All Adventure Begins with Tragedy

Chapter IX: commander?

"Okay, so you fine men are going to be the start of an army. See, this isn't a normal army, in fact quite the contrary. The queen and princess, sorry to say, were going about it all wrong. Because of their 'simple' mistake, over one thousand men have died. All of you have most likely lost a friend or two. See, many of us escaped or ran, it's going to be our job to gather the rest of the men up and stop these sons of the devil in their tracks!" I was really working an act, but still.

"Why should we? Why should we continue fighting, and more than that why should we trust her?" One of the twenty eight men asked pointedly.

"Her, oh the princess. See here's the thing, she's good at being a princess, but this is war we're talking about. I will lead this army, not her. And to answer your second question, think about the innocent lives and families we could save if we rid the world of those evil monsters!" My speech was getting a good response. Most of the men were nodding their heads.

Then another stepped forward. "How can we trust her? She's not even a fighter!" several men began shouting indignantly.

"Ahhh, but that is where you are mistaken. She is an extremely good fencer- just not a military commander. Would anyone want to try her?" The men looked doubtful for a minute, then one raised his hand.

"I challenge the lady!" He said.

"What's your name sir?" I asked.

"Jonathan sir," he responded sauntering forward.

"On guard then, Jonathan," Adalayde said drawing her blade.

Two minutes later Jonathan was on the ground with out a weapon and a sword point at his neck.

"Anyone else?" Adalayde smiled smugly. 

No one piped up.

"Good then! First I'd like to know all of your names, secondly, you twenty eight will be the commanders in this new army once we get more man power," I commanded, "Lastly, we need a name!"

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"'The Hammerite Defiance Corp' I like it! All in favor of the THDC say 'aye'"

"Aye!"

"All apposed say 'nay'.... okay then, with unanimous vote we decide on THDC as the name of our army," I proclaimed. "Now, commanding officer Jonathan!"

"Yes sir!"

"Take Romio, Stewart, and Danukubie, and start looking for other soldiers around the country side- start by going down the road. Arthur!"

"Yes sir!"

"You and Rachel will scout about for the Hammerite force, we need to keep an eye on them. There is a large tree fit for climbing about two hundred yards from the edge of the woods. I would recommend you climb up there first. William?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"I want you to take Robert, Davie, Penfold, and Ender. Your mission is to scout the country side for weapons, food, and even suitable young men and woman to fight for us. Can you all do that?"

"Yes sir we can!" William answered.

"Now, where did Rebeca, Kira, and Caroline run off to?"

"Here sir!"

"Kira and I are over here!" Caroline yelled.

"Good, I want you three to see about a uniform. Take who ever you would like. The rest of you! Let's scavenge the camp for gear!"

The men set about with haste.

We tore through the camp, collecting weapons and food. Rope, cooking equipment, a stuffed bear, canvas, and maps. All of it went right next to the memorial we had created.

Then Arthur and Rachel hobbled into camp. Or rather Rachel carried Arthur into camp. I sprinted over to them.

"What happened out there?" I asked urgently.

"Sir! We climbed the tree like you told us to. We immediately found the Hammerites camping south of here. They are sending squads out to try to mop up survivors. A group of three found us, and shot Arthur out of the tree when we were climbing down," she took a deep breath, "I killed all three then just grabbed Arthur and ran. Eventually I thought to take the arrow out of him. That's it really.... oh yeah, Sir!"

"Thank you for telling me Rachel, you two have made a great sacrifice for us. Now get some rest, dismissed! ETHAN! JACOB! FIRSK! GET OVER HERE!"

"Yes sir!" The three said in unison when they arrived.

"Take four men each, get out there and find the other crews. We don't want anyone dying on us already. Now get out there and bring our boys home!" I commanded briskly, then spun on my heel and ran back over to the supplies pile.

"You five that are still around! Kira, Caroline, Rachel, and Arthur, although I know he is currently incapacitated, Oh yeah, I guess you can be of use, eh Adalayde?" I started with a sort of role call, "Right now, us five,six including Arthur, are holding down the fort. Rachel reported that Hammerite troops are out on clean-up runs. If they find us we won't be able to hold out. We need to move. Unfortunately, we have twenty four men out there. We can't move until they get back. So instead, we will disguise our presence here and wait. Got that? Let's dig in!"

That night was the longest I have ever experienced. We had dug into the ground about six feet, and covered the opening with grass. We hid under this scant cover with all of the gear. It was about a twenty foot long trench about three feet across. No one made a sound the entire time.

"Silver!" Some one was hissing into my ear, "Silver! Get... up! Some one is out side!" The person was not happy, speaking through clenched teeth.

"Okay, Okay I'm up!" I said looking directly at the face of Adalayde.

"Listen, shhhh, don't you hear it?"

"Yes Adalayde, I hear the boot steps." 

"Well what do we do?"

"Umm.. here, watch this."

I peaked my head up very slightly, so my eyes were level with the trench rim. Out side stood twenty some men, all wearing tattered rags of the Kryian army. I quickly pushed aside the grasses to create an opening, and gestured the men inside. Once every one was crammed in, I received my report.

"Sir! The other groups found us. We were holding down a small ridge against a small Hammerite force. Our five men against their fifteen some. Thankfully the others found us and took out those bastards. We suffered four casualties, none fatal. Well, we all got lots of bruises, but only four actually got stabbed," Jonathan finished his report.

"Good on you man, now we need to make a plan to get out of here.  I think we need to go deep into Hammerite territory. What say you?"

"I agree, we have a better chance of survival if we do something unexpected."

"Right then, let's finish the night, then move out."

"I'll tell the men," Jonathan crept away.

"Hey, how are you doing? Your leading an army at the age of fourteen," Adalayde asked me.

I had a moment of silence then started laughing hysterically, trying to keep quiet.

"What's so funny?" She asked bewildered.

"I turned fifteen over a month ago. But with all the excitement I forgot," I responded still laughing.

"Oh, well, hang in there will ya? And just so you know, I'm sure you will find her."