POV Rena
I turned back in my saddle and looked at David. He was talking avidly with the Prince and the wizard, which only made me bite my lip. I'd made a fool of myself…
Yesterday had been a terrible mess, fighting with the crown Princess… over a man's honor! He clearly didn't care for it, much less for our fight. He'd even… 'I'm disappointed that this is what the best is reduced to… over something so trivial.'
That heavy look of disappointment in his eyes, like I was a child being scolded by my father brought me no end of shame. I'd wanted to apologize that evening, but his daemon kept me confined to my room.
It all changed after that dungeon. I knew having him marry into my family would bring almost any benefit imaginable to my family. So i'd resolved to marry him, though I'd much rather never marry a man.
Urgh. I started to slow my horse to fall back but his daemon's eyes landed on me with the sweetest of smiles and I returned to my normal pace. I felt shivers running down my spine. That he kept such a notorious monster so docile was beyond me.
We were walking along roads bordered by farmland, amber fields of grain stretched as far as the eye could see, small hamlets of farmers dotted the land. It reminded me of my own lands near the family estate. As the only female of my generation I would inherit tall of our lands, my brothers would most likely end up as political tools for my family.
I glanced back at David for a long moment. His sister didn't use him as a political tool. She'd let him roam freely, at first I thought she was mad, men couldn't look after themselves. But I knew better now. He was more than twice as strong as the best warriors or paladins. Not only that but his wisdom and intellect was comparable to the brightest of wizards and sorcerers, while being more charismatic than an army of bards.
"My lady." One of my guards spoke. "There is an army marching from the south."
I turned to look where he was pointing. Sure enough an army was marching from the south flying no banner that I'd seen before. It had three colored bars, blue, white, and red.
"Halt!" I held up my hand to signal the column to halt. I sent a messenger to inform the rest and had my women form a light screen around the front of the column. After a brief wait David rode to the front.
"Army?" He asked then followed my arm to the large force still marching from the south.
He squinted his eyes and a wide smile broke over his face. "It's just my brother."
"Brother?" I asked.
He nodded and stirred his horse into motion. I called for the column to advance and soon we waited at the crossroads for the army to approach. I couldn't help but feel apprehensive. I'd never seen such a force like this. There were so many, and they all looked the same. Each had a helmet, breastplate, vambraces, and greaves. They carried a shield and pike. I'd never seen a force so uniform in its nature. I could almost feel the aura of these women, it felt invincible.
A man similar looking to David rode at the helm of the column with a small group of women on a pitch black horse. He broke into a wide grin at the sight of us and called the column to a halt. He dropped from his horse and approached us with a wide grin.
"Fucking hell! I turned around and you got yourself a damn harem!" The man chuckled as he and David embraced.
"Sure, should I mention how you look riding at the head of your command staff?" David chuckled.
"Stuff it old man."
"Best year of my life." David replied with a chuckle.
"Well? Who are they?" The man asked after they'd exchanged a few more jabs. David motioned us forward.
"This is the Crown Princess Veria Alison Yuri Vandamme." Her highness nodded her head but was meet with a bored 'neat'.
"She's Viscountess Rena Zachary Benjamin Jackowitz." David nodded at me.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." I replied.
"He's the Prince, Alexious Ian Vandamme." David continued.
"Why's the kid got a halberd?" His brother asked.
"I… wanted to fight, Baron Fulton said it was the weapon I had the most aptitude with." The Prince replied with a downcast look.
"That's the wizard…"
"Liscia?"
"Yes…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Liscia demanded angrily.
"I'm Smith, we'll be working closely in the future." He shook her hand with a wry smile. What?
"And she's a daemon I beat into submission two days ago." David gestured at Shyora.
He eyed her closely. "What kind? I had a rough encounter with some hellhounds last night."
"A Succubus."
"It is a pleasure to meet my master's brother." She curtsied.
"Can I ignore her?" Smith asked.
"It's what I do." David replied.
"Master?" Shyora asked distressed
"We'll that's the gang on my side. Is that Knightess Ponatoski?" David asked, ignoring the beauty clinging to his leg. Smith nodded, also ignoring the daemon. They chatted for a bit longer before giving the order for the march to be resumed.
I looked between my guards and the women of David's regiment. This had to be almost all of them. Yet they all wore the same armor, had the same weapons and even clothes. I couldn't help but compare them to my own regiment and what I remembered of David's before now.
The 17th regiment was one of the larger and more historied regiments of the Queendom, almost predating Queen Bianca's accession to the throne. By comparison the 86th was a newborn and small in size. I'd heard it was barely six hundred strong and in a poor state. What happened?
My own 17th was among the best, nearly four thousand strong and I'd called four hundred to meet me in Feln. I couldn't help but think of my women as inadequate watching the 86th march. I dropped back to where Veria was.
"Your highness? Is this not…"
"I'm amazed as well." She replied.
"I was able to call up three hundred of the 1st. Yet I feel they pale to the 86th."
"Is the Baron a threat?" I asked.
"I… do not think so. But I fear if he ever did…" The words were left unspoken. It would be a very bloody war. I wasn't sure how many dead it would take, but it would be a very steep price. That and we'd be one of the few nations of the world to garner the reputation of killing our own heroes.
I looked ahead to where David and Smith were talking with a rather excited Liscia. I shuddered thinking about fighting him on the field of battle. It would take a whole party of the strongest adventurers to face him, perhaps not even the Black Roses could do it.
"Every measure should be taken to avoid that…" Veria whispered.