Satin Rose and the Witch Hunters

55. Fired

Bixly

Hard dry clay was beneath our feet. Clouds of dust were being kicked up everywhere as the assembly was coming together. Instead of going to our own Platoons camp site however, we we’re all packed in the center. Each squad having thirty bodies, each platoon having ten squads, and the entire south having been covered by twenty platoons. There was an easy force of six thousand standing here right outside the city gates. And that wasn’t even counting the boys that were running around trying to be useful, merchants hawking wares so that Hunters didn’t need to go into the city, ladies trying to catch someone’s lonely eye, traveling blacksmiths, shipbuilders, cooks. In the two weeks that the camp had been set up it was as if the entire city had expanded by half its size.

Something big was about to be announced though and I wasn’t sure if I liked it. Instead of squad assembling under their platoon leaders. All of us were jam packed in the middle of the camp, around an enormous stage that could have probably been seen from the castle itself and needed a ladder to be accessed.

Dutchess was still asleep in the tent. Once I had come back to the camp she had been pristine and normal at all hours with no trace of that shadow that had loomed over her. Yet I feared for what would happen if it came back. What my colleagues would do. What I would do. That feeling of that unknown had haunted me in the days that followed. And now that we were called here in mass sent a chill down my spine as if disaster was about to strike.

The congregation eventually fell silent. Beside me was Cammie who was looking sharper than usual. She hadn’t greet as she usually does and instead just looked eyes and nodded before taking position. Up on the stage, all the platoon leaders were standing in line up when General Sting stomped to the center. A large speaking trumpet was connected to the podium, the bell of which was large enough to fit in a grown man standing.

When he spoke, it was like thunder, “TO KING! TO CHURCH! TO COUNTRY!”

And when the army responded the earth shook, “TO KING! TO CHURCH! TO COUNTRY!”

The general waited for the howling and the hooting to die down and in those moments a divide was palpable. Not everyone was cheering and was as if my entire squad was holding their breath for something.

Then Sting continued, “HUNTERS! Gathered here today is the largest force of warrior’s the south of Arya has ever seen! Under one cause! One banner! And it is with great pride that I say that in of the Hunters history there is no better faction than ours! We are prepared to face even the mightiest of foes!”

Another round of shouting and foot stomping came again, but this time the general did not wait for it be silent, “But look around! Our skies are empty. No dragon migrates to distant isles. Our harbor is peaceful! No siren sings song to steal men away. Our forests are dull. No lurks in their leaves. Magic has been triumphed by the church and all whispers of dark magic have grown no larger than gossip. There is nothing more to hunt.”

When he paused again, there was no noise this time, “Today the will of the Queen herself. The Southern Hunters Guild has done a great service to this land. You have kept us safe when the nights were long and dark. And as the shadows have been beat back, so to should we lay down our swords. On this day, it is hereby decreed that the Southern Hunters Guild be disbanded with all current members being compensated by the crown for their service.”

“There is nothing more to hunt,” Sting repeated. It was hard to see what kind of face the general was making. Disbelief at his own words? Sadness at the order? Perhaps the weight of his words only revealed themselves to him once they were out into the world. He cleared his throat, “We might not be Hunters anymore, but the hunt is never over. Report to your Platoon leaders.” He saluted us. Then he saluted those behind him. Then he walked off stage.

There was a bubble of great silence that followed. Then pandemonium set it. There were angry shouts, there were happy cheers, arguments broke out all around. A mix of anger and confusion at everything. There might have been a fight or two around me, or perhaps someone was trying to start a chant and renounce the decree. Either way it seemed that the world was blocked out and my mind was the only voice that could be heard. Why was this so sudden? Was it unfair? Did we join, train, and work for it all be tossed aside? The worst question was something that seemed to tear me apart. Would Duchess be safe?

Beside me, Cammie and my squad mates had not broken their position. The platoon leaders were one by one taking the stage and addressing their own men and women with words that seemed lost in the sea of voices.

“Did you know about this?” I asked Cammie.

“Yes. A fair of us had petitioned Sir. Sting for this. Its for the best,” She answered looking straight ahead and stiffening up at the question.

The sun was getting low now. Standing gates to the city, I looked back at the camp. Sharp shadows were growing longer and longer. No riot had broken out at the after the announcement, but it was clear that a growing pressure was mounting up inside. I wasn’t about to stick around and find out though.

I sighed deeply, shifting my knapsack from one shoulder to the other. Dutchess walked between my boots, purring and wrapping her tail around a leg as if nothing in the world was wrong. Things were bleak as far as I could see. The elite fighting force I had left my village behind for had just suddenly disappeared into the wind.

There had been compensation. A hefty, little bag of coins jingled in my pocket and the crown was willing to help us in any way to get back to our homes. Some of the higher ups were supposedly even given some land and the opportunity to join the court. If this was their idea of gratitude, it was worth a laugh.

What else was there to do though? The entire time I had been with the Hunters, the one, single, time a magical incident finally occurred was when I couldn’t tell a soul about. I squatted down and pet Dutchess who pressed her face against my hand.

“Hey Bixly! Where you going?” Asked a voice from behind.

Standing, Cammie was jogging lightly and came to a stop beside me.

“Back home,” I said as a matter of fact. “There’s no place for me here.” Father would was probably still the village chief and I’d go back to being his plain daughter.

“I, uh, wouldn’t say that just  yet,” She pulled out a poster from her back pocket. “The city guards always hiring and they want our squad. Our entire squad.”