by Noëlie Frix
“Jake, and this is Ace.”
Jake was tall and strongly muscled, probably in his fifties, with short red hair and blue eyes. His calloused hands and the sword hanging from his belt told Heka he was an experienced warrior. Which was not the case with Ace. He was shorter than her and, though he appeared fit, she doubted he’d ever handled weapons in his life. He looked about twenty, barely out of adolescence.
“Nice to meet you,” she said.
“Jake’s an experienced soldier,” Jason told her.
“Yep, I figured.”
“How so?” Jake asked in a deep voice.
“Can’t a fellow fighter recognize one of his own?”
He took her in a second time, noticing the swords upon her back, her muscled frame and steel-like eyes. And, in an instant, he knew that she was a warrior. So good he doubted his own skills would save him were he to face her.
“Yes. I can,” he smiled. “It’s an honor.”
“Thank you.”
“Excuse me,” Ace said a bit confused, “but are you one of the women volunteers?”
“You haven’t told them about me?” Heka asked Jason, faking offense.
“Not yet. Jake was just telling me how he met Ace on his first day and decided to offer his protection and mentorship.”
“Ah. Well, to answer your question, I am not one of the volunteers. Rather I am your leader, your General.”
“Beg your pardon?” he gaped.
“You heard her correctly, my dear protégé. This woman is going to lead our army. And I be damned if anyone could do better.”
“Why, I am impressed,” Heka said. “And flattered.”
“I recognize truth, and I don’t let myself fall into categories and discrimination.”
“You yourself defied all odds and rose up in the face of criticism, did you not?” she guessed.
“Yes, indeed. And I believe I can teach this here thick-head the same!” he ruffled Ace’s hair which the latter did not look happy about.
“So you’ll be teaching us to fight?”
“Yes. And I will likely be hated by the majority of my soldiers, but in the end, they usually realize harsh training was worth it.”
“Ah, well I’m glad! My own teaching won’t seem too bad after yours, I might stand a chance at being liked!” Jake laughed and, clapping Ace on the shoulder, stood up, followed by his newfound pupil. “My lady, it was a pleasure,” he bowed. “And Jason, I look forward to working with you also.”
The two Immortals stood up as well and bowed respectfully, watching the two walk away, Ace asking questions excitedly, barely waiting for answers.
“At least you’ve got two recruits who seem excited to start,” Jason smiled. “How’d your talk with Wisdom go?”
“Good, though he was pretty aggravating, as usual. ‘Try to see another path,’ ‘War is not the answer,’ blah blah blah.”
Jason chuckled, “He drives me crazy too.”
“Come on, let’s go walk around. Maybe I’ll find someone I know in the camp.”
They headed out toward the enormous stone courtyard which was, at present, covered in a sea of tents with men bustling about, sharpening weapons, sitting around fires, or simply talking. A few heads turned as Heka marched through; though they knew women were going to fight with them, the men did not expect to see one walking among them. A group of burly thuggish looking men walked to block her path, but despite the outwardly appearance they gave, she sensed no hostility from them.
Wait, Cassius?” she suddenly recognized the gladiator she had fought against all those weeks ago, back in Adalr’s capital.
“Hi, girly,” his big voice boomed. “Yankari supplied some volunteers for your war effort, most of us figured we owed it to someone as formidable as yourself.”
“Thank you all for coming,” she smiled.
“We look forward to training with you,” the Torreno tipped an invisible hat to her.
“Don’t be so quick to assume so,” Jason muttered under his breath.
He and Heka continued making their rounds. When they had reached the farthest end of the courtyard, she saw a slender boy walk into a tent who caught her eye. Warrior thought she recognized him…but it made no sense. She practically ran to join him, Jason following close behind. Heka knocked on the wooden pole holding up the tent and entered. To her surprise, her eyes hadn’t deceived her.
“Andy?”
The blond boy turned around and actually jumped when he recognized his friend.
“Heka?!”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question! Do you even know where you are?” Andy retorted.
“Of the two of us, I’ve always been the one with a good sense of direction,” she jeered, “of course I know where I am! The question is: Do you?”
“I’m at a military camp, because there’s some senseless war brewing.”
“You volunteered?” Warrior said with complete disbelief.
“Yes, because it is totally like me to choose to fight!” he replied sarcastically. “What do you think? Of course I didn’t volunteer!”
“Then why are you here?” Seeing he was about to ask her the same thing, she added. “I’ll tell you my own reasons afterward.”
Andy sighed, sat on a chair and motioned for Heka and the other boy to sit down.
“Each region allied to King Damien had a certain quota of soldiers to send. Most provinces were able to send either experienced warriors or volunteers. But since his city was closer to the enemy line, King Adalr didn’t want to deplete the entire royal garrison, and he didn’t have enough volunteers, so he had to resort to a draft.”
“And you made the cut.”
“Yep, I turned eighteen just in time to get drafted.”
“Andy, I trust you enough to tell you the truth, but you have to listen to me to the end. First off, the reason I’m here is because I am the General of the army. And why I am…well that’s a long story. Have you ever heard of Immortals?”
So she explained to him who she truly was and told him about her uncle, Death, Disease, the Moon Spirit, Jason, Trélig, her sister, the wars she’d fought. All the while, she told him her tale—periodically asking Jason to check no one overheard them—Andy listened, dumbfounded, mouth gaping, eyes progressively widening in stupor.
“572? Warrior?” he stood up, pacing agitatedly. “It…it makes sense. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it does.”
Outside, rain had started pouring and thunder rumbled in the distance.
“That’s your sister’s doing? Electra?”
Heka simply nodded.
“And you’re Jason, Shadow?”
“Yes.”
“Could you…?”
“Show you?” He shrugged and seemed to vanish, reappearing next to Andy, then walking back to Heka’s side.
“Andy, if you want to go home, you can. Being the General, I can arrange that. You wouldn’t be a deserter or in any danger of the law. You hate blood and fighting. And if you stay, you’ll probably hate me too,” she smiled.
“No. I think I need to stay.”
“You don’t have anything to prove to anyone.”
“Yes, I do. To myself. If your uncle succeeds, we’re all gonna die anyway, right? I think I’d rather die fighting if I have to.”
“You won’t die. But you will suffer,” she warned.
“She doesn’t mean by the enemy either,” Jason added. “She means because of her.”
“Won’t you go easy on me?” he asked, hopeful.
“Not a chance. Especially not if you want to survive.”
“And she tends to be harder on the people she knows and cares about,” Shadow added with a smirk. “We all tried to escape it, but none of us succeeded.”
“But you’re also a commanding officer,” Andy objected.
“So what? She’s still going to use me as her personal punching bag.”
“You know, you’re starting
to repeat yourself, maybe you are getting old.”
“Only 608, barely starting my life, dear!”
“Ah, yes,” Andy said, feeling a bit queasy, realizing the magnitude of such a secret. “And I suppose no one is to know about this?”
“I’ve always trusted you. I hope I didn’t misplace my trust.”
“No.”
“You need your rest for tomorrow,” she said soothingly. “Maybe at the end of the day, we can talk a bit more. Find Jake, talk to him, he might help you find a mentor among the soldiers here, it would be highly beneficial.”
“What’s a mentor gonna do? Aren’t you teaching us to fight?”
“Sure, but I can’t give everyone my individual attention all the time, once at least, but I am not the All-Seeing Immortal—he’s got eyes everywhere, by the way. A mentor would help you a lot. He would oversee your training, offer you protection, make sure you do things right…and probably be tough with you, but not as much as me.”
“Jake, right?” Heka nodded. “I’ll ask him.”
“See you tomorrow,” Jason said, heading out.
“Hey Andy!” Warrior turned around to face him just before walking out, “Look,” she pulled out a chain from underneath her corset and the necklace he’d given Heka for her birthday gleamed.
He smiled, and she left him to ponder all the things he had just learned, to prepare for the upcoming training and war which he had decided, against all her expectations, to be a part of.
Chapter 23: Training
(or when your General is a powerful Immortal capable of killing you with her bare hands, you would do best not to insult her)
At six the next morning, Heka went down to breakfast in the officers and Immortals dining room. There, she spotted Captain Johnson who informed her, he and his crew had volunteered to run supplies to the front lines. She thanked him and chatted with the kind man a few minutes before joining Electra, Trélig, Jason, and a couple of other Immortals sitting at a table toward the far end of the room. One, Warrior recognized as Wind, though she seemed much more tangible than the first time they had met. The other was a stranger.
Dressed in a pale blue shirt and dark blue pants, her long cascading blond, almost white, hair and sea-green eyes reminded Warrior of Wind. She spoke calmly with Venthae who smiled and waved Heka over.
“Come dear, I’d like you to meet my oldest friend, Water.”
Water stood up graciously and introduced herself as Aquae, saying she was glad to be there and would help in any way she could.
“She’s amazing,” Electra said. “I met Aquae last night,” she told her sister. “We played around with the storm a bit!”
“I realized, thank you very much. I was both soaked and nearly deaf by the time I found my room!” she groaned accusingly. “You two and Venthae will certainly be more than capable of leading our naval assault.”
“Of course. It will be fun,” Aquae winked at Storm.
“And we really need to get familiar with the ship, so I guess we’ll be missing today’s training!”
“Not in your wildest dreams, sis! You will need special training for navy and marine work, but don’t worry, I can provide that on top of your regular training.”
“Yippee,” she said crestfallen. “I envy the archers who left this morning.”
“Too bad, storms are your forte, not shooting or diplomacy. Plus it’s not even that bad!” Heka protested.
The glares she received in exchange for that comment were self-explanatory.
“Seeing as even Jason, who is second-in-command, seems as ecstatic as everyone else, I must admit, I am a bit afraid,” Venthae smiled. “I’ve been told nothing makes you spare anyone…not even being king.”
“Indeed! I will suffer alongside you, madam,” Damien said, followed by a giddy Désirée who was surprisingly wearing combat clothes instead of a gown, though they were still somehow elegant, even provocative. The king looked weary as he glanced at the Immortal who followed him half the time and had caused many unfounded rumors regarding the king’s possible love life. She led Damien by the hand and sat him down at one end of the table, gracefully sitting across from him.
“Thank you for joining with our forces,” he said to the two Elemental Immortals.
“You are most welcome, King,” Aquae replied.
“What of Earth and Fire?” Heka inquired, anxious.
“Earth says he is to remain neutral, while he will not cause us strife, he won’t be creating earthquakes beneath our enemies’ feet either.”
“As to my husband, I don’t know,” Wind sighed. “He said he might, for once, choose neutrality…or not. And if he chooses to take part in this conflict, I must say I am at a loss as to which side he will join. Fire is both life and destruction. It is difficult to know which side would take the upper hand.”
“It’s better news than I feared. Damien, when did you tell the troops practice would start?”
“Eight o’clock.”
“Good, that gives us a bit of time to prepare. Venthae, you seem able to handle convincing and getting responses from the lot of us. Could you draw up a list and ask all the Immortals to meet sometime?”
“Sure. Is tomorrow night good?”
“That would work fine. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
*****
“Hey, can I make just one request?” Jason asked as he and Heka headed toward the training grounds.
“Course.”
“Please try not to make me look too bad. If I’m supposed to help you train the recruits, I’d rather earn some respect, not just pity.”
“Don’t worry.”
“Easy for you to say. You won’t be on the receiving end of the punches and kicks,” he muttered.
“Okay, for one thing, you are the most capable to defend yourself against me—aside maybe for my uncle. I have trained you well, you can fight back. And second, as I’ve said before, I know what I’m doing. I picked you for a reason, not just as my punching bag, and certainly not so recruits could laugh at you. Are we good?”
“Sure,” Shadow didn’t sound convinced, but he wasn’t as worried. Warrior leaned over and kissed him lightly, reassuringly.
A short while later, Heka, Jason, Damien and a couple of his officers stood on a wooden platform, overlooking a veritable ocean of soldiers waiting to receive their first training.
After the king introduced her as the leader of their army, Heka could read skepticism written across most of the faces peering up at her, and knew it was only a matter of time before someone questioned her abilities and leadership. It took less than thirty seconds.
“Our General is a woman? That’s a joke, right? Or do you really want us all to die?” the voice came from the second row, and heads turned to look in the man’s direction. “Are you going to teach us how to use our perfectly manicured nails to claw at each other’s faces,” he snickered.
King Damien opened his mouth to say something but Heka stopped him, holding up her hand without having glanced back.
“What’s your name?” she spoke coldly.
“Hayden.”
“No, it is not a joke. And as your best chance of survival lies with me, I suggest a change in attitude.”
“Wow. That sounded really convincing. I’m impressed, great opening act.”
“Well then, you’ll love the main act even more, and you just volunteered for it,” she smiled condescendingly. “Come on up and don’t be shy,” Heka coaxed in a mocking tone.
Hayden seemed to hesitate but shortly decided to join her up on the scaffold overlooking the rest of the troops.
“I thought some of you might need a little demonstration to trust me with the training, since you are basically entrusting me with your lives. And Hayden here will make a perfect example.”
“Go ahead,” he replied. “I’ll even let you style my hair.”
“Jason, would you care to step aside, please?” Heka asked as he stood right behind the outspoken soldier. �
�First rules of war:” she started once Shadow had gone to stand next to the king and his officers, “never underestimate your opponent.” She stepped forward quickly, surprising Hayden, and thrust her hand into his stomach, making him double over. “Number two: know your own strengths and weaknesses,” Warrior moved behind him, kicking the back of his knee causing Hayden to crumple to the ground. “Three: technique can be a much greater advantage than relying on muscle alone.” She jabbed him in the middle of the back, her hand a blur. “And last,” Warrior moved around again, pulling Hayden up from when he knelt, “listen to your officers. Chances are, they know what they’re talking about,” Heka winked and shook Hayden’s hand. “Thank you so much for volunteering, you’ve done amazing. Though if you don’t mind, I think we should continue on to the rest of the act now, don’t you?”
Hayden looked at her, his face red with anger and humiliation. He threw a punch in her direction, which she easily deflected. Warrior grabbed his wrist, but his momentum carried him forward, past her, so that his arm was stretched out behind him. “Don’t even try,” she said in a low voice, releasing her grip. “I am not trying to hurt or discourage you,” Heka started, speaking loudly again for everyone to hear, “I am only trying to do all that I can so that you may survive. But I can only do so much. If you are unwilling to listen, unwilling to learn, then you will have no one to blame for your downfall but yourself. Then you might die, and I won’t bear the responsibility of it. Do I make myself clear?” She saw several hundred-thousands of heads nod frantically. Hayden nodded reluctantly. “No hard feelings?” she asked, reaching her hand over. He shook the proffered hand then walked back down.
This is it, she couldn’t help herself from grinning—the real training was about to begin.
Chapter 24: The Sun and Moon
As Heka walked out of the court, sweating but smiling from the harsh training of the day, she observed the men heading out. They were all drenched in sweat and dragged themselves back to their tents, ready to eat a quick dinner then go to sleep despite the early hour. All in all, it had been a very productive day, which had boosted her confidence regarding the outcome of the war and left most Immortals and humans dead tired, groaning weakly.