Armies of Nine, Book Three of The Adventures of Sarah Coppernick

by SJB Gilmour

  Sarah changed back to her human self and stared at Hannah in surprise. ‘Sub-lieutenant?’ This was all happening way too quickly! First, she was acknowledged as a master and now she was an officer as well!

  Hannah nodded. ‘All masters are automatically given officer status. Once you’ve completed basic training, you’ll be bumped to lieutenant. That’ll mean that privates, corporals, sergeants and chief petty officers will have to salute you. Warrant officers won’t. Technically, you’ll be the same rank, but most WO’s have greater experience.’

  ‘And when in uniform, young Master Coppernick,’ Sergeant Dallas added, ‘you’ll need to salute your superior officers. Captains, majors, colonels and generals... And everybody,’ she stressed, ‘everybody salutes The Queen.’ She looked at Sarah’s sloppy civilian clothes with one eyebrow raised. ‘It’s a good thing you’re here so late at night. It won’t take so long and there’s no-one else to see how skinny you are. Strip off,’ she instructed. She stepped out from behind the counter with a pad and pencil and a measuring tape.

  Sarah blushed but nonetheless did as she was told. She stood in her underwear, feeling very exposed and just a little cold.

  ‘Don’t you have to be born into an Amazon tribe or something to be an Amazon?’ she asked Hannah.

  ‘In most cases,’ Hannah agreed pleasantly. ‘But now that Captain Troy’s back and Her Majesty herself has vouched for you, you’re as good as blood. You’re a werewolf, so you probably won’t be expected to serve a normal term though.’

  ‘Normal term?’

  Hannah nodded. ‘Standard term is a hundred Earth years.’

  Sergeant Dallas looked critically at her cotton civilian underwear. ‘And the rest of it,’ she said brusquely. ‘Come on, young lady. Whatever you’ve got under there is nothing we haven’t seen before.’

  Sarah closed her eyes for a moment and calmly concentrated on thinking like a wolf. It helped a bit, but she still blushed furiously as she took off her bra and knickers. The only thing she wore now was the silver amulet around her neck that was her half of The Star of Planes.

  Dallas looked at it critically. ‘Does that have some sort of significance?’

  Sarah nodded, not sure how to explain what it was.

  Dallas held up her left arm to show her the brace she wore about her wrist. ‘Most of us have one of these,’ she told Sarah. She unbuckled the brace to reveal a hidden pocket with a single gold coin tucked inside. ‘For payment when we meet Charon. You’ll get one too. You should be able to keep that thing in there instead. Since you’re a Golden Mane, I doubt you’ll be visiting The Underworld any time soon.’

  If only you knew, Sarah thought to herself wryly.

  ‘Come on. Take it off.’

  Sarah began to obey, but paused.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Umm, it’s enchanted, umm…’ She wasn’t quite sure how to address the woman.

  ‘Sarge or Sergeant will do.’

  ‘Sergeant. It’d be safer if nobody touches it but me.’

  Dallas’ eyes widened momentarily. ‘Alright. Just put it down and we won’t touch it.’

  Smiling with relief, Sarah removed the uncomfortable amulet from her neck and let it rest on the ground next to her knickers. The sergeant quickly and professionally took all sorts of measurements which she scribbled down on her pad.

  ‘Right,’ she said, pushing the pencil behind one ear. ‘Now I’ll get your kit. It’ll just take a moment.’

  Sarah sighed in relief and went to pick up her clothes.

  Corporal Hannah put one restraining hand on her shoulder. ‘Oh no you don’t, Lieutenant,’ she told her. ‘From now on while you’re here, you’re in uniform, or starkers.’

  ‘Lieutenant? I thought I was a sub-lieutenant.’

  Hannah nodded. ‘Subbies are addressed as “Lieutenant” or “Ma’am.” The “sub” indicates your trainee status. Your drill-instructors will most likely just call you Coppernick, subbie or whichever obscenity pops into their crusty heads. Don’t argue with ‘em. That just makes ‘em meaner.’

  ‘Meaner?’ Sarah asked, shivering.

  Hannah chuckled. ‘Don’t bother trying to get on your DI’s good side. They don’t have one. Just do as you’re told, keep your trap shut and you’ll be fine. Soldiering is not so hard, once you get the hang of it. Basic training’s more to get you used to your weapons and to get you thinking like a soldier.’

  ‘What about Angelina?’ Sarah asked a little plaintively. She wasn’t liking the sound of all this and didn’t want to go through it alone.

  ‘Don’t worry, she’ll be working hard too. I saw how out of condition she is. She’s got a good slog of hard training to get back into lick.’

  ‘What about me?’ Sarah asked, looking down at her own body. There wasn’t much in the way of fat on her. In fact, Sarah had always been very fit, and now even more so having spent so much time as a wolf, but she was nowhere near as muscular as Hannah.

  Hannah smiled. ‘You’re young.’ She reached out and gripped Sarah’s bicep and gave it a good squeeze. ‘You’ve got plenty of muscle. It just needs a bit of toning.’

  Sarah didn’t understand much of this. She was naked, cold and feeling incredibly self-conscious.

  Hannah saw her look of confusion. ‘Troy’s a born killer. There are quite a lot of us like that in this outfit, but there are also a lot of Amazons who never see combat. I think you’ll probably fit into that category, but Basic’s the same for all of us. We all have to go through it.’

  Sarah waited, naked and now quite cold, for several minutes while Sergeant Dallas collected her kit. She felt quite nervous about all this. True, she and Mel had learned a lot from Oliver and Angelina, but with the Amazons, she could learn even more, which would not be such a bad idea, she conceded to herself. She remembered Jasper telling her that she was destined to lead. A bit of this sort of training would be very helpful. Then she realised just how much of a grown-up she was becoming. Suddenly, despite her short thirteen years, Sarah felt quite old.

  When the bustling sergeant returned, she was carrying a small leather rucksack very similar to the one Ronny had given her the year before. She also had a few pairs of leather shorts, two leather skirts and a Kevlar vest like the ones Hannah and Monika wore. There were also sets of underwear, all made of the softest chamois leather and superbly fine cotton.

  ‘That’s the clothing,’ Dallas said. ‘Now I’ll go get your boots and blades.’ She rushed off again while Sarah gratefully dressed herself in the new uniform. It felt very tight and quite strange indeed. The underwear especially surprised her. She expected it to feel harsh and scratchy but it was much softer and definitely much more comfortable than what she had been wearing before.

  Dallas returned with three pairs of Amazon military boots that would come up to mid-calf. She laid out two knives in sheathes, a crossbow, a longbow, several quivers of bolts and arrows, a short sword and finally a brass and leather helmet. She carefully spread the weapons out on the floor while Sarah pulled on a pair of the boots. They felt quite hard and very heavy.

  ‘They’ll soften up by the time your first set of blisters heal,’ Hannah said while Sarah wiggled her toes in her new boots. Hannah helped Sarah tie on the knives to each calf over her boots. Then she fastened the crossbow quivers to her thighs and buckled the short sword and belt around her waist. She slung the longbow over Sarah’s left shoulder and the quiver of arrows between her shoulder blades. ‘You carry the crossbow when you’re on foot,’ she instructed. ‘If you’re in the saddle, there’s a harness for it.’

  Next, Hannah showed Sarah how to buckle on the leather and brass brace about her left wrist. The piece of The Star of Planes took a bit of shoving to fit into the stiff new leather pocket, but soon it was tucked away, safely hidden from view.

  ‘Keep that on at all times,’ Hannah advised her. ‘Even though there’s no payment for Charon in there. None of the rest of us ever take ours off.’ Hannah’s sunny disposition va
nished for a moment. Very seriously, she told Sarah, ‘Never take it off. Amazons don’t die from old age. Death is around every corner. Arriving in Hades’ realm without payment is our worst nightmare.’ She pointed a finger at Sarah sternly. ‘Never take it off.’

  ‘Not even in the shower?’

  Now Hannah’s smile returned. ‘Shower, bath…’ She grinned knowingly. ‘Any other time you might want to be naked.’

  Sarah blushed. ‘What about your necromancers?’ she asked, not wanting to think too much about the other reasons for nudity Hannah was referring to.

  ‘They wear gold or brass ones.’

  Finally, when Sarah was fitted out with the snug fitting uniform and very heavily armed, she examined her reflection in the mirror. The uniform was obviously quite new but she knew it would soon look more weathered. The biggest surprise was the way she filled out the vest. It was not particularly low cut, but it certainly accentuated the fact that she was a lot more womanly than she had been the year before. She really wanted to show off her new uniform to Mel.

  Next Sergeant Dallas turned her attention to Sarah’s shaggy hair. She picked up one handful of her blonde mane and held it out critically. ‘How attached to this are you?’ she asked.

  Sarah bit her lip. She was not particularly fond of her unruly mop. It was certainly a lot more shiny that it had been now that she was getting a more wolf-appropriate diet, but it still refused to stay straight for more than a few hours. Despite this, she had never considered cutting it short. She was quite prepared to go along with getting some training but all that it involved had not yet dawned on her.

  ‘Umm,’ she stammered.

  ‘It’s coming off,’ Dallas said firmly. She pulled out a large hairdresser’s robe and tied it around Sarah’s neck.

  ‘What?’ Sarah protested loudly. ‘Couldn’t I tie it back or something?’

  ‘Off,’ Dallas repeated sternly. ‘Crew cut or cue-ball?’

  Horrified, Sarah blurted, ‘Crew cut!’

  Dallas laughed. ‘My little joke. Cue-ball’s all I do.’ She produced a gleaming cutthroat razor and a can of shaving cream.

  Ten minutes later, Sarah was rubbing her bald scalp and staring at herself in the mirror. Although she was not very tanned at the best of times, her scalp was not used to the light of day, and as such was almost blue it was so pale. Her head looked terribly small now and quite bright. She was also quite conscious of just how much her ears stuck out.

  ‘I look like a boy!’ she wailed.

  Hannah laughed and nodded meaningfully at her chest. ‘No you don’t, Lieutenant.’ She picked up Sarah’s helmet, shoved it onto her head and strapped it up. It felt a bit loose on her bald head. Hopefully when her hair grew back, it would fit better, Sarah thought.

  Hannah patted the loose helmet quite firmly a few times. ‘You look like an Amazon. Be proud!’

  Sarah winced. The helmet would certainly stop almost any kind of projectile or blade reaching her skull, but the force behind whatever was aimed at her wasn’t softened much. Hannah’s pats were quite firm.

  ‘And now we need to teach you how to behave like one,’ Dallas said. She and Hannah showed Sarah how to stand at attention, at ease and how to salute. Luckily, Sarah was a very quick learner and she picked it up in less than an hour.

  Finally satisfied that Sarah had a few of the basics at least, Sergeant Dallas saluted her smartly. ‘Now go and get to bed, young recruit. Tomorrow’s gonna be a doozy.’

  Sarah stuffed the rest of her kit into her satchel and followed Hannah to her quarters, which were right next to Angelina’s room. Sarah dumped her gear inside her cabin without even looking around and raced next door to see Angelina.

  She found Angelina carefully polishing her knives and sword. Even more surprising was that Angelina too, had recently had head shaved. Sarah stepped up to her teacher and did her best to salute without laughing. Angelina stood and quite seriously returned the salute. The two looked at each other for several seconds then neither could hold it in any more. They both burst out laughing. When Angelina managed to get her laughter under control, Sarah took off her helmet.

  Now Angelina did not laugh. She merely leaned forward and kissed Sarah on the top of the head, and rubbed her bald scalp fondly.

  ‘Don’t worry, dear. It’ll grow back.’

  ‘But I can’t go back to Crete looking like this!’ Sarah protested. She flung herself into a chair with a clatter.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of hair by the time you see Felix again.’

  ‘How bloody long am I going to be here?’ Sarah wailed. By now, she was very tired and beginning to feel a little grumpy.

  Angelina chuckled. ‘Remember I mentioned to you that now is The Time of Learning?’

  Sarah nodded mutely.

  ‘Mother said the same thing, so it’s certainly true. I’m afraid old Rufus has a terrible head for dates. He’s right out of whack, the old boy. You’ll be here for a while yet, I’m afraid. I’m sure your hair will have plenty of time to grow back to a presentable length before you see Felix again.’

  Sarah felt just a little trapped. She hadn’t asked for any of this! ‘I thought it was only going to be a few days!’

  Angelina laughed. ‘Didn’t Corporal Hannah tell you? I’ve discussed it with General Troy. There’s a boot class starting tomorrow.’ She patted Sarah on the shoulder proudly. ‘My refresher course is tougher than what you’ll be going through, don’t worry about that.’

  ‘But Mautallius—’

  ‘Is bound by the same limitations we are.’ Angelina smiled ruefully. ‘It’s not uncommon for opposing armies. Both sides spend a lot of time plotting against one another and making idle threats while their armies gather and grow. Right now, we’ve just started to rally our forces. James will ring in his mercenaries, Benjamin will co-ordinate the werewolves and young Master Mason, I’m sure, will have all the Gnomish military foaming at the mouth. You, young lady, are going to have to learn how to be a soldier if you’re to lead them into battle.’

  ‘Me?’ Sarah flushed guiltily.

  ‘Remember what I said about your education? You better get some sleep, young recruit. You’ll be called down to the training barracks tomorrow at zero six hundred.’ Angelina glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘Since it’s now twenty-three thirty, I suggest you get straight to bed.’

  ‘What’s in it for us?’ The pixie making the demand was looking at James with heavy distrust.

  ‘Like I told you,’ James replied. ‘You Pixierazzi leave us alone until this whole thing blows over and in exchange, we’ll give you exclusive rights to the full story and open access the entire Sorcerers’ Guild archives.’

  ‘And he means all of us,’ stressed General Kilnmacher.

  The meeting with the pixie was attended by Benjamin McConnell, James Isaacs, Generals Mason, Kilnmacher and Quarry. Cassandra Troy had torn herself away from her daughter and granddaughter’s bedside in the hospital cavern of The Labyrinth of Minos at Crete, much to her obvious frustration. She sat at the table, scowling. The werewolves Jasper, Mannix and Fergus were also present, though they were not nearly so grumpy as Cassandra. Despite the seriousness of their discussion, the werewolves were typically happy and relaxed.

  Curled up in a corner of the hall (well, more like a quarter of the hall) were the mighty diamondback dragons Siouxanne and her young (and much smaller) ward, Jimbeaux. Just as Felix had predicted, the dragons had arrived just when he said they would. Normally a dragon perched on a rooftop of a country estate would attract quite a lot of attention. To prevent the locals becoming alarmed, James and Benjamin had hurriedly erected an extra floor to the building with a glass ceiling and no interior walls. Just then it was Cexil’s turn to stand guard, and the slateback dragon was dutifully perched high up above them. He had traded his thick bi-focal glasses for an enormous, state-of-the-art, set of night-vision goggles.

  The pixie squinted at them all in turn. ‘You sure you’re going to win?’


  ‘Haven’t got a clue!’ James confessed. ‘But, I’m putting every gnang and pexo I’ve got into this. Besides,’ he said with a shrug, ‘if we lose, it’s moot. We’ll all be dead so there’ll be no-one to sell the story to.’

  The pixie considered this. ‘Alright,’ he told James. ‘Deal. We’ll leave you alone for six Earth months or till you beat Mautallius, whichever comes first, providing we get the full and exclusive rights to the story afterwards and access to The Guild’s secret archives.’ He spat in his hand.

  James nodded and also spat in his palm. The sorcerer and the pixie shook hands, then the pixie vanished.

  ‘That’s one thing out of the way,’ James commented with a satisfied smirk.

  ‘Now we just have to worry about these nine armies,’ Benjamin said.

  Ronny nodded. ‘Mistress Harding told me that Cromwell claimed at best he’s only ever been able to co-ordinate three armies at once. We’ll need a good communication system.’

  Benjamin nodded. ‘Now that the Pixierazzi is under control, I’ll get us some crystal balls.’ He padded over to the large gold nonagram embedded in his granite floor and created a glimmering portal.

  ‘Wait for me!’ James yelled and rushed to follow him.

  ‘I don’t trust that man,’ Cassandra muttered as she watched James vanish through the portal.

  ‘What is your problem?’ Jasper asked. ‘You don’t trust anyone! And why do you have to be so grumpy?’

  ‘I don’t like being away from my grandson,’ Cassandra snapped at him.

  Jasper gave a derisive snort. ‘You’ve gone for centuries without even talking to your daughters. Susan’s had dozens of children, half of whom you probably don’t even know. Why are you so keen to stay close to this one?’

  Cassandra glared at him. ‘You don’t get it, do you? The child has a pivotal role to play, perhaps the most important of all.’ She shrugged, making all sorts of things move under her filmy gown. ‘My motives are my own and if you don’t want to listen, then to Hades’ with you.’ She touched her finger to her temple. ‘And I’ve got a nagging suspicion that something’s going to go wrong.’