King's Guard

Chapter 2

Six months later, it's the middle of Spring, my group rose up in numbers from five to thirty, and our farmhouse was too small and we needed to something bigger to house us all, so the 27 of them had packed up their stuff and moved East. I stayed behind because there was two unaccounted for and I was waiting for them to return from the hunt. It was a good thing that I decided to move them out today, because the King's Guard had ordered a raid on our old establishment, but found that it was empty. I know this because those two stragglers who were left behind finally showed and I had them climb a tree. I also had them hide their catch in the same tree, unfortunately for me they had caught a deer, and a dead deer is a very heavy pound of flesh, but between the three of us, we got it into the tree and hid it from view. The other two climbed up next and situated themselves in the tree just like the deer, and it was a good thing too, because as soon as they were in the tree did I see the scouts of the King's Guard. The tree we hid in was a very big oak tree that was near the house.

I wasn't fast enough to cover our tracks, but I did my best in the short amount of time before the King's Guard came into view. The moment the King's Guard came into view, I jumped up at the tree's bark from about three feet away, and my crew was in awe at prowess under pressure, but I shushed them with a wave of a hand, and had them watch the Guard in case we needed to bolt without the prey.

The King's Guard consisted of one platoon, which had one Commander, whom I knew, two Captains, nope - didn't know them, and about thirty soldiers. The Commander issues orders to the Captains who barked out orders to the others, and ordered them to find the rebels or of anything suspicious. I had to reign-in my mischievous side, so as not to cause any trouble for my two comrades who were hiding with me in the tree. I really had to reign it in when two soldiers came near the tree, and not to spook them, but if I was alone - I probably would have done it, and really let loose on my training. I couldn't do it with so many people nearby in case they recognized me or something. I brought my thoughts back to those two soldiers who were talking about random stuff, but one thing did stick to me, ok, maybe two, but I was really interested in what they were saying.

Soldier #1: "So, why are we here again, searching for these ghost rebels?"

Soldier #2: "We're here, because the King, himself, ordered it. Apparently, one of his prospective soldiers had been called in for a review for a position to the King's Guard, but caused havoc on her way out, so the King wants retribution for the death of his two guards."

Soldier #1: "Her? A female? A female killed two of the King's Guard. Wow."

Soldier #2: "Yes, a female. She was the top of her squad for three years straight and made Captain in her first year there."

Soldier #1: "So, why do you think she ran?"

Soldier #2: "I don't know, maybe it was because the main objective was too hard, but I don't think that was the case. Either way, we have our orders to capture her and her band of rebels alive."

Soldier #1: "... alive, huh? How boring."

Soldier #2: "I agree, but I did hear something about the rogue soldier's family, especially about her younger sister who was pregnant."

Soldier #1: "Oh, yeah? What?"

Soldier #2: "Apparently she went nuts on the soldiers who were bad - talking about her sister, saying that her sister probably had no other choice but to execute her plan in that kind of fashion, or something like that."

Commander: "Or something, or maybe these two soldiers would like to share their thoughts with the rest of the group? No? Then get back to work, or I'll be very angry, and you don't want that, now do you?"