Monster Girl Defense Force

by Simon Archer

  One day, after Sahar cut a lock from my hair for an experiment, I made my way up to the Queen’s study, intending to update her on the alchemist’s progress, but as I approached the door, I heard voices inside speaking, and I couldn’t keep myself from stepping a little closer and listening.

  “Word of recruitment isn’t raising the numbers like I thought they would. We must think up a new recruitment strategy,” I heard Rozmarin say, her words muffled by the closed door between us. Were they speaking of recruiting troops to the army?

  “Perhaps a higher incentive?” said another female voice. Judging by the shy, yet calculative lilt of the voice, I guessed it was Aerywin.

  My hand reached out to open the door just as Rozmarin responded, and I pushed the door open, hovering in the threshold. Rozmarin and Aerywin stood at Rozmarin’s desk while Anix hovered near the doorway in front of me. “The incentive is already higher than most positions in the kingdom. Perhaps we simply aren’t getting the word out quick enough,” said Rozmarin.

  “Or maybe, you just aren’t recruiting in the right places,” I suggested, recalling how a good portion of the West Village was so desperate for an income, they would have gladly joined the Queen’s army for fair compensation, had they thought they were welcome.

  Rozmarin looked at me for the first time, and a crooked grin split her face, and for a moment, I got lost in the metallic liquid silver pools that were her eyes. “Please elaborate, my lord.”

  I tore my gaze from Rozmarin’s eyes, blinking rapidly, heat spreading across my cheeks. My eyes fell to the window which looked out over one of the courtyards. There were several lines of troops, mainly gargoyles, doing some sort of flight drill. My fingers flexed at my sides.

  “Your entire army is almost entirely composed of gargoyles. Probably from the East Village,” I said, still looking out the window into the grassy courtyard. In the distance, at the bottom of the hill that the castle stood atop and beyond the evergreens that surrounded the area, I could see the line between the East and West Village in the distance, where run-down buildings and unmaintained streets replaced the bright, colorful architecture.

  “My recruitment is equal in opportunity,” Rozmarin argued as she crossed her arms over her chest. I mentally rolled my eyes. Those in positions of power rarely ever take the time to look in the mirror and analyze their own biases.

  I turned from the window to look at the vampire Queen over my shoulder, giving her a meaningful look. “If that were true, you would have more West Villagers in your army. And more humans.”

  Something flashed in Rozmarin’s eyes, and it took me a moment to realize that it was anger. “As I’ve told you before, we welcome humans in any position we have available. I will give them the same opportunities as every other species. That goes for the West Village as well. I cannot hire them if they do not apply,” she replied, voice tight.

  I placed my hands on my hips, my own temper flaring at her words. “Right, because it’s so easy for West Villagers to just ditch their daily survival challenge and magically gain the funds and resources to make the two-day trek on foot to the castle. News flash, Your Highness, the people I know in the West Village would jump at the opportunity to make a decent living, especially if it meant protecting their loved ones.”

  In the time it took for me to get the words out, Rozmarin’s face had changed from angry to thoughtful. She made to move around her desk, leaving Aery standing behind it. When she made it to the front, she leaned back against it and ran a hand through her dark hair. She took another deep breath before she spoke again, and it surprised me to hear hope rather than grudging resignation.

  “Perhaps you have a point,” she sighed and scrubbed her face with one hand. “What do you suggest as a solution, my lord?”

  I turned to look out of the window once more, at the tiny section of the kingdom that was once my home. Now, with everything that had happened since I left, it all felt like a distant memory. Still, the realities of growing up in such a rough area would never leave me. I would always keep that part of me tucked in a little pocket of my heart because some part of me would always be the little thief from the wrong side of the tracks.

  “You need to start rebuilding your relationship with them. Enable them, so they have a fighting chance. Post flyers informing them about the army’s recruitment. Send wagons there to pick people up and bring them to the castle for tryouts or whatever you call them. Just… try. For once, let them know that you haven’t abandoned them.” With every word, each one burned with more and more passion as I continued to speak.

  Rozmarin gazed at me as if she was seeing me in a new light. Though her gaze was solemn, hope sparked in her eyes. Surprisingly, though, it was Anix who spoke the next words.

  “I thought recruitment would be too much to ask of the poorer sections of the kingdom. In the Old World, I have seen poor men fighting rich men’s wars. I did not want history to repeat itself, and that is why I chose not to recruit in those areas. Also, I do not have much experience training humans except for a brief period during the Great Purge.”

  It was the most I’d ever heard the gargoyle speak at once. Even Rozmarin was looking at her friend like she’d grown a third head.

  “You didn’t tell me you had a recruitment strategy,” Rozmarin said, her voice surprised.

  The Doom Bringer just shrugged. “I suppose I just felt that we could work with only our strengths without having to burden the weaker areas.”

  This time, it was my turn to sigh. “West villagers aren’t helpless, you know. Just because most of us were dealt a shitty hand doesn’t mean you should perpetuate it by keeping them crammed into the same areas. Give them a chance to defend their home the same way you do with everyone else.”

  The gargoyle nodded her head slowly, her dragon eyes narrowed in concentration. “I suppose I could start sending recruiters out with flyers. We can send a wagon to the West Village regularly, depending on the initial recruitment numbers, to pick up new recruits and bring them to the castle for trials and training.”

  And just like that, the Queen and her war commander, the Doom Bringer, listened to my argument, came up with a solution, and in a matter of minutes, they were planning out how to incorporate a new recruitment plan because of my suggestion. It was an odd feeling, suddenly having so much power over the changes made to the kingdom when I’d spent most of my life as a victim of my own circumstances. And now that I was here, I could be a voice for the others out there like me, people constantly underestimated and taken for granted. Now, I could make a difference.

  After Anix left to put our new recruitment strategy into action, Aerywin took her exit not far behind her. Once they were gone, Rozmarin turned to me. Her eyes fell to below my waist, and another crooked smile formed on her face.

  “How do you like your new weapon sheath, my lord? Sahar tells me you have been spending much quality time with your new dagger.”

  I perked up at that, my eyes rising to meet hers in a moment of surprise.

  “You’re the one who put this in my closet?” I asked, incredulously, as I ran my fingers across the now-familiar grooves of the stitching on my belt.

  Rozmarin gave a one-shouldered noncommittal shrug. “Technically, Sahar did.” But she had gotten it for me, is what she didn’t say. She didn’t have to.

  “Thank you,” I told her, my voice soft.

  The smile slid from her face, and she stepped away from the desk she’d been leaning against and closed the distance between us. I stood frozen in front of her window, watching as she approached me, her expression unreadable. She stopped a foot and a half away, close enough for me to see the rise and fall of her chest but far enough so that there wasn’t an awkward tension between us.

  “It is I who should be the one thanking you.”

  Again, her words caused me to look down in surprise. When I did, I could see centuries worth of grief and work and determination. At that moment, I realized that, despite her age and experience, she sti
ll had a lot to learn. But the difference between her and other creatures who lived to be her age was that she was still willing to adapt and change for the good of her people, for Constanta.

  The feeling of being a part of something bigger than myself, the feeling of kinship, of belonging, was like no other feeling I’d experienced before.

  I offered the Queen a wicked smile. “I suppose you’re right. How do you feel about me starting some dagger training with Anix?”

  23

  Christoff

  I did not do dagger training with Anix. Instead, I trained with the entire Constantan army.

  Every day, after spending the morning in the alchemy lab, continuing to soak in every bit of alchemy related information that I could and practicing with my powers, I would meet the troops who had been training all morning out in the west courtyard. At this point, Anix had figured out that it was best to divide the troops into separate courtyards for different drills. Most of the army was still mainly made up of gargoyles and other supernaturals, mainly vampires, fairies, and the occasional werewolf. Recruits from the West Village, particularly humans, were minimal despite the increased recruitment effort in the area.

  On the first day of my training, I met Anix and a hundred other troops in the west courtyard, dressed in my usual workout attire that I usually wore in the armory. I was one of the large numbers of men there, and I was by far the tallest, especially compared to a few thin, jumpy scarred elves who lived to fight and train. We broke up into groups of twenty or less, running through drills led by Anix’s captains. Unfortunately, it was sword training that day.

  Ten minutes into the first drill, I was panting, sweat dripping down my back as we all ran through the same movements together, repeatedly. The surrounding soldiers wore armor, both as protection from getting nipped by their neighbor’s swords and to weigh them down for extra endurance training.

  Before my second day of training, a hanger with padded leather armor appeared in my closet with a note from Rozmarin that read:

  My lord, I hear you had an eventful first day of training. This should tide you over until you can build up to using metal armor.

  A small smile formed on my lips as I read the Queen’s beautiful cursive scrawl. Compared to her elegant penmanship, mine looked like chicken scratch. I glanced over at my desk to the half-written letters to my family that I never got to finish. I sighed. The letters could wait. Until when? I wasn’t sure.

  On my second day of training with the Constantan army, I received more than a few impressed glances when the supernatural soldiers realized that I hadn’t quit after my first day. Still, the drills were just as brutal, if not more so. Thankfully, Sahar made me up a potion that she often gave to the troops for quick muscle recovery, but not before sending me to the infirmary to have my cuts treated.

  On the fourth day of my training, I made my first friend in the army with a gargoyle named Sawyer. He was a particularly large gargoyle with a feline, panther-like face and black, furry wings that rippled when the muscle beneath them moved. Though he was one of the younger gargoyles, he was working his way up to a Captain’s position. He’d greeted me on that fourth day with a wink and a smile that was all fangs.

  “The human boy returns for more!” he’d said loudly. “Pay up, boys.”

  The soldiers around him grumbled and begrudgingly handed him pouches of coin right in front of me as if they didn’t think I’d understand what was going on. Little did they know they were dealing with a common thief from the West Village. I knew a wager when I saw one. My mouth curved up at the corners in amusement, surprising even the young and cocky gargoyle who had bet in my favor.

  “You guys had a bet going, and you didn’t tell me? Damn, I wanted in on that.”

  A week into my training with the army, I fell into a comfortable routine with my fellow soldiers. We joked and bonded during midday meals in the Great Hall, our longest break from training throughout the day. But most of all, we trained. The soldiers in my squadron helped me through the drills I struggled most with. They showed me how to clean my leather armor when it got unbearably smelly from sweat and blood. Likewise, I showed them how to secretly pickpocket someone without them noticing and how to pick a lock in under five seconds.

  My skills as a thief were surprisingly useful, not so much in battle, but in strategy. I continued to spend most of my nights with the Queen’s council, constantly updating, constantly strategizing. Anix and I grew more familiar with each other in those days as well, as I witnessed her in her element with her soldiers.

  I had always known that the Doom Bringer was a badass on the battlefield and the most respected war general in the entire continent, but seeing her interact with her soldiers, overseeing their training, eating with them? It painted her in a whole new light for me. She wasn’t just a deadly killing machine or the quiet, hovering presence in the corner of a room. She was also an incredible leader who had earned the respect of her troops through years of grueling training and planning and service. This was the Doom Bringer I came to know in those days.

  Two weeks into my training with the Constantan army, there was still no word from the eastern kingdoms. Aerywin sent off letters to each of them, and we still awaited correspondences from each except for the kingdom just south of Constanta. We continued to train hard and strategize while the alchemists worked day in and day out in the lab. One evening, while Rozmarin, the Queen’s council, and I were eating in the Queen’s private dining room, Rozmarin turned to Anix, a glass of crimson liquid in hand. She looked every bit the Vampire Queen that she was at that moment.

  “How have the human recruitments in the West Village been progressing?” Rozmarin asked, her tone casual. “I noticed that the wagons haven’t been coming and going from there very often.”

  Rachel and Aery both looked up at the Queen’s question, their gazes curious. Sahar had opted to skip the nighttime meal in favor of staying late to work in the lab. My mouth turned down at the recruitment news. I had noticed a lack of human recruitments in the past weeks as well, despite the extra effort. Anix set her fork down and wiped her mouth with the napkin laid out before her.

  “I don’t think we’ve gotten more than ten or fifteen since we started recruiting in that area,” the Doom Bringer replied with a sympathetic glance in my direction.

  The Queen nodded solemnly. “I supposed ten or fifteen is better than none.”

  “Hardly,” Rachel snorted. “Those numbers are nothing. There are at least a hundred thousand humans in the West Village, and that isn’t even including the supernaturals.”

  “Perhaps you need a separate emissary to handle recruitments and relationship building for the West Village.” This suggestion came from the only emissary in the room, Aerywin. A beat of silence filtered through everyone before Rozmarin leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table.

  “That is a compelling approach, Aery, but who would you suggest for the position?” Rozmarin asked.

  Slowly, one by one, the gazes of each of the Queen’s council, including the Queen herself, came to rest on me. I froze in my seat, shoulders stiff from more than just training.

  “You can’t be serious,” I said.

  “Who else would you have take on the role if not the only one of the Queen’s Council who is actually from the West Village?” Aerywin said, her eyes wide with misunderstanding, her tone confused.

  My own eyes widened at her words. “Queen’s council?” I put my hands up in front of me, preparing to wave off her statement. “I’m not--”

  But before I could denounce Aerywin’s assumption about me being one of them, Rachel interrupted me. “Of course you are,” she snapped.

  “Are what?” Anix asked, confused.

  “One of us,” Rachel sighed, clearly irritated that she even had to clarify, not to the gargoyle, but to me. Her annoyed gaze met my own, and my chin lifted indignantly. “Whether you like it or not, you’re a part of the Queen’s Council now. The responsibility to fill the gaps whe
re we see them lies with all of us, including you.” Her gaze narrowed further, though her tone softened ever so slightly with her next words. “So, deal with it.”

  Though irritation laced her words, I knew that she meant every word. It filled me with a sense of place and belonging amongst creatures who’d experienced far more years than I was likely to ever see. I carefully reached for my glass of wine while holding the charcoal lined gaze of the Queen’s Second in Command.

  “Well, when you put it like that,” I said before I chugged the entirety of my glass’s bittersweet contents, “I’ll do it… but only if Rosie does something in return…”

  24

  Rozmarin

  “I’ll do it… but only if Rosie does something in return…”

  That something in return was to accompany Christoff to the West Village to help with the recruiting efforts. On the designated day of Christoff’s first trip back to his old home, I woke up at dawn and readied myself for the day ahead. As I dressed in a practical pair of slacks and a dark blue blouse, I trembled in anticipation.

  My last trip to the West Village had been to locate Christoff and offer him and his family the deal that had now interlocked our fates, and before that, I rarely had set foot into the town, thinking the villagers wouldn’t want me there, but Christoff had slowly been opening my eyes to the plight of the many humans and supernaturals that called the west side home.

  After a quick breakfast of blood, I met Chris, Adriana, and a few of her soldiers and some guards in the courtyard in front of the castle. Several wagons waited at the forest’s edge, one for us and three more to bring back any recruits. As I descended the castle steps, Adriana and Christoff turned to look at me.

  The morning sun, now high and bright in the sky, adorned Christoff in a godly glow, and I felt my stomach do somersaults as he grinned up at me with his messy brown hair blowing in the breeze.