Chapter 230: Chapter 227: High Knight Commander Ronnu

“Grey, one last question,” Grand Commander Maignes said as we were about to leave, which in itself was quite unbelievable and brought me a great deal of relief. Most likely the reason why I jumped, thinking we weren’t quite out of it yet.

“Yes, sir?”

“What’s with the moss on your head?”

I stood there staring at him, dumbfounded, realizing I’d forgotten all about it. “A gift, sir.”

“A gift? Either I’m too old and out of touch, but I thought women preferred flowers.”

“It’s a - magic moss, sir. It feeds on mana, and through it, I can control it. Although my mana control isn’t that good yet.” I said, mentally cursing myself for saying so much.

“Interesting,” Magus Vejahr said, now closely observing the moss on my head. “How precise a mana control are we talking about?”

“Too precise for me,” I retorted, not enjoying his gaze. “Sorry, sir. I’m not a magus - it’s hard for me to compare it to anything.”

“Perhaps if you let me try.”

“Forgive my boldness, but I’d rather not, sir. It’s quite a delicate plant, and I’d hate to lose it.” If I did - if I lost it - we’d have to repeat another cycle, even if we were staring at a way home to our own time. I couldn’t face Esudein without it.

“Vejahr,” the Grand Commander addressed the magus to stop him. “You are familiar with the moss? Does it pose a danger?”

“No, Maignes. Dangerous - it doesn’t seem so. It intrigues me, though. Could be a good tool for novice magi.”

“Not too many of those here - drop it,” the Grand Commander said, looking at me. “I must ask, though, does this plant have the potential to be dangerous?”

‘Shit!’ Now he’s got me in a tight spot. If he had asked what it could do, I would have simply said it could heal and left it at that, but I couldn’t lie about the fact that the moss had the potential to be dangerous. “I-I watched a powerful beast let it eat men.”

That made both men pause. “How powerful a beast are we talking about here, and how strong were the men?” That was the follow-up question I was dreading.

“Two and a half star warriors, nine star beast.”

“Damn!” the Grand Commander whistled in utter amazement. “Untainted?”

I couldn’t help but smirk to myself at where his thoughts had led him first. “Yes, untainted, sir.”

“Where?”

“We met it on the run from Frederic Dungreen, somewhere in the woods; those men were chasing us.”

“I see,” he said with a sigh, massaging his temples. Whether he believed my lies or saw through them, he did not show. “You were very lucky then. I take it the beast gave you the - gift?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then no wonder you were reluctant to let me see it,” the magus said with a not-so-subtle glance at the Grand Commander. He didn’t quite fall for my lies. “But that was many years ago; if half of what you say is true, how can your mana control still be as lousy as you claim?”

That was actually a good point. “I am a shifter, sir. I haven’t had that much time to learn...”

“That’s a lie!”

I winced and bit my lower lip, unconsciously seeking Stella’s help.

“You’re right, sir. That wasn’t entirely truthful of her - she lacked a mentor. Well, she had one for a few days, not even a whole month. That’s it. As far as I know, even the basics of mana control take magi years to master under guidance.”

“I’m well aware of that, and I don’t need you to lecture me about it,” Magus Vejahr stated, not as angry as I would have expected, and turned to the Grand Commander. “Still, no doubt it could have considerable war potential, Maignes.”

The man nodded. “As long as we have a nine-star magus in our ranks.”

“You know very well that it may not be a prerequisite for its use.”

“Of course I do,” Grand Commander Maignes grunted back. “But a moss eating a man? Don’t tell me it’s a one-star spell that any magus can do.”

“No, I never claimed that. Maybe three-star, though - for someone who specializes in plant control, someone from Green Order.”

Okay, I have to say I wasn’t too keen on the direction their conversation was taking, and felt the need to steer them both a bit, in hopes of dissuading them from taking my moss or just messing around with parts of it.

“The beast was an outstanding plant controller. When it moved, the forest swerved away from it as if the trees themselves were alive.”

“Didn’t you tell me that the other beasts called it the Lord of the Woods?” Stella chimed in, catching on to what I was trying to do. 

“Beast with a title? How strange,” the Grand Commander wondered.

“No, sir. It had a name. Esudein - forgive me for not pronouncing it correctly. Though some beasts have mentioned the title.” Just not in a good way.

Grand Commander Maignes sighed and rubbed his temples again. “Damn beast talkers complicate things.”

“Maybe we should ask Rairok about this beast first,” Magus Vejahr suggested. “You know - before we take any further action.” 

“Now you want to play it safe? Well, that sounds like a reasonable plan, and certainly easier to execute than finding a good magus of the Green Order here. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of them work our fields as hard as they can.”

“And it’s still not enough,” Magus Vejahr said with a sigh. “I will look through our ranks, nevertheless.”

“Do that,” Grand Commander Maignes nodded, then looked at us, especially at me. “And you, Grey, be prepared to be called in for the moss.”

‘Shit!’ Not what I wanted to hear. “When, sir?”

“Once we get this shit sorted out. Now you may go. Knight Bakrihk knows where to take you,” the Grand Commander said and waved us off.

And off we went.

Where exactly? That was in the hands of the knight who led us - we were not told the details, only that High Commander Ronnu was to test us.

“You have done well, young ones,” spoke Traiana, the ancient one. She appeared beside us, as silently as ever, while we followed Knight Bakrihk through the encampment. “They have doubts, and in normal times you would undoubtedly end up behind bars or subjected to more detailed questioning. Luckily for you, these were dire times, and your meeting with Grand Commander Maignes went as I had hoped.”

“No, don’t,” she stopped me when I took a breath to speak, when she paused for a moment. “You are about to meet the me of this echo, of this time. I know I’ve said this before, but I feel the importance of saying it again - that me is very different from the me you know. I could see it in your eyes from the moment we met, the way you saw me, so let me tell you, the one you are about to meet is not the honorable hero you think her to be. Don’t be disappointed. That’s all I’m saying.”

“And please don’t blame me for not being there with you,” she added before leaving us to deal with the whole mess on our own again. Was I left speechless? Absolutely. Did I blame her? Not really. Who would want to witness others finding them disappointing? Not me.

“Is this still according to plan?” I asked, leaning towards Stella. The fact that Traiana would not accompany us through the encampment most of the time, so as not to distract us unnecessarily, was. But...

“You mean meeting High Commander Ronnu?”

“Yeah. Did I miss that part?” Traiana might have mentioned it while I was distracted with something else.

“Well, no, I mean, yes, it’s going as planned,” Stella said, searching for the right words so as not to arouse too much suspicion in the knight leading us. “We both knew that if we were going to make it to the front, we’d have to prove that we were up to the task. Just not that the one we would have to prove ourselves to would be High Commander Ronnu. I’m not a seer.”

“You’ve heard of her, eh?”

“A little,” Stella nodded at the knight’s remark. His not-so-pleasant chuckle was impossible to miss.

“Not surprising. She has quite a reputation throughout the 3rd Army. What have you heard?”

“We prefer to keep that to ourselves.”

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“Smart,” the knight grinned. “You never know who might rat on you. But I’ll tell you: It’s one of the things Ronnu hates.”

Stella raised an eyebrow. “Then who do I report to if I find, say, a rat?”

“Well, for starters, your commanding knight. You can try your luck with Ronnu, but ... the last guy who did ended up being her sparring partner for a week.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked. After all, the chance to train with someone far better than you was a golden opportunity.

The man shrugged. “Only if you enjoy being beaten. Here we are.”

We came to a large clearing - a sort of muddy square, you might say - surrounded by tents, one of which was noticeably larger, comparable in size to that of the Grand Commanders.

“Follow me,” Knight Bakrihk said, straightening up and heading for the tent, the entrance of which was guarded by two knights no less battered by the rain than we were.

“The reason?” one of them asked dryly, keeping the question short.

“Two potential recruits from Grand Commander Maignes,” Knight Bakrihk told them, handing them a paper - probably containing explanations and orders.

The man glanced over it, looked at us and sneered. “You’d be better off in cages, hussies. Alright, get in there.”

Following our knight, we stepped into the warmth and - dryness of the tent, thoughts of what awaited us racing through my mind. The way we found Traiana didn’t cross it, though.

“Ma’am,” Knight Bakrihk saluted, and Stella and I followed his example, unable to stop staring, nor comprehend what we were seeing.

The woman, the soldier, the knight, the one whose statue in the Labyrinth Square made everyone feel her lament and cry, the one we met here, the woman so distant and devoted to her fate, was lying there casually on the bed against the wall of the room in nothing but her underwear. The uniform showing her rank as High Commander, or rather High Knight Commander, was spread on the ground.

“I hope you have a damn good reason for disturbing my moment of rest,” Traiana, well High Commander Ronnu, to be more precise, grumbled. How much the woman was annoyed was evident in her deep, authoritative voice, which the ethereal and ancient side of it I grew to know was gone.

“Ma’am, Grand Commander Maignes is sending these two to your knightly order and under your command.”

“The bastard is doing what? Let me see the papers,” she muttered gruffly as she lifted herself, none too gracefully, to sit at the foot of the bed. The knight strode over and did as she asked.

“Fuck me, two Dia Eichenralke here to join the fight,” Ronnu said as she scanned the paper. “Warrior and... a shifter? You got some balls coming in here, girlie. Shifters are of little use outside of their beast form, and in it they, in turn, easily succumb to the temptations of the other side.”

“I’m nothing like a regular shifter, ma’am.”

“Talking back, huh? You’ve got some balls, I’ll give you that. Not everyone dares,” Ronnu said, her eyes fixed on me. While she seemed amused by my audacity, her gaze sent shivers down my spine. If I were to trust my instincts, she was a four-star human, close to a five-star, a fucking level five hundred. 

“Oh, interesting. You felt that,” she said, even more amused as my shudder didn’t escape her. “Not bad. I thought Maignes exaggerated in his report.”

For considering he was a man of a higher rank than her, the lack of respect she showed towards him baffled me. Even more so, the amount of information the Grand Knight Commander managed to squeeze onto that relatively small piece of paper.

“Be that as it may, I have eyes and I can read. You’re some kind of hybrid between man and beast - beasts, several of them. Seriously, though! I honestly don’t know what that bastard is thinking - he should have let you spend the night in those cages in your beast form.”

I swallowed dry as she looked at me again with a grin on her lips. “ Perhaps I should let you do that, if you want to join the fight like it says here - to get your honor back or some crap like that.”

“I-if necessary, ma’am, I...”

“I like your guts,” High Commander Ronnu spoke before I could finish. “ It’s settled then; you will spend the night in the Cages. IN YOUR BEAST FORM. I won’t let you fight alongside my men unless I’m sure you won’t turn on them. The same goes for your combat skills. I’d hate to have someone who shits her pants at the sight of a horde of beasts or doesn’t even know how to hold a sword fight next to me. I’d say a demonstration of what you’re made of is in order,” High Commander Ronnu said, pushing herself off the bed.

“Right now, ma’am?” Stella dared to ask.

“And when else? Do you want to wait until the sun breaks out of the clouds? The beasts don’t give a shit about the weather.”

“That’s not what I meant, ma’am. I-I just didn’t want to keep you from...”

“Ah, so you assumed I’d be the one to test you? Very well, I shall be the one. I was getting bored anyway,” she said, stretching in preparation for the fight. “To be honest, I’ve never fought with your company, either alongside or against them, but I’ve heard that the Dia Eichenralke are brave warriors. I took it with a grain of salt, though. You know, you can’t believe everything they say. I am glad to see that this one rumor does not seem to be untrue.”

Both Stella and I were stunned silent, not knowing what to say. We had been warned, but this Traiana shattered all our expectations.

“Will I get my swords back for this, ma’am?” asked Stella when she finally gathered her wits.

That prompted me to say my bit. “I could use a garment ring, ma’am.” That was what they called outfit-spatial rings back in these days.

“Bold. I like you two more and more,” High Commander Ronnu said, amused, still stretching. “Yes, you’ll get the swords - later; for now, you’ll have to make do with replacements. Anyway, it’s best to see someone’s skill with swords they are not familiar with. Many warriors get too used to their swords, and when they lose them, they become useless. And no, no ring for you, shifter. I’d like to see you do without it before I assign you anything. That goes for both of you. Now, enough chatter. Let’s go out.”

Expecting her to put something on first, both Stella and I were shocked when High Commander Ronnu stormed past us out of her tent and into the rain.

“What the fuck are you waiting for? I don’t have all day,” she yelled from outside as we hesitated to follow her.

“Go on, if I were you, I wouldn’t keep her waiting,” Knight Bakrihk said, ushering us out. We found Traiana standing in the middle of a tent square, battered by heavy rain, still in her underwear, a sword in her hand. Worse, the edges of the square were not as empty as they had been when we arrived, and as one would expect in this foul weather. It reminded me all too much of the training grounds at Castiana City Barracks, the place where I met Stella and the rest of Squad Four.

“Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you were having second thoughts.”

“We were just taken aback by how quickly things turned around, ma’am,” Stella tried to explain.

“For your sake, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that and hope you plan to go into battle with a slightly different mindset. Such hesitation could cost you your life - and the lives of the men and women fighting beside you. Don’t let it happen again!”

“Or you’re out!” came the shout from the onlooking knights.

Ronnu nodded. “What they say. Now it is time to show me what you are made of. Strike me, both of you.”

“Seriously?” Stella paused. “You have no - armor, ma’am.”

“Someone here thinks they have a chance of landing a hit on me, huh? Good, very good, but don’t worry, if you do, I won’t hold it against you. Two swords, right?” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. She didn’t have to say a word more for her men to understand that they should give some swords to Stella. “What about you, shifter? Do you need any weapons?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then I suggest you shift and come at me full force from the start.”

“Korra?” Stella asked in a whisper as one of the knights was bringing her two swords.

“Huh? I’ll be fine.”

“No - I mean, that’s good to hear - but is she serious?” She asked, hinting that she wanted to face us both in just her underwear - and one fucking sword.

“She’s almost a five star.”

“Shit...I see,” Stella gasped, stunned and brought back to senses as the knight thrust the swords into her hands. “Th-thanks....All right, let’s do our best.”

Twirling the swords in her hands, testing their balance first, she took off her cloak, which would only hinder her in battle, and I followed suit. Unlike her, however, I didn’t stop there. Hiding my private parts behind wings and Sage, I took off the rest. Only then, after placing my clothes in a crumpled bundle on the stone, away from the mud, and covering them with my cloak, did I change into my full beast form.

“We simply thought that this was a friendly match, ma’am,” Stella said, defending both of us.

“No reason not to take it seriously. I’m telling you, take it fucking seriously. As for how this whole shit gonna to shake out - well, I’ll just defend - mostly. You do your best. I’ll say it again; don’t hold back and attack me with everything you’ve got.”

“That’s it?” asked Stella.

“The beasts adhere to no rules, either. Either you suck it up or they’re gonna fuck you up. But if you want more rules, here’s one: This ends when I say so.”

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