Its official, I'm a horrible person. To those who awaited this chapter I have to apologize profusely. For those who checked my profile probably noticed me mentioning I'm in college. I go several days a week, I leave at 7 or 8 in the morning spend 2 hours on the bus just to spend 8 – 10 hours in class followed by another 2 hour trip back. When I get home I work a bit then sleep. On my days off I do school work. So I'm sorry that it has taken me months to update, especially considering it's not as long as previous chapters, I just kept saying I'll try to work on it tomorrow and tomorrow seems to be very elusive. But I finished it and hope you enjoy it.

Martin Hamilton: I am well aware that the games hero isn't Caldarian. But for the purposes of this story the hero is a Caldarian, it gives Treda knowledge of the countries, terrain, lords and natives, that some guy who just came over the mountains wouldn't have.

Mr Unkown: Thanks glad you like it and I'll try to update more frequently, I know how much it sucks when a favorite fan-fic author just quits.

And just a quick word of thanks to those of you that have added me or the story to their favorites or alerts It means a lot to me.

I sat talking with Artimenner for quite a while, partially because the man had a lot of interesting things to talk about, mostly because I didn't want to face the inevitable. He talked of different things he had accomplished and of plans he had for war machines and the like. I had sat with Artimenner for an hour and put away several pints before I mustered the courage to head over to Ymira. I stood and walked across the room to Ymira. Her table was a sea of glasses, at least eight or nine empty mugs sat there.

I sat across from her, she reeked of alcohol.

"W-what do you w-want?" she stuttered angrily.

I had put quite a bit of thought into what I could say. But thinking of what to say and putting it into words are two different things.

"I came to apologize again. I know you trusted me and I betrayed that trust. But you have to admit it was for the best. We're alive because of that."

"How can you still say that T-Treda? Even after you've d-destroyed their village, killed their families and stole everything of value. You are still saying that you're j-justified to s-sell them into slavery for what might be the r-rest of their lives," she said shaking her head, "and the fact that you were able to l-look me into the eyes, and l-lie every time."

I felt a little pang of regret; not for selling those people to slavery but for lying to her, I didn't want to but I felt like I should try to keep her happy. In the end she was still in tears.

"But I…"

"Just leave me alone," she said stopping me.

"But…"

"Just go."

I sat there for a moment and let out a deep breath as I stood. I walked back to Artimenner and sat down.

"Lad you've screwed up big time," he said shaking his head, "Not that it's right to lie to someone, but with a woman, sometimes admitting you screwed up even if you don't belive you did is best."

I heard this and half agreed with it. I might still be sitting with Ymira if I had have just said she was right. But I felt as if I was right, me selling those Swadians saved almost a hundred lives. I talked with Artimenner for another couple of minutes before I felt like I should take my chances and cop out. Turning I saw that Ymira was gone. I stood up quickly and turned back to Artimenner.

"Did you see where Ymira went?" I asked quickly.

"I thought I saw someone leave the tavern, but I thought nothing of it," he said shrugging.

I left my equipment and left the tavern in a blur. I turned to the left, nothing, the right, nothing.

I chose the right and hurried. A drunken woman on dark streets in an unknown city was a recipe for trouble. There was the odd person walking the darkened streets. I asked if they had seen a beautiful blonde woman stumbling around, everyone shook their heads not bothering to speak much to the outsider. I kept looking and found nothing. I turned and headed back to the tavern, instead of stopping I kept going and headed straight past it. I found another couple of people who hadn't see anything. I found one who recalled seeing someone stumbling about the streets.

Going on that lead I kept on with renewed vigor. I kept going until I heard shouting. I began sprinting towards the source of the noise. I found myself in a familiar place with one drunken Ymira shouting at a door.

"Open the door!" she shouted.

A Sarranid man in night clothes holding a candle opened the door.

"What is it?" he growled obviously unhappy.

"I-I demand that y-you release the Swadian s-slave you have in your p-possession," she stuttered obviously drunk.

He laughed in her face.

"Look girl, I paid over a hundred silver pieces for that slave. I'm not going to simply let him go," he said stifling a yawn.

"Ymira," I said quietly.

She turned quickly.

"Treda, w-what are you d-doing here?" she asked.

"I'm here to bring you back to the tavern, you need to get some sleep," I said trying to coax her to come back to the tavern.

"I'm not going b-back until this… this… bastard r-releases that man," she said pointing to the merchant.

"I already told you, I'm not just going to release a perfectly good slave," he said angrily.

I let out a sigh when a thought hit me.

"Sir what if I paid for the man's freedom?" I suggested, "I could pay you double what you paid."

The man stroked his short beard considering this. After a moment he let out a sigh.

"Usually I wouldn't do this but by the gods I need my sleep, fine."

I pulled out my purse and tossed him a pouch of two hundred coins.

The man then turned and went inside. He came back after a minute or two with who we were looking for.

He began to thank me.

"Oh thank you sir, thank you..." he began, "You?" he almost shouted.

I couldn't say anything. He walked up to me and punched me in the jaw. I took a step back but did nothing. The man spit on my shoe and walked away without another word.

I could have punched him back, or took him to a guard. But after everything, I just let him leave. I felt my conscience lighten in the slightest, but I couldn't bring myself to feel anything more. After all the evil I had done to that village, helping one villager didn't atone for that.

Ymira at that point was off to the side vomiting. I walked beside her and gave her a pat on the back.

"Why did you…" she paused to vomit, "help him?"

"I guess to make up for a stupid mistake and to apologize to you. Ymira, I told you I wouldn't sell those people but I did. For that I want to apologize, it was a stupid thing to betray your trust. I pray to the gods that you'll forgive my stupidity."

She puked what I hoped was that last of her stomachs content. As she stood up I pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the vomit from her chin.

"You are…" she let out a groan, "forgiven. But I-I swear this Treda, if you do s-something like that again I'm leaving."

I could tell by her tone that she meant it. That would mean either I would have to cease any activity that would make her unhappy with me, or I could continue behind her back, although that really didn't go well the first time.

We left the street and headed back to the tavern. I brought her upstairs and put her in a bedroll. She fell asleep as she hit the pillow. I looked at her sleeping form and let out a sigh. I knew that I couldn't be the reason that Ymira left, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I lightly kissed her forehead and went to my own bedroll.

In the morning we headed out. It took a while to go to the other tavern where the other chunk of our forces were. As it so happens a single tavern couldn't hold a hundred people. We kept all of the horses, weapons and armor from our desert conflict. Several of the Sarranids had a bit of training in riding. With twenty men on horseback and eighty on foot, I was gathering quite a force. It took us around elven hours to get out of the desert. I had never felt cooler than right after I left that desert.

We had a force that was capable of some damage now. We stopped off at Jelkala for supplies. The guards were just as cautious of letting Sarranids in, as the Sarranids were of the Rhodoks. We purchased our provisions and headed out. I announced to my men my plan. We were going to begin hitting Vaegir and Swadian caravans. During wars such targets were free game. As the Vaegirs had no quarrels with the Rhodoks or Swadians trade caravans were constantly going back and forth between the countries. We could also hit Swadian caravans going between Swadia the other countries such as the Nords, Vaegirs and Khergits.

We had been traveling for a day or so when an opportunity presented itself. A large caravan of sixty men was traveling from the land of the Vaegirs to the Rhodoks. We hid the wagons and I had most of my men hide while I took a few men to confront the caravan.

I was dressed for battle, crossbow at the ready. The caravan slowed to a stop. The Rhodoks at my sides had stuck their board shields into the ground and readied their crossbows.

"What business do you have with us stranger?" the man asked unfazed by the seven men in front of him.

"You are going to give us all of your possessions or you give that and your life," I said threateningly.

"Ha a pitiful seven men against my sixty-five," he said chuckling.

"I'll give you one chance before we unleash hell."

"By the time you try to notch another bolt we'll be on you," he said with a sneer.

"You asked for it," I said firing a bolt into the closest rider.

The man was just beginning to bellow orders when dozens of bolts hit both sides of the caravan. Before they could react spearmen rushed out of the bushes. It was a slaughter. I watched Balda, as he took a man off a horse with his spear while taking the arm of another man with a large curved blade he acquired in the dessert; Veti was behind a bush loosing arrows with grim precision. Gods I would hate to anger either of them. Before anyone could sound a retreat the Sarranid riders swept into their rear.

We killed thirty-seven of them. The others we let go relieved of weapons, armor and silver of course. We lost two men and had over a dozen injured. We continued this for weeks. Ambushing caravans both Swadian and of the Vaegir. Ymira wasn't happy with the enemy and friendly casualties, but she was glad I wasn't taking prisoners.

Artimenners advice swam about my head. But of course forming a plan and acting on it are two different things. Ymira and I had grown distant right after the slave incident. I had closed that gap after buying one of the men's freedom. Things ground to a halt after that. We still chatted and drank together. But I had made no progress in attempting to court her. I had a plan, but it would take a while for the right moment come.

We had close to thirty-thousand Denars in our coffers. I had bought better gear for my men and hired new men from the villages. They had heard about the success of my company and now had plenty of eager young men wanting to earn money through combat. I had around forty Sarranids and close to one-hundred and thirty Rhodok men; eighteen riders, twenty-two skirmishers, seventy crossbowmen and fifty-eight spearmen.

I decided it was time for a change of scenery. We moved from Jelkala all the way to the land of the Nords. With eleven wagons and one-hundred and seventy men it took us close to a week. Partially because of how many people we had, mostly because we had to be cautious moving through Swadian territory. We ran into several patrols, for the most part they just saw a large caravan, one patrol decided to check through our wagons. They started sifting through our provisions and equipment. It was going fine until they saw the coat of arms on one of the board shields.

"This is the group that has been hitting our caravans. Kill them all!" the captain shouted.

While a rider who was next to my wagon turned towards his shouting captain I drew my cleaver and struck his head from his shoulders.

We had taken out most of them when a survivor made a break for it.

"Gods someone kill him!" I bellowed.

I drew my crossbow and fired a bolt missing him by at least a dozen paces. Several other men followed suite and they too missed.

Just when I thought Veti hopped up onto the front of one of the wagons. He notched an arrow and took a few deep breathes before losing it. The arrow flew and hit the man in the back. I thought he might have just been wounded until his horse slowed and he fell limply from the saddle.

"Thanks the Gods," I muttered, "and thank you Veti, you may have just saved all of our lives."

"Think nothing of it captain," he said as if it were no big deal he just saved the entire force.

But of course our victory didn't come cheap, we lost a dozen spearmen, five crossbowmen and one skirmisher. There may have only been thirty but they were well trained. We killed every last one of them and tossed the bodies, not before stripping them of valuables course.

After that we travelled without incident. The Vaegirs and Nords might be neighbors but that didn't mean I had been into Nordic territory before. Their cities were massive collections of wooden structures, most with intricate carving of various dragons, beasts and runes.

I had noticed several things between the factions of Caldaria. I noticed that Sarranids were for the most part serious and quiet people who kept to their own. The Rhodok people liked a bit of drink along with lots of stories while gambling. The Nords took drinking like a job; they were a rowdy bunch that loved brawling and singing almost as much as drinking. Nords outside of the tavern were revered as incredible infantrymen, like the Rhodok having almost no cavalry in their armies. Difference being that Rhodoks preferred to keep enemies at a distance with crossbows and spears. The Nords on the other hand preferred to wield axe and sword and close the gap in as little time as possible, throwing axes and spears along the way. The Sarranids preferred light armor, weapons and horses; they preferred speed and mobility allowing them to flank armies and aim for weak points.

The Nordic town of Sargoth smelled of salt water drifting up from the ocean. We would go to towns and villages and gather warriors and recruits. Soon it would be time for my first strike at the Vaegirs. Many people from nations left their homeland to make a name for themselves, most would join or start mercenary companies. Sometimes things went sour and they turned to complete banditry and robbery instead. Other joined up with one of the countries as sell swords, I heard of one man who wasn't from Caldaria who started up a well renowned mercenary group. He sold his lot in with the Nords, after he obtained a large enough force he broke away from them and tried to take one of their castles. He took the castle only to find the entire Nordic army surrounding his new found castle days later. Needless to say the castle was retaken and he was executed along with his entire army. No one knows for sure as that was close to a hundred years ago.

I had up to that point did things I was proud of, and things I wasn't. I had started an extremely well of mercenary company; most companies only reach about fifty to seventy members. Due to my charisma, leadership and Ymira with her ledger, I have been able to have a hundred and sixty men under my banner with more being recruited weekly; I had an army that could rival a lord's, with the exception of training. I had had some of these men with me since day one, others are still raw. I had plans for my strikes at the Vaegirs but before I would be able to stand against them I would need to have everyone properly trained.

The Nords refused us entry at first. Me being a Vaegir and having an army of Rhodok and Sarranid men wasn't what they wanted in there great towns. We were about to leave when one of the guards saw one of our board shields.

"You are the one they call Treda?" the long bearded Nord asked.

"Yes why do you ask?"

"You are gathering some fame in our territory; you are the one who is striking Vaegir caravans without mercy. Word has reached our towns of a mercenary group led by a man with a shield of black with a white cross who has yet to lose a battle. I'm sure several of our lords would be honored to fight against you in combat," the man said laughing and clasping my shoulder.

"Open the gates," another one bellowed.

"Thank you," I said getting back into my wagon, I shuddered of the thought of Nord lords seeking me out to fight.

My army took up almost three Nordic taverns; it would have been five if the long structures didn't have second floors. That and there was already dozens of other Nordic patrons drinking, singing and brawling. I found a man who stuck out among the crowd. He was a man of average height who wore brown robes with intricate designs. He obviously was a man who earned a nice amount of money, but that wasn't what piqued my curiosity.

"Hello there stranger," I said sitting across from him, "what is a Vaegir doing in a Nordic tavern?"

"Well I was drinking quietly until you came along," he said nodding his head, "but I'm sure you don't mean it like that. I am here because I was exiled."

"Well that doesn't happen very often," I said curiously.

"Not by the king but by one of his right hand men. You see lad, I'm a trainer of soldiers, I take a group of whelps and replace them with strong and able bodied men, " he said as if stating a well-known fact, "but some don't like my rather extreme training methods. I was training a large group of men for Boyar Vlan, some of his officers disobeyed my orders and I had them flogged. Vlan didn't take well to that, he fired me without pay and had me put into exile," he said with obvious distaste.

"Hmmm, what would you say to a chance to get revenge on Vlan?" I said throwing some bait.

"I would jump at such a chance. Why do you ask?" he inquired.

"I happen to be on a mission. It involves war with the Vaegirs, would you be interested in joining up with me to train my men?" I asked hopefully.

"Hmmm, what kind of force do you have at your disposal?" he asked, apparently I had his interest.

"I have a hundred and seventy men, a hundred and ten are Rhodoks, the rest are Sarranids," I said motioning to the small groups of Sarranids that dotted the long house.

"Hmm, a diverse group you have there. And it's safe to assume you're here to recruit some Nords?"

"Yes, that obvious?"

"You have a sound mind…"

"Treda Helmaer."

"The son of Fricio Helmaer," he said spitting out some mead.

"The same," I said with a sigh.

"I accept," he said with a nod.

"You… accept?" I asked surprised that it didn't take any convincing.

"Hell we might die; if I die I want it to go down with a bang. What better way than going out with the son of one of the most well-known traitors of the century?"

"My father was no traitor, he was just a man who ran his mouth," I said shaking my head, "I'm going to take down King Yaroglek, even if I have to take his empire apart piece by piece."

"What will you do when you've completed your revenge?" he asked.

"I don't know, crown myself king," I said half joking with a shrug.

"It's kind of funny, I always said if I met someone who planned on being king, not just of one land of Caldaria, not even all of Caldaria, but of all the known world. I said I would sign up to serve him free of charge," he said with a hearty laugh.

"What kind of army do you see conquering all of Caldaria?"

"Oh Caldaria would just be the first step. I envision an army that could conquer all of Caldaria and then march right over the mountains and onto the rest of the world," he said smiling, "my idea for the perfect army, I would say rows of Rhodok crossbowmen and Vaegir longbow men, protected by a wall of Rhodok spearmen, have Nord Huscarls leading the charge, back them with Sarranid skirmishers, flank the enemy with Khergit lancers and Swadian knights."

The thought of such an army was dizzying. It would have the perfect mix of defense and offence, strength and swiftness. I could already see such a force on the battlefield; I could almost see it conquering the known world.

"By the Gods," I muttered.

"My thoughts exactly, Treda I have never had an opportunity to even think of starting an army of that size. You already have started building the force I mentioned. You have skirmishers, spearmen and crossbowmen, and you're here for Nord infantry. I would be honored if you would accept my help,"

"I accept…"

"Lezalit," he said with a small bow.

"Now then General," he said standing, chugging the rest of his mead and slamming down the mug, "Assemble your men within five minutes and meet me at the front gate."

"Um, okay," I said as I quickly began to scurry about getting everyone.

He said five, it took twenty. We found him standing impatiently at the gate.

"I apologize it took a while to gather everyone," I said shaking my head.

"The town of Sargoth has been lost, its defenders captured or killed before they had the chance to fight," he said shaking his head.

"What?" I asked questioningly.

"It took twenty minutes for you to gather your men, in that time ladders could have gone up and soldiers could be in the town. If it took that long in a real situation you may very well be dead. I want five laps around Sargoth from everyone,"

"Five laps around the town?" someone called, "what the hell is this?"

"Who are you to tell us to do something?" someone else called.

That was met with murmurs of agreement.

"I am Lezalit; and I am working for Treda as an advisor and a trainer," Lezalit said seriously, "If you have a problem you will find yourself tied to post to be flogged."

The voices of disagreement stopped.

"Won't it look a little weird to have a hundred and sixty men jogging around the town?" I asked not really wanting to do the laps myself.

"I was exiled from the Vaegirs months ago, drinks don't pay for themselves. I have helped the Nords and mercenary crews train; this is nothing the guards haven't seen before. Now then enough idle talk everyone lets go," he said pulling off his robe, revealing chain mail and a short sword, "after doing this a few times you men will be ready to do this in full combat gear," that was met with several groans.

He then began jogging, it took everyone a moment but they took off quickly when he threatened to flog anyone who didn't do the laps.

It took what felt like an hour to finish our first lap. I had sweat beginning to pour down my back. Quite a few Rhodoks looked ready to pass out. The Sarranids on the other hand were doing fine, their brows were dry and they kept a uniform pace. Ymira decided she felt like tagging alone even though she wasn't technically part of the army. We had completed three laps when Ymira began to slow; she was blinking rapidly trying to keep the sweat out of her eyes. I slowed down accordingly to talk with her.

"Ymira are you alright?" I asked worriedly.

"I'm," she took a deep breath, "fine. This is harder than it sounded."

"I agree completely, if you're tired you don't have to do this you know."

"No I'm going to finish this no matter what."

"I can say something…" I began.

"No I have to prove to myself and… someone else that I am worthy," she said taking several deep breathes.

"If you say so, but please," I said, "don't hurt yourself," It sounded silly but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she got hurt because I didn't stop her.

We got to the fifth lap with several men collapsing along the way. Ymira stumbled a bit and almost fell forward.

"Come on Ymira," I said taking in a deep breath, "you can do it just a bit further."

"I… know… I'm… fine…" she said with several deep breathes.

The second we hit the gate again several men collapsed. I followed suite, Ymira too fell.

"Treda, you and most of your men need to do this more often, there is no telling when you will have to sprint in battle. Build up your stamina, now if you will excuse me I will take some of your men to gather the fallen. Meet us in the town square," he said grabbing several of the Sarranids and heading off.

"Damn that was hard work eh Ymira," no reply, "Ymira?"

She was passed out.

"Come on men we're heading to the town square," I said lifting up Ymira gently.

We arrived into the open town square where we began our wait.

"Hmm, where are we?" Ymira asked stretching in my arms.

"We're in the town square waiting for Lezalit to return,"

Lezalit and the men he took were carrying the men that had passed out on their backs.

"That time was crap," Lezalit spat dropping the man off his back, "Tomorrow we'll run it again at the crack of dawn, and if anyone passes out I swear to the gods they will find themselves running it again in full combat gear."

There was a collect of groans.

I could tell this was going to become a series of training regimes to get us ready for war.

After Lezalit ranted on for a few minutes at those that passed out we were dismissed.

I was ready for a cold pint by the time we arrived at the tavern.

I had been sitting drinking with Ymira for a few minutes when Lezalit walked up.

"Treda, you have a decent bunch of men with you," he said with a hint of a smile.

"Wait weren't you just saying how worthless they were?" I asked surprised.

"Your men aren't the best, but they definitely aren't the worst. Tomorrow we'll do some weapon training. Now then sir I need to get something to drink," he said heading towards the barkeep.

Ymira and I got back to talking before I felt a question begin to tug at the back of my mind.

"Ymira, I've been meaning to ask you something," I said turning back to her.

"What?"

"Back when we were running our laps, you said that you had to impress two people. I'm curious as to who the other one is," I said questioningly.

"Well… its y…y" she let out a small sigh, "Yrner,"

"Who?"

"Yrner, my father," she said "I feel like I should prove I'm worthy of his love."

I could tell that what she was saying wasn't entirely true. But I hadn't known her to lie so it had to be a good reason.

I knew that would be many long days of training and recruiting ahead. But at that moment sitting across from the women I loved drinking a cold pint I felt like everything might just turn out alright.

As I have said before, if you like this story send a comment, constructive criticism welcome. I'll get to work on the next chapter when I have some more free time.