It wasn't until the twelfth day that I honestly realized just how nostalgic it felt to march alongside an army.
The first week was spent in the open country, covering the ground just as far as we could. Kicking up dirt, stomping through grass, feeling the bracing chill of the night and the sting of the early morning dew, having fallen men and horses all around us, sleeping beneath starry skies. Being a part of it all felt like... freedom. Yes. Like something long forgotten and now regained after ages had passed. It felt wild and alive, a complete far cry from the routine I'd developed over the past few months in Geofu.
Tents went up across the fields, like a great yellow or tan spider web. By dusk, campfires flared up like orange flickers of light dotting the plain in scattered blinks, one after the next. With an army that stretched back for nearly a mile, the mornings generally began with the infantry breaking camp. The banners swayed gently in the light breeze and the sharp, rhythmic staccatos of the bugle calls echoed a strong sense of urgency across the camp. Orders flowed back and forth amongst the sergeants as they barked commands to the line.
And as I did every dawn, I brought breakfast to my master's tent. Today it was a fresh chicken with cheese, white bread, a baked potato, and a pitcher of beer.
"Good morning, Ansel," she greeted me as I entered her pavilion. She was already half-dressed for the day, with her belt and boots set aside, leaving only her blue tunic and trousers. The rest of her riding armor was lined up neatly over the back of a wooden chair, silver plates gleaming as they caught the sunlight. "Sleep well?"
"I did, actually," I said. Once she allowed it, I set my load down atop her field desk. I'd already learned her preference to arrange the meal from left to right, rather than vice versa, so I placed the food in that way.
"What, no ham? That's a first."
"Yeah," I shrugged at that, trying to fight back a smile. "Lieutenant Feuerstein and her squad just left to scout ahead—Ate all the pork before I could get to it. So you'll be stuck with bird for now. Herr Marbot sends his apologies, and hopes it'll be tolerable."
Lady Claudia laughed, seeming utterly unconcerned. "Thank you, Ansel. Chicken will do fine. In fact, I think I prefer it."
And so I set to work. I inspected her sword, taking note of any rust that might've gathered along the edges and making a mental note to polish it thoroughly when I had the chance. Then I checked her armor, straightening each plate and ensuring that her breastplate was still comfortable and well-fitted, with no pinch or pinch points. I saddled her horse, carefully avoiding brushing against his flank in the process, as the bastard had a habit of chewing on people's hair if given the chance.
I'd found that out the hard way, and had no intention of shaving my head to get rid of the bald patch again.
"I expect we'll reach Wallesdorf in a few days," she said suddenly, as I helped her into her riding armor. "Tomorrow, or maybe the day after that, at the latest."
"Really? That's... that'll be kind of a shame," I admitted, holding a gauntlet up for her to slide her hand into.
"Why do you say that?" The leather padding offered little comfort to her gloved hand as she bunched her fingers to snap the buckles at her wrist in place. "I thought you'd be eager to sleep on a proper bed again. Or..." She trailed, letting a small smirk form at the corners of her lips. "At the very least, you might get some time off from attending to this demanding master of yours."
Shifting pick up her cuirass, I heaved a fake sigh. "That'd be nice and all, but then my poor master wouldn't even be able to find her own boots in the morning."
"Cute," she said drily. "On second thought, I could always just find a new squire. A nice, polite one. One who'd never presume to comment on anything more complicated than the weather."
"That'd be a real tragedy, ma'am," I said, matching her dry tone. "Then you'd have live without the luxury of impeccable wit."
She paused for a moment, turning to look at me over her shoulder. "'Impeccable?' I didn't know that you knew that word."
"I don't."
Somehow that made her laugh, nearly snorting as she did. I couldn't stop myself from joining in, laughing right along with her. The rest of the cuirass slid into place, and she gave the word for her pavilion to be broken down. This morning routine had become second nature by now, and I fell into step naturally beside her. The familiar steps came quickly enough, moving in perfect time with her steps. Once we were ahorse and the columns of soldiers began to march, I adjusted to the pace, keeping in time with her mare. The air was brisk, almost stinging against the cheeks and tip of the nose, and smelled of cold earth, campfire smoke, and iron.
"...Earlier, you asked why I preferred being out here on the march," I began.
Lady Claudia glanced over at me. "You'd been silent for so long, I almost forgot," she said. "I assume there's more coming?"
I shrugged. "I missed this, I guess. Being out here, traveling, going to fight the Legion... Yeah. I didn't realize just how much I missed it. It's been more or less... I dunno. 'Home' for all these years. Dumb as that sounds, huh?"
A few moments passed in silence. Lady Claudia spent that entire time staring intently ahead.
"I understand."
She looked like she would have said something else, but remained silent.
Wallesdorf was a bold enterprise. That was the only way Claudia could think of it. Like a defiant lash at a world so clearly set against mankind, it existed as a testament to their resolve. Each inch of it had been made, cemented, shaped, and reshaped—twice over—by the strength shared by Men and Dwarves. The city stood around a mountain between the river Federlauf and the northern border of Geofu, situated at the end of the main thoroughfare of the highway road. Its position made it amongst the first lines of defense against the aberrant Legion. Sidgruik Kharheart, the dwarf who had led the first settlements here over two centuries ago, had proclaimed it as the spear to Geofu's shield.
Her army had been bid to reinforce that spear against the year's summer raids. The past three years had been particularly fierce—almost excessively so—with a marked increase of activity and violence. The lord mayor, swallowing his pride, requested that the holy city send aid.
Perhaps he had only expected a small detachment or some token force of knights to come bolster the defense. Certainly, he had not foreseen that she would personally lead an expedition, bringing thousands of swords along the river road.
They had been received with much enthusiasm, the margrave himself hailing her the moment he saw her come in. Once introductions had been made and matters discussed, the margrave moved to offer Claudia the whole city for her people to garrison in the days ahead, along with the use of his personal manse.
"Sir Strauss, I trust you can take care of housing our troops?" she asked her second-in-command.
Strauss answered with a raised hand and a knowing nod. "I can manage."
"Good. I imagine the mountainhold will have more than enough space for us all." As the old knight hurried off to see that their lodgings were secured, Claudia turned to Ansel. Her squire looked back at her expectantly, moving to stand at parade rest. "You're dismissed for today, Ansel. And tomorrow, too."
He hesitated for a moment, frowning. "You're sure, ma'am?"
"I am." She nodded. "Enjoy yourself. Besides, you and I are right down the hall from each other," she said. Indeed, the apartments allotted to them were located in the wing right at the end of the same hall. She grinned at him and added, "I'll be sure to have you at hand at once if I need chicken for breakfast again."
He gave a thoroughly unamused glare. "Haha," he said flatly. "Good night, my lady."
"Sleep well, Ansel."
Once her squire left, making a show of rolling his eyes, she retired to her private chambers. Claudia closed the doors quietly behind her and let out a sigh. Her quarters lay empty and vacant, giving a feeling of near-abandonment despite the lamps having been lit an hour prior. Servants had already had the suite prepared, having set a fire in the grate, and they seemed to have polished the very stones at some point. As expected, it was not of the largest variety, though considering the comfort and extra space her position afforded, it would have seemed wasteful to have demanded even larger quarters. Though decorated quite lavishly, the furniture within still boasted its original metal and timber frame, in addition to a large, oaken table with leather-bound drawers.
A yawn from Claudia punctuated the quiet, and she took that as her cue to start getting ready for the night. She started with the ritual of removing her armor. Unbuckling her vambraces and gauntlets, unwinding the tassets from her waist, followed by the greaves and sabatons. Once she had stripped down to her tunic and trousers, she set them aside for cleaning and maintenance.
Claudia eased back onto the bed and let the mattress take her weight. It was a pleasant sensation, gentle, so unlike the bedrolls or down-filled sleeping bags they'd been living in for the past couple of weeks. She took a few minutes to simply savor it, taking in the warmth and comfort.
She debated for a moment whether or not to get up and properly change into her nightclothes. In the end, she decided that the effort simply wasn't worth it. Satisfied with where she was, Claudia blew out the candle on her bedside and settled into the bed.
"Good night, Klaus," she mumbled as she closed her eyes. When a response failed to come, she frowned and turned to face her husband, only...
...Only to remember she was alone. Klaus was in Geofu still. Home. Safe.
Turning to the side of her pillow and closing her eyes, Claudia resigned herself to sleep.
"Your master is a damn slavedriver," Kirk said with the last of his breath before he stumbled, nearly falling over if not for me catching him.
"Yup," I said, as I stopped, climbed him up on my shoulders like a sack of coal, then kept on running. "I'm aware." All around us, several other soldiers were in pairs, doing the same thing I was. I tried to keep as steady as a pace as I could, and I liked to think that I was in pretty good shape from all that training I've been doing. But hell, a steady three-mile run was completely different from running a footrace with a whole person on your back. Not to mention that Kirk was on the heavier side.
The idea had come to Lady Claudia as she had been inspecting the local garrisons, a scant three days after our arrival. Apparently, the soldiery of Wallesdorf had developed an exercise called wife-carrying, in which two soldiers would alternate carrying each other over their shoulders for a considerable distance. Their regiment captain insisted on the exercise, arguing that it helped train "vigor, endurance, and the stamina needed to march several miles through the rugged terrain."
Seeing this, her Excellency had raised a sharp brow and smiled. "I think we'll try that next week," she'd said to me.
I thought she had been kidding at the time. Poor, naive me. If only I'd known better. And if only I'd known just exhausting it'd be.
By now, at least, the pace had become manageable. Or maybe I was so tired that my legs and back had stopped registering the exhaustion. Nearby to me, Colette carried Hans, while Biggs managed to carry Sir Matthieu for all of five steps before having to switch off with his master. And ahead of the pack, making it all seem completely effortless, Lady Claudia ran with Vera on her shoulders.
Even as sweat dripped off of her skin, she barely seemed winded. And as the commander, she was obviously not going to falter before anyone else did. So on she went, stride after stride, leading the long line of aching, straining lugs as we hauled our cargo along the city's perimeter.
"Well," I managed to gasp out, "you can't say she doesn't suffer with us."
Kirk aimed a half-hearted slap at my head and mumbled, "Save... your breath for running... Not carrying your ass again..."
"Huff and pout, you big baby," I replied. Still, I did just as he said. Sucked in a breath and forced one foot ahead of the other.
Bless the gods, we did eventually make it to the finish line at the city's eastern gate. Kirk and me had to switch six times along the way, but we made it through. Many others had fallen out altogether, so we were one of the few pairs that actually managed to finish. Lady Claudia, for her part, only had to switch with Vera twice, and still looked like she could run the whole way around the city again. When she said as much, the was a single horrifying moment in which I thought she was serious, and all runners groaned in despair. Thankfully she took pity on us, saying instead that we should all be proud of our strength and dismissed us for the day.
"Thanks for the ride, Ansel," Kirk told me as he struggled back onto his feet. "You make a hell of a horse."
"And you... are the world's heaviest jockey," I wheezed back at him. "Cut back on the bacon, Kirk. Please."
He laughed at that and went on his way. My legs hadn't yet gotten their feeling back, so I ended up slumped in a shady place underneath the shade of an oak tree. My entire body went slack and still, letting sore muscles spasm and twitch against the chill of the shade. It took me a solid fifteen minutes of lying prostrate with a cool touch of grass to my face before the lead in my muscles ebbed and my breaths no longer came out in short gasps.
"Still resting, Ansel?"
I opened my eyes. Lady Claudia was kneeling above me, blotting out the blue sky overhead. She extended something down to my lips. "Here. Have a drink."
Groaning, I took the waterskin and tipped it back. Cold water rushed into my mouth, clean and refreshing. I couldn't remember ever tasting anything quite so sweet and clear before in my life. After that initial burst, I drank slowly, savoring it as it cooled the inside of my throat. I then dumped half of it over my head before giving it back to her. "Thank you, ma'am."
It struck me how bright her hair looked. In fact, everything around seemed to blur away, hazy and vague and dappled in shadow. I had to blink several times to focus. Slowly, I forced myself to relax and breathed out. The leadenness ebbed, bit by bit, and I sat myself up. My arms and legs still felt soft and pliant, but this new position at least had the benefit of enabling me to keep my dignity by not being flat on the ground.
"I'm good," I muttered. "At least, I'll survive. Thanks for the water."
She paused for a moment, as though considering me. She extended her hand down towards me. "Will you need help getting back to the manse?"
"I thought helping you as my job."
"Usually, yes," she said, smiling. "Still, I'd be a rather poor master is I let my squire languish in the mud, no?"
I'd have rolled my eyes, but something gave me the feeling that even doing that would be too tiring. So I just relented and took her hand. I braced against her as she gave a little tug and hauled me to my feet. She helped steady me and waited a few more seconds.
"Are you well now?"
"Yeah," I nodded. Then I added, "Though please don't ask me to wife-carry you back there. I'll probably just drop dead."
That earned me a chuckle. With a final, appreciative pat on the shoulder, she helped me stagger in the direction of the manse. It was only then that I truly began to pay attention to the streets of Wallesdorf. With its mix of human architecture and dwarven influence, it was nothing like anywhere I'd seen before. Grey brick and stone layered with tile and concrete, while the roads were paved with granite flagstones. Some buildings jutted out of the mountain the city was rooted in, while other more human styles were built along the cliffs and rolling hills of its surrounding lands.
Most striking of all was the calm. For a city that had petitioned aid from the capital, never mind one this far to the north, Wallesdorf was surprisingly tranquil and orderly. I'd expected frenzied motion and tension to cling to every corner, but... Most of the people I saw on the streets were civilians, going about their lives without a care in the world. Somehow, it seemed no different than any other place.
Maybe these people were just that hardy. After spending so long with the Legion practically at their doorstep, they weren't just prepared; they'd adapted to it. Or perhaps they simply saw the efforts of Lady Claudia's soldiers every day, and knew in their hearts the purpose of the Alliance's army was to fight this very threat, and they had no cause to feel personally threatened.
"We're doing a good thing here, aren't we?" I asked my master, almost absently.
Still holding me up, she glanced at me, blue eyes mine for a moment before she nodded and smiled back. "Yes. I believe we are."
This is an idea I've had rolling around the back of my head for years since I've been working on The Cur's Bite. I began to wonder just how in the world I could make an Ansel/Claudia pairing work, both as a challenge to myself, and as a reminder that—odd as it is to day—I honestly need more practice when it comes to scenes of intimacy. I never actually pulled the trigger on this since it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay depressing for every character involved, and runs counter to just about every theme and message in Cur. And yet... here we are. Since it's gonna be a while 'till the release of Cur's Bite part two, I've decided to proceed with this spinoff.