Fear's Union

Chapter One

-Anejo-

Anejo sat waiting. Always the waiting. It was so frustrating. She fidgeted a thread at the hem of her uniform, yanking it loose. Making it worse. She should stop doing that. But what else was there to do? This wasn't the Mandahoi life she'd anticipated. She wanted so much more. But no, here they were, just waiting. But waiting for what?

The whole place was grey, just like her mood. The sky was an endless sheet of slate, reaching from east to west and north to south. The various mineral shades of stone may be forgiven their blandness, but even the river in the valley far below was slow and lifeless. What little shrubbery that survived in the place lived in an ashen state, adding to the flavour. And what colour did the notorious Order of Mandahoi wear? Grey. They were called the Greys, and here they fitted right in. Only they didn't.

She had joined the illustrious and much vaunted Order of Mandahoi for the action, not the inactivity. She was supposed to be a fledgling all-purpose warrior! Sitting beside a path was the kind of work a beggar did, not a specialised killer. This was supposed to be her inauguration, but it wouldn't come fast enough. Time scraped by. Slowly.

She rocked back and forth, nothing else to do. "What are we waiting for?"

Her loyal friend barely stirred from her daydream. Xen looked wistful, and then confused, and then vaguely alert. But still confused.

"I'm sorry?"

How could she daydream like that? She really despaired of her friend's wandering mind sometimes, but this was not the place for a lecture. Her friend was probably too fuzzy for a lecture in any case. What was with the girl? She just didn't get it.

She grabbed hold of the thread once more, but decided that it didn't need further worrying. In fact, what it could do with was being mended. She was bored. Argh! She needed stimulation. What to do? Yes. She would go over the facts once more. She had done it many times already.

There were over a hundred of the Grey scattered about the high mountain pass. Most were young like she was, and on the verge of first action, but few appeared to share her excitement. A majority were reclined casually, wiling away the early morning in casual indifference. A few lids were even closed, which was shocking. There was genuine danger here, or at least she hoped there was.

But not everyone was bored. At least one set of eyes betrayed an understanding of the situation, but Aran was wide-eyed for a very different reason. He was afraid. He was always afraid. Why did he pursue this soldiering life? She meant to ask him, but always forgot.

Only a handful of the soldiers, the experienced caste leaders, were alert, but what were they alert to? That was the question that rankled.

She stood abruptly, drawing attention to herself. She didn't care. She had a knack for noteworthy actions, or at least actions that differentiated her. Perhaps it was because she was born into the ruling family of Ahan, but she had an inkling it was actually because she was a woman. Yes, definitely. She was born with a woman's body, and it had been a struggle ever since. But she had forced herself into the Grey, into a man's world, so she had come a long way. And she could still go further. It was time for confrontation.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to speak to Keles."

Xen exploded from her dreamy state and jumped to her feet. Keles, their illustrious leader, was only four years her senior, but that wasn't the point. An ocean of experience separated them. She respected the man, she really did, but there was always tension between them. She didn't know why that tension was there, but she suspected that it was because of her sex. Her acceptance into the Grey had annoyed many people, so why not Keles too? Even if he was almost a brother.