Lightstar Family/Yleina/Roleplay 11

Special Forces

"Thank you for finding couriers to send my message, good sir," Yleina smiled at the gentle old steward, who looked after the ducal palace in the absence of the Duke. He seemed familiar to her, but she could not place him; perhaps he had been a servant of the family long before her brother became appointed?

The steward nodded slowly with a warm smile. "Certainly, my lady. His Grace left detailed instructions to be carried out upon your return to court."

The girl clenched her teeth slightly with a mental grimace at hearing the word 'court'. The mere mention of it, even though it was in a different context, brought unwanted images of too-tight corsets and ridiculously tailored dresses from a lifetime ago.

Perhaps somehow sensing her discomfort, the steward changed the subject. "You will be needing a unit to command, if you wish to follow the army north, of course."

"Indeed, good sir, yet I have not the slightest idea where to begin!"

"Of course, my dear. Worry not, everything has already been arranged by His Grace. If you will follow me," he gestured down the hall, and they wound their way deeper into the palace, until they entered a secluded field of sorts. Yleina drew a sharp intake of breath at the sight that met her eyes.

A score of men, each dressed in what appeared to be black full plate mail armor, were running drills of a curious nature. They were arranged in two lines of ten, one behind the other, and they faced rows upon rows of wooden dummies. Behind these dummies crouched another two score archers, who had their strings drawn back. Without warning, they released their arrows in a high arc, directly towards the black-clad figures.

Ready for the barrage, the ten men in the front line raised large tower shields above their bodies, and the ten men in the back line moved forwards to take cover under the shields, which were large enough to protect two if held at the correct angle.

Yleina gasped in surprise and closed her eyes slightly in anticipation of the pained cries that were sure to follow. She bit her lower lip as the loud banging of the arrows meeting the shields sounded. No one cried out in pain. Her eyes opened back to normal, as she tried to make sense of the proceedings. Then her eyes widened even more, as the two lines of men advanced several feet before stopping.

The men in the front row planted their shields firmly on the ground and knelt down on one knee, while the ones in the back stood up and each let fly four tiny daggers, two from each hand. These inevitably found their marks upon the training dummies; some landed with heavy thuds into the head and neck areas, but most of the projectiles struck the torso area. A couple of the dummies even fell over from the onslaught, which was quite impressive.

The entire process was repeated again, resulting in more dummies keeling over backwards, and a third time as well, before a man standing off to the side called for the drill to end. Catching the eye of the steward, he waved a greeting and moved around the side to join the pair.

"Impressive, aren't they, my lady?" the old man remarked with a twinkle in his eye.

Yleina, with her mouth hanging agape, could only nod. Gesturing to the approaching man, the steward made introductions. "This is Captain Lutolf."

The captain pounded a fist to his heart, holding his arm in place, and replied briskly, "Milady!"

"He has been overseeing the training of your troops."

The girl did a double-take, blinking several times and looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights of an approaching semi-truck with no where to run and no time to think. "M-my troops?"

"Indeed, my dear, your brother selected them personally and left Captain Lutolf in charge to make sure they were ready for you when you needed them. They hail from the very finest of Nahad's special forces, known as the Might of Aenilia. There are of course different types of special forces, but His Grace believed this select style would be most suitable for your first battle experience."

Again, the girl could only nod in response. She felt as if she were in a daydream, but knew that everything was in fact really happening because all of her daydreams involved a certain Captain General by the name of Tharion, to some extent. Blushing now, she managed to squeak out a polite greeting to the captain.

"Greetings and well met, good sir."

"Milady. If you will excuse me, I must keep the boys out of trouble," he said with a grin and another salute before departing.

"Well, there you have it, my dear. What do you think of them? Will they suffice?"

"Oh yes, very much so, thank you! They are breathtakingly amazing! I have ne'er seen the like!"

"Indeed, this style of combat is one of the newer ones. Now, if you will follow me again, His Grace has yet another surprise in store for you. Come, this way."

Yleina's heart pitter-pattered loudly in her ears at these words. If that 'surprise' had a name which started with a T and ended with an N, then she would surely faint and know that all this was, in fact, a daydream after all....