The Shadow of Death

Chapter 6

"General Argado! I thought you weren't supposed to arrive for a few days." Garret said, quickly standing up, saluting the stone-faced man across from him.

"General Hawthorne, you have thirty seconds to explain what the fuck is going on if you want your head to stay attached to your shoulders!" The man yelled at Garret, roughly grabbing the front of his rumpled uniform and lifting him slightly off the ground.

Garret forced himself to swallow, forcing the fear down as he stared the General in the eye.

"There was a little miscommunication when I was getting me and my soldier's dinner, sir. A bar fight broke out, and I accidentally ended up in the middle." Garret half lied, hoping the General wouldn't catch it.

Argado stared at him for a moment, and then a smirk broke out on his face, and he laughed. He set Garret down and brushed off his uniform, still laughing.

"Sir?"

"You were the one that started that fight, weren't you, General Hawthorne?" He asked, still chuckling.

Garret blushed slightly but nodded. "Kind of, yea. One of my soldiers had been severely pissing me off, and you know how I get when I'm hungry... And then one thing led to another, a random guy at the pub tried picking a fight with me, and the rest is history." Garret grimaced.

"Save your temper for the battlefield, kid. It's what makes you such a fantastic fighter; if you weren't one of our best, you probably would have been hung by now."

Garret frowned and nodded, running a hand through his hair. "We are scheduled to have my army start heading out in a day or so. We have to finish unloading the ships and getting the rest of the troops ready to travel again, and then we can start working our way more inland. If we stay on schedule, we should reach the capital by-"

"Start heading out tomorrow. Now that my troops and I are here, we can finish settling this town. You might as well go straight for the capital. Try not to make any other stops. We will follow behind your army and settle all the other towns." General Argado interrupted, raising his hand to stop Garret.

Garret stared at him in surprise for a moment but slowly nodded. "What legions will be joining me?"

"Take the Talon Legion and the two Wing Legions. That should give you more than enough soldiers to secure the capital and move closer to Revalias borders. The capital is close to the border. Bizarre placement on their part, but makes it easier for us. It'll be a good spot to gather most of our troops once we are ready to start attacking Revalia. They are our biggest threat, after all. I already spoke to General Reyes, General Asper and General Kaiser, and they said they would have their troops ready by dawn."

"That's very short notice for me to round up 100 soldiers, sir," Garret said hesitantly, glancing around as if all his soldiers would appear out of nowhere.

"Then you better get moving." He replied curtly, dismissing Garret.

"Oh, and Garret? Don't make a fool of our army again, got it?" He asked, his face showing innocence, but Garret felt a slight pressure on his chest as the General stared at him intently, fist relaxed by his side.

When Garret hesitated in his response, the fist clenched ever so slightly, along with the pressure in his chest.

"Yessir." Garret quickly replied, saluting the man, his chest now burning.

General Argado gave a small grunt and turned on his heel, walking away, but the tightness increased in Garret's chest, enough for him to start breathing more sharply as the pain increased. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped.