Kefira rubbed her temples as she reviewed the map on her table. She sat with her elbows on either side of the parchment, her hair hanging down on either side of her face. The map contained the estimated locations of enemy forces as well as the locations of skirmishes and battles they had had since the first debacle.
Reivyn made it seem so easy to read a map, Kefira thought. I have the Skill, granted, not very high, but I have a hard time visualizing what the lines on the page mean in person. Reivyn could glance at a map and just know what it looks like.
Kefira wasn't bad at reading a map, but she was still just a beginner. She could tell what was what and form a bird's eye view in her mind, but that didn't mean she could see what it would look like from the ground. She was quite embarrassed the first time she led the remnants of the battalion to a cliff face that was too steep to climb easily.
After that little incident, she had taken a step back from micromanaging the soldiers. They didn't need it anymore by that time, as her command had been securely established. An antidote had been quickly found for the Major, and he had fully recovered. Kefira left the details of running the battalion to him and the other officers, and she worked on the overall strategy.
That still meant she had to stare at maps, and so far the strategy had meant not getting caught by an overwhelming force.
Kefira had led the soldiers back to the base camp in the hopes that she would be able to meet up with the rest of the fractured battalion. The other companies that had been closer to Reivyn's had managed to get the message and meet up with them, but Reivyn's company was nowhere in sight.
She and the others were happy, at first, when they spotted the base camp and the battalion became mostly whole again, but that was when the second hammer dropped.
The base camp had been taken by another enemy force, and the soldiers who had remained behind were taken captive.
With more than one enemy army behind them and an unknown number still roaming about the desert, Kefira had made the decision to immediately assault the base camp. The mission was to hit it as hard and fast as possible, get the captives and whatever supplies they could manage, and get out. They were never going to stay at the camp in the first place, but this was proof that the enemy had far more military intelligence and manpower than they had assumed, even in the worst-case scenarios.
There were six companies total in the battalion: five volunteer companies, and one regular company. The regular soldiers had been placed in the center of the formation, and, in hindsight, that was probably why they had been targeted by that final, devastating Spell. Less than half of the regular company had survived the blast, and Reivyn's company was absent, so Kefira had four and a half companies of about 200 soldiers each under her command.
The nearly thousand soldiers had stormed the base camp, accompanied by a barrage of Spells from the Mages. Kefira hadn't participated in the barrage. The enemy force that had occupied the base camp had miscalculated how many people from the battalion would be able to group up and return, so there were only about a thousand defenders.
Normally, according to Reivyn, a thousand versus a thousand entrenched troops would be a losing prospect, but the volunteer battalion was far better equipped and higher level than the mass of soldiers with "1's" branded on their heads.
Kefira wasn't taking any chances, though. While the battalion stormed the camp, she had used her restored Mana pool to jump to where the captives were being held with Serilla, and they had freed and armed them. Kefira laid about herself with her Spells as Serilla led the men to meet up with the rest of the battalion.
Kefira would have liked to prolong the engagement a bit longer so that they could find some more supplies, but more enemy forces had appeared while they were in the pitched battle. The reinforcements had chased them to the southwest, further away from the initial battlefield. During that chase was when they had run upon the cliff that they couldn't scale, and Kefira had decisively given command of the escape back over to the Major.
The Major had shown that he was actually fairly competent when he wasn't underestimating the enemy. He had already seen what they were capable of and how he had vastly misjudged their numbers.
Kefira took charge of the Mage Corps, and under her leadership, they had covered the escape of the battalion into the wilderness. They had encountered one other group of enemy soldiers, part of a larger net to keep them contained, but they had met them far enough away from other reinforcements that they had been able to punch through.
"I still don't understand why he didn't listen to Reivyn's warnings and call the assault off," Kefira muttered under her breath.
"He's used to fighting monsters," Serilla said. She had been standing behind Kefira, ready to assist or defend her charge.
"And?" Kefira asked, looking back over her shoulder at Serilla.
"How many feral lizaldons do you think Reivyn could handle on his own?" Serilla asked back.
"I don't know. Fifty?"
"And I could probably handle twenty or so. Let's split the difference and say that each soldier because they're fighting together and synergizing with each other, could easily handle thirty to forty feral lizaldons to each soldier. With that kind of thinking, the odds the Major saw from the enemy army weren't nearly as bad as they appeared to us.
"He probably thought we would achieve a pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless. With the healers, most of the injured soldiers would have been recoverable, and the Major would have been able to return with triumphant success after a short campaign. His own experience is what blinded him to the reality of the situation.
"War between nations, especially on this scale, is unheard of. Everywhere you go, you'll find people geared toward fighting monsters, not humans.
"This makes me even more curious about Reivyn and his comment about three-to-one odds for assaulting an enemy position. He mentioned he's fought in a claims battle between two counts, a beast tide, and a siege battle against a Dungeon break. None of that would indicate he understands warfare between nations. Where did he learn that from?"
Kefira listened quietly to Serilla's explanation, frowning when she brought her doubts about Reivyn's understanding of warfare forward. She didn't care where he learned it from, or how or why. There was something in her inner being that told her to just trust him, and it didn't have anything to do with her attraction to him.
"The explanation for the Major's decision makes sense," Kefira nodded her head. "Even in Wispan, the army is focused on fighting the monsters, and they also enjoy an incredibly high efficiency against them. I can wrap my head around that, but he was still negligent in dismissing one of his officer's warnings."
"Not everyone is you. Not everybody is going to just trust what Reivyn has to say. He took the information about the second enemy army, and he gave the orders he thought were appropriate for the situation. Also, don't forget, he was taken out by an assassination squad before he could order the retreat, and the rest of the command staff was embroiled in combat with nobody overseeing the overall situation."
"That doesn't increase my opinion of them," Kefira said. "There should have been contingencies in place. The way Reivyn ran his company, he told everyone they needed to know how to assume the responsibilities of up to two positions higher than their own. Captain Sanjin, instead of running away with the Major, should have taken command and ordered the retreat. He could have passed the task of getting the Major to safety onto an enlisted soldier."
"Oh, I have no disagreements, there. But what can you expect from someone like Sanjin? I bet if we head over to his part of the encampment, we'd find him carousing with the soldiers."
Kefira turned her body and looked at Serilla with a sharp glare.
"What did you say?"
"Umm... That Captain Sanjin is probably carousing with the soldiers?" Serilla swallowed, nervous at the sudden shift in her charge's demeanor.
"And you knew about this?"
"Yes? I thought you knew about it, too."
"Of course not! I would have put a stop to it right away if I had known." Kefira took a deep breath to calm down her anger. "In the future, if something comes to your attention, don't worry about whether you think I know about it already or not, just tell me."
"Yes, my lady," Serilla lowered her head, chastised.
"C'mon, then," Kefira stood up and walked purposefully out of the tent. Serilla caught up and walked behind her in her usual spot. The two soldiers assigned to her guard detail outside her tent snapped to attention and rendered a salute, Kefira nodding back in acknowledgment.
The two ladies walked through the short distance to the Major's tent. She waved to one of the sentries, and he reached over and opened the tent flap for her. She didn't bother announcing herself. There was only one person in the camp that would dare to intrude into his tent without permission, so she expected he would know it was her.
She marched right up to the Major's desk, and he immediately set some papers to the side upon seeing her approach.
"Do you know about the actions of Captain Sanjin?" Kefira asked without preamble, lifting her chin imperiously.
"I'm sorry... what actions?" Major Dobrik seemed confused.
"About him carousing with his troops."
"Oh, that," Major Dobrik looked relieved, but he sat up straight when Kefira quirked an eyebrow without changing the expression on her face. "He's just letting off steam. Letting the men cut loose also helps to keep morale high."
"Keep morale high?!" Kefira's eyes bugged out. She didn't have personal experience of commanding soldiers before, but that didn't mean she wasn't educated on the matter. She also listened to the tales of her older siblings who were with the Wispan military whenever they had the free time to regale their younger sister with their exploits.
"Do your other officers 'keep morale high' with the same method?" Kefira pressed.
"Well... no. Most of the other officers stick with each other and let the sergeants deal with the enlisted soldiers. That being said, Captain Sanjin also doesn't usually hang out with the other captains. He spends most of his time with the Count and Colonel's sons."
"I see." Kefira stood in silence for a moment, contemplating her next course of action. "I need a squad of men and an officer," she Commanded.
"Of course." Major Dobrik rang a bell, signaling one of the sentries to duck his head inside. "Go get Captain Dorran, and have him assemble one of his squads for Lady Kefira."
"Yes, sir!" The sentry saluted before rushing off to obey the order.
Kefira turned on her heels and followed the man out of the tent. Major Dobrik scrambled from behind his seat to catch up to her.
"If I may ask, what do you intend from the squad of soldiers?" Major Dobrik asked.
"I'm going to go arrest the Captain and the men he's 'carousing' with," Kefira stated simply.
Major Dobrik stood with his mouth agape, standing in place as Kefira continued to walk off in the direction the sentry had gone. He quickly snapped out of the stunned state and hurried to follow after.
"Are you sure this is the appropriate course of action?" Major Dobrik asked, once more matching steps with Kefira. "It's just a bit of harmless fun, and the soldiers need the chance to vent."
Kefira glanced at the Major out of the corner of her eye.
"Where did you receive your formal military education?" Kefira asked.
"I've been with the Count Yaolo's Retinue since I was 19," Major Dobrik puffed out his chest. "The former Colonel groomed me to be an officer himself before he was recruited to join the King's Army in the Capital. I assure you, I have the best training an officer can have."
"Ok, so your mentor was impressive enough that he got promoted to the standing kingdom army, but," Kefira held up her index finger, "what formal military education did he have before he went?"
Major Dobrik lowered his head, pondering the issue.
"He taught all of the officers based on the standard military doctrine, adding his own understanding and experiences to it to further enlighten us on the subject."
"And was that the standard military doctrine of Oreck? Drallo? Wispan? What was the foundation of that military doctrine?"
"I believe it's derivative from Drallo, but I'm not entirely sure."
"So basically you don't have a formal military education, and what training you do have, is from a military doctrine of dubious origin."
"Well, I guess you could word it that way, but that's kind of misleading. The military doctrine we follow is sound, and it's worked for generations."
"Uh huh," Kefira said, sounding unconvinced. "I haven't seen a whole lot to inspire confidence in it, so far."
Major Dobrik grimaced, unable to refute the words. The three of them walked for just a moment longer before Captain Dorran ran up with a squad of soldiers in his wake.
"Captain Dorran reporting as ordered, sir!" Captain Dorran slid to a halt in front of the Major, offering a salute. Major Dobrik returned the salute and gestured to Kefira. Captain Dorran saluted once more as Kefira never broke her stride.
"Come along with me," she Commanded. "Your squad is punitive."
"Yes, my lady."
Kefira led the soldiers, including Major Dobrik still following along, to the location of the camp that Captain Sanjin was in command of. The camp was mostly silent, with just the noises one would expect from any military camp until they walked into Captain Sanjin's area. The sounds of men laughing and horsing around could be heard, and it got louder the deeper they got.
Kefira rounded the corner of a tent to a fire surrounded by men drinking and laughing. Kefira frowned at the obvious signs of intoxication, and she waved the soldiers forward to form a line directly behind her.
The rowdy soldiers noticed the intrusion of the armed squad, and the sounds slowly began to die down. Captain Sanjin was sitting right in the middle of several enlisted soldiers, laughing louder than anyone else. Silence eventually descended on the scene as Kefira viewed them with a critical eye. Captain Sanjin finally noticed the change in atmosphere, and he looked up to see Kefira, the Major, Captain Dorran, and the squad of men watching him with serious expressions on their faces.
"Captain Sanjin!" Kefira lifted her voice. "What do you think you're doing?"
Captain Sanjin glanced around at the soldiers, a confused look on his face. He finally turned back to Kefira, the frown still there.
"I'm not sure I..." He began.
"Stand on your feet!" Serilla took an aggressive step forward. "You will not address the lady sitting on your backside!"
Captain Sanjin scrambled to his feet and stood at attention.
"Ahem. I'm not sure I understand the question, my lady."
"It's a very simple question," Kefira responded. "Why are you fraternizing with your men?"
"Fraternizing?" He asked, still confused. "I'm just letting the men vent their emotions."
"And that requires you to be with them, acting the same way?"
"We~ll... How are the men going to respect me if they don't know anything about me?"
"Respect you? Respect you?! And how, exactly, are you engendering their respect?"
"I'm letting them see that I'm not some high and mighty, untouchable existence. I'm just one of the guys."
"Oh? Are you insinuating that you don't respect me?"
"What?! No, my lady! Nothing of the sort," Captain Sanjin began to sweat.
"But I'm a 'high and mighty, untouchable existence.' You don't know anything about me. I'm not 'just one of the guys.'"
"I didn't mean it like that..." Captain Sanjin sputtered.
"Your actions right now are not gaining you the respect of your men," Kefira said sharply. She looked around at each individual soldier, meeting the eyes of Major Dobrik in her inspection. "You're breeding contempt. Oh, sure, they might like you, but it's not your job to be liked by the soldiers. When it comes time to give them orders, they'll remember that you're 'just one of the guys,' and they'll be less inclined to obey.
"The soldiers don't respect me because they like me," Kefira continued. "They respect me because I demand it. I command it with my actions. This," Kefira gestured toward the fire and the soldiers surrounding it, "is the opposite of demanding respect. You're begging for it, and soldiers don't respect that.
"Captain Dorran!"
"Yes, my lady," Captain Dorran stepped forward at attention.
"Arrest these men. All of them. March them to the center of the camp."
"Yes, my lady," the Captain saluted before ordering the squad forward.
They didn't draw their weapons or place the soldiers in irons, but they did herd them together. The soldiers, for their part, were too stunned to offer any kind of resistance, and Captain Dorran escorted Captain Sanjin personally.
"Major Dobrik!" Kefira turned to the Major.
"Yes, my lady," Dobrik said in a subdued voice.
"Order the entire battalion to form up at the center of the camp."
"Yes, my lady."
Major Dobrik strode off back to his tent. Kefira stood in place, Serilla still to her side.
"Serilla, go to the Mage Corps. Tell them I want them to raise a temporary platform using Earth Mana. It doesn't have to be very big, just a few feet off the ground. Install two posts about eight feet apart, and tie some cord to the top of the posts."
"Yes, my lady," Serilla bowed her head before rushing off to see to the orders.
Kefira let a few minutes pass, letting everyone attend to her orders before she walked back toward the center of the camp. The preparations had already been made, the battalion was formed, and the arrested soldiers were standing by off to the side. Kefira strode up and ascended the platform, turning to address the battalion.
"Captain Sanjin has been found guilty of fraternizing with the enlisted soldiers," Kefira announced without preamble, raising her voice for all to hear. "His punishment shall be five lashes. He may seek out healing treatment after 24 hours."
Kefira nodded her head to Captain Dorran. He took the cue and led the shell-shocked Captain Sanjin up to the posts. Captain Dorran and the squad leader tied Sanjin's hands to the posts with the cord, pulling it tight so that he stood with his arms spread out. Dorran rolled his shirt up, exposing his back, before stepping away.
Kefira took a deep breath to steady herself as she walked behind Captain Sanjin. She had ordered the punishment, and she was going to take responsibility for it. She gathered her Mana and formed a whip of Air. She didn't let the tension build any further, and she struck out at the Captain.
He cried out in pain as the Air whip lacerated his back. She struck four more times in quick succession. Captain Sanjin slumped against the restraints, tears and drool leaking from his face.
Captain Dorran and the squad leader removed the knots of the cord and gently helped him walk back to his previous position.
"You can take him back to his tent," Kefira said in a soft voice. "He can stay there until it's time for him to seek healing. The 24-hour restriction doesn't mean you can't bandage his cuts. Make sure the wounds are properly cleaned and dressed."
"Yes, my lady," Captain Dorran answered. Kefira detected a hint of fear in his gaze. She sighed mentally.
Kefira walked back to the front of the platform once again.
"These eleven enlisted soldiers have been found guilty of fraternizing with an officer," Kefira's voice once more carried out across the silent battalion. "Their punishment shall be two lashes. They can seek healing treatment after 24 hours."
One by one, the enlisted soldiers were brought up to the platform, bound by the cord, and whipped by Kefira's Mana Whip. The battalion silently observed the entire proceeding, the only sounds were the cries of agony from the punished soldiers.
There were no magical impediments to Pain Resistance or anything like that. A couple of the soldiers clearly had higher Levels of Pain Resistance, as they didn't cry out at all, hardly even making a face at the lashing. Kefira performed her duty, maintaining a stoic mask throughout.
Once it was all over, she once again addressed the battalion.
"This is no longer an issue of a simple rescue mission of one city," Kefira called out. "The kingdom of Drallo itself has been invaded by an outside force. We don't know their motivations or total strength, but this is war. We cannot allow military order and discipline to slack at this crucial time.
"I understand that most of you aren't professional soldiers, but that doesn't matter now. You're the ones here. You're the ones that will hold the line and prevent the enemy from sacking more cities and capturing innocent civilians.
"I don't want to mete out such punishments again," Kefira scanned the crowd, looking people dead in the eye, "but I will.
"Together, we can cause enough of a nuisance to prevent the enemy from expanding their influence over the region. We only have to hold out until the Wispan Imperial Army arrives in force, along with the King's Army of Drallo. I have faith that we will succeed.
"That is all. Dismissed!"
Kefira walked off the platform, motioning for Major Dobrik to follow her. The company commanders took charge of their men and saw to it that they returned to what they had been doing. Kefira strode off to an empty area between tents and rounded on the Major.
"Major Dobrik," she began, "I appreciate that you understand how to properly run a military outfit during normal times. These aren't normal times." Kefira jabbed her finger into the larger man's chest. "This is your last chance. Understand?"
"Yes, my lady," Major Dobrik replied, a cowed expression on his face.
"Good. Now, we're not staying here for more than 24 hours. We're going to maintain the same schedule and depart for a new location in the morning. Send the healers to those that were just punished an hour before it's time, and make sure they're fully healed and ready to go."
"Yes, my lady. Umm, ma'am, didn't you just say they couldn't get healed for 24 hours, though? The lashings they received shouldn't interfere with their ability to travel."
"I didn't say they couldn't be healed for 24 hours," Kefira shook her head. "I said they couldn't 'seek it out' for themselves. We don't know what might happen on the road. Everyone needs to be prepared to fight. I'm sure the punishment they received, and the perception of the punishment, has gotten the point across."
"Yes, my lady," Major Dobrik hesitated for a moment. "And, thank you." Kefira tilted her head, a question on her face. Major Dobrik gave her a level look. "I've seen your magical prowess. You could have driven them into the dirt. Not only did you only apply enough power to sting them and break their skin just a little, you're even allowing them to be healed much earlier than you had implied. I appreciate your mercy."
"I'm not an unreasonable brute," Kefira had a small smile as she replied. "It's more about making sure the point gets across than it is about punishing them."
Kefira left Major Dobrik to return to her own tent with Serilla. She sat heavily in her chair, threw her head back, and sighed.
"Did I do the right thing?" Kefira asked, her eyes closed as she replayed the events in her mind.
"I believe so," Serilla replied. "If you had let that fester without a strong response, it would have grown like a tumor."
"I understand that. I'm not here to make friends, but it still makes me feel like crap that I had to do that."
"Everyone has to make sacrifices. They're sacrificing with their bodies, and you're sacrificing your feelings."
"Thanks for the pep talk," Kefira snorted.
"That's what I'm here for," Serilla couldn't hide the mirth in her voice.