Chapter 6

Edward stood before the Lord dejected and confused. He had thought that his army would receive their new assignment today. He'd thought wrong.

"Edward, it's just not a good idea for your troops to go out again so soon. Especially not after the losses you sustained yesterday. I am going to transfer some more warriors to your army. They'll be a bit green, so you're going to have to train them."

"My lord, I think that we are strong enough to take on any mission. We should strike soon so that we can hit them while they are still reeling from the other blows."

"Are you questioning my judgment, Edward?" the being asked, incredulity seeping into his voice.

"N-no sir, I-I just don't see your reasoning."

"And why should I have to explain myself to you, servant?" Edward shuddered as his lord rose to a standing position.

"You do not have to, Master. Forgive me, I was out of line." Edward quaked with fear as he sank to one knee and bowed his head.

"Yes, you were. I will forgive you, though." Replied the entity, slowly sitting back down. "Furthermore, I will explain my decision to you." The reason I am making you wait is twofold. First, you do not have enough men to defeat the inhabitants of your next target. Second, you will need the extra time to develop the attack plan and train you men."

"What will our target be, Lord?"

"The centerpiece of the most depraved, Enemy-infested country in the world. You're attacking the White House."

Edward was stunned. The White House, home of the most influential man in the world, had been solidly in the hands of the Enemy for decades. The number of enemy soldiers inhabiting the building was astounding. He quickly realized how right his lord had been, it would, indeed, take more men than he currently had to succeed. A task of this magnitude would also require months of planning.

"My apologies, my lord, you are right, as always."

"You are forgiven, Edward. I suggest, however, that you remember this lesson and think about it before you question my judgment again."

"Yes, my lord." Edward bowed his head again in reverence.

"Very well, Edward, go out to the Main Courtyard and greet your new troops.

"Yes, my lord." Edward repeated. He stood, bowed again to his lord, turned, and walked out of the chamber, stopping outside the door for a moment so his eyes could adjust to the change in lighting.

The force and power of the light emitted by his lord did not overwhelm him as much as it had the first time Edward has entered the audience chamber. Nevertheless, the light still affected him and it always took a few moments for him to adjust to the relative darkness outside of the chamber. He also had to take a few moments to "digest" the spiritual energy that the light imbued in him.

After regaining his composure, Edward continued towards the Main Courtyard. What he found there astounded him.

Unlike most of the other courtyards in the palace, the Main Courtyard was totally enclosed by a large wall. The only entrances into it were through four sets of enormous ornately carved, oaken double doors, one set in each wall. As Edward approached the open Northern doors, he was shocked at what he saw. The courtyard was roughly one hundred meters on each side and it had been packed with soldiers. There were hundreds of them. They were milling around talking, but as the saw Edward standing in the doorway, they grew silent.

"Company, Attention!" Edward snapped after they were all quiet.

The warriors immediately complied, snapping straight and rigid in tone smooth motion as they had been instructed the first day of their induction. Rank upon rank of angelic warriors stood completely without movement and Edward was again awed by how many of them there were. He looked out amongst them and felt a strong twinge of dej«-vó as he bellowed, "Captains, front and center!"

The six captains made their way to the front of the ranks quickly and smoothly. After they had complied with Edward's command and were stationed directly in front of him, they stood at rigid, Marine-like attention. Edward looked them over, then snapped, "Tristan, report!"

"Sir! All of the new recruits have been briefed as to this legion's purpose, and have been divided into the existing seven squadrons."

"What is our total compliment of warriors?"

"Sir! With these new recruits we total one thousand four hundred warriors."

Edward's eyes widened at that figure. He tried to keep his surprise out of his voice, however, when he next spoke.

"Combat readiness of the new recruits?"

"Unknown, sir. We have yet to get them out on the training field for an evaluation. They just arrived about fifteen minutes ago."

"Understood, Captain." Edward then addressed all of the captains, "You are each to take your squadron to the training fields and evaluate their performance. I want a report from each of you before the end of the day along with an estimate of when we can expect to be at peak fighting condition. Dismissed!"

The captains saluted, then turned to the task of collecting their men before flying off in the direction of the training grounds. Edward watched as the others left, then turned his eyes downward and gazed steadily at this men. The number of soldiers now in his care still astounded him. In his squadron alone he commanded two hundred men, twice as many as had previously been in his entire army. Astounding.

Edward cleared his throat and said, "Troops, follow me."

He then leapt into the air and spread his wings before angling himself towards one of the unoccupied training areas. It was time to see what these soldiers had in them.

That night, Edward was exhausted. As he sat upon his bead, he realized what kind of task awaited him. He had been almost embarrassed when he had stood out on the training field and watched his new recruits go through their exercises. They had been unbelievably clumsy. He shook his head sadly; it would be months before this team was ready for battle again. He had looked over the reports he had requested from the others and saw that his captains had found the same obstacles. All of them said it would take months.

The young commander was disappointed; he already longed for battle. His blood burned with the desire to destroy the Enemy, to repay him for all the hurt he had visited upon Edward and his friends and loved ones.

A knock interrupted Edward's thoughts. As he called for the visitor to enter, he collected his papers and placed them on the table. His door opened and Armand entered and closed the door carefully behind him. He placed his back to the securely fastened door and bowed slightly.

"Commander." He said simply.

"Please, Armand, call me Edward, and come in and sit down."

"Thank you si... Edward." Armand finished, grinning in embarrassment. He pulled the only chair in the room from its place in the corner and placed it near the bed where Edward was sitting. Then he gingerly lowered his muscular frame into the chair.

"Now," Edward began, "What is it you wish to speak with me about?"

"Edward, I believe there is a traitor among us." Armand's voice sounded heavy as he breathed the words.

"Why do you think that?"

"I just sense it, I don't have anything I can point to as evidence; I just feel that one of the people in your command is a turncoat.

"Who?"

"I'm not sure. I wish I knew, but I don't."

Well, let's look at this logically. Who of our soldiers would know enough about our targets to betray us effectively?"

"Not one of the common soldiers, probably. That leaves the captains."

"Well, I'm not the traitor, you'll have to take that on faith. You're obviously not the traitor, if you were why would you have come to warn me about yourself." Armand did not disagree with that.

"That leaves the others: Mikhail, Tristan, Wan, Robert, and Melissa."

"Well, none of them can be totally free of suspicion, except maybe Mikhail, he seems too dense to be a traitor."

"But he could just be acting."

"My thoughts exactly. This is a hard thing to contemplate, Armand. I feel like I know these people, and they seem so committed to our cause."

"I know how you feel. Tristan and I have been friends for decades, I can't believe that he could possibly be a spy, but we can't afford to discount the possibility."

"I understand. You know that if it had been anyone other than you to come to me with this news, you would have been my primary suspect."

"I know that you and the others see my compassion for the lives of the enemy as a weakness and a betrayal, but I can't help feeling that all life is sacred, even the lives of those who oppose us, and I always hold out hope that they will see the error of their ways and the futility of fighting against us and will join us instead. I'd like to see the rift caused by the war healed."

"As would I, but I don't see that there is any realistic chance of it happening.

"So how should we deal with the problem of the traitor?"

"Pray, that's all we can do. Other than that, I think we should act as though nothing has happened. We'll just train the men extra well and be on our guard in case we're caught in a trap. We have to be careful though, we want to minimize the traitor's effects on us, especially this next assault."

"If I may ask, what is our next target?"

"The White House."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Very well, sir" Armand answered with a rueful grin as he stood up.

"Is that all?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well, go get some sleep, we've got a few months worth of long days ahead of us." Armand turned and reached for the door. "Oh... Armand..." Edward's call made him pause and look over his shoulder at his commander. "Thanks." Edward smiled faintly. Armand grimaced and turned to face Edward again.

"Sir, I wish I hadn't had to come in here and tell you that."

"Yes, but since it has happened, I'm glad you did tell me."

"You're welcome sir." Armand turned and left the building.

That morning found Edward on the training field overseeing his solders as they went through their combat exercises. He found himself unable to focus on their training however, as he was mulling over the problem Armand had given him the previous evening. Finally he worked out what seemed to be an appropriate course of action. He called to his Sergeant Major who was demonstrating a particular maneuver to a group of warriors. Martin quickly finished his explanation and jogged over to Edward.

"Yes sir?" he asked, saluting smartly.

"You know where the other captains are training today, correct?"

"Aye sir, I do."

"Good, send a runner to tell them to hand over training to their sergeants and meet me in the courtyard with the oak tree for a meeting. I want you to split our veterans into pairs and have each pair work with a group of newbies with you supervising."

"Yes sir. We'll get them into shape quickly that way."

"Very good, Sergeant Major, see too it. I should be back in about an hour or so."

"Aye sir." Martin turned to a small knot of trainees and hollered at one of them, "Jameson! Get over here!" Edward, satisfied that his men were in good hands, headed off to the courtyard to await his captains.

It did not take long for the six captains to arrive. Apparently they had been fairly close to each other, as well, because they all arrived at about the same time.

"So what's up, Commander?" asked Tristan, the last to arrive, as he sat at the conference table.

"We have a problem, people." Edward began without preamble, "There is reason to believe that we have a traitor in our midst.