Chapter Five:
The Captain
Kemptrux and Vostiv saddled their horses next to me in silence and remained mute as we led our warchargers into the courtyard. Training and tournaments were all good fun, but a different sort of dread fills even the bravest of hearts the first time they ride toward real danger and death.
The courtyard was much the same. The knights who were leaving were fine and arranged by house, but those 300 or so young common guards Kemptrux's age - all due to join the army in the next campaign - twitched and milled confusedly.
Shaking hands dropped weapons and fumbled with reins. Ashen faces looked ready to cry or to vomit. The air stank with fear and uncertainty.
I looked about myself and saw that I was the ranking regular officer present. Only by virtue of my marriage placing me in the fortress, but there I was.
"Oi then," I called out to ten green cavalry guardswomen I knew, "Meirbax, Teprex, Fairax, Driquex, Zellix, Morpox, Jozix, Glascix, Vewpax, and Bippex form up. The rest of you, fall in in ten columns behind them. Foot soldiers, form in fifteen columns behind the cavalry. If you're to be infantry, you might as well get used to the smell and texture of walking in horse shit now. It will be your whole career."
A few smiles and jeers followed and we had something like an organized column when General Heoldax arrived with Ser Gharntex, a few dozen more mounted hetaireia, and more knights. I split the bags of gold among Savaran, Sanguine, and Stygian quietly. The other knights rode over to join General Heoldax's party.
"Ser Taiglox, you will take the common cavalry and ride with all prudent speed to Proquian Rock within four days, passing through Trentava to collect recruits from there. Ser Gharntex, you will take the common infantry and wagons and march with all prudent speed to Proquian Rock within six days, passing through Ninvara to collect recruits from there. At Proquian Rock you will integrate your troops into companies as is fitting and await my arrival. I'll take these dozens and all the palace's spare horses with all possible speed through to Houses Rivadya and Faquardya, as they have not committed numbers of women-at-arms commensurate with their population and our need. I will be there in no more than eight days, but hopefully three."
And so Heoldax was gone with her dozens and their spare horses raising dust behind her out the fortress gate and down the broad city street.
I addressed the two mounted members of my household. "Kemptrux, on my left. You will serve as my First Sergeant. Vostiv, on my right. You will serve as my Adjutant."
Then we rode to the front of the column of uncertain horse to face 104 unblooded young women, most of whom were shaking in their stirrups. They were girls really, none younger than 16, but none older than 20 either.
"Company, attention," I ordered my newly minted troops, "You have been called upon to serve in your country's hour of need. Doubtlessly you expected more time to prepare, to adjust to the idea of risking death and dealing death in the violent clash of battle."
A few nods and some quick glances confirmed my statement.
"That time is gone. We ride to war. If you ride through those city gates following me, you are soldiers in the Queen's army, in my company. Should you be too craven, too rebellious, or too pacific to bear arms in Her Majesty's name, do not follow me. Slink off into the city and drop the ''x' from your name. Take up farming. Become a shopgirl. Spread your legs for gold."
Again, they glanced amongst themselves, seeing if any would break formation.
"Shame will rightly dog your steps if you fall out now, after all your training and opportunity, but the cost of cowardice as Her Majesty's soldier is much higher. Disobey my orders and I will beat you. Break in battle and I will flog you. Desert your company and I will hang you." I paused and let the gravity of the clear and specific death threat sink in, "If you follow loyally and fight bravely however, I will justly and unreservedly reward you with gold, praise, promotion, and honor."
I wheeled Savaran and set a fast trot. "Make your choice!"
In my peripheral vision, I saw Kemptrux still on my left and Vostiv on my right, but I did not check to see who still followed. Not until we were a quarter mile clear of the city gate, ready to turn toward Trentava, did I reassess.
"Company, halt," We wheeled on the head of the column again, "Adjutant, head count."
"98 soldiers, ser!" Counting was made easy by the rows of ten.
"98!" I repeated. "You 98 serve in the Queen's army. You will go where you are told, do what you are told, and kill whom you are told. I swear you now on your lives and your honor to the Queen's service, to the Queen's wars, and to the Queen's victory. As of this day, you are Queen's soldiers, 1st company, 1st cavalry regiment, 1000th division. Now to Trentava!"
Trentava was a day and a half's ride, less than a day with hard riding. But we had no mounts in reserve and would be of no service to anyone if we lamed our only horses. So, come nightfall, I halted the company again to make camp near a stream.
"Water your horses first, and then yourselves," I ordered the company in general.
"Adjutant," I spoke to Vostiv as we dismounted, unsaddled, and I handed her mine and Kemptrux's reins, "You know how to make a horse blind?"
"Yes, ser."
"Conscript two dozen soldiers and what lances and rope you need to build 12 at the edges of that copse. Station them in 8 man 2 hour watches to stand guard over the horses. Have two dozen other soldiers hold the horses while you work. Station them in 8 man 2 hour perimeter watches in pairs."
"Aye sir." She ran off with the three horses to affect my orders.
"First Sergeant," I spoke to Kemptrux, "You have a full kit with you?"
"Yes, ma'am," she answered, proud of her own preparedness in bringing full saddle bags.
"Inventory it aloud."
"Bedroll, two changes of garb, flint set and tinder, three days' hard tack and black bread, short knife, water bladder, horse bladder, and halter."
"How many of our soldiers have the same full kit?"
"Uh..."
"'I don't know, but will find out, ma'am' is the answer, First Sergeant," I supplied.
"I don't know, but will find out, ma'am."
"Very well," I handed her a writing tablet and charcoal, "Tally the lack. And give me your flint set."
"Aye, ma'am."
"Meirbax!" I called out.
"Yes, ser!"
"'Ma'am,' out here, soldier," I corrected gently.
"Yes, ma'am."
"You know how to pick dead wood and build night fires?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Take these two flint sets and yours if you have one. Bring 7 soldiers with you, collect wood, and build 10 night fires in this clearing for the company to sleep near."
"Aye, ma'am."
"Yeughix!" I called out.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Take 4 soldiers, check all the saddle bags and knapsacks for hard tack and black bread. Gather it all and issue each soldier one piece each for the night and for the morning. Start with these." I handed her my, Kemptrux's, and Vostiv's rations, enough for between us for about three dozen soldiers to have two small meals.
"Aye, ma'am."
With the bulk of my force preparing camp, I lifted my bedroll, Kemptrux's, and Vostiv's.
"You three," I called out to a small grouping of young soldiers who were not engaged, "Names and ages."
"Traddox, Saquax, and Frenibix, ma'am," Frenibix answered, "We're all sixteen, ma'am."
"You have bedrolls?"
Saquax looked at the dirt and looked back at me, "No, ma'am."
"Have these then," I handed ours to them, "And look after them, because you'll likely buy your next for yourselves."
"Thank you, ma'am."
I went to the horse blinds and brushed down Savaran, then returned to the main of camp where my First Sergeant and Adjutant stood waiting for me. The fires were built and most of the food was handed out.
"Company," I called out, "Eat if you haven't and sleep. We ready to leave in six hours. Yeughix, see that those on watch have food for tonight and the morning, then you lot sleep too."
I turned to my corporal-cum-First Sergeant and my squire-cum-Adjutant.
"First Sergeant, you take first watch walking the camp. I'll take mid and Adjutant will take last."
Vostiv went to her gear, "Ser, my bedroll?"
"First Sergeant, how many soldiers brought bedrolls?"
"Less than a third, ma'am."
"Adjutant, what did I tell you about sleeping better than your soldiers?"
"Not to, ser," she grumbled a little.
I balled up a change of garb as a pillow. "That's right. Now a few hours' sleep on soft ground next to a warm fire wouldn't hurt any of them. It'll be a good lesson even to keep a full kit for those who haven't. But you will not fare better than your soldiers."
"Aye, ser." Vostiv followed my lead and balled up a change of garb to put under her head.
About an hour and a half later, Kemptrux woke me and I sent her to sleep, but didn't wake either her or Vostiv again until it was time to break camp. (I'd spent weeks sleeping in a soft bed and didn't need more rest.)
Instead I walked the camp and spoke with the 16 soldiers standing watches over the two periods. I learned names and backgrounds, spreading cheer and knowledge where I could.
Well before dawn, I woke all the soldiers to eat, saddle up, and break camp. We reached Trentava before noon.
Trentava is a middling town on the verge of being a city. There are high walls and a gate, but of wood not stone. There is a large market and many smithies, but no luxury shops. The streets are broad and hard, but not paved.
"I am Lieutenant Taiglox, Company Officer, 1st company, 1st cavalry regiment, 1000th division of Her Majesty's army," I addressed one of two slack-jawed gate guards from the head of my column, "I am come on Princess Heoldax's orders and must speak with your Mayor. I ask succor outside your gates for my soldiers and our horses." I added the last bit as a polite formality as taking water from the open spring near the gate wouldn't be denied to any strangers.
"I'm Keilox, ma'am. And this is Wrenax. And er well, I am, um..." Keilox struggled to answer.
"You're a bleeding idiot is what you are," a veteran soldier answered from one post over, "run along and tell the Mayor a company officer is here to see her on the Crown Princess' orders and that she's a Knight of the Order Royal Indomitable no less." There's a reason we introduce ourselves through the badges on our clothes and through set words. It tells veteran soldiers what they need to know for quick and informed decisions..
Keilox ran off and the veteran addressed me, "Ma'am, I'm Warrant Corinox, 4th company, 2nd siegecraft regiment, 4th division of Her Majesty's army. And unfortunate enough to be Captain of the Town Guard while the army is furloughed. You and any Queen's soldier are welcome to drink and rest by our stream."
"Well met, Warrant, and thank you." She looked a sterotypical warrant officer, ribcage like a barrel and limbs like tree trunks. Face like a minotaur when it's angry. "My mission here is to rapidly recruit forces to repulse a gathering horde in Arashnia. I doubt your Mayor would object to your smoothing the way for her likely acquiescence. You may should stay yourself though," I added, "a siege on Trentava is not unlikely if we fail."
"Caw. Aye, ma'am. I'll send runners to gather all the soldiers in the region," the warrant officer answered and ordered the other gate guard, "Bring the Lieutenant to the Mayor's house."
"Ma'am, both gate guards are absolutely never to leave at once under any circumstances," the young guardswoman objected uncertainly, not really grasping the portent of our conversation. "the town's safety must come first."
"And what the fuck, pray tell Wrenax, are you going to do to stop the unknown pack of vandals that unexpectedly arrives and overcomes the company of Queen's cavalry at our gate while seeking entrance to the town?"
"Nothing much, ma'am."
"'Nothing much' indeed. Permission to fucking think, Wrenax. And if you can't fucking think for yourself, permission to fucking follow orders like a damned soldier instead of questioning them," Corinox seemed at the end of her tether in dealing with soft guardswomen instead of hardened soldiers. I couldn't blame her. "Ma'am, I'll be along in a half hour, once I've spread the word."
"Thank you, Warrant. Lead on, Wrenax. Come with me, Adjutant. First Sergeant, you have the company."
Chastised, Wrenax led us to a large house in the center of town where an elderly woman stood in House Clatradya colors of tan and burgundy. Her hair was pure white and her face heavily wrinkled, but her back was straight and her eyes clear. A retired officer if I've ever seen one and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I dismounted and Vostiv with me, well-trained at that point to take Savaran's reins along with Stygian's.
"Grandmother," I addressed her with the respectful term for an officer meeting a retired officer, "I'm Lieutenant Taiglox, Company Officer, 1st company, 1st cavalry regiment, 1000th division of Her Majesty's army. This is my adjutant, Vostiv. We are sorry to meet you in such troubled circumstances."
"Troubled are they? Well, well met, nevertheless. I'm Gotirox, retired Major, 6th heavy infantry regiment, 4th division and the Mayor of Trentava in Clatadya's name," she smiled grimly, "An honest soldier in House Laerdya colors wearing a Royal Indomitable patch on her shoulder. You must be the new Princess-Consort. Congratulations on your nuptials. Sorry your honeymoon must've been cut short."
"As am I."
"Your squire is your adjutant and you have no division, so I'm guessing your company is whatever women-at-arms you could lay hands on to help reinforce the regular army?"
"You've hit the nail on the head, Grandmother. I'm under orders to gather more soldiers here to face the gathering horde in Arashnia." I handed her some of the gold I'd the foresight to bring. "I would also ask for wagons, horses, provisions, armor, and arms in whatever amount you can afford without dangerously depleting your own resources."
"Ah. An order that I'm sure would have been given you, if more time and thought had gone into planning out building an ad hoc force great enough to repulse a plains nomad horde," she shook her head, "Although I doubt the order would come with concern over how Trentava's resources might be depleted and I doubt equally that any knight has ever offered payment for resources needed by the Queen's army."
"As you said, Grandmother, I'm only recently a knight. I've been a soldier far longer and I believe both prudence on your part and recompense on the army's part are right," I shrugged and smiled back just as grimly, "If I'm deemed right, I might be recompensed in turn. If I'm wrong, it's my gold to spend as my conscience demands. And, if we fail in Arashnia, it doesn't much matter how much gold I have with me when I die."
"Well reasoned. I'll add to it what you're too polite to mention. Even at our full martial strength and with plenty of food, if a horde reaches my city gates, the siege will be short, brutal, and doomed." She shook my hand and chuckled with the dark humor of a battle-tested soldier. "You'll have all the women and resources I have to spare at the gate by dawn. You and your adjutant may stay here if you like?" she ended politely.
"My camp is outside, Grandmother, but we thank you. I'd impose upon you hospitality differently to ask for 100 full kits tonight however?"
She clapped my shoulder. "You're a good officer, Lieutenant, whatever you may be as a knight. You'll have them. Farewell and find victory."
"Farewell, Grandmother."
The Mayor was already giving orders to be relayed to Corinox and others as Vostiv and I rode for camp.
Upon arrival, I relieved Vostiv and Kemptrux of their recent positions, with the former again being only my squire. I named my corporal Chief of the Horsegirls and assigned the youngest 32 former guardswomen and near half the girls ahorse sent to me from Trentava to her, all too green to be named anything more yet. I named another officer to be my temporary Adjutant and gave her the green foot soldiers to serve as untrained "quartermaster" labor for the supply train. Four more officers were needed to be the temporary Masters of Infantry, Scouts, Sappers, and Cavalry, which was about as densely as I could safely clump the different types of soldiers together for the march.
Four of the five temporary officers ranked me, but all tacitly respected my equally temporary command.
By dawn, I had a force of 550 women of varying skill and experience. I also had hundreds of horses, herds of cattle and sheep, and many many heavily laden wagons of food, weapons, armor, and material. All the resources I'd gained together were probably worth more than the gold I'd paid, but I'd difficulty in reckoning in the chaos and more to worry over in the moment.
The animals and wagons did slow our arrival by three days. Still, my "company" eventually reached the main body of the army and were absorbed into its mass. New soldiers and old were sorted into real companies, the spare horses were given into the care of horsegirls, and the sheep and cattle and other valuable resources were turned over to quartermasters.
"Taiglox," Heoldax greeted me happily on my reporting to her tent, "I'd have you flogged for being so late if you hadn't brought such bounty with you. How did you garner such support?"
"Mayor Gotirox is a reasonable woman, Your Highness," I answered, "And I asked nicely."
"You 'asked nicely!'" she exclaimed in disbelief, "You get nearly as much from a town as I got from a fortified city at kopis-point and you did it by asking nicely? I might send you on all my negotiations."
"Thank you, Your Highness, but I'm better trained to kill enemies at kopis-point myself."
"That you may be, but you'll report back here at dawn as an aide-de-camp all the same."
"Yes, Your Highness," I took my leave and dismissed Kemptrux with a letter of introduction to join the horsegirls, sent Vostiv to a grouping of tents for the squires to find an empty spot, and found an empty spot in an officers' tent for myself.
Before I slept, I wrote a letter to my bride.
Dearest Caeli,
I love you and miss you greatly.
The camp here is safe behind the mountains. General Heoldax is running things well and organizing the army to defend our country. Kemptrux is among the horsegirls, happily fitting in and putting her training to use. Vostiv is less happy to be a squire to a papercarrying aide-de-camp, but will adjust. As will I.
I rode here through Trentava. It's a lovely little town. We should go and visit under better circumstances.
There's so much of the world I want us to see together. I hope to be home to you soon.
-Yours,
Taiglox
The morning meeting went quickly with Heoldax running it, dispatching orders to the Masters of What-have-you to be dispatched in their various regimental meetings. Unlike my makeshift tasking on the road from Trentava, General Heoldax had her principal officers broken out more properly for a large force, separating out Heavy and Light Infantry, Heavy and Light Cavalry, etc. A dozen or so such important women filled the room, listening into order to later relay the General's direction down their respective chains of command.
Without any tasking for myself, I surveyed the wartable to confirm that the facts were indeed grim and victory unlikely.
Heoldax maintained her composure while receiving her morning briefs and giving corresponding directives, but she sat heavily in her armchair and groaned with her head in her hands when the last of them left.
"Taiglox, I have 4,000 women-at-arms against their 10,000 or more. If I had all army regulars, I'd say the odds were even enough and roll the dice, but half my soldiers aren't even blooded. Over a thousand I've named as reserves. I don't see the answer."
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