Chapter 23 - Camp Followers and Princess Amara

Atop her raven black horse, Princess Amara motioned her hands toward the war camp before her as if trying to encompass it into her palms. They were calloused from years of training with weapons.

“Did you know, Verath, that I am the main commander of this fine army.” She had a proud, yet reminiscent look on her face as she said this.

“No, I did not. I was expecting you to be just a leader in command of a sub-division of this army. For example, those one hundred or so soldiers you had along with you when I first met you.”

I was trying to be as hospitable as I could to the princess and commander of this army, whom my employment depended on. I could not be like my usual brusque and indifferent self, especially considering that I was walking around fully naked, trying to match her horse's pace as she escorted me around the camp.

She had made many short stops along the way to the center of the war camp, introducing me as The Naked Disaster to the various captains and heads of divisions. All of the introductions were awkward and short. After all, meeting a naked mercenary that wanted to be hired was certainly not an everyday occurrence.

“So who were those soldiers you were leading a while ago?” I was curious and had already formed many likely conjectures even though her contingent of more than a hundred soldiers had dispersed already, going back to their respective tents as she showed me around the war camp.

Princess Amara gave a small chuckle. “Oh yes, them. They are my personal guards, all of whom were selected by me personally. I have ordered them to get some rest and take care of their morale.”

The way she said morale left me no doubt as to what some of her men were doing—I had seen some “camp followers” around some of the tents. Bluntly put, a few of her men were with whores taking care of their “morale.”

Did I felt anything seeing women sell their bodies for a few silvers or perhaps even coppers? Some pity perhaps, but it was the way of the world. Bereaved women and girls orphaned by war have no choice but to do such a thing if they wanted to survive. They could also take up thieving, but that would only lead to arrest or to a chopped finger that would mark you as a thief for the rest of your life. Only a few would obtain jobs, marry new spouses, and be able take care of themselves without resorting to such things.

“By now, Verath, you must be thinking that I will hire you on as a mercenary, seeing that I am introducing you to so many of my various captains.” She turned her head a little to scrutinize my face on her horse, trying to gauge my reaction.

It was a futile attempt to see through my intentions. Her suspicions of me would neither be rewarded nor denied. I only had a blank, indifferent look on my face.

“You seem quite unaffected by everything, Verath.” She paused a little before continuing. “Even after I had brought out such a hateful topic as morale and even after I introduced you to so many of my captains.”

I neither confirmed nor denied her words, staying silent.

“You know, Verath, there are ways of making men talk, to make them sing like little birds in the morning,” Princess Amara said, her voice turning into a dangerous whisper. Once more, her eyes carefully scrutinized every part of my body.

Then she gave a loud laughter after seeing my still blank face, turning the heads of all the nearby soldiers present in the area. “But I have decided to trust you, Verath. I hope you do not betray that trust.” She gave a sadistic smile and licked her full lips in anticipation of the tortures she would inflict on me if I do chose to betray her.

Her horse which had stopped, once more, moved forward after she squeezed her legs near the sides of the horse and released a little tension on the reins.

I followed along beside her, matching the slow walk of her war horse. We continued on toward the center of the camp, but this time, no stops were made to introduce me. I also continued to receive curious glares, angry stares, and outright hatred.

When we finally arrived at the center, I saw a large, red pavilion and a few of her personal guards standing alert and ready near the entrance. The place was most likely where the strategic meetings took place, not that there was a battle going on.

Upon seeing Princess Amara arrival, the four men guarding the entrance to the pavilion bent a knee in a gesture of respect.

“Welcome back, Commander Amara, the Valkyrie of Gold,” the four men said in voices that bespoke of admiration and obedience.

Interesting, I thought. So the princess, no, the commander, was talented in war and leadership.

The four “black guards” were completely oblivious of me, ignoring everything except their commander. They were unfazed by my nakedness and the heavy bastard sword behind my back, giving me only a second glance before returning their attentions toward their leader.

It seemed like they had an implicit trust in their commander, not even bothering to question a stranger such as I, especially one who was entirely naked.

“Would you be a dear and tie this horse up for me,” she said to youngest of the four men, an old veteran who was most likely past his thirties or in his late twenties.

“Of course, commander,” the youngest said.

With not even a backward glance, Amara went into the red pavilion, pushing aside the flap of the entrance. She, without a doubt, had expected me to follow her inside, so I gladly complied.

Inside the tent were five men fiercely arguing with each other over a laid-out map of what seemed to be the grassland and other related areas. All five men stopped short and fell silent when they saw Princess Amara walk in.

Disdain, only halfheartedly hidden, was evident on four of the men's faces as they greeted Amara with just a simple acknowledgment of “Princess.” They had purposely avoided the word commander, so I could tell that only one of the five men was truly sincere.

He was a young man with a lovestruck look in his eyes. Seeing him, I supposed that love overcomes everything, even against the majority opinion of a woman leading a battle.

An intriguing emotion love is, I thought.

When the four men finally noticed me come inside to stand beside Princess Amara, their eyes narrowed in even more disdain, their hatred almost palpable to the sight. The sight of me only added more fuel to the already blazing fire.

“And who is that boy beside you, Princess,” one of the men said, spitting out the words “boy” and “princess” in disgust. “How dare you bring him into this meeting! He doesn't even have hair on his manhood for god's sake.”

I could see that the heavily mustached man with the fat paunch had gone too far. Amara's steel grey eyes blazed with anger and she shouted. “You go too far, Baron Dorn. It is I, not you, that is the commander of this army.” Her eyes narrowed even more with hot anger and her voice turned into a whisper that was barely heard. “Take care lest I whip you in front of all the men for insubordination.”

Baron Dorn went red with rage and was about to retort before he was interrupted.

“Every word of disrespect you say to me will earn you five lashes,” Amara calmly said, her anger already under control.

He had a look of disbelief on his round face which drooped down with a double chin. “I do not believe this shit! What came over the king's mind to make a woman lead us? Your achievements are nothing. It is only because the bitch queen has her claws in the king that you obtained this position.”

I could sense the raging river of anger inside Princess Amara who was trying to remain calm. I stepped away form her a few feet, not wanting to be near such a troublesome person. My caution was rewarded when the princess walked toward Baron Dorn and backhanded him with such force that the fat man's head hit the hard, wooden table in the center of the pavilion. He was instantly knocked unconscious from the impact.

Amara's voice turned into a cold and sharp whisper, almost enough to cut out a heart. “Just for insulting my mother, you will receive twenty lashes and an additional ten lashes for insulting your commander. Be grateful I was this lenient.”

The princess turned back around, looking toward the entrance before she shouted, “Guards, drag this man out of here and detain him until tomorrow morning for thirty lashes.”

Two of her personal guards just outside the entrance came running in, blank looks on their faces that showed no emotions. Both guards propped up each of Dorn's arms over their shoulders and dragged him out to the pavilion.

One of them whispered to the princess in a voice low enough so that only she would hear it before he went out of the pavilion. “There will be repercussions for this, commander. He's a bastard, aye, but he is a baron and I do not think he could take thirty lashes.”

Princess Amara just gave a small sigh. “It is the least he deserves. But you are right, old friend. I suppose fifteen lashes will suffice.”

The guard gave a barely imperceptible dip of his head to acknowledge that before going out of the pavilion.

All four men in the room, excluding me, looked shocked and aghast at what had just occurred. Even the lovestruck, young man no longer had stars in his eyes for the princess. Instead, he just looked a little shocked at her sudden violence.

“Very well, let us continue on with the meeting” Amara said, completely forgetting the fact that I was standing naked in the corner of the pavilion.

None of the four men in the room pointed out my presence to her, not daring to risk her wrath. Like the princess, they ignored my presence and treated me like the brownish fur carpet on the floor.

I suppose it was fitting, in a way, as I stood there in the corner like a naked statue, patiently waiting and listening in to their strategic meeting. There were many nuggets of important information I obtained once they were finished arguing.

1) The army camps and the soldiers I was among came from the kingdom of Sendarid whereas the other army camps across the grassland came from the kingdom of Laden. From the flow of the conversation, I judged that there was a long-ongoing rivalry between the two kingdoms that had been spanning for a dozen years or so and they displayed their enmity for each other by having one large battle every year at a randomly agreed place. This time though, the agreed place was to be a grassland bordering between the two kingdoms.

2) Was there a reason behind such a futile battle in which thousands of lives were wasted for a stupid rivalry between two kingdoms? Yes, the answer is greed and pride. Whichever kingdom wins the annual battle was paid a tithe of ten thousand gold coins and would be able to obtain a small territory from the loser kingdom. The loser was the army that retreated, conceded defeat, or was wiped out.

3) I had also learned that the Sendarid Kingdom had been losing for the past three years due to the fact that Laden Kingdom was generally wealthier and had a much higher human population and could spare more soldiers for the rivalry. Frequent monster attacks and raiding around and inside the Sendarid Kingdom's border had also decreased the number of soldiers available.

4) Another important point of interest was that this battle was going to take place in two days and both rival camps had been doing nothing for the past week except preparing for it. Both camps were almost eager to welcome the fight just to get over the preliminary nervousness and tension. This also meant that I had five days left if I did not count today to finish my second tribulation. The need not to be worried about time was thus satisfied.

5) The most important information and the whole reason I was acting as a mercenary was to find out the numbers of both armies. Going from the conversation that was just held, it seemed like Laden Kingdom had deployed the maximum number of soldiers they could—ten thousand. The Sendarid Kingdom, however, had only deployed around seven thousand soldiers.

The other information I had obtained from the conversation was not very relevant, so I put them out of my mind, not even caring one jot about the agonies of ruling a territory and such and such.

No viable plan in which I would be able to kill all seventeen thousand soldiers by myself came into mind, unless of course I transformed into my dragon form. But regretfully, it seemed I would just have to bide my time and wait for both armies to wipe each other out before killing the leftovers. It was not a very sound plan and many things could go wrong. Still, there was still two days left to figure out a better plan, before resorting to such an unpredictable plan.

When the strategic meeting was finished, the four men quickly hurried out of the pavilion, but not before giving me looks of hatred.

“My apologies for making you wait, Verath,” Amara said in an apologetic tone, though her face told a whole different story.

The most likely reason she had allowed me to listen in to such sensitive information was most likely to test if I was a spy from the other kingdom. She would probably have some of her personal guards tail me and report back to her any suspicious activities.

Princess Amara was a cunning woman and I would have to be wary of her lest she tried anything.

“No worries,” I said, trying to be polite, but my noninflected tone got in the way.

She nodded and went to the side of the room where there were three large chests and what was most likely her feathered bed. She opened up the middle chest and rummaged around a bit, her hands trying to dig up whatever she was trying to find. Then she tossed me a few sorely needed apparel. It was just in time too—I was beginning to tire of being naked. It only made me stood out more and my hair and eyes were already enough attractions without my unneeded nudity.

“I am a little bit taller than you, but these outerwear will fit you fine. And I do not have any undergarments unless you want a female's.”

“No, these are fine,” I replied.

I quickly dressed up while under the curious inspection of Princess Amara and in a short while, was fully clothed. I had on a long-sleeved black doublet, loose black breeches, and black boots. In all, I was fully clothed in black and would have made a perfect addition to a den of thieves.

“I, er,” she faltered a little bit. “I only have black clothing. Sorry.”

I could detect a little sheepishness in her voice, but I pretended not to notice. “So am I hired?”

“Yes and we will need to go over the terms of payment.”

I stopped her before she could make an offer. “Fifty gold coins will be enough and you will pay me the first half as a starting fee.” Yes, that sounded just about right, not very expensive, and not too cheap for a mercenary of my “skill.” Just right enough to also not make her more suspicious of me.

Princess Amara went back to her three chests and opened the right chest and took out twenty five plain gold coins and put it inside a coin purse; currency in the human world was the same for every kingdom because it made trade easier.

“I would also like to look around these camps if you would permit me, commander.” Perhaps it was just me observing wrongly, but I could see a bit of delight on her face hearing me call her commander.

“Oh yes, but first you should go to the makeshift shops the blacksmith camp followers has set up. They are unmistakable and are quite close by here. Ask for a man by the name of Berk and he will outfit you with the armor of one of my personal guards. If he doesn't comply, tell him that I will whip his ass senseless until it is so red, it becomes a ruby.”

Was the armor another chain with which Princess Amara would tie me up with for the worst case scenario in which I was a spy?

“One more thing before you leave, Verath. You can find some sleep at a place that raises morale and get some food. I need not say anymore as it is quite obvious what I am talking about. Also, try not to cause any troubles.”

Was there a hint of something behind her words? But I was not too sure so I put it out of my mind. It was best to not get involved with such a shrewd princess and commander.