Chapter 3: Command

Location Training Camp, near Waterless Shore, Blue Wave Territory
Time Predawn 530 hours (9 ¹/2 hour before dawn)

Maiho was eating her second bowl of round nut porridge, when Wendam, Sebram, and Feibu joined her and Kernan at their camp table.

“I heard you tortured some poor trainees,” remarked her cousin Wendam. His bright blue markings and bright blue shoulder length hair proclaimed his healer caste heritage. He wore the rank necklace of a Squad Leader. He carrier a short spear and the ubiquitous flute hung from his breech-clout.

“How did you hear that? I told them to complete the course carrying their victim as punishment. They shouldn’t have finished yet,” asked Maiho.

“No, they headed right back otherwise they would have missed breakfast and drill both. I wouldn’t worry that they haven’t learned their lesson though. You scared the crap out of them. They actually thought you were going to feed them to the blood creeper,” said Wendam.

“I was ready to. One of them called me half-Red,” said Maiho.

“And you let them live?” asked Feibu as she settled down to eat her bowl of round nut porridge.

“Ha, Ha. Very funny,” said Maiho finishing the last spoonful of her porridge.

“Why didn’t Laivo come?” asked Sebram peeling some red fruit he had managed to liberate from somewhere.

“Maiho gave my wife some new record crystals and she just had to read them. You know how she is. Besides, her compulsory service is up and she was never big on the outdoors,” said Wendam.

“We have all finished our compulsory service, but coming out here sure beats being cooped up in the day nest. Plus they actually pay us to go camping and to run around waving spears. I’d do it for free,” said Feibu, waving her spoon.

“Don’t know how long I can keep coming. My parents want me to spend more time working at the family business, they say I have to be more responsible now I am married,” said Wendam. He crumbled some rock sugar into his porridge and attacked it with gusto.

“I will miss you in sword drill as, you are one of my best students,” said Maiho.

“I find it incredible that Jetrel has virtually let you take over his class,” remarked Kernan.

The other tables started filled up as more people finished their run.

“It is because she was taught by the Reds, when she was young and has such a wicked sword,” said Sebram wiping red fruit juice from his mouth.

“No, it is because both Jetrel and I treat sword drill seriously, as a matter of life and death and all of you still think it’s a game,” said Maiho. She gestured at Sebram and he gave her a segment from his second red fruit.

“Oh, come on. When is the last time we had to deal with anything more dangerous than smugglers or an escaped slave?” asked Kernan.

“Reports of bandit attacks are coming in from all over. Just a five-day ago a caravan was attacked and destroyed just outside of Hidden Springs. That’s not that far from Waterless Shore,” said Maiho.

The light was dimming as the cloud cover became thicker.

“How do you know all this?” asked Wendam.

“I make it a point to talk to the senior guards,” said Maiho. “There is also the Reborn to consider.”

“The Reborn were all killed 10 hundred-day ago at the battle of Lost Souls,” argued Kernan.

“Killing the Reborn doesn’t get rid of them. You need to destroy their soul crystals and none of the soul crystals were ever found. There are only 18 reborn though each reborn can possess several bodies at once. I have personally killed most of them more than once. The battle 10 hundred-days ago wasn’t the first battle of Lost Souls and it wasn’t the first time the Reborn have been killed off. They just come back about 10 hundred-days or so later. There is a reason the area around the Village of Lost Souls is called The Battleground. That village was originally called Wise Dreaming. The Lost Souls it is named after are the Reborn,” said Maiho. Maiho didn’t mention that two of the Reborn knew the way into some of the lower hidden levels of the day nest, therefore it was possible that some of them had escaped. The White Wand Archivists and the Black Spire Diviners also knew about the lower levels, but if they had searched them they had kept it secret from the rest of the combined war band and Maiho had not been able discover any mention of either the Whites or the Blacks searching hidden areas.

“I don’t think it’s fair for you to say it’s a game for us after all the work we’ve put in training with you.” argued Wendam.

Some of the servitors lit some fan tree oil torches to offset the increasingly poor light.

“You all treat it more seriously than most, however none you has faced an opponent determined to end your life when you had nothing but your sword and your skill to stop them. It changes how you approach your drill, your sparring and your overall attitude to fighting. It can’t help but change it,” said Maiho. “Sebram mentioned my sword. I think I have a way to let you use weapons as good as mine.”

“Crystal weapons, you mean. I am not going to risk arrest by breaking the law,” stated Kernan.

Maiho pulled out a blue circular record crystal and a series of rank necklaces. “There is no need to break the law, it will be perfectly legal. This contains the rules and regulations of the Outpost Civil Guard. That’s an old name for the Village Guard. Did you know that all the tribes use the same rules and regulations for their guards? After reading it, a wealth of opportunities presented themselves to me,” said Maiho.

“Where did you get all this stuff? Surely it’s illegal for you to have all those rank necklaces,” asked Kernan.

“It’s only illegal to wear one you’re not entitled to. Which reminds me, I am entitled to this one,” said Maiho as she picked out a necklace with two blue crystals and “It’s for the rank of Healer. I haven’t been wearing it because it does not allow me to do anything I can’t already do, however I think I would have had less trouble with those trainees if I had been wearing it.”

One of the diners a few tables over started juggling three red fruit as his table mates started pounding the table with approval.

“Maiho was left these things by her Great Aunt Viune when she died. At least that is what she always tells us whenever we ask her where she gets these impossible records, crystals and other fabulous loot,” confided Sebram to Kernan as if imparting a great secret.

“That trunk must have been really big to hold everything you’ve shown us over the last few hundred-days. When are you going to trust us enough to tell us the truth?” asked Wendam.

“These weapons you are going for get us are they coming out of your aunts trunk?” asked Feibu.

“Yes, they are coming from the ‘trunk’,” confirmed Maiho rolling her eyes. She considered telling them about the secret lower levels of the day nest, however if she were to tell them it would not be in the middle of an open eating area where anyone could overhear.

When she returned to her home after escaping from the Village of Lost Souls, she kept the lower levels secret. Because of the hostility and suspicion shown towards her, she felt that she might need a place to hide one day. There was something exciting about knowing such a big secret that no-one else knew and also she believed that there must a reason the both Archivists and Diviners were keeping the lower levels a secret.

“These two necklaces are for a Paladin and a Deacon. They can be appointed by either the senior Priest or the guard Chaplain. Paladins, Deacons, Priests and Song Masters are the only ones legally allowed to sing the Song of Judgment,” said Maiho.

“There has been not been a Paladin or a Deacon in living memory and you are cracked if you think either Logwan or Josham are going to appoint you to either position,” argued Kernan.

“They would have to be desperate,” admitted Maiho. “However if we ever had to rely on Josham to control the war Artificia, things would become desperate fairly quickly. Have you ever heard him sing the Song of Judgment?”

“He is a little awkward,” said Wendam.

“The Paladin and Deacon positions are more of a long term goal. And I am thinking Paladin for me and Deacon for Kernan as his father is a priest back at the Village of Joyful Tears. A shorter term goal is this,” said Maiho showing a necklace with one white crystal. “This is an assistant instructor rank necklace. A drill instructor can endorse an assistant instructor which is then ratified by the guard captain. Jetrel has promised to talk to Bardre about making me an assistant instructor. Most of you are either Priest caste or Healer caste.”

“Basically that is everyone there except me,” remarked Sebram.

“Yes, I have a few ideas about how to give Sebram something better than standard equipment. However it is much easier for the rest of you. As members of a singing caste who are not singers, you are only legally permitted to sing if supervised by someone who is both a singer and an instructor. Normally that means a Song Master, but if I am appointed assistant instructor for sword drill, then you can all sing as long as I am in hearing distance plus I can teach you how to fight using crystal weapons,” said Maiho.

“Do it you really think that Bardre will go for that? She is such a stick in the mud, she is just as likely to tell you that you can go on being an unofficial assistant,” asked Wendam.

“Jetrel is on my side, and if worse comes to worst, Bardre has to get sick sometime,” said Maiho.

“She is unlikely to respond well to that kind of implied threat, and as for Jetrel, he thinks the Hunter’s moon shines out of your ass, so he would be on your side no matter what,” said Kernan.

“Speaking of Bardre, she is heading this way. And she doesn’t seem to be happy,” said Feibu.

“Maiho, can I have a word?” asked Bardre as she arrived at their table. Tall and long limbed she towered over most people in the camp. Her close cropped aquamarine hair and patterns proclaimed her about as far from singer caste as possible. It was on the edge of what would be natural for a blue, however Maiho reflected with bitterness that she had probably never been called half-Green. She was in her 40s, small breasted, lean and athletic with striking pale eyes and light brown skin. She had a habit of twirling her spear about with one hand when she was annoyed. She also had the habit of tapping people who annoyed her with the butt of her spear. Most guards were afraid of her.

“Anything you want to say you can say in front of my friends.”

“The gall of you. Very well. What gives you the cheek to strike and threaten my trainees?” Bardre waved her spear around as emphasis.

“They almost killed another trainee by driving him into a blood creeper,” argued Maiho.

“Then you should have gotten of rank, either a squad leader or an instructor to discipline the trainee.” Bardre sat across from Maiho and laid her spear across the table. She gestured roughly to the servitors, who brought her some nut porridge. It seem as though you didn’t need queue for food if you’re the captain.

“I did have someone of rank.”

“Who?” asked Bardre. The dinners from nearby tables were increasing paying attention to them.

“Me.”

“You are not an officer and you don’t have the authority to discipline trainees,” Bardre made stabbing motions with her spoon

“As the Guard Healer I have the same rank and authority as Drill Instructors Jetrel and Nargre,” asserted Maiho leaning forward.

“The sun blasted land you do.” Bardre half raised off the bench palms pressed flat on the table.

“According to the rules and regulations of the Village Guard I do,” said Maiho pulling the blue record crystal from her bag.

“I am the guard captain and the rules and regulations of the Village Guard are what I say they are.” Bardre was not used to being argued with and was rapidly losing patience. “And what is that around your neck?”

“It is my rank necklace. It is the standard necklace for a guard healer.”

“Where did you get it? I give out all the rank necklaces and I did not give you that one,” asked Bardre.

“It was my Great Aunt Viune’s necklace,” lied Maiho.

“Then why didn’t your mother wear one?”

“Probably because she didn’t want to be a guard healer,”

“Well that is true enough. She could not leave fast enough. Even if I let you keep the pretty necklace that does not mean I will let you interfere with the guard. You stick to healing and leave guard business to us,” said Bardre.

“The last thing you need is the trainees and junior guard asking themselves what orders they should follow and what orders they should ignore because you’re fighting with one of your war leaders. Especially now!”

“You are not a war leader. You are just a healer and junior healer at that. A mere slip of a girl that doesn’t have the life experience to lead,” argued Bardre. Her expression became alarmed as the import of what Maiho saying penetrated her awareness. “What do you mean especially now? Who has been talking? What do you know?” asked Bardre looking about. The other breakfasting diners who had been watching intently found other things to look at.

“Everybody has been talking. You know it is impossible to keep a secret in this camp. The raids at Indigo Shadow, Blue Moon and Hidden Springs are all that anyone’s talking about.” Maiho lied. “Also, when I am in my mother’s clinic, I am the junior healer, when I am here I am the healer, just the healer, in fact I am entitled to an assistant healer,” continued Maiho looking at her cousin Wendam.