TNL 42 – Company Part One
All the way from Aran to the capital, Brandon is thinking about how to talk to the Empress. The New Legion may be under her personal command, but that does not mean that every soldier can just visit the Empress whenever they like. Both the army command and the palace guards will not agree with this.
What I have to do is make sure I get a message to Captain Cervik. He can then inform the Empress. Everyone else will probably be the generals' people, Brandon thinks.
The journey is going well. Brandon and his soldiers have brought enough supplies and they are used to camping. After a long journey, they finally arrive at the capital.
At the gate they are stopped by the guards.
"Halt! What do you want in the city? Show me your letters of passage," one of the guards shouts.
Brandon answers. "Letters of passage? We are soldiers, guardsman. We bring messages for the Empress."
"Yes, yes, right. But no letters of passage or orders from your officer. You will stay there until I have called the officer on duty."
Brandon sighs deeply, "guard, you do what you have to do, as long as you hurry up. I don't have all day."
A little later, a sergeant does indeed arrive. He consults with the guardsman for a while and then comes to Brandon and his squad.
"So, my guard tells me that you are warriors without orders. Are you deserters? And what are your intentions in the city?"
Brandon stands in front of the man.
"We are certainly not warriors without orders. Your guard is just a little suspicious, you know. Maybe it's an idea to ask him what his problem is?"
The sergeant runs red. "You'd better show a little more respect when you speak to your superiors! I'll put you all under arrest!"
At this, the soldiers in Brandon's squad look at each other in amazement. Does this sergeant not recognize their unit? And not even Sergeant Brandon's designations? Brandon himself is just as incredulous, those double arrows on his shoulders are not really inconspicuous. With difficulty he manages to hold back.
"Sergeant," he begins quietly, "as you can see, I am a sergeant just like you. This makes me second in rank of the New Legion. These soldiers are on their way with me to the Empress. You have no right to place us under arrest, as we are simply doing our job. And now move!"
Brandon suddenly shouts that last part, causing the sergeant of the guard to reflexively step back. Without a word, Brandon and his soldiers march through the gate.
Brandon leads his squad through the streets of the city until they reach the palace. Here they turn off to the barracks that belong to the palace. The headquarters of the regular army is also located here. When they arrive, they have to report in, to be assigned sleeping places. Brandon lets his squad rest on the square where they got their first lesson in marching all this time ago. He himself goes to the officer on duty.
The captain on duty is sitting at his desk when Brandon enters.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Yes, sir. I have ten soldiers with me and we need beds until we can have an audience with the Empress. We are here to report to her before we have to go back to our unit."
"Hmm, eleven men. That should be doable."
The officer beckons one of his men.
"You, take him and his men to barrack four. I think it's empty."
The man precedes Brandon and his soldiers.
"This is your place to sleep. For the duration of your stay you can stay here."
After the man has said this, he disappears again quickly. Brandon looks at the man.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
"Well then, we have to see where they dumped us. Judging by how quickly our guide disappeared, it can’t be that great."
When they enter, the smell takes their breath away. While the soldiers open the windows, Brandon beckons squad leader Ice outside.
"Ice, these barracks are downright filthy. I have to report to the generals, so if you could put the men to work putting the building in order, that would be nice. Then at least we can sleep tonight without a bucket next to the bed."
"All right, sergeant. We’ll tidy up here. Typically of the regular army to put us in such a shack. This building is probably planned to be demolished. If I'm not mistaken, those dirtbags have also used it here as latrine. In the back there’s a scent that appears like a cross between vomit and urine."
"I'm not going to bet with you. Go ahead and do what you can. I'm going to report that we have arrived."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While Brandon makes sure that he and his men get a place to sleep, a message is sent to General Colling. When he hears that a unit of the New Legion has arrived at the headquarters, his temper flares.
"Damn, why do those guys have to show up again at this moment. I almost convinced the Empress that the whole exercise with those tin soldiers is a waste. And then all of a sudden they show up to contradict me."
General Colling is the one who is most opposed to the New Legion. Several attempts to discredit unity have already failed. But now that he has an official investigative report on the functioning of the unit, which is not very positive, he finally has the chance to disband the New Legion.
"Wait!" shouts General Colling to the guard at the door. "Tell General Dwain that his service starts a little earlier. I have to speak to the Empress right now. Dwain can receive that soldier from the so-called New Legion."
General Colling quickly grabs the papers he needs, including the investigation report. When he has everything, he looks around one more time before he quickly walks out the door and makes his way to the palace.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An hour later, Brandon angrily storms into the barracks.
"Ice! Arrange something to drink for me. I have to wash away the bad taste that that general gave me."
"What have they come up with to bother us this time, sir?" asks squad leader Ice as he pours a cup of wine for the sergeant.
"You're not going to believe it, but we don't even get the opportunity to speak to the Empress. Although we are under her personal command and the regular army has nothing to say about us, they have taken the liberty of speaking to her about us. And that was not in a good way, I can already tell you that. I was told by a General Dwain that we, as good boys, should stay in our barracks until they have decided what they are going to do with us. And that may take a while, he told me."
Two days later, Brandon still hasn't heard anything. He's starting to get impatient.
"Ice, what do you think? Should we go looking for the Empress ourselves?"
"Well, sergeant, the generals have said we have to stay here. But who are the generals?"
"I think we think the same thing. Officially, we have nothing to do with orders from the regular army. I think we've been behaving for long enough now."
Brandon looks at the other soldiers for a moment before he continues: "Harnesses on guys, we're going to do something naughty."
Moments later, Brandon and his men walk out the door. At the door there are two warriors on guard!
"Halt! You have orders to stay inside!" they shout.
Brandon looks at the guards before telling them:
"We have not received any valid orders. The only one who can give us orders is the Empress herself. So be good and run back to your boss, then we won't hurt you."
The guards look at the odds against heavily armored men for a moment, before they quickly run off.
"All right, now we have to hurry. It won't be long before more men are sent after us," Brandon says.
The men quickly march in the direction of the palace.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alyena is working in one of the reception rooms when she hears a commotion outside the door. Even before she can fully get up from her chair, the door is suddenly thrown open. One of the guards at the door stumbles in, while behind him a lot of other men rush in. Her palace guards quickly line themselves up between their empress and the invaders.
"What is this supposed to mean!?" thunders Captain Cervik.
Alyena can't even see the intruders anymore, the palace guards are standing so close to each other.
"Sorry, Captain Cervik," Alyena hears someone shout. "Since we have been held against our will for days, we thought we should visit ourselves to figure things out. No one is injured, apart from a few sore heads. We would like to have the chance to talk to the Empress."
"Move aside!"
Alyena pushes herself between the imperial guards to see who enters her palace just to get her to speak. Once the guards have stepped aside, she can see that they are members of the New Legion.
"You're Sergeant Brandon, isn't it?" she asks the leader.
"That's right, ma'am," he submissively begins. "We of the New Legion arrived some time ago to consult with you, but we were taken into custody by the generals of the regular army immediately upon arrival. We were forbidden to leave our barracks and we were not allowed to speak to you. General Dwain indicated that he and his colleagues were already in consultation with you, for which we had to wait. That was a few days ago."
"I didn't even know you were in the city."
Alyena looks at her captain. "Did you know, Cervik?"
"No, ma'am, I was not notified that they had arrived."
"Well, then we have to figure this out."
Captain Cervik lets his men take up their position again.
"I'm assuming you're no longer a danger?" he asks Brandon.
"Sure Captain, we could to hand you our weapons if you want to? But it might be possible that some of the generals' men will come looking for us in a moment."
"Hhrmph, leave that to me."