Here She Rules: The Chronicles of Erla: Book 1 (13 page)

“No, no. I change my mind; I want a night with that big, blond, beauty of yours!” Kara joined in.

“Very well! When we return, I will send them to you both . . . But remember, you
cannot
keep them!” At this, they all laughed heartily.

They rode through the forests making small talk, which was occasionally interrupted by a warrior bringing in reports on the state of the troops. There had been no incidents along the way yet, and they were relieved.
 

They had brought a physician and nearly every physician’s assistant in the city. The Queen’s physician and a handful of helpers remained to care for the citizens of Erla. The medical personnel were safely quartered in a covered wagon near the end of the procession.
 

Dusk was near when they called a halt. The warriors began setting up camp, and a dozen or so came to set up camp for the Queen, Cassie, and Kara. This time, they had separate tents as Cassie did not fear for the Queen’s safety, since they were surrounded by so many well-trained warriors.
 

Kara took charge of ordering the night guards while Nera and Cassie slipped into the woods to answer nature’s call. As they returned, they smelled the rich aroma of meat being grilled over open fires. Fortunately, they were far enough from the settlement that the fires and torches wouldn’t give their position or intent away.

Cassie’s concern was getting so many warriors into the village before the Trevians had a chance to arm themselves fully. Although she constantly reminded herself that the Erlans had a superior force, Cassie harbored both mild doubts and strong hopes that she would be able to keep the casualties down to a bare minimum. After all, this
was
her first real battle and test of her mettle.
 

She discussed this at length with Nera and Kara, and they agreed there was no way such a force could be completely surprised. On the other hand, however, the Trevians would not have time to plan a strategy. Overall, the women were feeling fairly optimistic.
 

Nera looked Cassie in the eye sternly.

“There will be casualties, Cassandra. There always are. Such is the way of warfare. You will lose some, but you have trained them well and given them the advantages of your superior fighting skills, so you have done all that you can.” The Queen smiled sadly. “You will become accustomed to the losses after a time.”

As the women ate, they decided the best course of action would be to ride hard for the last mile, descend upon the village, and swiftly eliminate the Trevians once and for all.

Once they were all in agreement, Kara sent messengers out to inform the troops of the plan.

The day had been long and grueling; fatigue was quickly settling in on them. They disbanded and went to their tents.

Cassie looked down upon her bed roll, which was surprisingly comfortable looking, and she smiled because she knew her men had arranged this for her.
 

She ached for them, wishing to be lying in any of their arms, but Cassie knew that by this time the next day, the battle should be over and hopefully would be won. Then, she would return to the men she loved so dearly.
 

She left her clothes on, removing only her boots before lying down. She then rolled onto her stomach and fell asleep faster than she would have thought possible.

X

The following morning, Cassie awoke refreshed and as ready as she could be for what she would have to do this day.
 

After pulling her boots on, she lifted the tent flap and saw someone had already begun cooking a morning meal. She walked towards the fire and smiled at the warriors who sat around it.
 

They scrambled up and bowed. Cassie gestured for them to sit.

“Are we ready?” she asked them.

“Yes, My Lady. We are!” they chorused.

“I want you all to have a care for your lives and assist each other when you can. I wish to see us all home in Erla in two days—laughing and bragging of our prowess!” Cassie said as she looked each warrior in the eye.

“Yes, Lady. To victory!” They raised their cups and drank, so Cassie poured some fruit juice and toasted them in return.
 

Moments later, Nera and Kara joined them, and they all broke their fast together.

The camp was quickly dismantled and packed up. They wasted no time in mounting and riding towards the unfortunate village.

Several hours passed before they neared the outskirts of the village. Advance scouts were sent to report, and as they rode up to Cassie, she could see the gleam in their eyes.

“Your Highness, Lady Cassandra, they are not stirring much this morning. It appears they had a celebration last night, and many of them over imbibed!” The scout was excited, and her fingers caressed the hilt of her sword.

Nera looked at Cassie and Kara.

“We ride, my friends!” Nera turned to the troops and waved her sword in the air. “We go now to avenge our sisters!”
 

As the Queen spurred her horse onward, Cassie and Kara were hot on her heels. The pounding of five hundred warhorses filled the air like thunder.
 

The Trevians were completely unprepared for the sight which met their bleary eyes. Nevertheless, they were trained warriors themselves, so they got to their feet, grabbed up what weapons they could lay their hands on, and the battle quickly commenced.
 

Cassie controlled her mount with her knees, wielding her sword and a pike she had taken from a victim of their initial onslaught. The large brutish women fell before her like wheat to the scythe. She turned her mind off to what she was doing as she mechanically fought through the first throng of Trevians, losing count of how many fell to her blade.
 

Her eyes searched for Nera and Kara and saw they fought as hard as she, and the bodies of the fallen littered their paths.

As she motioned her horse forward, it stumbled over a body and Cassie leapt from the saddle, narrowly avoiding landing under the horse. She saw with momentary relief that Blaze had regained his feet and was trotting out of danger.

Her sword had been knocked from her hand, and she dropped and rolled to retrieve it. As she came up, a sharp pain tore through her left arm.
 

She raised her eyes to meet the insanely angry eyes of the Trevian chieftain. Ignoring the pain, she hefted her sword and circled her foe. Blocking out the sounds of battle, she focused on the Trevian.
 

The huge, ruthless woman swung her axe wildly at Cassie, who nimbly dodged the blow. Cassie’s eyes followed the woman, assessing her skills as she haphazardly slung the axe at Cassie’s head.
 

While Cassie dodged one such blow, the woman kicked Cassie’s leg out from under her, and thinking to plunge the axe into Cassie’s skull, the woman raised her arm.
 

At that moment, Cassie pulled her leg back and drove a side kick into the woman’s knee. She felt a pop and smiled, jumping to her feet as the woman roared in pain.
 

Cassie hefted her sword as the Trevian, howling in pain, swung her axe wildly, utterly missing her target. The woman was half turned, and Cassie swung her sword in an arc, the sharp blade cutting through the woman easily, cleaving her nearly in half at the waist.
 

Cassie backed up from the twitching corpse as she fought back the urge to vomit.
 

She twirled—sword at the ready—expecting to find another opponent. When she turned, her eyes took in the welcome sight of Nera and her troops, all of whom were smiling in approval of their Commander.
 

A cheer rose up which quickly turned into a roar . . . for they had triumphed! They had slain their enemies.

The warriors were quickly dispatching the wounded that remained alive and carrying their compatriots to the medical wagons.

Cassie stood—white as a sheet—and her eyes locked with Nera. She felt as if she might pass out.
 

Nera and Kara quickly covered the ground between them. They each took one of her arms as Nera hissed, “Do not faint in front of these women!”
 

Cassie nodded, straightened herself, and smiled at them.

“I’m fine,” she said, taking a deep breath and disengaging her hands from theirs. She looked around for her horse, and when she saw him at the edge of the village, she motioned to a warrior to collect him.

Cassie then turned to the building which housed the stolen slaves.
 

“Your Highness, the slaves are quartered there, and they are most likely in need of some medical attention.” She pointed to the building, and Kara quickly sent a warrior to go check on them.

Cassie looked at Nera and asked about casualties. “Around twenty were killed, and two times that number sustained substantial injuries. The rest have superficial wounds. Overall, you have achieved great success in your first mission, Commander,” Nera said, smiling at her.

“I wish there had been no loss of our people. They are the most courageous women I have ever known,” Cassie said as tears began to form.
 

A handful of warriors heard what she said and quickly spread her words throughout the ranks; they venerated their Commander even more than they already had. She had earned their complete and total loyalty.

Kara issued orders to a group of warriors to dig pits to bury the dead women under the tarp and to drag the bodies of the Trevians into a pile and set it alight. The warriors worked quickly and efficiently.
 

Nera spoke words over the graves of the deceased villagers. As for the rest, she basically spat at the burning Trevian bodies.

The fallen warriors were placed over their saddles to be returned home for burial.
 

The slaves were dirty, lice infested, and hungry, so the Erlan warriors quickly put them into the empty wagons which had been brought for this specific purpose.
 

The Trevians had repeatedly raped and beaten them. It did not occur to them that these men did need not have been raped; they were pleasure slaves after all, and they would have participated willingly. There had been no pity in their brutish hearts, and they had been unspeakably and unnecessarily cruel towards these men.

None of them had any desire to stay in this village a moment longer than was necessary, so they packed up the booty which the Trevians had accumulated and left the accursed place behind them. They traveled until near dark and set up camp, then they set about cleaning and feeding the slaves.

Cassie made her way to a stream and waded, fully-clothed, into the cold water, and scrubbing the worst of the gore from her clothes, she stripped them off. It wasn’t until the soap hit her arm that she remembered her injury.
 

Her upper arm had a three-inch cut on her bicep which had been crusted over with blood. Since she had scrubbed off the scab covering the wound, it had begun bleeding heavily again.

“Shit!” she muttered as she waded out of the water, grabbed her leather shorts and wrapped them around her arm. She picked up the rest of her clothes and trotted back to the camp. Managing to avoid scrutiny, she went into her tent and clumsily pulled on leather pants and a vest.
 

She couldn’t work the fastenings on the vest, so she let it hang open, and barefoot she made her way through the camp to the physician’s tent, still holding the leather against her arm.
 

Unbeknownst to her, blood was trickling past the wet garment and hitting the ground, leaving a trail leading back to her tent.

The physician looked up from a patient when Cassie entered her tent, and seeing the blood running down her arm, she rose and went to her, uncovering the wound.
 

“When did this happen?” she asked Cassie.

“During the last of the fighting,” Cassie responded briefly.

The woman nodded and poked gently at the wound which was stinging and starting to throb. The physician motioned to one of her assistants to hold the wound closed while she gathered what she needed. Cassie grimaced and gritted her teeth as the girl squeezed the cut closed tightly.

The physician returned with a bottle, a small case, and bandages. “You should have seen me sooner than this; we cannot have our Commander dying from blood loss or infection.”
 

She opened a bottle, poured some liquid on a small square of cloth, and began to cleanse the wound. Cassie yelped as the liquid hit the open wound.

“My apologies, Commander, but I have to kill any infection which may have gotten into the wound,” the physician murmured. Holding up a new bottle, she said, “This will numb the wound and staunch the blood flow, so that I can stitch it up.” The woman applied a gel from the bottle, and within seconds, Cassie had no feeling left in that area, and the bleeding had stopped.
 

The sound of running footsteps could be heard from outside the tent, then Nera and Kara burst into the tent—their eyes searching for and finding Cassie.

“Gods! We could not find you anywhere, and then we saw the trail of blood leading here! Are you hurt? What has happened?” Nera exclaimed.

“I took a blow from the Trevian leader, and then I broke it open when I bathed in the stream,” Cassie said as she smiled up at them as they looked on in relief. The physician began stitching the flesh back together. “I didn’t mean to alarm you. I had forgotten about it until I made it bleed again.”
 

Nera and Kara visibly relaxed and walked over to observe the physician at work.

“Had I been wearing my armband, it would have just glanced off,” Cassie said ruefully, “but, I didn’t want anything to happen to it.”

“Cassandra that is an everyday band, so wear it and I will make sure you will have replacements should anything happen,” Nera said.

Cassie grinned and nodded as the physician wrapped her arm in a bandage. When she finished, Cassie stood and rotated her shoulder.