Part 28

The army moved east in an attempt to corner the enemy and bring them to battle.  After their defeat, the enemy retreated back to the eastern part of the country.  Moral was high after their first victory but Onata wasn’t overjoyed.  Her and the other veterans knew it was just the first battle and they had five more months of battles to go through. 

None of them knew exactly what the over all strategy was, but they had some educated guesses. 

As the army marched Greza and the other scouts were sent ahead to search for signs of the enemy and to warn them of any potential ambushes.  It was a job that had them out in groups of two, sleeping under trees and eating cold rations every day. 

It was difficult but she had never felt more free.  There no walls, no task masters and no daily schedule.  If she wanted to walk over and see what was on top of the hill, she could.  Sometimes she had called for a rest not because she needed it, but because she could. 

Onata had point and was walking first when she suddenly stopped.  Greza crouched down and scanned the area.  They were in the forest covered rolling hills.  The terrain was rocky and the forest floor was a carpet of leaves that covered the soil with several layers. 

“What do you see?”  Greza asked.

“A stream.”

“So?”

“Bath.” 

Onata spotted it so she bathed first.  Greza kept watch while Onata stripped and waded into the calm stream.  The stream was quick and shallow, but gathered into calm pools in some places.

They had been partners for the past two weeks and so far had avoided bathing with her or anyone else.  She usually bathed in the middle of the night when no one was awake.  As soon as someone saw the scars that covered her back they’d know who and what she was.

As Onata washed herself Greza kept ideas running through her mind.  She could pass on bathing, but she needed to.  It wasn’t just her health that could be affected, it was the smell.  If she smelt so awful as to give her position away, then that was a problem.   

When Onata finished she still didn’t know what to do. 

“You’re turn,” Onata said as she strapped on her breastplate. 

Greza nodded and walked to the edge of the water.  She looked back to see Onata dutifully keeping watch and only occasionally glancing at her.  Greza kept her back away from Onata as she removed her armor, equipment and clothes.

“Greza!” She heard Onata exclaim as she was bending down to remove the pants from around her ankles. 

She looked up and saw Onata staring at her.  She quickly straightened up. 

“What’s the matter?” Greza asked.

“Your back.”

Onata began to hurry towards her.  She must have seen the scars when she was bent over.  There was no point in hiding it now. 

She came over and stood beside Greza and leaned over to get a good view of her back. 

“Greza, you were a slave?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What did those animals do to you?”

“Nothing that isn’t done to other slaves.”

Onata hesitantly touched her back and withdrew her hand. 

“Don’t tell anyone,” Greza said.

“But, Grez…”

“Please don’t.”

Onata nodded. 

Greza hurried and took her bath and dressed again.  Once they were ready they continued on their patrol. 

“Did you escape?”  Onata asked.

“I did.”

“You were a gladiator, weren’t you?”

“Now you know where I learned to fight.”

“But those scars weren’t from fighting.”

“Not all of them.  Onata, please.  I don’t wish to speak of it.  It’s like twisting a knife in my side to think of it.  If anyone found out, they’d look down on me as a slave.”

“No they wouldn’t.”

“I hear how they speak of slaves.  They use ‘slave’ as an insult and I’d be the brunt of many more insults.  I’d lose respect.”

She saw how Onata looked over to her with a look of pity.  Greza turned away.  She didn’t want the entire army seeing her like that.   

They marched until mid afternoon and took a small break in a clump of trees on the top of a hill.  Below was the end of the forest and the beginning of miles and miles of fields. 

Greza dug out of her pack a hard biscuit and a dried piece of pork. 

“No wonder you never complain,” Onata said.  “I hear these soft towners complaining of the work and the food.  The farmers complain less.  But the only people I’ve never heard complain were the former slaves.  At first I didn’t think it smart to allow runaways in the Company, but then - ”

“Shhh!”  Greza said. 

She thought she saw something. 

“What is it?”

Greza pointed out past one of the distant farms.  It looked like a cloud of dust in the distance. 

“I don’t see any…oh, yes.  I see it,” Onata said. 

“Enemy contact?”

“Maybe.  We have to get a closer look and judge their Direction, Equipment, Size and Unit.” 

“D.E.S.U.  I remember.”

They sat there and waited while the dust cloud grew bigger. Good, they were coming their way.  They’d be able to stay on the hill and observe in safety. 

It was a full hour before the enemy came close enough to gain any useful information.  Their destination was the direction of the Chimera Company.

“Why have they turned around?”  Onata asked.

“They’re coming back to renew the fight,” Greza said.

“Yes, but why now?  Why not earlier?  Something had to have changed to warrant their sudden reversal and desire for battle.”

Greza knew that an army on the run doesn’t turn and face its pursuers without good cause.  It was their duty to find out what that cause was before reporting back. 

She took out the spyglass from the leather case on her belt and rested it on a rock for a steady view.

Through the dust she was able to make out the dark blue flags of the Larica Kingdom.  Their files of infantry were marching west flanked by their columns of heavy and light cavalry. 

Everything seemed normal. 

“Maybe they grew a spine,” Onata said. 

“You know its more than that,” Greza said. 

Then Greza saw something odd.  She adjusted her spyglass and looked at the thing that drew her attention. 

Behind the ranks of Larica infantry was a unit sporting a yellow flag.  As the dust grew worse it became increasingly hard to see the specific units.  However many there were, there were more than there had been.   

Then she saw a small unit of cavalry break away from the main force.  One of them carried a yellow flag.  The flag had an eagle’s head on it. 

“Roshan,” Onata said. 

“They met up with allied reinforcements.” 

“Now we know and now we head back.”

They put away their spyglasses and began running west.  Onata kept looking at her compass and checking her map.  Now was not a time to get lost.

As she ran the realization that she and Onata held the fate of the Chimera Company in their hands. 

They stopped to rest only when it became too dark to run.  They couldn’t risk torches because the enemy had their own scouts.  Sleep was only for a few hours and they were traveling again long before sunrise. 

By sunset of the third day Greza was starting to feel the fatigue.  Onata had circles under her eyes and looked pale.  Greza’s mind wasn’t clear and she could feel her body fighting against every step.  Her legs ached and her mind cried for rest. 

“I see them,” Onata said. 

Greza looked where she was pointing and saw few lights in the darkness.  She didn’t have the clarity to ask a useful question so she just followed Onata.  As they crested a hill the entire camp spread out before them like a lake reflecting the stars.  All the fires were in clusters showing the location of each company. 

Four soldiers approached with guns leveled at them. 

“Sea Tiger,” Onata said. 

The guards accepted the password and let them through with an escort.  All too soon she found herself standing in front of the Duke’s tent.  She was sweaty, covered in dirt and out of breath.  She was so exhausted she wanted to collapse and her mind wasn’t working properly.  She could barely remember her own name.

And then the tent doors opened and she was ushered in.