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 19
At dawn the next day, the entire Legion of Solon was assembled on the road north. Lord Logan and Wolf Company led the column, followed by Stag, Hawk, and Panther companies. Cori looked around and shifted her pack to settle the straps to a more comfortable position on her shoulders. They were carrying a lot more supplies than they normally would. Every Legionnaire was carrying three quivers of arrows, a full pack with dry rations for up to four days plus their other weapons, extra clothing and blanket rolls. Their tents were left in camp where they would be packed in wagons in wait for their return.
Cori saw the beaming pride on the faces of the new recruits Deanna and Leah. Leah looked down at the embroidered crown on the breast of her leather and mail jerkin and her finger absently traced the Stag on the clasp pin holding her cloak around her neck. It was strange how she remembered that same exuberance and excitement, the expectation of something big. It all seemed so long ago even though it had just been a few months of time. She didn’t feel the same way now that she was marching back northward. Cori felt different, and as she thought about it, it was with a grim determination to do a difficult task. She had seen death and dying. She had seen comrades injured and killed. She had known fear in ways she had never expected. Yet here she was marching back into battle, back to face that fear and make it back down. It wasn’t the fear of pain and death, at least not entirely. The greatest fear she had was that she would not live up to the expectations of her companions. She wanted to assure that when they needed her, she was going to be there, fighting alongside them, and watching out for their blind spots in the wild randomness of melee.
She wondered if others in the column marching north felt the same. Most of them had seen battle just as she had. Were they as afraid of failure as she was? Even Sergeant Neal, Uncle Vernon, had shown he felt fear. She had seen the relief in his eyes after that first chaotic battle on the road, seeing that she was safe and unscathed. His fear was that he wouldn’t bring her home from this war safely. She knew the promises he must have made to her father and mother before he left them to join the Legion. Those were promises that all of them knew were impossible to keep. A single blind chance of fate could break that oath for him. Cori knew that was his greatest fear.
Cori pondered this, and more, as the last of the Legionnaires cleared the picket lines of the main camp. As soon as they did so, sergeants called out orders along the line of marching troops and scouts from each company jogged out to cover the flanks of the column as well as spreading out to the front and rear. The Legion marched northward with a quest to rescue the royal family of Verona. Every one of them knew that it was considered an impossible task, and each of them knew that they would find a way to accomplish it. This wasn’t a Legion on the March anymore. This was a Legion on the Hunt.
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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!