Ruinous Return
Chapter 15

Lyn stood in front of the arrayed warriors. She was fully decked out in her armor and stood on a raised wooden platform. "Warriors!" she shouted over the din. The room went quiet. "You are here to be evaluated. I will be testing each of you. There are three tests. The first will be a trial of combat. First…basic principles of combat. Each of you will grab the practice weapon you are most comfortable with – spear, blade, mace, or bow. Then, go to the cordoned-off area, and stand ready."

The grouped warriors whispered amongst themselves, and Lyn dropped her voice a few octaves – having learned that when she got really pissed off, or if she tried to talk in a deep voice, it would change to the draconic voice. Not sure how that works, she thought. "If you don't do this, I will kill you right now." She pulled the hilt of her sword and willed mana into her mana channel and down the blade. The mana surged into the hilt and the blade of blazing lava limned with bursting air formed. "Do as I say or die."

That got them moving, and the warriors rapidly went to their various groupings. Lyn put the sword away and went to the spear group first. She grabbed an offered spear from Gael. "I want you to follow my movements exactly." She went through a series of basic techniques, and after performing each strike, riposte, counter, jab, or slash, would watch those practicing the movements. After the ten-minute routine, she was able to split them into various tiers of capability. "Now that you are divided by capability, you will duel amongst yourselves in a bracketed, tournament-style format. One-minute rounds. Striking a would-be death blow is how you will determine a winner. The rest of the participants will be the judges." That will ensure that they are judging fairly, minus existing squabbles. As they set to the task, she moved to the other groups.

She repeated this test with the swordsmen, maces, and bowmen. The only difference is that the bowmen did not duel each other, but instead had a best-of-three shootout for each tournament round. After each was mid-tourney, she returned to the raised platform and sat on a chair. A few hours passed, and by the end, she had a winner from each category. They were arrayed in front of her and knelt. "Each of you will be named as a member of the Military Advisors, who will assist the Marshal in training our forces in the corresponding weapon style. You will not coordinate directly with me; you will instead coordinate with the Marshal. Understood?

One by one they did so, standing up and saluting, and repeating the phrase, "Yes, my Lady."

Lyn nodded and cleared her throat before raising her voice. "Form ranks!" She watched with satisfaction as the different warriors quickly realized that this was a test, and the four who won each weapon category rapidly issued a series of barking orders. Within a few minutes, there were squadrons established; swordsmen and hammer users on the front line, alternating in between weapon types, and equipped with training shields. Spearmen were right behind them, able to stab between, and archers were layered two deep behind them. About 200 archers, 100 of each other type. A good start. "Excellent. Tomorrow you will return here. Dismissed!"

Lyn turned to Gael and Vael, "Come, we have work to do."

A day passed quickly as Lyn worked through the night with several of the servant caste, starting to learn some of their names and expressing an interest in them as a people, rather than lesser. This earned her some odd glances from Gael and Vael, but they didn't complain or state anything aloud. By morning, she was back in the training cavern, and the warrior-caste filtered in before forming ranks.

"The second test is to evaluate your external spell capabilities." She gestured to Gael and Vael, who took several wooden boards with Elenthir phrases painted on them, setting them up along the spell-shooting range. "You are all capable of internal spells, as are all of those with mana cores. But I need to know if any of you have the ability to use external spells. You will be handed a form," she gestured to Vehenna, who had a pile of parchment next to her on a small desk. "You will take that form to each station and attempt to use the spell painted on the board. One of the servant-caste will provide a mark on the page. Now, form a line!"

The warriors hesitated for a moment before following the orders, with only a few glances of 'really? This is stupid' sent her way. Lyn made visual note of those individuals and made sure that when they came up to Vehenna's table, she put a small, crimson, wax mark on their evaluation slip. I'll need to keep an eye on any that opposes my authority. She had plans for those ones – they would be set to work in a purely defensive capacity, and even then, they would not guard the most important of locations. If they don't fully trust me, then I can't trust them.

The day took a long, long time to pass. But, by the end, Lyn had a large stack of papers that she would sort through alongside the trio of elders. She took the stand once more and raised her blade to draw attention once more. "Tomorrow, only come here if you desire to lead. If you wish to follow orders, then I will accept your decision." Tomorrow, I replace out who my Marshal will be. She stared at the stacks of paper as the warriors filtered out and she put away her blade. I fucking hate paperwork.

The night was spent up late, and Lyn wished there was some equivalent of caffeinated beverage. She was able to work through the task of categorizing the five hundred warriors and had a list of names and external spell type for each. She also ensured to have a scribe note down, catalogue, and replace appropriate storage for the testing materials and forms. I'm sure I'll be adding more to my forces eventually, and they'll need to go through the same evaluation.

As she lay that night with Gael in bed, she had a moment to let her mind wander. She was becoming something she never wanted to be – a ruler. She had never wanted to lead armies, let alone a kingdom. Just a castle with servants that she paid a good wage to employ. But now…this felt…right. She knew it was partially this Destroyer core changing her personality, Gina had warned them it would happen. But this was…strong. The Scout hero core made her feel wanderlust, and she traveled extensively as a part of that – which suited her personality just fine. Even now, she felt that itch to travel. To see new environments and how the world had changed in ten years. But it was muted, overwhelmed by this desire to rule.

Gael turned over in bed and prodded her, "My Lady?"

She turned and kissed him, shoving him down, seeking distraction from her thoughts in the carnal exaltation of flesh.

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There were only fifteen who arrived that last day of evaluation. Ten male and five female Duskari. Including, to her satisfaction, the four who had already stepped up as leaders and took control of the different groupings of warriors by weapon type. But another three stood out to Lyn as those with red marks from the day prior. She instructed them to sit on the provided chairs. "A true commander is able to maintain a steely disposition and keep their wits about them, no matter the scenario. Each of you will be subject to distraction of several senses. You will then be presented with a scenario on a sheet of parchment. Do not worry about being able to read at this time, they are images of battle formations. You will then use your quill and ink pen to note down the movements you would make with your forces, using arrows to mark the movement."

She raised her hand and several of the servant caste came in. Four per participant. One who would pass the parchment battle plans, and four to distract the senses. At her signal, they slammed pots and pans together, pushed foul-smelling, partially-dried dung under the noses of the test-takers, pulled out feathers to distract their sense of touch in sensitive areas, and in a scandalous flourish, she dismissed her armor to the pocket dimension and strode nude in front of the participants, ensuring to get close to each of them and show off all of her curves that she had quickly fallen in love with in this new body.

Five failed out nearly instantly once she pulled that stunt. Including the three with the red marks. The remaining ten were able to keep their composure and finish the test. Lyn re-equipped her armor and had the parchment collected. "Good. Well done. I will look at your answers, and this evening, two of you will be invited to my chambers to engage in a battle of strategy." She left with Gael and Vael in tow, returning to her bedroom and having the two stay outside. She pored over the battle plans and found two participants who were leagues above the rest with their tactical decisions. She, herself, wasn't a tactician – but she had studied the concept under Thomas, because, as he put it, "If the Demonic Dragon's forces are in some far-off place, you can get there the fastest. You'll have to hold the defenses until myself or James arrives to take over."

She opened her chamber doors and let Vael know the two names. She nodded and went to fetch them. Leaving the door open, she sat at her table and had two chairs brought in opposite. The two warriors came about ten minutes later, sitting across from Lyn with Vael standing behind them.

The woman had deep, red eyes. The darkest Lyn had seen. Her skin tone was not as white as the rest of the Duskari, suggesting she spent a decent amount of time outside. Glancing over the paperwork gathered from the day prior, Lyn nodded in affirmation. She's one of the scouts. Interesting. Remora. She looked up, "Thank you for coming, Remora." She looked at the other participant. A male Duskari who had greying hair and a well-kempt beard. Looking down at the form she nodded once, "And you as well, Poweno." She stood up and walked to the closet, grabbing the game she had acquired the day before, and placed in before them. "We will be playing Vhuzok. Do you both know how to play?" Both nodded.

Vhuzok was a game invented by the Vharthon – a fox-humanoid race – that was a war game using carved wooden figures to represent armies. Six-sided dice determined the outcome of battles. Very similar to Risk. Lyn had played that game quite a bit with Misty, as the other girl was in a similar impoverished state as Lyn was back on Earth. And it was one of the few games where, even if they were missing pieces from the thrift store, they could use other objects to represent the armies. Now to pull off my unwinnable situation.

She set up the pieces so that there was a three-war front. She had the most pieces possible, and the other two had a hodge-podge assortment of units. "The task is simple. Survive. Because in war, it doesn't matter if you win or lose a single battle, if you survive, then you can come back and win it all." She placed the pieces – her army encircling both other two armies in the center. "If a single unit of yours gets to the edge of the map, you escape."

Remora nodded tersely, "And how do we decide turns?"

Lyn pulled out parchment and quills. "We will each write our orders and resolve them simultaneously."

Poweno nodded and picked up his quill, dipping it into the pot. Remora, however, didn't, and she did not pick up the parchment either. "My Lady, I do not know how to read or write."

Lyn nodded and waved Vael over. "You can read and write, yes?" Vael nodded. "Good. Then you will take Remora into the restroom, close the door, and write what she instructs on the parchment for her."

Vael nodded and took the other Duskari aside. A minute passed and she returned with the slip.

Lyn flipped all three slips of parchment up at the same time and resolved the unit movements and actions. Poweno did what she had anticipated – pushing all his forces against the weakest point of Lyn's line. But Remora kept her units stationary.

The second round saw Lyn diverting some forces from the exterior to reinforce the now-bending line. Poweno kept pushing that spot with his forces. Remora moved her units up behind Poweno's – not engaging, but just moving as a group. Interesting. I think I know where she's going with this, Lyn thought. She intends to reinforce and work together to breach and flee. Just one unit must pass, after all.

The third round, Poweno and Lyn kept fighting, and Remora moved her forces up behind Poweno's. She also had two slips of spare parchment that Vael handed to both Lyn and Poweno, respectively. "She said these are to be kept separate."

Lyn nodded and read the slip. Oh, she's a crafty bitch. I like her. She looked at Poweno's face and tried to read him – but his beard and bushy brows made it very hard to see his expression.

Third round. Lyn diverted all of her forces to combating Poweno. He continued his push. At the same time, Remora's forces bashed Poweno from behind, and her single unit that had gone to parlay with Lyn's forces got to the map edge.

"Remora wins," Lyn stated. "Poweno, let me see what she wrote you." The man handed her the slip, and Lyn saw the same message that she was given. Clever girl. She had a unit escape the map edge – ensuring that word would get back to her own forces about the possible alliance or betrayal depending on how Lyn had played it. And, if Lyn had killed the messenger, it was only a single cavalry unit, so not much help when encircled. She had promised the same to Poweno, only to smash apart his line. And, if I was fighting this for real, I would crush her army as well. But she met the objective. She got out.

Poweno glared at the young woman, "That was a dirty trick you pulled."

Remora sat down next to the man and dipped her head slightly, "I simply did as I was told. I met the victory condition."

Lyn knew the power of alliances from how the different kingdoms allied against the Demonic Dragon. She also knew that unifying forces against a common foe was imperative. Poweno was skilled, no doubt about it. And she needed his straightforward, current-warfare mind. But the craftiness Remora demonstrated – and the ruthlessness – made her the obvious pick. "Remora, I would be pleased to have you on my council as my Marshal. And Poweno, I want you to be her Advisor. You two will be responsible for the maintenance of my military."

Remora smiled ear to ear and stood up, bowing deeply as she clasped her fist to her chest, "I won't fail you, my Lady."

Poweno also stood and bowed, "My thanks, my Lady, for giving me this great honor." Lyn could hear the sincerity in his voice. He was probably close to being an elder himself, and she couldn't help but wonder if she had fought him in the past.

Lyn waved her hand, "Tomorrow, outside of the dread fortress, bring the whole of the army. We have drills to practice, and fortifications to improve."