“So, I hear you’ve been complaining about the Fort’s policies?” Commander Perry asked, her voice a low-pitched rumble.

Yuriko glanced at Gwendith who visibly gulped and took a step into the office.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re not satisfied with spending the entire three weeks of internship peeling potatoes!” Gwendith’s voice started weak but grew in strength until she was almost shouting by the last couple of words.

“Hmmm, calm down, Cadet Sharine.”

Gwendith shook her head, though she visibly took control of her emotions. “Please answer us.”

Yuriko and Ella-Mai entered behind Gwendith. The door shut behind them and the Commander gestured to the armchairs in front of her desk. There were only two though. Ella-Mai pushed her to the other chair as Gwendith sat down.

“Do you know anything about the Northern Barbarians?”

“Just what I’ve read,” Gwendith admitted.

Yuriko shrugged as the Commander looked at her and answered, “The same as Miss Sharine,” after being stared at. Ella-Mai answered with the same sentiments.

“Hmm, then do you know what they do during the raids?”

“I’d assume they would fight and steal resources,” Yuriko said.

“They would fight indeed,” the Commander agreed grimly, “but their idea of resources are…”

She pointed a crooked finger at them.

“Huh?” Gwendith and Yuriko stared dumbly, while Ella-Mai gasped.

“You need it said explicitly?”

“Uhm, what do you mean?” Yuriko asked hesitantly.

“You’re the resources they want.”

“Me?”

“Well, any girl or woman, really.”

“And why would that be?” Yuriko pressed.

Commander Perry lifted an eyebrow and glanced at the other girls. Yuriko did the same, noting that Gwendith’s face was completely flushed and Ella-Mai was biting her lip. The commander sighed.

“The barbarian’s take women back to their camp and make more barbarians.”

Yuriko stared at her blankly before the realisation dawned on her. She felt her face heat up in rage.

Blam! Blam!

Twin sounds akin to thunder came from her hands when she clenched them into fists, the displaced air boomed. Commander Perry raised her other eyebrow at that.

“You mean they…!?” she gasped out.

“We don't know,” Commander Perry answered. “They don’t have a permanent camp and they frequently move. They’re nomads after all. Now, given that information, do you still want to shadow a team?”

Yuriko trembled. Choice had always been something her family had always championed which was why she’d been so upset with how Mother practically forced her to Sharom. Her anger and frustration about it had been banked, awaiting the time she saw her again, but hearing about the barbarians and how they treated female captives had ignited that slow-burning anger. It coursed throughout her body, ignited her blood and her Anima. Even now, a low flare-up of golden flames surrounded her skin.

“Yes,” Gwendith said in a hard tone. “I will not run.”

Yuriko heard Ella-Mai whimper but soon gave her assent.

“I am willing,” Yuriko finally said.

“I see.” The commander sighed before reaching under her desk and pulled out a pile of papers. “These are waivers noting that you insisted on flouting protocol in Fort Aegermonth. You aren’t the only ones, mind, so this is just an official notice.”

Yuriko took the papers handed to her, scanned the words, and finding nothing untoward, signed her name using her Animus-shaped pen, leaving both her Animus signature and literal signature on the page.

“Thank you,” the commander said upon receiving all three forms then handed back a circular crystal pin. “This will tell the camp administrator that you have permission. Head to the coordinator to assign you to a team.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” all three said before they left.

As they were walking outside, Ella-Mai tugged at Yuriko and Gwendith’s sleeve.

“Are we doing the right thing?” she asked timidly. “I can’t help but think we’re putting ourselves under unnecessary danger.”

“You’d rather be a kitchen maid the entire time?” Gwendith scoffed.

“Oh,” Ella-Mai muttered.

“I won’t learn much if I stick to the kitchen,” Yuriko muttered. “I already know how to cook from way back.”

She was still angry. She half wished that a barbarian raid would happen already so that she could prove to them how deplorable they were.

“Oh?” Gwendith eyed her curiously. “I’d assumed you’d have servants to handle that.”

“Huh, what gave you that idea?”

Gwendith frowned. “Aren’t you from the Mishala Clan?”

“Uhm, my mother’s surname is Mishala but I haven’t seen her since a year ago. Er, nearly two years now. She doesn’t live with us,” Yuriko shrugged. “Besides, there’s only five of us at home, me, my three brothers and my Da. We take turns with chores.”

“How amazingly backwards,” Gwendith muttered, then she blushed. “Oh, uh, sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Uhm, I’m just surprised someone like you knows how to do domestic chores.”

“Yeah, Gwendith doesn’t even know how to wash dishes,” Ella-Mai snickered.

“Well, the servants always took care of it!”

Yuriko chuckled, feeling a bit of her rage returning from wildfire to embers. “I don’t suppose you know how to cook?”

“Of course not,” Gwendith huffed.

“Well, if we’re shadowing patrols then you’ll learn, eventually.”

“Hmph.”

Doing the paperwork, arranging which team they were to go with and where they were to go took them until lunch. But it was done. They would leave Fort Aegermonth for the forward base camp that was being established out in the Cinderfield Hills where the barbarian presence has been sparse.

“Most of the raids happen to the northwest, honestly,” The troop coordinator, a youngish looking man, said after he finished arranging their assignment. “That’s also where we station the most troops. Well, I don’t want to give you a false impression that only male legionnaires and militia are in the camps, there are plenty of women there too, just that they know what they’re getting into. Besides, any male warrior the barbarians fight is sure to die if they lose.” He coughed into his fist. “The barbarians take no male prisoners and kill any man who surrenders. At least you’re sure to live if such a thing happens.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” Yuriko said dryly.

“Hahaha, well, they’ll probably treat you right.” Then, as if realising how coarse his comment was, he coughed in his fist again and finished the paperwork. “You will join the Stormwalker Century tomorrow at dawn as they leave for Camp Cinderfield. Go to the Quartermaster to draw your supplies and field equipment.”

“Thank you.”

By dinner time, Yuriko and the other two girls were laden with enough ration bars to last them a week, basic camping supplies, a cold-weather tent and bedroll, a couple of jade cartridges for a Plasma Lancet, a melter canteen to turn snow to water, a fire starter, and a few more odds and ends. Yuriko also got an extra couple more cartridges for her Plasma Caster when she revealed that she had one. Honestly, she didn’t need the cartridges and she wasn’t trained in their use.

“You can charge it with your Animus if you have extra at night,” the quartermaster informed her. “It won’t keep your signature and will denature to neutral Animus, but it will still allow you to use your plasma projectors without draining your reserves unduly.”

Back at the barracks, Yuriko packed up her clothes and things into her duffel, added the extra stuff to her backpack, and resolved to practice using the cartridges after dinner.

She headed to the training area with a Plasma Lancet, set up a target, slotted in the cartridge, drew a deep breath and aimed. Her Animus seeped into the weapon, a tiny bit compared to the amount it drew from the cartridge, not even a complete lumen. She pulled the trigger and a ball of superheated plasma blasted into the boulder she was aiming at. The bolt hit the target but was off-centre.

“This isn’t right,” she muttered.

Had she been using the Caster and the target was five hundred paces away, the bolt wouldn’t even come close to the target with the deviation. The neutral Animus threw her off. It was as if she was trying to write while her hand, her whole arm, was asleep. Well, nothing a little practise won’t fix. By the time she was done, she had refilled the cartridge five times and her aim had improved close to what she could manage without the denatured Animus. Each cartridge could store just a bit above a tenth of her Animus and could power allow her to shoot five times.

“You make that look so easy, Miss Davar,” a somewhat hesitant voice said. Lukas was standing a few paces behind her with a practice spear.

“Oh, well, I’ve been training to shoot with my Da for years now.”

“Oh, no, I mean charging the cartridge.”

“Huh, well, it’s not that difficult, is it?”

He gave her a strained smile.

“No, I suppose not. Excuse me.” He nodded to her then moved off to the side to do his spear forms.

Yuriko watched him practice for a bit, noting the fact that he had incorporated her suggestions from before.

“Oh, I’m leaving tomorrow for Camp Cinderfield, so I probably won’t see you for a while.”

Lukas froze. “Oh, that’s not a problem. Actually, er, I’ve been reassigned there, too. I requested a position that would allow me to earn more merits and they are posting me there.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow, too?”

“The day after,” Lukas said. “I’m attached to Ravage Century. Menials.”

“Ah, well, I suppose I’ll see you at Cinderfield then.”

“Yes, I believe you will.” Lukas nodded. “Have a pleasant evening.”

“You too.”

The next morning, Yuriko, Gwendith, and Ella-Mai were up before dawn, shivering in the predawn freeze. Yuriko’s breath created large steam clouds though she kept her heavy cloak closed. The Stormwalker Century, a hundred men and women strong, though Yuriko thought that half were militia rather than full legionnaires due to the difference in coat colours, trickled into the waiting shed.

Soon enough, five troop transports, each with a snowplough attached to the front, pulled up in front. These were slightly different than the ones she and the others rode to get to Aegermonth. For one thing, it was less than a day’s journey to Camp Cinderfield, though there wasn’t a cobblestone road, the path had been beaten down by constant travel. Which meant that the passenger compartment wasn’t climate controlled. Crates of supplies were piled in the aisle, while Yuriko and the others sat on the benches that ran along the sides.

The two squads they were riding with let them enter first so they were seated near the pilot’s cabin. Yuriko plopped her duffel under the bench while she kept her backpack between her legs. As for her weapons, she secured the side-blade on her backpack while she cradled her Plasma Caster. The Plasma Lancet was holstered on her belt. Her heavy cloak kept her warm enough since the passenger cabin’s thin canvas cover barely kept the wind out.

Gwendith was grumbling to herself. The other blonde was wedged up next to Yuriko while Ella-Mai was across from them. They had to squeeze in since the benches could barely hold ten people apiece. A few minutes later, the transport convoy drove off. What followed was the most uncomfortable ten hours of her life, Yuriko decided.

There was barely a dirt path from the fort to the camp, although crane beacons had been put up every league or so. The thin pillars rose ten paces up, and the pitch-black paint made it stand out from the icy wastes. The ride was bumpy, often making Yuriko’s bottom bounce on the bench when they hit an unexpected pothole. Gwendith’s hip pressed against her most of the time. Though the warmth was comfortable, sometimes, when they bounced, she wound up on Gwendith’s lap, or she wound up on Yuriko’s.

Worse was that the passenger’s cabin was devoid of windows and the only view she had was to the back, or through the small opening between the pilot’s cabin and theirs. It wasn’t much of a view as it had started snowing.

“Can’t even meditate,” she muttered.

“Aye,” Gwendith agreed.

Eventually, three hours after noon, they arrived at their destination. The lot of them disembarked with stiff legs and sore bottoms. The legionnaires muttered complaints about the bumpy ride, but Yuriko thought that at least they didn’t have to walk the fifty or so leagues to camp.

Speaking of the camp…it was basically a tent city set against a hollow between two hills. Smoke from cookfires drifted up, grey against the white snow. She could see the beginning of permanent structures, as well as an incomplete palisade made of four pace high logs with sharpened tips. It covered about a third of the camp’s borders, hence, mostly useless. Even as she watched, people were digging a trench to stick the poles in while a few others were dragging logs from the sparse forest to the east.

The dirt road led all the way through the camp, ending in front of a cave on the hillside. The mine entrance, Yuriko surmised.

“Stormwalkers!” Their Centurion, a chunky, silver-eyed man named Taylor Finley, called for them to form up. Yuriko, Gwendith, and Ella-Mai took positions at the rearmost. “Leave your gear over to that clearing, take only your side weapons and assemble by the palisade. Go, go, go!”

The Century ran to the clearing he pointed at, with the girls following behind. They dumped their gear on the frozen ground and hurried to the palisade. Yuriko carried her side-blade and Plasma Lancet on her hip, leaving the Caster on top of her luggage.

When they returned to formation, Centurion Finley pointed at the forest, “Head over there, chop down a tree and come back here. Move by squads!”

Groups of five legionnaires quick marched east, leaving the three girls looking lost. The Centurion looked at them, snorted and said, “You three form a squad and do the same thing.”

Yuriko saluted with fist to heart and headed off in a run.

“Hey, wait!” Ella-Mai yelped.

Gwendith was right in front of Yuriko, grumbling, “From kitchen maid to lumberjack. When are we doing patrols?”

“Probably tomorrow.” Yuriko laughed. “At least we’re out of the fort.”

“Yeah, there is that.” Gwendith glanced at Yuriko, “You’re not going to use your side-blade to chop down the tree, right?”

“Er…”

“Let’s grab an axe,” she sighed as they turned about and returned to camp. By the time they started heading to the nearby forest, a light flurry of snow had started, and a cold wind blew across the camp. Yuriko shivered but continued with the task. At least the movement would keep her warm.

The Radiant Sun hasn’t shown its face all day. But then, Damien hadn’t made any inopportune comments either, so it kind of balanced out.