A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 5
Chapter 3
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"Text: Though many and more travelers have spoken of the Chorhan Expanse I found that my travels took me instead to the eastern extremities into oft-forgotten lands. The mage warriors of Estronn are renowned for their ranged strikes as well as healers and there are also the notable warriors of the lands east of the Nollan Ridge beneath Estronese lands who are known for their ability to resist the martial arts of the south.
Gloss: Curiously, the chapter on lands in eastern Breilin is almost entirely without falsehoods. Aside from a few exaggerations and referring to occupied lands as 'oft-forgotten' there is little to note in the following pages."
- excerpt from The Annotated Travels of Telekrainas the Great
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Celivia picked up the piece of nearly raw meat and sank her teeth into it, easily tearing away a large piece. Flecks of blood spattered away from her, staining the ground. She gnashed it with her teeth a few times and then swallowed it almost whole...
No. No, that wasn't right.
She lowered the piece of meat, then picked it up again. This time she bit more savagely, even though her teeth could easily cut through even tough meat. It made a satisfying sound as she tore the meat away, but some of the blood flew back to strike her clothes.
That wasn't right either. Celivia sighed and washed her hands before trying to wipe the blood off her shirt.
Before the day was done, she would meet the band of soldiers she was meant to be commanding. Eight men who would allegedly take orders from her. Despite having advanced to warrior second class, this was her first experience leading soldiers. There had been leadership exercises at the Spathor training ground, but those didn't leave her feeling remotely prepared.
What did it matter whether or not she impressed them with how she ate her meat? Celivia did her best to set aside such abstract matters and focus on her practical preparations. It was too late to make any significant changes, but at least she could reassure herself that she wasn't going in unprepared.
She'd used her back pay to purchase a large and durable pack, but her possessions couldn't fill it. Mostly it was occupied by her bedroll, a spare combat tunic thick enough for the mountains, and a single silk robe in case she was invited to an event with leadership. A wrapped package held basic medicine, childbane, and a pearl hair comb. The last was impractical and she wouldn't have taken it along, but Reina had given it to her as a gift at their parting.
Most of her pay had gone toward the armored belt around her stomach and hips. Purchasing one that was durable, presentable, and comfortable had been expensive, but she didn't have many uses for her pay. The belt had special notches for her duusha horn knives and of course her whip, each of the bladed segments oiled to perfection.
None of that would last, if conditions in the Sotunn Mountains were as difficult as reported. But at least she was going in prepared.
Though leadership could be disconnected from the reality on the ground, the lessons they had taught her and the other band leaders had been immensely useful. The conflict in the north of Breilin was complex, but she was being assigned to a simpler task: combating the human raiders in the Sotunn mountain range. If she and her band completed her assignment south of the range, they would be allowed to go north to engage with more dangerous raider tribes.
She'd memorized the names of all the known major raiding groups. They had rather blunt names like Earthbreakers, Bloodskins, or Stormpeaks. Though she supposed that she had no room to criticize, given how many in the mansthein military embraced the "Deathspawn" title.
The door started to open and Celivia instantly closed her pack and snapped to her feet. She recognized the man who entered as a lieutenant at the base, though it look her longer to remember his name was Tamanin. He was Feinan but substantially shorter than her, suggesting that he hadn't been through the normal training regimen.
"There's no need for that, Nin." He chuckled at her stiff posture and waved vaguely with one hand. "We're nowhere near Ith Silvaros all the way out here, so you'll find things aren't so formal. This isn't even the roughest area when it comes to raiders."
"Will you be giving me more information about my assignment, then?"
"And escorting you to your band, but yes. The Captain said he was too busy for this and told me to show you around."
Celivia suspected that he had said something worse than that, but accepted it in stride. She followed Tamanin out the door and into the cramped corridor. The little outpost was made of solid stone, but it wasn't Aryabaus's tower, much less the palaces back on Orphos. As they walked, the lieutenant turned back to look at her.
"I'm company leader Tamanin, by the way. Except-"
"Company leader?"
"Eh? Oh, right, you're from Orphos." Tamanin gave an odd shrug. "Officially I'm a lieutenant, but that's more of an Orphosan word. Out here we just call them company leaders."
"I understand. Sorry for interrupting you."
"Not a problem. I was just saying that my company isn't much of a company at all. I don't even have a full nine bands, though with you coming along I'm back up to eight. The main thing is, most of you band leaders are on your own without reporting much to me. That's a bit odd, but then again, this is Breilin."
Celivia nodded politely. "The Captain said we would be trying to eliminate a raider tribe?"
"Eh, that's real optimistic. As I see it, your first assignment will be to range through part of the mountains, making sure no raider tribes sneak past and launch an attack here. The closest tribe is the Redbranches, and they're nothing much, but we see Bonewalkers sometimes. For all the bloody signs they put up, they're not so good about sticking to their territory."
"I'll do the best I can, then."
"That's how it usually works." Lieutenant Tamanin - company leader Tamanin - squinted up at her. "Honestly, you're overqualified when it comes to combat strength, but I don't like sending out green commanders. I hope you make it through."
She wasn't entirely sure what to say to that, so she just inclined her head respectfully. They passed through the outer guard house, taking them into the training yard. Her band was nowhere to be seen, but here Tamanin stopped.
"Your boys are outside the gate, getting ready to go. They taught you the region in your training, so all you need now is to scout the area like I said. Keep your soldiers alive for a hundred days and maybe we can move you to a more critical duty."
"Is th-" Celivia bit off asking if he was joking and tried to phrase her objection in a way he might hear. There was no sense in antagonizing her direct superior. "I expected to be given a clearer view of our objectives. You're going to send us out without more information?"
"What's there to give? All I know is that we've been told to keep this random little fort and fight human raiders in the area. Protect any merchants you can, whoever they are. The Zeitai up north requests reports for some reason, but you can bet he doesn't care about individual companies, much less bands. Some bands get called up there, so if you're overambitious, you can hope for that. Me, I want to last the whole war right here."
The Zeitai. Celivia had known that she was ultimately under the command of one of them, a fearsome master who waged war in the north of Breilin, but information was scarce. She did her best to keep her expression casual. "I know the Zeitai doesn't exactly stroll through the fort, but do you know anything about him?"
"Heh, we had a drink just the other day." The mild humor seemed to win over Tamanin, who lingered in the courtyard instead of departing. "No, we're so far from the Zeitai's throne that we might as well not exist. I can tell you that he's named Zeitai Kreue and that he's a Greav, but that's all I know."
"Kreue." Celivia turned the unfamiliar name over in her mouth, trying to determine its provenance. It wasn't a traditional Feinan, Seinan, or Laenan name, but there were more mansthein in the world than just Orphos. Though it would be risky, she hoped that she would make her way closer to the Zeitai in time. That might do more to influence the war than any ordinary promotion.
"Anyway, your boys are mostly green, but they've been together for a bit. Their band leader got himself killed during local training, so they haven't seen action yet. I'll let you make the introductions, since you seem to know how to handle yourself."
Turning on his heel, Tamanin turned away and went back into the small fort. Celivia wanted to call after him, though obviously showing any weakness was entirely out of the question. She'd assumed that she would be briefed in much greater detail and that the lieutenant would properly introduce her. That additional legitimacy would have been extremely useful, but now she was left on her own.
She'd face worse than that, though. Squaring her shoulders, Celivia headed out the fortress gate to locate her new band. It didn't take her long to find them in a clearing not far away and she had a moment to examine them before they noticed her.
Eight Feinan men, most with brown Fkaz mottling but some with a blue-brown mixture that was unfamiliar to her. All looked younger than her except one in battered gear who she estimated was at least forty. Their equipment was standard issue except for the veteran and a few personal items.
It was difficult to truly estimate their strength, but she couldn't help it. Most seemed to be untrained in sein or had the barest beginnings of comprehension. Judging from how they wore their swords and axes, they didn't have much experience in real combat.
If need be, she could probably kill all of them at once.
They would have some idea of her strength, however, and wouldn't attack head on unless they were truly foolish. She would have to assume that she was attacked at night and her weapons would be taken, though she could limit that threat by keeping her whip wrapped around an arm. Any real potential threat would come from their ability to coordinate effectively, which would be exactly what she would be giving them...
"Ho!" One of the men sat up straight with a grunt of surprise. All the others immediately turned to look at her, so Celivia made her face a neutral mask. "They said our new band leader would be a female, so... that's gotta be you, right?"
"I'm Celivia." Since they hadn't used titles, she didn't either. "And yes, I'll be leading us while we scout."
One of the men, a slightly pudgy man with a broad smile, stood up and bowed to her. "Pleased to meet you, Naena."
Celivia froze, for a moment desperately thinking. He was being polite and seemed friendly, but he'd addressed her as a woman instead of a military superior. Correcting him would immediately cast her in the wrong light, but she needed to be respected as a leader... "That's Kaen Celivia... Nin."
Several of the men laughed at him, though she saw one scarred man spit contemptuously. The pudgy man himself just nodded with a bit of a blush. "Sorry about that, Kaen. We're not exactly as polished as Ith Silvaros. We're just soldiers from Fein Karnak."
"I was born in Fein Karnak too." Better not to let them think too much about that, so she hurried onward. The apology seemed sincere and the group wasn't as overtly hostile as it could have been, which meant a friendly approach might serve her better. "I've spent the past three years in the Chorhan Expanse, however. They just moved me up north to deal with the human raiders."
"Damn, and we were hoping you'd bring delicacies from Orphos." The words were spoken by a thin man with unusually jagged mottling. His flippant words produced an uncomfortable pause and the others' eyes turned to see how she would respond. Celivia decided to give him a slight smile.
"All I have is that garbage the Corans call bread. You can have it if you want it."
That actually got a couple of laughs and the thin soldier grinned. The way he settled back and nodded to her, she had a feeling that she wouldn't have a problem with him, though it was always possible that he was being deceptive. Still, when she went to lean against a tree in their circle, they made room for her.
Instead of giving them orders immediately, she let the group talk for a while, gathering information. They usually called her Kaen or spoke politely, so in turn she didn't emphasize the Nin title. If she could save that for giving orders, her command might progress more smoothly.
She caught and memorized the names of all eight, though if they hadn't been in her command she would have found them unremarkable. Two even had exactly the same common name, leading to them being called Big Ragh and Little Ragh. The one who had greeted her was named Krafan and he seemed the most friendly of the lot. A few acted suspiciously toward her but only the scarred soldier showed overt hatred. Everyone called him Splinters and she resolved to keep an eye on him.
They might not ever accept her as one of them, but they did accept her presence after a time. Once they seemed comfortable and there was a lull in the conversation, Celivia stepped away from her tree and raised a hand.
"Alright, Nin, I think it's time to get to work before Company Leader Tamanin comes to see what's gone wrong. He's assigned us to range across a set of hills and warn Fort Corfaal if any raiders attempt an attack. It's supposed to be a quiet position, but we'll need to say alert."
"Yes, Kaen!" A few responded together, while others awkwardly tried to chime in too late and a few said nothing. It would do for a start.
They began hiking into the hills and Celivia stayed in back, knowing that otherwise all eyes would be on her. The soldiers had their packs on correctly and kept a mostly straight line, which was what passed for discipline here. Celivia waited until they reached a more even path and then passed the group to reach the head.
Her thick robes were stiff enough that they didn't conform to her body well, but she could still feel their eyes on her. There was essentially nothing she could do about that, not without setting herself as their enemy. Even if she could kill them, that would end her command and ruin her chances of ever attaining the position she needed to make a difference.
Placing that out of mind, Celivia instead moved to march beside the veteran and gestured for him to come with her ahead of the main line. "Are you my second?"
"I was going to be second, with the old leader." He stared right back at her, carefully gauging. "Seems to me that's up to you now."
"How long have you served here?"
"Two years at the fort, but seven years in the Expanse before that. I was a guard on Orphos before then."
"Then you're my second." His experience would prove invaluable, if they could work together. Celivia gave him a slight smile that wasn't false. She knew that it was a bias, but she tended to favor older soldiers over young men straight from Orphos. "What's your name?"
"I'm Ghasfik, Kaen."
"Well, Ghasfik, I wanted to talk to you about what you've seen in your time here. I wasn't briefed as well as I would have liked."
"That's always the way." Instead of answering directly, he glanced back at her. No smile, but he only seemed cautious to her. "You said you fought in the Expanse? Do you speak Coran?"
"I'm fluent."
"Good. Most of these boys speak nothing but Futhik, and village Futhik at that. In this job we'll have to deal with humans sometimes, and almost all speak Coran or Reili."
Celivia knew that Reili was the language spoken across the three nations north of the Sotunn Mountains but had never heard even a word of it spoken. Her mind focused on the more important aspect. "Are we dealing with local humans, or with raiders?"
"Some of both." Ghasfik seemed to chew his tongue a while before continuing. "The thing about the raiders is that they're just out for the spoils. If there's a caravan, they don't care if it's mansthein or human. Caravan guard duty... that's a bad assignment and I always prayed we got an escort with more trained warriors. But a band of soldiers isn't carrying much they want, so they might ignore us. Or they might try to extract a price, and between you and me, that can be worth paying."
"They're formidable, then?" This was the sort of knowledge she had hoped to learn. In a perfectly logical military Ghasfik might have been band leader, but the hierarchy wasn't always logical and some counted personal strength over experience.
"I don't know how to judge sein, so it's hard to be sure. The smallest clans stay away from forts or towns. The strongest raiders are a threat to everybody. I know that on the caravan we had some young warriors who thought they were real hotshots... some of them died as quick as the untrained, and some of those who made it went into seinshock and never came back."
They discussed all the local raider tribes in detail, Celivia carefully committing the facts to memory. Here, at least, her briefing had given her accurate information about their numbers, though Ghasfik's perspective was still useful. It seemed the Stormpeaks had a nasty reputation on the ground, even other raiders fearing them. The reports hadn't said anything about the Bloodskins targeting mansthein more than other raiders, and they hadn't even mentioned a group called the Hardbloods.
Ghasfik wasn't willing to discuss the overall situation, either because he didn't care about military politics or because he was cautious. He did let her know about the informal roles in the band so far: Fijn was supply master and Brifik oversaw equipment maintenance.
Technically, it was a competently composed band. Celivia would have preferred more trained warriors, a sein healer, and a tracker, but she realized that her standards were absurdly unrealistic. Simple bands of nine didn't get such luxuries.
Though Celivia didn't think of Laeri often, certainly not compared to Tani and Slaten, she found herself missing the shy Estronese healer. There had been no public reports of the group, so she could only hope that Laeri was well. If Melal was still the Hero, she had a feeling that the wake of his heroism would be fatal for the weak.
Those thoughts dredged up old pain. Celivia pushed it back down and focused on the present.
Once they'd made good headway, she had Ghasfik and Fijn collaborate to determine how long their supplies would last and how well they could forage off the land. If she understood how loosely the local military operated, it was a near certainty that supplies would be interrupted or misplaced. Quite aside from any raider threat, if her band didn't have enough food, that could set alight tensions.
