Red Queen

Law of the General

"Mela, since you are going to be a new commander. Father has appointed us as your mentors." Ashyer said early the next morning. Mela had changed into tight pants and a white blouse that was a bit revealing of her neck, but she didn't think anybody would mind in this world. Mela didn't say anything and instead nodded. Ashyer thought that she nervous and made their way on their horses to the training ground. Ashyer led the way and started off slow while Arvel rode behind them because he was worried that Mela would fall off then their parents would scold them. Mela was unstable at first but when she experimented and got the hang of it she increased the horse's speed and was starting to pass Ashyer, making both men look at each other in worry that the horse might be going too fast and that Mela was going to injure herself, so they increased their speed going after Mela.

When Mela arrived at the training ground she pulled the reins back, settled the horse, and got down. The guards guarding the entrance was surprised to see a female other than their general's wife here. They were suspicious until they saw two other figures also stopping in front of the entrance and getting off their horses. Now these two men the guards recognized. "Get someone to gather Smith's troop at the first training ground." Ashyer commanded while handing his horse to one of the three servants. "Yes sir!" Another guard said running in another direction. The three siblings made their way to the first training ground. The two brothers couldn't stop glancing at Mela in case she was going to have a nervous break down. "Mela," Arvel said directing her attention and Ashyer's towards him. "Umm...the way you are...dressed should not be seen by the...troops..." Arvel said looking away. Mela looked down at her outfit finding nothing wrong with it. She raised an eyebrow at her brother then Ashyer coughed and also looked away. "A lady should not have her blouse unbuttoned." Ashyer explained, but Mela ignored the silliness of the two and made her way to the center of the training ground. The two brothers were flustered not knowing what to do with their younger sister.

"Stand in order!" Ashyer said when Smith's troop started rushing over. Everybody had heard what had happened to their commander and knew that the general's daughter was going to be his replacement. When they saw her she looked like she would collapse at the sight of blood and should instead be attending elegant parties and be a housewife who took care of the babes instead of being here with all these males. All of them mocked the lady in their minds, but since she was the general's only daughter and her brothers were here they could only pretend to hold respect for her. "Starting today your new commander will be the general's daughter Mela. She will be in charge of everyone here, unless told otherwise." Ashyer didn't know what else to say and looked at Arvel if he had anything, but the younger brother avoided his eyes. As seconds passed they thought Mela would faint but she never did instead she looked to be analyzing the people lined up in four columns. "Sir, if I may!" Someone in the second column raised his hand and yelled out. Ashyer nodded and acknowledge the soldier. "Before Commander Smith got...detained he had told us that we had an odd number and one of us were to be put in another section." All the soldiers knew where the soldier who asked the question was hinting at. He wanted to be moved to another section to not deal with the ignorance of a spoiled lady! Ashyer and Arvel were also told the same thing by their father but they were going to choose another solution to handle the situation, but now they had to think of something else or else all the soldiers were going to find ways to get chosen then Mela wouldn't be taken seriously. The two brothers looked towards their younger sister, but she still had on that expressionless face, they couldn't tell if she only put it on to hide her embarrassment or that she didn't understand what was going on. While everybody saw Mela as stupid she spoke up, "Whoever had asked the question, walk up." Everybody was surprised to hear her speak and awaited what she was going to do. The man who had asked the question walked up with a snort and confidence on his face. "What is your name?" Mela asked the man. "Sam," he replied with no respect held in his tone. Sam still had the smug look on his face, but before he knew it there was a sword already by his neck, he could feel the coldness of the metal and something slowly going down his throat. There were gasps but nobody stopped Mela. "Mela what are you doing?" Arvel asked in nervousness of Mela's action. "Dear brother, I assume you know the rules of the general?" There could be heard a paper being unfolded and one of the guard spoke out, "Law of the General line 2. 'One must address their leader with respect and proper title. If not, then immediate punishment, choice of the leader'. After the guard finished reading the air went tense and Sam was sweating like it had just rained. I don't want to die at the hands of a female! He mentally screamed. Sam fell to the ground on his knees and began begging for his life. "Please forgive me commander! I forgot to properly address the lady. Please! I will devote my blood, body, and soul to be of use to you!" He yelled with respect and fear in his voice. Mela ignored him and stopped in front of each of the four columns. The soldiers didn't dare to look at her in the eye. Nobody knew how she moved to attack Sam so quick, but they knew she had no mercy. What young lady would attack someone with no mercy?! They all thought and gulped. Mela walked back and face the whole troop as a whole with Sam still kneeling on the ground. "From now onward I will be your commander and you are to address me as 'sir' instead of 'ma'am'. Do not think of me like every other lady, I will bring you guys up to be the elite. You guys will be undefeated. Those who cannot keep up with my pace will be given severe punishment. Those who object may leave the general's army and never come back." Nobody left because they didn't take her words to heart and thought that she was only say all of this to improve her image and she was likely to give them easy orders, but little did they know that training was going to harder than seeing the general doing his usually checkups.