“You there! Keep your arms closer to your body! The last thing you want is your arms throwing off your center of gravity. All it takes is a momentary lapse and then you’re on the ground with a sword through your gut! It’s a miracle you survived that battle with a form like that!”
Kailyn shouted at the men she was overseeing during their training. With her now officially having switched back to the loyalist cause, Axton had placed her in charge of overseeing the evening training, considering she had more experience in both combat and overseeing training sessions. However, not everyone, especially those who lost close friends during the battle, were eager to take orders from a woman who had, just a day earlier, betrayed their country and was their enemy.
To combat that, Axton stood close by, watching over the troops while observing how Kailyn ran the training session. Sure, he had learned how to during his time at the academy, but actually watching it in action was a thousand times more valuable than any book or lesson the academy had to offer.
As the swordsmanship lessons began to wind down, Kailyn stood on the platform, letting the troops talk for a bit before telling them to quiet down. Most listened, however a few continued to talk, completely ignoring her, even after she said it again, more forcefully this time. As the group of men continued to talk, they were surprised as someone suddenly yanked on the collars of their uniforms and threw them to the side. Axton glared at them as they stood separated from the group, sheepishly looking down and away. “You three, stay here after Commander Payle finishes speaking. You’re going to learn the importance of maintaining the chain of command, and the consequences for not following it.”
The three were silent as Axton looked back at Kailyn, giving her a slight nod. Kailyn nodded back and looked at the group of soldiers in front of her. “Everyone, I know that my being here has rubbed some the wrong way. Just yesterday, I was the one who tried to conquer this outpost. I’m sure most of you lost people you cared about, and for that, I cannot apologize enough. However, if we are to have a chance of surviving the madness that is war, we all need to work together. You may not like me, you may even hate me, but we are on the same side. Dissent and fracture will only lead to pain and most likely death for all parties. So until we get through this war in one piece, let’s all try to stay cordial with one another. After the war is over, I give you my word that you can say whatever you want to me then. With that being said, from what I’ve seen with your training today, many of you have strayed from the basics. For the foreseeable future, you’ll be focusing on maintaining the correct positioning and footwork necessary. Once I’m satisfied you’ve mastered the basics again, I’ll assign you more training on a case by case basis. However, the quicker you relearn the basics, the better chance you’ll have to survive. Keep that in mind for tomorrow. Dismissed.”
As the troops began to disperse, Axton stayed with the three men who he had singled out earlier. “So, care to explain to me what was SO important that you ignored a superior officer’s orders not once, but twice?”
The man in the middle sighed. “How is she even a superior officer still? She betrayed Eshal, fought against us, and now suddenly we’re supposed to act like nothing happened and proceed like she’s some great person to be respected?”
Axton shook his head. “I’m sure you’re unaware, but her loyalty was to her men. She originally joined the enemy because she thought it would give her troops the best chance of survival. However, after the orders she was given, and what the result of the battle would have resulted in, she chose to surrender before even more troops were lost. She realized she made perhaps the biggest mistake she would ever make, and is trying her hardest to make sure that those who are still alive have the best chance to survive. You may hate her guts, but while you’re here, you will respect the fact that she’s a superior officer over you, and an order from her should be treated like an order from me. Understood?”
The three nodded. “Understood.” They said in unison.
“Good, but for your initial insubordination, you’re going to be helping the kitchen staff clean up the mess hall for three days. I’ll be letting the staff know the incredibly high standards I’ll set in order for them to release you, and considering there’s now even more mouths to feed…good luck with that. You’re gonna need it. A second offense from you three will lead to an immediate arrest and, when the war is finally over, put you on trial in front of a military tribunal. Now, dismissed!”
As the three men quickly walked away from Axton, Kailyn walked up to him. “I see you’re starting to take a more strict stance with your men.”
“Not really, only with those who need a slap of reality. I want to be a commander who the troops know I have their back, but if they do something that deserves punishment, I’m not going to coddle them and protect them from the consequences. Those three got off easy though. I’m sure the hospital could use some more hands cleaning the place up.”
Kailyn chuckled and nodded. “Well, thanks for having my back though. Anyways, have you come up with the total casualties from…”
Axton nodded. “Yeah, looks like seventy three confirmed deaths and sixty eight wounded, though unfortunately the number of deaths could grow. The medics told me that they think four more won’t make it, three of them from your forces. If we had better facilities we could probably save them, but considering the supplies we have at hand…”
Kailyn nodded. “I understand. They’re trying their best with what they’ve been given. Sucks though that we’re even in this position to begin with, but that’s the way the world works.” Kailyn searched the area around them. “Where’s your second in command? I thought for sure that she would be here during the training sessions.”
“She’s currently at the hospital trying to assist the medics with whatever she can help them with. Eric is back at his usual spot, trying to organize what he can, but the messages have essentially been stopped. I’m giving another day before I’m under the impression that we’re on our own and will proceed accordingly.”
“What would you plan on doing if you don’t receive any orders?”
“Probably begin the planning stages of liberating Norvstrom and using that as a base of operations. Hopefully we can get enough recruits to send more than just a skeleton crew to man this outpost and yours, if the enemy hasn’t decided to commandeer it already. We still haven’t received an answer from the message we sent there.”
Kailyn sighed. “They probably think it’s a trap or something. After we’ve secured a foothold in the area, I’m going to head down there with a small force myself to let them know what happened. They’ll believe it if it comes directly from me.”
“I sure hope so. It could also be a trap to lure your back only to ambush you.”
“That’s a possibility we’ll have to consider when the time comes. Until then, we’ll have to focus our efforts on Norvstrom. With our forces, plus the reinforcements that should arrive tomorrow and whatever men the governor was able to bring, we should have enough troops to launch a full scale assault on the city. The commanders in charge of capturing the city, Hector Alira and Vic Merist, won’t have had the necessary time to construct any substantial fortifications.”
“That’s one possibility. I’m also concerned that they could use house to house warfare and hide their archers in buildings to pick off our troops. A full-scale assault would bring about too many casualties.”
“What would you suggest then?”
Axton furrowed his brow, thinking about several possibilities, but only one of them offered a better chance of victory. “I’m sure by now that our enemy is assuming that you were defeated, but that also you’re a prisoner of war and not a part of our forces. I could use a small force of men to draw them out, feign a retreat after a small skirmish, and bait them into chasing after us. That’ll allow you, Jaylee, Dixon, and Nend to recapture the city relatively unopposed, and surround them. With any luck, they’ll surrender, but most likely they’ll put up a fight.”
“Dixon and Nend…aren’t they…”
“Yeah, they’re two other candidates I have in mind to be a part of my inner circle, based off their abilities. Originally they were going to be competing with Eric over who would be third in command, but you’ve taken that position already. With the reinforcements, we’ll have enough troops to split them up into even more divisions. Eric will be with me to help watch my back and take command over my squad should the worst happen to me.”
“Seems like a solid plan, especially since they’ll be under the impression that you’ve been weakened. I’m sure that Hector and Vic are desperate to try to earn some glory in this war, and failing to capture the governor will definitely have them upset. They might view you as a consolation prize.”
“That’s the hope anyways, We won’t know for sure though until we’re able to scout ahead and receive the reinforcements. I also want to have the troops have a mock battle to prepare them for even fiercer battles down the line compared to our light skirmish, especially me.”
Kailyn nodded her head. “Yeah, I can see why you’d think that. I do apologize once again for Aros’s behavior. He was my second in command and well-trained, but I had given him explicit orders to let you live, not kill you.”
“What were you planning on doing with me should you have won that battle?”
“Essentially the same as what you would do with me: try to convince you to switch sides, but if I couldn’t, I would have sent you over to General Killian. I’m pretty sure the results wouldn’t have been pretty should that have happened.”
Axton nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I would have been lucky if I were imprisoned for the rest of the war. Wouldn’t have been surprised if he would have used me as an example of what would happen to those who get in his way and convince those still on the fence to join him, even if it was only to avoid a similar fate as mine.”
Right then, a loud bell was sounded from a watchman. “Troops spotted, about a half mile out! Looks like they’re holding a white flag though!”
“Could be the governor.” Kailyn stated as Axton nodded.
“Most likely. Looks like we’ll have to get a welcome party ready.”
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