An hour before sundown a runner came up from the rear of the column. He was a little out of breath, but he didn't let that stop him, “Sir,” he said, stopping beside Flare's horse. “One of the supply wagons has cracked a wheel. The wagon master thinks it will take an hour or so to repair.”
He looked around at the location of the sun in the sky. “Good timing.” He said to no one in particular. “All right, we'll stop here for the night.” He pointed to a large field that was slightly overgrown with weeds. “That field looks abandoned, pass the order to make camp there.”
“Yes sir,” the boy said, saluting.
Flare shook his head, that boy looked like he was thirteen or fourteen.
Flare helped raise the long tent that he would share with the other guardians. He was the leader, but being the leader was a temporary assignment, and it was best that he not get used to having others do his work for him.
Philip was working to get the tent tied down, “Are we to riding in the same spots tomorrow?” He asked.
Flare looked up. Philip had changed a lot. He couldn't imagine Philip even considering asking him for orders two years ago. “I hadn't thought about it. Why?”
Philip motioned to the dust that covered his face and clothes. “I rode in the rear today, and I was hoping not to eat so much dust tomorrow.”
Flare smiled, “It only seems fair to rotate.”
Philip opened his mouth, but just then a corporal ran up to the guardians' campsite. “Excuse me, Sir, there's a problem.”
“What's the matter?” Flare asked quickly.
“Two soldiers got into a fight. One of them accused the other of stealing.”
Flare sighed; it seemed that he would have to take Sergeant Danlion's advice sooner than he had feared. “All right. Bring both soldiers to our tent.” A knot was starting to form in his belly. He was not looking forward to what he had to do.
He stepped into the tent; several of the other guardians followed him. “Before the soldiers get here, I have to be rough, and I don't want any of you disagreeing with me in front of the soldiers. Understood?”
They murmured their assent just as the corporal led in two soldiers. They were both young and they bore the scrapes of their tussle. The tall one on the right had a black eye and a bloody lip. The shorter one on the left wore an angry look on his face, but he seemed to have made out better in the fight.
The corporal stepped forward, “Sir, these are the two soldiers that we caught fighting. He motioned to the taller one, “private Delon accused private Marall of stealing.” He motioned to the shorter soldier, “We searched private Marall's possessions and found a money purse that bears private Delon's mark.”
Flare turned to the soldier on the left, “private Marall, it would seem that you have been caught beyond any doubt. What do you have to say for yourself?”
The gruff young man shrugged his shoulders, “You caught me. What can I say?”
Flare was quite frankly amazed at the lack of concern in the young man. “Well, you could apologize for one thing.” He answered.
Marall spit, “Would that really do any good? I mean we would both know that I was lying.”
Flare blinked, and then anger starting welling up within him. “It might have done some good,” he paused, before quietly adding, “but it won't now.” Marall was making it awful easy to follow Sergeant Danlion's advice.
Flare turned his attention to private Delon. “Tell me what happened.”
“Yes sir. I pitched my tent quickly, and then left to go to the privy. I returned and saw him,” he pointed at private Marall, “emerging from my tent. I stopped him, but he tried to force his way past me and I punched him.”
“You punched him first?” Flare asked, looking again at darker bruises on Delon's face.
“A lot of good it did him,” Marall snarled. “I whipped his butt good.”
“Enough!” Flare snapped at Marall. “You will keep quiet unless I speak to you. Do you understand?”
“You are no better that the rest of us. As soon as we get to the fort, you'll just be another soldier like me.” Marall mumbled.
Flare's anger had welled up white hot, “Enton, come here.”
Enton jumped at hearing his name called out, but he came over quickly. “Yes, sir.”
Flare pointed to private Marall. “Take him out and tie him to a tree, and give him ten lashes with a whip.” Marall's eyes bulged. Flare turned his gaze to Kara, “You are not to treat him until tomorrow morning.”
Enton merely nodded and started over to Marall. Kara turned her head toward Flare and opened her mouth to speak, but he shot her a look and she snapped her mouth shut.
He waited until Enton and Marall had left the tent, and then turned his attention to Delon. Delon was smugly watching Marall being escorted out and it pained Flare to do what he had to do. “Private Delon. You have admitted to breaking the law of the army of Telur.” At his words, Delon's head snapped up and turned toward him. “By striking a fellow soldier instead of seeking out your squad leader, you have committed a crime and you must share in the punishment.”
“What!” Delon exclaimed. “He was guilty. I caught him in the act of stealing.”
Flare held up his hand and Delon fell silent. “He is being punished for his guilt, but you are also guilty of a crime, and I must punish you for it as well.” Flare's mouth was dry at watching the young man's fear. He wasn't sure, but Flare thought that he might would have done the same thing that Delon had done. He motioned to Derek, “Derek, escort this soldier to Enton. He is to get three lashes from the whip.” Derek led the soldier from the tent.
As he expected, a woman's voice was the first to break the silence.
“Flare! That was cruel and uncalled for.” Kara said vehemently.
“Kara,” Flare began patiently, “I did what I had to do. These soldiers viewed us not as their leaders but as their equals. Now, they will understand who is in charge.”
“And if another one steals or breaks some other rule?” She asked, indignant.
He dropped his eyes, “Then the punishments will only get worse.”
Atock, who was standing to one side, looked puzzled. “I don't understand what the problem is.” He said, looking first to Flare and then to Kara. “In my homeland, a thief would have had his hand cut off without anyone even blinking. Marall should consider himself lucky that I wasn't judging him.”
Kara looked angrily from Flare to Atock. Turning on her heel, she marched from the tent.
Atock asked, “Flare, who is she mad at, you or me?”
“I don't know. Maybe a little of both.” He answered shrugging.
The next morning, Flare was up well before dawn. He had slept little, worrying if he had done the right thing. He could never show the doubt in front of the soldiers or other guardians, but he was afraid that maybe he had been too harsh.
The camp was already alive in preparation for the day's travels. He found that it was easier not to dwell if he was lost in the breaking of camp.
The sun had just broken the horizon, when Flare finished breakfast and left to find the two soldiers that he had punished the night before. He found them on the edge of camp where they had been whipped. The two trees that had been used to hold them had also taken some damage from the whips and those slashes on the trees worried him even more. Was it too much?
Kara was already there and had treated the wounds on the soldiers' backs. Their bare backs had been covered in a gooey white salve.
Kara looked exhausted; she apparently hadn't slept much the night before either.
At Flare's approach, the two soldiers and their corporal snapped to attention.
“At ease.” Flare said, and the three men relaxed a little.
The corporal spoke up, “Sir, we were just returning to our place in the ranks.”
Flare ignored him and stepped in front of Marall, “Private Marall, do I have to worry about you stealing anything again?”
Fear passed over
the soldier's eyes, but Marall did a reasonable job of hiding it. “No sir! That will not happen again.” He said, shaking his head to emphasize his words.
“Good.” Flare said, before he moved over to stand in front of Delon. “And how about you private Delon, will you take justice into your hands again?”
The young man swallowed, “No sir! I will take the matter to my corporal.”
“Good.” Flare said, feeling better that at least the discipline had the desired affect. He moved over to stand in front of the corporal. “Corporal, justice is to be swift, but it is to be tempered with mercy. These men have had a rough night and I doubt they could march until sundown.” He paused, as if he was thinking of what to do, even though he had already decided. He just wanted to make sure that the soldiers showed the proper respect and at least pretended that they had learned their lessons. “I know what we can do, let these men ride in the supply wagons for today. Tomorrow they can resume marching in their squads.”
A respectful smile spread across the face of the corporal. “Yes sir! I will escort them there myself.”
“Good.” Flare said, “You better get going. We're leaving soon.”
The three soldiers moved off quickly toward the supply wagons and Flare walked toward the front of the column without saying a word to Kara. The whole time he walked, he could feel her smile on his back.
The weather for the trip was wonderful. This early in the spring, it was cool enough at night to need a blanket, but the days warmed up nicely. The men marching in ranks even were sweating through the middle of the day, although Flare rarely broke a sweat on his horse. He was relieved that the two examples of discipline seemed to have been enough. There weren’t any more major breaches of protocol after that first evening, although he soon realized that the squad leaders were organizing wrestling matches in the evenings. It wasn't long before he realized that the wrestling matches were being used to settle disagreements. He pretended not to notice what was going on, because he approved of the squad leaders’ handling of the problems, he even briefly wondered which of them had first came up with the idea.
They made camp the third night within sight of a small town. Actually it looked more like a large village than a town. With the sun ready to go down, they had found two small fields on either side of the road that had not been planted, and they had split the men up into two camps. Derek had called the town by name, but Flare quickly forgot the name he used. They had passed quite a few villages in the several days since they had left Telur, and both times their passage had been the same. The adults seemed to line the dirt streets watching the soldiers march through, while the kids ran along beside the soldiers. So far, their passing had not caused any problems, but he still got nervous with all those soldiers marching through.
They had just finished raising their tent, and Flare and the other guardians were arranging their gear, when a sudden thought occurred to him. “Do you think that the men will try to visit that town tonight?”
Aaron looked at Derek, and they both shrugged, “Perhaps.” Aaron said, “After all, they are just soldiers and they will probably want to have some fun.”
“I don't care if they do, except a few probably won't make it back by morning.”
He thought about it for several moments, “Make their squad leaders responsible. Their squad leaders will suffer any punishments the men do.” He raised his eyes to meet Aaron's, “Pass that word to the squad leaders. I don't want to be delayed one minute tomorrow morning. Make sure they understand that.”
Aaron nodded his head, “I'll do it now.” He headed out into the dusk.
Derek smiled, unrolling his blankets, “That was a good idea. It ought to keep the men out of trouble.” He paused, a smile touching the corners of his mouth, “If you keep this up, they will have to make you an officer.” He carefully avoided Flare's eyes.
The rest of the guardians also carefully avoided his gaze, but he could see their poor attempts to hide smiles. After a moment of frowning at Derek's back, Flare turned away to hide his own smile.
Flare was pleased to see that there weren't any delays in breaking camp the next day. His orders had the desired affect, and all the men were accounted for, although many of them looked unhappy.
They made good time and it was a beautiful spring day. The day remained cool and didn't get too hot to be enjoyable, and the woods that they were now riding through were filled with the signs of life. The trees relaxed him, and he even surprised the soldiers by whistling a merry tune as they worked their way up the road.
His mood lasted throughout the day and he was still in a wonderful mood as they made camp that evening at dusk. All it took to snap him out of the good mood was a woman.
Flare was wandering through the camp and nodding to the soldiers as he passed. They had set up camp in what appeared to be an abandoned farmer's field, and the tents had gone up quickly. The soldiers slept three to a tent, and he still couldn't figure out how they managed to get three men in one of those little tents.
He walked past a small soldiers' tent just as the flap was swung open and a woman exited the tent adjusting her clothes. He stopped in his tracks blinking at the woman.
The woman was young, perhaps sixteen or seventeen years old. She was slightly plump, but attractive. She had long brown hair that hung to her hips and smooth tan skin. She was wearing a tight shirt that stopped right below her breasts and a short skirt that didn't reach to her knees. Her eyes were brown, and she had high cheek bones. Even though she was young, she already had that hour glass figure that men appreciated so much. She noticed Flare watching her and smiled.
“Hello, good sir. Is there anything that I can do for you?” She asked, licking her lip. Her voice had a strange accent; it seemed that pronounced certain letters with a drawl. “A copper penny for an hour or a silver scepter for all night.” A silver scepter was the common name for the silver coin used in Telur. The scepter had an engraving of the king's scepter on one side and the throne of the god Adel on the other.
His brow wrinkled in confusion, “What? What are you doing in this camp?” He finally managed to get out.
Now it was the girl's turn to blink in confusion, “You mean that you really don't know?” She asked.
A young blond soldier emerged from the tent, only half dressed. “Sir.” He said. His eyes bulging as he saw Flare.
Flare pointed to the girl, “What is she doing here?”
The man appeared to be trying to stand at attention, but he shifted as he glanced over at the girl. “Hawking her wares, sir.”
Flare did not want to discuss her wares at the moment, “Did you bring her with you from that town we passed last night?” He demanded.
“N-No sir!” The man said quickly. “She approached me after I pitched my tent and offered....”
Flare cut him off, not wanting to hear the girl's offer. “Where are you from?” He asked the girl.
The girl had quietly watched the exchange between Flare and the soldier, and knew that Flare was someone of authority. She made a poor attempt at a curtsy, “My name is Elona, and I work for Dale Stonewood. We followed you from Silverwood.”
“Silverwood?” Flare repeated, dimly remembering that was the name of the town they had passed last night. “Why?”
The girl shrugged. “Not much business in Silverwood, and Dale thought us girls could stay busy with the soldier boys.” Her eyes flicked to the soldier, and he blushed under her gaze.
Flare turned his attention back to the soldier, who was trying not to squirm. “What's your name?”
“Arn Bakersson from Wheils Ferry.”
“Arn, I want you to escort Elona to the guardians’ tent, and then...”
“Uh, excuse me.” The girl said interrupting him. “It will still be a copper for an hour or silver for all night.”
Flare took a deep breath and looked at the young girl, “Miss Elona, I am not hiring you, I am arresting you.”
“What!” Elona said, her voice rising t
o where it was almost a shout.
“Arn. Escort her to the tent!” Flare said, half shouting himself. The soldier jumped to obey.
Flare sat in a wooden chair in the middle of the guardians' tent, wondering how things had gotten in such a mess. They had only left Telur a few days ago, but things seemed to be spiraling out of control. Several of the other guardians were present, as well as Elona, who was quietly sitting off to the side.
“It's not right,” Kara said emphatically, sitting on a small chest. “No one should be degraded and abused this way.”
“No one disagrees with you on that,” Murleen responded. “However, it is legal, and there's nothing that we can do about it.” She was sitting on an oversized outcropping of rock. Several torches were already lit because of the rapidly failing sunlight.
“But there is,” Kara argued, “We can at least keep her under arrest until we reach the fort. No one should be allowed to do this.”
Murleen bristled at the words, “No one should be allowed to do this?” Murleen repeated. She pointed at the young girl. “She's a free citizen of Telur, and just because she makes a decision that we don't agree with, doesn't give us the right to hold her against her will.”
Kara turned to face Murleen, “Murleen, of all people, I thought that you would agree with me.”
“Why? Because I am a woman. I hate what she does, but I also hate you trying to tell her what she can and can't do.”
Kara turned back toward Flare, “Flare she was trespassing, and that gives you the right to hold her until we reach Mul-Dune. I suggest that you do it. I also suggest that you make an example of the soldier.”
A sinking feeling settled on him and it felt like things were only going to get worse. “Kara, why do you want me to make an example of the soldier? Is it because he helped a person trespass into camp, or is it because he hired a prostitute?” He respected Kara's strict moral feelings on the issue, but he couldn't overrule the King, after all, it was a legal profession.
The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series Page 16