General Raven

Chapter 4

We didn't waste any unnecessary energy, we even gained some, eating as we walked. Fate split up the granola bars and cashews, the prince even got a handful or so... well I guess I should call him Bailey. We didn't like him, but we all still respected him as a human, his wish to be called Bailey was granted. It would be his dying wish anyway.

Wolf and I had come to an agreement. If all goes well, we will kill Bailey in the forest and call it a bear attack. If we were noticed, we would all be executed, Bailey included for dishonoring his father and the name of the kingdom. It was the nicest thing we could do, obey his last dying wish because Clementine knows we weren't letting him go.

Speaking of the queen, I had had an idea about her. Wolf and I hadn't spoken about it yet but I believe it could get us somewhere. About five years ago Governess Fiona passes away from age. She was the queen's second in command, very important. She was replaced by an exact replica of her in robotic form until we could find a human replacement. Unfortunately we found Governess Evangelina... But that made me think, what if the Queen had a replacement made of her too, she couldn't die because she was a 'failed' test subject but she could possibly be sick or away for some reason. The attitude of her robot would reflect how she acts to her ladies in waiting, not to her citizens which would explain her snappiness.

It's a very logical excuse, and while I still don’t know why it might be necessary it was the best thing I had so far. I had thought it through a lot though.

Victor shifted on Wolf's shoulder, finally a sign she was alive! "Morning sleepy head," Saber said sweetly.

Victor winced as she moved too suddenly. I figured she needed a rest and she could get a quick one if we ran back from the raid. It's decided "Let's take a break guys." I stopped about twenty yards from where everyone else was dragging along. I noticed Fate had fallen back quite a bit, "Get some water and then keep going."

Victor was leaned up against a tree for me to take another look at. Fate was sat on a stump directly across from Bailey who tried not to look at her in the eyes. She was doing a pretty good job at creeping him out. The other three had left to do a perimeter check before we got really comfortable.

Just as I had started to scan for any leftover poison when the three stooges came back. Wolf had blood running down her face and caking her hair and shirt. At first glance it looked way worse than it really was, I even sucked in a breath from shock.

"It's a head wound, they always bleed a lot," Saber assured me as she guided Wolf to a rock nearby, "Just calm down."

"My team is dropping like flies!" Bailey chuckled at my statement. I swear every pair of eyes was locked in a serious glare directed towards him. Fate's glare was the hardest to not crack under.

"

"Shut up." She hissed. Every noise stopped, no one moved and I felt as though I couldn't breath. My team was supposed to be used to Fate's instructions but it was still hard to ignore. It took a full five minutes before I could even move.

"Lean back," I instructed, "it's just a nose bleed." I took her now red shirt off of her and had her hold hit to her nose.

"A nose bleed! I'm going to die!" Wolf semi-shouted dramatically, grabbing handfuls of my jacket. Wolf was always the person to break an awkward silence and we could constantly count on her to joke when it was time to be serious.

We went back to being quiet, I was trying my best not to scream in the deafening silence. The animals that had been making noise before were silent, as was the wind and Bailey. He was sitting wide-eyed not able to move for fear he would be too loud.

"What happened?" I asked as Wolf wiped away all the blood.

"I fell," Wolf said nasilly.

I raised my eyebrows and looked at the two witnesses for the real answer. "We got into a fight..." Blade whispered, ashamed of what she had done. It was so quiet that I almost didn't catch it.

We don't normally get into fights, we tended to not be so biased like normal soldiers. I looked at Saber and gestured toward the woods. Nodding, she followed me out of earshot.

"What happened?" I whispered, no one should hear us but we didnt take any chances.

"Wolf was talking about weight...Blade's weight..." she thought for a second before she finished, "she didn't take too kindly to that." She had also kept her voice down even though it wasn't necessary.

Blade struggled keeping her weight down when she was first drafted. She weighed more than the rest of us which was a big no no. She trained hard enough that we knew it was all muscle but if she didn't fit into the same clothes as us then she wouldn't be in the A team.

She weighed over 170 when we weighed her again. Governess Evangelina set her a time, two weeks to get her weight in between 110-130 but she had lost too much weight, weighing in at only 80 pounds. She tried to eat more but it made her sick enough to start purging.

We've gotten her mostly back to health by now but she is still under by ten pounds. "Why would Wolf bring that up?" I ask feeling like the air had been sucked out of me.

"She said no one should be such a good fighter and still not have enough muscle to be called fit. She really didn't mean to insult her, she was really just trying to sympathize with her"

"But that's not how blade saw it," the rules declared that any members who fight with one another must not go into battle at the next point in which the team was fighting.

I didn't want to keep them behind. But I guess it would be more beneficial if Victor stayed behind as well. They would have to stay in the forest while we did the raid. In this one instant I knew what had to happen. "Let's go back, we know what will...must... happen." We walked back in silence and when we came upon the camp i told them what had to happen.

Fate would come with us because she didn't have any hand to hand combat to deal with. I checked Victor's pulse just before my condensed team continued to the kingdom. "Let's go finish what we started." I said  while dragging Bailey up to a standing position.

"What did you ladies start?" Bailey asked, speaking up the first time since Fate had snapped at him.

"A peace treaty" I rolled my eyes.

"Well that sounds fantastic!" He said just as sarcastically as I had.

"Come on, Let's go ransack the kingdom."

Bailey chuckled, "Why are you going to the kingdom? Seriously though." He kept his voice down.

"We have to find some sort of ruby, it' supposed to hold some sort of secret." I told him, expecting him to realize something and turn pale with fear, but he didn't he was just confused.

"Are you sure  it's a stone?" He asked, "My father threw out all jewels in the ocean just a few years ago."

'Well we'll see about that' I thought as we approached the kingdom wall. It was white brick with gold details jumping out here and there. It was almost ten feet if not twelve feet tall.

"Piece of cake!" I chuckled towards the... decreased team.