The Gray Area of War

[Saturos Prox]

Saturos waved Aidan off silently as his armored leader went to go get trained with the rest of the newbies. The painted swordsman chuckled at the thought. Aidan, trained by Selibas? You'd be hard pressed to find a rebel in the army less green than Aidan Lowell, so it was funny, at best, to think that the boy of a chieftain could teach the grizzled soldier much of anything. But only time would show the Etrurian if Selibas was worthy of his position. Obviously these men saw something in the Sacaen. Perhaps it was just himself that needed to be convinced.

With a shrug, the swordsman turned and walked off in the opposite direction of his leader. He'd done his work for the day; now it was time to take a break. Maybe he'd go get a drink with some of the soldiers, or go find a shady glen in which to take a nap. Whatever he ended up doing, Saturos was sure Aidan would be fine by himself for at least awhile.

[Selibas]

Selibas turned with a bit of surprise at the sudden appearance of the grizzled knight. He answered the question better than Selibas could. Of course, the young chief felt it was not safe to place this group of men under someone they didn't know. There were a few faces from Keth, but most were still from Linz. If one of those men, no matter how firm, gave an order, how many men would follow. As qualified as Aidan was, he would have to earn the trust of these men over anything else. He cleared his throat, "Porter, you've been with the rebellion for some time and I know how you fight. When choosing your second in command, make sure you take in your soldier's opinions."

Selibas pulled Aidan aside, "Make good decisions and fight bravely. That's the only way these men will-" Selibas didn't like looking up at the other man. Looking about revealed he was a few inches away from a large stone. When Selibas was standing on the rock, and above Aidan he continued, "The only way these men will trust and follow you. Porter won't get you killed before then. By the way, where is your blue haired friend?"

[Zacharia]

Finally, Selibas was done. Not a moment too soo-- aw heck, where'd the shaman go? That guy must be slicker than greased butter, Zacharia thought. Wading through the crowd and gaining a nasty bruise from a nastier looking guy on his way through, his attempt to find the Forsaken one again was futile. He better show up again soon; I'm not having a dark magi dangled in front of me like that and taken away, he thought. Instead of passing through the main group on his way back up to the front, he skirted around the main party and then returned into the fray. Cyril was thankfully still there. Not much to look at especially during what was described to him as a hangover, but at least it was a face he had known.

The sky was turning into a soft gray while they walked. "Perfect," he whined to Cyril. "You think it's gonna rain? How are we gonna march when we're trudging through mud?" The shaman's disappearance ate at him a little more than it should have. It was affecting how he was acting more than the promise of rain in itself, but Zacharia didn't think the burly warrior would mind currently.

[Aidan Lowell]

"I would never want to order men when I didn't earn the right. What is to say that I simply take over like I was king? Certainly not some piece of jewelry." Aidan shook his head as he spoke. "If you offered me every man you held sway over, I would refuse." He wasn't a man who smiled often, but he had a wry grin on his face. A small fiery glint in his obsidian eyes, and a passion in his voice. Something about it filled a fire in his heart, maybe it was because he finally had a direction. Having convinced himself of his path, it felt strange. He wanted nothing more than to have someone lead him, but choosing a path for himself felt... odd. But in a good way. It made him feel strong, like he had more control over his fate than ever before. It was empowering, and it filled him with confidence that up until now he had faked having.

"No, I will earn their respect. You have my word Selibas." The man who had been built up by Ilia to being the ruler of the rebellion bowed his head in respect to this man from Sacae, who entered with nothing but his skill and rose to command the respect of many men. They wouldn't all love him, that was impossible, but he didn't want their love. He wanted their respect, even if it was begrudging. He was always told that one day he would be great, but this was the first time he ever truly believed it. "Until then, I am yours to command as you see fit."

"As for Saturos... I couldn't tell you. He's an enigma of a man, one who moves behind the scenes. I don't even know where he is most of the time, but I can assure you that in the fire that he will be there beside me."

[Selibas]

Selibas nodded to Aidan. He hopped off of his rock, and walked back to the top of the hill. He pointed at an infantry group. He rose his voice, and directed the units alternating horse and infantry. Then he set them marching forward, while he himself mounted Lightning and spurred himself toward the Wyvern company.

Lightning was at full gallop as the horse and rider came under the huge Wyvern ridden by the company's commander. Selibas yelled up at him, but with the beating of the beast above's wings and the distance, yelling was futile. Selibas turned in his saddle and waved at the Wyvern and rider closest to the commander. The rider sped his beast forward, and shouted some things at the commander. The commander's beast toppled down, and was headed straight for Selibas and Lightning. The little horse danced out of the way, and it was all the little chief could do to keep him from running away.

The tall trim man slid off of his beast and patted its scaly hide. He had long grey hair, with matching side burns. He wore a cloth wrapped around his head covering his left eye, with a scar hanging out below it. He wore riding cloths, and leather chest armor. He spoke to his Wyvern, "Owright Thund'r. We'll fly some mo' soon." He turned to Selibas and squinted his eye. Suddenly, all of the other Wyverns fell out of the sky. The riders dismounted and stood to wait for the two commanders to speak. The man spoke again, "So, you the wolf then?" Selibas curled his fists. "I am from Sacae yes." The man nodded, "Name's Stanley. You related to the wolf on the throne." Selibas flatly said, "No." Stanley said, "Well, I've seen 'im you look just like 'im, probably have the same mover. So, what did you bring me ou' of the sky for?" Selibas said, "I was thinking that since my units are Infantry and Horse, and our companion's to the East are made up of men who are heavily armored, your unit could handle the scouting ahead. The man stroked his side burns and said, "You've got 'orses, you need scouts, you scout."

He spun and mounted Thunder, followed by all of his men. He said, "If you call 'at lit'le dog a 'orse." He tapped the beast and clicked his tongue, and with a massive motion the wings were off the ground, as was the Dragon. Selibas watched the unit fly away with a sigh. He lowered his head for a second, then kicked Lighting into a gallop to the East. The only thing he knew about the third units was that it was composed solely of the remnants of Bern's Thirty-Third Regiment.

[Kelvin H. Calderon]

Kelvin had spent much of the morning riding from company to company, running routine inspections of each group of men. What he had discovered during the inspection troubled him. Overall, the inspections had taken far too long. It seemed that every time he arrived at a different company, it would take a stretch of time to figure out who was in charge, then an even longer amount to organize the men. And, while the men were satisfactorily armed and armored, they lacked the organization that true armies had. The men knew how to fight, but when it came to being a true army, they were surprisingly lacking. As he finished checking up on the final cavalry brigade, Kelvin made a mental note to ask Selibas for his opinion on who he thought was fit for command in each company. He only hoped that once a proper chain of command was established, the companies would start to become one cohesive whole.

Almost as if summoned by his thoughts, Kelvin spotted Selibas in the distance, riding east. Kelvin spurred Kashmir forward and rode to intercept his second-in-command. "Selibas," he called after the young man, "I need to discuss a few things about the army with you."

[Selibas]

Selibas was lost in his thoughts as he rode to the Thirty-Third. They were all men in armor. Heavy armor. He hated men in heavy armor. Well, fighting the men in heavy armor. They took too long to die, and all of his swords were made for slashing or stabbing skin, not three steel plates in a row. Maybe he simply needed a new type of sword. Or a war hammer to cave in some mans chest. Wouldn't that be funny, riding back into Sacae with his straight blades and his giant hammer. His people didn't want to change, and he would come to them changed already, asking them to catch up to him. He'd never truly been one of them, he didn't know anything of herding or archery, or even what religion he was technically supposed to believe. He heard men damn the Sky Father when they harmed themselves, and women thank the Earth Mother when they gave birth or helped someone with a sickness. That was why all he had to go in the way of faith was swearing. He didn't know how the idea of destiny worked, if a man made it or some divine being made it. If he was not in control of himself, he'd probably do everything he could to break that chain. A sky father damned hammer would be good for breaking a chain.

Then a voice broke his thoughts. Kelvin, who Selibas had forgotten to tell about his ranking system. He decided he'd wait til he heard Kelvin's suggestion. The thought of mentioning the Emblem carried by Aidan crossed his mind, but he decided to keep that to himself. When Aidan wanted someone to know, he'd tell him. The only thing Selibas needed to do relating to the Emblem was protect it. He stopped Lightning with a kick. "What did you have in mind?"

[Kelvin H. Calderon]

Kelvin wasn't quite sure where to start with his report. There were several problems among the ranks. He shrugged to no one in particular and began with the problems. "Well, I'm sure you're aware of the problems we're starting to experience. The army is getting larger, but we're not doing anything to compensate for that growth. As far as I can tell, we haven't adjusted the way we organize the troops since we left Linz, and frankly, I find that rather disturbing." Kelvin paused for a moment to allow that to sink in before continuing. "It may be a bit of a daunting task but you and I need to split up the troops and determine who the best leaders are in each unit. Once we have that done we can establish a chain of command in each unit, and throughout the army so we can issue orders and expect them to be received by all of the units. They way we're doing it now creates too much chaos and if we keep it up, we'll never be able to move as a cohesive whole."

Kelvin finished his report with a sigh and began to wait for a response, but another thought came to his head. Seeing Selibas had reminded him about the man he had been with in the tent. Looking back on it, something had seemed off about the man, and that just didn't sit right with Kelvin. Cutting back in, Kelvin added one more thought, "Selibas, that man who was with you earlier, I want you to keep an eye on him and report back to me if you see anything suspicious. I don't want to make any accusations against him, but I'd be a poor army commander if I didn't trust my instincts every once and while."

[Selibas]

Selibas nodded while his larger friend explained his plans. He said, "I'm working on it. At the very least I've made them form units of a sustainable size. I've also asked them how they'd handle situations, and placed makeshift officers in charge of the units. If you'd like, we could check them, you could see how they fit." He scratched Lightning behind his right ear, and the little horse neighed. Selibas looked up as Kelvin mentioned Aidan. He smiled and said, "If wearing armor's suspicious lock him up, though I think you'd be suspicious as well friend." He dropped his smile, then said more seriously, "If you need to know something, I'll tell you as soon as I can."

[Genkumaru]

Sighed heavily as he was all on his own. He had sent what was left of his original troupe home to keep his lands safe as he stayed behind. He still felt this war had meaning. Riding his horse, midnight, towards the only Sacaen here he slowed to a stop noticing Kelvin was speaking to him. Once there was a moment of pause Gen would speak up, "Selibas. Do you have a moment...?", the man was still uncomfortable with being friendly or rather conversing with others and so his obvious social awkwardness showed through his air of pride. His katana at his side he waited for Selibas's response as he patted his steeds neck softly. Horses, boy did they bother him yet as a Sacaen he was expected to love them.

Genkumaru had made himself useful in the battles they had had, but he also felt he hadn't done really anything at all. As a chieftain he needed to start showing his true skill and worth to the others. His mother had sent messengers every now and again informing him of small things like other tribes failing to encroach and villages that were raided or defended. And of course the treasury, every damn letter had something about needing more funds in it. Gen couldn't help but ponder what uniting Sacae would actually cost if ever got that far.

[Aidan Lowell]

"Aw shut up Dan." The man grumbled at him. "I've known you less than a week and already you're gettin on my nerves."

"You cannot seriously be getting upset simply because I'm right, can you?" Aidan grumbled right back at him. It didn't take long and already he was butting heads with this leader he was supposed to be following. Porter was supposed to choose a second in command. Very obviously, Aidan wasn't it nor would he be it considering no one in the group even knew who the heck he was. Of course while that rank would be very enticing and undoubtedly useful, it just wasn't going to happen. And rightly so, he wouldn't trust himself either, didn't change the fact that Aidan wasn't going to be a silent bystander anymore. Instead he went with this man Aidan was currently trying to have a frowning match with. "You should know better than that, come on."

"I think I know more about fighting than you, I mean just who the hell do you think you are? By the look of your armor I bet that you never even had to wipe yourself." Hey, Aidan liked this armor... Still it did look significantly more extravagant than the other soldiers. Full plate mail was expensive, and full plate mail that was custom made and custom fitted with golden engravings and a nice teal color? Thieves would probably hack off his arms thinking they were made of gold. This armor was commissioned and tailor made for him and him alone, as a gift from his father during the bandit war. He told him that Aidan must fight, as is the Lowell way, but that he also must live, for that too was the Lowell way. "Porter put me in command, and you have the right to stuff your mouth. I know you're used to everyone doing whatever you say and doting upon you like the noble I'm sure you are, but this is WAR."

Aidan grumbled, he wasn't used to situations like this and it was really showing. He had a sort of natural charisma, all the people believing in him when he clearly didn't show that, but not much practice in the actual leading department. He was a noble, but he didn't really lead the life of one. Still he didn't lead the life of the average soldier either, he was some kind of weird place in the middle that made it hard to relate with either. "I know you're in command, and I respect that, but it doesn't mean you're right. Even lieutenants make mistakes, even commanders, generals, and kings. I will not stand by quietly when I know something is wrong, even if my commanding officer says otherwise, because if he can't listen to me then he's not very fit for his job."

The man simply glared at him. The thing was, they weren't even really fighting over anything particularly interesting. It was mostly the man's inexperience with formal warfare that tricked him, he believed all foes behaved the way that his opponents had. Aidan knew better, he had been a part of that army they were threatening to take them down, he knew their formation and drills, their tactics and advantages. "Fighting would be a bad choice." He began again at the hypothetical posed at him. "Even with superior numbers, it wouldn't matter in the end. Especially as divided as we are. It could be a trap, or it could be a distraction. Putting all your eggs in one basket is just asking to be annihilated. You can't just mow down everything with superior numbers or power."

"And? What would his highness do?" He sounded snide, but for the most part wasn't spitting at Aidan which was a welcome change.

"Scouts, we have people trained for this exact situation." Aidan simply said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Tactics play just as big a part as numbers. What would we do if their troop contained large amounts of mages who would annihilate us on an open field such at that? Or if they held many archers and we fliers? You need to consider the options, even a weak force can destroy one that seems much stronger."

"Bah, mages. The lot of them weaklings, we could plow through them while they all get papercuts trying to open their books." He groaned under his breath, sounding like a defeated man.

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