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 14
After dinner with her brothers, Cori joined Logan and Jonathan on their trip back to the Legion camp. Jonathan had been quiet during dinner. He had always been so, his nose usually in a book rather than a conversation. She asked him his thoughts on the war. He had read extensively about history and might have insights.
“Sister, you ask a loaded question,” Jonathan said in a quiet voice. “The Empire would never have given up the Free Kingdoms on their western frontier were they not tied up with widespread revolts elsewhere. It was thought by many who study the Empire that they would eventually seek to bring us back within their borders. Father has long advised King Edgard to get the other Kingdoms to keep a standing army in Verona to respond to what he thought was an inevitable threat of invasion. The expense of such a blocking force, maintained for who knew how long, was deemed prohibitively expensive.”
“Not as expensive as losing half of Verona in the first months of the invasion,” Cori countered.
“Ah, but that is known only in hindsight, Sister,” Jonathan chided her. “Hindsight often sees much more clearly than we do in the moment. That is why I and others study history. We seek to avoid the mistakes of earlier generations.”
“So now we are at war, with no way to avoid the death, dying, and destruction that we see now.”
“Exactly,” Jonathan said.
“Are you ready for war, Jon?” Cori asked. “I know Logan is prepared, he has seen combat on the northern frontiers, but you are as new to this as I am.”
“I will do what is needed to preserve the lives of my comrades and to defend myself and them using my arts and teachings from the Brotherhood,” Jonathan replied. “I am sure all of the Brother Monks that have joined the Legion forces will do the same. I have talked with Brother Jerald Marras, who is assigned to your platoon. He is a good man and an able healer. He will help keep you all well.”
“I have heard that you have magics to counter the shamans of the Empire,” Cori asked. The Empire worshiped the Emperor and the shamans who led that twisted religion regularly sacrificed slaves in their rites to support the Emperor, and it was said that they could do strange things with the life force of the slaves they killed.
“I have studied what we know of their rites,” Jonathan said. “I think that we of the Brotherhood have some things that will help. There is no way to be sure. I will not know until I encounter something supernatural if I can come up with a counter-spell.” He sighed. “It is something that troubles me, little Sister.” He fell silent, and she was certain his mind was working through the problem yet again. She was confident he would come up with something. He was the brightest of them all, she knew.
They soon arrived back at the Legion camp and Cori sat with her squad mates and told them what she had learned of their potential deployment, perhaps as soon as the following day. She also brought them some of the fresh fruit from the dinner, wrapped in a cloth napkin. They all sat around their campfire and thought of the challenges that faced them while they enjoyed the treat of the sweet apples, pears, and grapes she had brought back with her.
“Cori, you win the squad mate of the week,” Shelby said, taking another bite of the apple she was holding. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted, which is silly since I’ve had apples before, but it’s been so long since we’ve not been eating trail rations and living off of whatever we could catch or shoot that I’d forgotten what fresh fruit could taste like.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Cori said. “I couldn’t go there and have dinner with my brothers like that and not bring something back for my comrades here in the squad.”
They all continued to sit and talk late into the night and through to the early morning hours. Mostly they all talked of home and family. Cori noted that it was similar to the conversations she and her brothers had back at their dinner. It must be a common theme for soldiers facing their first taste of war to talk of their loved ones and the homes they left behind. She looked up at one point and saw Uncle Vernon standing off at the edge of the firelight. The sergeant watched them for a time, saw Cori watching him, and he turned and walked off into the darkness. He had changed back to be more like the man with whom she had grown up. The change had started in the days since they landed here in Verona. It was as if he had done what he could to train them as hard as he knew how, but now, when the time for training was done, he was seeing them as fellow soldiers and legionnaires.
The squad members talked long into the night. Even Lissa chimed in with a few observations. They had gelled into a tight-knit group who relied on each other and trusted each other. Even the ones who had started as outsiders, like Lissa, the former bandit, and Gil, the son of a prostitute, were included in the group. Cori pondered what would happen when that bond was tested in combat when tensions caused them to react instantly. She suspected that was why Vernon Neale had trained them as hard as he did, grinding the members of the unit like paste until they all had something in common that glued them together. She was still thinking about it as she dozed by the fireside, wrapped in her blanket and cloak against the midnight cold.
Morning arrived too quickly for most of the platoon as Sergeant Neale roused them with a loud shout and few well-placed nudges with the toe of his boot. “Time’s a-wasting, legionnaires. We have our marching orders, and it’s time to see if you know how to do your jobs. Come on folks, we are burning daylight.”
Cori stood and stretched in the pre-dawn hour, looking around at the movement around the Legion camp. All the platoons and companies were packing up. Logan must have gotten his orders in the night. She set to gathering up her gear and packing her tarp panel of the two-person tent, rolling it with her blanket inside to keep the interior dry if it rained. She tied the roll to her pack and looked at the three quivers of arrows she had to arrange on her back along with the pack. She opted to have one slung low on her hip and the other two on either side of her pack. She knew they would be away from the main army and the ability to resupply so she knew that ninety arrows would not last them long if they needed to fight for any length of time on the trail. She finally got all the gear situated in such a way that she could still draw her bow and reach her other weapons and stood waiting for Sergeant Neale to give the platoon orders.
A voice shouted from the other side of the company area in the camp, and the word was relayed to gather around the center of the camp where Captain McAffrey stood waiting for them. She joined the rest of Stag Company as they gathered around their captain the sergeants in the center of the one hundred legionnaires. The Captain looked around to make sure all were assembled and then spoke to the group.
“Stag Company, the time has come to deploy against the enemy and do the job we have trained to do,” he said. “We will be joined by Panther company to travel to the mountains and forests just north of here to stop Imperial raiding parties that are terrorizing the populace of the farmsteads there. This is something we understand. Many of you have lived defending the frontiers of Rhodes against incursions by Krator raiders for years. Now we must defend our cousins here in Verona from raiders who are no less ferocious and every bit as dangerous. We will be operating as independent platoons, for the most part, although you will likely patrol in squads as well. Remember your training and the Legion standing orders. Always know your mission and your rendezvous point. Let’s make sure we live up to the legacy of the Legion of Solon and show our Veronan cousins what it means to fight alongside legionnaires. We set out north in ten minutes. Organize by platoon for the march. That is all.”
There was a cheer and then the platoons of Stag Company formed ranks to start marching on the road north. The were joined at the northern edge of their former camp by the three platoons of Panther Company, headed by Captain Maria Magdalena Desai. Captain McAffrey spoke to his colleague briefly and then waived his arm overhead, beckoning them to start northward.
———
Cori chose her footing with care as she walked through the forest with the rest of the platoon spread out around her. They were traveling in single file with scouts out to the front side and rear. It had been a day and a half since they had detached from the company on the march north. Captain McAffrey had given Sergeant Neale a map, which he went over briefly to point out where each platoon would be operating. Second platoon was to leave the road and cut off cross-country through the farmland until they met the forested foothills of the mountains to the east. It was said that raiders were operating in this area, and it was their job to find them. If the group was small enough, they were to engage and neutralize them. Take prisoners, if possible, but stop the raiding parties. Should they encounter a larger force, they were to shadow them and send runners to bring the rest of the company to their location. If needed, Captain could summon Panther Company, too.
That had been a day and a half before. Now they were stalking through the forest and the smell of wood smoke in the early afternoon alerted them to the presence of other people nearby. The platoon was nearly silent as they moved through the woods, going from tree to tree, watching all around them for signs of any enemy. The smoke was now a haze in the still air as they got closer to the source. This was why they slept in cold camps. Smoke was a sure signal that other humans were nearby. Cori stopped when Declan stopped in front of her, holding up a hand and kneeling down. She looked around her seeing the others had stopped as well. She had an arrow nocked on the bowstring and she rested her bow on her knee as she hunched over there on the trail.
Lissa had been on point, and she came back to talk in a quiet voice with Sergeant Neale. Whispers carried too easily, so they had been taught to talk in a low normal voice rather than use the sibilant whispers to communicate. Hand signals from the sergeant had them spread out in a line abreast and then advance in a loose skirmish line. The smoke was noticeably thicker now, the acrid odor itching her nose. She continued to walk carefully forward, checking to her left and right to make sure she was keeping up with the others on either side of her. They came to the edge of a clearing and stopped to look around. In the center of the clearing was the remains of a log cabin similar to the ones she had seen near Gladestown. It had been burned down to a single layer of log foundation marking the exterior of the home. The roof beams had caved into the center and lay canted and smoldering where they were propped up by other debris in the center.
Sergeant Neale came along the edge of the clearing, staying in the trees, talking to a few of the platoon members. Cori saw Lissa, Kieran, and Shelby move off to the left around the clearing’s edge to scout the far side before the went further to investigate. She kept her eyes trained on the far side, too. If this were an ambush, that is the area from which it would come. She was pretty sure there was no one behind them. The sergeant came over to her and crouched down.
“First squad will investigate the clearing once we’ve made sure there is no enemy still around. Second squad is working their way around to the south, and third squad is watching the rear. When Lissa signals from the far side that it is clear, I want you and the rest of first squad to move into the farmstead and investigate. Look for tracks, Cori, and see if you can decipher which direction they took from here. Got it?” Sergeant Neale asked. She nodded in reply, not taking her eyes off the far tree line. The platoon leader moved off to the rear to get third squad situated.
After about five minutes, she saw Lissa appear from behind cover on the far side of the clearing and nod. Cori motioned to the rest of the squad on either side of her, and they all moved into the clearing. She started scanning the ground for signs of what happened. That was when she found the first body laying in the tall grass. It was a boy of roughly eight years of age. His sightless eyes stared skyward, and there was a look of surprise locked on his face. There was a crossbow bolt standing out from his chest. She stared for a moment longer and then stepped around him, continuing towards the smoldering remains of the cabin at the center.
They searched for a few minutes, circling the cabin and looking inside. There were charred bodies inside, and Cori got her first whiff of the sickly sweet smell of burned flesh and hair. It was not something she would forget. Sergeant Neale joined them at the center of the clearing.
“What did you find?” He asked.
Geb spoke up. “There are five bodies, a man, a woman and three children. They shot the boy from the edge of the woods and then trapped the others inside. They set fire to the cabin and milled around the outside and watched while it burned with the family inside. Based on the char and smoke, I’d say it happened first thing this morning. The boy was likely up and doing chores when they hit.” He stopped and wiped his nose. “This farm is just like mine. This could have been my family. I want to kill these bastards.”
“Where did they go when they were done?” Neale asked.
“They headed south,” Cori said. “I found clear tracks that lead off that way. They didn’t even try to hide their passage. My guess is that it’s a group of twenty to thirty. It’s hard to tell. They trampled all over their tracks in the trail heading south. Are we going after them?”
Sergeant Neale nodded. “We are. This is what we are here for, and we’ll track this group down and make an example of them.” He whistled and the other squads soon came trotting into the clearing. They became wide-eyed as they saw the bodies and the destruction.
“Cori found a trail heading south We’ll head off in that direction and track the group that did this down. They are acting cocky and likely don’t think they have anything to fear. Let’s teach them to fear the woods, to fear us.” Uncle Vernon had a feral look in his eyes that she had never seen before. She, too, wanted blood and wondered if she had a similar look. Looking around, she saw it elsewhere in the platoon, as well.
“Lissa, you, Declan and Shelby strike south, follow the trail but go slow and be careful,” Sergeant Neale ordered. “We’ll be right behind you. Don’t take any chances. If you catch up with them, send someone back with word and we’ll come up to where you are. Got it?” Lissa nodded and, with a look at Declan and Shelby, the three of them took off to the south end of the clearing. Thy looked like wolves on the hunt. The rest of the platoon made ready to follow them, each checking their weapons and looking again at the charred remains of this farmstead and family. Cori knew the feelings sweeping between them all and knew she wanted to exact payment for this needless slaughter. The Legion of Solon would take that payment in blood.
—-
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!