The rest of the day went by in a blur for Idelle. After breakfast, everyone was instructed to bring anything they had in the camp back into the barracks and then to quickly convene in the main courtyard to begin the cleanup process. There were a few questions, a young woman asked what to do if her lodging had been destroyed and was told to talk to her commander (or failing that, one of the secretaries) to find a newly unused room, but no complaints from the assembled soldiers. Like Idelle, they mostly seemed happy to throw themselves into the catharsis of simple labor.

Idelle didn’t really have any possessions beyond the little already left in her room, so she took the time to finally change her underclothes before somewhat nervously putting her sword back on the weapon rack.

Down in the gray courtyard, they were told to sort back into their units if they could. Then the miscellaneous remainder whose commanding officers were injured or dead were quickly reassigned to temporarily fill gaps in other groups. Cateline’s hunting squad was better than many, but it was apparent that between the dead and injured the troop count had been reduced by more than a third. A few stragglers were assigned to their group; Idelle tried not to think about who they were replacing.

After that, things quickly devolved into mindless work. They were told to focus on clearing the roads so wagons or carts could pass through again and aid with further efforts. Under Cateline’s directions, the group quickly worked to shift piles of stone, brick, half-burned boards, and other rubble into whatever empty places they could find, hauling anything that might still be usable into rough piles here and there between burnt-out plots.

By the time they broke for a quick meal, Idelle’s hands were sore from the constant abrasion of rough edges and splinters. She glanced around and realized that most of the others in the group were wearing gloves, with the few who weren’t nursing cuts and scrapes. She guessed that this must be another benefit of her powers, then. Was there anything about her body it didn’t improve?

Once she finished eating, she slid her hands under her jacket, despite the cold not bothering them.

Then it was back to the ash-covered streets. The slog continued until it was nearly dark, with Cateline only calling for them to stop when she noticed some of the group starting to stumble, from exhaustion or perhaps simply the poor visibility. She gave the group a few terse words of congratulations on the work, and then they trudged back to the courtyard to be dismissed, with instructions to meet up again tomorrow in the late morning.

As Idelle turned to go with the rest, Cateline called out to her. She warily turned around, but the sergeant quickly explained. “It’s about what you asked for yesterday. They’re planning to burn the bodies tonight.”

Idelle took a moment to recall. Right, she’d asked Cateline if they’d found any corpses from the attackers. She nodded and nervously followed the woman a little ways back into the city. She was greeted by a rank stench that left her gagging a minute before she saw the corpses. A wide space had been cleared in what was once likely a shrine of some sort (before it had been burned) and a small pile of bodies had been unceremoniously stacked in the center atop wood and charcoal.

Idelle stepped forward. Should she ask Cateline to leave? No, better to examine first… She leaned forward and carefully sniffed. The decay and rot filled her nose and she retched despite herself, forcing down bile. No, it won’t do at all. Too long dead.

She shook her head. “Sorry. They’ve been dead too long, the spell won’t work.”

Cateline shrugged. “Figures. Come with me then, Adrian wanted to confirm some things with you.”

Idelle glanced up at her. “You talked to him already?”

“There’s a merchant caravan leaving tomorrow, I figured you might want in.”

She nodded in thanks and quickly fell back in behind the sergeant’s fast stride back to the barracks.

Adrian was back in his austere office and looked up expectantly as Cateline entered with Idelle behind her. They stopped in front of his desk, and he gave her a long, careful look. Finally, he spoke. “Sergeant Cateline tells me you want to enroll in one of the academies. Do you know which one?”

Idelle replied without hesitating. “Hunters.”

He nodded without expression. “That would make sense with what you told me. Are you aware that all the academies require a tuition fee from commoners? There are scholarships available, and you might well qualify if what you told me about your ability is true, but there’s no guarantee.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Idelle stared back at him, face carefully kept still. “I am. I’ll make it work.” She was aware now, at least.

“Admirable determination.” He turned to Cateline. “You said she agreed to travel with the merchant caravans, yes?”

Cateline nodded amiably. “That’s right.”

He nodded. “In that case, I see no reason to say no. It’s much wiser than trying to hunt alone and untrained, certainly.” Idelle kept her gaze fixed on him, trying to evaluate the man. Was he just letting her go, or was there something else he was implying? Adrian didn’t seem to notice her look as he continued. “You’ll need some supplies, yes?”

Idelle shrugged. “I’ve made do before, but if you’re offering…”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ll just arrange for a pack to be sent to your room. Along with some new clothes, I think.”

“...Thanks.” He was being patronizing again, wasn’t he? She ignored the spark of annoyance this time. He’d be out of her hair soon enough.

He waved dismissively. “Not a problem. I hope you’ll do the kingdom, and Her Highness, proud.” He looked to Cateline again. “Was there anything else, Sergeant?”

Cateline shook her head and saluted, Idelle awkwardly imitating her after a moment’s hesitation, and quickly turned and left the room as Adrian returned to the papers on his desk. Idelle followed her again, forcing herself not to look back. The older woman spoke as the door closed behind them.

“See, he’s reasonable enough. Ya wanted to see a map still as well?”

Idelle nodded. “Please.”

“All right, then.”

Cateline lead the way, and they stepped into another office a few dozen meters further down the corridor. Smaller, but more decorated, with oversized horns, teeth, and even a full skull mounted on the walls behind the woman. Cateline caught Idelle’s look and grinned at her. “Trophies. I went to the hunter’s academy back in the day as well, ya know. It’s a good choice.”

Idelle tried not to avert her gaze. “Oh, um. I didn’t know.”

“I don’t talk about it much. It’s not all that relevant, usually.” The sergeant pulled open her desk, and unfurled a rolled map on the surface, pushing aside a few other papers in the process. Idelle saw one of them was a list of names, with some of them crossed off in red, and quickly turned her attention to the map.

Cateline carefully scrutinized the map. “Let’s see, Morlais is right… Here.” The woman pointed to a little labeled drawing of a city, nestled in the mountains to the north of the map.

Her finger moved southwest across the map. “And Wyrlet is here. The caravan is heading east, towards the capital, so you’ll need to find a group going north at some point.”

Idelle quickly took in as much as she could of the chart. Wyrlet was a drawing of a castle, on the edge of the same range of mountains that led northeast to Morlais. West of the mountains was a mass of forest, while to the east stretched what appeared to be hilly plains, gradually giving way to a further, more interspersed, mess of mountains, worming like caterpillars to the southwest.

She didn’t see the name she was looking for in the plains, however. Her eyes fell southward, where the plains eventually gave way to a desert. There it was, right next to the desert. Hudbria. Another city near the mountains — she wondered why were there so many? Well, it didn’t matter right now.

She looked back up at Cateline. “Thanks. Just wanted to know more or less where I’m going. For once.” She said the last words dryly.

The sergeant let out a snorted chuckle at her joke. “You’re welcome. We’re sending a group of troops with the merchants to help requisition supplies, as several of the granaries were destroyed. They’ll be meeting in the courtyard tomorrow and leaving after the second bell. Anything else you need?”

Idelle shook her head. “Thanks again. I’ll pay you back, someday.”

Cateline’s reply was as matter-of-fact as usual. “I’ll be waiting.”

The end of the day passed just as quickly as the start. Idelle went and forced herself to eat a little more, before returning to her room to find a large backpack, partially packed with some food, a large canvas cloth, cord, and other travel essentials laid out alongside a replacement gambeson and other clothes. It seemed generous of Adrian to arrange all this, but then a cynical part of her reminded her that there was surely no shortage of extra equipment, after the other night.

She took the time to go through everything and pack what little extra she had inside. Mostly just more clothes, some of them in need of washing. Oh well. She also still had the dress she’d purchased with… What was her name? Martine. She hoped the other girl was still alive, Idelle couldn’t remember seeing her since the attack. She hesitated for a moment, then decided to pack it as best she could. It might still be useful to look important at some point, after all.

The only other thing of note she found was Cecilia’s letter, from when she’d first arrived, placed carefully inside the drawer in the small desk. She crumpled it into a ball and threw it angrily into the corner of the room. She definitely wouldn’t need that. Maybe she’d grab it tomorrow and burn it, or throw it into a river.

After that, she took some of the cord and did her best to tie her sword to the pack, a little awkwardly. It really was too big to easily carry around like this, but there was no way she was giving up on it. Bribe or no, it had saved her life, and unless she decided to hide somewhere and live as a farmer for the rest of her life, she’d be needing it again.

She took one last glance around the room, then crawled under the covers of her bed to descend once more into fitful sleep.