Chapter 14: Rax Takes Command Of The Armies

No dragons, no elves or other minotaurs have come. What is going on? When Rax and Allan first rode in and kept getting met by patrolling soldiers, they assumed that this army was a force to be reckoned with. They soon find out that is not true. Putting patrols in the field does not mean they will be able to fight as one large cohesive unit when the time comes for the big battles.

Allan tears into the commanders and tells them exactly what is what, "Is this a game to you? Are you relying on something other than what you have on hand? Do not expect help to come. If you assume, you will doom us all. The enemy is powerful and has shown no signs of temperance or mercy. For too long have the regions and princedoms of Tally been selfish and separate. Either you will fight as one cohesive unit or you will die."

The blonde-haired blue-eyed Princess Sarah, who is the ruler of this region where the largest city of Tally sets, lowers her head and speaks from her heart, "It is true that we are woefully unprepared and we now face a danger that we cannot comprehend. All of us have heard of the Rock Clan, please help us.

"Also I know who you are. I was at the world summit, and I proudly signed The Peace Through Beauty Pact. Since that time, my self-worth and my kingdom have grown to wondrous heights. Please, we beg the Rock Clan and Allan of the Wayfarers to save us." All the assembled leaders gasp when the princess speaks the secret society's name.

"You know much indeed, Princess. That piece of information does not leave this room. If we survive this, Princess, you will have to tell me how you think you know that."

"Are not all Rock Clan warriors members of the Wayfarers?"

"No, Princess, they are not." Allan is only partially lying.

"It matters not, sir knight. Once again the world needs you and calls upon your strength."

Allan forces himself to calm down as he looks at the lovely blonde-hair blue-eyed princess with compassion. She is a couple of years older than he is, and the same size as Emma. Allan then turns to Rax who is just over his right shoulder and tells him, "You are now in command of the armies. Get them ready."

"Of course, brother." Rax is honored.

If the royalty, governors, mayors and professional soldiers of high rank have anything to say about it, they don't voice it out loud.

"Rax, you know the situation, prepare."

"Right away."

It doesn't even take two days before Rax comes to Allan with his opinion of his new army. "Besides the fact that we can only muster twenty thousand bodies to put into the field, only around eight thousand of them have any real military experience."

The time for volunteers is over, now begins the draft. The order goes out that all males from fifteen to sixty in good physical and mental shape must join up now. The grumbling is minimal until the order goes out that all females from the ages of twenty to fifty without children must also join the army. Even after this, the numbers will only swell to nearly forty thousand strong. If that number was made up of professional soldiers then they might hold their own against the coming horror for a while, but they are still going to need serious help.

"What the hell is keeping Stephen?"

The flames of hope light up the skies as Stephen in his transformed shape flies to get help. Stephen has been flying for hours. He is half way across the ocean that leads to the homeland of the dragons, when Stephen spots a skipper ship sinking in the ocean.

Stephen spirals down and down until he pulls up hard, and just as his phoenix feet are about to hit the deck he morphs into human shape and his human feet touch down on the deck as if taking a Sunday stroll through his village.

Stephen hears a woman crying down below and goes to go help her. He finds the prettiest black-haired green-eyed goddess he has ever seen. She is so overwhelmed at being rescued, that she flies into his arms and gives him a big hug and kiss.

It dawns on Allan that he has been spending so much time with Emma that he is making her miss her military training.

Early the next morning, Allan informs her of that very thing and tells her, "We will begin your training in earnest now."

She is not daunted by the glint in his eyes, but by the end of the first day that lasts well into nightfall she is exhausted and using words Allan didn't even know his beautiful sweetheart of a wife knew.

Now, in war you get very close to your brothers at your side. You keep them alive and they'll do their best to keep you alive. Sometimes when hell surrounds you, that is all you have. It is romantic and patriotic to fight for your country and loved ones, but when you are in the heat of battle it is your fellow warriors and staying alive that drives you.

It is true there is almost nothing Allan will not do for a fellow warrior, but when it comes to Emma she gets the best and worst of it all. The best, because even though Allan's fellow soldiers are his brothers and sisters, he will not give them the full body massage he gives Emma every night. Plus the worse, because Allan will give Emma no quarter in her training, because if she is under-trained she will most assuredly die in battle, and that simply will not do.

Before the sun is up again, Allan has her out running up and down a steep hill. Allan notices that the crowd watching keeps growing in numbers, which are mostly females. Although Allan doubts even Rax has these trainees up and training yet, they probably can't sleep from the day before in which they were informed they are now soldiers.

Allan has no uses for an audience, so he immediately starts them on the same training regiment. Emma has always been a physically fit farm girl, but she also has a keen mind, so Allan sets her to taking on a leadership role. By the time the sun is up and Rax is able to break away from his forces he is training, Allan has nearly four hundred women in his group.

After three hours of physical fitness training they stop and eat a fifteen-minute breakfast.

"Thunderheart, roar to assemble the troops."

They snap to attention almost like they know what they are doing. The next hour is spent doing bow and arrow training. The hour after that is sword training, and then the hour after that is spear training. The next two hours are horseback training with bows and arrows, spears and swords. For half an hour after that they train in hand-to-hand knife fighting techniques.

As Allan and Emma are watching their troops train, one thing Allan notices right off and he discuses it with Emma. "Emma, a lot of these girls are still wearing long cumbersome dresses. Do you think we should trim them or what?"

"I think it would be best to fit them in riding pants, and since it is getting cold, long sleeve shirts."

"Excellent! Take care of it my, darling girl."

"It's already in progress. After were done training I will take another group to get fitted."

Allan looks down at Emma and smiles, and as he is shaking his head in appreciation and wonder, he puts his arm around her shoulders and they start walking towards their girls. "Ladies, break time."

They stop long enough for an hour-long lunch, and then start the training regiment all over again. They repeat that until they stop for an hour-long dinner, and then start all over again. It is one o'clock in the morning by the time they stop. It is four in the morning when Allan rouses them to start the torture all over again.

They keep up this level of masochistic training until the enemy forces are about ten days away. After that point, sleep is going to be as important as the training. All the training in the world will not do you any good if you do not have the stamina to stand your ground for long periods of time. It almost invariably balances out, because even when you are exhausted and you feel you cannot go on anymore, training will see you through many horrors.

"Rax, how are we progressing?"

"I wish we had more horses, but everyday more and more refugees come in. As of last count we have almost three hundred dwarves ready and willing to fight. All the training and all the troops in the world will not be enough if we do not get dragons to protect us from the enemy's demon dragons. We will make a good stand of it sure enough, but their dragons will slaughter us until we are no longer able to fight.

"I do not mean to disrespect Stephen, but what in the abyss is taking him so long? I find it very hard to believe that he could not get at least some of the dragons, elves and minotaurs to come to our aid."

"Yes, I too, fear that something has gone awry. I would go myself to investigate these very concerns, but I fear I am needed here."

"Even though I have taken command of the armies, it is you and Emma who the people look to for hope."

"Hope. Yes hope. It is true that hope can keep the heart strong and the mind clear, but I fear it will not be enough." Allan looks up at his fierce brother and sees the same concerns in his eyes that have been haunting his since he lost over half of his delaying forces.

"All we can do is fight the good fight and die with honor."

Allan is about to agree with his big friend when a bigger friend appears from around a tent. It is Timid, their ogre brother. Allan learned long ago not to get into a bear-hugging situation with him, for he nearly broke his back the last time, but Rax is not so shy. They embrace as the brothers they are, and it always amazes Allan and makes him smile when he sees Timid lift Rax completely off the ground.

Timid's eyes have that thousand pace stare one gets when you've been in the field too long. He tells them in his broken common, "We have been in running battle all the way here, until about a week ago when enemy forces stop." No doubt the enemy forces are regrouping and re-supplying before the final push. Consolidating ones forces is the last step before the end game begins.