Trials of a Champion

by Thomas O'Gorman

  “Would you mind if I took over command of your company on this journey?” Svae asked. “Not for day to day activities, but if we are attacked, I would like to direct the defense of the Queen.”

  “Of course, major.”

  “Good,” Svae said. “Hopefully it won’t be necessary for me to take over. I would like to discuss your formation. I would like to have maximum protection for the Queen.”

  “Ma’am, how would you like us to form up?”

  “In the middle of the formation, I want two columns fifteen men deep. On the outside of the formation I want a column on each side ten men deep. I want the outside columns set back so that they form the outside wall around the Queen, who will be in the middle of the formation.”

  “Yes ma’am, I will make that happen.”

  “I would ride in the front, but I don’t want to leave the Queen’s side until we are back in Alexandra. You take the front and lead the company.”

  “Yes ma’am.” Sloan rode off to see to the formation that Svae wanted.

  Sarah, Svae, and Vant were shown to their horses. Sergeant Elsby repeatedly apologized that they couldn’t bring a wagon. He explained that the reason was that some of the journey was off road. They put what little they were carrying with them in the saddle bags and mounted. Lieutenant Sloan had quickly put his men in the formation that Svae described. He gave the order to ride out, and they began their journey to Alexandra.

  They rode at a moderate pace for two hours then Sloan brought the company to a halt. Sloan approached Svae and asked if the pace was satisfactory.

  “The pace was fine,” interjected Sarah. “Why did we stop now. I think the horses could have gone on for a few more hours.”

  “Your Majesty, there are a couple of reasons. One is that I wanted to warn you that we are about to go off road and won’t be stopping for several hours, so I thought it would be a good time to take a break to quickly eat a meal or take care of any personal matters. Secondly I wanted to discuss the possibility of sending scouts ahead to look for Menegar patrols.”

  “Do you have good scouts?” Svae asked.

  “Yes ma’am. I have two excellent trackers who are quiet and know how to keep out of danger.”

  “Send them,” Svae said. “It would be good to have eyes on the trail.”

  Sarah nodded her head and Sloan left them to gather his scouts and send them out. Twenty minutes later they mounted up and started riding again. Riding on the rough trails was a lot less comfortable but Sarah put a brave face on and did not complain. Four hours later they came to a relatively flat clearing. Sarah hopped off her horse fast and rubbed her legs. She wanted to growl at Svae and Vant who were acting like they just had a walk in the park. Svae walked to the front of the formation and found Sloan in a heated discussion with Sergeant Rockingham.

  “What is the matter gentlemen?” Svae asked.

  “Ma’am, two things,” Sloan said. “The scouts were supposed to meet us here fifteen minutes ago. We were late but they wouldn’t have left without waiting for us. The boys are very prompt, it is unlike them to miss a meet. The other thing is that one of the men just saw the remnants of a couple of campfires in the copse of trees to the left of the clearing. The fires were from last night. A party of some sort is possibly in the general vicinity.”

  “We will wait an hour for the scouts,” Svae said. “Will that put us riding after dark to get to the camp site?”

  “Not if we pick up the pace a bit.”

  “Good.”

  They waited for an hour for the scouts, but the scouts did not show. They mounted and took off again, this time at a faster pace. After two hours of hard riding they stopped suddenly. Svae rode to the front of the formation to find out why. She didn’t have to ask. On the side of the road there was the chopped up remains of a man and a mangled dead horse. Svae could tell it was one of their scouts.

  “Shit!” She said loudly. “Sloan, we slow our pace and proceed with caution. Tell your archers to have their bows out with an arrow knocked. Tighten the formation, I don’t want to see daylight between the columns. Move out with alacrity.”

  “Yes Ma’am,” Sloan replied. He gave the order to bunch up and they moved out at a trot.

  They rode for another hour. The sun began to set, and it cast shadows of the hills and trees they passed. It was hard to see in the dark places in the crook of the base of a hill or in a copse of trees. Svae hated passing so close to these dark spots that were getting darker. She rode up to Sloan and asked him how far they were from the camp. He said another hour at least. She did not like that answer. She was about to turn back and rejoin the Queen when Sloan called for another stop. The road they were on was on the side of a hill and on the down slope side there was what looked like a man and a horse. The man was moving.

  Svae and Sloan hopped off their horses and ran up to the man. It was their other scout. His horse was dead. He had several wounds, the worst being a hole in his gut that he likely would not survive.

  “Private Stadder, what happened?” Sloan asked.

  Stadder was trying to speak, but he had trouble, partly because he was spitting up blood. Svae gave him some water, and Stadder drank as well as he could, spilling half of it. He tried speaking again, but what he said only came out in a whisper, and Svae and Sloan didn’t catch it.

  “Say again, Stadder,” Sloan said as he put his ear close to Stadder’s mouth. Stadder, spoke once more, and closed his eyes for the last time.

  “What did he say?” Svae asked.

  “Menegar,” Sloan said.

  A roar erupted from the trees that lined the left side of the road. Svae bolted back to her horse, jumped on, and rode for the Queen. At the same time several Menegar burst from the trees and headed straight for the Queen, attacking and mostly defeating the Avish that stood in their way. There was no time for arrows, the Menegar took the company completely by surprise. Svae rode through the mass of confusion that was the Avish men who were trying to face the enemy.

  “Fight as a unit!” Svae yelled as she desperately tried to reach the Queen. “Remember your training, take them down together not separately. North side columns, come around the formation and attack the Menegar in their left and right flanks.”

  Vant was the only person in the company who had faced a Menegar, and he wasn’t caught off guard by their size, appearance, strength, or speed. Winn had taught him how to fight a Menegar, and he was putting his teachings to good use. The Menegar directed their attack at the Queen. Four of them broke through the two columns of men to the outside of the Queen and Vant put each of them down, but not without a few superficial wounds. Two more broke through the protective pocket the Queen was in and Vant tried to engage both, but one avoided him and reached for the Queen in an attempt to pull her off her horse. Sarah had a surprise for him. She kicked his face so hard bones crunched. The Menegar was taken aback for a moment, but he recovered and swung hard for Sarah’s face. She ducked and kicked him in the face again. The Menegar roared, grabbed Sarah’s hair, and pulled her off her horse. She landed on her side and popped back up quickly like she had seen Winn do a hundred times. With the Menegar still holding her hair, she leg swept him and he went down. She was able to stab him in the neck before he could react. She must have hit the carotid because a huge spurt of blood gushed out and hit her in the face and chest. Luckily, she closed her mouth just in time. She stood up and saw that Vant had killed the other Menegar and that the men of the company were looking more organized and were holding the Menegar back momentarily. Svae finally reached her.

  “Your Majesty are you hurt?” Svae asked in a panic.

  “No, Svae, this isn’t my blood. I had to take one of the Menegar down myself.”

  “I am impressed ma’am. As long as I am here, another one won’t touch you.”

  Another Menegar broke through the line and Svae took this one. She traded blows with the brute and realized that the tales of the Menegar’s strength were not exaggerated. She made sure sh
e didn’t block blows straight on but rather deflected them. She saw an opening and struck for the neck, but the Menegar was baiting her and swerved out of the way and went for her neck instead. Svae was a master and she saw that coming and used his overextension to stab him under the arm. He dropped dead.

  “My first Menegar kill,” Svae said to herself. “It won’t be my last.”

  “Too bad I got one before you did,” Sarah teased.

  I’ll never live that down. Two more Menegar came at them and Vant took one and Svae the other. Svae didn’t test this one’s strength like she did the last one and tried to find an opening for her sword quickly. The Menegar wasn’t cooperating and proved to be a polished fighter. Meanwhile a third Menegar broke through the ranks and came right at Sarah. Sarah tried another sweep, but her legs just bounced off the Menegar’s. She hopped back up and took a neutral fighting position. The Menegar swung his sword at Sarah and she ducked out of the way. She chanced a kick to his groin area, hoping to drop him the easy way. She got lucky and connected. The Menegar doubled over and dropped his sword. Sarah used her knife and stabbed him in the heart.

  “Two,” Sarah yelled out.

  Svae heard Sarah but didn’t respond as she was in a fight for her life. The blows the Menegar was raining down on Svae were fast and hard. It was all Svae could do to avoid them. This creature was leaving no openings for her to exploit. She tried a low percentage move called Felling the Tree where you faint high and swing for the knees. She got him to bite on her feint, but he was so fast he blocked her low blow. Svae was starting to get angry. She deflected a blow, but he altered the arc and struck her in the sword arm. Blood started dripping down to her wrist and her grip was getting slippery. She saw out of the corner of her eye that Vant had killed his opponent and was about to stab her combatant in the back.

  “No Vant!” Svae yelled. “He is mine.”

  Svae redoubled her efforts and started making more strikes. Mostly he was able to move out of the way but on some of the blows he had to block, which allowed her to throw combinations at him. He blocked those too. Svae was tiring. She needed to end this. She thought of a plan, though it was desperate. She waited until her opponent swung an overhand blow and rushed to block it early. She did, and it was a standoff of strength with both holding their swords high pressing sword on sword. He grabbed his blade with two hands and started pushing his sword down as Svae had no choice but to slowly give ground. As she did, she pulled her knife out of her belt and slammed it to the hilt into the Menegar, right into his heart. The Menegar fell down dead. Svae went to one knee and caught her breath. She looked up and the remaining soldiers were standing in a ring around her, along with Vant and Sarah.

  “We vanquished the Menegar, but at a high cost,” Sloan said.

  “How many did we lose, and how many did they have?” Svae asked.

  “We lost thirty-two men. They had fifteen.”

  “Not the best kill ratio,” Svae said. She stood up and addressed the company. “Soldiers, you fought well considering this was your first experience fighting the Menegar. We lost many brothers in arms today. However, we would have lost more but for the fact that you maintained composure and unit cohesion. You fought them in an orderly and effective fashion. Tell your friends in other companies about this fight. Tell them what to expect. Tell them how to kill a Menegar.”

  Sloan, Svae, and Sarah conferred and decided to gather the dead soldiers, put them on their horses, and ride for the planned campsite. It was almost dark but a full moon was coming out so they would be able to see enough to ride slowly. They mounted up after they gathered the dead and rode for the campsite. An hour later, they reached the site. Some of the men started a fire and cooked meals for the group and the rest started digging graves. The campsite was in a valley with a little stream running past it. They buried the men in sight of the stream. Sarah and Svae went with Sloan as he presided over all the burials. It was late when they finished.

  “At least they were buried in their home country,” Sloan said.

  They brought a tent for Sarah, but everyone else was sleeping outside. Sarah tried to get Svae to share the tent with her, but she refused.

  In the morning they had breakfast. Sarah sat beside Vant and Svae. Sloan asked if he could join them and Sarah said he could.

  “Did you sleep well out in the elements?” Sarah asked the group.

  “I like sleeping under the stars,” Vant said. “Sometimes it is better than sleeping indoors. On a campaign you get used to it, and when you come home it is weird sleeping inside.”

  “I slept outside a lot when I was young,” Svae said. “I didn’t exactly have a manor to come home to.”

  “I should like to sleep outdoors if you two say it is so great,” Sarah said.

  “Your Majesty, we would be hung if we let you do that,” Sloan said.

  “Not on my watch, ma’am,” Svae said.

  “I think it would do you some good,” Vant said. “You become one with nature.”

  “Shut up Vant,” Svae said. “Don’t encourage her.”

  “On another subject, Svae does it vex you that I have killed as many Menegar as you have?” Sarah asked.

  “Your Majesty, it does,” Svae replied as her face turned red. “Hopefully that will be your last kill and I will have many more and survive them all.”

  “I hope so too, Svae.”

  They finished breakfast, packed up, and rode out.

  Even though they crossed over into Aviel they still were wary. The rebels had been known to send patrols out to southwest Aviel and the last thing they wanted to do was run into another enemy patrol with their depleted company. There were twenty-one of them left counting the Queen, and they didn’t want to have to count on her in a fight again. They decided to ride for stealth and not speed. They tried to stay off road and take all the trails that they could. Luckily there were some privates from that area, and they were familiar with the back roads and trail system.

  It took ten days, which were uneventful, to get close to Alexandra. They were within a day’s ride, but they had no more trails to go on. They reluctantly took the road from Azure to Alexandra. Traffic was light on it. There were some farmers hauling crops, wagons that were hauling timber, and some foot traffic. Sarah wore a shawl around her head and tried to keep from drawing attention. Sarah and the company had no way of knowing whose sympathies lied where. Any one of the passers by could be sympathetic to the rebels.

  Sloan called a stop. Svae and Sarah rode to the front.

  “There is a major intersection up there. My scout just reported that there are forces on the other road, and they are watching the intersection. I am not sure if they are on our side or not. We are an hour’s ride from territory firmly controlled by your forces, Your Majesty. They will challenge us if they can catch us. I suggest strongly that we make a break for it. We need to ride hard and outrun them.”

  “How big is the force on the other road,” Svae asked.

  “Two full companies, ma’am.” Sloan replied.

  “The horses should be fresh,” Svae said. “We rested them two hours ago and have just been trotting since. Your Majesty, what do you think?”

  “I could do with a little action. I am up for it.”

  “May I suggest that the Queen rides in front, keeping all the men between her and our pursuers?”

  “Yes, that is a good suggestion,” Svae said.

  They positioned Sarah, Svae, and Vant in front of the formation, then took off at a sprint. They flew by the men who were sitting at the intersection. Sarah looked back right after they passed the intersection and there was no sign of pursuit. She started to think that they might not be chased. She looked back again thirty seconds later and her hopes were dashed. The other force was coming after them. Sarah turned back around and focused on riding fast and staying on her horse. She could tell straight away that her horse wasn’t built for speed and was struggling to keep up with the rest of the horses. After five minutes of r
iding she had fallen back half a length. Another five minutes passed, and she fell back a length and a half. Svae noticed that Sarah was starting to fall behind, and she motioned to Vant and they both fell back to either side of her. Sarah alternated between cajoling and cursing her horse. The sweat on her horse was starting to foam. She was four lengths from the front now and closer to the back of the formation, but at least Svae and Vant were with her.

  Suddenly, her horse began to surge forward. He must have caught a second wind. Sarah held on tight as her horse moved toward the front of the formation, with Svae and Vant following. Soon he broke out of the formation and was leading it. Svae and Vant couldn’t catch up. Sarah didn’t want to pull him back for fear that he might go too slow again. She rode at the front of the pack for a good ten minutes. The road took a sharp turn, but her horse maintained his balance and kept going at top speed. Suddenly a dog ran out onto the road and started barking. Her horse reacted badly. It came to a sudden halt, reared up on his hind legs, and threw Sarah off. The company was right on top of Sarah and they veered around her, the horse, and the dog.

  The company recovered, turned around, and encircled Sarah. They drew their swords and braced themselves for a fight.

  The pursuing force arrived. They encircled the company and drew their swords as well. They outnumbered the company by quite a bit. A man rode out ahead of them.

  “Are you for King Keyland or Queen Sarah?” He asked.

  “Always Queen Sarah,” Svae yelled back.

  The man sat in silence a few moments.

  “Major Norvesk, is that you?” He said with a hint of surprise in his voice.

  “Yes, who wants to know?”

  “Ma’am, I am Captain Ridgly Dirks. I served under Major Tomas Ancel at Rama and at the Battle of Tolevo Rise. We are loyal to the Queen, as is the whole First Army. Especially the 150th and 152nd Divisions, which are of course Colonel Kide’s divisions. You are among friends.”

  “I could hug you,” Sarah said, stepping forward. “We could use your help. I would appreciate it if you and your troops could accompany us the rest of the way to Alexandra.”