5 Soldiers

"What?" Grayson yelled turning to Boris, "all of us? Now?"

Boris slipped off his coat revealing casual wear underneath.

"In that?" Feline gasped.

"To some point you resemble him," Boris muttered locking eyes with Feline, "reluctant to take risks and see past the crown on your heads."

"But sir, this whole thing might get out of hand," Helen objected.

"You too?" Boris sighed. He handed the coat to the knight and looked at her, "you think the commoners don't know you are royalty? Or does the feeling of being able to intimidate them with your flowing coats appease your egos?"

The council members looked down at their outfits, the special embroidery made to fit them and the jewels lining their heems suddenly felt heavy.

"This is the chance of seeing the people and showing them that the royals still care about them without overwhelming them with visual power. I bet you guys haven't been outside and actually had a conversation with the people of this kingdom if it wasn't for a business deal," Boris sighed looking down at the group of councils, "you call yourself the king's advisors but you don't even speak to the commoners in order to hear them clearly and try to suit their needs but instead the rich who could barely understand a commoner's pain. You aren't advising the kingdom, you are advising the wealthy families."

A smile spread on Noah's face, "I like your thinking," he grinned, "I never thought about it that way."

"If you do then lets go," Boris nodded, he turned to the rest of the 10 councils, "you can wear those pride of yours if you want, but I'd rather not come off as egotistic to the people we are trying to enlist."

Slowly other councils pulled off their drapes and turned to Boris, their gaze asking him to lead them.

"Good," Boris praised softly, then turned and started walking towards the door leading out of the room, the others following close behind in two lines. He nodded towards the door and the knight quickly opened it for him. "Get some guards, two new ones that are relatively inexperienced, and the other three, reliable soldiers."

"Inexperienced soldiers? Why not just get 5 reliable soldiers?" said the council member, Frederick Lonjer.

Boris stopped momentarily to look at Frederick, sending a slight scare down his spine and then turned back, "You think walking out there with soldiers is only for protection?" Boris led the group through the hallways, maids and others staring at him as he walked past, "in order to successfully enlist them, you need to show them that where they are going is better than where they are right now. The younger inexperienced ones are to be able to have someone relate to the young men we try to enlist and show them that people their age can be in the army too."

Finally, they turned into an enormous room where the ceiling hung a hundred feet above them with glass windows that bathe the room with a soft glow. The floor reflected those who walked on it, a result of the hours wasted on doting on a surface that was meant to be stepped on and the soft fragrance of flowers from the banquets placed on small columns placed around the room lingered in the air. There at the end of the hallway was a row of guards, lined up in height order.

Boris stopped in front of then and examined them, his figure reflecting in their suits. He glanced at the younger ones and one trembled in his presence.

"They look good, let's go," Boris turned to the knight he had seen earlier and nodded in the direction of the door. "We have to get more than a thousand people today."

"From what side of the kingdom? It would take a few days to explore this whole kingdom," Helen commented, "we don't have a few days. We have a week at most to find them and train them."

"Do we have a travel agency here?" Boris asked, "Last time I checked we had travel agencies in every country in our kingdom." He had read all the maps of the kingdom and read through most of the archives and deals the kingdom had made these past few years, so he knew most of the information others would not expect him to.

"Yes," replied Feline.

"And there's a couple hundred members in the agencies right?" Boris asked.

"Yes," replied another council member, Hendrickson Leod.

Boris turned and locked eyes with Helen, "Then contact every agency and by the end of the day I better have word that they are out looking for men."

"Yes sir," Helen replied, stepping out of the line and heading back deep into the castle.