As James continued along with the group he was starting to tire. At the start of the journey he was at the front of the group, excited for the journey ahead, but now he found himself falling behind and having to try to keep up most of the time. He didn't know how hard the training was to become an elite, but all of the people he was traveling with were in really good shape. Far better than he was, even after walking so much with his old friends.
They had been walking for almost 2 days straight, and James was tired of walking. He wanted to ask Commander Schoorel if they could rest, but he couldn't risk getting filed as disloyal. His commander had already been giving him a few dirty looks as he was falling behind. Eventually after a few more hours Commander Schoorel found a large clearing to rest in. James found a soft patch of grass and laid down to rest.
But after only a few minutes Commander Schoorel came up to him and said sternly; "You have to stop falling behind, we are not going to stop for you and I think you may remember what will happen if you don't show up to Silva Regnum with us." James nodded and started his light slumber once more after Commander Schoorel had walked away.
Soon after yet again James was woken up, this time by Jennifer. She wanted to train some more, it looked like most of the people in the group were already sparring together. James didn't really want to do any more training, since he was still really tired, but he also didn't want to seem weak in front of the elites so he agreed.
Throughout the whole sparring session James was slower than he usually was. Just about every time Jennifer jabbed at him with her scythe he was half a second too slow in blocking it. At the end of the spar when Jennifer finally went to rest. James could barely walk, and Commander Schoorel had just announced that they would be leaving again in 30 minutes.
James went to get as much rest as he could in 30 minutes. Jennifer woke him hurriedly a little later. James hadn't meant to fall asleep completely, and if Jennifer hadn't been there he would have gotten left behind. Luckily she was there to wake him and that little bit of sleep gave him a bit of energy, so he was able to continue with the group.
He was walking in the middle of the group, next to Jennifer. She was telling him all about being an elite. Elite's didn't have to go on patrol as often, and sometimes were called upon to help a commander make a decision. Jennifer said that she had never had to do that, because Commander Schoorel and most of the other commanders preferred to have the opinion of the more experienced elites.
As a normal soldier James had never interacted with any of the other commanders other than Blake, but Jennifer said that the elites had occasional sparring sessions with one of the other 5 commanders. 5 of the 6 commanders were on the journey to Silva Regnum. James would have expected all of the commanders to be going to fight, but Jennifer said that the newest commander, Commander Kukid, was on bad terms with the king and would probably get demoted and possibly even executed or assassinated soon. Jennifer was excited to see who the new commander would be.
As they were talking about this a large commotion burst out from the front of the group. As James and Jennifer approached they saw what was happening; a stag, a black furred bear and large badger were attacking. Everyone in the group suspected that they were shapeshifters.
Nobody in the group had their weapons at the ready, so the rogue animals were wreaking havoc on the front line of the group. Jennifer saw what was happening and was able to pull out her bow and arrow in time to shoot the elk. When the other animals saw the arrow in their partner's side they fled back into the woods.
All of the commanders were running around looking for injuries, but only 2 medics were on the journey with them. During the commotion nobody noticed that the person with the map was bleeding heavily. When the medic finally noticed they were bleeding out, it was already too late. She was the only messenger on the journey, so she was the only person who regularly made the journey from their home city to the capital.
The commanders had some knowledge of how to get to Silva Regnum, but the map had been partially ruined by the bleeding and was ripped. Commander Arivre suggested that they stop again to recover from their injuries. Everyone thought that was a good idea, as everyone was shocked at the attack. Luckily one of the other commanders claimed to know how to get to Silva Regnum from here, but they would still get there late.
Everyone was very disturbed by the sudden attack. They were at the edge of two colonies borders, so technically they were trespassing in both of them. They would be into the borders of Silva Regnum soon, so everyone was pretty eager to get going again, as nobody felt safe where they were. After only about 20 minutes Commander Schoorel announced that they would be leaving again immediately and anyone who couldn't leave now would be left behind. James thought that was a good idea since they needed to get out of the evil shapeshifter territory.
Commander Schoorel took the lead, as the head commander he went to report to the king every 3 months, but never without a messenger. He was acting confident, but James knew that there was a good chance they would get lost. They kept walking for hours until Commander Schoorel announced that they would rest and "regroup".
James was smart enough to know that that meant Commander Schoorel was losing confidence. He and Jennifer were talking for a while, but they quickly ran out of stuff to talk about. Then it was just awkward silence. While they were resting a few of the upper elites and commanders went out to scout out the path ahead of them. A few hours later one group came back hurriedly saying that they had run into a border watchtower of Silva Regnum. They claimed that it was still two days from where they were.
The two days were very long, especially with the new wounded soldiers. The medics were far more exhausted than everyone else, having to check on the people who could make it. James wished he could offer more help, but he didn't even know as much healing as the elites, who had double training in that as well as fighting and leading.
The scouts were right, they soon arrived at the border post. James wanted to collapse onto the ground, but he knew he couldn't do that. He had to make a good impression on his new battle partners.
A ton of people were waiting for them in the center of Silva Regnum. They had a huge sparring area and a lot of other different training choices. Most of the people he was training with were elites, but unlike the group James traveled with there were a few normal soldiers. Their head commander welcomed them and treated them nicely as they were honored guests from their sister town. It was nice to be there, train with the elites and be treated as a person higher up than he really was.
But he still had the lingering thought in the back of his head; still had to pass the test, and King Alberich asked him to meet him in his office a week after he had come. James went, and the thing he feared had happened. It made sense, James had expected this to happen, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried.
"I want you to act as our "champion" like this Gale is to the shapeshifters. I want you to be the one to fight her, and kill her. If you can't manage that, at least kill one of the other two rats who helped convince those monsters to rise against my rule."
YOU ARE READING
Gale's Storm
FantasíaGale's society is broken up, divided and forgotten. But she knows she can change this. Gale and some friends have set out, to reunite Nemus, no matter what gets in their way.
