A Court of Pain and Sorrow

Commander

Rhaella crossed the gates of the castle, five hundred people behind her, following her close by.

Some on horses other by foot.

It had taken them a month to recruit all those people. And there would be more.

Waiting for her on the other side of the door were Gale and the five Mortal Queens.

Gale didn't hide his surprise when she walked through.

June and Kalta took the people to the place they would be sleeping in while Rhaella jumped off her horse and stood in front of the Queens and their Commander.

"How many?" Galatea asked.

"Five hundred." Rhaella answered.

"You have two hundred waiting for you here. And more coming." Fela said, smiling.

Rhaella nodded.

"We start training tomorrow."

***

Teaching people to fight a war from scratch was hard, but not impossible.

She needed the help of many coaches from the Guild and all of them gladly accepted.

Even June, Kalta and Rhaella we're teaching people how to fight.

By dinner time, the three of them were exhausted.

And right after dinner, it was their turn to practice.

In a normal basis, Rhaella was getting around five hours of sleep in a good day and three in a normal one.
She didn't even sleep when the day was bad.

And they usually were awful.

Gale made everything hard.
And his men too.

There were fights every single fucking day between her criminals and his soldiers and always because of the same: Gale's men were insulting Rhaella, June and Kalta.
And the criminals defended them with all they had. They defended their Queens with all they had.
Including fists and knifes.

Gale insulted her every time he could, tried to make her lose control and punch him in the face.

He never got what he wanted.

Until that one day.

***

"

I'm starving." Rhaella said as she looked at June and Kalta eating.

"If you took off that damned mask you would be able to eat now." June said, a piece of steak in her mouth.

"I can wait until you are done."

Kalta didn't speak, she stuffed a baked potato in her mouth and then regretted it when she realized it was burning hot.

Rhaella and June laughed at the sight of Kalta, fanning her mouth to try and cool it down.

That's when she heard him.

"Fucking gross." Gale said.

Rhaella ignored him and focused on her friend, who was drinking a whole glass of water.

"But, I mean, you should expect it." Gale continued, knowing she could hear him. "When you have a brute for a leader, you end up becoming a brute."

'They are my brutes, Gale. And I wouldn't change them for anything.' She thought, but Rhaella didn't say it.
He didn't deserve her attention.