Chapter 13

***

Alex woke up with a start, sweat dripping down his face.

Running his hands over his face he breathed a sigh.

Vaguely he heard the sounds of the sheets rustling as a slender hand draped itself on his back.

"What's wrong?" Asked Alice softly.

Alice had arrived before Alex the previous day however when he arrived and caused a commotion she simply waited to the side and watched, saying she wanted to see how he commanded his men.

"Nothing… it's just a bad dream." Alex sighed as he cupped his face.

"You seem to have a lot of those… what was it this time?" She asked as her fingers trailed down his neck causing goosebumps to pop up on his body.

"I was remembering a moment I had on the battlefield." He said, shifting so he could put his head in her lap while her fingers trailed circles on the back of his neck.

"What happened?" She asked curiously.

Alex closed his eyes tightly as he recounted what happened.

Alice began running her fingers through his hair.

"You seem to have a special connection with your men, why is that?" She asked quietly.

Alex froze, as his eyes squinted in pain as if remembering something terrible.

However, he quickly relaxed in her embrace.

"I hear their voices…

The screams of the dying…

The stench of the dead…

It rings through my head…

Day in, day out… over and over." He whispered quietly, his body curling up as if hiding from something.

The hands caressing him stopped.

After a few moments, he opened his eyes and found a pair of warm brown eyes staring back.

A pair of hands grabbed his face as Alice said

"You're not alone anymore, you don't have to bottle everything up and keep it with you."

"I'm here to share your burdens, just as you will share mine."

"I may not love you, however as a person who has gotten to know even a little bit of you, I know there is good inside of you and it pains me to see you so." She whispered as her hands caressed his cheek.

Alex gazed into her piercing brown eyes.

'If only you knew the things I'd done you wouldn't say such things…' he thought bitterly.

However for now he simply decided to enjoy the moment before it came crashing down.

Her fingers once again ran through his hair as she pulled him into her embrace and held him tightly.

After a long time had passed the couple fell back asleep still in each other's embrace.

***

As the early dawn light shined through the tent flaps, a black furry creature climbed on the bed and began nudging its occupants.

Alex stirred awake when he felt a wet snout nudging his hand which was wrapped around Alice.

Blinking his bleary eyes, he looked up to find Wolf staring back at him, tail wagging.

Wolf had grown several sizes already as he had been fed regularly, he now was almost big enough to reach Alex's knees.

Alice seemed to feel the air that was blowing in her face from the wagging tail as its hairs tickled her face.

Wrinkling her news she rubbed her eyes and sat up.

Looking down at Alex she said,

"You know he's been tough to take care of."

Alex sat up as well and wrapped his arm around Alice's shoulders as she laid her head in the crook of his neck.

"I know it's been rough but in the end, we saved him from a miserable life and a sorry death on the streets," Alex said as he scratched behind Wolf's ears.

"That we did." She breathed contently.

"Don't you need to begin training the soldiers soon?" She asked him as he rubbed her shoulders.

"Indeed I do, it'll be harsh on them but when they're out there on the battlefield they will thank me for it. I just wish I had someone to teach me the cruelties of the world, unfortunately, I found that out the hard way." Alex sighed as he got up to get dressed in his armor.

Alice gazed up at him as he changed.

"I don't know yet what happened to you in the past, but just remember that I'm here for you." She said as she got up to get dressed as well.

"I know." He responded simply as he remembered last night.

"Alice." He said suddenly.

"What?" She asked, turning to look at him as she changed.

"I need you to take command of the strategy and planning." He said.

"I'm good at rallying the men and making speeches as well as fighting, but I'm not as adept at commanding, I'm more of a leader than a fighter."

"I've heard from many people that you are quite good at strategy and command so can I ask you to take care of it?" He asked hesitantly, gazing into her eyes.

It took a few moments before she finally responded.

"I will take over command as long as you promise me one thing," she said walking over to him.

"What?" He asked as she placed her hands on the side of his face and stared at him.

"Come back, I do not want to end up a widow," she said, smirking at the last part.

Alex gazed into her eyes for several moments.

He had been respected by his armies and hated by everyone else. History painted him as a villain and that he was. At no point had he stopped and regretted it.

He had chosen his path and never looked back. Throughout that journey he had become many things, however today, for the first time, he finally felt a tiny bit of regret.

How many soldiers had this same conversation with their wives?

And he had taken their lives away.

Holding her gaze for several more moments, he finally nodded before walking out of the tent not looking back.

***

"Attention!" Called a lieutenant.

The soldiers all formed neat lines and stood at attention when Alex came out of the command tent fully armored.

They all had similar style armor, chainmail stretching from their head to their waists with a plate mail chest plate and helmet on top of them. Steel vambraces were on their elbows to protect them, while on their legs they wore plate mail greeves with leather braces for their knees.

They each had a blue coloring to their armor as well as an emblem featuring a blue background with a black shield in the middle and a raven above it.

At their waists hung a leather sheet with a dagger inside.

It served two purposes.

One was if you lost your weapon.

The second was if you were captured as a prisoner of war, so you could end your own life.

In their hands, each soldier held their weapon of choice or that was given to them by the garrison stationed in the capital which held the kingdom's weapons supply.

Some had shields and swords while others held battle axes, halberds, pikes, and spears. There were many varieties even in the ranged units such as bows and crossbows.

As Alex examined the army that stood before him he cleared his throat.

"Today, you will begin your training!

I will train you until you collapse from exhaustion and then some.

You may come to hate me

Or if you're a masochist well that's just weird,

However, I do know one thing!"

He shouted as he watched them.

"After I'm done with you. Each and every one of you will have a higher chance of surviving in the coming battles.

I do not care about your feelings, if you want to hate me that is fine, however, I want you to channel that hatred into working harder because at the end of the day it's your life I'm trying to save not mine, I can take care of myself, can you?"

"Therefore I want you to listen, and I want you to do your damned best, for the sake of coming back alive."

"Dismissed!"

***

Once their training began the soldiers were eager to prove their worth as they dove headfirst into it, very quickly they regretted their decisions.

Push-ups until you collapse.

Sit-ups until you collapse.

Running through the forest until you collapse.

Covering yourself in mud and branches among other things to camouflage yourself for an ambush.

Tree climbing.

Swinging your weapons in repetition nonstop until you can't hold your weapon anymore.

These were just some of the things the soldiers had to do, by the end of day one almost all 50,000 of them had collapsed exhausted.

"That's all you can do?!?" Alex would shout from time to time, only to be met with glares.

It seemed they had come to hate him, but among the hatred was pride. Pride at being able to accomplish what he set for them.

By the end of the first week, most of them didn't collapse by the end of the day, and by the end of the second week none collapsed.

***

During one of their training missions, Alex had joined them as they began running through the forest.

"Keep running!" shouted the lieutenant at the soldiers who had stopped to stare at Alex.

After all Colonel Hansen who was their commander did not train with them so why would Alex train with them.

"Match my pace!" Alex yelled behind him as he began running faster on the wet ground.

Mud sloshed underneath the feet of the running soldiers who desperately tried to match his pace but couldn't and were reduced to gasping mindless zombies marching endlessly.

Finally, Alex stopped when they arrived at a clearing.

"Stop!" he called.

The marching soldiers passed the order down the line as they came to a stop before collapsing against the trees on the outskirts of the clearing, not caring for the mud that soaked through their clothes.

"Drink and Eat!" called the lieutenant once everyone sat down.

The soldiers quickly pulled out their water skins and combat rations and began to dig in.

Once they had their fill, Alex said.

"Today I will be teaching you combat camouflage."

The soldiers perked their heads up, they hadn't expected him to be teaching them.

"I firmly believe that people learn from practice so we will be playing a game," he said.

'A game?' all of them couldn't help but wonder.

"I will hide in the forest, I will go no further than 1 kilometer and you will have 30 minutes to find me, if you manage to knock me out then I will formally promote you to lieutenant!" he said.

The soldiers began murmuring in excitement, after all, most of them were commoners, and to become an officer one had to be of the nobility, which meant that Alex was promising one of them a title of nobility.

'I've hooked them.' Alex smiled wryly.

The soldiers couldn't help but stare greedily at Alex after all it was 500 against 1 there was no way they could lose.

"Members of the 6th battalion, do you understand?" shouted the lieutenant.

"Yes!" they shouted back in excitement.

Very quickly the game was underway and Alex had disappeared.

Reynold and Arthur were walking through the dense forest searching for Alex.

They had chosen to work together as a team which gave them each a 50% chance to catch him.

However, when they passed by a snow-covered tree, they didn't notice that a pair of eyes was watching them intently.

"Have we passed a kilometer?" asked Arthur.

"How should I know?" grunted Reynold.

"You were supposed to be keeping track!" Arthur shouted angrily, shoving Reynold.

"Hey! I thought you were supposed to be keeping track!" Reynold shouted back, raising his fist.

Snap!

Just then they heard a loud sound.

They both whirled their heads around to where they heard the sound from, however, there was nothing there.

Crack!

They whirled around again but found nothing.

"Who's there!" shouted Reynold.

"Show yourselves!" shouted Arthur as they drew close together.

Crunch!

They whirled around to where they heard the sound from.

A squirrel was snacking on an acorn loudly.

It gazed up at them with beady black eyes before grabbing its acorn and scampering up the tree.

"Phew, it was just a squirrel." They breathed in relief.

"Are you sure?" whispered a voice behind them.

They both whirled around terrified.

"Boo!"

A grinning face was the last thing they saw before everything went dark.

***

Alex was currently stalking the lieutenant, to who he had promised a promotion as well.

The lieutenant was currently sneaking through a field of bushes, in front of him was a clearing.

On one of the trees was an obvious bulge hidden in the leaves and covered in dirt to camouflage itself.

The lieutenant silently approached the tree before sneaking behind the figure.

Reaching a hand up to the tree branch he quickly grabbed the person.

"Got you!" he shouted with glee.

But then the body slid off the tree and landed at his feet.

It was Arthur.

The lieutenant took one look at the body before promptly fainting on the spot.

***

Several hours later all the soldiers were gathered back in the clearing, many of them clutched their heads in pain.

At some point, they had all blacked out and been dragged to the clearing.

Upon waking up they could only stare at Alex with respect as sighs of admiration escaped their lips.

"Did you guys have fun?" Alex asked cheerfully.

All that answered him was a series of groans.

Turning to the lieutenant, he said.

"Your reaction was by far one of the best." he sniggered.

The lieutenant could only turn his head down in embarrassment.

Turning back to the soldiers, he said.

"Well, as much as I liked doing that, it's time to get serious."

The soldiers finally began paying attention.

"This is especially important to you nobles, so pay attention," he said before laying down in the snow-covered mud.

He then proceeded to roll around which emitted loud squelching sounds.

Once he was done, he got up as snow and mud slid down his body.

Quickly walking over to a tree he began picking off handfuls of leaves and attaching them to his body.

Once he finished, he walked over to a bush and crouched down behind it.

Gasps of surprise escaped the soldiers, they couldn't even tell he was there.

Getting up he said.

"I want you all to do what I just did and then I want you," he said pointing at the lieutenant.

"To come through and try to pick them out, do it as many times as it takes for them all to be camouflaged."

The soldiers eagerly got up and began scrambling to camouflage themselves.

Alex smiled in satisfaction as he watched them flit about.

He seemingly recalled an old memory in which he had done the same things with his soldiers, except at the time they were in a life-threatening situation and didn't have time to practice, that had been a bloody fight, it was practically a massacre.

Alex shuddered as he shelved the memory in the back of his mind hopefully to never pop up again.

***

"Messenger from the king!" yelled a voice outside the tent.

Alex glanced up from the map he was looking at.

Alex and Colonel Hansen were peering down at the map as well when they heard the commotion.

They were in the command tent, it was the morning after the second week had passed and the snow was beginning to fall quite heavily, it looked like a snow storm might proceed very soon.

A man in messenger robes quickly ran through the tent flap and handed Alex a letter before running out and hopping on his horse, quickly riding away into the snow.

Alex glanced confused at the retreating back of the messenger before quickly breaking the seal on the letter and flipping it open.

Dear Alex, it read.

I send you this message in hopes it arrives before it's too late. I know that it isn't convenient and may be too much to ask, however, I need you to begin pushing into the Toryn kingdom. I fear that if you do not, this will be the final letter I ever send.

As you may know, your father was sent to fight off the Royal Alliance attacking our southeast border near the border with the Empire. However, upon arriving there your father discovered that things were not as they seemed.

Apparently, the Royal Alliance had given up their left flank that was fighting the Empire and instead retreated and decided to push into our kingdom. Your father's forces were routed and he is currently holding them off while the fourth division moves with due haste to assist him. However, this will leave our border with the Empire undefended and we have no one to guard it. My hope is that you can push into the Toryn kingdom far enough that they pursue peace instead of war and then immediately return to guard the border with the empire. I know that the news of what is happening to your father will worry you however I could not bring myself to lie to you. It is my hope that you make the right decision and push forward instead of leaving to assist your father.

Signed,

King Louis Ornata Arturian the VII.

"What does it say?" asked Alice, noticing the grim expression on his face.

Alex gave them a brief rundown of what it said.

"What will you do?" she asked.

"You cannot disobey the king's orders," said Hansen.

Alex bit his lip as his thoughts churned.

'I'm proud of you…" kept ringing through his head.

Finally, he came to a decision.

"Gather the men," he said looking at Hansen eyes alight with a flame that hadn't been there before.

Hansen gulped and nodded before scurrying out of the tent.

"What have you decided?" Alice asked concerned.

Alex stared out at the falling snow as it began falling harder and faster than before, it seemed a blizzard would soon be upon them.

Turning around once he reached the tent flap, he said.

"We will push to the heart of the Toryn Kingdom." eyes resolute as a small flame danced in them.

Turning back around he walked out and was quickly engulfed in the snow.

'Il kill any who stand in my way.'