Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!
Chapter 11
The rest of the company was sent off to set up their camp on the eastern edge of the Legion’s encampment. Cori did not join them. Her father beckoned to her to follow him, and he and Lady Elena returned to the command tent’s interior. Logan and Jonathan followed her inside. Her brothers walked around her to stand on either side of her parents while they sat in folding camp chairs set up next to a pair of bunks. Cori knew that her brother Logan liked to camp with the troops so clearly this tent set up was for her parents, signifying to her they had been here for a few days. They all stood silently in the tent’s meager illumination from a pair of lanterns hung from tent poles above them. The four others stared at her as if they were daring her to speak. Cori pressed her lips together, determined not to be the first to speak.
“Corinne, what could you possibly have been thinking, traipsing off to join the Legion like that?” He mother finally asked. “Anything could have happened to you out in the forest on your own. We all feared the worst when no one could find any trace of you after you left the Chapter House.”
Cori remained silent and then her father spoke. “Cori, you have been asked a question by your mother. She and I deserve an answer regarding your disobeying our direct wishes.”
“Father, Mother,” Cori began choosing her words with care. “I made my wishes to join the Legion known to you. It is my right to go to war and defend the Kingdom, just as it is with my brothers.” She looked to Logan and Jonathan, but their hard looks told her they would be of no help in this. “You could have let me march off with them to the Legion Muster, but you chose to take that right from me. I had no choice but to enlist on my own. I have signed my name in the ledger and taken the King’s silver crown coin as my enlistment bonus. I’m a member of Stag Company in the Legion of Solon now, under the rules you set up so many years ago.” She stood there, meeting her father’s steady gaze and her mother’s glare and said nothing more.
Jonathan produced a ledger book that Cori realized must have come from Captain McAffrey before he left to set up the company’s camp. He opened it and looked at it for a moment. “Her name is on the list here in the company ledger. She enlisted in Gladestown as reported.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean anything, Radnor,” Elena said to her husband. “Just scratch her name out of the book and let me take her home.”
Cori’s father looked at his wife, at the book in Jonathan’s hands and then at Cori again. He stood silently for a long time.
“Surely you’re not considering this madness of following some rule and letting her stay here?” Her mother said, the incredulous look on her face said it all. “You made that rule, and you can change it again.”
“It’s not that simple, Elena,” her father said eventually. “If I break the rules for my daughter then what do I say to the petitioners who want me to do the same for their wayward sons and daughters?”
“Tell them you are the lord of the province and you have the right.”
“But, Elena, I don’t have the right,” he countered. “The law is only as good as the strength when it is tested against the strong and the weak. I cannot keep my children from harm’s way in the coming fight and not let other parents do the same. At what age should I let the enlistment stand? Eighteen? Twenty? No, I may not be happy about it, but I’ll not break the law merely because it is convenient to me or you to do so. That is the tyranny of privilege that rules in the Empire. I’ll not have it take hold here.”
“But we’re sending all our sons off to this war, and you are going, too, Radnor,” Elena pleaded with her husband. “You can leave me Corinne safe here at home, can’t you?” Her voice seemed to quaver at the end.
“I endeavored to do so, but your daughter had other things in mind,” Cori’s father said. “It is not my decision that breaks your heart but hers. If she decides to renege on her pledge to join the Legion, I’ll have her name stricken from the rolls. Otherwise, I have no choice but to let her join the cause and march off with the rest of the recruits.” Lord Radnor Westgate held his daughter’s gaze as he said this. He was speaking in his official capacity now. It was her decision that had made this problem for the family, and it would fall on her shoulders to either carry forward or to acquiesce and follow her parent’s wishes. He would not intervene, no matter what his personal feelings were. Cori had won, but she didn’t feel victorious as she looked to her mother, whose eyes were brimming with tears.
Lord Westgate turned to the elder of his sons. “I suppose that the disposition of this particular recruit falls to you, Logan. Treat her as you would any other recruit under your command. We must assume the responsibilities of our decisions, and that goes for her as well. Perhaps you and Jonathan would give your mother and I some time to ourselves.”
Logan nodded and looked at Cori. “Recruit Westgate, you will accompany me outside now. Jonathan, would you please join us?”
Jonathan nodded and followed his two siblings from the tent. Cori followed Logan, glancing back over her shoulder seeing her mother’s tearstained cheeks glistening in the lamplight. She wanted to run and hug her one last time, but she had given up that right when she enlisted. She must follow orders now. To do otherwise would break her enlistment and they would take her away from all that for which that she had worked. After they had left the confines of the tent, Logan continued walking but talked to her over his shoulder as he left the circle of firelight around the central tent.
“Cori, this is a deadly serious business you’ve gotten yourself tied up in,” he said. “I have been ordered by Father to treat you as any recruit in the Legion. You have not only put yourself in this position but myself, Jonathan, Captain McAffrey, and even your platoon sergeant as well. I don’t think you understand what is going on here and where all this might lead. None of us may return from this upcoming war. The battles will be long and hard, like nothing you’ve ever experienced. You will be expected to fight alongside all the others with no special treatment just because you’re my sister or our father’s daughter.”
Cori felt the ire rising inside of her again now that they were out from under Mother’s tear-filled eyes. “I don’t want special treatment. I want to do my job. I’m the second best shot in my platoon and the best tracker. I’ve been training with the weapons of the Legion since I was a little girl. I can hold my own in a stand-up fight with everyone but Captain McAffrey and the sergeants. I know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t doubt that you think that you know, but I also know that you don’t,” Logan said spinning in place and confronting her. “No recruit knows what a real battle is like. It’s not like a drill, despite our pains to make it as real as possible. There’ll be blood and shit and real tears because the dying and pain will all be real. I know you. You have made friends in your platoon and company. Well, don’t get too attached to any of them because any or all of them could die in our first battle if the tide turns the wrong way. That is war.” He stared at her, and Cori realized that there were tears in his eyes as well. She could see his eyes glistening in the moonlight. She knew that he meant that she could die as well. He was considering that very thought at that moment, and she knew he was right, but she would not give in.
“May I return to join my company?”
Logan straightened up and looked at her one last time. He looked away. “You may go but know that the next time you address me, it will be followed by a ‘Sir’ or ‘My Lord’ as is befitting a recruit speaking to her commanding officer. Do you understand? I cannot treat you as my sister or others will try and use you to curry favor with me. You must be seen as just another recruit.”
“Yes, sir,” Cori said. “By your leave, My Lord.” She delivered a small bow and turned off in the direction they had been heading to find the rest of her company.
She found the company and platoon on the eastern side of camp. When she entered the light of the company’s campfires, she could feel all eyes upon her as she walked to the area where the second platoon had set up. Shelby couldn’t set up her tent because Cori wasn’t there with her half of the two-person tent again. The two of them started setting up the joined tarps in silence until Cori handed Shelby one of the tent pegs and the replied with a “Thank you, My Lady.”
Cori stood up and addressed the platoon who were all watching her, and Shelby set up their tent. She saw Sergeant Verell off to one side with Captain McAffrey. “I’m not “My Lady, Lady Corinne, Lady Westgate or any other nonsense,” She said, her voice as firm as she could make it. “I’m Cori. I’m the same Cori who’s been living and marching with you for nearly two weeks. Nothing has changed.”
When no one said anything and Shelby just looked at her, she continued. “My brother just told me that I’m just another recruit to him, and he’ll treat me no different than any other. That is what Captain McAffrey and Sergeant Verell have been doing, and I’ll thank you all to do the same.”
“As you wish, My Lady,” came Kieran’s voice behind her and he laughed and dodged out of the way when she spun and threw a tent peg at him.
“Alright, that’s entirely enough drama for the evening,” Captain McAffrey said, striding into the midst of the second platoon. “We have sentry duty for this entire sector of the camp’s perimeter. Get yourself something to eat recruit Cori, and then you can take first watch along with your half of the platoon. The rest of you get some sleep. The commander’s going to be in a mood come morning, and we’d better be ready to prove that we’re up to any challenge he throws our way come daylight.”
———
The night on guard was quiet, and Cori used the time to reflect on the events of the evening. When the time came to change the guard, she welcomed the sleep that came once she reached her tent. Her dreams were of her parents and family, but she slept soundly enough.
Cori woke the next morning to the sound of a familiar voice outside her small tent. She peeked out from under the blanket and looked up. Vernon Neale looked down at her from his position standing outside the small two-person tent.
“Good morning, Buttercup. You certainly found yourself a mess to get into this time,” He turned his head and spat on the ground. “If I didn’t know better, I’d have guessed you were a Westgate from the amount of trouble your stir up.”
Cori climbed out from under the tent and stood up. What was Uncle Vernon doing here? Well, she knew he had come down with Father and Mother, but what was he doing here, outside her tent? She saw Sergeant Verell standing next to the family retainer, and she looked at him quizzically.
“Sergeant Neale will be taking on the job of platoon leader for the second platoon, Recruit Cori,” the platoon sergeant said. “It is a job for which he is grossly overqualified but which I have been assured he wants despite his abilities and rank otherwise. You will all obey him and, if you know what is good for you, learn from him. He can teach you more than I ever could. Count yourselves lucky to have him in the squad and platoon.” He turned to his fellow sergeant. “Vernon, I’ll leave you to handle the niceties as you see fit.”
“Thank you, Ath,” Sergeant Neale replied. He waited until the newly promoted company first sergeant had left and then looked at the rest of the squad. The dozen legionnaires looked back at him, and he scanned their ranks for a moment then spoke to them. “You might be wondering why I’m here and if you guessed that it is because of the high company that you’ve all discovered in your midst you’d be right. While I’m not exactly a bodyguard for little missy here, I am here to make sure that none of you screws up and gets her killed by your mistakes. Until we get to an enemy you can hate and fight, I suspect you are going to grow to hate me because we are going to work harder and longer than any other squad in the platoon. And the platoon is going to drill harder than any other in the company. And, yes, if you haven’t figured out, Captain McAffrey has been told to do the same with the whole company. Lord Logan can’t treat his little sister any different than the rest of you so he’s going to make sure that each of you is the best you can be so that she is in the safest place in the entire army.”
Cori heard the speech, and as it went on, her ears started burning and she knew they were turning red. She was quivering with anger when Uncle Vernon finished his speech. He had never treated her this way before. He had always acted proud of her skills and the way she learned the lessons he taught her. Now he was treating her like a spoiled brat and calling her out in front of her comrades was doing exactly what she didn’t want.
“Sergeant Neale,” she heard her voice say in a level tone. “May I have a word with you in private?”
“No, you may not,” he said laughing. “There is no privacy in a unit like this. If you have something to say, you can say it in front of all of us or don’t say anything at all.”
She shook her head, and he cocked his head as if listening. “I didn’t hear you, princess.”
“I would rather not say anything,” she said. Dammit, she was going to start crying. Why was he treating her this way?
“That is probably for the best,” Vernon said, and then he looked up to the rest of the squad and the nearby platoon members who were listening in. “The good news is, if you listen to me, we might just make it through this war alive, and I would like nothing better than showing up back here in Rhodes at the end of this campaign being able to name all of you comrades and legionnaires. Until then, though, I’m going to work you, and when you can’t do any more, I’m going to work you again. The only way to beat the enemy is to be harder than they are. We are going to be the hardest sons, and daughters, of bitches the Imperial army has ever seen. When they hear that Stag Company is nearby, I want them to crap their pants and be afraid to go into the woods to take a leak by themselves. The only way to accomplish that is to work you. That starts right now. Sergeant Verell has said that he would like me to take the whole platoon out on a little march. We are going to see how far you all can run in a day. If you’re lucky, you’ll make it back to camp in time for dinner. If not, it’ll be a long cold night on the trail. Load up your packs, we leave in five minutes.”
Cori stood there as Vernon walked away from her without even looking her way. She looked around that the rest of the squad and platoon were casting glances in her direction while they gathered their gear. She could hear them muttering and knew they were muttering about her. She wiped away a few stray tears leaking from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand and started packing up her gear. This was ruining everything, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had no power here. She was just a recruit. It was obvious that Uncle Vernon had been assigned to this job by her father and brother. She also knew that the old soldier would take the task to heart and do his damnedest to make her quit if he could. She was sure that was part of it. He wanted her to quit when her platoon turned against her, but she wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction. She was going to tough it out, and she’d show them all how wrong they were about “little Cori” and her mixed up notions of going off to war.
She was tightening the straps on her shoulders where the backpack rested and settled her quiver on her shoulder next to it when the new sergeant returned with his pack and gear. He didn’t stop as he strode quickly through the camp, just uttered a loud “Second Platoon, follow me.” He picked up the pace and moved off at a jog towards the woods. The entire platoon fell in behind him, already struggling to keep up with his pace. The last of them disappeared into the forest’s edge knowing they wouldn’t make it back to camp that night. This sergeant would never make it that easy.
—-
Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!