Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 14

“So this arsehole here comes charging in with the biggest shit-eating grin you’ve ever seen and the whole damn camp just scatters in front of him like a tribe of Goblins getting dropped on by a Griffon.”

“‘Cept the guys that puked all over themselves.”

“You’re lucky the Captains didn’t have your ass for that stunt.”

“Even if they did,” Harlow picked at his teeth, “it’d still be worth every second. That annoying preacher soiling those nice white robes of his was the best part.”

“You sure your balls didn’t rot off riding that thing around?”

“Feels fine to me. That lady that came with sure makes ‘em tingle though, in more ways than one. You seen her yet, Edbert…what? …lemme guess, she’s right behind me.”

Rangobart buried his face in his palm.

“Not exactly,” Lady Zahradnik said from Harlow’s side.

Sergeant Harlow leapt to his feet, somehow pivoting in midair as he jumped away two metres to stand at attention. The men he was speaking to around the campfire similarly abandoned their meals to stand with him.

After learning that she was a Ranger, Rangobart finally pieced together why everyone looked at him first before noticing the Baroness in front of him. The men in the Ranger companies and those who scouted for patrols often snuck around as if it was second nature to them and Lady Zahradnik was no different. He would lose track of her when he looked away and often found himself chasing after her voice as she moved around the camp.

“Please be at ease,” she told them, then turned to Harlow. “Have you settled on your preparations?”

“Yes m’lady,” Harlow replied. “We’ll be rotating men through short patrols to get ‘em used to the Undead. East to the edge of Mittelislein and back again – ‘bout a day round trip.”

“How many will be ready in a week?”

“We got two Death Cavaliers for each patrol and there’s fourteen men on a standard patrol. That’s just over three thousand men including our company. Assumin’ a day’s enough for ‘em to stop pissin’ themselves.”

The other men at the fire sent nervous glances in Harlow’s direction. Lady Zahradnik, however, did not display any reaction to the Sergeant’s rough language.

“So two divisions’ worth…”

“Minus garrison forces, it’s about that much. Orders from the higher-ups have detachments from each division lined up already.”

“Thank you, Sergeant Harlow. One last thing…”

“…yes, m’lady?”

“Where did you leave my Soul Eater?”

“Uh…out with the rest of the horses.”

Rangobart shook his head as they left Harlow and the other men to their meal. Most of the early afternoon was spent checking on the Sergeants of the First Division’s Fifth Company as they prepared to help acclimate the Second Legion to the presence of their new Undead allies. With the limited time that they had before the upcoming offensive in The Blister, they couldn’t cover the entire army group. Instead, each division would have specific companies readied for combined operations with the Death-series servitors.

Lady Zahradnik made her rounds, ensuring that the men knew what was going on and that everything stayed on schedule. To most, she probably appeared as a friendly, reliable officer who worked to address any concerns that the men might have.

“I’m sorry about Harlow, my lady,” Rangobart said.

“About what?”

“His language. And that, um, comment.”

“I said that I didn’t mind him being rough with me on the first night, didn’t I?”

“Yes, my lady, but still…”

They came to a field where hundreds of men were practising in small formations. Shouts, curses and the clamour of training weapons filled the air as they took a seat on a platform overlooking the surroundings. Lady Zahradnik smiled to herself as she quietly watched the men continue to train. As usual, they seemed entirely unaware of her presence.

“This is closer to what I’m used to, Officer Rangobart.”

“It…it is?”

“It wasn’t anywhere near as fancy, nor were there as many people, but yes. When they weren’t working or patrolling, my people were training and my family would oversee them like these Captains and Sergeants. In my territory, everyone had to know how to fight out of necessity. They weren’t Nobles or people from the cities or even the interior – they were loud, coarse, rough frontier people. This may seem strange to you, but being in this encampment makes me feel right at home.”

“So you weren’t offended by Harlow in any way?”

“Not at all,” Lady Zahradnik replied. “I’m actually quite happy that he’s comfortable enough to be himself around me. Before beginning my assignment, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Unthinking aversion to the Undead; entrenched attitudes and thinking resistant to change; discrimination and patronising treatment due to my being a woman; millions of people being killed by a Dragon – there is a mountain of things to worry about. Harlow sharing his…appreciation for me is not one of those things.

“On the note of appreciation, I’ve found that the Imperial Army has been much more welcoming than I expected. Captain Germund readily accepted the way I did things. Do the noblewomen from the Empire’s martial houses who join the army conduct themselves in the same manner?”

He wasn’t sure if they did. This was mostly because he had never seen one outside of Arwintar.

Most women of common background who possessed substantial strength were generally divided between those who served in the Temples and those who leveraged their strength to pursue independent lifestyles. In the Imperial Army, nearly all women in service were members of the clergy.

Of the thousands of Imperial Knights in the Legions who came from the ranks of the martial nobility, only one or two of those per Legion were noblewomen, if even that. Because those who enlisted were generally exceptional, they inevitably made their way into the Imperial Guard, performing duties in the Imperial Harem and propping up the image of the Imperial Army in the capital.

Amongst the male soldiers, they were often treated like poster girls and almost venerated. After following Lady Zahradnik around for a few days, Rangobart did end up wondering if martial noblewomen in general naturally acted the way that she did. As the noblemen who served as Captains of the Imperial Army inspired awe, respect, loyalty and generally high morale, so too did the Baroness, albeit with her distinctly feminine touch.

She had a martial Noble’s presence and demonstrated a Commander’s Skills on multiple occasions. Though they had never seen her wield a weapon, Rangobart highly doubted that she couldn’t fight. A Ranger who could sneak around an encampment full of soldiers so effortlessly would have the martial ability to match.

“I’ve never served under one,” Rangobart said, “so all I have to go by are rumours. Female warriors in the Imperial Army are generally strong for the obvious reasons, but I haven’t heard anything about their interactions with the men around them.”

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen any yet. I suppose it makes sense why there aren’t many – Captain Germund said something about them taking care of their territories as well.”

“If I may ask, is there some reason why you chose to serve as an officer for the Sorcerous Kingdom? You are the head of your house and you have your demesne to manage.”

“I think the answer is the same as the Empire’s martial nobility,” Lady Zahradnik said. “I come from a martial tradition so military service seems natural. The individual power of a martial Noble is far outstripped by the Sorcerous Kingdom’s regular forces, meaning that my immediate presence isn’t required in my territory for day to day security. Our bureaucracy is also quite capable, so I’m rarely bogged down in the administrative mire that Nobles in Re-Estize would normally be subject to. As such, I go wherever His Majesty requires me.”

Rangobart wasn’t sure what to make of her reply. While the reason was straightforward, it spoke of an attitude that was rare for Nobles outside of the Imperial Army. People usually aspired to more and Nobles were no different. A Merchant expanded their business; a tradesman improved upon their goods and fashioned new ones; researchers sought knowledge. Every vocation had a ‘craft’.

For Nobles, that craft involved land and politics. Accruing wealth, influence and power in the pursuit of that craft was a given. This was often vilified in both tales and common perception, but it was what they were. A Noble without ambition for their house and territory was a pitiful Noble indeed. They were no different than anyone else that wasted their lives away.

He did not think Lady Zahradnik such a Noble, but her true ambitions remained a mystery. The Empire’s martial Nobility upheld and refined traditions passed down to them over the generations, pursued martial excellence and acted as the shield and spear of the Baharuth Empire. There were even some in the upper ranks who entered the arena of what might be considered civilian politics.

Rangobart wasn’t even sure if the Sorcerous Kingdom had any politics to speak of. Additionally, their military might was so vast that he couldn’t fathom why they would value the martial excellence of Humans. Nor did he believe they would hold any value in Human traditions. No matter how he thought about it, Rangobart invariably arrived at two loose conclusions: Baroness Zahradnik served as a ‘face’ of the Sorcerous Kingdom that the Imperial Army found easy to accept and she served in her capacity as a liaison officer because she had no choice.

He understood that it was a strange way to frame things. Nobles usually competed for such duties, considering them an honour and a boost to the prestige and influence of their houses. It was remarkable how one could see the exact same thing as coercion when the Sorcerous Kingdom was involved.

There was evidence to the contrary, but Lady Zahradnik was so well-composed that it was impossible to tell whether she was being genuine or not. She displayed a tangible investment in everything, even watching the basic training of the rank and file infantry with keen interest.

“Ah – that one messed up again,” she frowned.

He tried to follow her gaze, but couldn’t figure out who she was referring to. It simply appeared as a field full of men training together.

“Who?” Rangobart asked.

“Those squads over there practising in formation,” Lady Zahradnik pointed ahead and slightly to the left. “The third man on the right in the southern group isn’t paying attention to what’s happening on either side of him.”

Rangobart narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong. While he couldn’t, the man’s Sergeant certainly could. When the Sergeant eventually stopped the exercise and went over to address the soldier in question, Rangobart strained his ears to hear what was being said. Unfortunately, nothing could be heard over the din.

“I don’t see what he did wrong,” he said.

“The advantage to a formation like that,” Lady Zahradnik explained, “is the weight of having many ranks and cover it provides. That cover is employed both defensively and offensively. In this case, their opponents are working together to displace the shields and weapons on either side of that man. He isn’t acting to counter them: he’s just focusing on the person in front of him. Potentially disastrous openings are being created, and, because the man is blind to it, he’s risking the collapse of his formation.”

“You’ve fought like this before?”

“The equipment of the soldiers wasn’t the same, but the principle is. There’s some leeway when fighting in an entirely mundane fashion, but well-placed Martial Arts can quickly dismantle a formation if openings are continually created. A Fireball making it through a gap in a shield wall would be catastrophic. The Imperial Army’s strength lies in its organisation and capable adversaries will try to deprive it of that strength.”

“Capable…do you think the tribes of The Blister can actually contend with the Imperial Army on the field?”

“Possibly. The Imperial Army is well-trained, but its members are still only Human. Beyond that, I don’t believe you will be fighting any sort of conventional field battle. The Second Legion’s leadership appears to have recognised that; which is why General Kabein considered Commander Levres’ idea a sensible one.”

The initial meeting of the Second Legion’s command staff was indecisive as to how they would accomplish their task. They agreed that the removal of the Ancient Green Dragon was the determining factor in the upcoming conflict, but her removal and the ensuing subjugation of The Blister’s interior was still a hotly-debated matter that would require days of planning. Lady Zahradnik left Enz the following morning to both start the process of integrating the leased Undead forces into the Imperial Army and to learn about the operational capabilities of the Imperial Knights.

After an hour of attentive observation, she rose from her seat and lightly brushed off her skirts.

“Where to now, my lady?”

“Is there a place where individual Martial Arts are practised?” The Baroness asked, “More advanced than the ones being practised by these men.”

“Only the officers have those,” Rangobart replied. “There’s a field set aside for them near the centre of the encampment, but there’s no guarantee that anyone will be present.”

“With so many companies present, the chances should be better than usual, yes? Lead the way.”

To Rangobart’s surprise, the small field not only had a few Captains present but seemingly all of them. A few spotted Rangobart’s approach and Captain Germund walked over to greet them.

“Lady Zahradnik,” he nodded. “I suppose this was inevitable.”

“It was?” Rangobart frowned.

“You haven’t been around long enough, Roberbad,” the Captain said, “but it isn’t often that we have such a large gathering of officers. Since the first batch of patrols is out, all of us Captains are in one spot with some free time.”

“Did the Commanders come out as well?”

“They’ve probably gone into hiding knowing that this would happen,” Captain Germund smirked. “Enz aside, the rest are martial Nobles like us. We’d all be lining up to take a swing at them.”

Sounds of combat drifted over from the field, accompanied by cheers – or jeers. A number of off-duty knights walked by, attracted by the sounds of battle. Lady Zahradnik looked towards the source but a small crowd already blocked their view.

“It sounds like you have an event in progress,” she said.

“That’s usually how it ends up,” Captain Germund turned to lead them over to the field. “Let’s find you a good seat before this place fills up.”

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