They rode for days. On horseback, the empire was much bigger than it looked on a map. Maude had known how to ride a horse for most of her life, and many considered a good rider. But she had never ridden for so many days consecutively. Her thighs and hips were bruised from all the bouncing. She could have never imagined that the vast, open farming fields of the empire could be as bumpy as they actually were.

Over the course of the days, Maude had seen so many things she’d never seen before. Animals, trees, flowers, patterns of clouds in the sky, and some of the most beautiful sunsets she’d ever seen. But she’d had little to no time to admire any part of it.

As soon as they stopped anywhere, there was food to be made, tents to be erected, sleeping arrangements to be organized, and maps to be reviewed. Being the only female in the entire unit meant that she was also hyper aware of ensuring she had some level of privacy, something that seemed to be at a premium in tents.

The first couple of days it had been nearly impossible to sleep, and the next two she’d been asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. For the most part, everyone seemed too tired to try anything she’d been concerned about.

Perhaps the most surreal part of it all was how calm it had been. She’d only had to break up a couple of fist fights. In spite of the fact that they were all riding to their potential deaths, all of the soldiers in Maude’s unit seemed to be carefree and assured of victory. Even though it was her first time leading anything in her entire life, the soldiers seemed to be in utter awe every time she did anything. All she had to do was slash her sword in a beginner move, and all of them were filled with reverence for her capabilities. She didn’t really know what to make of it, or even how to really deal with it, so she’d just tried to ignore it.

Finally, on the fifth day, they made it to the designated site where they would be camping before going into battle. They’d made it over the border into the Aulbertian territory and under the cover of trees of the forest that lie in Aulbert. The forest was a stark contrast to the rolling hills, fields, and deserted land that her unit had to ride through to get there. They’d barely even seen a tree on their way to the border.

Similar to the encampment just outside of the capitol, the mood was jolly and effervescent. Libations were widely distributed, and more of the food stores were cooked than had been on previous evenings. Though there was a shared understanding amongst the members of her unit that, inevitably, some of them would not return to the campsite the following evening, none of her soldiers seemed to be worried that they might be squandering their last dinner, or bothered that it might be their final dinner, either.

Maude felt bubbles threatening to burst in her stomach. After dinner, she was expected to give a pep speech and share the strategy with her soldiers. The emperor had given her a letter with all of the information that she needed to successfully pull of their battle, and she had read it more times than she could count, but she still expected one of the soldiers in the unit to have questions she couldn’t answer, or to poke holes in the emperor’s strategy in a way that she couldn’t defend.

They are all elite soldiers, after all, she thought. It’s not as though they have never seen battle before, or never killed a human being before. As the cream of the crop with me as the leader, they should have questions.

Maude scraped the bowl clean of the stew that one of her assistants had made for dinner. Though the dinner had been more delicious than several of the last nights, nothing really compared to having a cook prepare food, as in the Holloway Manor.

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She had chosen to eat off by herself, as she wasn’t too keen on the idea of getting to know her troops only to have them possibly die on her. Being the only woman of the group also didn’t make it easy for her to befriend anyone in particular.

Maude stood up and breathed deeply. She slowly walked over to the food assistants who were now in the process of preparing to clean up the dishes. “Thank you for the food,” she said, handing her bowl to one of the assistants.

“But of course, Lady Maude,” he said, taking the bowl from her with a warm smile. “I hope the meal was at least somewhat enjoyable?”

“It was delicious,” she answered.

“Glad to hear it!” The assistant said. Maude nodded slightly at him, and then began shuffling her way over to the small podium that the soldiers had built. She’d never had to give a rallying speech before, and she most certainly was not in the mood to be giving one either.

Her presence at the podium naturally gained a few people’s attention, but most were still finishing their dinners, laughing joyfully and clinking their beer mugs together.

“Um, uh,” she said softly. “May I have your attention please?” She asked. The noise did not let up, and only a couple more heads swiveled in her direction.

She squeezed her eyes shut tight, hating the sensation of having more than one set of eyes on her. What would she give to be back at home, training at this moment?

“M-may I have your attention please?” Maude said in a louder voice. This time garnered more attention.

“Louder!” Someone shouted from the back.

“Can I have your attention please?!” Maude felt like she was shouting. A couple of small laughs continued but the noise rapidly died out. “T-thanks,” Maude said. “T-tomorrow we go to f-fight. We can do this!” She pumped her fist into the air.

Her soldiers looked at her, deadpanned. “The emperor sent us on a mission only we can accomplish,” Maude continued. There were some cheers to that statement. “And together we can achieve something that each of us alone could not. May the light of the empire guide us in battle!”

Her stomach twisted. There weren’t any more cheers, and the excitement from the crowd was minimal. That had been the entirety of her speech.

“N-next I’d like to brief you all on the strategy the emperor created for us.” Now there was clapping and cheers.

“That was it?” She thought she could hear someone say towards the front of the crowd.

The clapping did not last long. “The emperor created this strategy for us, with our abilities and capabilities in mind,” Maude stated. “Our goal is to do our best to follow it with minor adjustments based on our enemy’s movements.

“First, I will be leading the charge into the enemy. Our group will be sectioned off into three groups. One of the groups will be behind me, one will be behind Cadet Huntington and the other behind Cadet Winslow. Cadet Huntington and Winslow will come from the south and the north, whereas mine will come from the west. We will not lie in wait for our enemy to come find us, we are to be hiding in the brush until our enemy is in sight. As soon as we can see the whites of their eyes, I will signal everyone to attack with a whistle.” Maude made the whistling noise that she had been practicing so that everyone would know what to listen for. “That is all,” she said, bowing.

The crowd’s reaction was much more enthusiastic than it has been for her rally speech. Maude didn’t really understand how anyone could be excited about going to war. She was dreading the upcoming rise of the sun.

As she started walking away from the center of the camp, she thought she heard some murmurings of people being intrigued to see her in action tomorrow.

Sorry to disappoint, she thought.

She fully intended to inform the soldiers of when they needed to start fighting the enemy. But she had no intention of fighting them herself.

They’ve got this, she thought. Most of us will make it out alive.

She made it back to her tent and began to prepare to sleep. The emperor has given her a few next steps once their victory was successful, but their primary goal was to head back to the border to defend. If her unit was to wipe out the Aulbertian’s most elite troops, then the rest of the war would be smooth sailing.

It should be an easy win.