Girl At War

The Training Camp - 6

Eloyse reached the training camp exactly when she'd figured: late afternoon the next day. She stopped a quarter mile outside the noisy camp, and hid her horses among the trees. She didn't intend for anybody to use, borrow, steal, or move them. 

On foot, she made her way into camp, coming from a slightly different direction than she'd left the horses. She needn't have worried. The place was so busy with people running everywhere nobody even gave her a second glance. She could see a large group of females to her right, training in weaponless defense. A group of males to her left were marching. A batch of mixed younger soldiers under the supervision of a man looking no older than twenty were performing rifle drills. Eloyse saw all ages. A boy ran past with a girl in hot pursuit, simulating a running fight. They looked twelve and sixteen.

Eloyse was lost. Where all in this bedlam would she find someone to tell her where the trainees where sent? She stopped a person hurrying past. "Excuse me, do you have a moment?"

The woman paused, looking Eloyse up and down. "Why aren't you in uniform?" she snapped.
"I'm not training."

"Uniform is to be worn at all times, wether in training or not." she crisply said, and spun away. Eloyse threw up her hands. 

"Helpful..." she grumbled under her breath. She continued across the clearing, asking various people where the headquarters were. All said either, "Busy." or "Where's your uniform?" Almost despairing, Eloyse finally approached a man who was sitting on a rock, furiously scribbling on a notepad and totally ignoring the confusion around him. Eloyse spoke, getting no acknowledgement. Nervous, she touched his arm. He flinched away from her, then blinked up at the girl.

"Where's headquarters?" Eloyse rushed out before he could send her away.

"I'm busy. Ask somebody else."

"I have. I think I've asked everybody who has a tongue."

"Sorry, can't help." the man went back to his notepad. Eloyse sat down in front of him, her brown eyes gazing steadily at him. She stared at him. After a few moments, he became aware of her. He kept writing, but his pen started to falter. Suddenly he slammed the pen into the clipboard and glared at Eloyse.

"It's through that stand of trees," he gestured, "The big tent with the cross carved in the tree behind it."

"Thank you." Eloyse rose, brushing off her pants. The man had already gone back to his writing, but his voice followed the girl.

"Put on your uniform before you go in!"

Eloyse turned away and rolled her eyes. "If I hear that once more, I'm gonna dream about it!" She headed for the stand of trees the man had pointed out. She could hear voices coming from that direction, and decided there must be two clearings of this kind in the forest.

"You're pretty. Wanna hangout?" a man fell in beside Eloyse as she marched through the camp. He was unshaven, and dirty. Eloyse didn't miss a step.

"Get lost." 

"Aw, come on, sweetie!" the man crooned. Eloyse ignored him. She swerved around a person who staggered by carrying an armload of canvas. "Don't you want to have fun?"

Eloyse wrinkled her nose. "Get lost near a stream, so you can take a bath." She was on the edge of camp, the man still at her side. She didn't pause, but walked into the trees. The man went around a tree the opposite way, then was in step beside her again. He looked closely at her.
"You've got a temper!" his breath wafted over Eloyse, and she nearly gagged. He had been drinking; not enough to notice in his walk or speech, but enough to addle his brain into taking chances. Like irritating girls. He put a hand on Eloyse's arm and she shook him off.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, undaunted. "How'd you get here?"

"I'm here following a vision about my brother. He's gonna get hurt, so I have to find him. Which means going up to the front lines. I rode my horses some fifty miles from the lower border of Shayvor, cutting across enemy territory. My parents don't know where I am, and I've ended up in a camp full of people who's goal in life is to stay too busy to talk." she eyed him sideways, "Unfortunately, you are an exception."

"Sounds crazy."

Great. Even a half drunk daredevil admitted she was doing something crazy.
Eloyse was getting tired of this man tagging along. She stopped so suddenly he nearly ran into her. Deliberately turning around, she looked him in the eye. He was taller than she'd figured. She drew herself up to her full 5' 3" height. He must have been near 5' 10", for he still towered over her. Oh well, she would just use words.

"Listen, I said to take a hike. Quite a while ago, actually. Would you like it if I told anybody you were harassing a girl? No?" she saw the flash of fright cross his face. He knew the punishment for bothering women! Eloyse turned on her heel. "Then leave me alone."

She sensed him coming for her before she felt him. She lunged forward, but his heavy hand fell on her shoulder. He spun her around, rather roughly. Eloyse resisted the urge to just kick him. Instead, she kept her voice under tight control when she spoke.

"Take your hand off me. Now."

"Why?" The man leered at her. He reached forward with his free hand. Eloyse acted swiftly. She slapped down his right hand, hard. Then she snaked her right arm around his left arm, and her fingers touched the back of his neck. She jerked his head down, clapping both hands on the back of his head and violently jamming her knee in his face. Then she grabbed his shoulder, jerked him around, and put him in a rear choke. He fought for a few seconds, then went limp. Eloyse lowered him to the ground.

"Next time, pick on a defenseless girl." she muttered under her breath. He would be fine, other than rather smashed face. He was stirring even as she walked away. He weakly raised himself on his elbows, staring after the girl. She didn't look back.

It took nearly two hours to talk to the right people and find out what happened to Shyden. Mainly because they were all busy! She did manage to get some food when she passed the kitchen, however. Finally Eloyse was told what she wanted, and didn't want, to hear: Shyden Kaleni, number 907, had been sent up to Macranem, right on the battlefront.
Eloyse returned to her horses. She had a new mission; getting to Macranem.

She hurried back to her horses. Moving swiftly, she untied them and wheeled Damian around. "Let's go, boy." she whispered, smiling. The general had given her a map of the country, including enemy lines, and he'd marked where Macranem was.

She rode for several hours before she saw a landmark she'd been watching for. The tall mountain peak towered over everything around her, even though it was still a long ways off. Eloyse stopped the horses, who were only too glad to rest. She turned so she was sitting sideways in the saddle and dug the map out of her saddlebags.

She spread it open on Damian's back, and examined it. "Shortcut." she mused, "Through the mountains, across that little piece of Alkotratz." She knew it was risky. With the two countries at war, the borders would be ferociously guarded. However, to go around, she traced her finger on the map. Nearly sixty miles. The mountain pass nearest her, a mere ten miles away, had been captured by Alkotratz. It was a strategic move. Now, to access the rest of their troops, the Shayvor army would have to send their men around to the other pass, sixty miles south. It was not a good pass, either. It was high, and always snowy. Men had died going over that pass.

Eloyse folded up the map, thoughtful. Go over the nearer pass would mean saving time by nearly two days, and not having to chance being caught in a deadly blizzard like the other pass. On a different note, she would be running a high risk of being captured by Alkotratz. She grimaced. The other pass would be safe from enemy territory the whole distance. It was also completely out of her way.

Eloyse slipped the map into her saddlebags, turning correctly in her saddle. She picked up her reins and chirped to tell Damian to move. The stallion pricked his ears and eagerly started off. Regalis took a little more convincing to follow. He'd dozed off in the warm sunshine.

Eloyse pointed Damian's nose toward the mountains, wondering if Alkotratz took prisoners, or killed them on the spot.

**Sorry, this chapter was a bit more boring. The next one will be better, promise! Thank you so much for reading and the comments! Hugs! Annie**