The Custodian Chronicles: The Rising (Finished)

Chapter 18: The Enchanters' Division

The next day, Cedrick was right at work with his new troops. He learned that Jarbo hadn't really been able to be much of a commander. He'd been sent off on special missions too often. The division also was small, one because enchanters were rare enough as it was, but also because the army had been cut into a fourth its former size a few months before. Their division had been all but wiped out. Almost all of the men Cedrick now had were new, having come when they heard the Custods had joined the rebels. Once the rumor got out, people flocked to the rebel cause like dogs to the dinner bell.

So Cedrick was starting from the ground up with these men, on top of the fact he was just learning the ropes himself, and his father breathing down his neck. Cedrick couldn't believe how bad things were. How did an army end up in that kind of state? His men didn't even know how to fight with a sword. They knew nothing, and they only knew enough magic to realize they could do magic. Cedrick was ready to tear his hair out, and he'd hardly started.

The Enchanters' Division wasn't only small, but unique. It only had twenty-five men, not including Cedrick, Elphacena and Author. They were broken up into groups of five and called battalions, although a regular battalion was made of five hundred men. Each one had one leader that was given the rank of Major, though they had the same amount of men as was in a squad.

Cedrick have five majors. There was Majin Al, who hailed from the islands to the east, with dark hair and slanted eyes. He was over the multitask team, the five enchanters that could really do whatever you asked them. Unlike the other divisions, they didn't specialize. The other divisions had special skills that they took great pride in, but Majin and his men took just as much pride in their whole skills as the others took in their special skills, for which Cedrick was grateful. He didn't need those kind of politics adding to his work load.

They had a healers' division, led by a shockingly pale man with white blonde hair, Bleden Yalea. He was a quiet thoughtful man. Cedrick couldn't pin where he was from.

There was a battalion of builders for lack of a better word. They were able to get into all kinds of magical instruments and not only make them but take them apart and turn them into something else; they were lead by Naphtill Arims, who was the first man Cedrick had ever seen with such dark skin.

Then they had a team of men who could blow anything up. They were the commandos of Cedrick's division. They liked to blow things up and were good at it. Cedrick had heard plenty of stories of their exploits. They were led by the most cocky and stupid man Cedrick had ever met, Alburn Rath. Alburn looked like what he sounded like: tall, dark, and handsome. Cedrick knew he would be a handful, but he was the best fighter he had, so he put up with his antics.

The last division was the most promising, and Cedrick had to admit he liked them best. They were the only women in the army who fought. The five of them were better than most of the men Cedrick had. They were the most talented that was for sure. Cedrick suspected it was because they had to be some of the best to be allowed to fight at all. They were led by a woman name Portia Ellix. She had light red hair, bordering on blonde, and dark eyes and looked and acted like the ultimate cat bugler. She didn't talk much, but when she did, she meant it. She made Cedrick think of Arylana, but she was less cocky and more subservient than Arylana was or would ever be.

It didn't take long for Cedrick to get the lay of the land. First, he worked with his own men. Author was the first one he worked with, being his right hand man. Author, as it turned out, would have been a wonderful school teacher, but a dreadful army commander. He was good as an assistant, but he spent far too much time on knowing every detail and the mundane things.

All in all, Cedrick had his work cut out for him. It was no laughing matter. Cedrick had tried to spar with one boy, Dalton. Cedrick had only taken two knocks before Cedrick somehow got the weapon out of the boy's hand. It was so easy Cedrick wasn't even sure how he did it.