Warrior of the Stars- Book one of the Jay Shang Chronicles

Chapter 4-Camp

Chapter 4-Camp

It was night again by the time they reached the main camp.

Jay and the others had been walking through dense forest for what seemed to him like days. He had been walking on instinct again, like the afternoon before. But this time it hadn't been from exhaustion.

His nerves were on edge. Some ways back he had heard the high pitched, mournful cry of a wolf. Jeriko's story of wolves bigger than him had gotten to him. He jumped at every shadow. It bothered him to feel so anxious but it bothered him more that the men didn't seem afraid at all so he kept his fears to himself.

The camp had appeared from out of nowhere. One minute they had been surrounded by dense forest, and the next they had entered a huge circular clearing full of tents, cooking fires, and people.

Earlier while they were walking, Benji had explained to Jay about the military design of how the camp had been set up. But it wasn't until Jay came upon the camp himself that he truly understood.

The closely packed trees prevented a mass attack force from coming through as well as provided perches for the expert archers of the Kimanchean army to pick off enemies, while also being protected from their arrows. The tents were set up like a maze to prevent anyone from getting through the camp in a straight line. You would have to constantly change directions, risking getting lost at each turn. To the east it was bordered by the Silomian River, providing a natural barrier to cover their backs.

As soon as they reached the edge of the tents, Benjii nodded to other men, and they went their separate ways. Jay followed close behind him, terrified. He had thought that Benjii and the other two warriors he had been traveling with were huge and fearsome, but there were men here who made them look mild. Well, Benjii at any rate. Jeriko was still the scariest man he had ever seen.

Jay shook his head as he focused on his surroundings, he hadn't even realized he had zoned out. He frowned, trying to hear what Benjii was saying.

"For now, we'll go get some dinner. I know where the best cooking fire is, it will be much better than wolf jerky. Tomorrow we'll get you your weapons, clothes and other supplies you'll be needing. Once we get all that, you will have to report to the training master and he will assign you to your novice squad."

Jay's head was swimming. He had never been so confused in his life. This was all so much to take in and he didn't understand most of it. He resigned himself to following close behind Benjii and trying his best not to make eye contact with anyone.

The big man led him to one of the many small fires that were scattered throughout the camp. This one had three other people seated around it.

The first was a bald man who had an insane assortment of tattoos inscribed upon his hairless dome. Jay wasn't sure, but one of them looked as if it were a cracked skull with a green snake intertwined through the eye sockets.

The man next to him was very thin, almost skeletal, with hollow black eyes that didn't seem to have any pupils. His hair was so red that it made the fire look pale.

The third, after he had looked closer, Jay realized was a woman. She was actually very pretty, with long dark hair that framed her heart-shaped face like curtains. Her eyes were emerald green like those of Binlionians, the country to the north of Darmenia. Jay was stunned because he had not even considered the possibility of there being female warriors. In almost every country he had heard of, women were not allowed to fight. She looked up at Jay and smiled at him. As the light of campfire fully illuminated her face, he shrunk back as he saw a terrible scar running down her left cheekbone down into her shirt, and a steely coldness that was in her eyes despite the warmth of her smile.