‘Good and well-equipped’.
Victor wasn’t asking for much, the bunnygirl thought sarcastically as she strode away from Gemma’s humble abode, and the others went off in their own directions, to do their own things.
The idea that this stone-age society could produce decent equipment for their warriors was laughable, considering they currently barely even wore
clothes, never mind armour, and all of their weapons were made from carved lumps of crystal. Hells, they had yet to even work out bows and arrows, or slings. No, there was no chance of them being 'well-equipped' at all.
And 'good'? Even training one person had taken the assassin a considerable amount of time and effort… and he was expecting her to train an army? She shook her head at the absurdity of such a request. Even if she were actually a skilled enough combatant to do such a thing—which was by no means the case—it sounded a whole lot like something she totally couldn't be bothered doing.
Nisse—who had been standing a short way from the hut, waiting on her departure upon conclusion of the meeting—fell in beside the healer, glancing curiously at her, surely wondering what she’d been shaking her head about. Instead of explaining herself, however, Ahana told him of their task, “We’re to recruit an army, and make them worthy of serving our
glorious emperor.”
“An army?” the young man enquired, raising an eyebrow, “But don’t we already have the warriors? What more do we need?”
He paused thoughtfully for a moment, then amended his question, “What more do we need that we can realistically expect to acquire before those dwemer show up to kill us all?”
“I can only think of one thing.” the bunnygirl said cheerfully, turning to give him a sadistic smile as they carried on walking.
Nisse sighed glumly, “
Experience.”
“Yeeeaah, you got it.”
***
“Attention, citizens of Neo New Babylon!” Ahana yelled to the people working on restoring the buildings in this relatively busy section of the village. This was the third such area that the pair had passed through with their message, and already they’d gathered quite the mob on their heels, eager to hear more.
The villagers respectfully stopped what they were doing to pay attention to what she was saying. As the fledgeling empire’s general, the healer now wielded a certain amount of authority and influence, even though just a short time ago she’d been nothing more than an outsider. These people sure were quick to trust; all it had taken to earn their adoration was for the Mad God's trio to save their entire civilisation from ruin…
Okay, now that she thought about it, she supposed that that wasn’t something which most people would consider small. She certainly hadn’t been able to save her own people from their deaths, back before she'd come to Inverxe, when they’d picked a fight with a greater foe, and paid the price. So not all that long ago, she might have been no different from these people, no less willing to mindlessly follow some mighty saviour, had one shown up to rescue her tribe.
It was funny how power could change one’s outlook on life; things which might once have appeared miraculous instead seemed commonplace and unexceptional. She’d always been proud of her Divine Conflagration, but by this point, the bunnygirl's aura had grown in strength to such an extent that the needlessness of Victor’s request was clearly apparent to her. It didn’t matter in the slightest how well-trained or well-equipped their troops were. With her ability being so overwhelmingly potent as to render their troops all but immortal, their elven adversaries stood no chance at all.
Honestly, she had her doubts as to whether even the eldritch entities which Sigmund, his god, and the deity's adversaries commanded could pose a threat to her and her allies, as she was now.
“Our emperor has decreed that Neo New Babylon must have an army, to defend its territory from threats both mystical and mundane! In light of new revelations—that is, the ascent of a chieftain who is more than just a living wall of muscle—I, as is my prerogative as our general, have decided that we will be accepting applicants not just from your warrior caste, but from the general populace as well!” she dramatically spread her arms wide.
“So if any of you are interested in hearing more, then come along as we spread the word... or if you know anyone who’s always wanted to fight for their land and their loved ones, but hasn’t before been considered strong enough to do so, go invite them to join us! Tryouts are starting soon, make sure not to miss ‘em!”
***
Nisse stood by her side, arms crossed over his bare chest as he regarded the assembled crowd, assessing their suitability.
Or, at least, trying to appear as if that was what he was doing. The healer doubted that he actually had the slightest clue what to look for in a candidate.
But then again, after his recent ‘endurance training’, perhaps that wasn’t being fair to him. After having been generously granted a glimpse of her true face—and inexplicably choosing to stick around, rather than running the fuck away from her—he surely had some more insight into how she liked to fight, so perhaps the young man could be more discerning than she gave him credit for.
The pair and their mob of would-be soldiers were gathered outside the village, on a wide field of bioluminescent, blue moss, relatively bare of mushrooms and minerals alike. From the assembled group, a pair strode forwards, one male, one female. In the curious way common to the denizens of the cave, the woman was noticeably taller and broader than her male counterpart. Although they both had much more muscular bodies than the likes of Nisse, and therefore were clearly warriors, the duo were lean and athletic, as opposed to enormous, bodybuilding brutes of the sort that Gemma had faced in the first couple rounds of her leadership trial.
The man had chin-length, sandy hair, ice blue eyes, and a pretty face. The woman’s features looked squashed, and her nose must have been broken at least once. Her hair—tied back in a ponytail—was thick, black and fell to just past her shoulders, and her eyes were a very dark brown.
“Can I help you?” Ahana asked cheerily, acting all friendly and stuff, for the time being, at least.
“We've all followed you out here, so it's time you started explaining yourself. We want to know what this is all about.” the man demanded, crossing his arms over his chest, taking much the same pose as Nisse—though in his case, the blond guy actually did a decent job of looking imposing, whereas the slimmer man just looked like he was sulking—and glaring down at her, “The warriors have defended this village from wild beasts and other threats for generations, and with the aid of your cult, we were even able to overcome that band of invaders, the greatest foes our people have faced since...”
He shook his head, and the woman by his side picked up where he’d left off. Her voice was noticeably deeper than his, “
Ever. Even in the legends passed down from the dawn of our tribe, none of our heroes have defeated any enemies as powerful as those. Yet our current crop of warriors managed it.”
“Yes... alright?” the bunnygirl prodded, making the words a question, acting as if she didn’t know what they were getting at. She didn't point out that they'd only survived the battle with the Rock Raiders because of the three outsiders' help; they were surely already aware of that, and actively choosing to ignore it. Bringing it up would only derail their conversation with a pointless argument.
“We don’t
need to make an ‘army’, and we certainly don’t need to add
weaklings-” here, the male warrior turned his glare on Nisse, and sneered contemptuously, “-to our ranks. Just because the chieftain managed to take her opponents by surprise with a fighting style they hadn’t anticipated, that doesn’t mean we should try to add scrawny, incompetent fools to our ranks. Your ploy is obvious. You clearly don't care that you're weakening our forces, you just want to make your lover a warrior without arousing suspicion, so that you can grant him some important-sounding position. This whole thing is nothing more than a transparent attempt at convincing the people that Nisse is a decent fighter, despite his pitiful performance in the arena. You're embarrassed by him, and are trying to hide your shame.”
“Oh, really?” Ahana asked, still smiling, though the expression was now a little strained, and there was a slight edge to her tone. The blond wasn't really correct about her reasons for doing this, but she still wasn't happy about having her little plaything's incompetence brought up; he was right to say that she was embarrassed to be associated with such dismal failure, and being reminded of it wasn't fun.
“Yeah.” said the dark-eyed lady, “It's clearly apparent. You think you can make him look better by claiming that the rest of us are just a bunch of clueless brutes, and that only skinny, little weeds like him and the chief can actually think worth a damn...”
She took a couple steps closer, getting right up in the healer’s personal space, while continuing to speak, “But you’re a fool if you think you can get away with that. We’re not going to stand for it. We’ll show up your new recruits at every opportunity. We’ll prove to everyone that we warriors are the only defenders this tribe needs, and that our ways and traditions aren’t some sort of dumb joke that you and your allies can mock to your hearts' content.”
Ahana gave a scornful laugh, and for a moment the big bruiser before her seemed as if she might just strangle the bunnygirl. Her face went red and her eyes blazed with unbridled fury. Surprisingly, however, she didn’t lash out.
Instead, her male counterpart spoke softly, “We warriors train almost since birth. We're all men and women who've known what we wanted to do with our lives since an early age, and have fought our hardest to make our dreams a reality. Every one of us is willing to sacrifice their life for the good of our people, should it come to that, and we aren't soft enough to hesitate on the field of battle. All we desire is to be the shield that guards this village. Being a warrior isn’t just about physical strength; we must also have the resolve to do what needs to be done. Your
lover, there, couldn’t even handle having Chieftain Gemma tugging on his arm a little. He's not just weak of body, but weak of will, as well.”
Once again, the woman took over seamlessly from her companion, “We may not always agree on everything, some of us might even hate one another, but there’s not a single warrior in the tribe that I wouldn’t rely on to watch my back in battle; not one person I’d hesitate to entrust my life to-”
She was forced to pause for a moment, there, as a massive roar of approval and assent arose from the assembled warriors. Glancing past the wall of muscle which loomed over her, Ahana saw that the mob had now separated into two distinct groups, and that those who were not warriors almost all seemed nervous and unsure of themselves. She was all but certain that Sigmund’s devoted disciples wouldn’t hesitate to throw their lives away if their high priest told them that that was what Gal’skap desired of them… but as for those less zealous—those who had gathered here, to join her army—who could say?
Not that it really mattered to the healer; the man's last words had given her all the excuse she needed to have her plaything show off a little, which meant she'd already gotten what she wanted from this conversation.
“-but these people you want to recruit are different." the female warrior continued, once the noise from the crowd had abated, "They don’t have what it takes to walk the same path we do. We’ve no enmity toward them, so long as they stick to their proper place, but we can’t possibly have any confidence in their ability to fight by our sides… especially not if Nisse is a representation of how we can expect them to act when things get tough.”
"Heh. That's what you think, is it? Well, I think Nisse might surprise you." as she spoke, the bunnygirl raised a hand and began absently tracing her fingers along the lines of the ripped woman's rock-hard abs, figuring she might as well if the lady was going to try and intimidate her by getting all up close and personal. She may have had a face that looked like she'd tried to headbutt a wall into submission, but the general couldn't deny that this chick's body was damn fine. The warrior gave an amused-sound snort, though whether that was in response to her actions or to her statement about Nisse, Ahana hadn't a clue, "Say, I have an idea; why don't we settle this discussion with a little competition? Either you or blondie, here, can fight Nisse, and we can all see for ourselves if the common folk have what it takes to be soldiers.”
“And then what?” the guy asked, “If our fighter wins the duel, you agree to only recruit warriors into your army?”
“Hah, not quite.” the bunnygirl gave him a smirk, “After the fight, we’ll have our audience vote on it. If your side manages to win decisively enough that the villagers see for themselves that warriors are clearly superior, they’ll surely not vote in favour of allowing just anyone into the army, right? They may be interested in getting some glory for themselves, but they also have their families' safety to think of, don't they?”
“Hmm,” the dark-eyed woman mused, glaring suspiciously at Ahana, who simply smiled back, “fine. Sapphiro, show that
worm what it means to be a warrior.”
“With pleasure.” the man replied, his icy gaze locking on Nisse, who met his eyes defiantly. The healer smirked.
“Glad to hear you’re open to the idea, now, simply select your weapons and we can get started.” so saying, Ahana gestured behind her with her left hand, to where she and Nisse had piled a large number of weapons of every shape and form—one and all carved from crystal—for use in the tryouts which she had planned. Lying atop the pile, the bunnygirl had left b'Akphiyr; she figured that she might get a good laugh out of it if anyone decided they'd like to give that one a try.
“
Select our weapons?” the blond—’Sapphiro’—asked, “Having witnessed the trial of chieftains, you should know that in our tribe, our duels are traditionally always fought with greatswords alone. Even though we accept that warriors may use other armaments in real battles, it is our belief that the greatsword is the most honourable weapon.”
“Oh, I know that, yes… but your tribe isn’t the same thing as
my army. And here, I’m more than happy to let my soldiers duel with whichever weapons they're most comfortable with… though if you’re
scared of fighting Nisse unless he-”
“Don’t be stupid.” the blue-eyed man snapped, and the bunnygirl laughed, “It won’t make a difference, no matter what weapon he chooses. He can even have more than one if he'd like. I will stick to the ways of our ancestors, and show their superiority by crushing him utterly.”
The healer grinned and shrugged, “Suit yourself.”
The two men moved to the heap of crystalline armaments and selected those they desired. Sapphiro chose a greatsword with an ice-blue hue, and Nisse—taking the blond up on his generous offer—selected a pair of teal sickles, much to the amusement of the warriors in the crowd, who taunted him for fighting with farming tools, rather than real weapons.
“If I’m to represent the average people here, doesn’t it make sense for me to use something they’d be more familiar with?” the slim man asked, a cocky smile crossing his face. Despite his bravado, already a lot of the villagers were looking ashamed, embarrassed, or just plain miserable. It was clear to the healer that they expected this idiot to lose just as pathetically as he had when facing Gemma.
“Come on then,” the bunnygirl said, finally ceasing her caressing of the warrior woman's muscles, stepping away from her and waving the crowd forwards, “gather ‘round, everyone, this should be quite the show.”
Some more reluctantly than others—with the warriors generally seeming far more keen—the mob did as they were told, forming a wide circle around the two combattants, giving them plenty of room. Nisse and Sapphiro walked to opposite sides of the circle and turned to face each other, readying their weapons.
“Would you care to do the honours?” Ahana asked the dark-eyed lady, who still seemed to suspect that this was all some sort of trick. Smart woman.
“Sure.” she said, though, not being able to see a reason to halt the proceedings, “Three… two… one… begin!”
The men charged at one another, and it was immediately apparent to everyone there just how inferior Nisse was.
When he had fought Gemma, he had stated that he would be able to beat her because he was fast, while she had trained to fight larger opponents. The absurdity of this statement was now made plainly apparent; Nisse was
not fast.
He had clearly fallen into the common trap of believing that being slender rather than bulky meant being quick, rather than slow. But that wasn’t really how fitness worked. Though they were tall and strong, few of the village’s warriors were grotesquely over-muscled to the point that their own mass inhibited their movement to any significant degree. By the time Nisse had covered a quarter of the distance between his starting point and Sapphiro’s, the blond man was already on top of him.
Sapphiro brought his massive blade down in an overhead blow, his eyes locked on the smaller man, anticipating an attempt at diving to the left or the right; he was clearly prepared to adjust the angle of his swing to compensate for whatever move his opponent made. He planned to end this duel with a single swing of his blade. That would certainly be most decisive.
What he did not expect was for Nisse—who had proven himself a coward and a wimp in his duel with Gemma—to ignore the sword entirely. Grinning slyly, the slender sickle-wielder lashed out with both weapons, embedding their ends in opposite sides of the muscular man’s gut.
And then the greatsword connected, cleaving through Nisse's left shoulder and ribs as though they were twigs. The slim man gave a high-pitched, agonised shriek, as the big blade buried itself halfway through his torso. His left arm fell limp, his hand slipping from the hilt of his weapon.
And then golden fire flared up. The blue-eyed man had already been staring at Nisse in shock, taken aback that the weedy man would be so stupid as to take such a grievous injury just for a chance at landing a hit. But when the flames manifested, his eyes bulged.
“Cheat!” the woman beside Ahana roared, grabbing her by the forearm and turning the bunnygirl to face her, as her ugly face twisted into a vicious snarl. The healer smirked back, not responding.
Before she could slug the bunnygirl, though, the dark-eyed lady’s gaze was drawn back to the fight, when Sapphiro cried out in pain. Nisse had hauled on his remaining weapon with all his might, tearing through muscle and organs. The other sickle was knocked free as the muscular man’s stomach was ripped open, blood and intestines spilling out.
“No!” the black-haired woman had time to scream, before golden flames flickered into existence around his injury as well, and it quickly began to heal. Nisse cackled hysterically, as his own flesh and bone knitted back together, and took another swipe with his sickle, succeeding in slashing open the throat of the blond man, who was still too shocked to really react much.
It was clear that the tribe hadn't even considered that the healer would use her power to interfere with what ought to have been an honourable duel. The fact she had refrained from messing around with Gemma’s fights, had likely only reinforced this belief. Not that that mattered to Ahana in the slightest; as a general now, none of them could reprimand her.
Beset by multiple shocking events, including his own disembowelment, Sapphiro was understandably a little dazed. It didn't take him long to regain his composure, but in those precious, few moments, Nisse landed several more blows, laughing all the while. The slim man wasn’t able to endure pain nearly as well as Ahana herself, but after hours of ‘endurance training’, he’d at least managed to reach the stage of laughing hysterically instead of bursting into tears when he was seriously injured. He still had a long way to go, but he did now have some sort of functionality when wounded, which was something.
Seeing if the others here—warrior and villager alike—had the determination to endure the same level of pain was the true purpose of the bunnygirl’s tryout plan. Strength and skill and speed barely mattered when one was immortal, after all. So long as one didn’t accept defeat, victory was merely a matter of time; every conflict became a battle of attrition in which one held infinite resources.
Once Sapphiro had recovered his wits, he quickly put some distance between himself and Nisse. The smaller man tried to charge after his adversary, but the greatsword with which he had been struck remained lodged in his body—the flesh and bone around it having healed, trapping it in place—which slowed him considerably. And all too soon, the blond's own injuries had vanished entirely, the last wisps of flame that had clung to his body dissipating. Before advancing on Nisse, he shot a venomous glare Ahana’s way, clearly not appreciating the hidden feature of his duel.
“Psst, I think your boyfriend likes me.” the healer said out of the corner of her mouth to the dark-eyed woman, as they watched Sapphiro catch Nisse’s wrist and snap his arm by kneeing the slim man’s elbow, causing the sickle to slip from unresponsive fingers.
The muscular woman grunted dismissively, “Sapphiro’s not my ‘boyfriend’, he’s my little cousin… and trust me, he definitely does
not ‘like’ you.”
“Aw, really? What’s there not to like about me, though? Are you saying he doesn't appreciate powerful women?” the bunnygirl asked innocently, as if her rank was the only possible thing someone could possibly dislike about her.
The warrior snorted, which was a reasonable response to such a question, given that many women in the tribe were stronger than any of the men, and that they'd been ruled by women for generations; it wasn’t exactly the sort of thing that a male of the tribe would be expected to have a problem with, “I'm saying he doesn't appreciate women.”
“Hm…?” Ahana responded quizzically, as they watched Sapphiro knock back Nisse’s right leg, lift up the greatsword slightly, then bring it back down, stabbing straight through the smaller man’s shin and into the ground, pinning him in place, his body bent in an awkward position due to the blade piercing him in two spots. In spite of this, Nisse continued to giggle softly, though at a higher pitch than before. His eyes rolled around in their sockets.
If the healer had actually given a shit about his mental health, she might have been concerned. Instead, she simply thought on what the dark-eyed lady had said. After a couple moments, it finally clicked, “Oooh, right. Damn. That’s a pity.”
“Eh,” said the woman, shrugging, “it's not so bad. Makes for entertaining viewing.”
The bunnygirl contemplated that thoughtfully for a moment, “He lets people watch…? And… wait… didn’t you say he was your cousin?”
The warrior shrugged again, “It’s a small tribe.”
“Huh.” said the healer, while watching Sapphiro remorselessly pummel the face of the immobilised Nisse, “You might not want to mention that to Siggy… uh, the High Priest, I mean. I’m pretty sure that kinda stuff is against his religion.”
“What stuff? Fun?” the black-haired brute enquired casually.
Ahana laughed, turned to face her properly, and held out a hand. “Yeah, something like that. Y’know, I’m starting to think you might not be so bad after all, warrior lady. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Beryl.” the dark-eyed woman responded, and shook her hand. Her grip felt firm. Based on the golden fire that sprung up around her fingers, though, the bunnygirl knew that the warrior must be trying her hardest to exert as much force as possible. She smirked up at Beryl, the Divine Conflagration guarding her from even the minuscule ‘harm’ of having her hand squeezed too roughly.
The dark-eyed lady grunted and released her hand, in a huff at being unable to hurt her even a little. Ahana laughed again.
“Isn’t it about time you ended this? It’s pathetic.” Beryl said, changing the subject, and gesturing over at the ongoing fight… which still consisted of nothing more than Sapphiro punching Nisse in the face repeatedly, as the smaller man struggled to stay upright.
“Nah.” the healer said, “Nisse still has a few more hours of fight left in him.”
“A few… a few more
hours?”
“Heh.”
***
Panting heavily, the blond man let his arms fall to his sides, and backed up a couple steps. His victim was still pinned by the greatsword, even after all this time, though by this point he had sunk to his knees. On a few occasions previously, the warrior had ceased his brutal assault, giving Nisse a chance to surrender.
On every occasion, the slim man had simply waited for his battered face to heal, and then had begun struggling to free himself from the weapon that kept him rooted in place. And this instance was no different. The blond shook his head and wiped sweat from his brow.
The audience had long ago grown bored, and were mostly talking amongst themselves. Several had even fetched some dice and started gambling at some point. They were still interested enough in the general’s proposal to stick around, rather than returning to work rebuilding their homes, it seemed, but not so interested that they actually wanted to watch a guy get punched in the face for hours on end.
“This is stupid!” he yelled, facing Ahana, “It's clear that I've won.”
“Oh, have you killed Nisse yet? Or knocked him unconscious? Or perhaps he’s simply surrendered?” she smirked smugly at him.
“Tch. Just because he won’t stop struggling, doesn’t mean he hasn’t lost.” everyone was paying attention now. Ahana began walking in their direction—followed by Beryl, after a moment—and Nisse forced himself up to his feet (well, to his foot, as one of them was still pinned in such a way that it was impossible for him to stand on it), his face already fully healed.
“Oh, really?” the healer enquired, raising an eyebrow, “‘Cause I’d say that’s
exactly what it means. But I suppose the fight
has gone on long enough. I didn’t actually expect your patience to hold out all this time, to be honest. I figured I'd have to put an end to this much sooner, so well done for that, blondie. Nisse, surrender, will you?”
“I surrender.” the slim man said immediately.
“There, it’s over. You won, warrior, congratulations. Still, you must realise by now what the point of this duel really was, right?”
“Yes, of course.” Sapphiro spat, moving to Nisse’s side and tugging free—none too gently—then tossing aside the greatsword that had been embedded in the smaller man's flesh, “You made a fool out of me.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. This wasn’t
just a demonstration of my awe-inspiring power, it also allowed you to demonstrate your strength, skill, speed and stamina, and Nisse got to show off his
resolve. We all got something out of this.” turning to face the crowd, she raised her voice and continued, “Now, I trust you all see how blessed you are to have a chance at fighting by my side… and how minor details physical fitness and fighting skill really are, when it’s impossible for my soldiers to die without my permission. So, it’s time to vote. Everyone who thinks that those who aren’t warriors deserve a chance at serving in our army—if they can make it through my tryouts—raise one fist.”
Sapphiro sighed despondently, shaking his head, his expression sour, as he beheld the results. There wasn’t even any need for the general to ask for a show of hands from those who opposed the proposition. It was blatantly obvious that she had convinced the people, villager and warrior alike.
Moving to stand by his side, Beryl gave him a pat on the shoulder, “You fought well, Sapph, even if this didn’t work out like we hoped, you can take pride in that.”
Grunting, the blue-eyed warrior shrugged off his cousin’s hand, not even looking at her. He wasn’t in the best of moods, it would seem. By comparison, the much abused loser of the fight, Nisse, was fully recovered and stood by the bunnygirl’s side, a small smile on his lips.
Ahana clapped her hands, “Alright, with that out of the way, we can finally move on to the main event. Nisse, Beryl, Sapphiro, split everyone into pairs for me, would you? The tryout is simple; anyone who wants to be a soldier of Neo New Babylon has to fight a duel, which lasts until I say it ends, or someone surrenders. Anyone who surrenders can’t join the army. And if I feel like someone isn’t being challenged enough, or if their opponent gives up, I’ll switch them to fight someone else. Basically, I want you all to prove that you can keep fighting no matter how much pain you’re in. Not giving up like a little bitch is the one and only requirement of joining this army, got it?”
The crowd called out their assent, some more readily than others. Before moving to help sort the participants, though, Nisse spoke up, “And if anyone fails, and can’t help but surrender, don’t worry… if you truly desire a career in the army, additional training is available, and the General is an excellent teacher. Just look what she’s done for me, after all,
hahaha.”
The slightly crazed look in the slim man’s eyes likely didn’t do much to convince anyone, but the healer grinned anyway. All things considered, she thought her little pet was coming along quite well.
Post Word Count: 5,202
Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Post Count: 2/3
Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Word Count: 7,356/1,867 (2,154 + 5,202)