to his shoulders were tied as a topknot on his scalp. His short beard lengthened to his neck.

They stopped in front of the door and the woman sighed and turned to the man, their status clearly distinct from their clothing and foot wear; she wore newly crafted boots while he wore leather slippers.

"Whatever happens in there," She instructed with a friendly-Strict-ish tone. "Don't say anything."

The man simply leaned his upper body forward but not to the point of bowing.

With a nod she turned and opened the door, entering to see another woman standing in the centre behind the pulpit being surrounded by rows of seats that elevated upwards every row, in total there were eight rows, the seats numbered to sixty.

The crowd were mixed of both genders but segregated through gender and clothing; the men on the left side while the women were on the right side. Those in white robes held the representative of civil offices while the red tunics were the ones that represented the military offices. The duo that entered the room separated their paths and went to their accorded seats.

The woman in the centre, clothed in a white and green robe, signifying a high position in the court, raised her hands wide and declared. "The Military court is in session!" With a short pause she continued; "I, Nourfal, have received news of another declaration of war from the North-"

As the mentions of war were declared, the court hissed with murmurs of the court attendants, The court chief, Azmaralda, an aging woman in a two-coloured robe of white and green, struck her staff on the ground, its echoes silenced the room. Nourfal looked at Azmaralda and nodded in thanks.

"As I was saying, we have received a declaration of war from the Northern Kingdoms, who have united under the rule of a new king whose name is unknown to us, it appears that the old king who was in a peace treaty with us was overthrown and now we have recently just received news that they have taken control over the three cities: Olmah, Biterann, and Walall. Only the city of Gospez remains and that is the centre of our trade and source of information in that area; If we lose Gospez, we lose access to the North! So now, Our Empress Jiyasha has raised a force of sixty-thousand in the city of Freimul; The Imperial order from her Majesty is calling for generals to volunteer for the campaign, if no one volunteers then the names listed below here will be chosen by the Empress herself!"

The crowed stared in silence, looking at each other and around the military court, waiting for anyone to volunteer on the campaign. Silence turns to murmurs and murmurs turned finger pointing, urging on each of the court attendees to stand forward and take on the task. Then the finger pointing turned to accusations of cowardice then the accusations turned into berating's of insults.